I- Death penalty should be completly abolished in our society owing to the fact that it doesn't decrease crime rates, costs a lot of money and puts innocent lives at risk.
II- Death penalty doesn't reduce the crime rate
A the reason to approve death penalty
1 Decrease the crime rates
2 Frighten society
3 Crime doesn't decrease
B the NC coalition for alternatives to death penalty.
1 murder rate for the state of North Carolina
2 people on death row
3 states withouht death penalty have a lower murder rate
4 capital punishment is pointless
III-Death penalty costs a lot of money
A The extra measures taken in judicial proceedings
B The Oregonian
1 Washington county murder cases
2 Fiscal impact summary in 2000
3 Waste of effort, time and money
IV- Death penalty puts innocent lives at risk
A Releasment from death row
B Investigations
1 Not the normal appeal process
2 Investigations in Misouri, Texas and Virginia
C Kill somebody and find out later about his innocence
1 No turning point
2 Suffering of the victim's family
V- Death penalty should be completly abolished in our society owing to the fact that it doesn't decrease crime rates, costs a lot of money and puts innocent lives at risk.
I- University degrees should be free for evryone because education is a right, but not everybody can afford it , nor have acces to economical help.
II-Education is a right
A school
1 Public schools are free
2 Private schools
B What about universities?
C Being able to complete your education
1 Shouldn't be a priviledge
2 Offers more possibilities to find a job
III-Not everyone can afford it
IV-Access to economical help
A Not avaiable for everyone
B In other countries
V-University degrees should be free for evryone because education is a right, but not everybody can afford it , nor have acces to economical help.
I- Being spanish can mean different things deppending on the person you ask to.
II- The concept of Being Spanish in Spain
A Cataluña
B Other areas
III- The idea of being spanish in other countries
A cliches
B Vocabulary
IV-Being spanish can mean different things deppending on the person you ask to.
domingo, 17 de diciembre de 2017
lunes, 11 de diciembre de 2017
Thesis Statement
Changing your name
Nowadays changing your birthname is becoming a very popular phenomenon, because it gives people freedom to chose how they want to be called in case the dislike the name they were given. However. There are several points you should consider before changing your name. For example, it can provoke confusion, moreover you would have to modify all your important documents.
Globalization
Although globalization has made easier travelling the world, it also provokes the loss of diversity as many countries are loosing their language, ancient traditions or typical meals.
Gun Ownership
Although owning a gun is the second amendment in the USA constitution, it shouldn't remain valid nowadays as it provokes an increase in violence and deaths.
Nowadays changing your birthname is becoming a very popular phenomenon, because it gives people freedom to chose how they want to be called in case the dislike the name they were given. However. There are several points you should consider before changing your name. For example, it can provoke confusion, moreover you would have to modify all your important documents.
Globalization
Although globalization has made easier travelling the world, it also provokes the loss of diversity as many countries are loosing their language, ancient traditions or typical meals.
Gun Ownership
Although owning a gun is the second amendment in the USA constitution, it shouldn't remain valid nowadays as it provokes an increase in violence and deaths.
Internet for refugees
To start, I agree with Zuckerberg's opinion that there should be internet in the refugee's camps. There might be some people who think that it is a waste of time and money, and that they should help them more by sending them food or medicines. Some others, may think that this is just another strategy from facebook to gain more users.
However, once that these basics have been covered or are in process, I admit, that internet can be an extremely useful device. Especially for those people who have lost track of some of their relatives or friends trhoughout their journey. In these cases, it is remarkable the labour that some social networks, for instance facebook or twitter, are doing. A good example of their work was seen during the latest terrorist attacks to find people who were missing.
Finally, internet offers them the possibility of having access to the latest news and stay somehow in touch with the exterior world, so that they can feel less frogotten.
However, once that these basics have been covered or are in process, I admit, that internet can be an extremely useful device. Especially for those people who have lost track of some of their relatives or friends trhoughout their journey. In these cases, it is remarkable the labour that some social networks, for instance facebook or twitter, are doing. A good example of their work was seen during the latest terrorist attacks to find people who were missing.
Finally, internet offers them the possibility of having access to the latest news and stay somehow in touch with the exterior world, so that they can feel less frogotten.
miércoles, 8 de noviembre de 2017
Do schools kill creativity?
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity/transcript
Topic sentence: Creativity in education is as importat as literacy
Main ideas:
-Extraordinary human creativity.
-Uncertainty about the future.
-Capacities and talents.
Conclusion: restatement of the thesis and summary
Topic sentence: Creativity in education is as importat as literacy
Main ideas:
-Extraordinary human creativity.
-Uncertainty about the future.
-Capacities and talents.
Conclusion: restatement of the thesis and summary
Opinion Paragraph:
Schools should give more importance to creative subjects. Lately it is becoming more popular the theory of multiple talents or capacities in education. That is a great point against the traditionl way of teaching at schools, which gave a speacil importance to subjects like mathematics, history, grammar... and children were taugh to do things in a determined way, almost automatically.This, appart from killing creativity in kids, provoke frustration in those ones who have another way of understanding or other kind of habilities. Therefore, it is important to promote subjects that favor the development of originality such as painting, music or literature. These subjects help the students work up their personalities as they offer them an infinite amount of possibilities of doing something which will be extremly usefull for them in a futur when they will have to find a job, because specially nowadays with so much competition, having innovative ideas can make the difference. There are many the benefits in the development of creativity in young people and if society were more concerned about it we would have more cultural richness and people would be happier working on what they really like. Quoting Robin Williams ''Medicine, law, business, engineering: these are nobel pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance...these are what we stay alive for.''
Opinion Paragraph
The goverment should create more green spaces in cities. Nowadays the number of buildings in big cities has increased considerably. One of the most important consequences of this, is the lost of biodiversity , as well as the the rise of pollution.Caused by the wastes of the construction process and the amount of energy used in it. As a result, I consider that citizens should ask for the creation of more green spaces in their cities or towns, because in addition to being charming and relaxing sites, where they can disconnect from city strife it is demonstrated that plants can help reducing the amount of pollution. So If we had more green spaces we could have nicer views and enjoy the benefits of plants.
Descriptive paragraph
My favourite place to study is my bedroom which is located in the attic, so it is a large and quiet place where I can easily concentrate.The only downside is the temperature, which is very high during summer and almost freezing during winter. There is also a big window right behind my desk, so the luminosity is perfect. The walls are painted in pastel colors and full of posters. On the left wall there are three venetian masks while on the right wall there is a wooden clock. The ceiling of the bedroom is white and there is a hanging lamp in the middle of it, just above my bed. At the background, there are a big dark wooden wardrove and a shelf where I have some of my favourite books. I specially love working in my bedroom on rainy days when i can hear the water falling just above me, I find it very relaxing.
lunes, 16 de octubre de 2017
Guernika
Whenever I look at this painting, I feel just like if time had been frozen that 26th April 1937 and I were caught inside a surrealistic universe of agony and destruction, where nothing has sense and all you can see is horror and suffering. I can almost hear the screams of panic and the lamentations for the lost ones. The image of the mother carrying her baby's corpse is the anguish itself and chaos reigns over every single brushstroke.
For whom the bell tolls
John Donne – Meditation XVII
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Ningún hombre es una isla,
entera en
sí,
Cada
hombre es pieza de continente,
parte del
total.
Si el
villano es arrastrado por el mar,
Europa se
reduce.
Cual si
fuera promontorio,
cual si
fuera coro de amigos,
o
fuera propia:
Toda
muerte me disminuye,
pues estoy
con la humanidad
Así no
pidas saber por
quién dobla la campana;
dobla por ti.
A. Answer the following questions:
1.
Could you summarize the content of
the poem in just a sentence?
2.
What does the poem make you feel?
3.
Do you consider the poem a good
description of a feeling? Why?
From my point of view, the poem cannot be considered a description of a feeling itself, because it doesn't portray or list a serie of characteristics about an especific emotion, which would be the main topic. However it produces in the reader the feeling of anguish and melancholy that the author wanted to transmitt by touching topics as dead, and lost.
Text from: For Whom the Bell Tolls?, by
Ernest Hemingway
The night was
clear and his head felt as clear and cold as the air. He smelled the odor of
the pine boughs under him, the piney smell of the crushed needles and the
sharper odor of the resinous sap from the cut limbs. Pilar, he thought. Pilar
and the smell of death. This is the smell I love. This and fresh-cut clover,
the crushed sage as you ride after cattle, wood-smoke and the burning leaves of
autumn. That must be the odor of nostalgia, the smell of the smoke from the
piles of raked leaves burning in the streets in the fall in Missoula. Which
would you rather smell? Sweet grass the Indians used in their baskets? Smoked
leather? The odor of the ground in the spring after rain? The smell of the sea
as you walk through the gorse on a headland in Galicia? Or the wind from the
land as you come in toward Cuba in the dark? That was the odor of the cactus
flowers, mimosa and the sea-grape shrubs. Or would you rather smell frying
bacon in the morning when you are hungry? Or coffee in the morning? Or a
Jonathan apple as you bit into it? Or a cider mill in the grinding, or bread
fresh from the oven? You must be hungry, he thought, and he lay on his side and
watched the entrance of the cave in the light that the stars reflected from the
snow.
B. Answer the questions:
1.
Do you consider this text a
description? From your view, what is he describing?
2.
Could a description include
questions?
3.
What is the smell for the author?
4.
Could you write a topic sentence for
the excerpt?
martes, 3 de octubre de 2017
writting an essay: How to narrow a topic
Hello everyone, today I'm going to show you 3 different ways to narrow a topic before writting a parragraph.
In first place, we will have to choose a topic which isn't neither too narrow nor too broad. In my case i chose ''friends''
The first method I used was making a list of ideas and terms related to it.
-friends
-social websites
-internet
-penpals
-letters
-emails
-meeting new friends
- activities you do with your friends
The second method I used, which is my favourite one, was a mind map, which is more visual.
In first place, we will have to choose a topic which isn't neither too narrow nor too broad. In my case i chose ''friends''
The first method I used was making a list of ideas and terms related to it.
-friends
-social websites
-internet
-penpals
-letters
-emails
-meeting new friends
- activities you do with your friends
The second method I used, which is my favourite one, was a mind map, which is more visual.
Later, we will have to narrow our mind map.
Finally the third method consist of free writting. For doing it, we will have to write as much as we can, trying to include as many ideas as possible. It doesn't matter if you have any mistakes, you will be able to eddit them later.
''Nowdays, people have thousands and thousands of friends, as social websites become more and more popular. Everybody flollow everybody and friends of their friends, sometimes just to be able to say ''I have X thousands of friends in facebook'' but the point is How many of those people are real friends? Moreover, Can you conssider a friend someone you've never met? what about penpals? it isn't something as new as facebook, many years before people also used to have ''friends'' they didn't know at all, but they used to send letters, which to me is something much more personal and helped them cultivating themselves, as they were able to learn from a native different facts about other cultures and improve another languages. For luck or not, things have changed a lot in the last years and from my point of view with new technologies everything is becoming more impersonal.''
miércoles, 27 de septiembre de 2017
What I have lived for
Hello everyone, I am going to dedicate today's entry to talk about Bertrand Russell, concretely about his essay What I have lived for which is the introduction to his memories.
But before starting, it might be necessary to learn a bit more about who was Bertrand Russell, because, despite having worked side by side with some celebrities such as Albert Einstein , he has not recieved the recognition he should have had, at least here in Spain and I have to admitt that before last week, I had not heard about him neither. So in order to write this entry I have been reading in different websites curiosities and facts about his life, and i found it extremly interesting and helpfull to understand his 3 passions, which I will develop in the next parragraphs. But again the question is Who was Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell was born in England in 1872 and he was a philosopher, mathematician, logician, social critic, historian and political activist, who supported female suffrage, racial equality, homosexuality and pacifism. Throughout his life he suffered many armed conflicts like the first and second world war, during which, he was imprisoned. He also demonstrated his objection for Vietnam's war and founded in association with Albert Einstein Pugwash movement. Moreover he led the campaign against the nuclear disarmament, which made him be imprisioned for second time in his life, at the age of 90. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1950 and until his final day he fought with tireless passion and optimism to carry out his projects and achieve his objectives.
In his essay What I have lived for Russell talks about which ones have been the most important things in his life with the perspective of time. In his case those are love, knowledge and pity for suffering of mankind.
It is very curious to check that the three passions he talks about appear in the same chronological orden in the life of the philosopher. He starts talking about love, a love that relieves his lonliness. It is remarkable that during his youth, Bertrand Russell felt terribly lonely, his education was imparted by particular professors who used to gain confidence with Russell easily and talked with him about topics that were of a great interest for the author but which constituted a taboo for those times. So when Russell's parents knew about it, they dismissed the professor and found a new one, and again Russell was completly alone with his thoughts. It was not until he arrived to Cambridge that he felt really integrated in a group of friends, teenagers with recolutionary thoughts who made clandestine meetings once a week to talk about them. When we read Bertrand Russell's 3 passions, specially love, we tend to think of another kind of love, but we must not subestimate the love of friendship, feeling part of a group, were you are understood and nobody try to cut off your wings. Some years later he also found another love, after marrying his first wife, but there's no doubt that his biggest love were maths, maby the only ones that accompained him during his whole life.
His second great passion was knowledge, a knowledge that made him wish to understand the hearts of men or why do the stars shine. Maby it was that love for knowledge what moved him to work for the Trinity's Fellowship, and carry out various trips to foreing places, in which he was able to contemplate firsthand the situation of those new countries, political and economical as well as their culture. But above all, one of the more remarkable things he did to spread knowledge was the foundation of the progresist school Bacon Hill, where he pretended to impart a new type of education, free of the taboos and prejudices of the time.
Finally, his third passion was pity for the suffering of mankind. Bertrand Russell had to live hard times, throughout his life, he had to suffer events like the burst of the first and second world war as well as Vietnam's war. Specially in the 30s after he got divorced, he decided to fight against Hitler. Unfortunately, he was captured and imprisioned, and lived in his own skin the miseries and hardships that war provokes and so, he mentions the horror of the victims tortured by their oppressors and the echoes of cries of pain.
Russell conceives his two first passions as something wonderful that elevates him to another divine dimension. In contrast it is the horror of war and human cruelty what bring him back to earth.
From my point of view, if I had to decide which are my 3 passions, I would probably agree with Bertrand Russell and choose love, knowledge and pity for the suffering of mankind too.
In first place I would choose love, because it is the strongest armor we will have to protect ourselfs from the crudity of the world. Sometimes we try to hide behind masks, that we create oruselves from pain and hypocrisy, in order to pretend that nothing can affect us. But those masks, as everything else, will deteriorate with the pass of the years and they will become dust, the remind of what they were once. Instead, love come from wherever it comes will provide us of an armour stronger than the own time and that will give us strengh to face all adversities, come what may.
Secondly, I would choose knowledge. If love is the strongest armor, then knowledge is the strongest weapon that we will have in this vast battle that is life. It is a waepon that we are given in the same moment we are born and that we can improve through the years until our final day. A weapon that nobody can snatch away from us and that will be the only thing we will have to survive in that large ocean we call society.
To conclude, I consider pity for the suffering of mankind, as well as sympathy, two essential elements which are very significant in almost every aspect of life, not just in war matters as it was the case of Bertrand Russell. There is a whole world that lies in front of us full of all type of injustices. Have you ever wonder how many children suffer from bullying everyday? and How many of them live each one of their days wishing that it is their last one? they are also victims tortured by their oppressors, I can also hear the echos of cries and pain here. There's no doubt that these are the situations that as Russell said make a mockery of what humankind should be.
These are the reasons that sumarize the election of my three passions. I hope you have enjoyed this entry. Looking forward to reading your comments.
But before starting, it might be necessary to learn a bit more about who was Bertrand Russell, because, despite having worked side by side with some celebrities such as Albert Einstein , he has not recieved the recognition he should have had, at least here in Spain and I have to admitt that before last week, I had not heard about him neither. So in order to write this entry I have been reading in different websites curiosities and facts about his life, and i found it extremly interesting and helpfull to understand his 3 passions, which I will develop in the next parragraphs. But again the question is Who was Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell was born in England in 1872 and he was a philosopher, mathematician, logician, social critic, historian and political activist, who supported female suffrage, racial equality, homosexuality and pacifism. Throughout his life he suffered many armed conflicts like the first and second world war, during which, he was imprisoned. He also demonstrated his objection for Vietnam's war and founded in association with Albert Einstein Pugwash movement. Moreover he led the campaign against the nuclear disarmament, which made him be imprisioned for second time in his life, at the age of 90. He won the Nobel prize for literature in 1950 and until his final day he fought with tireless passion and optimism to carry out his projects and achieve his objectives.
In his essay What I have lived for Russell talks about which ones have been the most important things in his life with the perspective of time. In his case those are love, knowledge and pity for suffering of mankind.
It is very curious to check that the three passions he talks about appear in the same chronological orden in the life of the philosopher. He starts talking about love, a love that relieves his lonliness. It is remarkable that during his youth, Bertrand Russell felt terribly lonely, his education was imparted by particular professors who used to gain confidence with Russell easily and talked with him about topics that were of a great interest for the author but which constituted a taboo for those times. So when Russell's parents knew about it, they dismissed the professor and found a new one, and again Russell was completly alone with his thoughts. It was not until he arrived to Cambridge that he felt really integrated in a group of friends, teenagers with recolutionary thoughts who made clandestine meetings once a week to talk about them. When we read Bertrand Russell's 3 passions, specially love, we tend to think of another kind of love, but we must not subestimate the love of friendship, feeling part of a group, were you are understood and nobody try to cut off your wings. Some years later he also found another love, after marrying his first wife, but there's no doubt that his biggest love were maths, maby the only ones that accompained him during his whole life.
His second great passion was knowledge, a knowledge that made him wish to understand the hearts of men or why do the stars shine. Maby it was that love for knowledge what moved him to work for the Trinity's Fellowship, and carry out various trips to foreing places, in which he was able to contemplate firsthand the situation of those new countries, political and economical as well as their culture. But above all, one of the more remarkable things he did to spread knowledge was the foundation of the progresist school Bacon Hill, where he pretended to impart a new type of education, free of the taboos and prejudices of the time.
Finally, his third passion was pity for the suffering of mankind. Bertrand Russell had to live hard times, throughout his life, he had to suffer events like the burst of the first and second world war as well as Vietnam's war. Specially in the 30s after he got divorced, he decided to fight against Hitler. Unfortunately, he was captured and imprisioned, and lived in his own skin the miseries and hardships that war provokes and so, he mentions the horror of the victims tortured by their oppressors and the echoes of cries of pain.
Russell conceives his two first passions as something wonderful that elevates him to another divine dimension. In contrast it is the horror of war and human cruelty what bring him back to earth.
From my point of view, if I had to decide which are my 3 passions, I would probably agree with Bertrand Russell and choose love, knowledge and pity for the suffering of mankind too.
In first place I would choose love, because it is the strongest armor we will have to protect ourselfs from the crudity of the world. Sometimes we try to hide behind masks, that we create oruselves from pain and hypocrisy, in order to pretend that nothing can affect us. But those masks, as everything else, will deteriorate with the pass of the years and they will become dust, the remind of what they were once. Instead, love come from wherever it comes will provide us of an armour stronger than the own time and that will give us strengh to face all adversities, come what may.
Secondly, I would choose knowledge. If love is the strongest armor, then knowledge is the strongest weapon that we will have in this vast battle that is life. It is a waepon that we are given in the same moment we are born and that we can improve through the years until our final day. A weapon that nobody can snatch away from us and that will be the only thing we will have to survive in that large ocean we call society.
To conclude, I consider pity for the suffering of mankind, as well as sympathy, two essential elements which are very significant in almost every aspect of life, not just in war matters as it was the case of Bertrand Russell. There is a whole world that lies in front of us full of all type of injustices. Have you ever wonder how many children suffer from bullying everyday? and How many of them live each one of their days wishing that it is their last one? they are also victims tortured by their oppressors, I can also hear the echos of cries and pain here. There's no doubt that these are the situations that as Russell said make a mockery of what humankind should be.
These are the reasons that sumarize the election of my three passions. I hope you have enjoyed this entry. Looking forward to reading your comments.
sábado, 16 de septiembre de 2017
Wellcome
Hello everyone! be wellcome to this blog ,my name is Gema, I'm 18 years old and I've studied art for the last two years at higschool, but after the first year I found out that my greatest passion was literature, so here I am.
I hope you will enjoy my blog .
I hope you will enjoy my blog .
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