My English Competence in 2015

If I had to apply for university or work I would choose my best oral and written evidence, which are:

Written evidence:
http://angelinawurth.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/australia.html
Oral evidence:
https://audioboom.com/boos/2985878-nip-tuck-dialogue

I have choosen these evidence because I think that they show the best my English level and my personal life, my goals, hopes and my personality.
Firstly, the written evidence is divided in paragraphs linked with discourse markers and correct puntuation signs. I haven't used the same vocabulary and I tried to use some different connectors (Plus, due to...). I was very inspired when I wrote it and I was a little bit confused about my future, so I just let go all my feelings go into it. In conclusion, I decided to choose this post because it exposes my plans for the future and my goals.
Secondly, the oral evidence demonstrates my pronunciation and fluency while speaking English.

To sum up, I don't consider that these evidences shows my best level because I know that now after reading it another time there are a few things I would change, like the structure, some vocabulary, connectors...

My English Progress from 2013-2015

Since 2013 nothing really amazing happened and I just had my boring daily routine, due to this I thought that this would be the longest two years in my life, but wrong.

I could have never imagined how fast two years can pass, until now. I can perfectly remember my first Batxillerat day like it was yesterday. The first weeks I just was shocked and and desperate about all the homework and exams we were supposed to do, however this was just the beggining of the two most stressed years in my life. 

I started the week with English and my new teacher Milco; our first homework was to write her an e-mail explaining a little bit about ourselfs:

"Hello, here is some information about me.

My name is Angelina Würth and I am sixteen years old. My hometown is Donaueschingen, a little village in Germany. I was born there and I lived there for 5 years. My dad had the idea to come to Spain when I was around 3 years, so he decided to buy a house and find a job, and after this I also came with my mother. Now I'm living in Empuriabrava for eleven years and lot of things have changed, my parents separated last year and now my dad is moving with his girlfriend to Barcelona and I'm still here living with my mother and her new boyfriend. I always try to go to Germany three times a year, but this year I coudn't because I am working in a jewerly shop in Empuriabrava, Angelo Luchini. I have to work a lot of hours but I love it. This summer I worked with three other girls but one already leaved home, to Slovaquia. On 15th October we close during the winter, so I'll have more time to study and on Christmas I can finally go to Germany to visit my family."

So, I wrote this in my first weeks at Batxillerat and I consider that not only my vocabulary and grammar skills have improved, also my personal life has changed a lot since than.

Comparing this letter to my last composition:

http://angelinawurth.blogspot.com.es/2015/05/mothers-day-things-i-learned-from-my-mom.html

I noticed that I have started to use paraghaps to order my ideas, of course with the correct connectors and puntuation signs. Plus, normally I introduce my writings with a reason and ask some questions. To sum up, I think that the structure and maturity in my posts have improved a lot.

About the grammar, I always try to avoid repeated words and connectors (but, also...) and use new words we learn in the projects, however I always want to learn from my mistakes because it's the only way to learn about them and do it better the next time.

In addition, I'm very proud of myself about the improvement in my oral presentations. I remember the first times in ESO when I had to do oral presentations, even if it was with my friends, I always got so nervous that I did a lot of mistakes in pronunciation and fluency. The mistakes were very silly because I perfectly knew that I were making them, but whith all the nervousness I did it all wrong. Due to the practice over the years I have changed a little bit to better, but well I still get very nervous and make silly mistakes.

In conclusion, I noticed a lot of differences between my first writing and oral presentations and my last, not only in the grammar and vocabulary level, also in my personal development.

Mother's day: things I learned from my mom

I hate to admit it, but my mother is usually right in nearly everything.
With every question or doubt I came to her, she gave me an answer and even if I didn't want to hear it in that moment, at the end when everything was too late, I always realized that she was right.
In our relationship during the last few years, especially after the divorce of my parents I always saw my mother as the bad one, who does it all wrong, and my father was always the best, like he never does anything wrong, though he absolutely does it all wrong.
Now, with nearly 18 years, my opinion of them start to change. I finally see what my mother does for me, and that my father does nothing except making empty promises.
So after plenty of fights, tears and laughter, we finally made it better, not completely but we are working on our relationship.

One thing I  really aprecciate is that she never used the "I told you so" after I sat in my room crying over situations I probably could have avoided, had I listened to her. I really hate it when someone says that, because they only make you feel worser than before.
Now that I think about it, there a lot of things I should have listened to my mom, like the following:

-Friends: I should have taken her advice on many issues I had with my friends, but instead I had to learn the hard way which one are my true friends.
-Boys: she always knew before I did which were the good ones and which the bad ones, but of course I listened to nothing she said.
-Being kind: She thaught me that being good to someone, even when that person isn't good to you, is always better than showing negativity.
-Do what you really want: My mother never forced me to do anything, I'm always free to do what I thing is good for me.

Why do we get sleep in our eyes?

It is known that our eyes fill up with gunk as we sleep, but do we know why?

Firstky, gunk ist that what accumulates in the corner of the eyes over the night, also known as sand or eye boogers.

The structure of eyes is really complicated. Closest to the eye is a layer made of mucus. It coats the cornea and attracts water, which allows the dristribution of the second layer. This layer is really important, it keeps our eyes lubricated and washes away potential infections. Finally, there is also an outer layer composed of an oily substance called meibum. 
This meibum is an oily fluid at a normal human body tempature but at just one degree cooler, it becomes a white and waxy solid, the eye gunk.

Large flakes of this solid can form during sleep for a couple of reasons. First, the body cools down a little bit at night, so the meibum turns solid. Second, sleep relaxes the muscular action of the gland ducts and due to this our eyes are coated with more meibum than usual at night.

Now that we know what the gunk is and from where it comes, why our body makes it? In first place it prevents our tears from spilling out of our eyes and dribbling down our cheeks, our daily-life would be really complicated if our eyes were constantly streaming. But meibum is not the only factor that helps prevent our eyes from drying out. Blinking is important too. The act of blinking hydrate our meibomian glands, cause a little bit of extra meibum and helps the oily meibum and water tears mix together to form and emulsion called tear film. If you spend a lot of time without blinking, the emulsion feels apart an the cornea is exposed to air, and that could be really damaging.

In addition, millions of people have "dry eyes", the disorder leads to eye fatigue, red eye, irritation and the sensation that the eyes are heavier than normal. This disorder apperead due to the excessive use of reading, driving, typing or working, which reduce the frequency of our blinks during those activities.

In conclusion, I thing that writing this post I blinked a lot more than usual because of the fear to get dry eyes, and I will also consider how important gunk is before waking up tomorrow and wipe it away.

DICIONARY:

-Flakes: escates

-Coated: recobert

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150428-why-do-we-get-sleep-in-our-eyes

The world's most charming mailbox

This is a story about a couple and a mailbox. At first sight is doesn't seem to have anything in common, however you will be surprised.

When the couple first started dating, the man sweared to show her one day  tales of a 300-year-old whisky-cask-turned-makeshift-post-office in the Galapagos Islands, 973km off the coast of Ecuador. The empty cask had been placed on Floreana Island in 1793, when whalers and sailors frequented the remote archipelago to restock on fresh water and giant tortoise meat. Since the seamen could be on the water for years at a time, they had to devise a clever way to communicate with beloveds at home, a tradition that continues to this day. Before departing the islands, the  seamen would place letters in the cask, addressed to friends and family all over the world. In return, they would search the barrel for envelopes addressed to their future ports of call, taking those that matched their onward destinations. When they arrived in a city where a letter was addressed, they would hand-deliver the letter to the recipient.

The coulple decided to go to Galapagos, scoop up a handful of letters addressed to all corners of the world, and hand-deliver each and every one of them.

Firstly, they explored the islands before arriving to Floreana. However, they coudn't wait anymore to open the mailbox and finding piles of ancient letters, some hundred years old, still waiting to be delivered. As they finally arrived, instead of seeing a large whisky cask, they found a barrel that resembled more of a birdhouse than a mailbox.

They opened the barrel to reveal an enormous pile of postcards and began sorting through the piles of postcards. Amid all the " wish you were heres" and jokes, they managed to find a handful of cards with important messages. A few were sent to loved ones that couldn't make the trip, some were letters of admiration all addressed to countries the couple wanted to visit in the future, so they left the island with 22 postcards and left the ones written by them in the mailbox.

They travelled during three years the world and delivered all the letters in 17 countries.

In the end, the couple realised that the most important thing of this mailbox isn't seeing it and the travelling, what's been truly  important is the people and stories they encountered along the way.

DICTIONARY:

- Beloveds: estimats

- Amid: enmig de

- Encounter: trobar

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150409-the-worlds-most-charming-mailbox

15 Real-Life Tips for the Graduation Class 2015

1. It's okay if you still don't have a clue what you want to do with the rest of your life. Nobody does, so you are in a good company.
2. People will lie to you to make themselves feel better about their owns lifes. Nobody has it all figured out, and if they say so, they're lying.
3.You degree will set you up, but be open-minded for a career that has nothing to do with your degree. Who knows? Maybe it will be the right for you?
4. Start saying "thank you" more often. It will set you apart from those who never learned to.
5. You probaly will have a crap job, so better accept it and be proud of it.
6. Do not be afraid, it's the only way to success.
7. Stay out of debt, everything you do will be good for something.
8. You have the right to balance your personal interests with your professional career.
9. Perfection is the enemy, don't be afraid of failure.
10. The planet needs you, you have the power to make change.
11. Take care of yourself
12. The fun is not over, it just started.
13. Save and invest your hard-earned money.
14. Live at home as long as you can, respect and thank your parents.
15. Share your plans with the rest of the world.

With this list, I'm ready to leave Castelló and start a new life. I will trust myself with my decisions, be proud of my work and accept whatever comes.

Mother's day

In honor of Mother's day, an organisation asked people to participate in a video tribute celebrating moms and motherhood.
 Firstly, they described their mothers and then they shared one thing they wanted their moms to know, or one thing they would like to tell their moms.
The resulting footage is so emotional and touching; you can perfectly see how the speaker's faces light up as they talk about their moms.
Personally, this experiment has shown me how grateful and lucky I am to have my mother in my life and that I should appreciate her more and not take her for granted only because she is always there for me.