Who we are (WEEK 4):

What are idioms?

There are idioms with parts of our bodies, such as... 

1. "A sight for sore eyes"... MEANING → A sight that makes you happy. 
   
2. "Pain in the neck"... MEANING → Something or someone is making your life difficult. 
   
3. "Weak at the knees"... MEANING → To feel an emotion so strongly that it makes you feel unstable on your feet. 
   
4. "Find your feet"... MEANING → To adjust to a new place or situation. 
   
5. "Joined at the hip"... MEANING → To be exceptionally close to someone.
6. "A weight off your shoulders"... MEANING → You no longer have to worry about something or deal with something difficult. 
   

- An inversion happens when we reverse (invert) the normal word order of a structure, most commonly the subject-verb word order. Here, there are some links where this grammar method is explained: 

• https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/inversion.html
• https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/word-order-and-focus/inversion

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ

In my view (WEEK 3):

Nowadays, one of the most current topics is feminism (whose definition is: "the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes."). Everyone knows that on March 8 is celebrated the International Women's Day and the continuous fight against gender violence. This issue is increasingly supported and more and more people attend these kinds of strikes. In my opinion, this issue is important to raise awareness among all the citizens, both men and women, of what does feminism mean and the increase of victims caused by gender violence in recent years. In addition to that, this issue is not related only to women, men are also joining this cause and defending the rights of women. It seems to me that everyone should attend these strikes that take place on March 8 and support all women. 
(https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/feminism)

I searched the web and I found these links where the infinitive is explained. I hope that you can use these web pages:

• http://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/verbs/gerunds-and-infinitives/
• https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/gerunds-and-infinitives.html
• http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/verblist.htm

The movie that I have seen the most times is called "American History X". It is a film that teaches you moral values and that a person can change for the better if he proposes it. All the times I've seen this movie have been in Spanish, but this weekend I saw it in English to improve my vocabulary and the pronunciation of many words. 

I have also read some excerpts from "The Canterbury Tales" for the literature class.

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ

Week 3: In my view

A topic that has been concerning me a lot is what we can call the "Syrian genocide" happening right now in Eastern Ghouta. The Syrian civil war will turn eight years in March and nothing have happened yet. It seems that the great powers have not find any solution to end one of the worst wars in the 21st century. In my view, as long as they can sell their weapons and increase their economy, this seems to have no end.

As in any other war conflict, the ones who suffer are always the same: the people. Those who cannot do anything to survive, just wait their time to die under bombs. Meanwhile the world turns a blind eye, as if nothing have been happening. We will not feel their pain  until it happens to us, something I wish would never happen. Either to us or to any other else. Besides their sufferings and pains, they still have hope, they have not lost it, they still believe in this world and its humanity. They are still smiling...

Here are some websites that explain the infinitive very well:
-http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/infinitive.htm
-https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/es/english-grammar/verbs/infinitive
-http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-infinitive.php

Last week in order to improve my English I watched some episodes of "Friends".

Nassira Dahmani

Essay Writing (WEEK 2):

An essay is a piece of writing, usually from a writer's personal point of view on a particular topic.

And, a discursive essay is a piece of formal writing which discusses a particular issue, situation or problem.

There are three main types of discursive essays. 

For and against essays present both sides of an issue, discussing points in favor of a particular topic as well as those against, or the advantages and disadvantages of a particular question. Each point should be supported by justifications, examples, and/or reasons. The writer's own opinion should be presented only in the final paragraph.
Opinion essays present the writers' personal opinion concerning the topic, clearly stated and supported by reasons and/or examples. The opposing viewpoint and reason should be included in a separate paragraph before the dosing one, together with an argument that shows it is an unconvincing viewpoint. The writer's opinion should be included in the introduction and summarized/restated in the conclusion.
Essays suggesting solutions to problems, in which the problem(s) associated with a particular issue or situation are analyzed and possible solutions are put forward, together with any expected results/consequences. The writer's opinion may be mentioned, directly or indirectly, in the introduction and/or conclusion.

A good discursive essay should consist of:

a) an introductory paragraph in which you clearly state the topic to be discussed;
b) the main body, in which points are clearly stated in separate paragraphs and exemplified or justified: and
c) a closing paragraph summarising the main points of the essay 

d) using a formal style

e) use topic sentences

f) justification of the main points

(Information extracted from the webpage: http://academicwriting.wikidot.com/what-is-an-essay ).

Here, there are other links that can be helpful in order to write essays:

• http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
• https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/
• http://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/writing-help-service
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/english/writing/discursive_writing/revision/7/

From my viewpoint, the major difficulties I find when writing essays are: 

Getting started, the thesis statements and sometimes citing sources. 

Finally, this week in order to improve my English, I have spoken to Erasmus students and I keep watching several series, such as...

and...

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ

WEEK 3: your opinion

• Write your opinion about a trending topic you strongly support or condemn.

There is a matter that has been concerning me for a long time, which is the lack of gun control in USA which has costed the life of so many people. To be honest, the only function of a gun is to kill. Why would a person need a gun?. As you might have noticed the main problem that is shooting again and again the United States of America is the lack of gun control. It is easy for someone to buy a gun and use it as he or she likes it. In my opinion, we need to stop this. Actually, if possible, all governments around the world should have a voice on this matter and do as much as they can to ban guns. 

                                                       

    

• Browse the net for links where the infinitive is explained.

 There are quite useful pages on the internet that can help us to learn how to use the infinitive properly:

https://www.ef.com.es/recursos-aprender-ingles/gramatica-inglesa/infinitivo/

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/infinitive.htm

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/verbs/infinitive-verb.html

http://www.softschools.com/examples/grammar/infinitives_examples/96/

• Tell us what you have done this week to improve your English.

In order to improve my English I have watched two films that my classmate recommended me. Furthermore, I did some exercises from the teacher's website which are quite helpful. I wish I had more time last week to spend on learning more vocabulary.

                                                      

SARA BAHADI

Week 2: Essay writing

I have found this website which includes many resources among them are: writing and teaching writing, style guides, and Grammar and mechanisms. It includes a lot of information about how to avoid plagiarism, the different types of essays and the use of punctuation.
 https://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Here are other links that I also find interesting and useful
-http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/writing/writing.htm
-https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/30/10-grammar-rules-you-can-forget

When I am to write an essay, I find many difficulties especially those related to how to organize the information, in which part of the essay I need to provide examples. Besides, I also find some difficulties to distiguish between the different types of essays I have to write.

In order to improve my English, last week I listened to some Eurovision songs, since I am a fan of this type of contest, that are sung in English such as Germany´s song "You let me walk alone", in which the singer talks about his deceased father. Here is part of its lyrics:

I was born from one love of two hearts

We were three kids and a loving mum

You made this place a home

A shelter from the storm

You said I had one life and a true heart

I tried my best and I came so far

But you will never know

'Cause you let me walk this road alone

Nassira Dahmani

Week 1: Language

Learning languages can open doors to many opportunities, it is an advantage since you can find many  more jobs and get hired inmediately. Besides, according to some scientific researches, learning a foreing language helps our minds to stay active, our memory to be developed and the ability to concentrate increases. Speaking foreing languages also allows us to interact with people from different cultures and learn about their traditions.

Therefore, as I already speak Spanish, I want to improve my Arabic, English and French which I have been learning since primary school. However, I would like to learn new languages such as German, Chinese, and Russian. As English, German is a Germanic language, thus it is quite similar to the first and one of the most taught in the world. Regarding Chinese and Russian, I would like to learn them since they are being spoken and used frequently.

In order to improve my English, last week I watched TheEllenShow in which Ellen interviewed the American comedian and actress Amy Schumer.

Nassira Dahmani

WEEK 1: Language

Map of the world languages

Nowadays, learning languages is very important. The more languages you know the more open doors you will find. Not only for finding a job but also for communicating and getting in touch with other cultures. If It was in my hand, I would like to learn as many languages as possible. However, as this is too difficult, the main languages I will learn in the future would be French, Japanese, Arabic and Italian. Even when there are many people that say that old people have more difficulties to lean languages, I feel that languages can be learnt at an age, it does not matter if you get old and start a new one.

I think that learning languages like Japanese or Chinese is extremely useful due to globalization and the great influence that we constantly receive form these countries.

As I wanted to make a great start, I began this last four-month period of this month by reading a book named "The hate u give" which is helping me a lot with my English and also, as I have been doing during the last year, I read contemporary poetry by Rupi Kaur.

SARA BAHADI

LENGUA INGLESA IV (week 1):

LANGUAGE: 

The image of this map shows the languages spoken in the world. I am learning English and French but also, I am going to mention which languages I would like to learn. 

Japanese → I believe that learning this language is very important for the future. Most of the world's population is Japanese, so I think that this language will increase and each time more will be spoken. Besides, I am very impressed by the fact that a simple symbol can mean several words. 

Portuguese → This language is also spoken by much of the world population. It is a very romantic language that is very useful whether you travel to Portugal or travel to Brazil. Also, I think it would be easy to learn this language because it has a certain similarity with Spanish. 

Finally, in order to improve my English this week, I saw the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" in English with subtitles also in English and I liked it so much that I want to start reading the book also in English. In addition, I have seen many series in its original version with English subtitles.

Another book that I want to start reading is "Little Women" because it has always caught my attention.

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ.