Under the weather with the weather (WEEK 10):

• 2 pieces of news about weather issues: 

Why the snow in parts of Europe was orange? 

The photos are surreal, like a Martian ski slope or a toasted marshmallow sky.

But why did some people in Eastern Europe last week see the world in sepia tones? The answer lies hundreds of miles away.

The orange-brown filter applied briefly to that part of the world was caused by dense Saharan dust kicked into the air and swept north, experts said.

The process began when a polar jet stream made its way farther south than usual last week, bringing the strong winds and thunderstorms needed to whip up the dust, according to Tyler Roys, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.

“A trail of storms have been going through Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine and into western Russia, and finally this last storm that finally moved through, an area of lower pressure closer to the northern coast of Libya, helped pull the dust-up,” he said in a phone interview.

(From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/world/europe/orange-snow.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWeather&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection ).

Hot Times in the Arctic. 

In late February, a large portion of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole experienced an alarming string of extremely warm winter days, with the surface temperature exceeding 25 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.

These conditions capped nearly three months of unusually warm weather in a region that has seen temperatures rising over the past century as greenhouse gas concentrations (mostly carbon dioxide and methane) have increased in the atmosphere. At the same time, the extent of frozen seawater floating in the Arctic Ocean reached new lows in January and February in 40 years of satellite monitoring.

In recent years, the air at the Arctic Ocean surface during winter has warmed by over 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. So was this recent spate of warm weather linked to longer-term climate change, or was it, well, just the weather?

What we can say is this: Weather patterns that generate extreme warm Arctic days are now occurring in combination with a warming climate, which makes extremes more likely and more severe. What’s more, these extreme temperatures have had a profound influence on sea ice, which has become thinner and smaller in extent, enabling ships to venture more often and deeper into the Arctic.

(From https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/opinion/temperature-climate-students.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWeather&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection).

• 2 graphs or tables:

AVERAGE WEATHER IN LONDON

According to the temperature, the warm season lasts for 2.8 months, from June 15 to September 7, with an average daily high temperature of 69°F. The hottest day of the year is August 1, with an average high of 74°F and low of 60°F.

The cool season lasts for 4.0 months, from November 16 to March 18, with an average daily high temperature below 53°F. The coldest day of the year is February 7, with an average low of 39°F and high of 47°F.

CLOUD COVER CATEGORIES IN PARIS

In Paris, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.The clearer part of the year in Paris begins around May 7 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around October 12. On July 22, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 62% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy 38% of the time.The cloudier part of the year begins around October 12 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around May 7. On December 30, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy 74% of the time and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 26% of the time.

Finally, this week I have watched several films in English in order to improve my level: 

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ.

Natural wonders (WEEK 9):

I have found on the Internet a descriptive text about the Eiffel Tower, where all the expressions used for describing this place are clearly shown. However, WHAT IS A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT? 

• Descriptive text is a text which says or describes a place, a person, a thing... so that the readers can easily visualize the described place, person or thing or they can picture what it looks like. When writing a descriptive text, you have to focus on one object, in this case, a building, the name of the place (the Eiffel Tower) and the location, in Paris. Finally, the description itself must include the size, color, condition, and position. 

The Eiffel Tower is a famous tower located on Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it became both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The tower is the tallest building in Paris and the most visited paid monument in the world; millions of tourists visit it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. 

The tower's height is 1,063 feet tall, about the same height as an 81-story building. Upon its completion, it surpassed the Washington Monument to assume the title of tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years. However, due to the addition in 1957 of the antenna, the tower is now taller than the Chrysler Building. 

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift, to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level took over 300 steps, but the third and highest level is accessible only by elevator. 

You need to know a unique fact, the tower is considered as an eyesore for the people of France when it freshly made. When Eiffel was built in 1889, the tower was intended as a temporary building and will be demolished 20 years later. However, when it was useful as radio transmitters, it eventually still be allowed to stand. 

Today, it has been regarded as one of the most beautiful architectural works in the world. Besides its use for tourist attraction, the tower is also used as a communication tool for sending signals to televisions and also radios.

(Extracted from https://prezi.com/9gvv4foambdc/descriptive-text-eiffel-tower/ ). 

Finally, in order to improve my English, I have done some exercises from these web pages that you can find very useful to improve your level:

http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/online-english/english-grammar-exercise-for-advanced-levels

http://www.englishtag.com/tests/level_test_lower_advanced_C1.asp

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/advanced/cae-003-multiple-choice-cloze-exercise.php

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ. 

• Browse the Net and upload a descriptive text of a well-known place, and underline all the expressions used for describing the place. Add other sentences by yourself to improve the text selected

                     Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China, Chinese (Pinyin) Wanli Changcheng or (Wade-Giles romanization) Wan-li Ch’ang-ch’eng (“10,000-Li Long Wall”), extensive bulwark erected in ancient China, one of the largest building-construction projects ever undertaken. The Great Wall actually consists of numerous walls—many of them parallel to each other—built over some two millennia across northern China and southern Mongolia. The most extensive and best-preserved version of the wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and runs for some 5,500 miles (8,850 km) east to west from Mount Hu near Dandong, southeastern Liaoning province, to Jiayu Pass west of Jiuquan, northwestern Gansu province. This wall often traces the crestlines of hills and mountains as it snakes across the Chinese countryside, and about one-fourth of its length consists solely of natural barriers such as rivers and mountain ridges. Nearly all of the rest (about 70 percent of the total length) is actual constructed wall, with the small remaining stretches constituting ditches or moats. Although lengthy sections of the wall are now in ruins or have disappeared completely, it is still one of the more remarkable structures on Earth. The Great Wall was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.


Generally the wall was built with whatever resources were available nearby. The earlier walls were built with compacted dirt surrounded by stone. Much of the later Ming wall was built with bricks. The wall was really a fortification to protect the northern border. It was a wall, but also had watchtowers, beacon towers to send signals, and blockhouses to house soldiers. There were soldiers guarding the walls and towers. There were also towns built along the wall to garrison soldiers so they could quickly get to the wall in case of a large attack. It is estimated that over 1 million soldiers guarded the great wall during the height of the Ming Dynasty

Text and image taken from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Wall-of-China and http://www.ducksters.com/history/china/great_wall_of_china.php

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

In order to improve my English, this week I have been working on a paper I have to hand in the following week. Furthermore, I have done random exercises form the teacher's website and I also continued reading a compulsory novel for literatura so that I can do an oral presentation. In addition to that I have watched a kind of documentary named  They first killed my father.

                                           

SARA BAHADI 

Narrative essay writing (WEEK 8):

The narrative approach offers writers a chance to think and write about themselves. We all have experiences lodged in our memories, which are worthy of sharing with readers. When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from a defined point of view, often the author's, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. The writer must be sure to include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. the narrative essay is told from a particular point of view, makes and supports a point, is filled with precise detail, uses vivid verbs and modifiers, uses conflict and sequence as does any story and may use a dialogue.

Narratives are generally written in the first person, that is, using I. However, third person (he, she, or it) can also be used.
Narratives rely on concrete, sensory details to convey their point. These details should create a unified, forceful effect, a dominant impression. More information on the use of specific details is available on another page.
Narratives, as stories, should include these story conventions: a plot, including setting and characters; a climax; and an ending.

(From the webpage: https://essayinfo.com/essays/narrative_essay.php).

I have found other web pages in which this kind of essay writing is explained:

• https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Narrative-Essay
• https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/narrative-essays/
• https://www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/how-to-write-a-narrative-essay/

This Easter holiday, I have seen several movies and I have continued reading the book "Dead Famous" to improve my English. The two films I've seen have been in English and with subtitles in English to improve the phonetics and acquire more vocabulary. I will also recommend a series that I am watching at the moment.

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ

Persuasion (WEEK 7):

What is persuasion?

A process aimed at changing a person's (or a group's) attitude or behavior towards some event, idea, object, or another person (s), by using written or spoken words to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination of them. 
Here, the word "persuasion" is used in some sentences in order to see clearly its meaning:
- He was blessed with the gift of persuasion and could convince anybody of almost anything with little effort. 
- The salesman was trying to use persuasion to get the customer to sign on to the monthly subscription magazine he was trying to sell. 

And some expressions of persuading: 

• Give it a try
• Try them on
• Believe me, you will have fun times
• You won't regret it
• This is once in your lifetime, don't waste it
• You wouldn't find them twice
• You will never feel sorry about it
• Just this once!
• You're not going to let me down, are you?
• How can I persuade you to...?
• Why don't you...?

But also, I have found a dialogue of persuading:

Mark                : Anthony. What are you doing this evening? How about a movie?

Anthony          : Which one?

Mark                : There’s a good Indonesian movie at 21^st theatre.

Anthony          : you know I don’t like Indonesian movies.

Mark                : Oh, Come on. I’ll sure you’ll enjoy this one.

Anthony          : I don’t enjoy Indonesian movies. I can’t follow the conversation fully.

Mark                : So what? We’re not Indonesian. Most of us are not able to follow the

               conversation fully. But there are so many other things you can enjoy.

Anthony          : That’s true.

Mark                : Then why don’t you come?

Anthony          : All right. I’ll be at the theatre at 7. Is that OK?

Mark                : Fine. See you at 7.

Anthony          : See you.

(From the webpage: http://howtolearnenglishofexpressing.blogspot.com.es/2015/01/expressing-of-persuading-someone.html)

Find a text where a hypothesis is discussed: 

Plant life cycles underwent fundamental changes during the initial colonization of the land in the Early Palaeozoic, shaping the direction of evolution. Fossils reveal unanticipated diversity, including new variants of meiotic cell division and leafless gametophytes with mycorrhizal-like symbioses, rhizoids, vascular tissues, and stomata. Exceptional fossils from the 407-Ma Rhynie chert (Scotland) play a key role in unlocking this diversity. These fossils are reviewed against progress in our understanding of the plant tree of life and recent advances in developmental genetics. Combining data from different sources sheds light on a switch in the life cycle that gave rise to the vascular plants. One crucial step was the establishment of a free-living sporophyte from one that was an obligate matrotroph borne on the gametophyte. It is proposed that this difficult evolutionary transition was achieved through expansion of gene expression primarily from the gametophyte to the sporophyte, establishing a now extinct life cycle variant that was more isomorphic than heteromorphic. These changes also linked for the first time in one developmental system rhizoids, vascular tissues and stomata, putting in place the critical components that regulate transpiration and forming a physiological platform of primary importance to the diversification of vascular plants.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The Rhynie cherts: our earliest terrestrial ecosystem revisited'.

In this text, the hypothesis is the origin of the vascular plant life cycle. 

(From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29254970).

LORENA CONESA MARTÍNEZ

WEEK 8: narrative essay writting

• Find out on the web 2 different links where narrative essay writing is explained and summarise the main characteristics. In which way is it different from discursive essay writing?

• The links for the narrative essays are the following:

https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/narrative/friends.html

https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/narrative/nightmare-creator.html


Which is most important in a narrative essay is the main aim which is the narration of an event that happened and its normally narrated in first or third person but never in second. When we find a narrative essay the most common thing we find are the following: first of all, it is compulsory for a narrative text to have characters, principal and secondary characters. We also find a plot that follows a timeline. In the essay there is a conflict and also a solution to that problem. In contrast, The goal of a discursive essay is to present a balanced and objective examination of a subject. Like an argumentative essay, the topic may be controversial, but the discursive essay attempts to present a much more balanced discussion of the issue. It does not, however, have to be expressly neutral. The essay should present both sides of the discussion, supported by facts and research. The author may draw tentative conclusions about the subject and suggest them to the reader.

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

As I have mentioned in the previous post, I have not done so much last week. however, my intention is to make it up. I will read a book for literature and I will also be writing a paper for reacción academica.

SARA BAHADI

WEEK 7: persuasion

• Find out expressions to express persuasion, different from the ones offered in the textbook.

Are you sure you ought to make that complaint?
You really should invite your boss, you know.
That’s quite a good idea, you know.
He’s an excellent Teacher, actually.
Don’t be silly John, it’s not that expensive.
Don’t forget that he’s your uncle.
What about your friends?
What about the time and energy you’ve already invested, then?
Don’t you think you should do something for your institute?
I could do with your support, you know.
I can assure you of my full support.

That’s all I know, honestly.
But you must admit that he did all he could.
But surely you must agree that this is an extraordinary case.
He’s honest, I can assure you.
It’s here in writing.
Isn’t it possible that he doesn’t know anything about it?
Look, I saw it myself.
Honestly, it’s quite true.
I can guarantee that you’ll get a promotion soon.
But don’t you agree that he was not in station at that time?
This is the best quality we can get – there’s no doubt about it.

Expressions taken from this page: http://spokenenglish4u14tips.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/expressions-to-sound-persuasive-and.html

• Find a text on the Internet where a hypothesis is discussed and underline the expresions for hypothesising.

Pocket Money

Dear Parents,
This is a proposal for the review of the current pocket money distribution between my sister and me. Emma is older than I by only two years and may I point out- receives nearly twice as much pocket money as I do. I think this is unfair.

As far as I can see, the only reason for the difference is based on our age. I think this is totally unacceptable. I propose that we change this old-fashioned arrangement and bring this family into the 21st century! As I am now performing tasks equal to and in most cases better than my sister I feel it only just that this be recognized.

To illustrate what I am claiming, I will briefly review what happened over the past week. Emma and I both completed our normal room tidy-up, rubbish disposal and washing-up duties. On top of that, my sister vacuumed the house. I cleaned the windows and scrubbed the bathroom, which, as you said yourself, mother dear, was done beautifully! I find it impossible then to understand how Emma’s pocket money could possibly exceed mine!

In the past my sister has claimed she should receive more because she has trained me how to do these household chores. However, as I am now performing independently, or as an equal team member, this responsibility no longer exists.

I trust you will consider this matter seriously and remove the inequality that now exists.

Your loving-and underpaid- daughter,
Jessica

-Essay from http://www.pdst.ie/persuasivewriting

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

This last week I have not done so much to improve my English and it is because I was on vacation. I have visited my cousins form Albacete and under no circumstances would they let me do any homework, however I have made them watch a movie in English but with Spanish subtitles.

SARA BAHADI