Paula (NA2) on Early Years Education

 IF I COULD MAKE SCHOOL RULES

            If I had the chance to make school rules, I would use different methods and teach questions that are useful in life.

             First of all, there would be a maximum of ten children per class so teachers could provide a certain individualized attention. Secondly, at nursery school and primary school the learning must be based in the experimentation so as to train children´s senses and common sense and, on the other hand, have the chance to learn in a more active and fun way.

Furthermore, they should train the ability to identify their emotions and how they might manage them, such us: breathing, doing exercise or meditation, because, in my opinion, this is absolutely necessary to ensure self-confidence, a well-balanced person and face the problems they will have to get over in the future.

Another factor to take into account is if we want to have conscientious adults, we must always be a model for our children and show them the importance of values such as respect, persistence or generosity, among others. And last but not least, throughout the learning, teachers must encourage a critical attitude so the students reach the capacity to think for themselves in every situation.

             In conclusion, education, as far as I am concerned, should provide a solid base to create a mentally healthier person and achieve more complex knowledge in our life.

Conversation topics for NA 2 speaking exams

DIY: one partner likes to do DIY around the house activities and has to convince the other partner that this is a great hobby to take up. It saves money and also provides satisfaction, for example, but requires carpentry, plumbing and other skills.

Global Warming: Discuss what can be done to improve our environment, both on an individual or neighbourhood level and in terms of government measures.

Guests Again!? Your partner has received a phone call from some US relatives who are going to come to stay. But they are quite a crowd and there is not enough room. Also you have had guests recently.

Social Networks: Discuss the pros and cons of social networking at both a personal and business level. Include in your discussion its usefulness in keeping people connected, how it helps some shy people overcome their fears, but also how addictive it might be for some users and also how it wastes a lot of time.

SPEAKING

Here are the monologue topics for the NA 2 May speaking test:

1   Which person has inspired you the most?

2   What kind of work would give you job satisfaction?

3   Which three adjectives best describe your personality?

4   When you argue with friends or family, what do you argue about?

5   Why is it important for you to be good at English?

6   ‘It is not possible to be both successful and happy.’

7   What has been the most important historical event in your country?

8   Which famous sights in the world would you really like to see?

If I could live in another century (Vanesa NA2)

In this essay, I propose to take my readers on a journey back in time. Films have suggested the time machine’s existence: Back to the future or Crusade in Jeans are good examples. If I could get in one of these marvelous inventions, I would travel to the twentieth century, more concretely, to the 1960’s in USA.

Maybe this is just a short trip, but I consider that the 60’s in the USA have been the most fascinating time in our history. A time full of love and music, a time when we believed that the rules were to be broken and nothing would stop our desire for freedom. If I could move to that time, I would have excited when man walked on the moon and Bob Dylan sang Blowing in the Wind, while all of us looked peacefully to Vietnam.

Without a doubt, I would have been a devoted fan of The Beatles and I would have shouted hysterically together with millions of girls in the JFK Airport, when the Fab Four came to conquer all the American hearts with their shaggy hair waving about wildly. Probably, the Woodstock music festival, celebrated in 1969, would have been an unavoidable appointment. Can you imagine listening to Jimi Hendrix, The Who or Joan Baez in the same scenery? This Festival became a symbol of the revolution against traditional values and I would not have minded being part of that movement.

A time of innocence and hope soon faded when the young president Kennedy, symbol of an inspiring future, was senselessly murdered in 1963. An American young girl like me would have cried in front of Capitol where she, with all of nation, would have felt that their hopes died, too. A similar emotion when another social and politic symbol, Martin Luther King Jr, was assassinated. But the words of this leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement will walk with us forever: “I have a dream” and we have to think that the dream has not died, another world is possible.

The 1960’s in the USA was a decade of hope and changes, but also a decade full of broken promises. Otherwise, this nation marked the course of the world and I would have loved to be part of such a magical time.

MY HERO (Guiomar NA2)

When I was a child, I was always excited when the summer arrived. Every year I spent my school holidays with my family in Jaén, but my principal wish was to see my great-grandmother. She was not so gifted, but I saw her as she was the strongest woman in the world. However, some years after her death I found out that she had had a life full of challenges.

My great-grandmother lost her first husband (my great-grandfather) when my grandmother was five years old, during the Spanish Civil War. To make things worse, she could not find where her husband had been buried.

We have investigated but it is not easy when people who knew him died such a long time ago and there is not much information about that era. She had to suffer fascist people's jokes, every year she went to France to earn money, and her second husband committed suicide. Nevertheless, she never gave up, she knew how to appreciate her life and gave everything she had to her daughter and son.

 She was not just a fighter, she was my fighter woman. I will never be like her, but I try my best every day to make her feel proud of me.