sábado, 15 de diciembre de 2012

Scotland!

As very few people will go to our school trip and its organization is a mess, we decided to build up a virtual trip to Scotland!
We split up in groups of four, each one with a role (travel agent, catering, guide and teacher) which were in charge of certain tasks. I'm the catering manager, and I have to look up where to stay and what and where to eat.
The final product is an detailed program of the trip.
I belong to an group called "Hot Tamale's", because of a song called Hot Tamale.

This is our main page, although you might need to log in with an account to be able to see what's written on it. If you have to, try to create an account on the Wiki or use the public/guest account, which you will be able to use soon.

Our daily schedules are on the left board, as well as some notes and vocabulary.

Here's our prezy!

jueves, 13 de diciembre de 2012

We have a guest!


Last week... Ok, about one or two months ago (sorry, I wrote a draft but I forgot to publish it), learning how translators work and related stuff, the mother of one of our partners, Jade, came to visit us at class (they both are English). We did some kind of interview, simulating that Jade's mother (Laura) didn't know any Spanish and we didn't know any English, except one of us, playing the role of translator. So, one by one and by turns, we had to translate into Spanish what she was saying and into English the questions that we asked.

I actually already knew her, and I pretty much see her almost every day (we live pretty close), so it kinda felt like cheating.
However I learned a few things about her that I didn't know. Anyways, here is some of the information that I gathered:

Laura was born in Exeter the nineteenth of January. Exeter is an old city, in the west side of England. It shelter one very important norman cathedral and a lot of old yet beautiful buildings, so as many shops.
During her youth, it was very easy to travel, so she frequently moved to other cities, looking for jobs and just because she loved to travel. She left school at the age of sixteen, a very big mistake, as she says. But later, at the age of 33, she went to university, where she studied Spanish. She has always loved animals, that's why she now has six dogs!
She loves to read and travel, although she doesn't travel much anymore. She can speak English, Spanish and French, and she used to sail too. Her favorite Spanish's food is paella, and her English's is fish and chips.
She lived in Columbia for two years, and also Rumania. She moved to Spain when Jade was little, because of her education. They firstly lived in Majorca, where she worked as a teacher, but then they came to the south of the peninsula, because in her opinion it's a safer place in general.

Well, what do you think about her life until now? Feel free to comment!

miércoles, 12 de diciembre de 2012

What to read

Of course, reading is important. Free knowledge for everyone... Or not so free, but, what price is worth more than the reward of reading? Reading is within the reach of anyone, and it helps you in many ways.
Reading stimulates the neurons and keeps the brain active. It's like watching a film in your head!
It reduces stress, increases tranquility and analytical thinking, and it also enriches your vocabulary!
It even helps you improving your memory.

There are lots of kinds of books. For everyone, anyone, thousands of books that he would love.
But, what's even better than reading in another language?
In my case, as my primary language is Spanish, I'll go for English.
I already have two books that I would like to (and I'm going to) read. Whenever I can... I guess...
No, now seriously: I have actually started both some weeks ago, but I ran short of time because of my studies, so I temporarily had to stop reading. These are:

- Black Rock Prison (Volume 1): I have read this same volume already in Spanish, but since it is free, why not read it again in English? I loved it, and I ended wanting more, as the next volume isn't free and I haven't been able to get it yet. I looked up some information some time ago, and it seems that the authors firstly wrote Black Rock Prison as a TV Series, but they didn't present it and then it became a novel. They wrote it both in Spanish and English! Here's the plot (by the authors):

"What is the worst sentence that can befall a convict in Illinois? Not life in prison, not lethal injection. The worst punishment is to be sent to Black Rock Prison, a black-walled fortress whose exact location no one knows. The new warden of this unusual prison controls every dimension of each and every one of the convicts unfortunate enough to be sent there.

The inmates soon will discover that they are not normal people, nor have they been imprisoned there by chance. The sentences awaiting them will be carried out in the shadow of a sinister threat. It isn’t long before they find out that much more than their own lives is riding on solving the mystery of Black Rock."


I chose this book because I loved it's Spanish version and because it's very entertaining.




- The Tower: This one was on one of the bookshelves of my house. The plot seemed interesting, so I took a look and I liked it. Although it's an archaeological book, I've read the half of it already.
This is it's plot:
"Twenty centuries ago, a ferocious, mysterious force hidden in a solitary tower annihilated a squad of Roman soldiers advancing through the Sahara desert. There was a single survivor: the Etruscan diviner Avile Vipinas, who later described the horror of the creature in the tower, and suggested how this being could be destroyed.

But just what is the dark being that slumbers in the tower?
And who are the fierce desert-dwelling Blemmyae observed by ancient travellers : might they truly exist? 

To find the tower and solve its unutterable mystery, three men venture into the heart of the Sahara: an archaeologist following the traces of his father, a colonel from the Foreign Legion thirsting for revenge, and a priest who puts his faith to the ultimate rest."


What do you think?

domingo, 11 de noviembre de 2012

Digital Reflex Photography - Manual Modes

For our BCK, I made this presentation, in which I explain the non automatic modes of a Digital Reflex camera (or DSLR).



So, what do you think?
Any doubts? Feel free to comment and ask!

Can I help you?

During the last weeks we have been working on our Bank of Common Knowledge, where we all show how to do the things we can do. Because everyone can do something special, right?
I chose to show how to use the manual modes of an DSLR camera.
I have my presentation already done and I'll post it in a few minutes!

jueves, 4 de octubre de 2012

My PLE

My PLE (Personal Learning Environment):
My English skills are practically based on having watched hundreds of hours (not consecutively, of course) of English spoken videos. Generally gameplay videos, because I love videogames, but I wasn't able to play them for some time, so I decided to watch other people play!
Later on I started reading some books in English, so it isn't very difficult anymore for me.

My Personal Learning Network (PLN) would be something like this, nowadays:
I also have been translating on Twitter Translation Center for a while, reaching to belong to the 13% of the best translators! Although I've leaved it apart and surely my ranking has dropped a bit.
I've contributed in some official and fan forums in English, for quite a long time.
But I'm most proud of having entered a non-official (but pretty known, being among the fastest and with less faults) groups of translators of a certain game. It was tough because we had to code the translation and none of us had much experience in the game's language (Java).

And what is your PLE like?

lunes, 24 de septiembre de 2012

Classroom posters


Still in the beginning of the course, we decided to prepare some things for it.
Isn't studying and doing exams too boring? It's better to make, design or just search posters to decorate the classroom!
Here we're going to organize, share and publish our posters, so that some teachers can choose the ones that will be printed.
Although, we still can vote and commend ourselves!
Let's see which ones get elected at the end...

I've sent some to the teacher, Diego, for him to upload them. They are:
- Future: Forge your destiny, don't waste your time, your future is YOU!
- Guide: As a guide for your life. Leverage your time and what you do, towards prosperity.
- Time: Take benefits of what you do, do not let fear stop you, take advantage of your effort. Because if you do not work, aren't you wasting your life?

What do you think?

martes, 18 de septiembre de 2012

Me

My name is Mike. I'm fifteen years old and the second youngest among my four brothers. The three eldest of them are already in their thirties and are married. But they live pretty far away from here, although the last time all the family was together was this summer, in the wedding of the youngest of the three. I had to be over fourteen hours on different planes just to get there!


There are about eleven thousand km to there, Malaysia. We ate there lots of different Asian foods, and I'd say it's my favorite type of food. Specially Japanese food, but sadly I don't eat much of it here.
I like to read books in my free time and sometimes to write short stories or just to do martial arts like karate.
In school I like maths, physics, chemistry and biology, although I haven't really been centered enough last years.
Regarding sports, some time ago I played tennis and went swimming a lot, but now I don't have all the time I used to spend on them. Nowadays I just go to the gym or practice martial arts like Aikido, Karate or Muay Thai.
I don't really support any team of any game, because I hate to watch them on TV and I don't go to watch matches wherever they play them.
About my future, I'm not fully sure yet what I want to be or study in college, but I do know it'll be an engineering.