Test done!!

Hello! is there anyone there?.

Well, last weekend was quite important to me because I did the proficiency test in Valencia. As you may know, preparing the proficiency was the reason to start writing again in the blog. So after two months more or less of studing, now I just need to wait until genuary 23rd to see my results.

Here are some thoughts on the test.

Speaking
The speaking is almost identical to the sample paper in the cambridge PCE webpage, so you know beforehand how is the test going to be. However, since the content differes in each test, it may be difficult if you need to talk about something that you are not familiarized with. Also, since you have to speak a lot, you need to be careful to not relax regarding pronunciation after a while.
In my test, I had to talk about pictures for an art exhibition, and about the importance of new ways of thinking to solve problems like food shortage and energy.

Reading
The most diffcult part in my reading was part 3, where you have to order some paragraphs. The paragraphs were about a story in the north pole, about a writer living with eskimos and raising raineers. The story was nice, but the paragraphs were confusing.

Writing
The writing was good, but unfortuntely I made some spelling mistakes that could have been avoided. More exactly, I used neightbourhood instead of neighbourhood, and some more. And I used the word a lot of times :(
I wrote firstly a letter about comments on a shopping mall. In the second text, I wrote about a proposal for a environmental day at school.

Use of English
I have to say that the use of english was easier than I thought. It usually is my weakest skill, and I think it wasn't so difficult.

Listening
On the other hand, the listening was more difficult than expected. To be precise, the most diffcult parts were part 1 and port 4. Usually part 1 is difficult when it has long sentences and answers, because you need to understand the questions at the same time that the listening is taking place. The longer the sentences, the harder the part 1 is. And last saturday the sentences were VERY large.

At the end, I think that I have possibilities to pass the test, but I think it will be a close call. Time will tell.

Future of the blog
Well, I think that I am going to stop posting things for a time since I no longer need to practice my writing. I will write about the results when I get them, but in the meantime, I am not sure what to write about in my blog. Any suggestion?

Proposal: End of academic year

My name is John and I am a senior student of industrial enginnering. I read about recent email regarding the celebration of the academic year. In that email you proposed three different possibilities, but I have to admit that I find them unsuitable for such an occasion.

In first place, you mentioned a dinner. That is exactly what we selected last year, and you should be perfectly aware of the result: only a tenth of all the student community participated in the dinner. In my opinion that is unacceptable, because I feel that the end of the academic year is a celebration for everyone of us. I do not think we sholud select again the same event, and in my opinion we should try a new option to try to gather as many people as possible.

Another possibility was to organize a concert. I think that this is an excellent idea, but it has two drawbacks: in one hand, to find a good band needs considerable budget, and I suppose the student council does not have much possibilities. On the other hand, I think it would be difficult to find an artist that attracts a big portion of the student ccommunity, because everyone have different tastes and we need to reach as many people as possible.

A disco event should be much more suitable in this aspect, but as you know the government has forbidden the college to do any kind of night party. There have been problems with other colleges, and we risk serious repercussions if we decide to do a disco event.

I suggest to do a sport event. From my point of view this is the best option: it needs a low budget, it would gather most of the students, and it would be very interesting and entertaining. We could do different tournaments (tennis, soccer, etc) and give prizes to the winners.

Thank you for reading this proposal, I hope that you find it useful for selecting the event. I am sure it will be a great event whatever option you choose.

Best regards.


Words: 347

Interesting sentences and expressions:
unsuitable -> poco apropiado
unacceptable -> inaceptable
to be aware of something -> ser consciente de algo
drawback -> inconveniente
to forbid / forbade / forbidden -> prohibir
repercussion -> repercusion
budget ->presupuesto
entretenido -> entertaining

Article: Bye bye book

  
If you have not heard about electronic books, you may as well been living in a deserted island. Electronic books (or ebooks, as they are also called) have appeared recently in our lives. First they were simply an advertisement in a computer magazine, but nowadays you see them in stores, in the metro or even in parks.

The electronic book is here to stay, and it offers different advantages. The most important one is the possibility of having a full library in your pocket, without any need of extra space. That characteristic and the possibility to play with the content (change the font and size of the text) are threatening the all-powerful dominance that books have had until know.

But, are books really in danger? Books have been able to survive all different kinds of threats from other media, like music, movies or television. This kind of media delivers highly attractive images and sounds to the user, which entertains  him without the need to use active thinking. The user can just sit down in the sofa, turn on the television and receive an incredible amount of information that goes directly to his brain.

In fact, the difference between passive reception of information and active use of the brain while reading has been the strongest aspects in favout of books. People who like reading books don't really find tv or movies so incredible attracting.

However, the appearance of electronics books is a game-changer, as it will fight books in their own field. Both ebooks and regular books promote active thinking, and therefore differences between them need to be sought in other places. Soon we will know if the smell of a new book or the pleasant sensation of turning pages are enough to hold up against online libreries and downloadable files.

In fact, only one thing is clear: either with paper based or electronic books, the pleasure of reading will always be in our heads.

Words: 324

Interesting sentences and expressions:
Desert / dessert : Desierto / postre
Deserted island : Isla desierta
Threatening: amenazador
All-powerful: todopoderoso
Font: fuente
Threat: amenaza
Sit down: sentarse
game-changer: algo que cambia las reglas del juego
to seek/sought/sought: buscar
pleasant: placentero