WRITING 7: ABOUT AN EXPERIENCE

All started a few months ago, in winter. I met my best friend Laia for to go for a walk arround the lake. Before that, I bought four chocolate donuts, so I gave two to Laia. When we were very full up, we started to talk about everything and we had a lot of fun. All the way around the lake we were laughing about stupid things.

Everything changed for us when we saw a dog.

Laia said to me: “Don't say anything to this big dog, please!”

But what I did was the opposite, I shouted its name.

Suddently, the dog started walking to us. Then, Laia quickly went behind me because she was frightened.

I stroked the dog and it was to be a girl! She was very friendly and sweet, but she had got lost.

We called the dog “Wiwi” and we decided to bring her to the vet. There, we explained all the story to the doctor and then he said that Wiwi was a young breed dog.

After that, he looked if Wiwi had a “xip” and she had one in her neck!

Finally, the vet did a phone call to the kennel because in there they could contact with the owners of lost dogs. So the doctor said to us that in a few hours Wiwi would be with her family again.

This is the happy ending about our dog.

HISTORY OF A PRODUCT: MINI COOPER

Hy, my name's Laia and now I'm going to explain the history of the car "Mini Cooper".

The Mini is a small economy car made by the Bristish Motor Corporation (BMC) and it's successors from 1959 until 2000. Is manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in England.

John Cooper was a co-founder, with his father Charles Cooper, of the Cooper Car Company. He became an auto racing legend with his rear-engined chassis design that would eventually change the face of the sport at its highest levels, from Formula One to the Indianapolis 500. They collaborated on making a sportier Mini which was then called the Mini Cooper.

The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent of its German contemporary the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T.

To distinguish it from its predecessor (the 'classic Mini'), the brand name for the new car is MINI (written in capital letters). It is often called 'The BMW MINI', 'The New MINI', or simply 'MINI'.

www.mini.es is the original mini's webside and if you want you can have a look and see more mini's models and you can customize your car the way you like.

NUTTY ART 

These Picasso sculptures used to be peanuts! An American man called Steve Casino transforms them into art. Steve takes about ten hours to make a sculpture. First, he finds the right peanut. Next, he extracts the nut and then glues the shell back together. He adds arms and legs and then paints the nut. It's a cool hobby that costs peanuts! 

EYE BEAUTY 

Would you go to school with decorations glued to your eyelashes? These eye accessories are the work of Natalie Russo, a 20-year-old designer from Seattle, USA. Natalie uses beads, wire and feathers to make her fun creations. She says that they are so light that you forget you are wearing them. Are you tempted? Eye am! 

WRITING 6: AN OPINION ESSAY 

The government plans to introduce a new law which will mean that young people won't be able to ride mopeds or motorbikes unless they are eighteen. In my view, this would have some negative consequences. 

In the first place, I believe that mopeds and motorbikes are necessary because public transport is very limited in some areas. Young people can't always depend on their parents for transport. So if this law is introduced, I've no doubt that a lot of them will have difficulty in travelling from place to place. I also think that this would discriminate against young motorists, who aren't all irresponsible. 

If the aim of the government is to lower the number of road accidents, it seems to me that there's a better alternative: if they spent more money on better roads and road signs, transport in this country would be safer. 

WRITING UNIT 1: SUMMER HOLIDAYS 

Hy, my name's Laia and now I'm going to talk about my summer holidays.

-First I'm going to talk about l'Estartit.

-Second I'm going to talk about my stage for a week in Palamos with my friend Laia Gan.

-Third I'm going to talk about my holidays in Mikonos.

Let's start!

Last summer I spent a long time in l'Estartit, it's my favourite place. The firsts days we were in a summercamp with children and this year it was for three weeks.

After this two friends from Brussels came, Victor and Joséphine. I sepnt a long time with them. The girl rides a horse and she rode all the time with me and the boy, Victor, who doesn't ride a horse but he love to spend all day with us in the hipica.

And in the end it was hard to say goodbye because we spent a lot of time together. The next summer they will come again.

In the middle of August, I went with my friend Laia Gan and her family in Palamós for one week because they are from Barcelona. Laia is a really good friend and she's fourteen years old.

In the morning we sometimes went to the beach, in the swimming pool...always with Oliver, the Laia's friend, he's seventeen years.

The parents of Laia are separated and she normally studies in Torroella de Montgrí with her mother. But this year for personal reasons, Laia has to go to Barcelona with her father and her mother too, and was hard again to say goodbye because this year I won't see her often.

The last week of August I went with my father, my father's wife and my sister to Mikonos in Greece for a one week. We were in hotel called Mikonian Imperial and it was really really nice! The first day we arrived at 10 o'clock in the night. The first day in Mikonos was beautiful. It's a very small island but the people are friendly, generous and cozy.

The other days were perfect, one day there was a gay party, and there were a lot of gays everywhere.

Indeed, Mikonos is the gay's paradise.

We came back to Banyoles on Saturday and after this I started the school.

WRITING 9: MY TRIP TO ITALY

Monday 3rd to Friday 7th we were in Italy, because every year the students of ESO 4th go there. 

The first day we got up at 3 o'clock in the morning because the bus was leaving at 4:15. When we arrived in the airport it was really funny because Paula fell down the stairs at the beggining of the journey. 

We arrived in Pisa aproximately at 9 o'clock in the morning. We visited "La torre de Pisa" and some representative monuments there. After this, we went to Florencia. The hotel was really nice. 

The second day we went to "La Galeria dels Uffici", after this we went to "Santa Maria del Fiore". In the afternoon I did my presentation. In the night we went to a restaurant and after the restaurant we went for a walk. 

The third day we travelled to Rome. There, we visited the Hotel. It wasn't really nice. In the afternoon we went to "La plaça de la República" and "Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri". After this, we finally visited "els Fòrums", "el Capitoli" and "the Pantenó". 

The fourth day we spent all the time in the Vatican. There we visited all the places and in the afternoon we went for a walk with the friends.

Finally, the last day we visited "el Colisseu". After this we went to the hotel and there we took all the things and returned back to Banyoles. 

It was a nice travel because I was with my friends and I enjoyed a lot!  

CULTURE 

FASHION

ICE DRESS 

Be a real ice queen in this dress. Designed by Hollywood favourite Philip Armstrong, whose clients include Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, it made a huge impresion at Liverpool's annual Ice Festival. Carved from a two-metre block of ice, it weighs 700 kilos and took 40 hours to sculpt inside a huge freezer studio! 

TV SERIES

IN AMERICA 

This is the story of a crazy road trip across the USA by two Frenchmen who hit the road for very different reasons: David to sell his "evolutive progressive hair extension" and Michel to take part in the World Sofa Dance Championship! Other than being brothers-in-law they have nothing in common: David is arrogant and ambitious, while Michel is a likeable daydreamer. The opening episodes promise plenty of laughs: the scenes of Michel practising for the dance contest at a rundown gas station are hilarious! 


DESIGN 

LENNY 

It looks like a fencing mask, but it design is actually inspired by the air funnels on boats. Either way, we love the look of this stylish new bluetooth speaker, a collaboration between the British furniture chain Habitat and the French hi-fi house Elipson.

BOOK 

PETITS VOYAGES & GRANDES HISTORIES: LONDRES, by A. Yobrégat and F. Dussourd 

An electric, laid-back guide book, the two authors take you around the capital, recounting, with humour, their observations and adventures. Piccadilly Circus, Soho, Brick Lane, Notting Hill...all the famous names are here, plus recipes, tales of vintage London, top addresses and handy survival tips! Everything but Hugh Gran, in fact!