9. TRIP TO ITALY

My trip to Italy…

Hello my name's Júlia and I'm going to talk about travelling to Italy. I went to this trip with my class and 3 teachers.
First we went to Pisa, second we went to Florence and finally we went to Rome.

Okay, in Pisa we visited the tower of Pisa, the Cathedral and other monuments in that place. After that we went to have dinner in a local restaurant.

Once we finished our dinner we took the bus and we went to Florence. We stayed for two nights. On the first day we went to the Uffizzi Gallery and to Ponte Vecchio. In the evening we returned to Ponte Vecchio because we wanted to see the lights.

On the second day we visited the statue of David in the exhibition. The next day we took the train and we went to the capital of Italy, Rome. We stayed for two nights too.

On the first day we visited the town and we went to the Pantheon, Capitoline Hill, the St Paul's Basilica, the Trevi Fountain and we threw a coin and made a desire and we saw Trajan's Colum too. The next day we visited the Vatican and the statue of Moises. On our last day we went to visit the Colosseum.

My opinion about this trip is that we had to walk a lot but it was worth it.
It was an interesting travel and I am very happy as it was very amusing. I would like to go back! It was a very good experience.

6. AN OPINION ESSAY

The government plans to introduce school on Saturday mornings. My opinion is against because I think there are five days in the week and students go to school eight hours a day. A lot of students go out with their families or use this time for homework, buying clothes...

I believe that it is unfair because the students will not have time to be with their family and they won't prepare exams, they won't go to the competitions and there will not be any free time for any students.

If the aim of this government is to improve the level to education, I think they must give a lot of money for necessary materials, for example, to improve the blackboards. Because they don't work very well and the books could be better. On the other hand the school menu should change with less quantity and more quality.

5. ABOUT ME AND MY VIEW OF THE WORLD

My name is Júlia and I'm a student in Banyoles in Spain. I'm interested in dancing and sport. Some of my friends are into sports too. The thing that I like best is going to the shopping center for a whole day.

I don't think that the world is boring, because I like some places.

A lot of days, I meet my friends and go to the cinema. After that there aren't many things that I don't like, but we eat sandwiches and fizzy-drinks.

As for as the future, I think it is similar to the past, because I like my past. My friends are the best.

And something else I would like to travel to New York with my friends.

CINEMA

Saving Mr. Banks

This is a movie about the making of a movie but it doesn't matter if you've never seen the film in question, Disney's Mary Poppins from 1964. It was an adaptation of a children's novel by a British author, P.L. Travers, who for 20 years had refused to sell Walt Disney the film rights. When money problems forced her to compromise, she went out to Hollywood determined to stop Disney turning her book into something sugary and American. 

She failed, of course, but the story of her campaign gives Emma Thompson a great comic role as the difficult, sharp-tongued author. The real Walt Disney was not so relaxed and kindly as Tom Hanks' interpretation, however. But that's the problem with the movie as a whole-it's a Disney version on Disney history, too sweet and sentimental. Poor P.L Travers would no doubt be horrified to see what they've done with her life.FM

VOCABULARY

Sugary: ensucrat

Sharp-tongued: llengua afilada

The Monuments Men

Perfect timing? Just as George Clooney stars in (and directs) a film about the hunt for art stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War, the newspapers reveal theat an elderly German citizen has been hiding one billion dolars of masterpieces in his apartment. Sadly, critics report that Clooney's film lacks dramatic tension-for once, reality is more exciting that ficition, it seems...RM

VOCABULARY

Directs: dirigeix

Citizen: ciutadà

Hiding: ocultació

Masterpiece: obres maestres

5 stemps to your summer job in the USA

1. First of all, you must be over 18 and have one year of post-Bac education to be eligible for a J-1 visa. If you are not yet 18, then wait. This part is easy. If you are 18, continue to no. 2...

2. Happy birhday! Now find a job. Starting in January, American employers will be advertising thousands of summer jobs through sites like Coolworks.com and Summerjobs.com. Don't leave it too late and don't go through a placement service-you'll play about 300 euros for it and you'll probably fins yourself working with ofhter Europeans rather than Americans!

3.Once you have the job, you need your J-1 visa. This is no problem, but you must go through a sponsor organization. These are numerous, but it's best to choose a Paris-based one that will be close to the American consulate-it's faster and more convenient in the event of an emergency. We recommend the Parenthèse agency. They charge you only for the visa process(620euros), put job offers on their Facebook page and provaide a free service correcting you cover letter when you apply for a job. They do not, however, ofefer a " job-finding" service. " Nobody should ever pay anybody anything to find a summer job in the USA!" says Patti Brown of Parenthèse.

4. Expect to work for 6-8 weeks to cover your travel and visa costs. After that you will start to make money for youself quite rapidly because your food and housing is free with most jobs. " In general, depending on how much they travel, students come back to France with about 2000 dolars after the summer" says Patti Brown.

5. Come back to France only marginally richer, but definitely more mature. And cooler. With and American accent and good English. Wich is worth a lot.

VOCABULARY

Advertising: publicitat

Rather: més aviat

Provaide: proveïr

Apply: aplicar

Housing: habitage

Mature: madur

Cooler: millor

Worth: valor

Magma mia!

Yellowstone, Wyoming

A supervolcano under Yellowstone national park is 2.5 times bigger than previously thought and could be "catastrophic" for the planet if it were to erupt. With a 90 km-long magma chamber, geologists say it could produce an ash cloud that would make two-thirds of the US uninhabitable. Luckily, scientists say no eruption is imminent, but they will be keeping a close eye on it!