Oral Presentation: MSF

By Inma Quiles

MSF, a well-known NGO, is an independent and international medical humanitarian organization. Although this is not an original topic, I have chosen it because, in my opinion, MSF is carrying out an important work and, on the other hand, I think that someone can be interested in it.

HOW WAS IT BORN?

MSF was born in the early 70s out of the exasperation of a group of French doctors, who worked in desperate conditions in the Biafra War (1967-1970), because they did not agree with the conditions and the violation of Human Rights there. On the other hand, another group of French doctors, who worked in Bangladesh, did not agree with the delivery of international aids, which they thought unfair so, both groups decided to join, and together with a group of journalists, to set up a new organization in order to work, wherever it was necessary, irrespective of race, religion or political system, to alleviate human suffering, to protect life and health, and to restore to people their fundamental Human Rights

Nowadays, MSF is a worldwide organization, which works in more than 60 countries with 19 offices and three Logistics Centres all over the world; its actions are guided by medical ethic and the principles of neutrality and impartiality, evaluating medical needs, and giving priority to those population in serious danger.

WHERE DOES IT WORK?

It usually works, in places where there are armed conflicts, epidemics, natural or man –made disasters, or in places, where people are excluded from healthcare, that happens mainly in Africa, Asia, Central and South-America.

It acts, in emergencies and in its aftermath, rehabilitates and runs hospitals and clinics, performs surgeries, battles epidemics, carries out vaccination campaigns, operates feeding centres for malnourished children and offer mental health care, when it is necessary. It too, dispenses clean drinking water and provides shelter materials like blankets and plastic sheeting and provides training to local people. Also, trough longer-term programmes, MSF treats patients with infectious diseases, such as: TBC, Sleeping illness, Cholera, Chagas and AIDS… and provides medical and psychological care to marginalized groups, such as street children.

MSF, never takes side in armed conflicts, and in addition to this, it acts as a witness, speaking out about the plight of victims. For all these reasons, it won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize

HOW DOES IT WORK?

When they detect a problem, through news, international organisms, MSF workers or through another different way, an Emergency Unit moves to this area. This Unit evaluates the situation in the field and elaborates a report, which is sent, if they consider that it is necessary to act there, to a Coordination office, where a medical team organize a project, and they send professionals and material ( from Logistics Centres) towards these areas.

In case of an emergency, people and material are sent quickly without a project previous

HOW IS IT SUPPORTED?

MSF is an independent organization, for this reason, it is supported mainly by members and collaborators.

-89% of its financing is got from individual donations.

-11% of its financing is got from organisms.

Donations give them independence from political interference and allow them to act without delay or obstruction.

WHO WORKS FOR MSF?

A lot of people work for MSF, medical staff such as doctors ( paediatricians, surgeons, anaesthetists), nurses, midwives, pharmacists, biologists, nutritionists, epidemiologists…also non-medical background to fill a variety of support and coordinator roles, such as engineers, administrative staff, logistic experts, biomedical scientist etc.

-In Offices, the administrative staff receive information about medical and humanitarian needs in a specific area. Moreover, they recruit volunteers, collect donations and buy material, which is stored in Logistic centres.

-  Overseas staff are people who work all over the world in these projects, giving medical and technical assistance to population in danger. They bring motivation, professional abilities and practical experience to projects. The work is tough and, demanding, but rewards are immense. Placements in these areas can be dangerous, but their strict security policies ensure that risks to project workers are minimised. Medical activities vary with each project, from a simple curative work to help to build up a medical infrastructure.

REQUIREMENTS

To work overseas, it is necessary

- To have at least two years of experience in your job

- To have availability and capacity to move, for a minimum of six months, since they think that this time is the minimum time necessary to know and to adapt to a project

- To have knowledge about computer and languages,( English / French )

-To have some experience in organization and management

- To have some experience in tropical medicine

If it is the first time that a person works for MSF, is recommendable to be between 25 and 40 years old.

-Family is not allowed to move with them.

They have a contract and insurances and they have a remunerative work, their monthly salary is about 740 € in order to pay their expenses, lodging, transport and feeding are in charge of MSF

If you are interested in working or supporting them , you can put in touch with the organization by email. The address is www.msf.es

Oral Presentation: Top 5 Weirdest Websites

By Pedro García

The reason I chose this topic is because nowadays the Internet can be an interesting tool to enjoy ourselves and improve our English as well. If you’re surfing on the Internet, it could be a good idea to practise your English vocabulary playing iSketch, to test your listening skills paying attention to the getmooth’s audio recording, or to get more fluent in your spoken English using chatroulette. As you know, the Internet’s totally full of possibilites!

But watch out! You should be specially careful with Chatroulette. It’s totally out of control with no censure and there’re people (Specially men) who show everything. If you try it, you’ll realize what I mean (LOL). But without a doubt, it’s a great application to have a good time.

Have a look at this powerpoint to find out which the weirdest webs are:

Oral presentation: Unemployment

By Ester Varo

First of all, I want to tell you it is not my intention to depress anyone.

I have worked in an employment office for about three years and I am going to try to speak about unemployment and unemployed people.

I work as a clerk and I am in charge of the unemployed people who come to the office looking for a job. When I started to work in that office, I had never worked with this kind of people before and everything I did and learnt was a new experience for me.

Firstly, I am going to consider the qualifications of unemployed people. According to qualifications, we could divide people in three groups:

*The first one could be the people who have a degree such as medicine or computer engineering. They do not have any problems to get a job because there are not unemployed people with these qualifications. For instance, when we have a job vacancy of these jobs, we cannot find anyone and, finally, it is advertised abroad.

However, there are other people who also have a degree although they cannot find a job because, nowadays, it is really difficult.

*The second group, the people who do not have a degree but they do have some qualifications, could have some problems to find a job, approximately, the same problems as those who have a degree, although jobs are completely different for ones and others.

* And the third one, the people who do not have any qualifications such as labourers: waiters or waitresses, shop-assistants and many others. Finding them a job could be incredibly complicated.

Another important thing I would like to consider is the unemployed people’s age:

*Young people, from 16 to 24, could not find a job so easily that people who are older, because in most cases and in spite of having some qualifications, have not gained enough experience.

* People between 25 and 54 years old could find a job without too many difficulties; however, it could be more difficult depending on the job.

* And, finally, the last group of people with more problems to find a job would be old people, from 55 to retirement age. This sort of people find incredibly hard to find a job because most of them have worked in the same job since they started working and they are not able to do another job. Many others have worked in several jobs but, in spite of being able to work in many jobs, they are not employed because almost every company would rather employ younger people.

Throughout the first year in my new job, unemployment was more or less stable; however, the number of unemployed people has been increasing since last year. The unemployment rate is rising quickly because there is a world crisis, mainly in the building sector. This sector is very important in our country economy because it employs a lot of people such as plumbers, painters and carpenters.

The problem has been the building companies because they have built too many expensive flats in a short period of time and, nowadays, nobody buys their flats although prices are getting down.

Suddenly, builders have given up building and dismissed every employee, which has caused that a lot of families do not have enough economic resources. So, although the government pays an unemployment benefit, there will be many people who will not receive any economic resources in a few months.

Every country in the world is currently worried about unemployment because it is an important problem to solve, especially for Spanish people.

In my personal opinion and, in conclusion, it is time to do something, for instance, the government should invest more in renewable energies because it would help the environment and some people could find a job.
Have a look at my presentation to check some interesting figures:

Oral Presentation: Different Types of Travelling

By Oli Rodriguez

In old times, people travelled from one to another place. Sometimes, they did it to search a better place where more food could be found, or maybe a bit warmer weather or, perhaps, there were some who decided to do a trip out of curiosity.

Any reason they had, we actually know they were able to learn how to use animals and things made by themselves to travel faster and better. So they were used to going by horse, by boat, and, later on, by bike, train, car, and, finally, airplane.

Nowadays, transports are so fast and comfortable that sometimes we forget those ways of travelling so fine and romantic.

I’d like you to remember some old ways of travelling at these modern times.

TRAVELLING BY BIKE

If you want to travel by bike,  you will need :

- Firstly, to train some months before and begin little by little

- A bike adequate to your complexion and height

- Suitable bags with rain-cover

- A biker-guide-book where there are different routes classified in levels

In these guides or on the Internet you can see the routes, plenty of hotels, bed and breakfasts… and also what transport lets you put the bike inside if you need it because the distance is too long for you.

If you want to visit a city by bike you could choose London, where

the government has improved the services offered to bikers.

TRAVELLING AS A BACK-PACKER

Travelling as a back-packer is an easy and cheap way of doing a trip by yourself without any vehicle.

In order to travel this way, you will need:

- Comfortable back-pack with its rain-cover

- Good boots and sandals for you to relax your feet

- The Hostelling international card, that costs 20 euros/ year and gives you excellent discounts in hostels.

- The Hostelling International guide or web, where you can choose which country and lodge you prefer, maybe at the countryside or perhaps in the middle of a city. Most of them have garden, washing machine and furnished kitchen.

One example of a great variety of different accommodations is travelling around the green Ireland.

In Spain there are two different travel options that I’d like you to know: the “Camino de Santiago” by horse and the long route GR-11.

“CAMINO DE SANTIAGO” BY HoRSE

Even though this kind of travelling can seem so romantic and strange that only a few people could do it, you can find many businesses which offer the possibility to do it with all the comforts you need. They take care of all the lodges and meals every day you spend there, and the same for your horse.

To conclude, I want to show you what the long routes are.

THE “GR-11” FOOTPATH

There is an important number of routes along Europe that were made only for walking. When you walk along one, you have to discover the red and white marks for you to see the way easily.

One of the most popular routes in Spain is GR-11 that goes along the Pyrenees from Cabo Higuer (Irún) to Cabo Creus (Girona)

If you decide to walk a journey, a trip of 2-3 days or the GR-11 at all, you have to buy a guide to know where you can find villages and refuges.  Some of the refuges are free and others aren’t.

The views along the GR-11 are much more beautiful than you could imagine, even though sometimes you have to make an effort to walk up and up with your bag on your back.

Oral Presentations: Vilnius

by Diana Mateo

When I started thinking about the topic of my presentation, I could think of many things but none quite convinced me. Then, I thought that a good topic would be on tourism and I remembered that city I visited four years ago and which I found amazingly beautiful: Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. As Lithuania is an unknown country for Spanish people, I decided to talk about it.

Lithuania is one of the three Baltic countries, which has lived for centuries dominated by neighbouring states, such as Russia. It was the first Republic of the Soviet Union to declare its independence in 1991. Nowadays, Lithuania is a full member of the European Union.

Vilnius, its capital, is the largest baroque old town of Europe and, of course, it is a Unesco World Heritage. These are some places you shouldn’t miss when visiting Vilnius:

- The Square Cathedral, which is the heart of the city. The Cathedral is Christian and it houses a History Museum of Lithuania.

- The Tower of Gediminas allows you to enjoy wonderful views of the city.

- Gediminas Prospektas Avenue, the main avenue of the city which runs from the Cathedral square to the river. It’s an exclusive area, with upmarket shops and pricey restaurants.

- Santa Ana Church. Gothic style, it is said that Napoleon was captivated by its beauty.

- Vilnius University, second tourist destination of the city despite being fully operational. The common thing is visiting it with students, but it has two guided tours each day.

- The Pilies Street, in the old town. It’s by far the most tourist street of the city. It’s full of pubs, where you can taste the wonderful Lithuanian beer, traditional food restaurants and souvenirs shops, where you can buy the typical souvenirs made of amber, the Baltic gold.

- Solotie Vorota, the only door of the city wall that remains intact and which preserves a picture of a virgin.

- The Television Tower, the Lithuanian highest building. This tower has a historical value because it was the place where the Lithuanian citizens faced the Soviet troops during the disturbances for the independence. On top of the tower, there is a rotational restaurant from which you can see the entire city, the tower houses as well as the museum which commemorates the day of the independence.

- Trakai. A town located among three lakes, 28 kilometres to the west of Vilnius. It’s easily the most important tourist destination in Lithuania. It’s famous for its Historical National Park and its castle, which houses a History Museum of Lithuania.

The best time to visit Vilnius certainly is summer, when temperatures round 30 degrees, making possible to tour it, to sit in their outdoor terraces and to enjoy its lively nightlife. Prices are still beneficial for Spanish people and air connections are improving every year, so it’s a great opportunity to visit this unknown country in Eastern Europe.

If you still have doubts about the beauty of this city, see my pictures in my Vilnius presentation and you’ll be convinced, I promise!

Oral Presentation: A Personal Experience

By Anna ALbeza

I’m not giving a formal speech about any topic.

I’d like to share with you a personal experience I had time ago and, at the end of my account, I‘ll be eager to listen to your opinions, comments, your pieces of advice…

Well, to start with, what I’m going to do is to introduce the vocabulary and any detail you could need to follow my story.

LET’S GET STARTED WITH THE INTRODUCTION

As everybody here knows, I’m a Maths teacher at a state High School.

The first thing is to clarify which the stages a person has to pass through in order to become a teacher at a High School are.

Firstly, you graduate in any subject that’s being taught at Schools; for instance, you can complete a bachelor’s degree in Art, in Science, in Engineering, etcetera. In my case, I studied Mathematics.

Once you‘ve got it, you are A GRADUATE, however, this doesn’t mean you are a teacher. At this point, you cannot work as a teacher for any private or state school, because you are not considered a teacher, not yet. For this purpose, you have to take a one-year course, it’s called PGCE.

For those of you who haven’t got any idea about the educational world, PGCE stands for Postgraduate Certificate in Education’. PGCE qualifies as a teacher. PGCE qualifies you to teach.

The PGCE is divided into two parts:

-one part is the theoretical courses at the University you have to attend to and complete successfully.

-and, the second part is a practical training at any High School for a term under the guidance of an experienced tutor (if lucky) who will supervise and assess the PGCE’s pupil’s work and give them the final mark on this part.

The point is, in order to tutor PGCE’s students in their practical training, the teachers who already work at any High School voluntarily sign up and add their name to a list by the end of the first term.

I repeat, before Christmas holidays, the teachers voluntarily sign up and give all the details about themselves, name, identity card number, address, the name of the High School and so on.

THIS IS THE END OF THE INTRODUCTION AND NOW IS WHEN MY STORY STARTS.

Oral Presentation: Marble

By José Luis López


I’ve chosen this topic because I’ve been working in a marble factory since 1990. I wanted to tell all my classmates about the place where I work and what my job is like.

I work in a marble factory which belongs to Levantina group. Levantina’s main supply comes from their own quarries. More than 2 million tons of raw material are extracted from these quarries.

In my section work at factory, there are 19 machines called spinning frames which have about 80 steel saws with diamond teeth each of them in order to cut or saw marble blocks.

In my presentation, I spoke about the process of cutting marble blocks, security at work and about relationship between marble factories and environment.

Many underground stations in London are being reformed with Levantina’s material. The first of them has been Waterloo station. Terminal 4 in Barajas airport in Madrid and the new terminal in El Altet airport in Alicante have been built with Levantina’s material as well.

If you want to find out more about my presentation click here.

Thanks

Oral Presentations: WGSN

By Jessica Nieto

I have chosen this topic because I consider that it could be interesting to know where designers from different areas get their ideas to propose the trends to the next seasons. It is a web resource only accessible to subscribers who have to pay an expensive license, so I would let my classmates have a look to what this resource can offer. We live in a globalised world where designers from all over the world sometimes get inspired from the same resources and that’s why they release similar colours or shapes. It is also an interesting resource because you can visit the high street brands from your desk as well as you get informed about the trendiest cities, restaurants, museums, even markets of the world. It also provides updated information about the industry, trade shows, events…etc. and helps the companies to minimize the risk and identify growth opportunities in the very difficult market of fashion. If you want to know more about what WGSN is, check my powerpoint. Thank you.

Oral Presentations: Plastic Surgery

By Leticia Segura

I have chosen  this subject because nowadays this matter is of particular interest in the majority of developed countries. We live in a society where people are obsessed with beauty. We see extreme makeovers and we see images of perfect beauty everywhere. People will do so much to be beautiful. That’s why I would like to explain both sides of having plastic surgery :

1.Normally, people turn to it to improve their appearance, in order to correct a physical fault or to alter a part of their body that makes them feel uncomfortable.  It is often said that having surgery gives them greater confidence and boosts their self-esteem.

2.Some people (the majority are women between 14 to 45) suffer from a common condition now known as Body Dysmorphic disorder (BDD). They can’t stop having surgeons because  they are preoccupied with an imagery or very slight fault, consequently, they have many operations that actually they don’t need.

The intelligent use of surgery can be a good way to correct a physical fault, and improve our self-image and appearance, but on the other hand it can turn into an obsession, a way to destruction and an important mental disorder.

So if you are thinking about it, find out as much as you can about the specific procedures you’re considering and talk it over with doctors, and keep your feet on the ground.

If you want to discover more about this topic you can see here the entire presentation , enjoy it!

Oral Presentations: Tangier

A VOLUNTEER IN TANGIER by Alberto Rodriguez

A totally new experience with marvellous people. This is a short account of my volunteering  in Tangier which, I did last summer with Wafae associaton.

My main activity there was education; I was teaching AutoCAD for adults. Other Spanish volunteers were teaching Spanish or Catalan.

It was a challence at the beginning because of the situation: I used to teach 2 groups of 25 people, in a really small room, with around 35ºC,  with every computer switched on, and speaking, sometimes in Spanish for most of students, and some other times in English for the rest of them… and some of them couldn’t understand either Spanish or English.. I’ve learned a lot about this experience.
Although you can think it was a hard experience, it had really rewarding moments. At the end of every lessons, every student (one behind the other) said to me “Sukran sukran Alberto” which means “Thanks thanks Alberto” and that was really impressive for me.

As a volunteering group, we did other activities: we visited camps, schools and associations for orphaned children, to play with them doing gymkhanas and games. We played a theater in Darija (the Arabic dialect of Morocco) for adults and children.
One weekend, we prepared a festival with different kinds of activities to inform and to raise Moroccans consciousness about the illegal immigration.

If you want to see what my volunteering was like in photographs, check the next galleries:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/alberto.rodriguez
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alberto_rodriguez_gomez/

Oral Presentations: Umami

By Marisa Córcoles

I decided to speak about this topic because, some weeks ago, I heard on the news that there was a new flavour called Umami. I was interested in knowing what Umami was, so I looked for information on the Internet about it. Now, this is all I found about this new word.

WHAT IS UMAMI?

Umami is the fifth taste besides salty, sweet, bitter or sour.

It is a loanword from Japanese meaning “flavour” or “taste”. In English, however, “savory” has been proposed as an alternative translation.

Umami is a pleasant savoury taste and comes from glutamate, a type of amino acid, which is naturally found in many foods such as meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. Most people don’t identify umami when they come across it, but it makes food taste delicious.

THE DISCOVERY OF UMAMI

Umami was discovered by a Japanese scientist, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University, in 1908.

He was researching the taste of soup made from kombu, a kind of algae, which is popular in Japanese food, because he wanted to know the reason for its delicious taste. He discovered that glutamate (or glutamic acid) was the main active ingredient in kombu and he used the term ‘umami’ to describe its taste. He was sure that this taste was held in common by other foods with a savoury flavour, including those used in Western meals such as tomatoes and meat and, indeed, upon investigation, it was discovered that these foodstuffs also contained umami.

UMAMI CULTURE AROUND THE WORLD

Umami is actually used in various forms all over the world. In Asia, umami is mainly found in beans and grain, fermented seafood-based products mushrooms, kombu and dried seafood. In Western cuisine, there are also fermented or cured products derived from meat and dairy products, such as ham and cheese. The most well-known ingredient is the tomato.

Although the concept of umami has been around for a century, the fifth taste has been slow to catch on in other Western countries. For starters, there’s a strange foreign word and for many food experts and scientists, umami is a combination of the four basic tastes.

In my opinion, umami plays an important role making food taste delicious because sea food, meat and vegetables contain high quantities of umami elements. I think umami is the answer to how delicious a pizza, a steak, a spoonful of soup or a piece of cheese is.

If you want to know more about umami, here you are my presentation.

Oral Presentations: Mediterranean Diet

By Eva Candela

I decided to speak about the Mediterranean Diet because, a few days ago, I heard on the news that more and more Spanish children are getting more obese.

Spain is one of the countries with more overweight childhood and obesity in general in the world (1 in 3 Spanish children have this problem). This is because children eat too much fast food and sweets and spend many hours watching TV or playing with their computers and they don´t usually do much sport.

This is nonsense in Spain, because we have in our hands a very powerful tool, the Mediterranean Diet. Besides, we live in a country with a great weather to do outdoor sports.

In this powerpoint, you can find what the Mediterranean Diet is and its key components.

Oral Presentation: Spinning

By Verónica Chico

I have chosen this topic, firstly, because it is an activity that I have been practicing twice a week since 2005. And, secondly, it is a fun way of getting fit. Spinning or indoor cycling is an aerobic activity that is performed with a stationary bike in a room to the beat of music and it is coordinated by an instructor. All kinds of people can participate in a spinning class and neither  your age nor your shape matter.
The equipment is not very expensive. The clothing required is cycling shorts and jerseys. You also need to wear cycling shoes or trainers with a stiff sole. Moreover, it´s very important for you to bring a bottle of water because, in a spinning class, you sweat a lot. For that reason, you should drink water during all the class to avoid becoming dehydrated.
The most important thing that you have to take notice is adjusting your bike properly to improve the comfort and safety of your ride.
Spinning has many advantages:
On the one hand ,this activity has many health benefits i.e. it strengthens your cardiovascular and respiratory system, it burns calories (500 calories), it lowers cholesterol levels…
On the other hand, it´s a funny exercise,very fast, and you have lots of friends.

I would recommend this activity because you don’t realize that an hour has gone by and you have done a good aerobic exercise.  You will also feel refreshed after a boring day of work in front of your computer.

Have a look at my presentation to know more about spinning:

Oral Presentations: English Sayings

By Manuel Abela

As students of a foreign language, we are really worried about what we  sound like when speaking a foreign language. Probably, what frightens us to death is our accent. Obviously, only with effort we can correct our pronunciation but, sometimes, our nature above our laziness makes the approach a never-ending task. An effective way of looking like a real Briton is throughout the sayings. Even more, it is quite a funny way of learning English. Who hasn’t ever translated a Spanish saying directly into English just for fun?
“From lost to the river”, we would say.

Anyway, remember to use the idiom at the right time. I still remember once I was late and a Polish man, who just knew a few words of my language, told me in perfect Spanish “Se te han pegado las sábanas, eh?” It really got me under my skin .

So, feel confident when speaking in English, don’t feel shy, our accent can be something we have to live with, and say the few words you know properly. It is easier said than done!

That’s why I am going to provide you with some good examples of these sayings explained by those who actually make use of them, native speakers. Enjoy the videos!

Do I have two pairs of hands?

Oopsy-daisy

and a picture’s worth a thousand words

They have had a hard paper round

Oral Presentations: Palliative Care

By Juan Miguel Cutillas

I have chosen this topic because I’ve been working with oncology and palliative care patients for almost 20 years now. That’s why it’s a very interesting topic for me and even for all of you.

Palliative care refers to any care that alleviates symptoms when there is no hope of a cure and it’s an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families. We consider the patient like a whole, that’s why we talk about holistic care including the physical, social, psychological and spiritual aspects of the human being; and we work in a multidisciplinary team including physicians, nurses, psychologists, physical therapist, etc, but the most important people are the caregivers, including volunteers and the family and close friends. Our main aim is to offer a support system to help patients live as active as possible until death and help families cope with these stressful situations.

Finally, we think there are very important 5 stages in response to bad news that were established by Dr Kubler-Ross in 1969, these stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. We need to consider these stages to take care perfectly well of these patients.


Oral presentations: Therapy with Animals

By Miguel Ángel Rodriguez

Therapy with animals is the subject of a photographic project I am working on (click on it to see the pictures). This is why I have chosen this topic for my oral speech. The animals I have been working with are dogs, horses and a sea lion. Many people mix up the sea lion with the seal because both are similar. However, the sea lion is bigger than the seal and it (the sea lion) has got ears. The most important thing I would like to show with this project is that the people with different problems get benefit out of their relationship with these animals. These relationships allow them to get better on their problems.

There are many examples I can tell you but I am going to show you some of them I consider the most interesting ones. For example, a boy who has a mental disability and doesn’t like being touched lives in a centre of disabled people and, when he notices that someone is going to touch him, he tries to avoid any sort of contact, however, when the dog is nearby, he lets people approach him, he even touches the dog. Whatever comes through his mind, it is clear that the dog makes a change on him and you can see him enjoying caressing the dog.

In jail, some convicts have to take care of some dogs and be in charge of them. This responsibility makes them increase their feeling of being helpful. Once or twice a week, they can go for a walk with the dogs, and with other convicts, so they feel free for a few hours and increase their sociability.

More examples, this time with horses. There are children with mental disability to whom horse riding stimulates mentally and strengthens their postural muscles. But the most impressive case of all was a child with a degenerative illness that appears on a wheelchair, completely contracted because of muscles tension. When he went up on the horse back, he was not able to open his legs. After a few minutes, as the horse was walking, he began to relax his muscles and he could raise his body, he could open even his shrunk hand.

To go on with surprising cases, children who suffer from autism have difficulties in showing their emotions so the fact that they try themselves to caress the sea lion is an important step forward. The same happens with children with hyperactivity or difficulties at paying attention. It is pretty hard to their families to make these children follow 2 or 3 orders in a row. At the end of the sessions working with the sea lion, almost all of them were able to stand alone with the animal without their parents’ help, which means a great success.

Oral Presentations: Africa

By Eva Santonja

I decided to speak about Africa because I had watched the film Blood Diamond a few weeks earlier, and I thought it would be a very interesting topic to speak about. That’s why I divided my oral presentation in two parts.

First of all, I wanted to speak about the social situation that African people have to live in and, afterwards, I wanted to point out another fact that is quite present in the continent nowadays, corruption. I tried to use this topic to speak about the diamond trade and then,  introduce a little bit what is happening in Africa with these diamonds, which have been called “Blood diamonds”.

Have a look at my presentation to know more about the topic:

Oral Presentations

It’s oral presentation time! One very important part of your English learning is speaking in public since, although not with such a wider audience, you’ll be involved in many different situations in which people are paying attention to what you are saying.

It has been said that many people fear speaking before an audience more than death. Whether or not that is true, we can surely improve our skill with very little advice. Here it goes…

ORAL PRESENTATIONS: DO’S AND DON’TS