STUDENTS’ WORK

Examples of good writing by students.

Many thanks to all for allowing me to publish your work.

BASIC 1

A HOLIDAY POSTCARD

Dear Norberto and Laura,

Greetings from Udias, in Cantabria!

The posada “Sel de Breno” is exceptional. We’re staying in a posada 15 km from Comillas beach.

Comillas is a beautiful place – we want to go sightseeing there, and we want to see all the famous landmarks (Gaudi’s Capricho, etc). The price of the room is very low. It’s a little posada with only 5 rooms, but it’s quiet and clean. There’s free wi-fi and free parking.

We’re in a double room. There’s a private bathroom, with a shower, towels, a hairdryer  and tioletries. There isn’t a gym or a swimming-pool, but there’s a beautiful garden.

Brealfast is included in the room rate. It’s fantastic, I love it!

Blanca, the manager, is a good chef. She’s very funny and patient with the guests.

See you soon!

 

A HOLIDAY POSTCARD (2)

Dear Susana,

I’m staying in a hotel in the centre of Valencia. Its name is Astoria Palace Hotel. It’s a 4-star hotel with 204 rooms. All the rooms are sound-proofed. The rooms are equipped with free Wi-Fi, a telephone in the bedroom and a bathroom. There is a lounge-bar and a fitness centre. There is a lot of public transport around the hotel.

Ciutat Vell is a great choice for travellers interested in architecture, shopping and food. This hotel is lovely! I recommend it!

See you soon.

A LETTER TO A FRIEND

Hello Maria!

I’m staying in a hotel in Valencia. It’s next to the Arts and Sciences museum . Its name is “Valencia Center Hotel”. Do you know it?

I’m staying here for two nights.

The hotel is very nice. There are six floors and three lifts. There are a lot of rooms.

My room is clean and quiet and it’s got a bathroom and a shower.

The hotel has got a gym, a sauna and a beautiful garden where I can go walking.

See you. Bye, bye

 

BASIC 2

MY LIFE AS A TEENAGER…

When I was 15, I was working and studying. I was quite shy and I didn’t like doing what the other tenagers did. I used to have a family life and I helped my mother to do the housework because she was very busy. However, as I was very responsible, I had a fun and happy life.

I was crazy about sports. At school I used to be the best player. I also used to go to the cinema with my friends and I sometimes went clubbing to hear live music by my favourite singers, but the most interesting thing for me was watching tennis on TV or playing it with my friends.

I got on well with my parents and I spent a lot of time with them. I tried to behave well so that my parents didn’t get angry with me. They were very proud of me, but I was a bit untidy and I sometimes got home late.

INTERMEDIATE 1

THAT’S ENGLISH! (1)

THAT’S ENGLISH (2)

Have you studied English since you were a child and you haven’t learnt it?

Do you want to speak English when you travel round the world on holiday, but you think that studying English is very boring?

Don’t you have time to attend class because of your work?

Don’t worry any more. What you need is to enrol in That’s English. You’ll speak English and you’ll have fun at the same time.

It doesn’t matter where you live, you can study from anywhere in the world. The texts are so interesting that you’ll really njoy reading them. Moreover, in each lesson, you can do a lot of listening, so you will understand English sooner than later. And the best thing is that you can attend classes every week if you want to revise the lesson or to speak with other classmates.

You don’t have any excuses, if you want to learn English, you should go to “That’s English”.

 

 

A BLOG ENTRY ABOUT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (1)

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese remedy that helps relieve all kinds of pain. Fine needles are inserted into the patient’s skin, and this helps stimulate the body’s energy. It has been used to treat all kinds of pain, like toothache, headache and lower back pain. Practitioners have also been using acupuncture to cure depression for thousands of years. Acupuncture has been supported by scientific research, so many doctors accept it.

In my opinion,  governments should include acupuncture treatment as available free healthcare for everybody. I believe that some illnesses or pains can be treated together with alternative and traditional techniques. 

A BLOG ENTRY ABOUT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE (2)

Cupping is an alternative therapy in which cups are placed on the patient’s skin to create local suction. The cups can be made of several different materials, like glass or bamboo.

It’s a treatment that dates back to ancient cultures like the Egyptian and Chinese ones.

Its practitioners believe this mobilizes blood flow in order to heal a wide range of health disorders and diseases.

However, many scientists and experts do not support cupping practices and say there is no scientific basis for it.

In my opinion, the occasional effectiveness of this therapy relies on the placebo effect that many patients experiment because they strongly believe that it works.

INTERMEDIATE 2

NEW GREEN ZONE

Dear Sirs,

I’m writing to give my opinion about the new green zone in the city, also known as Central Park, between North train station and Giorgeta Bridge.

On the one hand, I think that this area could improve its appearance and connectivity. Nowadays, the railway track and the bridge are obstacles to pedestrians.

On the other hand, I have heard about the cost of this project and, in my opinion, it will be too much. There are more areas in the city with green zone problems, and I think that it would be better to spend the money not only on this project, but also to analyse and choose some other projects in order to improve our city in several areas.

To finish, I would also like to indicate another green zone project: I usually run on the new runners’ track made in the river park, so I think that it could be a good idea to link this to others outside of the river in order to have a “running ring” in Valencia.

Yours faithfully,

 

READ THE INFORMATION FROM A LOCAL TOWN COUNCIL AND WRITE AN EMAIL GIVING YOUR OPINION

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to give my opinion about the new green zone in the city. My concern is that there are few places where families can spend time together. So, a park for all ages would be a good idea.

To start with, I think that the old factory could be reconverted into a textile museum. Old photos, machinery and manufactured products could be exhibited there. Also, the port area could be renovated including new buildings for restaurants and cafes.

Finally, the abandoned houses could be demolished and a big park area could be built in this area. For instance, there could be a skateboard area, public gardens and a children’s park. Of course, all of these areas could be connected by a cycle path.

I would be grateful if you could make it happen.

Yours faithfully,

 

MY EATING HABITS

Hi everyone. Today I’m going to tell you about my eating habits and how I can improve them. Usually I only have three meals, and I don’t eat any fruit. In addition, I have sleep disorders so I drink a lot of coffee all the mornings because I need caffeine to work, and I have a lot of tasks to do. People tell me that my eating habits may be the reason why I have my sleep problem. I think that I ought to eat five or six times per day so I would feel less hungry during the day. Also, two of these meals should be fruit, because fruit has sugar, and it is energetic. Moreover, I should stop drinking coffee, and I ought to start drinking tea, because tea has less caffeine than coffee.

 

SCHOOL RULES I HATED

My school had a lot of rules. Some of the rules were reasonable, but many were not.
One strange rule was that we couldn’t wear sports clothes during classes, we could only use this kind of clothes during gym class, so we needed to change our clothes quickly when we finished the gym class because we couldn’t arrive late for the next class. It was so hard.
Finally, another rule was that all the students had to use the same school materials, we used the same pens, for example, and the brand and model were the ones that the school wanted. I really hated this rule because it was difficult to know the owner of things, you or another student, I wrote my name on my things, but there were many girls with the same name as me at school.

OBSOLETE TECHNOLOGY?

I think that USB pen drive will be gone in 25 years. I mean, who actually needs USB pen drives any more? I have all my files and documents in the cloud, thanks to internet I can have all my information on the web, and I can have my folders available anywhere and any moment I want. It’s a lot easier to email my files straight to my friends, colleagues, etc. And if internet is not enough for you, you can also use smart phones, laptops, computers and tablets to save your documents. Currently, you can keep a lot of information in these devices because they have a lot of memory integrated.

 

NOMINATE A SPORTSPERSON

I nominate Olympic synchronized swimmer Ona Carbonell Ballestero for the best sportsperson award. She is Spanish and she was born in Barcelona in 1990, currently she is the captain of the Spanish synchronized swimming team. She won her first medal at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, when she was 17. Moreover, she won her first Olympic medal at just 22 years of age. She is a very successful sportswoman because she really works hard. She usually trains for 5 hours every day, including weekends. She’s an inspiration to young people because she shows them how important discipline and hard work are to achieve your goals. Therefore, my vote is for Ona Carbonell.