SOUL IN THE 60's: THE PRIDE OF BLACK IDENTITY (MY ORAL PRESENTATION)

Hi! My name is Ariadna Vilà and I’d like to show you my research project entitled “Soul in the sixties: the pride of black identity”. First of all, I will say that I’ve chosen this topic because I really love music. I like almost all music styles, especially jazz. I started searching some information in music books or in my computer and I learnt really useful things to me such as jazz origins or its sugenres. However, soul became the most fascinating style for me. I hardly knew anything about it or about jazz history so, I though that this project would be a good way to learn while I work on it. Furthermore, I have always felt admiration for black singers and for the way they are and I discovered that my favourite ones start succeeding in the sixties. My research project is aimed at explaining the features of soul music whereas its historical context and all the outstanding facts happened before and after its birth. So, I write some information about the history of the fifties and the sixties. I also talk about all the previous music styles which were known before soul’s birth. In addition, I chose two male and two female singers of the sixties and I wrote a short biography of them. Then, I talk about their music relating it to their lives and the time they lived in. Furthermore, I compare all of them to see the differences and similarities between each other and finally I draw my own conclusions. In short, my research project is focused in the soul era and its evolution during the sixties. On one hand, I picked up the information in books specializing in this topic and I summarized the most impotant facts in my own words. On the other hand, I searched the rest of the information in different web sites. Instead of carrying out an option poll I chose some songs from each singer and I worked on them: I explained their meaning, I relate the lyrics to an historical context and to the biography of the singer. Finally, I wrote the features of the soul music which were constant in them. As you can see and hear I’ve done my whole project in English. I chose this lenguage because I like it and I though that it would be a good way to improve my level while I’m learning useful things. Well, I will tell you some information about soul music: In the mid-fifties jazz music was in a tight spot so SOUL was one of its greatest hopes to recuperate its audience. Of course, it succeeded. Soul was a variety of jazz listened during the civil rights act so because of it “black power” appeared. Soul’s origins are in the United States, particularly in Chicago, in the late fifties. It was based on blues (without evoking his negativity), r&B and gospel. Catchy rhythms accompanied by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are typical features of soul music. There are also other common characteristics such as call and response between the singer and the chorus, tense vocal sounds, extemporized additions or twirls. It’s main instruments are guitar, bass, piano, organ, drums, horn section and keyboards. Ray Charles is known as the main inventor of the soul genre in the fifties with his great hit “I Got a Woman”. He did it mixing blues, gospel, rhythm and blues and a bit of country elements and adding especially his personal touches. Many famous soul singers such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles or James Brown supported the black identity with their music. It’s necessary to emphasize the fact that James Brown was the creator of new styles, as funk soul, through the original soul music. It happened by the early 70’s, when soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock. In short, soul represented the new importance of the black identity and its culture so black population feel very identified with this music. As jazz music, soul has its own subgenres and each one has different features. Soul influenced many artists during its most successful decades. For example, in churches organ players turned this instrument into a genre on its own: Organ’s sound transmitted optimism and it made the walls vibrate so people liked it because it reminded them of soul essence. Well, now I'm going to talk about ARETHA FRANKLIN and then I'm going to show you an example of the practical work I've done. Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee (1942). She’s known as “The Queen of Soul” and she is the female artist who has the most million-selling singles. Her father was a famous Baptist preacher and her mother was a gospel singer and pianist. Aretha was a prodigy child. She learned to play the piano on her own and she had a powerful voice. She recorded her first gospel album at the age of fourteen. In 1960, she travelled to New York with her father’s blessing. There she signed with some record companies but she didn’t get the absolutely fame until she recorded her feminist version of “Respect” After several years of failed recordings in the 70’s, Aretha’s success remerged with “Think” . Nowadays, she lives alone in Detroit, Michigan and she only sing esporadically as she did in Obama’s ceremony. “RESPECT” (1967) This song was originally written and sung by the famous soul singer Otis Redding. Aretha took this song and turned it into the anthem of the feminist movement in the sixties. Aretha get the absolutely fame with this song and she won many prizes as well. In 1966 was formed a feminist group called “National Organization for Women” and Aretha’s song was her way to back this initiative. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” (x8 at least) It’s one of the most repeated words. She wants equality. In her time women were considered an inferior being and racial segregation wasn’t still abolished at all. Respect was one of the commonest words in those times because the main objective of the black community, especially black women, was be respected for the others. “(just a little bit)” (x24) She doesn’t want a radical change right now, but she definitely wants to see a little change in men’s behaviour towards women. This time she is helped for a chorus: it is a common feature of soul music. While the singer is playing the song there are some people behind her who repeat the most outstanding sentences. In this case, it is useful to remark her request. Aretha and all women in her society wanted to be treated with the same rights that men had so “Respect” represents the protest of hundreds of women who wanted a change. Nowadays, Aretha is still an example to all the women: it means that in her way she won the battle against men. CONCLUSIONS: And as a conclusion… First of all, I have to say that from the first moment I thought that soul was a music style bigger than jazz. I only new a few things about it and, of course, I was completely wrong. To my great surprise, I found out that soul was just a little part of jazz history it represented the voice of hundreds of people who wanted to be heard. Soul singers supported black people with their music: they had enough influence to get to politicians and other important people’s ears. This was the main reason why they were so admired artists. They were true artists so they rose to the challenge in their live shows. Nowadays the situation is quite the opposite: Most of the famous singers have been known for their appearance: they use to look like a model. Unfortunately, not many people care about their talent for singing. Secondly, I’ve learnt much more than I thought both vocabulary and culture knowledge. For example, before doing this project I didn’t know the name of any instrument or technique of playing them. Now, I know what is drum, horn or <>. I also have learnt other new words and terms. I’ve written some words with its meaning in Spanish in the last pages as appendixes. I did it to show that this project has been really useful to me because I have improved a lot my English vocabulary. Moreover, I didn’t know anything about fifties and sixties history and I found it really interesting. I believe that everyone should know important things like these because we use to think that past facts aren’t useful but if we want to be intelligent adults in a future and be able to talk to anyone we have to get ourselves some culture. with my research project I realized that sixties music was wonderful. I do love it and all related to it. The point is that I’ve learnt a lot of things which were completely unknown to me before. So, I believe that I have carried out the most important objective of my work at least. Anyway, I began working on it quite late so I didn’t have as much time as I’d like to have. This lack of time has limited me a lot so I haven’t been able to talk about all the things which were due in my introduction. Even so, I have always been very motivated because I really feel like working this topic. There aren’t many differences between men. They are daring, cheerful and very professional. They both had a hard childhood: Even so, it couldn’t stop them.. Their beginnings weren’t easy: they played music in the streets or with different bands so they didn’t earn much money. Finally, they become famous and they could show what they worth. On the other hand they spent all his life fighting for black people’s right and supporting them. Apart from their drug addiction, they were considered a good influence because they could gave up their principles but they didn’t. They both suffered from cancer: Ray Charles died because of it but Brown recovered. On the contrary, I’ve seen a lot of differences between Aretha Franklin and Betty Harris. Aretha was an absolutely diva: she was self-confident, proud of being a woman and able of overcoming any obstacle. She had an amazing voice and her songs used to be the anthem of the feministic movement. She was a great example for black women. For her part, Betty was a typical submissive woman. She was a good singer but she always superimposed his role in the society to her job. The only similar things between them are that they were born into a family of preachers and they both travelled to New York City to get fame. They both transmitted different feeling throught their songs: Aretha’s ones sounded cheerful and catchy but Betty one’s has a slow rhythm because they use to be soul ballads. On the whole, Aretha is more comparable to male artists. She has a lot of common features with them: she’s proud of being black, she has social engagements with her race but she’s happy with this, she’s a free person and her music is a reflection of her personality and her principles: mainly she talks about true feelings and the fight for black people’s rights. For her part, feminism is a really common topic as well. They were people with overcoming capacity and any obstacle could never stop them. As a final conclusion, I must say that all the work I’ve done during these months will be always useful to me. I have known really important facts and from this moment I consider myself a sixties music lover. I’m proud of have chosen this topic because it has been more enjoyable than I thought. Finally, I can assure that my effort has been worth. MY OPINION: I really enjoyed working on this topic because I've been interested in music since I was a child. At first, I didn't spend much time on this. I just searched some information but days went by and my project wasn't still done. However, I love the topic I had chosen so I decided to make the most of the rest of my time. I must confess that I though I wouldn't be capable of finishing my project because I wanted to talk about a lot of songs, music styles, singers...but I was completely running out of time!! Anyway, I strived a lot to get great resoults, and I think with it I carried out my main objective. Regarding to my oral presentation I have some remarks. On the one hand, I studied my writting a lot. I did the same when I had to do the oral presentation of my research project so, it wasn't a difficult thing to me because I knew exactly what I was talking about and I still remembered a lot of parts of my summary. On the other hand, I have to say that nerves played a dirty trick on me! It is a common thing on me and I really hate it! Unfortunately, there's no way to avoid it for me! Despite this unfortunate fact, my main aim was show everyone my interest and my knowlege of everything I was talking about. If I just get this then I'll be very happy! What it really means is that I've enjoyed very much working on this topic and I hope my friends have enjoyed my oral presentation as much as I did.

DESEASES IN AFRICA (OUR 3rd ORAL PRESENTATION)

TRANSCRIPTION...

Hi class! Today we're going to talk about diseases in Africa. To understand better the reasons why people there live in so bad conditions we're going to explain you the beginning of the social problems in Africa, the causes of all, and the solutions used to help the African people (as organizations)

Do you know why AFRICA is called THE THIRD WORLD???

If you don’t know we're going to explain it now!

The social problems in Africa began during the XIX while the Industrial Revolution was taking place in the other parts of the world.
In Africa live approximately 750 Million people. This continent is one of the richest continents of the whole world because it has got a lot of petrol, diamonds, gold, cotton and cacao. Because of the lack of industries Africa has to export all their raw materials (cotton, petrol...) without receiving much in exchange. This fact has been happening since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution until nowadays. THAT’s the reason of the poverty and social problems in Africa.

As a result of this situation they haven't got much food, the mortality encrase, there’s child explotation, reduction of life expectancy, malnutrition (specially child malnutrition) and they live in very bad resources ------> all those facts cause DISEASES and our aim is explain the most seriously of them to you.

Diseases can be transmitted by insects (as mosquitoes), through food and water and through intimate contact.

MALARIA: Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If is not treated, malaria can quickly become life by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs.

YELLOW FEVER: Yellow fever is one of the most common diseases transmitted by insects (in this case a mosquito) in Africa. Some time ago the yellow fever was only transmitted by one type of mosquito and because of climatic change and the evolution of the characteristics of the different mosquitoes, now all types of mosquitoes are able to transmit this virus.
The symptoms of the yellow fever are yellow coloured eyes, yellow skin (but not like the Simpsons), the fever you all know but extremely high.

CHOLERA: Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium “Vibrio cholerae”. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days, and causes painless and watery diarrhoea which can causes quickly a severe dehydration and even death if treatment is not given early. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.

HEPATITIS A: is an acute infection of the liver caused of a virus transmitted trough water and food. Here, were we live, there’s no risk of infection because our food is controlled and our water is clean but in Africa it isn’t like that because of the lack of resources. An another thing we have here are vaccines.

HEPATITIS B: Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. The virus is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person. Hepatitis B virus can cause an acute illness with symptoms that last several weeks, including yellowing of the skin and eyes or vomiting and abdominal pain. People can take several months to a year to recover from the symptoms. Hepatitis B is preventable with a safe and effective vaccine.

AIDS: I think it is one of the biggest problems related to diseases in the world but in Africa more than 75% of the Africans are infected of AIDS. As you all know AIDS is a disease transmitted by intimate contact. Here in our area (Europe) AIDS is known but is not so usual as in Africa is. The cause is again the same as before THE BAD RESOURCES, because there they haven't got any money for condoms or things like that.

MENINGOCOCCAL DISEASE: It's another disease transmitted through intimate contact but not like you'll think with sex; the virus of the meningococcal disease is situated or habited in the area of the nose and of the throat, so you can be infected kissing or simply sharing a glass of water or eating from the same apple. Here in Europe we can do those things because there is no risk of infection, (we are vaccinated) but in Africa they use to share all what they have without being worry of diseases.

OTHER DISEASES:

SCHIOSTOSOMIASIS: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by flatworms of the genus Schistosoma. Larval forms of the parasites, which are released by freshwater snails, penetrate the skin of people in the water. In the body, the larvae develop into adult schistosomes, which live in the blood vessels. Some of them pass out of the body in the urine or faeces. Others are trapped in body tissues, causing an immune reaction.

RABIES: Is a disease that is transmitted to humans from animals) that is caused by a virus. Rabies infects domestic and wild animals, and is spread to people through close contact with infected saliva (via bites or scratches). Once symptoms of the disease develop, rabies is fatal.

Apart from volunteer doctors who go there to try to cure them and to help them to be able to live in better resources, there are many organizations which try to help them in all the aspects: health, economic problems, education, food... A great example of it is NGO: for example nowadays they’re building there new schools to give education to the children and hospitals to take care of the illnest people.

Anyway, we also can become a great help to African people. We can give them a better life with not much effort. How can we do it? It’s easy. We can be „godparents“to African children. To do it we only have to choose one of the organizations which are in our country. Then we have to subscribe there, and paying a really low quantity of money per month, we will be able to give education, food and clothes to children until they will be 14. Also, we can participate in charities; send them our old clothes or our old toys, and much more. And I can assure that with few acts like these we can help a lot of people giving them a better life and make them a little happier.


MY REFLECTION...

This was our third oral presentation, so this time we had to show that we had improved compared with the other times. We chose a really interesting topic and we searched much information about it. We knew that it would be a quite difficult presentation because we had to talk about diseases and it means we had to use a scientific vocabulary. Also we must know all the symptoms and cures by heart.

In class, I got really nervous because this time we had only the key words in the PowerPoint and I hadn’t got any paper between my hands. I studied hard for this presentation because I wanted to do a good work and be able to get a nice mark, but I think I don’t did it as well as I expected.

As I said before, there were some words really difficult to learn and they were all essential to talk about those diseases. Maybe I wouldn’t have got so nervous if I had studied some days before. I’m quite happy with my pronunciation (I worked quite a lot with my speaking) but I know that I still have to improve it very much.

Laura and I couldn’t study together, and perhaps we didn’t know exactly when our turn to talk was.
The worst moment for me was when I was talking about an illness and I completely forgot the key words! Then, I was too nervous because I realized I hadn’t written them down in the paper!!

The thing that I liked the most was our PowerPoint, we used very visual images and we only wrote the key words.

Anyway, I enjoyed this work very much because I learnt a lot about diseases absolutely unknown for me and I can assure that I studied hard for it!
I hope with all my own to do best presentations the next year and improve my pronunciation! But especially, the thing I want to change first is…my nervous! I hope to be able my next year to control them properly.

In spite of my nervous and the forgotten words I think we did a nice work together!

OUR ORAL PRESENTATION: AUSTRALIA

MY TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi! We are Laura and Ariadna, and today we're going to talk about AUSTRALIA...

(HISTORY)Australia, also known as Commonwealth of Australia, is a country situated in the southern hemisphere comprising the Mainland of the Australian continent.
Australia is the sixth biggest country in the world. The name of its capital is Canberra.

Australia has been habituated by the Aboriginal since forty-two thousand years ago. It has been colonized by the United Kingdom in 1770 and in 1778.
[...]

(CULTURE)Australian people have for certain that Australia is absolutely a lucky country.
They are usually cheerful and with a smile on their face. They like to joke or say funny things. Respect is something basic in their life. They want to be well-treated, and if they get it they will do the same with the others.
In short, Australians are usually good people, friendly, and welcoming. They don’t care about colours or race. The magic words for them are: PLEASE and SORRY.

(RELIGION) Australia hasn’t got an official religion, most of the Australians are Christians, approximately the 60%, others are Roman Catholics and the rest are Anglicans or no-religious.
[...]

(FESTIVALS)Local festivals are very interesting, and because of it when people visit Australia look for them. The most known local festivals are:
-On the 26th January, it’s Australia’s National Day.

-In February there are also more celebrations, related especially with Carnival. Also, in this month is celebrated the “Festival of Perth” where there are different artists from other countries.

-In Sydney they celebrate “Mardi Gras” a party dedicated to all the gays and lesbian that visit Australia.

-And in June the most outstanding event is “Melbourne Film Festival”, where is preformed an exhibition of the best national and international films.

(MUSIC)Australian music includes:

-CLASSIC MUSIC

-JAZZ

-and many other POPULAR MUSIC GENRES.

One of the most famous Australian singers is: Kylie Minogue, she’s a pop singer.

(FOOD&DRINKS)The great majority of people buy fast-food from restaurants or ready meals from supermarkets. Some of them prefer to eat organic meals and other prefers to buy everything fresh and cook the food them selves, which results cheaper.

Typical Australian MEALS:

-Lamb with mint sauce or with apple sauce, all accompanied with chips, carrots and peas.

-Australian people like very much to cook with the “BARBIE”, barbecue for us. They usually cook different kinds of meat.

-They are crazy about “Fish&Chips”. They have it because of the English influence.

-Also it’s very typical there to eat “Meat Pies”. They are sold in butcheries.

-In Australia people drinks very quickly, and the most famous drink is beer.

(ACCENTS&DIALECTS)Australia hasn’t an official language. English is the most spoken language, but with a different accent and vocabulary. They speak Australian English. The next common languages are: Chinese, Italian, or Greek.
[...]

(ANIMALS)We want to talk about some animals of Australia because we haven’t them here. There are poisonous jellyfishes and octopus. There are also the most lethal spiders, usually in the cities. As well, there are different kinds of kangaroos, koalas and wombats.
But maybe the most scaring marsupial is “The Tasmanian Devil”. It seems a dog, but it’s really strong. It’s known by its disgusting smell and its loud and disturbing shouts.

And...that's all. HAVE YOU GOT ANY QUESTIONS?


MY REFLECTION:

I’m quite proud of our presentation. It seems better than my first oral presentation, but I still have many things to improve. On my first presentation, I hadn’t any paper, but I was looking all time to the PowerPoint, and in this presentation I decided to bring a paper but only with the most difficult words. On the video you can see that I’m all the time looking at the paper, but it’s quite silly because I wasn’t reading anything. I did it because I was too nervous. I haven’t improved my moves yet. I’m very nervous and I can’t stop moving all the time. I think that those are things to change in my next presentation. I have felt quite embarrassed when I have seen myself: while I was doing it, I thought that I wasn’t so nervous, but when I saw it I couldn’t believe it. I realize all my mistakes of the two oral presentations and I can say for sure that I want to it better.

My English pronunciation has still a low level, but it’s very difficult to me speak English in front of many people. I think that the vocabulary of the project is right, and some words were a little difficult to memorize but finally I got it.

It seems that I hadn’t study it, or that I’m reading all the time. But I can swear that I study very hard this presentation because it is a very important work to me. I like very much English, and our topic was very interesting. My brother is living in Australia right now, and I thought that if I chose it I would learn a lot of things about this beautiful country.

Maybe, after seeing the video, I can say that I’m disappointed with myself. I know that it doesn’t sound well but it’s the truth. I researched information, I read all and I chose the important things, I translated everything, I memorized my presentation all afternoon long, I tried to not be nervous and…what happened? I was more nervous than before, I moved hundred times more than before, I didn’t improved the pronunciation and especially I couldn’t do a good work.

I hope to improve it soon, and be able to do a nice third presentation. I hope it with all my own! I said all the negative things about our project, but perhaps if I had to say positive things about it I would say that…I learnt a lot with it, and I’m happy for it. I had fun with Laura while we were doing it, because we saw how different could be everything in Australia. Also, I’m fond of our hard work: we did a good PowerPoint, and we wrote there only the specific words, not the whole information as I did before. I think that we can improve it, and I will try it.

MY ORAL PRESENTATION

MY SUMMER HOLIDAYS

TRANSCRIPTION:

Hi! I’m Ariadna, and I’m 16 years old.
Today, I’m going to talk about my summer holidays with my best friend.
Have you ever been in London? Do you like to see different places?
Well, I want you to talk about everything of my two weeks in London, especially about my college and the places that I visited. I did a PowerPoint to show you some photos that I took.
My travel was since 1st of July to 15th of July. We went to Egham, a big town situated on the south of England. We stayed on a college called Royal Holloway.
I begin talking about my plane travel: we had to be at the airport at lunch time and met our group. We travelled to Egham with British Airways. We arrived to Egham at evening. We visited all together our college. It was amazing, the biggest college I’ve ever seen.
Rooms were separated by letters, so imagine there were so many flats with a letter. We had the letter K, the oldest rooms, but they also were good. We had to live there with Italian, Serbian, French and more nationality people. It was wonderful, because we would make a lot of friends.
There was a really big castle, which seemed to be the caste of Howards.
That was our school, our classes were there. But we could lose ourselves inside the castle. We had class at morning, 3 hours and we have two different teachers. I liked a lot my teachers, Ian was like Coldplay’s singer, and Harry was the typical English man. They were really nice. Finally, we visited our dinning room because it was dinner time: there were a buffet and lot of places to sit. On the first day we were all in time to have breakfast, but then, we were always the last. At nights, we were really hungry because in England people have dinner very early, so we went everyday to the supermarket to buy pizzas, and we ate them late.
Anyway, I want to talk about the wonderful places that I visited.
The place that I loved the most was Brighton: we spent the whole day there.
It’s so beautiful!! We went to the Aquarium at morning, and we saw plenty of strange fishes. After this, we have dinner and we spent some time on the beach. Brighton’s beach is amazing. It has no sand, everything was big stones. Then, we walked through the city streets. Brighton is full of people all day. We loved to look at them, and see how they were dressed. We also visited the shopping centre, which was enormous. And before we went to the bus, we saw some boys playing music on the street.
“Brighton is known like the gay city of England”
Another day, we visited Oxford. There is the castle which is filmed the dinning room of Harry Potter’s movie. We were all really surprised because it was a little room, and on the film it seems to have no ending with the special effects.
After the visited, we went to Oxford University.
On the second week we went to Windsor, where’s one of the official residences of the Royal British family. We had to bring with us talking phones for tourists to know the history of the castle. The queen had on the castle the biggest house of dolls, it has all that you can imagine and the things are made in real size.
Also, we met there some friends of here, it was really fun. While we were talking there was an amazing Orquestra playing in front of us. They were stuff of the castle and they wore the typical dresses of British guards.
The place most visited for us was London. I don’t have words to say how much I love this city. The first day we went there to visit the typical places like: London Eye, Tower Bridge or Big Ben. All were amazing!! And we also walk through the streets. That night we were all on a boat: our teachers made a disco there, and we could see how beautiful London is at night. Everything was light, and the disco was really fun.
The next day, we visited Buckingham Palace, the Royal Residence. It’s a wonderful place, and we enjoyed very much see how serious were the guards there. Later, we walked to Piccadilly Circus! One of my favourites places to go in London city! There was Oxford Street, the most important shopping street in London, and there was too a big screens with publicity. We spent a lot of time there, going to Starbucks because we like her cappuccinos very very much!!
And then, we found “Abercrombie & Fitch” shop. It’s the most famous shop in the world: her stuff are all handsome models, and everything inside it is perfect!!! We spent a lot of time too inside this shop! Enjoying a lot with the stuff, and finally we get a photo with the model that was standing on the door. When I say that it was amazing it’s true. You can’t believe how much we had to wait to could enter; it was like a 5 meters cue. But the wait was finally good.
The third day we had free time, so we decided to go shopping. We went to typical English shops like: Topshop, River Island, Gap…And when we had a little more time, we went again to Starbucks and we had a cappuccino and a big cookie. We talked a lot there about our fantastic days in Egham.
The fourth day we visited a museum: Tate museum. It was a museum of art really interesting, with six floors. We spent all morning there, taking photos and watching all, and at the afternoon it was raining a lot so, we decided to visit Harrods’s. Harrods’s are like a dream. We couldn’t get into because we were students, but finally we enter with Italian boys, like they were our boyfriends and guards let us pass. Everything is so expensive there, and there are guards in every step. But I have to say that it’s the most fabulous shopping centre that I’ve ever seen. Even the toilets were like the paradise, with Chanel perfume.
Those were our days in London.
The last day, we went to park of attractions, two hours far from our college. We spent all day there, and we enjoyed a lot. It was raining the whole day, but anyway we had fun with our friends.
That was the best experience of my life. I made a lot of good friends, I learnt a lot with them, I had fun, and I even fell in love.
So, this is my presentation. I hope you liked it.
Have you got any questions?

REFLECTION:

In my opinion I think that my presentation was right. I was very nervous because I’m very shy and it’s very difficult for me talk in front of so many people. So, this time, I decided to study hard my presentation to know well everything that I was going to say. Also, it was an interesting project to me because I talked about my summer holidays and my friends, so I tried to do my best.

I decided to make a PowerPoint to can show to everyone pictures of the beautiful places that I visited and to let they know what I was talking about. On my PowerPoint there were too much sentences and it was bad for the presentation. I thought that I could forget something and it could be terrible, so I decided to write that to be able to remember everything. In fact, I had everything on my mind. I still remember what I was saying! So, I think I was wrong doing this.

I watched twice my oral presentation and I can believe how could I be so nervous: I wasn’t looking to my classmates any time, I was all time looking at my PowerPoint! I wasn’t reading anything because I memorized all, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of there. My moves were really bad too! I’m too shy when I had to do these things so I couldn’t stop any second!! I was moving my arms all time and walking around myself. I did all of this because in that moment I was very nervous, but I didn’t realize that I was doing since I have seen myself on my computer. Apart from it, I was talking about a wonderful topic to me and I think that my friend liked it. I was reflecting my motivation with this project and if you are interested in the things that you say on your oral presentation people will listen to you.

My presentation lasted 7 minutes approximately, it was OK. I had enough time to explain everything and show my pictures. About my pronunciation and fluency I think that they were quite right. I hate my English pronunciation, I’m always thinking about it. But anyway, I’m trying to improve it. My fluency was alright, well I don’t know so much vocabulary to do the best presentation, but I think that my vocabulary was right for my level.

I hope to learn English for a long time and one day, be able to talk in English like now I talk in Spanish.