WEEK 9: NATURAL WONDERS (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Browse the Net and upload a descriptive text of a well-known place, and underline all the expressions used for describing the place. Add other sentences by yourself to improve the text selected.

Italy has some famous cities. One of them is Rome. It is a very historical city. If you visit Rome, you will have plenty of chances to see all sorts of great sights.

Rome can be traced through its mythology when it was founded on . It was said that  twins of Romulus and Remus has founded the city in 753 BC, on the date of April 21st. This  corresponds fairly closely to archeological evidence, which shows farming communities in the area. As the Catholic Church grew, Rome became more and more important in both religion and politics.

Rome was one of the central leading cities in the Renaissance. It is seen when visitors walk through the streets and see the various buildings. The style was profoundly affected by the work of the artists of the time. Visitors can see evidence of all sorts of artistic influences, such as the Baroque palaces, the huge squares and obelisks, and other structures throughout the city.

Rome is well known for its architecture. The colosseum is one sample of famous Roman structures. It was once a grand, ground-breaking amphitheatre, and was at the forefront of architectural advancements in 70 AD. Since then it has fallen apart slightly, but it still an astounding and imposing structure.

Modern Rome is a very busy place to go. It is considered a cultural center for the region, and offers all the arts in various forms. It has a thriving music scene, with several major concert halls. Rome puts out a lot of movies every year, more so than any other region of Italy. It is home to Cinecittà studios, the biggest facility in Europe.

https://freeenglishcourse.info/example-descriptive-text-city-of-rome/

WEEK 8: NARRATIVE ESSAY WRITING (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Find out on the web 2 different links where narrative essay writing is explained and summarise the main characteristics. In which way is it different from discursive essay writing?

http://www.11trees.com/live/what-is-a-narrative-essay/

https://essayinfo.com/essays/narrative-essay/

Characteristics:

• is told from a particular point of view
• makes and supports a point
• is filled with precise detail
• uses vivid verbs and modifiers
• uses conflict and sequence as does any story
• may use dialogue
• Opening hook to get your audience interested or curious
• Sharply drawn characters
• Plot—that is, a chain of events with an interesting cause-and-effect dynamic
• Vivid sensory description of people, events, and settings
• Dialogue
• Tension
• Climax

In a discursive writing, an idea is discussed and proved to be right or wrong. For this reason, the vocabulary is usually very specific and formal, using facts to support the ideas of the writer.  However, a narrative writing focus more in entertaining its potential readers, using a more descriptive vocabulary and not necessarily providing facts.

WEEK 7: PERSUASION (Isabel Martínez Puche)

Find out expressions to express persuasion, different from the ones offered in the textbook.

I can guarantee…

I tell you, it’s a fact.

I tell you, it’s certain.

I am absolutely certain.

I saw it myself.

I can assure you…

It’s quite true.

It must be true.

Yes, really. It’s quite true.

Come on.

Give it a try.

Try them on.

You won’t regret it.

This is once in your lifetime, don’t waste it. 

Find a text on the Internet where a hypothesis is discussed and underline the expresions for hypothesising.

Enzymes catalyze reactions by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. Catecholase, an enzyme found in potatoes, converts catechol to benzoquinone in the presence of oxygen. It would be expected that more benzoquinone would be formed in the presence of a greater amount of catecholase. This hypothesis was supported by the results obtained. The most enzyme was placed in tube 2. The absorbance was also highest for this tube. This means that the most product was formed in this test tube. In accordance with this, tube four, which had the least amount enzyme, also had the least amount of absorption. There were some unexpected results, but this is most probably due to human error; the absorbance levels were probably read wrong. Enzymes are affected by the environment. The pH level of the environment is one factor that can alter enzymes. The rate at which the enzyme form product is slowed or sped up depends on how close to the norm the environment is. In the second experiment, the pH of the medium was different in each of the test tubes. The general trend seen in these reactions was that the more acid added to the test tubes, the less product formed. The more acidic solution caused the enzyme to work less efficiently.