The best place to live in Spain. Talk about the best place to live in your country. What are the reasons why you have chosen this place? Suggest activities that single people in their twenties and couples in their sixties can do if they visit this place. I think the best place to live in my country is Almeria. I have lived in this city all my life although I was studying in Seville for five years which is beautiful, but I live very better in Almeria. The weather isn´t very cold in the winter and it´s not very hot in the summer here. In general, it´s a temperate weather. So, both young people and old people can do many activities such as going to the castle from ten century or to the Cathedral. However, the best we have are the ‘tapas’. You can go out to eat ‘tapas’ to many bars and this is very cheap because you can drink a beer with a tapa for two euros. In addition, we have many beaches too where you can where you can swim if you like it. People in their twenties could play beach volleyball or beach tennis and couples in their sixties could walk along the promenade. In short, I´m far as far concerned, I think that it´s the best place in Spain. It´ll be because is my city. Could you correct me, please?

The movida madrileña. The movida madrileña was a cultural movement born in the eighties. It was very important throughout Spain for music, painting, literature and cine. This fact was motivated for the political situation what the country was in. Spain had just emerged from a dictatorship a few years ago and youth created this movement which was extended for many Spanish cities although it was really born in Madrid. From that movement, many bands were known as, for example, ‘Los Secretos’ whose popularity persists nowadays. In that years, I was a child but I remember the TV programmes of music and children´s programmes made for popular singers of that time like ‘Alaska’, ‘Kiko Veneno’ or ‘Santiago Auserón’, I´m refering to ‘La bola de cristal’. However, it would be impossible to watch a programme like that nowadays because parents would consider that it was inappropiated for their children. On the other hand, many youngs were dead due to drugs because heroin was something unknown at first but, from my point of view, all was necessary to arrive where we are at this moment, for better and for worse. Could you correct me, please?

An important person in your life. Talk about an important person in your life. What role does this person have in your life? What are the reasons why you have chosen him/her? Tell an anecdote or a memory you share with this person. The person most important in my life is obviously my daughter, she is three years old and was born in Almeria. Although her father is from Galicia, she is very Andalusian. She has brown eyes and curly hair which is brown too like her eyes. She is a likeable girl and always smiling. In general, she is my happiness. The role my daughter has in my life is all, because I like doing everything with her also she and I often are together because I´m looking after her every afternoon as she usually goes to school in the morning. So, she and I are together in the afternoon. It´s unnecessary say that she is a good girl. The reason why I have chosen her is clear, we aren´t special people. For everybody their children are the most important in their lifes. It´s very usual. An anecdote that I can say is, for example, when we are at home after lunch every day and I tell her, ‘Nieves, we are going to sleep some minutes’ and she said, ‘I´m not mummy, I´m not going to bother you, sleep you’. Then, I want give her a big kiss. Could you correct me, please?

The most interesting job in the world. Talk about the job that you have or would like to have. What do you think is the most interesting job in the world? If you could create your own business, what would it be? In the first place, I have to say that I love my job. I´m an architect technician and I work in a construction company. We make protected buildings (social housing) to poor people who haven´t got anything to eat. Although there are other jobs which could be interesting too, for example, a doctor. I think being a doctor it would be very interesting because you could care other people. However, I think the most interesting job in the world is teacher. I think I´d like to teach children or teenagers. For example, I could teach technical drawing in a high school but if I could create my own business, I would create a construction company. I´d like to create a great company to can make big buildings and so I could go down in history. It would be my dream. Could you correct me, please?

Transcription of speaking. Correct me, please. Most people believe that professional athletes shouldn´t take drugs, while other think that ‘why not’. When an athlete has a headache, for example, he or she has to take an aspirin, is that good? That fact isn´t considered take drugs for some people. On other hand, the extreme training is unhealthy, why isn´t this forbidden? I think that people who decide this thing should forbid all things in that case. So, why don´t we allow that professional athletes take drugs? Most of professional athletes doesn´t really take any drug, for example in Spain, Pau Gasol is the greatest basketball player in the country and he has never taken any drug. But if he took any drug, what would it happen?

Should professional athletes take performance-enhancing drugs? Most people believe that professional athletes shouldn´t take drugs to enhance performance. However, others maintain that ‘why not’. They don´t know where the limit is. For example, if an athlete has a headache, could he or she take an aspirin? This fact would make that the athlete felt better and he or she could compete and even win. Like that, there are many medicines that we could mention. In addition, why are drugs forbidden for professional athletes? Because they are unhealthy for them but, is the extreme training good for health? How many things should we forbid? I´d like to recommend to people with power to decide these things that they have to forbid everything, above all football. This sport should be removed in the world. Although I wouldn´t make the same with basket. Not only is Spanish Selection second in the world, but also they have won many titles through the time. As far as I´m concerned, I think Pau Gasol is the best in the world and he has never taken any drugs.

work-life balance In general, I think that I have a work-life balance because I work from 8 to 3 p.m. every day, from Monday to Friday but it hasn´t always been so because over some years ago I worked from 8 to 10 p.m. every day since I was an appraiser at that moment ten years ago. There were many buildings. The construction sector was in a boom. Due to this fact, I worked all time but I wasn´t happy. One day, I decided change my job because I wanted to have some free time. If I wanted to be a mother some day I couldn´t work too much. So, I fortunately found a job from 8 to 3 p.m. where I work nowadays and I was a mother three years ago. I have a beautiful daughter and I can be with my family and friends every day and I can look after my daughter every afternoon after working.

Talk about your work‐life balance. Do you think you have enough free time? Talk about your work‐life balance. Do you think you have enough time to see friends, be with your family or relax? Suggest ways in which people can improve their work‐life balance. ------------------------------- Over more of ten years ago, my life was very different. I worked for twelve hours a day because there was a boom in the construction sector and I was an appraiser at that moment. I had to appraise many houses every day. People were crazy. So, my job never finished until I said ‘stop’ every evening. However, that life wasn´t satisfactory for me, since I hadn´t work-life balance. I felt very stressed. For this reason, I decided that it was the time to change of job. In addition, if I wanted to be a mother some day in the future, I couldn´t work too much. What could I do? Fortunately, I found a job from 8:00 to 3:00 p.m. in a construction company. At the first, it was hard because I was working in two sites for three years. But after that, my life was become very better because nowadays I have enough free time to see friends, be with my family or relax. My dream was also come true, I became a mother three years ago and I can look after her every day. In conclusion, I´d like to recommend you to try found a work-life balance and I´m sure that you´ll be happier.

Essay: Talk about your attitude towards money. In your opinion, what things are a waste of money? Talk about your attitude towards money. In your opinion, what things are a waste of money? What things are good value for money? If money didn’t exist, what would you use to pay for something? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First of all, I have to say that the money isn´t important enough for me while I had it. On the one hand, I´d like people didn´t spend too much money buying things which really isn´t useful for them and, on the other hand, I´d like that they spent it in something which could help to people who are needing it to live nowadays because they don´t have anything to eat. However, we are living in a consumer society and it´s well known that we couldn´t live without a smartphone or a computer, for example. As far as I´m concerned, I consider that I don´t need the last model of I-phone or a Ferrary, I think that it would be a unnecessary waste of money. On the contrary, I prefer having a good house where to live with my family, this would be good value for money for me, but I recognise I like those things. Although, if money didn´t exist, we could use to pay things like in the Ancient Age. In other words, if I had many potatoes and I didn´t have any tomatoes, I would change them to somebody for those tomatoes. In my opinion, maybe it could works, wouldn´t it?