Oral presentation 3rd term.

History.

It has been estimated that by 1914 there were 1083 NGOs. International NGOs were important in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women's suffrage, and reached a peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference.

The definition of "international NGO" (INGO) is "any international organization that is not founded by an international treaty".

Definition.

• Non Governmental Organizations in the UN System" describes NGOs as non-commercial, and therefore should have a non-profit making aim, and non-political organization that should not `openly engage in violence or advocate violence as a political tactic and that they should be able to raise funds from their members or voluntary contributions.

Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state.

Globalization during the 20th century gave rise to the importance of NGOs.

There are many problems that couldn't be solved within a nation. International treaties and international organitations are too centred on the interests of capitalist enterprises.

NGOs have developed to emphasize humanitarian issues, developmental aid and sustainable development.

Types.

NGO type can be understood by orientation and level of co-operation.

NGO type by orientation

 Charitable orientation;

 Service orientation;

 Participatory orientation;

 Empowering orientation;

NGO type by level of co-operation

 Community- Based Organization;

 City Wide Organization;

 National NGOs;

 International NGOs;

WHAT ARE THE REASONS OF FOUNDATION

NGOs are founded by people who voluntarily associate with an aim of working together to achieve a common goal/objective. Such a goal may be short or long-term, professional, needs driven or otherwise.

REASONS FOR EXISTENCE

• Another reason for the existence of NGOs is that people come together in independent groups to promote some type of activity that is not being undertaken by governments. Alternatively, governments may already be involved in an activity but groups are formed in order to challenge the way government is handling it.

•

REQUIREMENT FOR FORMATION OF NGO’S

• Formation of NGOs require innovative thinking, creativity, conceptualization of vision, ability to assess an existing gap in the provision of a service(s) or goods which calls for the skills to analyze what is and what ought to be- the real and the ideal.

Most founders of successful NGOs

• They have ability to influence and mobilize popular support from beneficiaries, government and other possible state holders.

• They should be clear on their geographical area of operation and have clearly stated missions and objectives.

• They are good at planning, have entrepreneurial and managerial skills, are willing to work voluntarily at least in the formative stages, should be able to understand the culture and traditions of the target groups and be ready to move with and adopt to the changing environment.

Staffing

Not all people working for non-governmental organizations are volunteers.

Expatriates: There are some people that works permanently abroad helping people. They are the main members of the NGO, directing people and controlling that the aims are achieved.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

1. They have the ability to experiment freely with innovative approaches and, if necessary, to take risks.

2. They are flexible in adapting to local situations and responding to local needs and therefore able to develop integrated projects, as well as sectoral projects.

3. They enjoy good rapport with people and can render micro-assistance to very poor peope as they can identify those who are most in need and tailor assistance to their needs.

4. They have the ability to communicate at all levels, from the neighbourhood to the top levels of government.

5. They are able to recruit both experts and highly motivated staff with fewer restrictions than the government.

Disadvantages

1. Paternalistic attitudes restrict the degree of participation in programme/project design.

2. Restricted ways of apporach to a problem or area.

3. Less replicability of an idea, due to non-representativeness of the project or selected area, relatively small project coverage, dependence on outside financial resources, etc.

4. "Territorial possessiveness" of an area or project reduces cooperation between agencies, seen as threatening or competitive.

MOST POPULOUS NGO:

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide[1] which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity"[3] and focuses its work on world wide issues such as global warming, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling and anti-nuclear issues. Greenpeace uses direct action,lobbying and research to achieve its goals.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research andrestoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States.

United Nations Children's Emergency Fund was created to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. Now UNICEF provides long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.

Summarizing the whole year.

First of all I would like to say that I have done the English blog for a lot of years. So, I have a lot of experience.

Before, the English blog was a big mark, but now it is only 10 % of the total mark of the term. That means that it is only the 30 % of the school year's mark.

That's very little! Is a lot of work for a little puntuation.

One of the disavantages is that we have to do six entries (My World), three entries (My Tasks), three entries about News and, if we want to improve our mark, we have to do three more entries to have 0,1 point more. This work each term. And I think that's a crazy thibg, a crazy quantity of work.

But well, in Batxillerat there area lot of things that are unfair.

The last term we have got less time to do the English work, that means to work as fast as we can to have the blog ready in the correct date.

But I think that the English blog has advantages too. One of theme maybe the act of writing in english, to have to find words for what you want to say, go and go until you find a easy way to write. That's good for our expression!

That's a nice way to use creativity!

Next year I don't know if we will do the English blog, but it will be great if the blog will count more.

That's all :)

A film: Juno

Juno is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Ellen Page stars as the title character, an independent-minded teenager confronting an unplanned pregnancy and the subsequent events that put pressures of adult life onto her. Michael Cera, Olivia Thirlby, J. K. Simmons, Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman also star. Filming spanned from early February to March 2007 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The film premiered on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Page. The film's soundtrack, featuring several songs performed by Kimya Dawson in various guises, was the first number one soundtrack since Dreamgirls and 20th Century Fox's first number one soundtrack since Titanic. Juno earned back its initial budget of $6.5 million in twenty days, the first nineteen of which were when the film was in limited release. The film has gone on to earn more than 35 times that amount for a total of $231 million, becoming the highest grossing film in distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures's history.

Juno received numerous positive reviews from critics, many of whom placed the film on their top ten lists for the year. The film has also received both criticism and praise from members of both the pro-life and pro-choice communities regarding its treatment of abortion.

Main characters- Casting:

Having previously admired her performance in Hard Candy, Reitman cast Ellen Page in the lead role, saying that when he read the screenplay for the first time he pictured her as Juno.

He also handed the script to J.K. Simmons, who had featured in his previous film, Thank You for Smoking, not telling him that he intended Simmons to play Mac. Simmons says that after reading the script, he would have been happy to play even the high school teacher who has no speaking lines.

My opinion:

I love this film! Is a very nice film! Juno is a funny, caring and innocent character, in her way.

Ruthless Rafa! The Spanish juggernaut rolls on but Federer goes down fighting in Paris

Roger Federer came to Roland Garros and made his point, but he could not make it loud enough to suppress the extraordinary Rafael Nadal.

We get the message that Federer is no spent force, and when Wimbledon starts in a fortnight nobody will be underestimating him as they did here and writing him out of the sport's remarkable narrative of 2011.

Yet that is something different from actually beating Nadal and interfering with the private duel he is waging with the records of Bjorn Borg from more than 25 years ago.

While Federer was often brilliant and always adventurous in his attempts to stop his greatest rival he was ultimately powerless to prevent a 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 defeat that took three hours and 40 minutes.

This was Nadal's 10th Grand Slam title and his sixth at Roland Garros, tying with the tally amassed by the great Swede at this stadium.

Of the seven men in history who have reached double figures when it comes to the game's major trophies, only Borg reached 10 at a younger age than the Spaniard's 25 years and two days.

Of more current significance is that going into Wimbledon Nadal will still be the world No 1, having defended the position against the odds from the frantic assault of Novak Djokovic.

Federer facilitated that by his semi-final defeat of the Serb and, most unwillingly, played his part again by losing in what was his first Grand Slam final since last year's Australian Open.

Nonetheless he was pleased at least to be back in the conversation about who belongs where in the game's highest echelon.

'At the Australian Open when people thought me and Rafa were done I told them to wait six months. Now the talk is different again. I feel really good physically and the priority is to win Wimbledon,' he said.

My opinion:

I think Rafael Nadal is just the best tennis player in the wolrd! He has just prove it! hehe I adore this boy, and that's because he plays well and he is very honest.

Barcelona

Next year I will move to Barcelona because of my studies. I want to enter in Pompeu Fabra University and, probably, study Humanities. Cristina and Nuria Sala will come with me probably.

I want to live with them :)

My family now has a flat in Barcelona that will be my home when I will be there. Is in Aribau street, in eight minutes you can be in Passeig de Gràcia. That's so great!

But there's a joke that everybody do to me: Ohhhh! Your name is Andrea and you live in Aribau street, like the Andrea of Nada written by Carmen Laforet (a novel we have to read this year).

I will know a lot of persons, I know, but I expect not to lose my friends of now (that's a thing that worries me a lot!). Lydia, for example, she will probably study in Germany! That's so far!

Another example: a lot of people will go to study in Girona, different careers or different universities into Barcelona... And we will probably get separated.

Well, I expect this not to happend =')

HOW IS BARCELONA TO ME?

Barcelona is a warm and cold city; I explain my words:

Barcelona is warm because is a Catalan city and I know her. In summer, the weather is very hot (too much in many occasions). In summer I feel more the pollution of Barcelona, and I don't like it!

Barcelona has a lot of shops, supermarkets, stars of the (like the Barça's player Gerard Piqué).

People are kind and nice, comfortable persons. Because of that I think I will be O.K. In Barcelona.

Barcelona is cold because in winter the weather is cold and dry. But not only for this: Barcelona is cold because there's many people, and you are only another insignificant person and you feel like a little ant. Yes, you do: a little ant in the big city.

The 2011 Local Elections

After suffering a unefficient governament formed in the last local elections of 2007 by three different parties plus a turned coat, the town hold of Castelló d'Empúries and Empuriabrava has gone through a very bad time. The bad management plus the crisis has cost a very big debt in the municipal coffers.

So last Sunday there was voting day for all the citiziens of Castelló and Empuriabrava. For four years Empuriabrava had been going down and down until coming a terrible place of degradation, to such extreme that when tourists came to Empuriabrava they didn't want to stay very long. The level of crime has also increased and we have nothing to offer the tourists except sun and beach.

Empuriabrava is in state of abandon and this last council has done nothing to change it, so many people want out to vote to change this situation. Seven parties were presented to the citizens to be voted:

ERC, UDEM, CiU, Entesa, SI, IPM, PP.

CiU won with the majority of votes (1083) and 7 councillors and the second it was UDEM

wich was the first time to go into the elections and was the only party to fight for Empuria

brava. They got 3 councillors and a total of 461 votes

. The third was the social party (IPM) with a total of 360 votes and two councillors, this party had made a mistake by changing the letters of PSC to IPM and confused many old voters. The fourth were ERC which was the party of the all mare. They had 345 votes and two councillors.

I think people punished him having mixed with different losing parties with different ideas

which didn't work.

PP was the fifth party with 275 votes and one councillor. The next to Entesa and SI only got 170 votes each.

Now we have to wait for the most voted parties to talk to each

other to form a coalition governament.

Barça wins the Champions!

There concluding that any team needs to win to be someone in football, such as 1992 for the club or the 1968 to Manchester, and is imposing win trophies to become a celebrity. Just like yesterday in London.

The Legend of Barcelona and United started separately at the old Wembley, Barça against Sampdoria and the Red Devils against Benfica. Both returned last night to the legendary English stage, now so renowned as the clubs themselves, to resolve which of the two marking period, after Barca and beat the Reds two years ago in Rome.

There was no doubt. The glory went back to the sublime Barcelona Messi and Abidal.

Right now there is no better player than Messi or a team playing better football than the club, also in a neutral ground, the most sacred of Europe, the sanctuary of Wembley. The four-time Barça were crowned after a faultless performance on more demanding, compared to the leader of English football in the same church in London.

Many team shirts, Manchester does not suit the target.

Appeared to give value to the success and expand the nice Barça club and team more than ever after a collective role and a great victory without discussion of its famous front.

My opinion:

It is true that this Barça is the best team ever! What a group of boys! They play so good and, another time, they show it at Wembley Stadium =)

My favourite player of the match was Marscherano! He does a very well job. But, like always, I love the way to play of Xavi. And I celebrated like a crazy person the goals scored by Pedrito, Messi and Villa. These three boys are golden! The Champions is our!

Terrorists 'could lace British food with poison': Government's terrifying warning to supermarkets.

The government has warned supermarkets that terrorists could poison food supplies in Britain.

Security advisers have highlighted the vulnerability of the country's food chain and how quickly bacteria can spread.

Manufacturers and retailers have been told they could be at risk from groups looking to cause widespread casualties and disruption.

Threat: Supermarkets have been told to tighten security due to concerns that food and drink supplies may be targeted by terrorists.

Across the board, food and drinks producers, suppliers and supermarkets have been told to tighten security throughout their food production processes and target weaknesses in their supply chains.

In the past the biggest risk to food has been from criminals attempting extortion or people with a grudge.

However, Al Qaeda, dissident republicans in Northern Ireland and animal rights activists are being identified as potential risks.

My opinion:

This kind of news make me nervous. I get a little scary, really. I think a government should have fear this kind of news. That news terrorize people, they extend a wave of fear through out the country. And remember that fear is the hardest to fight!

Dr. House

House M.D. is a series which talks about a odd doctor that Works in a private hospital. Doctor House is a very famous series, but I discovered it last month! Reaqlly curious, isn’t it?

Well, now the series is on its seventh season, but I’m holding on not to watch it. I want to see it from the beginning to the end.

Each chapter of the series is about a different medical case.

Now I’m going to describe the main character of the series:

Dr. Gregory House: He is a very abrupt person but he has a good person inside him.

He is veeeery ironic with everybody. He is addicted to his painkillers because of the pain of his bad leg (atrophied muscle; that’s the reason why he always carries a stick).

Dr. Cameron: She is a young woman doctor that falls in love with House. She is very intelligent and is one of the work team of House.

Dr. Foreman: He is a black man that works with Dr. House (in his work team). He is a doctor too, for first he was always thinking of complying with the rules, but slowly he turns thinking of what is better to the patients (complying with House’s rules).

Dr. Chase: He is the handsome boy in the series (for me; House too! ;) ). He is a little selfish, impolite and takes advantage of things in secret. He is a good boy, I know, this impolite and traitor character is only for some chapter in the first and second season.

Cuddy: She is a doctor too, but she has long been the hospital director. She is a goo

d person and is always taking care of House. She knows he is a excellent doctor and she need him. She is always worried about his addiction.

Dr. Wilson: He is the oncologist of the hospital. He is Dr. House’s best friend, because of that, he has a lot of problems hahaha, poor Wilson...

Stacy: She appears only in the second season (for what I’ve seen). She is a lawyer and, when she appears again with her ill husband (not House, another), and her husband recovers (well he reminds paralyzed), she asks to be the hospital lawyer (this hospital lawyer; arrrrrgh, what a prig woman!)

My favourites:

I love all the characters but Doctor House is my favourite. He and Chase are the handsome men (juju).

There’s only one character I hate: STACY (What an irritating woman!).

Xavi of FCB

Xavier Hernández i Creus was (born in 25th January of 1980 in Terrassa, Barcelona, Catalonia), more commonly known as simply Xavi, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a central midfielder for La Liga club FC Barcelona, where he has spent his entire 13-year career.

Xavi was named the official Man of the match of the 2009 Champions League Final as he helped Barcelona defeat Manchester United to win their third Champions League title. He has been capped 101 times for the Spanish national team, with whom he won UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. He was named Player of the Tournament by UEFA at UEFA Euro 2008. He had won the 2010 World Cup with the Spanish Squad (or La Sel

ección/La roja).

Xavi is considered to be one of the best midfielders in the world.

I love this footballer! I really like him! I love the way he plays and how he cheats the opposited players with the ball and... wow, he makes magic!

Xavi is a very honest person, and I think he looks close to people, very simple, very transparent. He doesn't like the celebrity world or ay roll like this. He only wants to do his job the best he can. I admire persons like him.

Barça is my football team, the one which I belong forever! Since I was a child, I love this team. I asked for the Barça clothes for Christmas when I was eight =') I still have this costume in my wardrobe.

Books!

I will like to talk about one series of books that I like very much. They are the Mortal Instruments (Cazadores de Sombras in Spanish). The Mortal Instruments is a series of four novels by author Cassandra Clare including City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels.

I like these books a lot because... I like it! haha No, seriously: I like these books because they are well written and they have a very interesting fantastic facts.

The main characters are:

Clary Fray: also called Clarissa, is the main protagonist of the series. A 16-year-old Shadowhunter who was brought up as human by her mother for protection. She is a little over 5 feet tall and has wavy red hair. She is an artist, and is in love with Jace Wayland, even though for much of the series they believe they are siblings. Much of the series is focused on Clary's quest to help her mother while adjusting to her new life as a Shadowhunter. She has the ability to create new runes after being experimented on by her father who put angel blood in her syste

m.

Jace Wayland: also called Jonathan

Christopher, and in the end Jace Lightwood, is another major character in the series. An orphaned Shadowhunter who lives with the Lightwoods at the Institute in New York City. He is said to be the best Shadowhunter of his age, having been trained severely by his father prior to his death.

He is described as having wavy golden hair, eyes (which only look golden in the light), and skin, as well as having scars all over his body from countless fights. He has a peculiar star-shaped scar on his shoulder, which is revealed later in the series as a marker of

having direct contact with an angel, and also as an indication that he was part of the Herondale bloodline. Clary describes him as having an angular face(high cheeckbones, a big jaw, and a flat chin), she also says it is that of an angel.

Simon Lewis: is Clary's formerly-human, vampire best friend, who has been in love with her for several years. In City of Ashes, he is stabbed in the throat by Valentine, which is very nearly the cause of his death; however, he is saved by Jace soon after, who allows Simon to drink his blood and heal. After that event, because of the components of Jace's blood, he is able to be in direct sunlight without any damage. Because of this, he is called a "Daylighter". Simon is described as having dark hair with a crude haircut, pretty brown eyes, and crooked glasses. His physical looks are improved when he becomes a vampire, and his skin becomes paler and his eyes blacker, as well as losing the necessity of glasses. He has a witty, sarcastic sense of humor, as well as being eclectic because of his obsession with video games and his ever-shifting band.


Valentine Morgenstern: the books' main antagonist. A powerful and evil Shadowhunter. He turns up after several years when he was supposedly dead and attempts to steal the Mortal Cup from Jocelyn. He is also the real father of both Sebastian and Clary, and experimented on both of them, as well as Jace. Consumed by the belief that he must purify the Shadowhunter race and convinced of the righteousness of his cause, there is nothing he will not do to eradicate the earth of Downworlders. Joining forces with the demons, he has his son Jonathan, who is half demon and half shadow-hunter, destroy the defenses surrounding Alicante, which then allows his demon army to attack Alicante. In the end, when he kills his "son", Jace, he is in turn killed by the angel Raziel in compensation for his selfish deeds.

My favourite characters are Cary and Jace, of course! haha I love them! When I thought that Clary and Jace were silblings I almost fainted.

A song- 3

"Fix You" is a song by English alternative rock band Coldplay. It was written by all four members of the band for their third album, X&Y. The track is built around an organ, that is accompanied by slow tempo drums, and a vocals. It was released on 5 September 2005 as the second single from X&Y and has reached number four in the United Kingdom Singles Chart. The song reached number 18 in the United States Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks. Promo singles were released for the UK and US.

"Fix You" received positive reviews. Critics complimented the song's music. It has been widely sampled, with different covers and sounds. The song, itself, was nominated for multiple awards in the categories of Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Anthem of the Summer. The music video was garnered as a tribute to the 7 July 2005 London bombings.

Coldplay is my favourite music band and I will like to see them in a concert. I love all their songs, they are so good!

Fix you is one of my favourite songs. I learn to play it by piano and sing it at the same time as well =)

This is Fix you with its lyrics! It is nice!

Opinion Essay

Have we almost learnt to respect our world ?

I disagree with this idea; we haven’t learnt to respect our world yet. In my opinion, we have a lot of things to learn, like: protect our planet of global warming or act for a good sustainability.

It is clear that governments are now occupied with the global crisis, but

they shouldn’t forget the environment. They are very worried about how to arrange their countries, but they are forgetting about the world. However, we should help our planet to improve, organize some searching for other resources other than oil, nuclear energy or thing like that.

I also believe that businesses between governments of the entire world should focus on protecting the world we have, underside of fighting or wee who’s the best country. Sometimes they only care about their country. I think it is okay in some extent, but we must also hold the world itself.

In conclusion, I would say that developed countries should be the pioneers worrying about issues as they are the least having problems and they can do something for the world.