STUDYING ABROAD

Some people believe that choosing to study abroad is better than studying in their home counrties.I think that both aspects have many advantages and disadvantages.

Talking about studying abroad you can say that one advantage is that you can broaden your horizons by seeing how the people live in other counties. In this way, you can understand their culture which helps you to compare different things, to realise who you are and what you want. In addition,attending universities abroad can be an enriching experience because you have to take all the courses in a foreign language so in the end you will speak this language as your native one.

While there are considerable benefits to studying abroad, there are also importand drawbacks that cannot be ignored. First of all, you may feel isolated or homesick. It is very difficult to be alone without your friends, your parents and your relatives next to you. Secondly, it can be a financial burden on your parents because the studies abroad have a high cost. This would be risky because the degree may not be recognized in your country, which means that your effort was for nothing.

On the other hand, talking aboat studying in your country you can say that it is very advantageous. You can study in your mother tongue which makes it easier to understand everything which is provided to you. Moreover, you are close to family and friends which is very supportive and helps you to accomplish your goals. Also, it is not as expensive as studying abroad and this is a relief for parents who probably have other children to take care of.

To sum up, I believe that the best solution would be to study in your country for all the reasons above and there is no doubt in my mind that we all ought to support our county by all means.

NEW REFRESHMENT BAR FOR STUDENTS?

Dear Editor,

I am a parent and I am writing to you to express my opinion about the idea of some schools to providing a new refreshment bar to sell health food and also to install a vending machine.As a parent, I think the best idea would be a refreshment bar which would improve the eating habits of students.

I think that it would be very beneficial fοr the students to have the opportunity to buy healthy food because young people are not health conscious so all of us, parents and teachers ought to teach them what is worthwhile.I believe that teenagers must be aware of the benefits of healthy eating and this is an education which starts from an early age, so when they reach puberty, they will know how to choose food with high nutritional value.However, it is not possible to teach them all these about nutrition, to urge them to improve eating habits, if healthy food is not available in the schools or in stores near the school.

Despite the fact that school officials are concerned that healthy snacks would not be popular enough with students to cover the costs, I insist the refreshment bar be provided because the children are in a very sensitive age with many emotional fluctuations and they usually tend to choose unhealthy snacks so it would be pointless to offer them potato chips, candy bars and soft drinks while we tell them all the time that these are not good for their organism.Another serious reason why I am against vending machines is that teenagers must care about their weight and as far as I know from my experience as a physical education teacher in some schools some years ago, many children face up the problem of obesity. So we ought to convince them about what is the best for themselves.

I hope you will take my opinion into account.

Yours sincerely

TIMES NEW

Dear Mayor,

I am a local resident and I am writing to you to express my opinion about the plan to build a huge shopping mall on a site three miles outside our town.I agree with this plan, and I believe that young people will find there a place of entertainment with many activities.

First of all, this plan will boost our region in many aspects. It will give jobs to many people so in this way families will be able to offer to their children and the other members of them all they need.Secondly, the mall with all these facilities will enhance tourism and money and many people from other parts of the country will have the motive to come and know about our town, our traditions and our culture.It will help us to be more sociable to communicate with different people, to exchange opinions with them. This means that we will have the opportunity to enrich our experiences and to progress in many aspects of our life.

On the other hand, I know that some residents do not agree with this plan because they fear that this could mean the end for small local stores. I disagree with them because I strongly believe that all these people who will come in the mall will have the curiosity to explore the town, to go sightseeing and to taste the traditional food. So they will come in our local stores and I am sure that they will spend enough money on them. I suggest helping all local shop owners to reorganise and to renovate their shops in order for them to be able to come up to the challenge of having a huge shopping mall next to them.

All in all, I hope you take all these into account and I look forward to hearing good news from you. I wish all goes well in the end.

What is your dream job, Alice?

 What do you do for a living? Is that your dream job? What IS your dream job?

PERSONAL QUESTIONS

1) Where are you from?

I am from Crete, an island in the South of Greece. Particularly, I'm from Heraklion which is the capital of island.

2) what's your hometown like?

My hometown is one of the biggest towns of Crete with many facilities because it is the capital of the island, so many services are concentrated there, regarding entertainment and life in general.

3) What do you like about where you live?

What I like about living in Heraklion is that the distances are short, so everything you want to do is easy. Heralion is situated by the sea but at the same time you can go to the mountain and the countryside.In addition,it has many restaurants where you can taste the traditional cousine and many bars and cinemas where you can have fun with your company.

4) Would you like to live anywhere else?

No, I thing that I couldn't live anywhere else because here in my town I can find everything I want.It is the place where I was born and all my relatives, my parents,my friends are here. Everytime I leave the town for a while, and I return after a few days, it's very relaxing to be again in a familiar place, it makes me feel good.

5) What kind of vacation do you enjoy?

I enjoy going to different places and not staying in the same place every time. Even if I go to the same place I like exploring what else is nearby, and every time I find something interesting that I hadn't seen the previous time. I don't like staying only on the beach without doing anything. I prefer to be more active. This means that I swim a lot, play rackets or volleyball on the beach. Towards the end of the day, and after all these activities I like relaxing on the beach.

6) Did you go on vacation last summer?

Yes, I went on vacation last summer with my husband and a couple of close friends too, in a place which is named Ligres in the South of Crete. It was very restful, without stress at all. We had a good time all together and we laughed a lot.

7) What are you planning for your next vacation?

I would like to go abroad, in Romania where I studied some years ago. I am planning to be there for my next vacation because I heard that everything has changed. So I am very curious to see the place where I lived for 5 years and I have so many memories. I look forward to seeing all the classmates too.

8) What are you doing tonight/this weekend?

I don't have any plans for tonight, but for the weekend I would like to go on excursion in Athens to visit some good relatives and to have good time together. We can go to the theatre to see a good performance which I heard that is on now or we can go to a big concert in the music hall.

Halloween, tradition and technology

After surfing the Net and googling certain concepts, answer the following questions:

What is Halloween and what do its celebrations involve?

Is keeping traditions important to a nation? Is knowing about foreign traditions equally important?

How can tradition be combined with cutting edge technology that has radically altered the way we used to live?

Two extra activities! :-)

1) Visit www.sixflags.com and leave a written comment about which theme you would choose and why, using the words you learnt in this unit.

2) Visit www.earthtv.com/en and write about which place you would like to visit and the reasons for your choice.