Monologue: Three different criminal offences, vandalism, pickpoketing and robbery.

Good afternoon,

I've been asked to talk about three different criminal offences illustrated in three pictures.   The criminal offences are: vandalism, pickpocketing and robbery.

To start with, I want to define what these criminal offences are:

• Vandalism, this type of offence happens when a group of people damages or destroys things, especially public property like benchs, shop windows and so on.

• Pickpocketing is when someone steals money and stuff from people's pockets and bags, mainly in crowded places.

• Robbery is when someone takes money and property illegally, often using threats and violence. This offence takes place in banks, houses and so on.

From my point of view these crimes are very different, but all of them have the same roots: 

• Increasing differences between affluent people and the rest of the society which every day is poorer.
• Many young people are unemployed and what is worst, they don't have any prospect of getting a job in the future. 
• No appreciation for hard work. We can watch on tv programs people who gets lots of money without doing anything worth for the society. These people are a very bad example.

The best way to cut down these criminal offences and prevent its growing is to fight against their causes. So, some measures that can be taken are:

-  Reducing economic differences between the richer people and the poor. It can be done through higher taxes to rich people, and then using the money to help poor people.
- Improving education of young people, this includes trying to give them better values.
-  Making easier the access of young people to a job.

The problem with these measures is that they only take effect in the long term. In the short term, society only can take actions like install CCTV cameras, reinforce the laws against these type of crimes, stablish more security controls and so on.

Presentation - Retirement age

Good afternoon,

As you know my name is Nestor and I am a secondary school teacher. My speciality is technology.

I am going to talk about retirement age. Well, I am forty years old, and most of you will be wondering why I have chosen this subject. The answer to this question is very easy. Last week I was in the teacher's room and even though most teachers of my school are younger than me, they were talking about the new age retirement proposal made by government and business organizations. They want to fix seventy years old as the new retirement age for everyone.

But before going on with my presentation, I would like to ask a question. As you know Japanese people are considered to be very hardworking. Taking this into account, which do you think that is the official retirement age in Japan?. I'll give you three options:

A.- 60, B.- 65, C.- 70.

What do you think is the right answer? At the end I'll give you the reply.

Going ahead with my presentation, I have to say the discussion was very intense. There were mainly two positions. Some of my colleagues thought that teaching is vocational and for this reason they would like to be teaching until the age of seventy old or later, if they felt in good condition. The rest thought they would be very old at that age and they would like to enjoy life before dying. 

From my point of view this issue is very complex and it depends on the type of person you are and your circumstances. That is, the appropiate age retirement is influenced by many factors, unfortunately most of them can't be controlled.  

The most important factors are (at least for me):

1.- Financial situation. If you want to retire, you should have enough money to do that, a pension or savings.

2.- Job satisfaction. If you don't enjoy your work, you will have to think about retirement.

3.- The type of work you do. It's not the same to be a footballer that to be a politician, your work requirements are very different.

4.- Your physical and mental health. As you get older you’re not guaranteed your health.

In conclusion before retiring you have to evaluate many things and make the best decision for you.

To end, the correct answer to the question I have asked at the beginning is that retirement age for japanese people is settled in 60 years old.

Thanks for your attention. I'll be glad of answering all your questions.

Monologue: Eating habits of young people.

I've been asked to talk about food habits of young people.

The nutritional habits of younger people are raising the concern due to increasing rates of obesity and the extension  of eating disorders. Besides that, a bad eating has consequences in health, studies and diseases.

As a secondary school teacher I can see in my daily work that young don't eat properly:

-  Most students don't get enough food at breakfast and the rest don't even take breakfast.
- They don't take enough water. In fact in my school we are promoting the increase of water consumption among students.
- They love sweets and bakery. During recess these are the favourite food.
- When they go out with friends they usually go to fast food restaurants. They consider this type of food very tasty and delicious.
- In general, they don't like fruits and vegetables, and for this reason, they only take this food if their parents oblige them.

Fighting against these bad habits is very difficult. Young are very influenced by tv and friends and in many cases their parents don't have good habits regard to food.

Some actions which can be done:

- Banning on tv advertises of fast food, soda drinks and so on.
- Educating parents about the importance of good eating habits for their children.
- Doing workshops at school to promote good eating habits, and doing it on a regular basis each course.
- Providing, where possible, fruits to students during recess.

- Banning on vending machines in schools.

I can think in other possibilities, but it would be very long.

To conclude, it is important to remind young people that healthy food can reduce diseases and it also can provide them better quality of life. If they acquire healthy habits as healthy food and regular exercise they will be better both  physically and mentally.

Monologue: Healthy life

I've been asked to talk about healthy life.

To start with, it is important to define what we understand for healthy life. A healthy life is a way of living which improves your health and so, it can help you to extent your life and also it can improve its quality.

And having good health means being in good physical and mental condition. Therefore if you are leading a healthy life, you will be doing things in order to improve your physical and mental condition.

Some things you can do to lead a healthy life are:

- Reducing or even removing consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. Alcohol and tobacco are the cause of many health problems.
- Choosing a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grain products. This type of feeding provides needed vitamins, minerals, fiber, and carbohydrates, and it is generally lower in fat to help you maintain a healthy weight.
- Using sugar in moderation, sugar has many calories and few nutrients and it can contribute to tooth decay.
- Using salt in moderation too, this helps lower your risk of high blood pressure.
- Doing exercise on a regular basis. It can help you maintain a healthy weight, and it lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. Also you can include exercises to raise your flexibility, it will give you greater range of motion in your joints and it will reduce your chances of injury.
- Reducing stress. Your body responds to everyday stress with a release of hormones that prepares you to react. If you don't relieve this state through relaxation, the effects build up and they can create muscular pain, headaches, sleep disturbances and other symptoms.
- Sleeping seven to nine hours. The body's self-repair takes place when you are asleep.

In conclusion, healthy living is a combination of many things, including good feeding, regular exercise and a positive attitude. For a longer and more comfortable life, design your plan for a healthy lifestyle and live according to it.

Monologue: Organizing a trip to an english speaking country

I´ve been asked to talk about how organizing a trip to an english-speaking country.

We can travel to an english-speaking country  for different reasons. We could want to visit our family (that is my own case, I travel often to USA to visit my wife's family),  for the pleasure of knowing new countries and new cultures, with the aim to improve skills in a language, a combination of the previous reasons and so on.

In any case we can take advantage to learn or to improve our English. The best way to do that is to travel by ourselves, without a tour guide. This has other advantages, it is usually more fun, you can go wherever you want and you avoid the contact with people of your own country. Moreover, this increases the options to interact with locals.

The steps to organize the trip would be:

- Taking into account your budget and if you have friends there, you should choose which places to visit within the country.
- Planning in which order you will visit the chosen places. In this timetable is important to spare time to rest and to visit new places that we will discover during the trip.
- Thinking where we are going to stay. If we are going to stay in a hotel, then we must make the bookings.
- Buying tickets to travel to the english-speaking country.
- Getting currency of the new country.
- And eventually, you have to include a bilingual dictionary in your luggage.

Also it would be interesting for you to learn something of the customs of the country you are going to visit. Locals will appreciate your attitude, and you will avoid gaffes and awkward situations.

To conclude, my recommendation is that we should consider one trip as a very important opportunity to enjoy our lives.

Monologue: Stereotypes

I've been asked to talk about stereotypes.

Before starting the monologue, I think that it is important to define what we understand for stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of a group, based on an image about what people in that group are like. They are often wrong. 

Next I am going to examine different stereotypes assigned to different nationalities:

- Spaniards always take a nap in the afternoon, they wear bullfighter outfit and they are lazy people. As Spaniard who has lived in different cities of Spain, I can assure you that these stereotypes are wrong. 

I've never taken a nap, and neither my family nor friends. Moreover I've seen people dressing bullfighter outfit only on tv and in carnival. And eventually Spanish people can't be considered lazy, in fact Spain is one of the western countries where it is worked more hours annually. In that area it is likely that Spaniards need to be more efficient.

On the other hand Spanish people are accused of speaking loud and being impolite. That is probably true.  

- English people are hooligans and they drink a lot. In my opinion we have this image of english people due to english football fans and english tourists. 

When football fans come to Spain, they are always in the news, because they are used to making vandalism when the football game is over. On the other hand, when english young tourists visit Spain, they drink a lot. In Spain we are used to seeing on tv drunken english tourists.

In both cases, I think english people come to Spain and they do things they wouldn't do in UK. They are aware they are in a foreign country out of sight of their parents, neighbors and so on.  For this reason, they take advantage.   

- French people are said to be arrogant and chauvinist. I don't know many french people, but they aren't arrogant nor chauvinist, on the contrary, they are very friendly and gentle people. 

However, like a country is likely they are arrogant and chauvinist. For instance I can remember when they celebrated their national holiday last year, an important French actress was dressed with French flag and she was singing the marseillaise in champs elysses in Paris.    

Another example, when their politicians make a speech, they are always remembering they are the best country in the world, they have contributed to the social and moral progress of humanity, and so on.

I could continue with other european countries, but it would be very boring.

To conclude with the monologue, stereotypes can be true or false, but they are important because they help define your group identity against other groups.

Monologue: Diet.

I've been asked to talk about Diets.

The word diet can mean two different things:

- The first one. In this case diet is when someone eats a small or limited quantity of food in order to become thinner. This can be combined with miracle products whose goal is to help reduce the weight.

Fortunately I've never been on a diet. I consider this type of diet is very dangerous for your health. If you go on a diet, you have to seek the advice of a specialized doctor. The problem in our society is that many people are on a diet that they have heard on tv or they have seen in a gossip magazine.  

- The second one. In this case diet is the food that a person usually eats. From this point of view, everybody follows a diet, the ingredients of this depend on your living style and your culture.

The diet has consequences in your life. For instance, the diet combined with a specific lifestyle is causing obesity in developed countries, even children are becoming obese.

Accordingly, the right issue should be healthy diets. What we understand for healthy diets is one which helps maintain or improve health.

Medical institutions consider that a health diet must include all type of food. Also, It has to be based in fruit, vegetables and legumes. On the contrary, it has to reduce salt and sugar consumption and it has to limit the calories intake from saturate fat.

On the other hand, the diet has to be combined with:

- Achieving an energy balance and a healthy weight.
- Physical activity.
- Breakfast properly.
- Resting 8 or 9 hours a day.

To conclude, every culture has its own diet. For instance we have Mediterranean diet, Americans have fast food, and so on. So we are lucky people, Mediterranean feeding is considered to be one of the best diets in the world.

Monologue: How to choose a roommate.

I've been asked to talk about choosing a good flatmate.

I have some experience in this issue and I can assure that it is a really complex problem. I used to live with roommates when I studied in university and when I worked in big cities. It is impossible to know someone until she or he is sharing a flat with you.

Before choosing a roommate, you have to contact with potential candidates. Nowadays there are three different ways:

- Announcing that you are looking for flatmate in specialized websites, newspapers, bulletin board and so on. Then, candidates get in touch with you and you show them the spare room.

-  Speed flatmating. It is very similar to speed dating. In this case you have to attend to a meeting where there are people who have a spare room and other people who are looking for accommodation. If you select someone, you can make an interview before showing your spare room.

- Using your personal network of contacts. This is likely the best way to find a roommate. Your family, friends, or work's contacts will feel responsible if they are recommending someone.

In any case, after a brief meeting, you have to decide which the best candidate is. Therefore it is important to decide in advance what kind of person you are looking for. And to do that, you have to analyze which are your personal needs and then, you will be able to prepare a good interview.

There can be many different situations: you can be a people person or on the contrary you keeps yourself to yourself, you may be a computer geek, you can be very particular about order, you like to study at nights, you get into talking about politics, you are not at your best early in the day, you are vegetarian and so on.

Regardless of the chosen person, there will always be an adjusting process. You may find that the other person is very different in character. Anyway you have to be positive, and you have to try to adapt. Sharing can be a good chance to learn new interest or to explore new activities.

In conclusion, trying to find a good roommate is something you have to do, but you will never know the result until the lodger lives with you.