WRITING A REPORT: reviewing a course

1

From the 14^th to the 23^rd of January this year, I attended a course called “Advanced Trauma Life Support”, run by the Emergency Services of Castilla y León. It took place in Valladolid and was part of my annual professional retraining.

In my opinion, it was quite well organised, though rather short, and all the topics in the programme were covered. At the start of the course we were asked to do a test in order to evaluate our previous knowledge and we took another one at the end to monitor our improvement. Similarly, we completed a questionnaire about the development of the course.

There were five tutors, all of them well-known professionals with vast experience in the treatment of trauma injuries, but sometimes, when we were practising a clinical simulation, they made you feel unnecessarily stressed.

All the sessions took place in the evening, from four p.m. until nine. At the beginning of each one, there was a short theoretical section and then different skills and clinical simulations were carried out. Unfortunately, most of the days we ran out of time without achieving all the aims.

To sum up, it was a very useful course that should be offered more often than it is at present, although I know it is expensive. I also think that there is perhaps too much content, with not enough time for so many subjects. It would possibly be more appropriate to divide the whole course into several separate courses, as this would enable a better approach to each topic.

By J. M. D. P.

2

Course description

From the 2^nd to the 6^th of January 2006, I attended a course called “White Week”, which was run by the Sports Foundation of the town council of Valladolid, as a part of its programme “Sport for everybody”.

Contents

It was a five-day-long course, which included skiing lessons while you were at the winter resort (four or five hours each day) and other après-ski activities.

Price

The price was €350 per participant, and it included accommodation in a hostel, a ski instructor for every ten pupils, two of the Foundation’s sports experts, using the ski lift, skiing lessons, full ski equipment (poles, boots, skis, helmet) in the resort, transport by coach and accident insurance.

Development

The course was very well organised, in spite of the large number of participants: more than forty.

The first day we did a test to check our skiing skills and then we were divided into several groups accordingly. After that we followed our instructor to the ski slopes, where, we spent four or more hours, although we were not skiing all the time.

Later, we went back to the hostel to have lunch and relax.

In addition, we had a wider range of extra-activities to entertain us in the evening.

Conclusion

On the whole, this was a well-run course, with suitable lessons for each level and satisfactory facilities and accommodation.

However, I felt it was rather expensive for what it was, even if they provided you with all the equipment we needed.

By P. H. H.

3

In 1989 I attended a course in order to improve my English grammar, as at the time I was living in London and I needed it to get a certificate in English.

This course was called “English Grammar For Pre-intermediate Students”. It was run by Cambridge University and took place at Kingsway College.

The course was divided into three terms and focussed on the four skills required to acquire a sound knowledge of the English language, which are writing, reading and listening comprehension, and conversation.

We had only one teacher, Kathy Jones, who was extremely professional and was very keen to teach us everything we could possibly learn about English grammar; in addition, as we were all foreigners the need to communicate with each other made it easier for us to learn the language.

There sessions were always held in the morning, so that in the afternoon we were able to take part in some extracurricular activities, most of which were held outdoors. That made everything more interesting as we had the opportunity to know a bit of London.

On the whole, this was a well-run course. It gave me my first opportunity to learn a different language and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of learning English.

By L. F. S.

Seen through a window

If you look through my window you can see the old grey walls of the prison.
Every time I look through the iron bars of my window, I think about all the
days and nights I have been locked up here. I look at the prisoners walking
around the courtyard, in total silence, lost in thought. Their eyes are empty,
as if they were in another place, far away from here. Maybe they are
trying to escape from this depressing reality, imagining they are not in this
old dark prison.
Through this window, I usually see the beautiful red dusk, and later the
full moon shining in the sky. The breeze drifting into the room between the
rusty iron bars smells of freedom ... the freedom I will never have any more.

A FUNNY DAY OR A DAY FOR FUN

I’d worked in a lot of summer camps before that international one. But never, never before that moment had I heard about theme days in camps. Just as I expected, the first one was the host’s day, Bulgaria’s. That way we could learn more about their culture. Campers’ Day, when the campers came into power was another one. And last but not least: “Fun Day”.

Three main activities were prepared. At the end of the day, just after dinner, the most important football match of the camp would be played. Group leaders vs. Campers!! Campers are always enthusiastic about that event. It was mandatory for everyone to cheer their favourite team on. What the campers didn’t know was that it would be such a crazy match. The counsellors were disguised as clowns, doctors and some of the boys as cheerleaders!! We even had a very sarcastic commentator on the loudspeaker who was always pulling the players’ and the public’s legs!

The second one wasn’t exactly an activity. It was more like a rule. In some particular places all over the camp everyone had to walk backwards. Yes, backwards! That means that you look at the places you’re leaving and your back moves towards where you’re going. It can be dangerous, but it was really hilarious!!

To end the story, let’s go to the crack of dawn when I had my distressing little nightmare: the canteen was crowded with people, normal people in normal clothes. None of them were disguised but ALL of them were staring at ME and MY costume. I’d never felt so embarrassed in my life, but it was only a dream… Fortunately, at the real breakfast I wasn’t the only one who was dressed up.

J.F.G.

2º.C.S.

A FLYING TRAINER

Probably the most embarrassing day I have ever had was when I was in my first year at University.

As friends and I had lab class in the afternoon, we used to have lunch together and play cards afterwards in the park before going to class. It was a wonderful grassy park with a small bridge over a little pond.

As we were playing cards, a branch fell off the tree and struck my head. It annoyed me so I decided to kick the branch. Unfortunately, as I was doing so, my left trainer left my foot and flew into the pond.

Immediately, all my friends burst out laughing and I felt very embarrassed, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it because I must admit that watching my shoe flying over their heads and falling into the pond was very funny.

A friend of mine went quickly over to the pond and recovered my trainer. She gave it back to me while everybody was falling about laughing.

Everything worked out all right in the end because I lived nearby. Another friend lent me her shoes and I ran home as fast as I could to get a dry pair of trainers. I came back to the park and we got to our lab class on time.

The funniest thing was that we laughed about it for several weeks and we still remember it from time to time.

L. F. P.

2º C.S.