Review La La Land (Level FIRST, B2) All the people are talking about the last Damien Chazelle’s film, “La La Land”. This film is based on a Jazz pianist who falls in love for an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. The critics went crazy for this film calling it “the Academy Award Movie of the year”, which already has seven Golden Globe, eleven BAFTA and fourteen Oscar nominations. First of all, the plot is basically a dull and cliché conflict between love and the goal of the lead characters. Nevertheless, I hadn’t watched the trailer or anything about it before the day that I went to the cinema. Honestly, that was a good point for me because one of the most dangerous fad, besides the spoilers, is the hype. Secondly, the two lead actors, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, were fantastic, even hilarious in some moments. However, the music was the best of the film. I didn’t know that Justin Hurwitz, who also worked with Damien in “Whiplash”, composed the soundtrack. Personally, I would highly recommend to watch “La La Land” to anyone who enjoys musical films. If you don’t expect to find a great and original plot or breathtaking dialogue, you will enjoy with the sensitive characters and beautiful music.

Report (FIRST) Jumbo Shopping Mall Introduction This report outline why the shopping mall is failing to attract shoppers and recommends ways to improve the situation. Problems Jumbo Mall contains a range of shops but some are currently empty. Meanwhile, other shops do not display their products well. In addition, the mall has become quite dirty and the lighting is too dim. Many clients think that parking is too expensive. Recommendations Unless all the shops are open, people will not want to come to the mall. A ‘Best Shop in the Mall’ competition would encourage shop owners to improve their displays. Then, more shops will want to open in Jumbo. If the mall was renovated, it would make shopping at Jumbo a more enjoyable experience. The lighting must be improved. Jumbo is closer to the town centre than its rival shopping centres but it charges for parking. If Jumbo offered free parking, it would attract more business. Conclusion Unless Jumbo makes some serious changes, it will continue to lose customers. However, the mall’s position, car park facilities and its closeness to the station are all in its favour.

Letter of Application (FIRST) Dear Sir / Madam, I recently saw your advertisement for activity leaders at your summer camps for children, and would like to apply. I am a 24-year-old Spanish student currently studying English at a college in Madrid. My college report describe me as motivated, enthusiastic, cheerful and confident. I believe these personal qualities would be very useful for the role of activity leader. Although I have no professional experience working with children, I have several young nephew and nieces who I often take care of. I am also very active and play team sports such as volleyball and baseball. I would like to work for you because I enjoy being with young people and am keen on sharing my enthusiasm for sports with them. The job would also give me an ideal opportunity to practise my English. I believe I would be able to make a success of this job and I hope you will consider my application. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Carlos Álvarez

Informal letter (FIRST) Hi Alex, Thanks a lot for your letter. It was great to hear from you and congratulations on passing your exam. About your questions... Let me ask you what kind of computer games you have in mind? As you know, there are many kinds and they can be expensive. On the other hand, clothes have the same problem. There are a lot of different styles and if you want them in good condition, they will be expensive. In my opinion you should save a bit more and wait until your holiday. Then you’ll be able to spend the money on a good trip. I hope I helped you and whatever you decide to buy will be the best for you. Best wishes, Carlos

Essays (FIRST) Should people who are studying or working hard take regular exercise? The amount of exercise people need to do depends on a range of things: whether they are training for a special sporting activity, their age, what kind of job they do etc. Therefore, people who work in an office would probably benefit from exercising a couple of times a week, whereas people who do physically challenging jobs probably do not need additional exercise. In fact, too much exercise can put strain on the body and cause injury. There are other things that people can do to be healthy. One obvious thing is to eat a balanced diet. If someone consumes a lot of fruit and vegetables, rather than lots of fat and sugar, then they are probably going to be reasonably healthy and consequently may not need to exercise every day. Finally, there are other lifestyle factors that are also important for good health. Getting good sleep is vital, as well as having close family and friends, and enjoyable work and interests. In conclusion, I would say that in most cases it is not necessary to exercise every day. Nevertheless, regular exercise is beneficial to people’s health.

Essays (FIRST) Not enough is being done to protect endangered animals. This is a complex question. When zoos first opened, they had a real purpose - to educate people. There was no television, neither internet and in this way, people got to see animals from other places. For this reason, zoos started to compete with each other about which has the rarest animals. In time, we can find a polar bear in Amsterdam, a koala in Stockholm or even a tiger shark in Moscou. It is true that not all the zoos keep in the same conditions to the animals and also there are some special zoos which try to protect the most endangered species. Many species are now endangered because of what is happening to our planet - things like global warming - but some zoos are actually doing something to try to conserve these species. Now we don’t have the same need for zoos and it is cruel to lock animals up there. As for agriculture, some farmers look after animals well, but many don’t care about the conditions that their animals live in. The best farmers give animals plenty of space and fresh grass to eat To sum up, we could treat animals better.