Post 10, Final Post

English Language Challenges

Depending on the person, English can be very hard or very easy. Whether you're on the "easy" or "hard" group of people, one thing never changes: learning a new language always has its challenges.
For example the image below:

Were the sentences above difficult to understand/pronounce? Maybe at your level it's still is a bit difficult to pronounce some of those words, maybe there are even some you don't know at all. Anyway, that's not what the post is about.

For this post, you'll have to tell me about the challenges the english language presents you.
The questions that follow the next image can help you develop this last post. In this image there's a list of things that make English look easy as compared with other languages such as Spanish, German or French. 

> What comments can you make about your experience learning English at university? What about the use of blogs?
> What aspects of your English need to be improved and how do you plan to do this?
> Outside the English class, how much are you using English these days? What for?
> What's something you would like to do, in a professional context, with English?

- Wordcount: 260
- Make comments on 3 of your classmates' posts.

Post 9

CHANGES TO MY STUDY PROGRAMME

Write about some changes that could be made to your study program (career)
Among others, think about:

> The curriculum (the subjects you have to study) Are they in logical order? are they all relevant? what is missing? etc
> Workload and length of studies Are all the courses well justified in the program? are the schedules of classes efficient? 

> Faculty facilities (buildings and infrastructure) Do you feel comfortable in the provided space? what features do you like/dislike of this building? what would make it more comfortable?

> Use of technologyAre computers/softwares/technology well implemented? are they used to they're full potential?

> Teaching methodsDo Professors teach well? do you feel supported  by them? Give a general comment about them.

- Word Count: 250
- Leave comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts.

Post 8

Personal Opinions

Dear all, for this eight post session we won't have one topic to develop. 
This time you will choose only 4 from the following list of questions:

What is your opinion about legalizing marijuana and other drugs?

What is your opinion about water scarcity?
What is your opinion about "vertical ghettos"?
What is your opinion about the Chilean traditions?
What is your opinion about cloning?

What is your opinion about recycling?

What is your opinion about the US, Chilean, Argentine, and Brazilian far right governments and how they will impact our neighboring countries?

What is your opinion about “barras bravas” (hooligans)?

What is your opinion about legalizing abortion in all cases?
What is your opinion about obstetric violence?

What is your opinion about contraception?
What is your opinion about owning an exotic pet?

What is your opinion about the military? 
What is your opinion about child labor?

What is your opinion about television?

What is your opinion about tatoos?
What is your opinion about banks?

What is your opinion about current controversial events? (give one example)

And you will write a short text giving your opinion about the chosen questions. (60 words per answer)

Here's a couple of my answers:

What is your opinion about contraceptive methods?

I believe it is very important for human beings to experience pleasure, and sex is a great source of it, we've done it since we were literally monkeys, so it's a big deal that we can have intercourse without ugly consecuences such as STDs (sexually transmitted deseases) and more importantly, unplanned pregnancies which can impact many people's lives.
To avoid getting pregnant, our freemarket society offers many methods, most of them though, are focused on women only. Pills, hormones, patches, implants, etc. Most of these methods imply a direct responsibility on women and it's my understanding that this issue concerns both sexual partners, so I think these methods should evolve and be more in tune with the way things are now.

What is your opinion about the military? 


In general, I believe they're obsolete. I'm not saying they shouldn't exist, I just think the military-industrial complex is a very perverse force in our current society. A monster that feeds on war, death and destruction of what's left of our world. In an ideal world, they'll only act as helpers in natural catastrophies and whenever help was needed in terms of preserving life in our planet, but hey, I bet that's too much of a dream these days. 

- Make comments on 3 of your partners' posts + a comment on mine.
- Number of words: 240 minimum.

Post 7

Movies or series you like.

For this post, you'll be able to develop your ideas about your favorites series. The idea is to write about what you like watching in general, but of course you can mention anything you like, for example: cartoons, anime, soap operas, tv series, docummentaries or movies!

"You met me at a very strange time in my life." Fight club, 1999.

This is probably one of my favorite movies of all time, at least one I'd re watch and would still be enjoyable. I won't tell you what it is about because... well, because of the first rule of the fight club!
If you saw this, you know what I mean. This is probably an intense and deep movie for some people, but that's not the only type of styles I like. I've also enjoyed many movies of Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan and Tarantino.

I'll tell you about some of my top series! Number one is called The office and it was the US version of a show with the same name produced earlier in the UK. It's a mockumentary (it's filmed as if it was a real documentary) and it narrates the story of a group of common office workers. It even had a Chilean version, La Ofis, in Canal 13, which only lasted one season but was very well done. It had one of my favorite Chilean actors as protagonist: Luis Gnecco.
 


There are many many other shows I've watched and liked! some recommendations I'd give you are: Shingeki No Kyojin, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Lost, The OA, Friends, Daredevil, Weeds, Breaking bad, and one I've really enjoyed watching on Netflix, its original series Orange is the new black.


Now it's your time!
Tell me about your favorite series, or movies, or basically anything you like watching in at least 230 words.!!

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

Post 6

Postgraduate studies.

Write about a postgraduate course that you would consider taking in the future.
Include:

- Reasons to do the course
- Subject(s) you would like to study
- Where you would like to study (Chile or abroad)
- How you would like to study (distance learning, blended system, part-time course, etc)
- Any other relevant ideas

Here's my sample post for this topic:

I have to start by saying that for me to study a new career or to deepen my knowledge in English teaching, a lot of changes would have to occur, as I'm not willing to get a ton of debt to specialize again. I studied my career with CAE and I really didn't know what it was when I was 18. So now, over ten years later, I'd consider it twice before signing a contract with a bank that will profit from student loans.

Now, if the conditions were right, I'd probably study something related to Linguistics. Linguistics is the science that studies language, not only knowing how to speak, but also how languages are learnt and how different contexts affect different languages. In other words, it could be said like this:

"Each human language is a complex of knowledge and abilities enabling speakers of the language to communicate with each other, to express ideas, hypotheses, emotions, desires, and all the other things that need expressing. Linguistics is the study of these knowledge systems in all their aspects: how is such a knowledge system structured, how is it acquired, how is it used in the production and comprehension of messages, how does it change over time?"

Understanding these factors can really help a teacher become able to teach a wide varierty of students and also, in my opinion, knowing about how languages work, can reveal some patterns that can be found in human behavior.

The aspects of Linguistics in which I'm more interested in are Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics.

Now it's your turn:

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 220 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post 5

Photography.
Hi girls and boys!
This week's post is about a our second chosen topic: photography.
You can talk about your own ideas about photography, about the type pictures you like, famous photographers or anything related to photography as a concept.Here's my post!

                           

 In the picture, you can see George Harrison, and Bob Marley (and two other people I don't know)

I've liked these musicians for a long time now. Harrison, former guitar player and my favorite Beatle, is also the name of my first dog. And Marley, family name of one of the greatest artists/activists I know, is the name of my first cat :)


                                                

 Here's my version of it. These are my Harrison and Marley :)

This took place in Copiapó, where I adopted Marley. She was about 4 months old in the picture, Harrison had never lived with a cat before, but he's such a lovely dog that he never had problems with her. This picture is special because it reminds me good times. It was taken back in 2014 when I lived in the Atacama Region. The reason why I chose this picture is because these animals were my only family then, since I lived alone and knew nobody there. 

Another type of photography I enjoy taking is of street art. Wherever I go, I constantly pay attention to the grafitti and murals present in the streets. Some are amazing, here's a sample of pictures I've taken:

 

   



That's all for today, what will you write about? Photography is a great way to capture not only images, it also catches feelings, things that can't be said with words, or ideas.- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

- Minimum Word Count: 210 words

- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Hello everyone!

The theme of today's post is: My future job.

As a 30 year old teacher, working at the university of Chile, it would be easy for me to say that I am working in my ideal job. But I don't want to be an employee all my life, so i'll be really honest with you guys, I'll tell you all about my dream future job.

Grower

I'll start my own company, actually my own nursery for cactus, and I'll auction some of them to earn money. My idea is to retire from being a teacher when I'm more or less 33. That means I have only 3 years to move forward with my plans.
I've been working for this project for a long time now, I actually started it without knowing it. First at a very small scale, I still lived with my parents and I was already studying to be an english teacher, that's when I first got interested in cacti, and there I started growing them from seeds and learning different cultivation techniques.

This season of spring - summer is when most of the cactus I grow start flowering, that opens officially the 'bee work season' for me. That's right! that's the time when I cross pollinate my plants to obtain hybrid seeds for propagation.

I feel happy thinking that I could live with a sense of independance by working with my own hands, and in a line of work that I love, so it feels like a passtime activity So I encourage you to follow whatever you feel your dreams are :).

That's me!

Now it's your turn!

These questions could help you develop your writing: 

- What kind of job would you like to have? How do you imagine it?

- Outdoors /indoors?

- Would you like to travel a lot in your job?

- What about the salary?

- Add any other related ideas.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

- Minimum Word Count: 200 words

- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.