Post ten

Dear all,

Due to different circumstances, the order of our posts changed a little from what originally was set up. Las week's post "english language challenges" was supposed to be post ten, but I'm happy that we had to change that. The reason I say this is because for today we have a very interesting topic, and also the last topic you chose at the beginning of the semester,

Political issues.

The year 2016 has had lots of different sources of inspiration for this topic. The world seems to be constantly facing different political and social problems, and since we live in a hyper-connected society, everything seems to be closer to us.

Middle eastern wars, conspiracy theories, United States election, the mapuche conflict in Chile, Brazilian president mpeachment, Brexit, Colombian peace process and a long list of situations that marked this year in several different ways.


So, what's your opinion about these topics?
Which of these situations are important for you?
How do you react to the news from other places?
Do you pay attention to Chile's own political issues?

These questions can help you develop your writing.
- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ post.
- Minimum Word Count: 260 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post nine

Dear all, 

As you know, this is one of last posts for this english course.

I have personally enjoyed getting to know you a little more from your posts, and also I've seen your development :)

Today's topic is:

English Language Challenges

As we finish this semester, you'll notice that from now on it will either become easier, or much more difficult to keep on learning english. I say this because academically, you won't be using english as much, and also because if you decide not to continue practising, you'll probably forget some of the things you've already learnt. Now, if you do want to speak english, as a professional tool, a personal goal, or even for specific purposes related to your personal life, you'll have a chance to do new things with english. Read magazines related to your workfield? or maybe join conversation clubs, you name it. Now, tell me about your thoughs!

Some questions that can guide your post are:

> 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?

- Wordcount: 250

- Make comments on 3 of your partners' posts.

Third and final video.

Dear all, in the picture you can read all the different details for your final video! please have it ready for the 26th of december.

Post eight

Today you'll be writing about a culture you admire. That's one of the topics we chose and now you'll tell me all about it.

I personally feel admiration for the Mapuche. Literally translated as prople from the earth, they are the original inhabitants from what today is the south of Argentina and Chile. The Mapuche are composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage as Mapudungun speakers

Ever since I was a child, I heard about their pride and their bravery. The spanish invaders try hard to dominate them, but that was never entirely achieved. Even today they resist as a culture, undermined by the common chilean person, the mapuche fight to have validation of their ancestral land, and the state of Chile does not recognize their existence as a nation within the country.

Nowadays chilean media talks about 'The mapuche conflict" to refer to a series of violent acts allegedly done by mapuche freedom fighters, when, in my opinion, the right thing to do would be to have dialogues with their leaders and try to get to a solution for a conflict that has gone on for too long.

What do you think about this? let me know in the comments.

Now it’s your turn!
Tell me about a culture you admire.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 240 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post seven

Hello everyone!

We're already ending ending this semester, today's post is a special one.
That's because you'll write about the changes that you'd do to your program. 



Alright, here it goes!
Write about some changes that could be made to your study programme (career)
Among others, think about:

> The curriculum (the subjects you have to study)
> Workload and length of studies
> Faculty facilities (buildings and infrastructure)
> Use of technology
> Teaching methods


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

Second video turn in

Dear all,

As I mentioned in class, here I'm posting the details for your second video recording. The deadline to turn this work in is December 12th.

Post six

It's already our sixth session! now it will be about one of our chosen topics:
The feminist movement.



For many, feminism is only an internet thing in response to the horrible killings that occurred in Chile and Argentina, that lead to the creation of the hashtag #niunamenos. but not for me.
As a man, it's a whole new thing for me to reflect about feminism, but I've been reflecting for about two years I think, and honestly I admire women who have released, or are trying to release themselves from the hierarchy that's been stablished by sexism.

The fact that social roles are determined to only fulfill some actions, is for me an idea that belongs in the past, and maybe not even there. I really think there's a lot to be done in many aspects, specially in education for younger generations.



It's my understanding that this political movement not only looks for recognition of women as equals in all aspects of life, but also the abolition of sexist oppression against women and also men that's applied by social constructs as small as the family, and as big as the state of a country.

To conclude this post, I'll say that it is an obligation for us as men of tomorrow, to recognize our privileges and to fight along with women to end all oppression, not only the sexist one.

Now it's your turn!
Write a 220 word post about feminism. You'll be free to develop your own ideas about it.
But if you need a guide, maybe this can help:

What are your thoughts about feminism?
When did you learn about the movement?
How has feminism affected your view of the world?

I hope you enjoy this post, after all, you chose it.

V.

Post five

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Even though I know some of you like to live in the moment, and don't plan ahead your futures, today's post will make you think of your future plans for this summer's holiday. 

Would you vacation in chile or abroad?

Who would you like to visit?
What activities would you do?
Is there any place you would like to visit?
What types of food would you prefer?

Please don't tell me you'll stay in the whole summer

On my personal side, I can't really tell you what I'm doing this summer vacation, because I don't know where I'll live by then. I'm currently waiting for an answer from the owner of the place I rent, and if he says yes, I'll probably buy the land and start building my greenhouse.
If that doesn't work, I'll probably have to find a new place to live, and that would mean that I won't be able to go anywhere.
I'll still go to the desert for a week or so, no matter what happens!

So, think about what you would love to do this summer holidays and write about it in 220 words!

Post four

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, 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 the 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 more able to teach a wide varierty of students and also, in my opinion, knowing about how languages work, can reveal some of the 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: 200 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post three

Hello everyone!

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

As a 28 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 on 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 30. That means I have only 2 years to move forward with my plans.
I've been working for this project for a long time now, I actually started it withut 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.

Nowadays I'm at a stage of the project in which I need to get a big greenhouse to start growing plants for the future, so I really need a place of my own. That's why I'm hoping to buy the place where I currently live, because that would make things go faster as I could start growing more and better plants, at a larger scale, and not worrying about where I'll go if my landlord asks me to leave his property. 

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.

Post two

The best Holidays/Concert ever 

Choose only one of the topics above and mention:

Holidays:

- when it was
- where you went
- how long it was
- people you went with
- things/activities you did
- why it has been the best so far
- any other relevant info

OR

Concert:

- when / where it was
- the artist you saw
- a bit of info about the artist
- describe the atmosphere during the event
- describe how they felt and why you enjoyed it
- any other memories about it

My choice for this post will be my best vacation, so here it goes!

As all of you know, I'm kind of a weird cactus grower/fan, so I'll tell you about my lastest trip, to the Atacama desert during this year's summer. 

It all began when I left my house in Curacaví to join my friend, and driver in our adventure, at his house in Olmué, fifth Region. That day we prepared everything to start early the next morning, we had a long way coming. We started the day early, at 7, and then we went out heading north to El Cobre, Antofagasta (2nd) Region. The idea was to go there and start coming back south, stopping in locations to find, photograph and try to discover seeds of Chilean native cacti. For that purpose we had the knowledge of my friend, who's been travelling to the dessert for at least 5 years now, and the help of this book, which contains pictures and descriptions of several species :)

We were true adventurers, walking for hours to find plants, climbing hills and small mountains ranges. On a normal day, we would wake up at 9 approx. And then have breakfast to start the day exploring the camping site we had chosen the night before. After that we would find a new site, and track the land to find more species. It would all finish when the sun was coming down, as we needed to find a good camping spot, and use sunlight to set the tents. 


It may sound boring for some, but this was one of the best experiences I've had, I learned and enjoyed every moment of it :) Here you have some pictures of the trip!

>>Wordcount: 170
>>Leave comments on 3 of your classmates posts + comments on my post.

Post One

Hey!!

Welcome to the first blogsession for this semester. 
Today's topic will be: "A country I'd like to visit".
To fulfill this task you must develop a 160 word post (as a minimum), and some of the things you can mention are:

- Which country would you like to go to? Why? - What do you know about it? - What would you like to do there? - Would you like to study/work/live there? Explain. - Upload at least 2 pictures - *IMPORTANT* Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

As a guide, here's my version of the post:

A country I'd like to visit is Thailand:

I'd love to visit this country located in Asia, neighbour to the countries of Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. Eventhough I'm not an expert in weather, I'm aware of the hot temperatures they have in Thailand, and also I have friended many thai people on my facebook so I know they're great cactus cultivators. 
My main reason to visit this country would be to visit these people I've mentioned, they've been my friends for a long time now and we've exchanged experience, plants and seeds. The visit would probably become a tour through different cities along the country stopping by the houses of the friends available at the time, exchanging presents and stories about these wonderful plants.

 I think a video can tell you more than pictures in this particular case, so here it goes! I hope this video helps you to imagine what I'm talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQVZTtrQx0k

I hope you enjoy this activity, let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Victor.

Welcome!

In the comments, please leave me your address and a short list of things (at least 5) that you can do with english in both, your professional life, and your personal life.