Post ten

Dear all,

As you know, this is the last post 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: 260

- 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 16th of december.

Post nine

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.

Post eight

Great places to eat with Junaeb/a restaurant review.

Hi everyone!

We're in the last chosen post of this course. This time a topic that many of you have been expeting a lot. I did a modification due to the fact that I wasn't sure if all of you had junaeb card, so I extended the topic to either a restaurant review, or the best places to eat with junaeb.
So, here's my sample post!


Hocha Restaurant.

I've been a vegetarian for almost 5 years now, and I've visited many veggie restaurants in different cities of Chile, but today I'll tell you about one located in Santiago. Actually, not far away from this faculty.

Its name is Hocha and it's located near Patronato metro station. It specializes in typical food from Taiwan. It has both vegetarian and not vegetarian options, so even if you still eat meat you will probably enjoy its menu.
When I went there, I had some very exotic mushrooms and a delicious rice prepared with tasty condiments, and the best part was that it was quite inexpensive. I was  thirsty so I ordered an iced tea, and... let me tell you, you have to try them! They're very refreshing and they have a huge variety of flavors!


Here's a picture of one of their plates!

Alright, so.. let me know about the best places to eat in santiago, and maybe start planning an invitation once we finish the course. I think you should all make a "cow" and buy some nice treats for ourselves.

- 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.

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 November 23rd.

Post Seven

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 pasta'' the whole summer

So, think about what you would love to do this summer holidays and write about it in 230 words!

Post six

Hey!
It's already our sixth session! now it will be about one of our chosen topics:

Street art.

I know there are many types of interventions, installations and happenings that occur in the streets, my favorites are stencil, and graffiti. Ever since I have a phone that can take pictures, I've been interested in capturing some of the messages that several artists have displayed in the walls of our cities. Here's a selection of pictures I've taken:

    

 

Which ones do you like?

I remember that back in 2009, when I was in the US, I visited Chicago. That city was literally full of art in its streets. Sculptures in every corner, musicians performing in the streets, and famous installations such as "the kidney" that you can see in the following picture.



I think that Santiago should consider having graffities everywhere, it would surely give a new spark to the city's gray aspect.

To conclude, I'll share these last two pictures. The first one was taken in Olivo street, in Recoleta. I see this cactus graffiti everytime I walk on my way to the Dentistry faculty.

                                                 
 The second one means a lot to me, for its strong and simple message. I took the picture near the neighborhood where I grew up.

                            

Now it's your turn. Tell me about what types of street art you like.

- 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 five

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

Post four

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

Post three

M U S I C


In this session, you'll be free to speak about this topic, which was chosen by the class to develop during this blogsession.



For me, music is many things. I really love listening to it, and I even like singing.
I believe I can sing, even though I'm clearly not a talented singer. In my opinion, singing has to do with emotions, and not only techniques and voice. So maybe everyone could be a singer, if they found a song they could truly sing from their hearts.

Now, from the listener point of view, I think music nowadays has been corrupted by the market,  I mean, the music industry. Most of nowadays musicians seem to sing in a very shallow way, and the styles and lyrics that are on fashion these days, are not very good.

My favorite music styles are rock, reggae and hip hop. For a long time now, I've been listening to Sublime almost every day. Have you heard this band before?
Here's one of their songs :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awb_rzWZHIY



What music styles do you like?
Do you prefer listening or playing?
Who is the biggest musician or band in the world?
What's the importance of music in your life? 

Those are some questions that can help you develop your writing.

Please leave a comment on my post!
And don't forget to comment on at least 3 of your classmates' posts.
Minimum word count 180.

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!

>>Worcount: 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.