A carrer related article

Hi there!

Please, go to http://santiagotimes.cl/ and find an article that can be related to your career or your studies. read it and write 170 words on that article. You can express your opinion, make comments about it and tell what the article is about.

Remember to post the link, too.

Cheers!

A movie that I like and a movie that I hate

Hi there!

Today I'm going to talk about a movie that I love and a movie that I hate.


First, I'd like to tell you about my favorite movie: Lost in translation. It is a story about two people who meet in a foreign country with a different culture and they get to know each other very well. They experience varied things and emotions and, at some point, they fee they are falling in love with each other but their relationship seems like an impossible dream.


It's a fun love story. I loved it from the very first time I watched it at the cinema (I've seen it many times ever since) and it was the first time I saw Scarlett Johansson (<3). It's been my favorite movie for more than twelve years.

On the other hand, one movie that I hate is American Pie. All my friends liked that movie when we were kids (a loooong time ago). They said it was funny and there were naked pretty women. False. it was very boring with stupid jokes and it showed a stereotype of  blonde "American"girls doing nothing and cool kids drinking at parties (including the captain of the football team).


Well, as you can see, I'm more into romantic stuff than silly movies.

Cheers!

Every picture tells a story....

Isla del Sol, Bolivia, 2015

Hello class, today I'm going to write about a picture and the story behind it.

I like this picture because it is part of one of my favorite moments ever.

I was in Bolivia spending time with a good friend, eating, drinking and finding very interesting places, people and things.

One day, we went to Isla del Sol, a beautiful island in the middle of Titicaca lake. We spent one day and one night there. Hoewever, when we had to return to La Paz we decided to spend an extra day there because it was so beautiful. We sold our boat tickets and just watched the boats come and go.

Suddenly, I saw my neighbors (from Santiago) walking around and a few seconds later, I saw my best friend and her boyfriend walking down the street. We all hugged and smiled.

We spent the day together, had dinner and had a little reunion party under a sky full of stars. The following day we went to the Inca ruins, drank mate and took a lot of pictures. We were really happy there.

That afternoon, I had to go back to La Paz and continue my journey to Oruro to experience the carnival there, but that's another story.

Cheers!

Write 140 words for this topic :)

My favorite piece of technology

*Write about your favorite piece of technology

Say:

What it is.
When you got it.
How you use it.
How often you use it.
Why you like it.
What life would be like without it.




- 130 words minimum.
- Include a picture. 
- Comment on at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs.


Hi everyone, today I'm going to talk about my favorite piece of technology: my galaxy tablet.

I got this tablet last year because I had to travel to the USA and I didn't want to bring my laptop with me. I had never used a tablet before, but now I use it everyday, I take it everywhere with me and I do all kinds of stuff: work, check my e-mail, watch videos and movies, etc.

I have to say that I'm not a fan of computers now (laptops or netbooks) since I can do anything with my laptop. However, I still need to work with my computers to create material and work easily with different web pages at the same time.

Nonetheless, I think I'll never stop using my lovely and useful tablet. 

Without my tablet, I would have to go back to those days when I had to carry my heavy laptop with me.

London webquest

You are going to spend a week in London evaluating tourist locations for an end of year study trip.

Here is a list of things you want to do while you are there.  Follow the links and fill in the table.

Half Day Outings

London Eye

http://www.londoneye.com/

The British Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/

The Tower of London

http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/ (including Crown Jewels)

Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum

http://www.madametussauds.com/london/

The Natural History Museum

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

The Tate Modern Art Gallery

http://www.tate.org.uk/

Full day

Kew Gardens

http://www.kew.org/

Camden Market

http://www.camden-market.org/

For each location say:

What day you will visit,

How much you will have to pay to get in,

Which Tube station you will travel to (nearest to location), and the zone it is in.

What will you do on the other days? (2 full days / 4 half days / 1 full day 2 half days)

Search the web for other things to do in London.

What is the total cost?

The perfect song

Hi students:



Today I'm going to refer to what I consider a perfect song. The song is actually called "Perfect day". It was written and published in 1973 by New Yorker Lou Reed. However, it is very well know because it was used in the movie Trainspotting in the 90’s.

I like this song because its lyrics are simple and talk about things anybody could do on a given day, like feeding animals in the zoo, drinking sangria in a park or simply watching a movie.

Anyhow, such ideas are simple and effective because the lyrics refer to a perfect day shared by two people who get along well and the main character of the story is glad (happy) that he could spend such perfect day with the other person.

However, the line that I like most in the song goes like this: “you made me forget myself. I thought I was someone else, someone good”. I find this idea overwhelming because sometimes I feel like that when I’m surrounded by the right people.

Some years ago I had a perfect day with a girl I used to love a lot. We didn’t have a relationship. We were not girlfriend and boyfriend, but we loved each other and we had only ONE day to spend time together for the last time.

We were living in Sydney, Australia, and she had to go back to her country (Switzerland) and we spend an entire day in the city, walking around, eating French Fries and drinking iced tea.. We took a boat and walked along a beautiful beach, then we saw the sunset on the ferry back to the city. After that, we ate at a restaurant and we finally went to a bar where we drank our last beer and said goodbye before she took the midnight train.

I felt like someone good. Perfect feeling with the right person. Simply, a perfect day.

Write 150 words for this topic :)

Starting again

Hi there!

Here we are again, after a long time of manifestations, activities and activism. We need to re start the semester so you can catch up and practice your English one more time.

We can't have evaluations during the fisrt week, but you can still write your ideas and thoughts using your blog.

I need you to write your reflections and ideas after this period of strikes and sit-ins.

What is different now for you?

What has changed in the school of communication?


How has the university community changed?

What is going to happen in the future?


Please, write 120 words on the topic.

Use the following words:

Stike; sit-in; manifestations; classes; professors; evlauations; work; ideas; change; feminism

I'll be expecting your entries.


Lucas

Students's manifestations

This week, students from Carmela Carvajal and Tajamar school took over the Instituto National as a protest against sexist behavior and education. The students blocked the gates and doors of the institute and manifested their anger against the abusive acts that students and teachers from such institution have practiced along the years. Recently, a cleaning person from Haiti reported that she was abused by a group of students. This was the origin of the manifestation. The students from Carmela Carvajal and Tajamar also claim that "institutanos" use aggressive language and that they feel harassed by these situations.

The students and authorities of the Instituto Nacional have reacted against this act and expressed that this is a violent act and that this group of (female) students are violent and that they don't respect the traditions of the institute and that democracy has been broken.

I think that this is a clear example of the naturalization of wrong behavior that has been  present in our society and culture for many years. The men feel insulted and exposed and they need to express their discontent against these girls, but they don't talk about the hidden reality within their institution and the privilege they have because they are the most respectable ONLY MEN school in Chile. This is just an example of how things operate in our society.

These girls are trying to change things, to unbalance the status quo and to generate a discussion of the issue. Maybe, some people see this as a violent act but changes are not easy to accept and action seems to be the only way to obtain something in a conservative culture that doesn't want to wake up.

What do you think?

Write 150 words about this topic.

Use the following words: protest, anger, language, against, democracy, society, action.

Write a comment.

Lucas

Students' manifestations: strikes and paros

Chile is facing a new period of manifestations in universities and school across the country. This time it is not about profits in education or free education for everyone or the quality of the contents and teachers/professors; this time the issue is about sexual harassment within the schools and universities, sexist education and injustice (people who have been accused of wrong behavior are still working and interacting with the victims). Girls and women are protesting against this abuse and they have decided to go on strike or have tomas (via democratic vote) to manifest and make themselves heard. Most of their male classmates support them.

A lot of people do not agree with this situation or they don't understand the meaning of this movement. "What is the relation between abuse and stop classes?" or "a toma is violent, feminists are violent" are ideas that I hear a lot these days.

In my opinion, this is also related to education because for years we have been told that professors and teachers are right and they have the power to act and we only have to obey and study, but guess what...some people believe that they have the power to do whatever they want and never question their position or their privilege or their role. I think our role is to provide knowledge and help you develop your skills (not only language skills) and be part of a healthy environment. Professors are as important as the students and as important as the people who clean the university. We are part of an entity and we should work together to have a nice context where we can all share and grow as a community. If that means that strikes and tomas are part of the process, we have to be able to reflect on these situations and create an environment where everybody feels safe and comfortable to learn, study and to grow as a person/student/teacher.

What do you think?

Write 150 on the topic.
Leave a comment.
Use the following words: strikes, issue, manifest, power, role, environment.


Regards.

Lucas

Santiago from my study program's point of view

Hi there, today I'm going to write about Santiago considering the perspectives related to my study program. I studied English literature and linguistics and, to be honest, I cannot find many references regarding English literature in our city. However, there is a small neighborhood downtown where the streets, squares and corners are similar to the ones we find in some old English books (Sherlok Holmes, for example). That place is known as "París-Londres". It is a bit similar to those places, but in a sort of cliché way. Also, there are some bars around that are inspired by English pubs (Irish pubs too) and that's all. Nevertheless, I think that Valparaíso is more related to the English culture and literature because of the sailors that came from England in the old days, the architecture you see in the middle of the city near the port and even some bars and restaurant have an English inspiration. I'm thinking of Liverpool or Manchester, maybe, but I could be wrong.

In terms of liguistics, there is a lot to say about Santiago and the English language. First of all, I can say that not many people speak a second language here in Chile (not because they are not able to do it, by the way) and English seems to be a real issue for some people. This can be related to their experience at school. This may be eplained because of the way they were exposed to the English language, the system we have to face and the teachers and professors who did not know how to motivate their students or help them in the learning process (I remember spending months and years learning the verb to be). Also, some people think it's not necessary to learn a second language because we are surrounded by Spanish speaking countries and we don't need another language to communicate (again, I think this is part of our education politics and the system they represent).

Anyhow, I'd like to say more things but I want to know what you see in Santiago from the point of view of your study program or the field that you are studying.

I can't wait to read your post!

Cheers!

Lucas

Why did you choose this study programme (carrera)?

Write about:

- your dream jobs when you were a child

- other career options that you had at the moment of applying to university

- what made you decide in the end

- your experience at university until now

- the kind of job you would like to have

Hi there. When I was a kid I wanted to a be an austronaut and a football player. My first option was almost impossible because that carreer didn't exist in Chile. The second option was impossible too since I was not very good at playing, so I had to change my mind.

When I was in highschool I wanted to be a writer so when I had to decide what to study (after the PAA...yes, I know, many years ago) I chose a study programme that included reading a lot. My idea was to read and learn and after that I could create my own literature. It never worked because we had to read A LOT and I ended up really tired and bored.

I started working teaching after I finished university. It was really difficult at first since I didn't know what to do. After a couple of years I learned more and my classes were better. Now I enjoy my job and I love working with young students here in the same university I started to study so many years ago.

Cheers!

Love and respect.

Lucas

 > word count: 130 words

 > don't forget to leave comments on 3 of your classmates posts and on your teacher's post as well.