Learning a language isn’t the same that learning about theory or any kind of forma knowledge, because unlike those subjects, language has a special reason with human faculty of reason. Briefly, we could say that we don’t think about language but on it. For all that, I think learning English couldn’t be an experience based simply in memorize words, modals and all that stuff but learning English implies singing on it, joking on it, feeling it; “know how” use English means a constant exercise of making naturally use it on our minds.
In the university I have had different stages on my learning process. First of all, I came here knowing very few or nothing about English. As a matter of fact, even though I understood written English quite a lot talking and listening was an impossible work for me. I think high school English method had some responsibility on it, because all class work, tests, etc. didn’t encourage those skills.
Then, I could recognize is a kind of diffuse “second stage” that matches with my second and third years at university. In my opinion it was when I practiced as best I can my thinking about importance of experience and practice in learning English. In that process was very useful do funny English spoken activities, like watch TV series, listening/singing music, and reading funny stuff on internet. To a certain extent I got some new skills that I hadn’t before studying English at university, for example, I got some practice differentiating between British and American accents.
In the present, the third stage I’ve lost some practice in order to improve my “thinking on english” because of I didn’t have enough time for doing English spoken activities. For that reason I could say that this year has been a backing down on this skills but a certain advance in another skills like writing or reading on English. However, I think this is very different write or reading alone and quietly that facing a real conversation or resolving daily troubles in another language.
To sum up, as my practice keep swinging between doing a lot and doing nothing for learning English I think I’m not going to get enough skills in order to be able to facing the real life in a language that wouldn’t be Spanish. Learning English requires practices and more practice, and as while as I couldn’t do this (for every reason) I won’t get the skill of “thinking on it”. In my opinion, that is the difference between beginner English students from English-speaking people.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The dirty money
As opposed to many people that use to say “Money doesn’t mean happiness” I think we must be careful asserting it. I mean, I think we must look around us and ask ourselves about the country and even the world what we are living in. In other words: If you enjoy doing, eating, playing, loving, reading, listening or whatever, probably you will need money to get it, and then more and more money if you want keep on getting it. Although it is a sad diagnosis I think it is realistic too, because money is an important “factial foundation” of freedom in our society.
So, if you ask me I must answer “yes, I would like to be wealthy”. Well, rather slightly wealthy, because although there’s a lot of projects and crazy ideas that I could realize with a lot of money I wouldn’t like to lose my constant search of “a meaning” (not a “celestial”, “absolute” or “neutral meaning, but “my own” way, always in change) in the life about I could living in it every day even when it will bring me to die
If I inherited a lot of money I probably would spend it in a few clear things: to paying mine and my parent’s bills, to buying a house in the Center, to buying myself an electric guitar and that’s all. However, I must say that all this come from my current lack of lunds and I cannot assert I would be the same if I had the dirty money in my hands. If I had be a millionaire probably will invest it in a restaurant or something like this, because I like this stuff, I don’t know: the movement, the loud, the music, the laughs, the party, the conversation.
Today money is as important as they are my projects. If I haven’t those I don’t care about having money. There are two or three in mind and for that reason I’m trying to earn something. I probably will working for it in this days.
So, if you ask me I must answer “yes, I would like to be wealthy”. Well, rather slightly wealthy, because although there’s a lot of projects and crazy ideas that I could realize with a lot of money I wouldn’t like to lose my constant search of “a meaning” (not a “celestial”, “absolute” or “neutral meaning, but “my own” way, always in change) in the life about I could living in it every day even when it will bring me to die
If I inherited a lot of money I probably would spend it in a few clear things: to paying mine and my parent’s bills, to buying a house in the Center, to buying myself an electric guitar and that’s all. However, I must say that all this come from my current lack of lunds and I cannot assert I would be the same if I had the dirty money in my hands. If I had be a millionaire probably will invest it in a restaurant or something like this, because I like this stuff, I don’t know: the movement, the loud, the music, the laughs, the party, the conversation.
Today money is as important as they are my projects. If I haven’t those I don’t care about having money. There are two or three in mind and for that reason I’m trying to earn something. I probably will working for it in this days.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
About taking care of environment
Being a green person isn't so easy. It implies to be persevering and to be constantly concerned about what are you eating, using, throwing out,clothing, consuming, etc. Besides, It implies to have an special attitude, to be firm with the cause what means that you will need a strong willpower if you don't use to be a "green".
I think that environmentally friendly practices are quite a new subject of discussion (not more than a few decades) and for that reason is a recently concern for the government and then for educational system. In spite of this, I think is precisely on school where people learn about it, and with new generations It is going to be learnt in family too.
In my own case, I have incorporated what I consider the most basic recycling habits: I'm taling about to avoid to throwing out papers on th street, Avoid to destroying flowers, and all the stuff of pasive actions like "if you don't help to make a better world please don't destroy it!"
I don't use a bike because I don't have one and I don't walk either. I use the public buses but I think It would be a better city (and even with more quick movement)If cycle paths were seriously considerer by authority.
I think people have not the main responsability at taking care of environment and for that reason I don't feel guilty about don't be donating money or my time to the cause. All we can do as individual person is small compared to what big corporations and companies can do to having a better world. In my opinion that's the real problem and our resonsability is don't make worse the situation.
For resume, there's a lot of things in orden to improve our world, protect life in earth or whatever you want call it. However, I think that responsabilities must be assigned to appropiate instances and don't laid the blame on common people.
I think that environmentally friendly practices are quite a new subject of discussion (not more than a few decades) and for that reason is a recently concern for the government and then for educational system. In spite of this, I think is precisely on school where people learn about it, and with new generations It is going to be learnt in family too.
In my own case, I have incorporated what I consider the most basic recycling habits: I'm taling about to avoid to throwing out papers on th street, Avoid to destroying flowers, and all the stuff of pasive actions like "if you don't help to make a better world please don't destroy it!"
I don't use a bike because I don't have one and I don't walk either. I use the public buses but I think It would be a better city (and even with more quick movement)If cycle paths were seriously considerer by authority.
I think people have not the main responsability at taking care of environment and for that reason I don't feel guilty about don't be donating money or my time to the cause. All we can do as individual person is small compared to what big corporations and companies can do to having a better world. In my opinion that's the real problem and our resonsability is don't make worse the situation.
For resume, there's a lot of things in orden to improve our world, protect life in earth or whatever you want call it. However, I think that responsabilities must be assigned to appropiate instances and don't laid the blame on common people.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
My high school education
I’m conscious about my high school education leting me reach the university and about I’m actually a privileged person compared to other people if I consider this. However, in my opinion this is more related to systemic characteristics of Chilean education than related to my specific high school. I mean: in this place you can learn a lot about how to pass PSU test, but you won’t learn much more about values.
Camilo Henriquez High School is in Temuco, what is where I’m from. This is a scientific-humanist high school, with a solid formation in biology, chemistry, physics and maths but (in my opinion) a deficient foundations at history and humanism in general.
I had good and bad teachers but I still think that they worked too much in agree to the formal education planning. Sincerely I had waited for more rebelliousness and more criticism in their attitudes.
About technologies I didn’t have complaints. I mean, we had computers in the high school connected to Internet and high school had projectors and another multimedia resources but I think that all this must be subordinated to the teaching skill. In that way, I think I learned a lot because I had good teachers in some areas but I still have this complaint about the lack of a sense of human being formation in all this.
So, I think that in my decision of studying sociology my history and language teachers were not a good example in spite of this let me did a good PSU test and came to this University. If I had to recommend something to the authorities of my old high school it would be being less a private school with all its implications, besides having new teachers and optional subjects about humanism and social sciences because they have a really bad formation about those stuffs.
I think that a person is responsible about to use well the “tools” received in the life and not only in the formal education. In that way, I would say that people so many times is too much unfair in their opinions about people with less luck in this society
Camilo Henriquez High School is in Temuco, what is where I’m from. This is a scientific-humanist high school, with a solid formation in biology, chemistry, physics and maths but (in my opinion) a deficient foundations at history and humanism in general.
I had good and bad teachers but I still think that they worked too much in agree to the formal education planning. Sincerely I had waited for more rebelliousness and more criticism in their attitudes.
About technologies I didn’t have complaints. I mean, we had computers in the high school connected to Internet and high school had projectors and another multimedia resources but I think that all this must be subordinated to the teaching skill. In that way, I think I learned a lot because I had good teachers in some areas but I still have this complaint about the lack of a sense of human being formation in all this.
So, I think that in my decision of studying sociology my history and language teachers were not a good example in spite of this let me did a good PSU test and came to this University. If I had to recommend something to the authorities of my old high school it would be being less a private school with all its implications, besides having new teachers and optional subjects about humanism and social sciences because they have a really bad formation about those stuffs.
I think that a person is responsible about to use well the “tools” received in the life and not only in the formal education. In that way, I would say that people so many times is too much unfair in their opinions about people with less luck in this society
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Inception
I’m not a moviegoer. Actually, each Time I’m asked about my favorite movie I answer some different. For example, last semester we had to write about the same stuff and I answered “I have no doubt my favorite movie is “el secreto de sus ojos”, a recent Argentinean film. However, recently me and my friends went to the cinema and we saw a movie called “inception”, about we finished saying “wow, what a great movie!” So, because I have not a formed and it’s always changing, I’m going to talk about Inception, because I like it and done.
The protagonist of the film is Leonardo DiCaprio, who even when he could be the same person that he represents in “Shattered Island” makes a good job acting as this typical mysterious, clever-and-mentally-disturbed person who knows everything because he has “suffered” always, etc, etc. This man –his character, not DiCaprio- with another special-and-clever people work in the art of “extraction”, that means they know how to enter in the dreams of sleeping people and put out of their minds the deepest secrets. Of course, they don’t “extract” any secret of the dreams of any person: this job is specially required for great corporations to obtain secrets about their competitors, information that cost a lot of money.
However, the story is about the opposite of that ability: the “inception” implies put an idea into a dream, in the deepest areas of the mind as a “seed” that grow up between the levels of the subconscious and becomes a truth for the person involved in the inception.
The story takes part in a lot of places, because it occurs in the world of dreams, and at dreams inside another dreams, in such a way that the film shows two, three and even four scenarios at the same time, each one with its own time, its own created-world and its own dangerous mission.
The best part of the movie is when there are a kind of three or four dreams at the same time, each one inside another, and each one depends about the characters could accomplish with the missions in each deeper dream. This is a very exciting scene and you need to be very concentrated for not missing something important, because all those different stories get tangled and besides with a great doses of suspense. In fact, if they had died in a deeper dream, they would stay strapped in a “limbo” (alive, but like a zombie) for the rest of the life.
I like this movie because always gets you with open eyes, because you need to be always alert but it doesn’t mean that it would be a sacrifice. The film maintain you fun and because of that it is not difficult follow all this complicated story
The protagonist of the film is Leonardo DiCaprio, who even when he could be the same person that he represents in “Shattered Island” makes a good job acting as this typical mysterious, clever-and-mentally-disturbed person who knows everything because he has “suffered” always, etc, etc. This man –his character, not DiCaprio- with another special-and-clever people work in the art of “extraction”, that means they know how to enter in the dreams of sleeping people and put out of their minds the deepest secrets. Of course, they don’t “extract” any secret of the dreams of any person: this job is specially required for great corporations to obtain secrets about their competitors, information that cost a lot of money.
However, the story is about the opposite of that ability: the “inception” implies put an idea into a dream, in the deepest areas of the mind as a “seed” that grow up between the levels of the subconscious and becomes a truth for the person involved in the inception.
The story takes part in a lot of places, because it occurs in the world of dreams, and at dreams inside another dreams, in such a way that the film shows two, three and even four scenarios at the same time, each one with its own time, its own created-world and its own dangerous mission.
The best part of the movie is when there are a kind of three or four dreams at the same time, each one inside another, and each one depends about the characters could accomplish with the missions in each deeper dream. This is a very exciting scene and you need to be very concentrated for not missing something important, because all those different stories get tangled and besides with a great doses of suspense. In fact, if they had died in a deeper dream, they would stay strapped in a “limbo” (alive, but like a zombie) for the rest of the life.
I like this movie because always gets you with open eyes, because you need to be always alert but it doesn’t mean that it would be a sacrifice. The film maintain you fun and because of that it is not difficult follow all this complicated story
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A trip around Santiago
If you’re a foreigner and you don’t know Santiago you have a lot of work to do. This big city has a lot of places to suit all tastes and probably you can’t visit all of them. Precisely, my work is recommending you about you can’t avoid visiting.
If you’re arriving in the morning or afternoon, the first thing that you need is food. You can going to the central market and eat typical and delicious dishes from the country, passing through meat, shellfish, vegetables, etc. Is a traditional and beautiful place full of restaurants, ideal for eating with friends or family, all this accompanied by the cuecas, ballads and boleros that play the musicians of the place.
After eating you probably want to go for a walk around the city. Well, a great option is go to forest park, near to Baquedano Square and through Mapocho River. If you have luck, you can find cultural events or run into a march of students. If you haven’t luck, you can always to visit the museum of fine arts or take the road toward Santa Lucía hill. Apart from this, you can take a good trip for the barrios cercanos.
The next place I recommend you to visit is The Moneda, the main government building of Chile. For arriving it you need go to Alameda Avenue and take the Subway or Transantiago. If you want to know about a constant problem of the city you must take that options, otherwise you can take a taxi and go to the west. Once there, you can visit different rooms and yards of The Moneda as well as visit the Museum near to the government house.
If you want to keep following me, we’ll go back a couple of blocks to take Ahumada Avenue and walk to the north. This is a typical full-of-people-and-stores road, but you can also find street artists and demonstrations. At the end, we will arrive to the parade ground, a place that I can portray as “diverse”. Check out this at yourself.
Finally I recommend you finish your day with a beer: Bellavista Neighborhood, it’s yards and roads is a great place for walk, talk, eat, drink and even dance and have a good time before sleep and start a new day in the capital of Chile.
If you’re arriving in the morning or afternoon, the first thing that you need is food. You can going to the central market and eat typical and delicious dishes from the country, passing through meat, shellfish, vegetables, etc. Is a traditional and beautiful place full of restaurants, ideal for eating with friends or family, all this accompanied by the cuecas, ballads and boleros that play the musicians of the place.
After eating you probably want to go for a walk around the city. Well, a great option is go to forest park, near to Baquedano Square and through Mapocho River. If you have luck, you can find cultural events or run into a march of students. If you haven’t luck, you can always to visit the museum of fine arts or take the road toward Santa Lucía hill. Apart from this, you can take a good trip for the barrios cercanos.
The next place I recommend you to visit is The Moneda, the main government building of Chile. For arriving it you need go to Alameda Avenue and take the Subway or Transantiago. If you want to know about a constant problem of the city you must take that options, otherwise you can take a taxi and go to the west. Once there, you can visit different rooms and yards of The Moneda as well as visit the Museum near to the government house.
If you want to keep following me, we’ll go back a couple of blocks to take Ahumada Avenue and walk to the north. This is a typical full-of-people-and-stores road, but you can also find street artists and demonstrations. At the end, we will arrive to the parade ground, a place that I can portray as “diverse”. Check out this at yourself.
Finally I recommend you finish your day with a beer: Bellavista Neighborhood, it’s yards and roads is a great place for walk, talk, eat, drink and even dance and have a good time before sleep and start a new day in the capital of Chile.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Travelling is amazing. Any trip has its anecdotes, its jokes, good and bad days, at least, many things to talk about it. In that way, I think traveling is something that I’m going to do frequently in my life. I’d like to visit many countries and places, but in first place I want to know Latin America and I want to start with Argentina. Why? Well, because it’s close to our country and all people have visited it, I mean, everybody knows Argentina and I don’t!
Now, seriously I think It is an interesting country to visit and to start with my intention of knowing Latin America. I’d like to visit stadiums, eating its food, looking its women, walking its streets. Specially I want to know Buenos Aires, which it is known as a cosmopolitan city. I think it will clearly be a destiny of my vacations in the future. I’d like to be a prototypical tourist in Bs. As., and for that I think I need some money at least more than the one I have at present.
So, If you ask me if I’d like to live or work there I’ll probably say no. I mean, I have not defined reasons for this, but I’d like to live here, having Chile as my “control and retreat center” and from here to plan all trips. I think I’d prefer to migrate inside the country to live in the south before than living to another country.
Now, seriously I think It is an interesting country to visit and to start with my intention of knowing Latin America. I’d like to visit stadiums, eating its food, looking its women, walking its streets. Specially I want to know Buenos Aires, which it is known as a cosmopolitan city. I think it will clearly be a destiny of my vacations in the future. I’d like to be a prototypical tourist in Bs. As., and for that I think I need some money at least more than the one I have at present.
So, If you ask me if I’d like to live or work there I’ll probably say no. I mean, I have not defined reasons for this, but I’d like to live here, having Chile as my “control and retreat center” and from here to plan all trips. I think I’d prefer to migrate inside the country to live in the south before than living to another country.
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