Postgraduate Studies

When I was a university student I always wanted to keep studying. Unfortunately I never had the money to do that. In fact I could barely pay my university fees of the ‘credito universitario’ I had received to get my first university degree. In addition, in those days (a long time ago) getting a scholarship was a matter of having strings to pull or not. If you were just a nobody with no influential friends, your chances were pretty much reduced to zero. My dream was to do a Master in English literature, ever since I can recall, literature was a fascinating subject for me. Having an excellent literature teacher at university made me wanted it even more. I could see myself at Oxford university giving a lecture on some famous writers or books. It probably doesn’t feel interesting for most people but for me, it is totally captivating. My plan was to teach in both Chile and England and probably do some courses in the States……..

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

 

A Great Concert I've seen

 

What can I say? Every time someone asks me about the concerts I’ve seen, I can’t help remembering Robbie Williams’ concert in October 2006. It was held at Estadio Nacional. The funny thing is that I don’t know much about Robbie Williams…….well he’s British….and he was a member of a very famous boy band called ‘Take that’ during the 90’s. I wasn’t a "Take that" fan then, but when Robbie Williams started to sing solo, I thought, ‘hey…., that’s nice’. I’ve always liked pop music, so probably that’s why I began to enjoy Mr. Williams’ music. I went to his concert with a group of work mates and we had a blast. The guy was a real entertainer. He even had the lyrics of one of his songs displayed on a big screen, so that people, who didn’t know his songs, could sing along. That was thoughtful. But I didn’t need lyrics on a screen to sing along. My friend Consuelo and me had prepared a repertoire of songs we wanted to sing along with our beloved pop star, and so we did. We sang at the top of our lungs. That is a good memory, mostly because my friend Consuelo passed away in 2010 due to a severe cancer. Now, every time I hear on the radio a Robbie Williams’ song I remember my friend Consuelo and the good time we had that day.

What about you? Is there any concert you can talk about?

- What was it?

- When did you go?

- Where was it?

- Why did you like it?

- Mention more details about it

- Publish a related picture or video

ELECTION DAY

 

Voting is a very important civil action. Having the opportunity to vote is an important and full of responsibility experience, not to mention that having the right to vote is a privilege. I think that nowadays most people don’t see it that way. For most people it is a real pain in the neck. It is incredible how easy we forget that in Chile, only a few decades ago that right was denied. 

Those who were born in democracy will never appreciate the importance of voting as much as us who grew up in dictatorship, even if you don’t like the candidates, even if you think politicians are not the most reliable people in this world. I refuse to believe those who say that my vote won’t make the difference………I can vote and so, as a citizen, I must have a responsible attitude. It is my duty, otherwise, how am I going to complain and demand for changes?????.....

Now it is time for you to express your opinion. Say:

-Are you going to vote in the next elections? Yes / No Why?

-What is your opinion on electoral campaigns? Explain.

-What qualities should a person have to run for a public position?

-Have you ever considered to get involved in politics? Yes/No Why?

-Make a constructive criticism to the electoral campaigns in your district?

Winter Holidays

 I don't really like to make plans for more than two weeks in advance, so I can only talk about what place I would like to visit some day before my time is over. One of these places is France, oh yes, oui, oui I would really love to go to France before I die, but I don't want to be another silly tourist taking photos to anything everywhere. I would like to live in French, and what I mean by living in French is to be immersed in the French culture, and everything that it involves. To begin with I want and need to learn to speak in French. I know a little but not enough to have a fluent conversation with a French person. Once my French is ready, I would stay in Paris for a few days. First objective, the Eiffel Tower and I would probably spit from the top just because I have always said I would do that once I get there. Second objective, the Louvre Museum where I would spend a long time just admiring the master pieces they've got there. That's a real pleasure for me. I like to contemplate the beauty of paintings and discover those little details that maybe few people take time to see. My idea of fun really limits the number of people I would like to be with, so I have no idea who I would like to be with.........

How about you?

Say

- Places you are going to/ would like to visit

- People you are going to / would like to be with in winter

- Activities you are thinking of being part of

- If you are planning to work / study in winter

A meal or food I really like

 Bon appetit!!!! Mmmmm I really love eating some kinds of food, but I can not say that I have a favorite one.

Among those kinds I can mention Arabian food (a falafel wrap, oooh yes, yes) or Chinese food, although I don’t like spicy food that much, these two kinds seem pretty delicious for me.

Apart from that, I usually prefer eating vegetables such as beets, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, potatoes, tomatoes, avocado but I don’t like onions unless they are in a stew or have been baked.

I’m not a vegetarian but I always try to reduce my meat consumption to the least possible, so going to a barbecue party is not my best scenario. Nevertheless, I feel I could never be a vegetarian because I love eating fish. That is the only kind of meat I can eat over and over oh yes, yummy, yummy. (sorry Nemo)

Something else that I like eating a lot, is chocolate and ice cream, I think that is what I will miss when my time to leave this world comes.

On the other hand, the kind of food I try to avoid is, for example, hamburgers (you never know what they have been made of hahaha), also I try to avoid greasy stuff such as some of the fried food that is sold in fast food restaurants.

I think that the diet that appeals to me the most is the Mediterranean, because of the great consumption of vegetables and fish, being both good for your health. 

Finally, I also like eating fruit a lot, being my favorite ones, peaches and cherries. Although apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries are good for me as well. The ones I avoid are watermelon and melon, not because I don’t like them, but because my voice gets hoarse every time I eat any of them. It seems I am allergic.

 Tell us about a meal or food you really like. Include this information:

-What is it? (describe it)

-How is it made?

-Why do you like it so much?

-How does it impact your health?

Upload pictures

How can your major make the world a better place?

How could humanity have developed all the greatest discoveries and creations if no one had devoted his/her life teaching the very basis a person needs to become what they want to in their lives?

Well I think that this question reflects exactly what teaching means for me. Without education we would have never been able to develop our abilities, even if that education is limited to literacy and numeracy, just knowing the basics, changes your possibilities in life. This fact, teaching or informing, is the greatest tool that every single form of government is afraid of. An educated person is a tremendous danger for those who want to submit humanity. That is why governments are not really interested in improving education, unless it is for an elite, a specific group of people related to those who want to stay in power. As for me, teaching means liberation. My very purpose is to set my students free, developing their skills and giving them the information they need to become what they want and be a contribution for the world

Tell us why and how, what you study (your major), can make the world a better place. Include this information:

-How can your major affect the world?

-How can you see yourself in this process?

-What makes your major something that contributes to the world’s benefit?

My Life Soundtrack

 

Three, two, one….action!!!! Can you imagine your life as if it was a movie? Of course, for some people, their lives are worth the best movie academy award; but for most of us, our lives have ups and downs, happy and sad moments, which in general, don’t belong to the remarkable or outstanding category. Regardless all the stories each person can tell, I believe that there is one thing we all have in common; MUSIC. I’m pretty sure that there is always a song which brings back memories about our lives. So what if we could have something like ‘my life soundtrack’, what songs would this soundtrack have?

I will start mine, with the Swedish band ABBA. This band was really popular when I was a girl. Their songs were listened everyday everywhere. Well I think they really deserved that kind of popularity. Their songs were really catchy and they had good melodies, so even those who didn’t understand English could enjoy them. Besides the band started the trend of recording their songs in Spanish – they adapted them actually, because some songs don’t sound that pretty when you just translate them hahaha.

Then, in my adolescence, Michael Jackson appeared on the scene with his hit Thriller. Who hadn’t listened to this song in those days??? If you hadn’t, you were probably from another planet or galaxy.

Then the ones who really left a mark on my adolescence and younger years were DURAN DURAN. These guys were a drought of fresh air into my life. I loved them (still do). I thought that their music was just fun, something completely different from the other 80's bands. From then on, there has always been a Duran Duran’s song as part of my life. I am a BIG, HUGE, GIANT FAN of DURAN DURAN.

Finally, I can mention Coldplay. The thing is that when I decided to buy a car, someone gave me the Coldplay album ‘A rush of blood to the head’; during the first months driving that car, I used to listen to this CD. The reason was that I wasn’t an experienced driver and I needed something that didn't get me distracted when driving. Eventually, I ended up loving this CD. That song, “The Scientist”, is awesome, and I suffered every sentence when I sang along hahaha.

Now, What does your life soundtrack look like?

Say

- What bands or songs have left a mark on your life

- What life event you relate these songs to

- What period of your life these songs affected

- Mention any detail you consider important

My Future Job

I'm pretty sure I have the job I wanted when I was studying at university. I always wanted to teach in a university, because I thought (and still do) that I needed something that was a challenge for me. There are certain people who like to live in a comfortable zone, I'm not that kind of person. I don't mean I like to live in danger or stressed all the time, what I mean is that to teach in a university, you have to keep improving your methods of teaching, increasing your vocabulary, finding better ways to explain your students some grammar point and plenty of other things that help you work to become a better professional. Besides I would really die of boredom if I had to stay in an office all the time. Moreover, considering my little bit of autistic nature, the best thing I can do is to force myself to interact with people and I couldn't imagine a better way than sharing my knowledge with others. Another factor people consider when choosing a profession is the salary, well, it is clear that money is not what made me choose this profession (hahaha). Teachers are not well paid in Chile, and I guess neither are they, in most countries of this world. There is one thing though, I can only have by teaching. When you teach, you have the opportunity to meet people who will probably discover the cure for terrible diseases, improve the lives of people in this country or maybe this world, write the most wonderful piece of music in history, or do any other thing which will make this world a better world. That fact, just makes me incredibly happy, because that is what I see in my students' eyes every time I teach them something.

- 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?

- In an office?

- What major are you studying / are you thinking of taking? Explain Why.

- Add any other related ideas

My Favorite Cartoon Character

 

Every time I think about a cartoon character which I remember dearly, it has to be Bugs Bunny. It is certainly not the only one that brings good memories from my childhood, but it is, definitely, one whose personality cannot be forgotten.

Looking for information about it on the internet, I just learnt that it was created during the 1930’s, a fact that was a total surprise for me. It seems that it didn’t always have the same appearance, so it used to look a little different.

Well, the reason I like Bugs Bunny is not its looks but its personality. After years watching this cartoon, its name finally made sense to me. I hadn’t made the connection between its name and its meaning, because ‘to bug’ means to annoy, to irritate, to bother and that’s exactly what he does to his antagonists. This rabbit (or hare) is really annoying and probably that’s the reason I like it. I enjoyed watching how he used to get to his antagonists’ nerves, making them lose their tempers hahaha.

Some of those antagonists that I remember are Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Duffy Duck. The first one, Elmer Fudd, is a sort of a common man who has been hunting, and obviously, Bugs Bunny seems to be the chosen prey which he never gets to hunt. The second one, Yosemite Sam, is a former confederate soldier, who is really aggressive, and one thing that characterizes him is that he shoots his gun at any opportunity he has. The last one, Duffy Duck, is the funniest (in my opinion) and also the one who loses his temper more often.

I love Bugs Bunny because he is very smart, or at least, smarter than his antagonists, but at the same time he can be a real pain in the neck for anyone, I can say that he is one of the most annoying characters that I remember from my childhood together with his catch phrase "Eh....What's up, doc?". That quality makes him very funny hahaha.

Now, your turn

Say

- What your favorite cartoon character is

- What you know about this character

- Why you like this character

- What other characters are part of the cartoon

- Mention anything else you consider important

Someone I'd like to meet

Through out all our lives we meet different kinds of people. Some of them we like, and some others we wished they had never got into our lives. Some turned up being our closest and dearest friends and some others remain just as acquaintances. But there is also a group of people that we will never get to meet but we would love to have the chance to talk to. People who fall into this category may be famous, extremely gorgeous, incredibly talented, etc.

In my case, there are a few people I would like to meet; one of these people is Antonio Banderas. The reason is because I think he is an extremely “down to earth” person. I believe that despite the fact that he has reached certain kind of fame, and has been able to accomplish a lot of things in his life, he doesn’t seem to feel he is above the rest of people. For someone who has worked in Hollywood, that is a very remarkable characteristic. So I’d like to meet Mister Banderas because he seems to be a nice person.

Another person I’d love to meet is Josh Bernstein. He is an American anthropologist who had a TV show on History Channel some years ago, which is where I learned about his existance.

His show was on very late at night. I remember that I used to stay awake just to watch it. Then he did his TV programme for Discovery channel and lately his show is back on History channel. Mister Bernstein is very cute, but that’s not the reason I’d like to meet him. I think he is the perfect combination. He is intelligent, entertaining, adventurous and a talented TV host. His show is awesome – Digging for the truth; it is like watching ‘Indiana Jones’ in real life. I know that he doesn’t like to be compared with this movie character, but one just can’t help seeing the similarity (Did I mention that I’m a big fan of Harrison Ford?). Well, I believe that meeting Josh Bernstein would be a really interesting experience, considering all the stories he has to tell, plenty of adventures, exotic places and very interesting people. I know he was once in the south of Chile shooting one episode of his show (which I watched, of course). The guy has gone into deep caves, dived into the oceans, climbed mountains, flown over terrific landscapes, and all the things one just dream of doing.

Now, here is your chance to say who you would love to meet and maybe, just maybe, you get lucky enough and that person gets in touch with you.

Mention

Who that person is

What characteristics this person has (personality, job, nationality, etc.)

What you admire the most about this person

What accomplishments this person has achieved

Mention any other relevant information

A day to remember

 

I always remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was working as a preschool teacher, even though I was still a university student. I have always thought that getting that job,was a blessing from God, not only because it was my first steady job with a regular salary, but also because it was a special school. It is important to mention that that preschool accepted regular students, mentally handicapped students or Down syndrome students, and they all shared the same class with the same kind of academic demands. They were only separated in groups because of their age. 

It was a sunny Spring day in 1992, and with my group of students I had been doing the Unit "Spring" for two weeks, learning vocabulary (verbs, nouns, adjectives), coloring pictures, drawings about Spring, etc. The day to have a review came and I decided to check some vocabulary, so I used the classroom decoration to ask my students for some of these decorations' names in English. So I asked 'what's this?', and my students answered 'a flower!', 'what's that?' and my students answered 'a butterfly!', and then I asked 'what's this?'.....the whole class remained in silence...and suddenly I heard a voice saying with a perfect English pronunciation...'a bird!'. It was Danitza, a lovely student with a mental disability. She was the only one who could remember that word. My blood went to my feet and I almost burst into tears because I had an enormous difficulty bearing with the emotion. In that moment I was certain that teaching was my duty in this world......

Now, it is your turn......

Say

- What your remarkable day is

- What happened that day. Details

- Who participated in the event.

- Give any other detail

My Favorite TV show

I don’t really watch TV that much. I have never had the patience to watch a TV series or a soap opera every day or week, but during the 90’s I got addicted to an American sit-com called Seinfeld. What made me watch this sit-com was that it was different from anything I had watched on TV before. To begin with, the show was about nothing or about any stupid circumstance that happens on a day. The characters were four friends. The main character was Seinfeld who played himself as a minor celeb stand-up comedian, George Costanza who was Seinfeld’s best friend, Elaine Benes who was Seinfeld’s former girlfriend and later close friend, and Cosmo Kramer who was Seinfeld’s, across- the-hall, neighbor, and a series of acquaintances and Seinfeld’s relatives who appeared on the show from time to time.

Each episode was a complete nonsense, a trivial thing which was wittily told. The scripts were really hilarious and original, as for example, there was one episode about Seinfeld’s girlfriend having man hands, another one was about Kramer having a hot tub in his apartment and one of my favorite ones which was about the nazi soup cook. In this episode an Argentinian cook opened a shop where he sold extremely delicious soups. The problem was that whoever wanted to buy a bowl of soup had to follow a very strict protocol. Seinfeld and his friends were banned from the shop because they broke the protocol and they tried to do whatever possible to get a bowl of soup. The situation was really absurd and extremely hilarious……….I really recommend you to watch this episode and find out what happens in the end.

Now you say………

- What your favorite TV program is

- What it is about

- Who the characters are

- Which your favorite episode is

- Why you like watching it

An expert / person in your field that you admire

 I can't say that I admire someone because I don't. What I feel is respect for certain people who have shown greatness. One of those people is my former university teacher mister Jorge Olivares Cantuarias. Little can I say about his life. I know he is married and has two children, a daughter and a son and that he retired in 2011, unfortunately, for the coming generations who didn't have the privilege to be one of his students. The reason I mention this particular teacher is because he has been an inspiration for my everyday teaching. Not only did he show me what a devoted teacher should be like but also he taught me that no matter how much a teacher knows, what really counts is how you pass that information to your students..........There is a countless number of people in this world who think about themselves as genius but who have never been able to pass their knowledge with real love and care...........

Here you can see a photo of the day he retired. He is the third from right to left.

Include this information:

-Why do you admire this person?

-What has this person done/contributed?

-Provide a short biography of this person

Upload pictures

How Green are you?

I think people don’t learn environmentally friendly practices, I think that, as well as values, people acquire these practices. It has to be something you grow up with, and therefore you get concerned about the environment in your house, with your family, or your closest community. Then, once you start going to school you may learn new techniques to help the environment such as different ways of recycling. Personally, I didn’t have the chance to learn these techniques at school but I got to learn them on the internet or TV programs. Nowadays I’m into a project to recycle organic waste such as oranges peel, egg shells, or potato and banana skins or dry leaves and turn it into compost to use it as fertilizer……….

How about you? Say:

-Where do you learn about environmentally friendly practices?

-Have you incorporated recycling into your habits? Describe

-Do you use a bike or your legs instead of a car?

-Have you joined or supported any eco-organization? Why/Why not?

-What have you done to reduce your carbon footprint?

-What’s missing in our society regarding this issue?

A photo and its story

I’m not sure if this is a real photograph but if I have to pick an image, this one, is the one I like. I’ve got no idea who took or created it or when, but beyond those details, I think that the importance here is what it represents, “Planet Earth”, or being more colloquial “HOME”. That’s why I like it. It is a beautiful representation of our planet floating in the vast universe. This fact always keeps me thinking about the insignificance of our existence and yet the enormous importance that this tiny particle of cosmic dust has for humankind. From my point of view, this idea is overwhelming, and makes me incapable to comprehend when men give so much importance to irrelevant things such as what color your skin is, what religion you profess, or even worse, which football team you support. To make the picture worse, people even kill for these reasons!!!!! I think that if people took just some fleeting seconds every day to think about the situation we are in the universe, they would probably look back, and for sure, see how stupidly they have been behaving……What a shame!, don’t you agree? :D

Tell us about a photo (or image) that is meaningful to you. Include this information.

-What does it mean to you?

-Why does it interest you?

-What is the story behind the photo?

Upload the photo.

My Favorite Piece of Technology

This is a very awkward topic for me, basically because I don’t like technology that much. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge its importance in this modern world. Sometimes relying on technology too much makes me feel uncomfortable. There is, though, one piece of technology that I consider extremely useful, and that is my laptop. I had to buy it when the online modality began (or I’d better say ‘the pandemic’), and it was something I HAD to invest in. As you can tell by now, I’m not very keen on investing in technology. It is not the best computer I could have got but without it I would have never been able to do my classes online. Anyways, this new computer has been really helpful for my work because the old one I had, didn’t let me use zoom properly. I couldn’t use all the properties this platform has.  Besides working reasons, I only use my computer for personal things such as checking my e-mails and storing information. I don’t like the social networks. I don’t have a facebook account or twitter or Instagram or any of the popular social networks existing, and I wouldn’t have a blog either if it wasn’t one of the tools, we use to make our students write. I absolutely detest chatting, and that’s because I’m usually working when I’m using my computer. I have no interest in making ‘friends’ unless I can see and talk to the person face to face. If I want to talk to a friend, I call that person. If I can’t reach that person, I send an e-mail........

 Say what your favorite piece of technology is. Include this information:

-Why is this your favorite piece of technology?

-How do you use it/What do you do with it?

-How does it affect your life?

-Would you recommend using it?

 Upload pictures

 

Why did I choose my major?

 

This could sound funny but it is true. When I was a little girl I used to play with my sister and cousins. We pretended we were at school and most of the time I played as the teacher of the school and made my sister and cousins read short stories and then answer questions about them, or other times I made them memorize a poem or song. It was something so natural for me. One thing I never doubted was my sister’s and cousins’ complete obedience, this considering that I wasn’t the oldest but somehow they thought I was the experience personified. Even though this one was one of my favorite childhood games, I never thought about becoming a teacher when I grow up. I actually never thought about any career at all. By the time I finished school I had no clue about what to do. I was admitted in the physics and chemistry programme in one university (one of my strengths at school) and in the civil construction programme in another. Then I decided not to take any of those chances, I took some time off instead, you know, to find myself.

I started working on my English and then I saw the light, I could become a teacher. That was something I enjoyed doing. I took the test to enter the University again with only one purpose….to enter in the teaching training programme.

Now, being an English teacher, I am the happiest person in the world. Working for a prestigious university makes me even happier – not because of the social status -  but because it is demanding and I have to keep studying all the time, I keep learning new things from my students (psychology, sociology, arts, etc) I only wish the money aspect was better, but then again, no money can give me the satisfaction I get when I see my students learning, that’s priceless. I have never regreted my decision, what can I say? I love what I do.   

 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

 

 

Who am I?

 

Hi there. The time has come when we start practicing writing in English. Remember that every mistake we might make will be an enormous opportunity to learn and improve your English, so let´s begin with our first post.

Introduce yourself in this blog post.

My name is Rosa and I’m an English teacher. I love teaching. I’m originally from La Serena, Chile, but I have lived in Santiago for many years. I’m the youngest child of my family, but not the spoiled one hahaha. I love my family. They are the most important part of my life. I’m currently single however I’m incredibly happy hahaha. Sometimes, It’s better not to have a partner than having a lousy one. My favorite band ever is Duran Duran and I love eating chocolate and ice cream…..

Now it’s your turn.....

 Write a short autobiography. Include this information:

Who are you?

Where are you from?

Tell us a little about yourself

Tell us a little about your family, and hometown

Upload picture

 

WELCOME!!!!!

Welcome to the writing experience in English. I hope you enjoy it. The purpose is that you develop your writing abilities, increase your vocabulary, improve your grammar and most of all, have fun writing in English.

Remember that we will use www.wordreference.com  to look for words