The last journey

Hello dear readers, I hope you all are doing well! 

As I wrote on the first post (the beginning), I am studying at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana a bachelor in Spanish and English language education. Along this blog you will find different posts that talk about different issues. These issues are the result of the interaction in the class of communicative competence III. I still remember that every week we talked about topics that revolved around education. How is it possible that time has passed so quickly? That is something magical and incredible. One day we decided to create a blog in which each one would make a post of the task of the week. This blog give us headaches but also a rewarding experience: you may learn through writing. I must say that at first I did not like the idea of a 'blog'. I thought it was a waste of time, but then I realized that this tool would enhance our learning, would help us improve our skills in English and of course, would allow us to share views and learn more about what each of us think regarding reality. It shows the purpose of the blog: virtual interaction and wondering.  

For that reason, I want to thank professor Danny Jean Paul Mejia Holguin (who certainly has an odd combination of name) and colleagues who made this interaction possible. Let’s try not to settle and keep improving what we know.

I do not know how good my blog is, but I feel comfortable with it. I think I did my best, but I also know that is not enough. I would like to keep writing on it but I will not write for an invisible audience. A good blog presents interaction but if there is no a person that discusses and comments on it, it is not worth. Let's see what happens. And you, what will you do with yours?  

Questions time!

Do you think it is helpful to use this tool (blog) to teach a second language? Why?

As teacher, would you use a blog to complement a class? Yes? No? Why?

How was your experience writing on your own blog and commenting the others'?

Would you like to continue writing on your blog? 

Many thanks for appreciating my job and commenting on the blog. I will keep your opinions. ‘Till forever! 

Oh flashbacks!

Greetings dear readers! I hope you are doing well.

“This is like a flashback, this is like a dream, this is like all the things you can fit inside a memory”. Calvin Harris.

This week, being in the class, the teacher talked to us about the famous sudden memories, those that come to your mind like immediately when something special occurs. We call them 'Flashbacks' and we define them as an ensemble of mental scenes that breaks your timeline and takes you to a specific part of the past depending on what happens in the immediate present. It is worth pointing out that is not a time machine, do not rejoice, it is only a psychological effect of a part of the brain called memory. After discussing about that for half an hour, the teacher asked us to write a paragraph or a story where we include the theme of those ‘memories’, so here you have mine:   

Damned remembrance

It was a summertime evening. I was in the park with my fiancé. We had gone out to freshen up a little bit and feel the breeze of the day, the long hot day. We had been talking about our marriage, how many children would we have, where would they study, where we would live, well, we were conversing about our future together. Seeing the prominent church, I immediately remembered my parents' marriage. Yes, I still remember it; I was 9 years old and was one of the first in throwing rice. At that time I did not understand why people insist on throwing rice and lentils, but it was fun and so I did it. After I grew up I realized the reason for throwing rice at the newlyweds: it represents abundance and prosperity for home, therefore, people want rice and lentil to not missing at home. Those memories coupled with my future wishes to marry my boyfriend, made my day. At that moment, my dear groom stood up to buy something to eat because I was starving and I preferred to stay sitting on the bench. While wandering off in my mind, a stranger interrupted me and sat beside me and then waved at me but I ignored him. He greeted me with such confidence that neither my brother would do. I had not seen his face well; I just knew that he was wearing sunglasses. He greeted me again and I finally decided to greet him. When I turned my face towards him I was scared. It was hair-raising. I already had seen him somewhere but I could not recognize him until he took off his glasses. It was him, the man of my nightmares. Nightmares that did not belong to a fictional world but to a past I wanted to escape. No one else knew. He was my husband, well, at that time he was still my husband. His hideous smile transported me to the house where he mistreated me and abused me whenever he wanted. I did not think it was so easy for him to find me. I could not believe it. I was getting ready for a future with my fiancé and trying to leave in a corner the awful scenes of 10 years ago. I was afraid of he was going to tell my fiancé, her family and mine. Again, nobody knew it had happened to me. Only we knew it. When he greeted me, I felt his breath. That breath that tortured me and that through his words told me I was worthless, I was rubbish. I got up suddenly and left. Apparently he just wanted to greet me, but that mere greeting evoked a series of images in my head that for a minute managed to make me cry and think again about these atrocious and crude illustrations of my past life.

Questions time!

Have you ever been afraid of a memory? How was it?

Why do you think we have that kind of memories? 

When was the last time you have a memory? What was it about?

I hope you have enjoyed it. See you soon! 

The meaning of words does alter the product.

Hello dear readers, how are you doing?

Welcome again to my blog. This time, I am going to tell you the experience of the last activity carried out in class. The activity was a little interesting because the teacher asked us to write a story with some words he provided us, but with a tiny detail: they (the words) should not be written such as. Let me explain, he wrote exactly twelve words on the board and in front of them, the same quantity of words but not the same. So to create the story we had to consider the meaning of the first words, but at the time to write it, we should use the words that were in front of them and take into account at least 5 of them. For instance:

House = computer. 

"My house is green and has two rooms". In here we should omit the word 'house', and put down the word 'computer' so the final result would be: 'my computer is green and has two rooms'. The idea was to put a word instead of other.

This time it was individual work, no teamwork as it was the last time. Perhaps at first sight this activity looks aimlessly (without any purpose), but the main intention was to put into practice our writing skills. Now, I am going to share with you my story, which finally is a tale. The words in bold are the ones I changed. Do not you worry if you do not understand it by its looks, just read it and then look for the real words below. 

The Odd Story:

Last week, Paul’s box was crying because somebody had stolen her knife. She only remembered that she was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and suddenly the night started to ring. She left the knife on the bed and then she went to the chicken to take the night. Surprise! The umbrella was open and there was a coffeemaker on the table. She never uses coffeemakers. She was frightened, standing in the kitchen when the night started to ring again. She wanted to answer the call but she saw a dark house across the umbrella. It was ravioling plate and the electricity was out. The door was opened by surprise and a man went into the apartment and robbed the knife of that girl. He knew perfectly where it was and we do not know why. Before leaving, he said: “I own a deep zoo and I am always zooing you”  

Here you have the words I used:  

Toothbrush= Knife.

Pencil= Coffeemaker.

Wife/Husband= Box.

Window= Umbrella.

Telephone= Night.

Smiling= House.

Looking= Zoo.

Thunder= Ravioli plate.

Now, let me give you some words so you will have the opportunity to do the same activity I did and create your own story. Remember, the idea is to put the words of the right side instead of the ones in the left.

Notebook= Head.

Classroom= Hat.

Eat= Reference.

Cellphone= Tie.

Ceiling fan= Dictionary.  

Questions time!

How does this activity can be advantageous in a classroom?

What do you think about it?

Would you do this activity again? 

I hope you enjoy this. See you soon! 

Why 'Co-writing'?

Hello dear readers, I come this time again with another crazy experience. 

Writing is not only expressing words on a page, it is to let your soul, your heart and your thoughts on it. It is a feature that only some have, and although everyone writes, not everyone transmits something with a story. Now, when we talk about co-writing, it is an even more difficult task, because each person is a different universe. For those who do not know what does 'co-writing' mean, here I share a definition: To write something jointly or in Collaboration with other ones.  

Writing can be an enriching experience (it is worth pointing out that it only depends on the person). Writing increases imagination and that is what exactly happened once in a class. I remember like it was yesterday, but it was almost a month ago. One afternoon, when the teacher assigned us a task: wonder ourselves any question, no matter whether lacked coherence or not, the idea was to write a story with my classmates. It was something crazy because everyone released imagination and wrote as answer what I had wondered at the beginning. At that time, we were the inventors of a story, a story that will seem a little perverse and perverted for anyone, but anyone would love. The 'co-written' story speaks from desserts to unicorns, Shrek and love and weirder things. Here's a fragment: "I just want to get high and see beautiful unicorns again, because even knowing I am Shrek and I have and unicorn, I want more because I am very addicted to..." well, the rest is for your imagination. I hope you have enjoyed reading this. See you soon!

Questions time! 

What do you think about this type of activities?

It would be possible novel written by two or more individuals?

Would you like to do this exercise again? Why? 

English language National Program

'COLOMBIA Very well!' 

Hello dear readers, this time I am going to share with you some information about this initiative led by the Ministry of National Education of Colombia. This National Program is also a project that seeks to strengthen skills in English as a second language. It is not a new theme. There have already been previous programs that aim at a bilingual country. The Colombian government wants everybody (in Colombia) to speak in English, for this reason, it has designed this program with a lapse of 10 years, from 2015 to 2025. It (the Colombian government) takes into account not only high school students but also teachers. The government just does it to join a global idea, which promotes competitiveness. I do not mean this is wrong, but I think these Public Policies should be reconsidered. Our beautiful country has too many cultures and contexts. Not everyone learns in the same way. I think they should be set Policies that encourage an improvement in our own languages, Indigenous languages and Spanish or ‘Castellano’-As the Political Constitution states-, because it seems they want to forget them. We have to become familiar first with our own things. 

This initiative has alternative programs or pedagogical models as 'Bunny Bonita', 'English for Colombia' and 'My ABC English Kit', specially designed for Elementary school. Those are strategies that seek learning English since an early age. This program was presented in July 2014 under the charge of previous Education Minister Maria Fernanda Campo Saavedra, and it continues current in spite of there is a new Minister: Gina Parody.

I do not think they can accomplish the goal of a bilingual country in 2025, because it is too ambitious, time is short and that's a lot of work. The proposals in this program seem to work only for the main cities in the country and when they want to assess knowledge in the English language in a national test such as ICFES, they will realize that only those main cities will achieve the desired results. 

Questions time!

Remember, I always want you to answer honestly; it does not matter if it is a crazy idea. 

1. What do you think about this National Program?

2. How was the teaching of English at your school?

3. Is it possible that at that time Colombia can become a bilingual country? Yes or no? What do you think and why?

Importance Of Grammar

Hello dear readers, I hope you are doing well!

This time, I am going to talk a little about grammar (in general) and its value in a language.

Is it important to use correct grammar?

Grammar has many definitions, one of them is 'the correct use of words in a text', it is how we use them (words) to express an idea and form a sentence, it is present when we write, when we read, when we talk and when we listen to others.

We all know that communication (oral and written communication) is part of human activities. There are rules that must be mastered for a good use, at least decent, of language. Now, we do not have to know all the rules to learn to speak a language, but they are necessary. The use of grammar can change through time, but it depends on a social consensus (especially academies in charge of this). Some can think this is a boring topic, but it is not, it is not only interesting but a need, too. We can notice that fact even in the smallest details, such as 'commas', 'punctuation marks', and simple words. Those details can make sense of a sentence or change it. I am not an expert in this topic, but I try to improve it every day and do my best because for me, chatting with a person with bad spelling, it's like talking to a person with bad breath. 

I know this is not a blog made for images, but I am going to share some ones I consider perfect to explain this better; I hope you like them, understand them, and find out what is wrong and what is missing: 

 

I would like you to tell me what you think about Grammar in social communication and its importance (if it is not importance for you, please express your ideas and explain why).  Have you tried to improve you grammar? Why? What for? How was your grammar at High School? 

Thanks for reading! 

Idioms to take into account!

Hellos dear readers, I hope you are doing well.  

You do not think 'Idiom' means literally 'idioma' in Spanish, it could be a False Friend, (for those who don't know what do 'False Friends' mean, they are words in a language that look/sound similar to others in another language but differ significantly in meaning)*. Returning to the topic, Idioms are own words or phrases from a specific culture or society and have a significance when they are together, but if you try to understand word by word, maybe they would lose its meaning, sometimes you can translate literally, but it does not work always. Idioms are an important way to speak in a social context; they help us to save words and to say something differently. Learn them properly helps you to communicate better, to increase your vocabulary and feel every day almost like a native one. When you use them, be careful and take into account that they can have a different meaning in every place. 

Now I am going to share some common Idioms in English and their respective translation in Spanish. The following translations are made by me:

 -'Be glad to see the back of (someone)'. 

It is about being happy when a person leaves, when someone is gone or something is finished. I know most of you were happy when your Math teacher left the classroom, hahaha (I am just pulling your leg). In Spanish it could be: 'Estar feliz porque alguien por fin se va o algo termina'.

E.g: "María was glad to see the back of his husband, she had a date with her neighbor"

- 'Bite off more than you can chew'. 

When a person tries to do more than he/she really can. Also when that person promises something he/she can not keep. This idiom is not always related to food. In Spanish it could be: 'Comer más de lo que puedas masticar' or 'No comas ansias'. 

E.g: "Pedro was promising free transportation for everyone when he was mayor, he was biting off more than he could chew"

- 'Judge a book by its cover'. 

Most of us are used to do it every time, if you are not, congratulations. It is when a person judges something primarily on appearance. In Spanish it could be: 'Juzgar un libro por su portada' o 'Juzgar a alguien sin conocerlo'.

E.g: "Elena thinks Mario is smart and funny just because he is tall and Caucasian".

- 'Kill two birds with one stone'

Hey, it is not so literally, it is when a person accomplishes two different things at the same time, women are expert doing that! In Spanish it could be: 'Matar dos pájaros de un solo tiro'. 

E.g: "My mother can assist the family and manage a company at the same time, she can kill two birds with one stone". 

-'Piece of cake'

This is one of the most common idioms in English, it is when a job, a task or any activity is easy or simple or does not require too much work. In Spanish it could be: 'Más fácil que la tabla del 1' or 'Eso es pan comido'

E.g: "Jean Paul asked us for a task about idioms, that is just a piece of cake". 

I hope you have enjoyed this post, I would like to know if there is any Idiom you do not understand or you really like and use in your lifetime, please share it, does not matter if it is in Spanish, English, Portuguese or French. 
What do you think about idioms in society? 
Do you think they are useful? Why? Why not?

See you soon!

  *Definition taken from Wikipedia. 

Trainee Teacher

Hello dear readers, I hope you all are doing well. 

This time, we had to interview a classmate and share the experience that we had by doing it. I want to introduce to you to who I chose, you may know her, she is my pal Carolina. She has done a short autobiography for you to know her better, here you have:

“Hello, my name is Carolina Esther Murillo Murillo I am 18 years old, I was born in Apartadó (Antioquia) I used to live with my parents and my oldest sister. Now, I am living with my middle sister, her name is Angie and she is studying Odontology and she is 25.

I love reading books about the Jew Holocaust, listening to Adele's music, singing and talking on the phone, watching videos, and other things.

On the other hand, I finished the school 2 years ago. I have studied English at the Colombo Americano for 2 years and in Universidad de Medellín 1 year more. Everything has change, it was too tough to leave my home, and nonetheless I am delighted living in here”. 
I want to add that she really loves the history of Jew Holocaust, that is her pastime.

Questions time! 

D: Why did you decide to study this career? 

 C: "I decided to study this program because wholeheartedly (honestly) it was my second option, I have loved languages since I was a child but I was in the darkness thinking on other things, so I got lost in the way; nevertheless, I want to help children from my town for giving them the opportunity to have a suitable teacher and a pleasant learning process; hence, I decided it for that reason", she said.

D: What do you think about education in Colombia?

 C: "I would like to say that education in Colombia is neither the worst nor the best, every single day people is looking for someone to blame, when each person can make the difference by letting up gossip and changing from themselves to others. Moreover, sometimes, some teachers begin to blame the State while they do not realize that they have something powerful on their hands, just contemplating their teaching practice and updating themselves they can performance miracles", she said.

D: When did you find out you wanted to be a teacher?

 C: "I discovered that I wanted to be a teacher when I started to ponder on my years in basic education, my first though was my teacher, I do not know exactly why, but I admire her and I want to be like her", she said.

D: Is there something do you want to change in the educational system?

 C: "I just want to find something that helps me to change the thoughts of the educational subjects", she said.

D: How do you feel studying this degree? 

 C: "As I said before, I am happy living here in Medellín, it is a little bit challenging because I must be aware of the future that awaits me, but I feel I am doing this more for charity than myself", she said.

I want to say that this interview showed me a different new point of view, despite I talk to her (Carolina) everyday, it is not enough to get closer to her beliefs. I enjoy talking to her because it seems that we speak the same language (it sounds weird, I know), and we understand each other well, (maybe because we are from the same place). I do not know why but it is not the same that if I talk to a person from Medellín, that's the reason why I decided to interview her. 

It would be a pleasure for me that you can answer the same questions I asked to Caro. Remember, do it honestly, "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of", see you soon! 

Movie Report

Hello dear readers, I hope you are doing well! 

This time I had to talk about an educational movie and its effects on me, I chose 'Freedom Writers' or 'The Freedom Writers Diary', as you prefer. This movie was filmed in 2007 and is based on a book called ‘The Freedom Writers Diary’ by Erin Gruwell, an American teacher, who was inspired in real life stories. This movie tells the life of the students of classroom 203 in a juvenile correction facility, located in Long Beach, California, and a new teacher that has come into their lives to change their wrong concepts about life. The life of most of these students is surrounded by violence, drugs and delinquents; they do not even know why they go to school every day; somehow, this teacher (Erin Gruwell) recognized their similarities and used them to unite them and gave them some notebooks where they can express themselves and tell what happen in their lives.  

I really like this movie and enjoy it every time I watch it because it shows me a not-so-far reality from my country (Colombia), shows me there are still committed people in society (not only teachers) and maybe this does not happen in the largest cities, but it do happen in some contexts of the country, in forsaken towns by government. If you have not watched this movie, please do it, you will not regret. I brought you some pictures because I could not upload the trailer of the movie; anyway I share you the link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhXMJlm852A  

These are the real students and their teacher. 

These are the actors.

This is the cover of the book. 

Now, it would a pleasure for me if you answer these questions:

1. Would you like to work in a juvenile correction facility (juvenile detention center), why or why not?

2. What do you think government should do to improve this situation? (Does not matter where it is)

3. Do you know any juvenile correction facility in Colombia? Where is it located? 

Post data: You can say juvenile correction facility or juvenile correctional facility, they are both correct. Thanks for reading, see you soon! 

Little interview

Hello dear readers, I hope you are doing well! 

This week we had to interview a language teacher, does not matter if he/she speaks Chinese, French or whatever, the important thing was that it should be brief and written in English. First of all, I want to introduce you to the professor I interviewed. His name is Daniel Restrepo Fernández. He teaches the subject of 'Communicative Competence in English language' in the bachelor program at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. I decided to ask him two questions, both related to his role as a teacher, the first one was: "why did you decided to be a teacher?" and he answered that he made that decision because he was an exchange student. He finished his High School in Iowa, one of the fifty states of the United States and then he returned to Colombia to continue his studies at UPB. He graduated from the Spanish and English language education program. 

The second one was: "what were your expectations about this profession?" and his answer was new for me, because when he realized he wanted to study this career, he did not have any expectation of the same in that moment, he just decided to study it because he liked it and he thought it was "cool" and now he is satisfied and pleased with his profession. 

Describing education through a song

Hello dear readers, I hope you are doing well! 

This time we had to choose a song related to educational topics, teachers, students, school or life at high school. I never imagined there were a lot of songs about realities in school; I figured it out doing this homework. Despite there are many of this songs on Internet, it was difficult for me to find the right one and finally I got it. Its name is ‘ABC’ by the famous band The Jackson 5, where Michael Jackson started his musical career. The hit was released on February 24, 1970 and immediately started to sound on every radio station. It is about the time at school, specially elementary education, it tells how good it can be and how you can enjoy it learning to add, to read and at the same time having fun with your classmates. That is the most important aspect of high school, because I think we are going to school to socialize. This song reflects how important it is to be patient and do things with love and the best part: It recognizes as good the teachers' job, but also shows me/us our culture of repeating everything and multiplying what we all already know. It reminds me to the current situation of many schools in this country and that they sometimes care more about repeating that having a significant learning (for those who do not know what does this mean, it is when a student can relate/connect new knowledge with the previous one.)  

I going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer honestly, please. 

1. Do you think is important to change the traditional model of schools today? Why or why not? 

2. Do you think school (in general) is carrying out its main objective? Why or why not?

3. How would be your dream (ideal) school? 

Thank you so much for reading this, see you soon! 

Biography

My full name is Duván David Acosta Jiménez, I am 18 years old and I am from Apartadó, a little city located in the North of Antioquia eight hours away from Medellín. However, my identity card says I was born in Montería (Córdoba) but that is not true. As I said before, I am from Apartadó, I was born there, but my parents decided to register me in the city of Montería because my father and his relatives are from there. I really do not what were they thinking of. Currently, I am living in Medellín with some relatives (my uncle and his family). I am so elated because I am studying what I want in the correct place; at the same time, I am feeling alone because I left home so I miss my family, my friends and all I used to have in my home town.    

In my free time I play on the computer, I read, I watch Investigation Discovery (TV channel) or I listen to music, especially English language music: Eminem (singer), Coldplay, The killers, MUSE, Foo Fighters (bands); furthermore, I like salsa, cumbia and vallenato, I mean Colombian rhythms. Listening to music is a good way to practice a language. Someday, I would like to learn how to play the piano and how to speak French and other languages.  

When I was in ninth grade I started an English language course at Centro Colombo Americano; 2012 was a great year for me, but also tough, thanks to God I finished the English course and in the meantime, my technical degree at SENA and I graduated from high school at Institución Educativa Alfonso López. 

To sum it up, I hope to finish my bachelor in Spanish and English language education. I do not know what to expect from this profession but I would like to work in a rural area. 

Questions time! 
I would want you to answer the following: 
1. How was your life before University?
2. Could you tell me/us something crazy you did when you were a child?
3. Have you ever been to a place far from your hometown? How was it?  

Duván Acosta Jiménez

Language program, third semester 

Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana

2015