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!