Blog 5: Changes to my study program

Hi everyone, 

I hope you are all well. This is our second to last blog! Today you are going to write about changes that could be made in your career like the new building, curriculum change, new teaching methods, etc.

Since I don't study anymore I will list some changes that could be made in the English Program are like adding English Level 5 and 6. Plus we could add Film and Literature Classes in English. I think it would be interesting and fun to have this type of courses since it could improve students' learning of English. I also think it would be nice to have summer classes and workshops to help students that need more practice. I think this would improve Chile's English level in general, but we also need to have better working conditions for teachers!

Now it's your turn:

Write about some changes that could be made to your study program (career)
Among others, think about:

> The curriculum (the subjects you have to study)
> Workload and length of studies
> Faculty facilities (buildings and infrastructure)
> Use of technology
> Teaching methods



- Word Count: 230
- Leave comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts and teacher's post

Blog 4: Post-Graduate Studies

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well. Today we are going to talk about postgraduate studies :)

Well, in my case, I already have done a postgraduate studies. I studied Latin American Literature and finished in from 2010 to 2014 at Eckerd College in the State of Florida.

In 2015, I took a postgraduate course called CELTA - (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) so I could become an English Teacher. I studied in the British-Chilean Institute of Culture in Santa Lucía. I studied part-time: I worked in the University of Diego Portales during the day and studied at night.

I'm happy that I did the course and I learned a lot in such a short period since the course was an intensive course that lasted from March to June.

Sometimes I consider taking a Master's course, something in Caribbean Literature since I really love that type of literature. I'm sure many of you realized since I use a lot of Caribbean Literature in our classes.

But then I think about it and I don't think is necessary to take the course because I can always study literature in my free time. In any case, I think I learn more in "the practice" when I use literature in my English classes so students learn how to read well in English.

My favorite writers from the Caribbean are Merle Collins, Christian Campbell, Jamaica Kincaid, Junot Díaz and Edwidge Danticat. Díaz and Danticat I particularly like  because I can relate to them since they were both born in Latin American, but lived all their life in the United States just like me. I think that they are good writers and are committed to the people's struggle. I also like that they are both very anti-imperialist. We have used some of these writers such as Jamaica Kincaid, Christian Campbell, and Edwidge Danticat in class!

I hope you enjoyed reading :)

-Have you ever considered studying in a Master’s Program?

-What would you like to study once you finish your current career? 

-What subjects would you like to study?

-Would you like to study outside of Chile? Why/Why Not?

- How you would like to study? (online, face to face classes, etc)
- Mention any other relevant ideas

 - Post a picture!

- Comment your teacher's post and 3 classmates' posts!

- Word Count: 220 

Blog 3: My dream job

Hi everybody :) I hope you had a great week! Today we are going to talk about your dream job!

Well, in my case I will talk about what I like about working in the University of Chile.

I started working here in March 2016 and I really like it for various reasons. I really like the focus of the English Program. I also really like working in the Campus Juan Gomez Millas because I studied here in 2012-2013 and have many good memories, but also because it is familiar to me. 

Another reason that I like working in the University of Chile is the English Program. Although I have some criticisms of the program I really like how they encourage us to focus on communicational skills and not focus on grammar, which I honestly believe is the best way to learn a language: using it with or without errors because practice makes perfect. We also try to make the classes student-centered, which means that the student is the protagonist.

Regarding the classes, as I mentioned in the first class, I designed my own curriculum for this course so that you can practice listening, speaking, writing, and reading in English, but also with important social, cultural, and political content.

And finally, I like working in the University of Chile because of my students. I really enjoy spending time with you all and hope you are learning a lot in my classes.  I love having face to face classes again, online classes were horrible and very inhumane. 

Now it's your turn!

-What kind of job would you like to have in the future? How do you imagine it?

-What skills will you need 

-What about the salary?

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

-Add any other related ideas

- Comment 3 of your classmates’ posts and comment on your teacher's post.

- Post a picture!

- Word Count: 210 

Blog 2: The best vacation ever/ the best concert ever

Hi everyone! Today we are talking about either the best concert ever or the best vacation ever!  

For this post, I chose to talk about the best vacation ever which was my second to last vacation: I went to the USA after a year and a half of not traveling because of the pandemic. I usually would travel once a year to the USA since my maternal family is from there (Boston area and New York City). 

So since I hadn't gone in a while I was actually excited about going to see everyone even though it was a short trip of about 2 weeks and after in Chile it was 10 days of isolated quarantine. 

It was very fun seeing my family and especially my mom. In fact, my mom and I got matching piercings! It was so funny and random because she was like "hey, wanna get our ears pierced?" And I was like "yeah, ok!" So we went to Claire's, a teen-orientated jewelry shop, and all the teenager girls loved that a 65 year old woman and her 29 year old son were getting matching piercings! 

In New York City, I spent most of my time with my cousins and my grandmother who we call Gaga (my brother was the first grandchild and couldn't say "grandma" or "abuela" so he said Gaga and she said "that's me"). It was so much fun because we went out to dinner various times and drank Bubble Tea almost everyday, well, my cousins, not my grandma. I learned a lot of new American slang since I hadn't been there for a while.

Here is a picture of me near the Hudson River that divides the states of New York and New Jersey

Now it's your turn:

You can write about the best concert or the best vacation:

Concert:

- when / where it was
- the artist they saw
- a bit of info about the artist
- describe the atmosphere during the event
- describe how they felt and why they enjoyed it
- any other memories about it

Vacation:

- when it was
- where you went
- how long it was
- people you went with
- things/activities you did
- why it has been the best so far
- any other relevant info

Word count: 170

Post a picture

Comment 3 classmates blogs and the teacher´s blog

Blog 1: A country I would like to visit

Hi everyone. Welcome to blogging in level 4! Today you are going to talk about a country you would like to visit :)

For me it's a hard decision because the countries that I want to visit most are Cuba, Brazil, Uruguay, Panama, and Bolivia. So I will talk about Bolivia because  I have tried to go twice to Bolivia, but both plans failed: the first time I was going to go with an ex-boyfriend, but then we lost the flight and then the second time I was going to go with a group of friends, but no one had money and then there was a coup d'etat there :(

I really want to go to Bolivia because one they sell fried chicken on the street and I basically live off of chicken (sorry vegetarians and vegans XD). But also, I have been told that it is really cheap to go to Bolivia and stay there, which means I can buy lots of books and eat a lot hehe. I am also fascinated by its Indigenous people's history such as the Aymara. I know the country has been modernized in the last couple ten years. I really wanna go to La Paz, Uyini,  and Sucre. I know one of my friends had the list of all the places we planned on going to. I also want to know the political process there since I admire some of the things that Evo Morales did like universal health care and recognizing Bolivia as a Plurinational State, which means that it recognizes Indigenous nations and not just Bolivians.  I just want to there and explore and get to know people!!  I am also happy that Luis Arce is president now is president after the brief dictatorship of Jeanine Añez. 

I don't know if I would like to live there, but you never know what can happen! Never say never! I don't think I would want to study there since I don't want to study formally ever again LOL. Stay in school, kids!

- Which country would you like to go to? Why?
- What do you know about it?
- What would you like to do there?
- Would you like to study/work/live there? Explain.
- Upload pictures
- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on your   teacher's post
- Word Count: 160 words