Dear all,

Today I’d like to tell you a bit about myself. When I finished school I realized I did not know what to do. I loved languages but I also loved music. So I took a year off and worked to save money. Later I entered translation because I liked languages. I did English and German but right in the middle of it, there was a chance to travel to Germany and work there. So I did. When I got back to Chile I fell into teaching by chance.  Later I got my teaching degree.

I think teachers are a great contribution to society but only if they have a vocation. If not, they may be great researchers or academics, but not good educators. I feel a teacher needs to be alert and attentive to what is happening in the classroom in the whole sense of the word. They also need a lot of patience & knowledge in their area of study. A teacher, as any other professional needs constant training  (formal or informal) because the world changes, students change, and so does methodology.

I think one of my favorite subjects at Uni was phonetics. I loved the idea of studying & recognizing the English sounds and also to contrast them with the Spanish sounds. I also enjoyed semantics and pragmatics.

One professional I admire in my area of study is Rod Ellis. He is very well known in the area of second language acquisition.  He has published a lot of books & I love the way he writes. In his books he has covered areas of second language acquisition not only from the traditional angle but also in a more critical fashion. He has got a very clear way to express his ideas. I think this is good because not all teachers have the time to read and if it is too complex, they may get lost and stop reading. This, I think is because the lack of research most teachers (especially school teachers!) do

Say:

-Why are you studying this career?

- How do professionals in your area contribute to society?

- What tools will a professional in your area need to have in the future?

- What is your favourite subject?

- Include this and more in your answer.

- 195 words minimum. (4 comments )

I have really enjoyed listening to all this music.
Lovely :)
Thanks for showing me so many new things guys :)

Post Thursday 2 May

Well, today we write about something light. I would like to refer to a particular thing. This is music. I will talk about my favourite song at the moment. This changes all the time with different artists, languages and rhythms.

Today I will talk about the song I like best at the moment. It is not easy because there isn’t just one. A while ago (around one month ) my husband showed me a song by a Kenyan band called “Just a band” called huff puff. I listened to it and I instantly loved it and it made me feel like I was on vacations. The video was amazing and the music sounded like the best song to dance to in that moment. Later I started looking for more stuff by this band and recently I found “Ha He”. I know it is “so pop” but I have to admit that I like all sorts of music including pop (Shame on me)

I listened to this song about a week ago and then I watched the video. I like it because it reminds me of the old detectives like “Shaft”. The detective that defeats all the others in a fight, the one that gets the pretty girl, but still feels very lonely, you know. I find it very funny.

However, the lyrics are in informal Swahili (language in Kenya) so I have no idea what it says and haven’t taken the time to look. I only know l like it loads.

Have a listen and tell me what you think. Honest!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mG1vIeETHc

 

 

 

 

Write about your favourite  (ideally in English) song or one you really like . Mention:

When you first heard it

Why you like it & anything else relevant about it

Upload the video or the link to see it.

Write a minimum of 180 words and post 4 comments in total.

Listening practice

www.plataforma.uchile.cl

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/listen-and-watch

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/preint/f_everydayenglish/hwy_pre_dialogue08?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://elt.oup.com/student/headway/preint/f_everydayenglish/hwy_pre_dialogue01?cc=cl&selLanguage=en

http://www.elllo.org/

http://www.esl-lab.com/

I hope you feel like writing today. I’d like to tell you a bit about this image. To be honest, I found it hard to choose a special picture. This is because there are so many pictures I like and they are in so many different contexts. I decided to go for something nice and simple. I took this picture in July 2010. I was on holiday and my husband and I woke up at around 6 and decided to go for a walk. We walked from the place where we were staying to the next village around. The village was really funny because it was basically three houses and a post office. Anyway, everything was closed because it was so early. We took a lot of pictures of the sun rising. It was a beautiful moment. I’ll tell you why I like this photo in particular. It is a very simple picture but what I like about it, is the fact that it turned out just as I saw it on that morning. The light, the colors, the shadows, everything is exactly the way it was in my mind.

I love the way the sunlight hits the misty hills and you can see hills and more hills and more hills in the background. The image actually reminds me of the cover of a book I really enjoyed called “Ghostwritten” by David Mitchell. The nicest thing I can think of is that I had a lovely walk on a beautiful summer morning, breathing fresh air with someone I love.

Write about a special photograph you took or appear in.

Say: Who took it- What it shows- When it was taken- Why you like it

Upload it too!

Include any other information you'd like to mention.
Write a minimum of 180 words and write 3 comments on 3 blogs where you did not comment last week.

Dear bloggers,

This week I'd like you to write about an ambition you have for the future. It could be a trip you would like to make, a sport you would like to try, a person you would like to meet or a job you would like to do. It could be almost anything!

Personally, I have more than one ambition. One of them has to do with travelling. I have been very lucky and travelled a fair bit in Latin America and Europe. However, I’d love to visit Asia and India in particular I am a sensitive person so I know poverty and injustice would shock me and make me sad, but it is the rich culture which has inspired me lots. I would like to learn about Ayurveda medicine but I am also very interested in meditation so I’d love to maybe join a Zen Buddhist temple for some time. I think doing this would bring me peace of mind and personal happiness. This is not an easy goal to achieve but I have hopes that one day, I will do it.  

 I think a lot of things have inspired me, in particular, the readings by “Osho” and also a friend of mine who, in my opinion has found the perfect spiritual balance through meditation.

Write about an ambition you have.

Say:

What your ambition is,

Why you would like to achieve this ambition,

Who or what inspired your ambition,

What it would mean to you to fulfill your ambition.

Write at least 160 words. Leave a comment on at least 4 blogs.

Remember you can practice for the tests and reinforce your English on this link.
It is your responsibiliy :)

http://thelastclassine.blogspot.com/