My experience learning english at the university

Want it or not, learning English is very important today in a lot of aspects of the life, for example in the academic field, because you need it to learn about what other people is researching, being communicate with other professionals, etc. Despite I don’t like this so much, because I like my native language, I have to face the fact that today is important learning English (or mandarine Chinese), and I think It’s also a university’s duty making sure that all the current students have the possibility of learning English, especially when the secondary education is so unequal in Chile, but my point of view is that this objective is not being fulfill: ¿is the university achieving this? Or ¿are the students taking advantage of the space that University is giving us?

In first place I think an important factor to considerate is the big differences of the English levels that we, as students, are bringing from the school, because that’s what defines your future classification on one of the four levels that the university has. Then, a second factor is affecting the problem: the low motivation that students usually have about learning the language. Then, those who started on level 1, are not going to be as good as an student who started on level 4, even though he or she has done an approved the 3 previous levels. Then we can understand why the differences in the language manage are so big between students.

In second place, is fundamental to talk about the students and their motivation (o not) for English. We usually don’t take seriously the english topic, making just what is necessary to have relatively good marks, and finally approving the signature, but there in most of cases there isn’t a real interest for the language, no thoroughness in the study. I’ve been thinking a lot in this particular point, trying to understand the reason of why I wasn’t taking advantage of this, and I think this is principally my problem, or, in general, a problem of the majority of the students. But also, I think the signature could be more dynamic, giving more works, maybe making more projects and things like that than shorts exercises that doesn’t really motivate people to learn and enjoy English.

As a conclusion, I think English in university, or, at least at mine, because is the one I care about, should be re-think with the objective of being more motivating, so students put more motivation on the study of the topic, the levels results like they would so the inequality disappear, and finally… we can all really learn the language, considering its important to our professional and maybe even daily future.

Money

I don’t really want to be wealthy, but I would love to win or inherit a lot of money. I don’t know actually what I would use it for, but I think I would pay the career for me and my brothers, buy my parents a house, buy myself a house, maybe help some closer friends or family, and then I would make a long trip.
Besides those things, I don’t know what I would invest my money in if I still had more, because I’m not interested on business or in earning a lot, so I think I would have I life with a few luxuries, buy it would be basically the same.
I think money is not a big preoccupation for me in this days, but it’s easy for me to say this, because my family had always supported me in this aspect, despites we have had better and worse moments, but we have never had real and serious problems, so that it can be the cause that I don’t care about it too much. The only money I care a lot about these days is the one for paying the university, but that is a problem I would have to care about in a few years, so I can be relaxed about it right now. I don’t expect to have a life as wealthy as it has been until now; I want something much simpler, maybe not in Santiago but in a rural town in the south, because I am conscious that as an anthropologist I probably would never earn big quantities of money, and I don’t have any problem with that.

Ecology and environment

I think when we talk about environment, people usually don’t know a lot about it, about different ways of taking care of it and the simple things they can do to be better with the environment. In other countries the thing is more internalized, people know about it, and they act consequently to this, but I think there are also other factors besides the low information and interest, like the life style or the economic situation you have, for example, a lot of environmentally friendly products are more expensive than the ones which contaminate more, another example of this is being vegan, because the special food that you need to have a balanced diet is expensive too. Also the Chilean idiosyncratic prefers having an easy life, than an ecological one. Despite of this, I think there are a lot of cheap and easy ways of taking care of the environment, like no throwing garbage to the floor, thing that we may considerate very basic, but in a lot of places it isn’t. Also, there are activities where we can be ecological at the same time we do a good thing for ourselves and our bodies, and help to clear the streets, like biking instead of using the car or the public transport.
I think that we just need to want the ecological style of life to really have it, look for different tips, and change little attitudes and activities, but a different case is to introduce this in places where there is not even a little of environmental conscience, that’s why I think it's important to work this matter with kids all around the country, special in those places with less access to internet and other media, ‘cause this topic has now an importance on that spaces, so the kids of the more isolated places are the ones who know the less about this, and the ones who can change the attitude of the rest of the people in their community.
In my case, I used to use a lot the bike, and lately there's something I am taking up again, not only for ecological reasons, but for health and well-being. I am a scout, so enjoying the nature is a really important thing for me, not only to live daily, but to teach other people. With my scout group we have done a few projects with kids in different towns, like Cañete, Calen (Chiloé), and other places where we have to work this topic with them, trying to make them more interested in this matter.
I think in Santiago, and all the country, the authorities have to start taking care of this, star giving the message in schools and publicity, and start regulating the industries and cars, and then all the society would be worried and making something for the environment.

My high school education

About my high school experience, I can say for sure it was an excellent one. I was in the same school since 1997, and I really liked it. The thing that makes my school so good for me, was the importance that they give to non-traditional subjects, like literature, visual arts, music, social sciences, etc. My favorite subject was literature, because it was really interesting and I had incredible teachers, one of them I am still in contact with, talking about university, and staff like that. My teachers in general were very good, and because of the personalized education system that my school has, they always care about you, not only as a student, but as a person, trying to help you in all the fields and not only in the academicals. Also an important thing was the flexibility in the program that gave you the option of adapting the program, for example, I had humanistic and artistic interests, so they allowed me to be in the humanistic program and take some artistic subjects anyway, so it was a great opportunity to develop my skills and interests. I think all the things I had just mention, affected in a strong way my posterior decisions, because having the option of increasing my interests at the same time that my environment was worried about me and my development, make the process much more integral, but I understand this is not an option for the majority of the Chilean children. I think the principal way of making the education better in this country, is giving it the importance it deserve, and spending the money that is necessary to give a quality education, that consider all the aspects of the person, and integral education that develop the person in every way. A problem of my education was the academic level, maybe I need a pre-university to come here, but I think it is not really significant, because when your abilities are developed, learning new things isn’t difficult, that why I think integral education is so important.

Education and Rehab

Prisoner education must focus on rehabilitation
by Pat Jones

The author of the article talks about the importance of education in prisoner’s rehab process, because of its possibility of cutting recidivism. She is criticizing an article written by the education minister, which doesn’t really understand the implications of the process, and the need to give prisoner’s education a fundamental place. An example of that is the resource’s cut that is forcing to reduce the quality of prison education, cutting jobs and classes, because she thinks that a really good way of saving money and improving the society is giving the prisoners a good chance of reintegrating society. Also, she thinks this education has to be more than just teaching basic skills, it has to open the prisoner real employ options, and make him or her to choose and develop the skills that they want to, guide by their vocational paths. This opportunity to find a new direction for their life, is a real and sure option to rehab, so, the acquisition of basic skills is good, but it’s only a beginning.
The minister’s article also shows a typical prejudice of prisoners, saying that their education level is always low, and their intelligence, limited. In the reality, says the author, a lot of the prisoners didn’t have a good education level, but they make rapid progress and show themselves really interested on learning, in fact, there are many stories about prisoners who have make significant progress, in some cases on acquiring just low-level knowledge or basic skills, and in others with complex and difficult skills or knowledge, like professional degrees.
The big problem is that the government is trying to improve the results without being willing of spending more money on it, without considering how much many prisoners want to change and find a new direction for their life.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/05/prison-education-focus-rehabilitation

my favourite movie

I don't really know which my favorite movie is, because I always like watching a lot of movies, and I have a really bad memory, so I forget a lot ot the things I watch or read, but I think one that I really like is the science of sleep (La Science des rêves in French, and La Ciencia del sueño en español). The principal characters Stéphane (Gael García) and Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Stéphane is a really shy boy with amazing creative abilities, who has a job that doesn’t allow him to develop them, so with his great imagination and creativity he creates a world in the middle of dreams and reality. Here he will start creating a relationship with his neighbour Stéphanie, who will be part of this dream/reality mix. The story happens in France, when Stéphane come back to his mother’s house from Mexico, where he was living. My favrite part of the movie is when Stéphane start dreaming, because the places and situations he creates are incredibly nice, and also when he starts dreaming in the reality because it’s eccentric and bizarre. Sometimes for example he changes the reality, the people appearances and put them giant hands or strange clothes or things like that. The principal reason of why I like it’s because of how it shows the importance of imagination, and the possibility of creating new things from it. I also loved that it create so many amazing things with the mind and simple things that we always have, because it made me remember how much I liked creating things and expressing myself through the art.

About Santiago...

I think Santiago has a lot of things to see and do. I think the first thing anyone has to see in Santiago is the center of the city, all the historic buildings and important places like the ones near Plaza de Armas, to appreciate the architecture and the beauty of these places. In second place, to know about our gastronomy and enjoy the flavors and products of our land, is important to visit the Mercado Central, where you can eat fish and other sea products, and a lot of typical Chilean plates. In third place, a beautiful natural place to know in Santiago is the Mahuida Park, where you can enjoy the nature, make picnics, walk up the hill, and do more adrenaline activities, like bungee and things like that. Also, if you are interested in arts you should visit the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and then walk around, knowing the Parque Forestal, and Barrio Lastarria. In the art aspect I think an important place to visit is Matucana 100, because there you can see not only the traditional or more museum-kind art that is in Bellas Artes. Here you can know more about different artists, some of them younger and with creative art concepts. Finally, if you want to go party, you can always go to a place in Bellavista, for example, if you like salsa you can go to Maestra Vida, or if you just want a beer and talk with your friends there are also a lot of places where you can go in the same area.
It’s important to remember that Santiago has great places to have real good times, and knowing more the place where we live.