Advantages and disadvantages of using blogs in the English classroom

When it comes to learn English (and more general, "languages") all the people involved has to think how to make it fun and also assure that you'll really learn and so on, be satisfied with the achievements. A very good example is made by the modern idea of using blogs. That is an idea that link the fact that young people and moreover, all the people, has to face up that using technology is one of the most important skills you need to develop and the requirements that all learning has. However someone could say that speaking is the real way of learning languages. So then, in facing with methods as blogs to learn languages, what’re we gaining and what are we losing?

Blogs might be considered has the new and modern way of exercising languages in general (we will focus on English this time). You write and express ideas, emotion, feelings, likes, dislikes, etc so you have to deal with grammar, meaning that you have to know how to but word in a sentence, the right order, the meaning and deal with vocabulary (and then the words you use constantly you keep them in you mind). For expressing your self you have to know the exactly words for others to understand that do you want to say.

But (we cannot have it all), on the process of writing, although it’s a very important one, you have the time for thinking what you want to say and to find the words (www.wordreference.com and others) for doing it. In comparison to speaking or listening, when you need a good pronunciation for being understood and for understand too (you have to know how to pronounce the words), or you don’t have time to looking up on the dictionary or thing if what you’re saying is or not correct and a quickly mind that could process the other’s speeches. When you speak you need to have all the structures and vocabulary in your mind. So, if you go on a tour to England, despite of having the most interesting posts or the better written one’s you won’t necessarily be prepared to talk or would have really learn English.

So, to summarize: using blogs for learning English is very useful and a very good way of learning grammar and vocabulary, however it has to be think has a complementary method not the only one. That way, the process of learning it better and has complete all the dimensions (speaking, writing, listening) that you need for really learn English.

About cinema: Rear Window

Two weeks ago, my father, my sisters and I saw the 'Rear Window' on the TV. This is an excellent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock on 1954 and written by John Michael Hayes. Started in by James Stewart and Grace Kelly, the film is about a man that had and accident and has to be like for three weeks with a cast on his leg, on a wheelchair. So, he has nothing to do but look at his neighbours. All seems to be very boring but suddenly he sees something very unusual. A man, one who lives with his seek wife almost on front of the window of our hero, goes out and come in during the daybreak. And in the next days he (the main character) doesn’t see the man’s wife anymore. What happened? Convincing also his girlfriend, they start looking for answers (he calls a friend who works as detective). And just looking at the man’s apartment and relating one fact with another, they realised that he killed is wife because he wanted to leave with his lover.
The film keep’s your attention all the time. You cannot stop seen it, because you feel like you need to know if the main character is just dreaming and imaging things because he is too bored or he (and all the characters that believe on him) is right. Also the images, the photography is incredible well done. The distribution of the element is very carefully, and it denotes a meticulous work. For me it is a piece of art that everybody should see. Actually, I would rate it as a must see movie.

Assignment 4. Everybody, let's blog!

Looking up for blogs to comment, I found Camilo Razeto’s. At first I thought it was like “empty”, that’s the sensation I had with the white background. Then reading all the texts I thought it has very attractive things: the content of the posts is very suitable, also very amusing, with interesting reflections. I agree with him about the piece of art he picked up. So, despite the design, which I don’t really like because I think it’s sort of boring maybe because the lack of colours on it or pictures/images/ etc (maybe the simplicity of it was the intention), anyway, despite it I enjoy very much reading most of the assignments (some of them weren’t that interesting mostly because the assignments it selves weren’t attractive). Although, except for the colour thing, it has a very good presentation, like “clean”.
About the links part, I would like to emphasize the great/enjoyable link it has and also the post about the favorite work of art, because about it he was very creative and didn’t refer to the classical art and he made a link between music and an image than can be called art (both music and pictures like that expression of art). I know he really like music so I think it’s great that he was capable to mix lots of interests on his work.

And the picture is something that he might enjoy as "music lover".

My favourite work of art

This is a wonderful work of art from Edouard Manet, named “Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe” and it’s in Paris at the Orsay museum. In English it means “the lunch on the grass”. I like it very very much. I don’t remember exactly when I first saw it, but when I started loving it, was when me and my classmates went to France for the studies trip for three weeks on February 2006.
I think it’s very beautiful and interesting, it’s unique. The look of the naked woman has an incredible effect on the person that is seen it. Just like if she could actually sees you, werever you move, she still looking. And the contrast between the dreassed men and the woman, also calls one atention.

Anyway, I think it’s gorgeus.

Monte Verde. Seaweed, Food, Medicine, and the Peopling of South America

In this article, the authors (Tom D.Dillehay, C. Ramírez,M. Pino,M. B. Collins,J. Rossen,J. D. Pino-Navarro) talk about finding that has been done in Monte Verde, a place located in the region of Los Lagos. The species of marine algae found, (in the Monte Verde II site) dated back 14,220 and 13,980 calendar years before the present, apparently were used by humans for medicine and food. This finding brings new evidence that supports the main idea of early coastal migration, so maybe the south America’s peopling could had been done by sea. On the other hand, in opposite to Clovis theory (early migration from Bering to the north of America), which still very popular, this sites show earlier occupation in the south coasts.

A web site I enjoy visiting

I really enjoy visiting a site called "la cuerda". I found it about seven years ago when I was looking for some lyrics of songs I use to like at that time (of groups such as Limp Bizkit, The Offspring, Green Day). I’m not quite sure but I think it was my good friend Amanda, from school who told me about it. Nowadays I don’t visit it as much as I use to, maybe five or six times in the year. Yesterday, for example, I visit it because I needed to show some chords of a song to my brother because he had homework to do about chords.
However I really enjoy this site, just knowing it exist since I think it’s very useful and practical, and mostly because if I like a song, I know that I can play it on my piano with the information that the site provide me.
Here is the link: http://lacuerda.net/

Language, culture and world's vision

Until yesterday all my efforts were concentrated to work on "language, culture and wolrd's vision", therefore I've been reading, studying and talking about it. This topic has raised lots of discussions and it’s investigated by many disciplines. And, so far the main question is, does our culture and language mold the way we think and conceive the world?
Searching for information I’ve found that in the 60’s some experts on linguistic come up with the idea that language molded the world’s vision of the people. They said that when we talk, we communicate things that belong to our “intimate world”; hence, what, how and when we speak could give very fundamental information about the way one person conceives the reality. Even more, they saw as possible that through language we could discover ideas that underlie the speaker’s culture. We cannot forget that through language we transmit/ express/ communicate our culture. That’s why, on the other hand, also the importance of studying language in its sociocultural context more than the formal structure of it, took place in the postulate of linguistic field. Quickly the topic become popular and lots of research started developing it. Nowadays, although there are different opinions (as always) the importance of this topic is recognized and studied through the world.
I’ve been reading lots of researches that demonstrated with practical examples how this works and it’s incredible for one side and sometimes it seems so obvious for the other. So, I would really like to do some investigation for example on kids of different cultures, or socioeconomic stratums so one could applies the knowledge and make some people understand that ones culture makes one to think the world on a particularly way that perfectly could differ from other, arguing with languages researches.
I find this very interesting because it has the key to understand that people’s culture and therefore people’s language makes them conceive differently the reality. Those things that one think that are normal or truth, other can find ridiculous and strange. So if we all could understand that, we could live better, not thinking that we are the best and we’ve the reason but knowing that our is one of the thousands ways to think the world. Therefore, there were lots of unjustifiable and senseless wars and all could live in harmony.

There're two web sites that have lots of information:

http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/field/
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/fieldwork.html