Post seven

Hi everyone!

We are already in the seventh post of this semester. This is the last topic we chose, and it's top five places to visit in Chile.
First I must say that I haven't traveled A LOT in my life, but I've been fortunate enough to visit some pretty beatiful places. Also I'd like to mention that more than the place, the company you enjoy while visiting there makes it a special occasion.

Having said that, here's my list:

Lota
Punta Arenas
Antofagasta
Caldera/Bahia Inglesa
Copiapó.

I'll tell you briefly about all of them:

Lota. I visited Lota about 4 years ago. I was invited by a friend of mine who is also a teacher of english and was born in there. She worked as a cultural guide in the ruins of the Coal mines so we took a tour around those amazing places and I loved the view of the sea.



Punta Arenas. I went there for work reasons. I was a monitor in an English Camp made by the ministry of education and had to prepare all the activities for a group of around 60 students. For a week we met wonderful southern people and they were super nice to us (the team and I). Even though I didn't have a big amount of time, it was an experience I treasure.

Antofagasta. My mother was born there and also, there are some members of my family living there. I've been there in different occasions and I've enjoyed it very much. The weather and the beaches are nice. Once again, the company makes a trip great, and I went to different places there with different groups of friends. La Portada is one place that's worth visiting there, a beautiful sight :)

These two last places are in the region of Atacama, where I lived for a year some years ago.
I got to live in Copiapó because I got a job as a ministry of education representative for the Atacama Region, and there I had the opportunity to visit the beautiful coastal city of Caldera. Not far from there, you can find one of the most beautiful beaches in our country. As you know I love cactus, and near that beach you can find many incredible chilean species.
Finally I'll say that Copiapó was a great place to live, and I met wonderful people there. Many people say that the city is ugly, but I believe it is a gorgeous valley.



That's my post!
Now it's your turn:

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 230 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post six

"Animal I'd like to be"

Welcome all to the sixth post for this semester!
Now it's time to go with your second chosen topic, and this is one that particularly caught my attention when you were voting at the topic election. This topic is strongly related to our imaginations, and perceptions of what animals are.

Are humans animals? I believe so. If that was the case, I'd love to be a human hahaha, a fully developed one. I mean it from a very personal view, that today we've reached a point of extreme unnatural behaviors that are somehow assimilated as natural, since they're socially accepted and openly promoted. I could base this in the amount of mental problems we suffer as a species, but maybe that's just a crazy guy's opinion. I wish we could all live according to our inner instincts and paying attention, as animals do, to our environment and the natural processes of the earth.

Now, if I think of becoming a different animal, I think I'd like to be a Feline. I'm not sure if a tiger, a lion, or even a fat indoor cat.
 
Tigers and Lions are in our imagination because they're big felines and famously fierce but I imagine them just as really big cats. I have two pet cats and eventhough a lot it's said about these animals, I don't agree with those people who say cats don't care about their owners and that they only want attention or food from their masters. A good reason I have, to say this, is that cats can easily feed by themselves as they're fantastic hunters, and also they are extremely agile.
Being a big cat would be amazing, any animal that would cross me should really think twice to start a confrontation with me, and I could roam free in my natural habitat.

So that's it for now, now you tell me about the animal you would be!
Here's a gif that shows how I would be as an indoor cat hahaha


It's your turn!

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 220 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post five

Postgraduate studies.

Write about a postgraduate course that you would consider taking in the future.
Include:

- Reasons to do the course
- Subject(s) you would like to study
- Where you would like to study (Chile or abroad)
- How you would like to study (distance learning, blended system, part-time course, etc)
- Any other relevant ideas

Here's my sample post for this topic:

I have to start by saying that for me to study a new career or to deepen my knowledge in English teaching, a lot of changes would have to occur, as I'm not willing to get a ton of debt to specialize again. I studied my career with CAE and I really didn't know what it was when I was 18. So now, ten years later, I'd consider it twice before signing a contract with a bank that will profit from student loans.

Now, if the conditions were right, I'd probably study something related to Linguistics. Linguistics is the science that studies language, not only knowing how to speak, but also how languages are learnt and how different contexts can affect different languages. In other words, it could be said like this:

"Each human language is a complex set of abilities and knowledge that enables speakers of the language to communicate with each other, to express ideas, hypotheses, emotions, desires, and all the other things that need expressing. Linguistics is the study of these knowledge systems in all their aspects: how is such a knowledge system structured, how is it acquired, how is it used in the production and comprehension of messages, how does it change over time?"

Understanding these factors can really help a teacher become more able to teach a wide varierty of students and also, in my opinion, knowing about how languages work, can reveal some of the patterns that can be found in human behavior.

The aspects of Linguistics in which I'm more interested in are Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics.

Now it's your turn:

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 210 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post 4

Hello everyone!
This is our first chosen topic, and it is about a really great and interesting topic for me :)
In my personal post, I'll talk about something different! not related to cactus this time!
A talent I believe I have, is that I can cook. I know Ratatouille taught you that everyone can cook, but when I say I can cook, I really mean I can, I can pretty much prepare any recipe, but ever since I became a vegetarian, I decided not to cook anything with meat. (Except just once, when my dog Harrison was sick and the vet suggested that he should only eat ''white rice with boiled chicken'', and I had to prepare it for him).

Here's a couple of samples of my creations:



This is a version of a Chinise bread I made. It's filled with sprouts, soy meat, onion, garlic and shive, and instead of being baked, the dough is cooked with water and a little oil in a big pot.



I know I said I wasn't going to talk about cactus, but this is related to cooking haha
Here's a cake I baked a long time ago, the theme was... you know!!



Finally, a simple sauteed of zucchinis and mushrooms with a little ginger, accompanied with rice and a vegan tortilla made with fries and garbanzo flour.

I really enjoy eating, so it is really important for me to eat things I like. Some people say I'm picky, but I consider myself as a selective eater haha.
I studied to be a chef for two years in highschool, but even before that I liked cooking, and I really think I'm a pretty good cook.

I know this post probably triggered your appetite, but before you go get some food...
it's your turn...  write at least 190 words. Make a comment in my post and at least in 3 of your classmates'.
So please! tell me about your cooking secrets, recipes or preparations :)

Second video turn in 18/10

Dear all, this post is to inform you about the upcoming video turn in!
Email me if you have any doubts.

Post 3

Hello everyone!

The theme of today's post is: My future job.

As a 28 year old teacher, working at the university of Chile, it would be easy for me to say that I am working in my ideal job. But I don't want to be an employee all my life, so i'll be really honest with you guys, I'll tell you all about my dream future job.

Grower

I'll start my own company, actually my own nursery for cactus, and I'll auction some of them to earn money. My idea is to retire from being a teacher when I'm more or less 30. That means I have only 2 years to move forward with my plans.
I've been working for this project for a long time now, I actually started it witout knowing it. First at a very small scale, I still lived with my parents and I was already studying to be an english teacher, that's when I first got interested in cacti, and there I started growing them from seeds and learning different cultivation techniques.

Nowadays I'm at a stage of the project in which I need to get a big greenhouse to start growing plants for the future, so I really need a place of my own. That's why I'm hoping to buy the place where I currently live, because that would make things go faster as I could start growing more and better plants, at a larger scale, and not worrying about where I'll go if my landlord asks me to leave his property. 

This season of spring - summer is when most of the cactus I grow start flowering, that opens officially the 'bee work season' for me. That's right! that's the time when I cross pollinate my plants to obtain hybrid seeds for propagation.

I feel happy thinking that I could live with a sense of independance by working with my own hands, and in a line of work that I love, so it feels like a passtime activity So I encourage you to follow whatever you feel your dreams are :).

That's me!

Now it's your turn!

These questions could help you develop your writing: 

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

- Outdoors /indoors?

- Would you like to travel a lot in your job?

- What about the salary?

- Add any other related ideas.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

- Minimum Word Count: 180 words

- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.