Post seven

Hello Everyone!

We're already in the seventh post of this semester, I know you're probably tired at this time of the year, so I'll invite you to think about something different:

A place where you would like to live, and why.

Maybe the city you live in right now has all kinds of different things to do, exciting activities, beautiful places and lots of people to meet and enjoy, but for this post I would like you to write about a place that maybe is in your dreams, a place with the weather you love, or maybe a place where you can live near people you miss.



Whatever it is, tell me about it in this post!
Write 250 words about a place where you would like to live.

These questions can help you guide this post:

Would you like to live in a new place? or a place you've already visited?
Is the place you chose suitable for your type of work?
What makes you want to live there?
Would you live there alone? with a couple? or with your family?

Add any details that you think are important.

Video nº2

Dear all,

As I mentioned in class, here I'm posting the details for your second video recording. The deadline to turn this work in is December 30th.

Post six

Movies or series you like.

For this post, you'll be able to develop your ideas about your favorites movies or series.The idea is to write about what you like watching in general, but of course you can mention anything you like, for example: cartoons, anime, soap operas, tv series, docummentaries or movies!

I'll briefly tell you about some of my favorites :)


"You met me at a very strange time in my life." Fight club, 1999.

This is probably one of my favorite movies of all time, at least one I'd re watch and would still be enjoyable. I won't tell you what it is about because.. well, because of the first rule of the fight club!
If you saw this, you know what I mean. This is probably an intense and deep movie for some people, but that's not the only type of styles I like.

I'll tell you about one of my top 5 series! it's called The office and it was the US version of a show with the same name produced earlier in the UK. It's a mockumentary (it's filmed as if it was a real documentary) and it narrates the story of a group of common office workers. It even had a Chilean version, La Ofis, in Canal 13, which only lasted one season but was very well done. It had one of my favorite Chilean actors as protagonist: Luis Gnecco

 

There are many many other shows I've watched and liked! some recommendations I'd give you are:
True Detective, Game of Thrones, Lost, Fringe, How I met your mother, Friends, Daredevil, Weeds, Breaking bad, and Orange is the new black

Now it's your time!
Tell me about your favorite series, or movies, or basically anything you like watching!!

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.
- Minimum Word Count: 240 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post five

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

Even though I know some of you like to live in the moment, and don't plan ahead your futures, today's post will make you think of your future plans for this summer's holiday. 

Would you vacation in chile or abroad?

Who would you like to visit?
What activities would you do?
Is there any place you would like to visit?
What types of food would you prefer?

Please don't tell me you'll stay in the whole summer

On my personal side, I can't really tell you what I'm doing this summer vacation, because I don't know where I'll live by then. I'm currently waiting for an answer from the owner of the place I rent, and if he says yes, I'll probably buy the land and start building my greenhouse.
If that doesn't work, I'll probably have to find a new place to live, and that would mean that I won't be able to go anywhere.
I'll still go to the desert for a week or so, no matter what happens!

So, think about what you would love to do this summer holidays and write about it in 230 words!

Post four

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 the language, not only knowing how to speak, but also how languages are learnt and how different contexts affect different languages. In other words, it could be said like this:

"Each human language is a complex of knowledge and abilities enabling 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: 220 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post three

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 withut 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: 210 words
- Remember: NO TRANSLATOR! web dictionaries are allowed, and of course you can call me and I'll go to your seat.

Post two

The best Holidays/Concert ever 

Choose only one of the topics above and mention:

Holidays:

- 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

OR

Concert:

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

My choice for this post will be my best vacation, so here it goes!

As all of you know, I'm kind of a weird cactus grower/fan, so I'll tell you about my lastest trip, to the Atacama desert during this year's summer. 

It all began when I left my house in Curacaví to join my friend, and driver in our adventure, at his house in Olmué, fifth Region. That day we prepared everything to start early the next morning, we had a long way coming. We started the day early, at 7, and then we went out heading north to El Cobre, Antofagasta (2nd) Region. The idea was to go there and start coming back south, stopping in locations to find, photograph and try to discover seeds of Chilean native cacti. For that purpose we had the knowledge of my friend, who's been travelling to the dessert for at least 5 years now, and the help of this book, which contains pictures and descriptions of several species :)



We were true adventurers, walking for hours to find plants, climbing hills and small mountains ranges. On a normal day, we would wake up at 9 approx. And then have breakfast to start the day exploring the camping site we had chosen the night before. After that we would find a new site, and track the land to find more species. It would all finish when the sun was coming down, as we needed to find a good camping spot, and use sunlight to set the tents. 


It may sound boring for some, but this was one of the best experiences I've had, I learned and enjoyed every moment of it :) Here you have some pictures of the trip!

>>Worcount: 170
>>Leave comments on 3 of your classmates posts + comments on my post.

Post One

Hey!!

Welcome to the first blogsession for this semester. 
Today's topic will be: "A country I'd like to visit".
To fulfill this task you must develop a 160 word post (as a minimum), and some of the things you can mention are:

- 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 at least 2 pictures - *IMPORTANT* Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on my post.

As a guide, here's my version of the post:

A country I'd like to visit is Thailand:

I'd love to visit this country located in Asia, neighbour to the countries of Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. Eventhough I'm not an expert in weather, I'm aware of the hot temperatures they have in Thailand, and also I have friended many thai people on my facebook so I know they're great cactus cultivators. 
My main reason to visit this country would be to visit these people I've mentioned, they've been my friends for a long time now and we've exchanged experience, plants and seeds. The visit would probably become a tour through different cities along the country stopping by the houses of the friends available at the time, exchanging presents and stories about these wonderful plants.

 I think a video can tell you more than pictures in this particular case, so here it goes! I hope this video helps you to imagine what I'm talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQVZTtrQx0k

I hope you enjoy this activity, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Now write about this in 160 words!

Victor.

VIDEO 1