Friday 31 May 2013

POST 4: READING


When I was a kid my father used to keep all the newspapers he bought in a room, along with some magazines, books and the notebooks my brothers and I had worked with in the previous years, and also old cards and toys.  Everything in this messy little room (huge for a little six to eight year old boy like me) was laid on some improvised shelves my dad had built, and, for some unknown reason, he forbade us to get into it.  So being in that room was thrilling and exciting,  because we suspected something misterious was hidden in there, lurking somewhere in  the books or in the magazines.   That way, after  stealthily closing the door behind us,  we sat on the floor of this room and read most of the stuff that got into our hands and, without noticing it, we became magazine and book worms.
This week you have chosen to write about Literature and Books, so below you will find  a sample post and some questions to guide your writing. Please choose one or two questions to write the introduction and about the things you like reading, but answer all the four questions about a book you have read recently.

Introduction: Your reading habits. (Answer 1 or 2 questions)
-Are you a book worm or do you only read books from time to time?
-Did you read books when you were a child?
-How many books have you read in your life?
Things you like reading. (Answer 1 or 2 questions)
-What sort of books do you enjoy reading? Do you prefer fiction or non-fiction?
-Who is your favorite writer?
-What is your favorite book?
-Who is your favorite character from literature?
Tell us a little about a book you have read recently: (Answer all questions)
-Did you enjoy it?
-How long did it take to read?
-Briefly, in one or two sentences, what is the story about?

-Who would you reccomend it to?

Make sure you write at least 140 words and leave comments on three of your classmates’ posts.


I want those two books! I answered decidedly when my father, who had taken me to a bric-a-brac street market,  asked me what I wanted him to buy me.  I was around six years old back then and, since we didn’t have a TV set at home, reading was my favourite thing to do, and I devoured  Disney cartoons, fairy tales, short stories and kid’s novels.  So, answering Dad’s question was easy. I still wonder were those two  books ended up.
Now I enjoy reading short stories and novels. I really like Julio Cortazar’s short stories, so I think I’ll start rereading  them one of these days, and I enjoy reading  both fiction and non-fiction novels.  I have read a lot of detective stories written in English lately, mainly by Ruth Rendell and P D James, but my favourite writers are some Latin american authors, such as, Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Marquez and Isabel Allende.
I recently read a book called “A Special Relationship”, by Douglas Kennedy. It’s about an American  journalist in her late thirties who gets pregnant to a British correspondent she meets in the middle of a war. Everything is a bed of roses at the beginning, but suddenly things change dramatically and her life becomes miserable. It didn’t take me too long to read this novel  because the story is very catchy and is surprisingly well written, especially considering the fact that the author of this book is a man, but the main character and first person narrator is a woman; he is able to write as if he were a woman very convincingly.  I wouldn’t hesitate to reccomend this book to you.

Thursday 16 May 2013

POST 3 CAREER-RELATED WEBSITE or AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD

Since in order to write today’s post you can choose ONE of two options, I have written two sample posts to guide your writing (See below).
Post 1 (Instructions).
Write about a career-related website that you enjoy visiting.

You should:
- provide a link
- describe the website (sections, features,etc)
- say how often you visit the site
- explain why you like the site.

Make sure you add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ posts.
-Word Count: 130
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Post 2 (Instructions)
Who is a person/expert on your field that you admire?

Say:
-Who she/he is.(short biography)
-What she/he has done. (examples of their work)
-Why you like her/him.
-Include his/her image

> About 130 words
Remember to add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ posts
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The BBC English learning website.
Whether you’re a student or a teacher, you should visit BBC Learning English. To me,  it’s one of the best sites to look for different kinds of information related to teaching and learning English as a second language.
But it’s not only about learning, it also has lots of articles related to culture. It’s a great site where students can do exercises, read pieces of current news, practice their listening skills, improve their pronunciation, and even have fun playing games, watching videos  or chatting with people from all over the world.
If you are a teacher, you also have lots of options, for example you can download up to date material for your classes, that you can adopt or adapt,  get new ideas to improve your lessons or exchange information with other teachers.
Some of its regular features that I like include, among others,: “Words in the News”, which contains written and video stories; “Express English”, in which people are asked about their opinions on different things -Each week there’s a new topic and the interesting thing is that you can also join the conversation; “Quiznet”, which gives you the chance to increase your vocabulary on different topics; and I also like “6 Minute English”, a short radio programme that helps you improve both your listening comprehension skills and your vocabulary while you learn about an interesting issue.
I like this site because everything in it has been carefully done by very professional people, it’s very user-friendly, so you can find things easily, and everything is interesting and down-to-earth, I mean , it is related to real life.  For all these reasons I visit this site on a regular basis and I strongly reccomend it to you. The address to this website is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
An expert that I admire
“What a great activity! It’s interesting and fun to do”. This is what I usually say when I see English text books that have been written by Penny Ur.  But Penny is more than an experienced  text book writer, she´s a remarkable English Language Teaching author who has helped teachers develop their teaching skills, that is to say, she teaches teachers to teach.
 I don’t know much about her personal life, all I know is that she is Israeli or American and that she studied at Oxford and Cambridge  Universities.  I also know that she has travelled extensively giving conferences worldwide and has written lots of papers, which are very teacher-friendly, I mean, it’s very easy to understand what she is trying to communicate and her tips are really helpful.
Some of her most prominent books, among others,  are: Five Minute Activities, A Course in Language Teaching , and  Grammar Practice Activities. When I was studying in London I used one of her books, which was called Proficiency in English, if I remember well.
Although her books are more concerned with the teaching of grammar than on improving your communicative  skills, I like her because she is able to teach structures in an interesting and meaningful fashion, which is something that not many writers are able to do. Finally, there are writers concerned with Teaching English as a Foreign Language who have written long, boring and hard to understand papers. Instead, she has written short and clear documents that say more than a million pages.

Thursday 9 May 2013

POST 2: A SINGER/BAND YOU LIKE or A CONCERT/EXHIBITION YOU'VE BEEN TO.



How can you mend a broken heart? I don’t mean to ask you this question, this is  just the title of a song that one of my favourite groups used to sing back in the early 70s. This band was called The Bee Gees. Have you ever heard about them? Maybe you have listened to some of their disco music songs that were included in the 1977 movie “Saturday Night Fever”, with John Travolta in it.
This British band was made up of three brothers, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.  During the late 60s and early 70s they sang brilliant pop music songs, but in the late 70s their style evolved into disco music. The songs they played that I like the most were recorded before they started singing with a “falsetto”.
I like this band because their songs have beautiful lyrics and the harmonies they produced were breathtaking for me when I was a teenager. It’s hard to say which of their songs is my favourite, the list is long because they are all so beautiful in their own right: To Love Somebody, Massachussets, My World, Melody Fair, Run to Me, etc. Wow! I’m starting to feel nostalgic…
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This week you have two choices to write about:
- A singer/band you like.
Or:
- A concert/exhibition you've been to.
 Please, include the following:
 
band / singer >>
- name
- what do you know about them?
- what type of music do they play?
- why do you like this artist/band?
- what's your favorite song? why?
- publish a picture or video
Remember to write 120 words minimum and make 3 comments on your classmates posts.
concert/exhibition >>

- what was it?
- when did you go?
- where was it?
- why did you like it?
- mention more details about it
- publish a related picture or video

- Make sure to write 120 words minimum and make 3 comments on your classmates posts.

HOW TO INTRODUCE A TOPIC AND LINK YOUR SENTENCES

 


PUTTING YOUR IDEAS TOGETHER
Here is a “helping word” to students in trouble, I mean, several words that will help you when you find it hard to write something  because your ideas are not connected.
These expressions are used to introduce a new topic:
-as for, in regards to, concerning (en cuanto a, en relación a)
-in reference to, with regards to (tocante a , concerniente a )
-about, concerning (acerca de)
You can use these words (Connectors) to link your ideas.

RESULT – SUMMARY
So – Therefore, – as a result – thus – Consequently, – in this way – in short – in brief
CONCESSION
However, – Nevertheless, – despite – in spite of – yet – although – though – still …
CONTRAST
Instead – in comparison – but – on ( the ) one hand – on the other hand – by contrast – whereas – otherwise
ADDITION
Also – and – Furthermore, – Moreover, – in addition ( to ) – besides – above all…
REASON
Because – since – as - because of , due to – thanks to - that’s why – that’s the reason why -
EMPHASIS
As a matter of fact, – in particular – Of course, – In fact, – indeed – in any event…
ILLUSTRATION
For instance – for example …
REPETITION
Similarly – likewise – in the same way…
SEQUENCE
First – next – then – finally – at last – eventually – in the end…In conclusion,
Firstly – Secondly- thirdly…

And here are some useful phrases for opinions:
- Many people claim that…
- It is true that….
- This is not an exaggeration … even though…
- I tend to dis/agree with …
- In my view…
-As far as I'm concerned,
- In conclusion, – To conclude,
- I can understand… However, …
- As we have seen/will see, there are ( at least ) two sides to this issue.
- I am convinced that we can / deal with this situation /improve this situation / solve this problem…
- This is an issue that / can be solved / must be faced …
- Another aspect of the issue is…
- In my opinion, the advantages of… far outweigh the disadvantages…
- We can argue that… but…
- Personally I am in favor of…..
On these websites you will find some exercises on connectors.

WELCOME

Hi dear students and welcome to my blog. I hope that you learn new things by writing your posts  and that you find the experience interesting.
Here you have some important information that will help you organize your posts and improve your writing skills:
HOW TO WRITE A COMPOSITION
Different Parts of a Composition:
Whatever you choose to write for a composition, you usually follow the same basic structure: Introduction/Opening + Body + Conclusion/Closing

1. Opening (1 paragraph)
-It consists of a presentation of the topic (use an "attention grabber": something to capture the reader’s attention).
-It contains the ideas you are going to deal with (a quick overview of what’s coming)

2. Body (2-3 paragraphs)
-The body is a group of paragraphs that develop on the main idea as introduced in the opening.
-Each paragraph argues, describes, explains, discusses, defines, clarifies, illustrates or whatever on the opening statement.
-One idea is discussed in each paragraph.

3. Closing (1 paragraph)
-It can be a summing up, reviewing or restating the main idea in different words or briefly stating your opinion, feelings or suggesting a solution, or some “food for thought” or a wish…

Ensure the concluding paragraph is not too long; three or four sentences will be enough.
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How can you write an attention grabber?
By...
-Making an unexpected statement
-Using Humor
-Using a relevant quotation
-Posing a Rhetorical question designed to arouse curiosity without requiring an answer
-Shocking the Audience with an unexpected fact or statistic

Examples:
A good attention grabber: "The death penalty is the most premeditated of murders"; “Elvis is not dead...”; “Who said that the countryside is boring?”; “Seagulls are just rats with wings”; “Hating seagulls is like being racist or homophobic”

A bad attention grabber: “Today I have to write about...”; “the topic of this post is...”

Friday 3 May 2013

POST 1. MY AUTO BIOGRAPHY

My Auto Biography
Hello everybody and welcome to your first blog session. Today you are expected to write your auto biography. Please follow the instructions carefully and have a look at my sample post to get inspired. You may upload a picture if you like.
Can you spot me in this photo?



Make sure you include the following:
- Birth info
- Studies info (elementary/high school/ univ)
- Family info
- Hobbies
- Others...
Remember to write at least 120 words and make comments on three of your classmates posts.

Who am I?
Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born in Santiago, Chile, and grew up in Santiago, in the Patronato neighbourhood.  After I finished my wonderful kindergarten days,  I went to Rafael Sanhueza Lizardi School, where I became a book worm,  and then to Arturo Alessandri Palma High School, where I made some very good friends and developed my liking of English. As a result of that, I studied to become a teacher of English at Universidad de Chile and after some further study in London,  I took my master degree in Education in 2007 at UMCE and received my degree from there last year.
I´m the fifth oldest of a large family of seven children (and probably the gray sheep!)
I have a lot of hobbies, for example, I like drawing and painting; listening to music, singing karaoke and playing the guitar; I love reading (and used to write embarrasingly lousy poems) and watching movies (especially dramas and good comedies); I enjoy having long conversations with my friends over a coffee or some delicious food; plus a long etcetera. But what I like the most is travelling, so I’ve already been to quite a few countries.