I and English

Hello classmates! Today I will write about my experience in the subject of English, in the university. 

First, is important mention that I have do four courses of English, from English I to English IV, because in the diagnostic test I was wrong: this moment I was very nervous because I do not like English and I not be good in this subject. I have do courses during the past two years and, in general, this experience not has been good.

In the first course, English I, I not learn much. The contents this course was very basic, this I learn in the Primary School. But, however, the teacher was very good, she prepared your classes and she went interesting activities. Therefore, in the following course, my learning was less, although I remember and recover the oral presentation this year, because this was the first time that I speak in English in front other persons, in front an audience. Also, in this course I know to persons of other years of my career; this was a situation very gratifying. 

In the next course that became this March of this year, I think that learned or developed abilities for speak and write in English. My teacher prepared activities that consistent in challenges for myself, because I have that speak in front my other classmates or all weeks y has that write in my blog. I believe that this course was the better, in comparison with the previous courses, I felt more interested for this idiom.

And, finally, I am doing English IV. This course has been difficult for me, because, in my life in general, I have not interested in the studies or university for personal problems. This form, I have not take advantage of this course. 

In general, I define my experience like a case of survival, because I feel that I not learning much contents. Although, I must admit that I have developed abilities, but I not know if I have make progress a lot. In my opinion, two years is less for learning English and considering that one in the university have various subjects, that in the practice are more important of English because are part of career, the course of English is not appreciate correctly.

My Christmas

Hello!

Today I will write about Christmas. The Christmas celebration has its origins in the Christianity, is the day where to commemorate the firth of Jesus, the principle figure of this religion. Christmas meaning in Spanish “misa de Cristo”. This celebrate is the 25^th December and is an important holiday of the year. Actually, the Christmas is celebrated of different ways, for example: in some churches perform mass – being to Catholic Church the “mass of cock” –; to decorate the houses, streets and shopping malls; the loved ones get together and give gifts.

Personally, the Christmas is very important because I believe in the birth of Christ. Of this way, this day for me represent a moment of hope and love, because is a reborn, an opportunity for begin the new. Also, in the night all my family gets family for to share this special night. Although in our Christmas the important of material has always been, because the presents have an important position in the celebration. This situation is caused for the boom of the world of commerce, which with the goals of to sell and to earn money, has built representation of that love, is shown with gifts… and great gifts, with help of mass media. This way the persons in December buy all the gifts, causing a large expenditure of money.

For the ideas mentioned, my ideal way to celebrate the Christmas is with the persons that I loved, where we commemorated this special moment: the birth of this important figure that meaning love. And, the gifts are important, also, but my idea is that these are made by people, craft production, this form not respond to commerce and showed the love. I think that the most important element this day is the love and peace.

Greetings!

Am I green?

I believe that I not green, because I do not actions for protect the environment. For example, I not use a bike because it screams me, where I live there is a lot “flaites” and I’m afraid that I can steal. Also, I not have much habits of recycling, only I try to use a few leafs when I write or print, in general in my studies.

I think that the best school for be green is the house: is in the home, in the family when to children must learn to protect to environment. In my family there is not much green conscience, and the actions about the topic are link with garbage, as no littering in public places. Therefore, we have never recycled. My family not likes sport; the contacts with nature are only the holidays in camping.

For me is very important the environment but I have never to take part in an eco-organizations, because I have always preferred to use my free time in other activities as the dance or to teach. Also, I not have opportunities either for take part in anything green.

I will like do activities with more contact with nature and my body, because I think that to care the environment must first take care of myself. Of this form, I will like to walk more and eat health food. I will like to use bicycle, too, but for this should be more security on the streets.

Our society has not conscience about environment and care of body. There is not conscience about the live. All people live and think in the moment, in the present, and everyone forget morning, they not think that various recourses are not renewable… they not think in the world that they will give to their children.

             

a beatifull morning

My childhood was very nice, a period full of joy and games. Problems were daily as a homework or fight with my friends. But, I think one of the best periods of my life is before to go to school, when I had nothing to do: I got up and played or watched TV.

One of my favorites memories is a day when I was child – when I was 4 years old –: I was waking up and I saw how the sun “peeked” through the curtains. When I remember this moment, I feel peace, because there were not concerns or tasks therefore I could enjoy each second. Also, the scene of the sun enters with subtlety gives a special touch: the nature always is outside waiting for you. I think that for this idea for me is a habit to open the curtains every morning when I got up, of this form I said hello to sky. This memory is special, too, because my home was quiet and were not my two eldest sisters (she were in the high school in that moment), and my mother was silent because she wanted that I sleep. 

To this morning when I child, I can say that exist others mornings where I wake up and I fell my mother cleaned the living, or I wake up and the first that I feel was a smell of the lunch that my mother cooking in the kitchen.

Of these memories, I rescue the how I enjoyed and feeling every detail to that edge. One smell, one ray of light, one sound, one smile fills my hearth and it shuddered all my body. Also, this wake made me think that every days exist something new that discovery because every time that you open yours eyes, that be an reborn, an revival.

Santiago of Chile

I think that Santiago city isn't a place very attractive, however are many places nice that can you visit.

            A place safety pin, from my point of view, is the “Cerro San Cristóbal”, because this is in the center of the city and offers different options of activities to do in a day like the zoo, swimming pools, visit to Virgin´s shrine, and area of picnic.

            I believe that an activity must make foreign tourists is visiting the cultural centers of Santiago, such as theaters, exhibition centers and museums, because they can find information about our country and people, and because this places are scarce in other parts of Chile.

            From my point of view and experience, the places than a tourist can not miss, are:

1.- Cerro San Cristóbal at the aforementioned.

2.- Visit of “Cajón del Maipo”: although this is not in the Santiago city, is a highly accessible location for all age groups that want connect with nature. Is south of the center city, in the Andes. The site offers quiet places, picnic areas, swimming pools, camping sites and even extreme sports.

3.-  “Parque O¨Higgins”: is a large park near the center of Santiago, which provides recreational opportunities for a person or the whole family. Also inside is the Fantasilandia amusement park, a chance to entertain and relax in the games.

4.- “Parque Quinta Normal”: also located near the center of Santiago, in the sector northwestern. It is a place to walk, to enjoy of the nature and to share in family. Inside is the Museum of Natural History, an interesting place.

            All places mentioned are, in essence, to escape the city and being the nature.

5.- Finally, “Plaza de Armas”: located in downtown Santiago. It is a place to meet older architecture of city, so is the square around it is a historical site of the beginnings and development of this capital. 

The mapuche conflict

                The mapuche conflicy have been very years in our country and even already was in the momento of independence of Chile. In general, the mapuche are knowed like a warlike people owing to they constantly are part of conflict politics, and they have showed your convictions with segurity and have fougth for keep their culture, in specially customs, beliefs and territory.  But, in this year, a sector of the mapuche people began with a hunger strike for part of mapuche prisioners. This prisioners, with the help their families and communities, demand that they are not enforcing the antiterrorism law and not be prosecuted for military trial, only civil trial.  This demands showed a treat different this persons for be mapuche, that is why they call in popular protest march“political prisioners”.  The president, Sebastián Piñera, and his team of govern tried resolve the problem doing changes in the law, to make possible  “dialogue tables”  with sectors of mapuche people and change the punish or sentence of the prisioners demonstrator, but this not was enough because no every demonstrators down of strike.

              My opinion is that for solve problems with mapuche people the Chilean state mus admit the many debs to this community form more than a century, that began with the called "Pacification of Araucanía". I think that the solution is recognize to this people like part of our nation, only admit tha pluriculture of our territory and recognized the rights of each culture and people, the differences between communities can be handled better. 

The Chorus

Today I want writing about the film The Chorus. In this the last film that I seen and this is fantastic. The social problems that show and the solution showed for there, can do think about our lives. Therefore I think that this movie elementary if you are interest in education.

            It is a film of 2004, produced in France and directed for Christhope Barratier. The movie started when Pierre Morhange, a orchestral conductor, returns a home because his mother died, there to meet with Pépinot, a classmate of infancy, who gets the diary of his former teacher: Clément Mathieu. In this moment, he started to read the live in the Fond l´Ethange.

            Fond l´Ethange is a school for “difficulty” boys. At the place studied Mourhange and Pépinot. In the first moment Mathieu, who was a musician, noted the problems of school: the not discipline of the children was punished with violence. He sought other way: confidence, complicity and music. Thus, the teacher forms a chorus with the boys, generated changes in the boarders and teachers.  As well, he found the musical talents in Mourhange and helped him enter a conservatory.

            From my perspective, this film is special and this a great work of art. The movie shows that even though children seem lost, even if the whole context seems bad, the love and the confidence bring out the best in everyone.

            

Blogging Experience

Hello classmate! It is the last post! And I will write about the blogging experience…

I think that this blogging experience has been good, because I have to work harder for I can write. As I said before, I am not good in English and I do not like English (I am very Chilean for my things), therefore, I have enjoy the experience sometimes and sometimes not. I enjoy because I have development a little my skill but I do not know if I did it well. I not enjoy because sometimes is very difficult to meet the number of words for the post.

Despite the above, I think that this experience helps me to improve my English a little. I admit that can write more easily, but even I feel that this is very boring. I recognized that is necessary to use this language, but still do not like.

The pros this activity is the periodic opportunity of write in other language (specifically in English), but I think that a error has been not to go periodically reviewing the written, because I could not know what my mistakes, so I have not had the opportunity to improve them.

The cons is the timetable, is very late, and sometimes a long time spent in the activity and not enough class. Other point against is the topics, sometimes this not has been interesting or often we chose this topic.

The best thing the blogging experience, from my perspective, is that thought the post I could meet my classmates. I found pleasant surprises reading any blogs, I know very things that I had never heard, I know the interests of my classmate and I can communicate with them.

That is all, I be happy for finish this stage and let us hope everything turns out all right!

Anthropology and Education

Hello everyone! Althought I did not go to class, at home I do the activity for yesterday.

Today I try to write about a subject that interested me, which is education, linking with it the discipline that I study: Anthropology. I say it will be an attempt because you do not quite understand how I can relate the two disciplines or anthropology with this aspect of society.

I think all of us students realize the educational crisis of our country, where mainly criticizes the "quality" of the education system, whether formal or university system. I think this question of quality is based on inequality between the students universe, if the content and activities that take place in school and collage are appropriate for the goals of education... final: why educate? What good is education? What tools is giving us? Clearly, it is believed that education as articulated today is not providing sufficient tools to their students; there is a reproduction of patterns instead of a formation or creation of individuals.

From what I have learned and reflected, I think that anthropology can help in this issue by providing information about the relation of the content according to cultural groups, namely, really serves an educational system as homogeneous, being that our society is composed of different cultures or lifestyles? In addition, Anthropology can help validate the speeches and point of view of the beneficiaries of education, because I believe that until you heard or consider what they think, not is able to make significant changes in the educational system.

In this way, Anthropology can bring about changes in the country if it proposed it in and out if his circle of scholars.

My favourite photograph

In the image is my shadow along the shadow of my boyfriend. In this moment, we were in the square of Molina, in the VII Region of our country.

The photograph is special for me because it was taken in the first trip that we made by ourselves. The image is beautiful, too: the day was cloudy, even had rained all morning, and come out the sun. And we use to take the picture.

This have an important significant for we, because represent that if we stay together will always be good, there is always light in our lives. This has importance because this moment I got a bad new: breast cancer of my mom breached into the lungs.

The trip we made the last winter holidays and we went to the home of an aunt of my boyfriend that live in Molina. We went for just a weekend, but the experience was beautiful and comforting.

Now, I will present to my boyfriend: he is Fernando and he has 19 years old. He studies Pedagogy in Music in the UMCE. We bring together 3 years. We begin when we were in the school, and now are together in the university. He is very important in my live, because rather being my boyfriend, he has been my friend and he has supported me in many difficult times, especially with the moments that are relation with the disease of my mother. Furthermore, he is an excellent company: he is happy, funny, spontaneous, relax and playful. I think that he is a complement for me.

So, the photograph represents a moment special for me and for he. In it we see our union and that despite the storm, can sunrise.

Education, Infancy and Anthropology

Today I will write about some topics that I am interested, these are: education, infancy and anthropology. I think that Education is very important in the present context because its influence on children is increasing, owing to the fact that they spend more time in school, like this the formal education can become a tool for transformation of damaging conducts.

This year, I had the opportunity of attend to Imaginario Infantil subject. This subject will deal with conceptions of childhood, the infancy in education and the infancy as subject. These topics are based in the philosophy of infancy. Matthew Lipman, an American philosopher, was promoted of the union between philosophy, education and infancy. This new relationship is aimed to “learn to think”, owing to the children and youth development their thought.

Considering this new perspective I thought about the contributions that the anthropology can offer and I think that the anthropology can play an important role in to validate the vision of children and in the understanding of this and of their reality. That is why I would like to work in Educational Anthropology and Anthropology of the Infancy.

Hernán Rivera Letelier

Hernán Rivera Letelier is any of my favourites writer and he is Chilean! I like his books because this shows the live in the saltpeter mining town. As well, I love the histories that he written, these are very entertainment and funny. The characters, that Hernán Rivera revive, are modest, poor and transmit the problems of that period of the Chilean History. For example, in the “Mi nombre es Malarrosa” tell the live of a girl who became a prostitute or in the “El Fantasista” tell the history of the closedown of the saltpeter mining town Maria Elena.
Hernán Rivera Letelier born in Talca in 1950, although he brought up and he lived until 11 years in Algorta, a saltpeter mining town of the north of Chile. When his mother died and the closed down the saltpeter mining town, his family moved to Antofagasta, where he worked selling newspaper and as a messenger of mining company. During lifetime he linked with to northern of Chile and the saltpeter mining town, even today he live in Antofagasta. Hernán Rivera Letelier has written 14 books: the first is “Poemas y pomadas” of the 1988 and the last one is “El arte de la resurrección”, published this year. Of the 14 books, I have read 10: “La reina Isabel cantaba rancheras”, “Himno del ángel parado en una pata”, “Fatamorgana de amor con banda de música”, “Los trenes se van al purgatorio”, “Santa María de las flores negras”, “Canción para caminar sobre las aguas”, “Romance del duende que me escribe las novelas”, “El fantasista”, “Mi nombre es Malarrosa” and “La contadora de películas”.
He have receive some prizes, as “Caballero de la orden de letras” in France in the year 2001 and, this year he received the Alfaguara prize of Novel for his last one book.

My favourite piece of technology: my mp3

Mp3 is a digital audio player. It is very small to carry it everywhere. My mp3 has 1GB capacity, so I can store around 400 songs. In addition to my mp3 I can listen to the radio. It is important: to listen to music must be mp3 and headphones.

I always go out with my mp3, is my best company, especially on long trips by bus and metro in Santiago, because I live in Puente Alto and everything I have away. I use my mp3 in secret; because I always use it on the street or on public transport and I can steal. I use my mp3 mostly when I travel, but sometimes instead of listening to music for study or do both. Also I use it in my house, when they are noise and I can not concentrate.

I love my mp3 because I like the music. So my life without mp3 is a life without music, so sad. I like music because this can teach things with its letters and the music through its melodies can transmit different emotions and it can transport different places. From my vision, to travel with music is to put “background music” to my life and this is important because sometimes my feelings are transmitting for the music. And the best thing is that I choose the soundtrack!

PD: I put a photo of my mp3, is the same!

I love Chilean music

I love Chilean music, I think that this king of music have much content and to represent the “be Chilean”.
The styles that I like are rock, funk and folklore. I love dance cueca and I like the letters of the songs. The dance consist in the conquest of the men toward the woman, therefore the woman is directed by dance, contrary to dance salsa or merengue. There are different types of the cueca like Argentinean, Peruvian and Bolivian. But there are diverse kings inside of the Chilean territory, too, for example there are the northern cueca, “cueca porteña”, “cueca chora”, “cueca brava”, “cueca chilota” and “cueca campesina”. I like all because each transmit particular histories of the persons that to compose. These songs transmit the culture of a part of the Chilean people.
I am a fan of Chilean rock groups, principally of Chancho en Piedra, Weichafe and Fother Muckers. In the case of Weichafe is a group of heavy rock that is separated; there to separated in the 2009, where have ten years. The others groups still are together.
Anyway, I like singer-songwriter such as Manuel García, Camila Moreno, Chinoy and Victor Jara. Victor Jara has a history very special because he was victim of the military period of our country and he gave his life for his dream.
From the above is clear because I have trouble English. I listen only Chilean music because is the music that more represent me.

The excepcional Marvin Harris

Marvin Harris was an American anthropology. He born on August 18, 1927 and he died on October 25, 2001. He studied in the Columbia University. He worked in the same university and, later, in the University of the Florida. His fieldwork more important is in Mozambique in the 1957.
Marvin Harris is recognized because he was an exponent of the cultural materialism. In your works, he used elements of Marxist theory, for example: superstructure, modes of production and exploitation. As well, he worked with demographic studies conducted Malthus. In this way, he developed a new perspective to see sociocultural evolution, said what the social reality consist of three levels: infrastructure (demographic and productive factors), structure (the set of institutions) and suprastructure (ideologies that explain the reality). These three levels are connected.
I like Marvin Harris because is an anthropology that write very clear; their works has a simple language. I read a part of his book Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches: The Riddles of Culture and I really like because it found explanations for social phenomena were very consistent, for example the cows in the Indian are sacred because has a lot roles as animal, for example poop is used as fertilized.

The earthquake...

The 27/02/10 at 03.34 AM, I slept in my house. I waked up when I feel the earth tremor, but I get up when I realized the tremor did not stop. My bedroom is in the second floor of my house, because of this I had to go downstairs while shaking. This moment was terrible, I had afraid I might fall. Luckily, my family was in the house but everbody were afraid.
Later, we started to phone to the familiar persons. Thank God, everyone was safe.

The funny situation was that my boyfriend not wake up, so I had to lift. And, only the earthquacke stopped, he fell asleep. And, I can not sleep in all the day 27. Other particular situation is that my sister could not to move.

In general, my enviroment not had damages. But, everybody are a few frightened still.

who I am?

I am Tamara and I am a student of social anthropology .
I love the novels and the chilean music. I want work in the topic of education, because I want help at the children and teens. I am 20 years old and I live in Puente Alto, Santiago of Chile. My family, boyfriend, dog and friends are the things more important in mi life. I believe in God.

With this blog, I would like to learn communicate in English and learn more words.