Journal Entry #4

Of all the tasks during the first semester and this one, task 4 was my favorite.

We had the chance to be creative, and to be change agents.

In my last university, my friend Catalina and I were experts working with videos. Every time we had the chance to make a video for a presentation, we did it.

So, when this task was presented to us, I thought about creating a video right away. 

For a campaign, images and the message are very important and I think the best way to put these two things together is trough a video.

The campaign "Say hi" was the first and the only idea that came to my mind. The slogan, the logo, and the message appeared in just a second. I was really excited to present this project to our class, I believed so much in our successful that I felt really confident presenting it.

At one point I thought; what am I doing here studying to be a teacher? I should be a publicist! (Paula did it too). It was great working on our logo, many ideas were put on the table, and we couldn't get agree on what logo we should use. In the end, we used 2 of them; one of the smiley face and the other one that was at the beginning and the end of the video.

About inclusion and diversity? What I think is that we are not obligated to agree with everything, but we should accept the other. Everyone is different, so why should I discriminate a gay, just by loving someone that is from his own sex? I think that we need to learn how to live accepting that there are different thoughts, different feelings, different ways to live life. I they don't mess up with your life, why should I care about his or her differences.

Journal Entry #3

Teaching is always scary. The only way I can think to try to get over that fear is to do things that can connect you with your students. Through unit 3, I've discovered that a great way to connect myself with my students is to do an outing.

An outing could be more than just a school thing, it is also an instance where you can share with your students and they are able to get a common experience with which you can work with later on.
Task 3 was really exciting for us. I worked with Paula, again. We were born in 5th region of Valparaíso, so, if this task let us to be creative, why don't plan our outing in the city where we were born. Besides, it is such a beautiful and historical city, that it makes it ideal for an outing, so why not?
I've learned that there are many ways and strategies to teach your students something meaningful for them.

When the day of the presentation came, I was not nervous at all. I was not my first time doing a michroteaching, I felt very confident speaking in front of the class, actually teaching something, and I thought that perhaps I'm good at this, perhaps I am not doing it wrong, and that I am not wasting my time studying this career.

Journal Entry #2

It is amazing how team work can be so wonderful. When I got into this university I noticed that there were many groups in my generation, and that they tend to be mad at each other. I mean, is very common, but I was not used to it. During the first semester I couldn't get to meet a lot of people, I was more focused on getting good marks, and trying to feel comfortable here in Santiago. This semester things have changed. I think that task 2 helped us to be more friendly to everyone.Groups were bigger, so we had the chance to share with new people, people that we were not used to work with. The atmosphere the day of the presentations was  charged of good vibes, everyone was there to support the groups that came first. That day we all were able to see how people that in classes were shy, on stage they were pretty good actors and actresses, we were witness and witnesses of their English improvement. After that day I feel happier when I go to classes, because now we are a closer group.

Journal entry #1

Language and language change

Language is innate to humans. It allows the communication of our thoughts and ideas, and even the existence of them. It can only be developed and acquired through socialization.

It's really interesting the role that socialization plays in language change.

In order to understand this idea better I really have to mention what Prescriptive and Descriptive grammar is.

Prescriptive grammar are the rules which tell us how to use language in a proper way, I mean; the "correct" way.

Descriptive grammar has to do with the real use of the language, how people use language everyday.

Thanks to Descriptive grammar language changes and becomes the "right" one. To put you all on the same track I'll give you an example what has happened in Chile.

When someone (a Chilean person) wants to make somebody else smell something, there are 2 options. #1: ¡Huele esto!, and #2: ¡Olorosa esto! The first option would be the "correct" one. The second one is the way in which Chilean people really use language. After a while, the RAE (Real Academia Española) noticed that that word was so widely and commonly used by people, that they decided to put that word into Spanish dictionaries as a Chilean way of speaking. Yeah... It's fascinating how this works, I mean; language change. It's like after being an insignificant molehill it turned into a big mountain.

In this unit of linguistics, thanks to all the reading and discussion groups, I think that my reading and writing skills had become better, and also my reflective skill has improved by writing my essay. My biggest conclusion would be that I strongly believe that a world without language,so there's no communication at all, would be a dead world. 
(p e r i o d)