My Experience with collective writing

Today I will talk to you about an activity we did in class this week, we had to write a question and pass to the classmate on the right who would then answer and then he would continue passing it to other classmates who would continue writting until the "question" returned to it´s writer.

It was an very interesting idea because it gave us the chance to work on many stories at the same time, some stories made me think carefully before writing because I could not figure what to do, however, in most cases I had no problems as the classmate on my left continued the stories in a very.... well, I do not know how to express it, so let´s leave it in, a very "original" way.

In the end, it was a disaster, one story started talking about a saxophone and then it talked about how they would forge the saxophone in hell, other story started talking about a cupcake and ended up talking about the relationship between shrek and the unicorns, it was a mess! though it was extremely hilarous.

Would you like to write a story in a similar way as these ones again?

Do you think this kind of writing is good, or would you rather write alone?

What do you think of the result of your story?

Colombia: Very well

Today I will talk to you about a program that our country´s government is developing "Programa Nacional de Ingles, Very well" It aims to to make Colombia the country with the highest amount of english speakers in South America for 2025.

Three Fields will be covered by this program:

1-Strategies for teachers formation: As the name implies, they will try their best to raise good speakers to teach other people.

2-Investment in Language studies: The government aims to invest money in institutions so that they can manage their teaching programs better.

3-Articulation with the production Sector: They want to link these english speakers with various kinds of jobs, because you do not want a country filled with English speakers doing nothing with the language.

So, with that clear:

Do you think they will accomplish their objective?

What kind of jobs do you think english speakers are going to work with, other than teaching and translating?

Do you think B2 level is enough or C1 must be the program objective?

What puts languages together

Grammar is what puts the language together, it is what makes the language something people can understand, without grammar, or with an incorrect use of it, you would not be able to communicate correctly with that language speakers/readers.

It is very Important to study grammar, which might look difficult at times, but at the end of the day, you´ll need it.

It is recommended that you make your own writings with what you have learned so far, and then you should read your work to look for mistakes, as you could either not notice them or they could go unseen until the entire idea is put together. After you finish the checking your work, you should look for a way to check the rest of the mistakes, either an online grammar checker or a friend who is good with the languages, the friend is recommended over the online checker, in my opinion, because some online checkers just correct you and you do not know why you made a mistake, something your friend can do.

Is there a grammar rule that caused a lot of problems when you where learning english, that today you have mastered?

Is there a grammar rule in English that you definitively don´t understand?

Do you feel better speaking or writing?

Some Idioms!... and their Importance

Today I will share some idioms with you and I am hoping that you enjoy them, I will also show you their spanish Counterpart, however before we begin, let me talk to you why idioms are important:

Idioms generally belong to one culture and their meaning is very peculiar in that culture, they are used in both formal and informal conversations.

Stathi (2006) believes that idioms are expressions whose idiomaticy (formal property of expressions)  is semantic.

According to Mc Cathy and O´Dell (2008) Idioms are connected to animals, things, parts of the body, food, colors, smell, sports, etc.

Gumpel (1974) states that Idioms itseft do not mean anything, but in a sentence they have a hidden meaning.

Idioms are very Important in teaching because they are a perfect way to teach english to ESL students, as the learner can start to speak fluently using Idioms and is considered to be an integral part of vocabulary teaching (Nation; 2001)

Now, let´s get to the idioms!

"all ears" - It is used when someone is listening carefully to it´s interlocutor, in spanish its counterpart is its exact translation "todo oidos"

"off the hook" - It means to escape a situation of responsability and, in minor cases, dangerous situations, the spanish equivalent would be, for the latter meaning "fuera de peligro" Which could be translated as "off the danger" and acually makes sense with the idiom.

"piece of cake" - It is used when something is very easy and the spanish equivalent is "pan comido" which would literally mean "eaten bread" but as stated before, idioms do not really mean what they look like.

"pull someone leg" - It is used when teasing or joking, generally with a lie, it´s spanish counterpart involves hair instead of a leg and is "tomarle el pelo a alguien"

"sleep with the fishes" - It means to die and its spanish counterpart is "a dormir para siempre" Which could translate "to sleep forever".

Anyway, what do you think of each citation?

 which one do you think is more accurate with your concept of idiom?
Is there an idiom you use too often?

Interview with a Classmate

Today I will share with you the interview with Karol Jaramillo, one of our Classmates wich many of you already Know, so let´s get to it!

Q: Why did you choose this career?

A:  It is my Vocation

Q: What do you think of the Program so far?

A: Better to what I expected

Q: Is there a teacher that Inspired you to choose this career?

A: Well, one Social Sciences teacher named Diego Alberto Quiroz Zapata and one english teacher whose name I don´t Remember.

Q:How do you see in the future as a teacher?

A: I see myseft teaching in the way I want, not being forced to teach in the way others want, in a dynamic way, not a boring one.

Q: What Kind of students would you like to teach?

A: All of them

Overall I think this was a very nice activity, it allowed us to get out of our Circle and interact with other People.

Is there a teacher that inspired you to do this? Who?

What is what you like most about the Program?

Is there something you don´t like too much about the program? What?

The tongue of the Butterfly

Last class, we talked about a movie about teaching, I choosed the movie the title recalls.

It is about a student who thinks teachers are evil, however by spending time with one, he changes his opinion and starts to believe that teachers are very good people. The movie itseft was entertaining, and the ending was totally unexpected, and sad.

I believe it is a movie that not only expresses the beautiful thing about teaching, but also shows how teachers that pursed a "change" end up being pursued.

If you haven´t watched it, you should do it!

*Questions 1 and 3 are not repeated, look carefully at the bold words

Would you teach your students to fight for something, even if you could forfeit your life doing it?

What comes to your mind when you hear "Teacher"?

Would you teach your students to fight for something, even if they could forfeit their life doing it?

Interview with teacher Juan Diego

Today our work was to interview a teacher, a language teacher to be precise, so I interviewed teacher Juan Diego Martinez.

I started asking him why did he became a teacher, he answered "I became a teacher by chance", I replied "by chance?", he answered "yes, I wanted to be lawyer, but I ended up in the teaching program, there I found that teaching was an awesome career", his answer made me think that, I actually did not think on becoming a teacher, I just wanted to do something like translation, but now I think teaching is very promising. After that I asked him how has been his experience as a teacher, he said "Amazing", "You are never stuck in the same place, you always learn something, even if it is an activity you have done before"

I really enjoyed the interview because it was good to hear about how someone else reached the program, Its interesting to find similarities and differences in our points of view

What where your thoughts on the teacher answers?

 Are your reasons for being a teacher similar to the ones he mentioned? if the answer is yes, which ones?

Do you think your experience as a teacher will be similar to his?

*What made you want to be a teacher?