Blogging, a experience.

Blogging was the option for this semester, and as far as it goes, it will keep increasing writing skills if there is commitment and responsibility. It is an activity that can show you a lot about how much you know, or how much you are able to express with words. But it goes further than just a space to share thoughts, because it can even become a pedagogical tool for learning or improving language skills. My teacher even offered us two options about how to develop the blog, and we all decided to write about class, and  posting things related to it. I think he managed well to at least make us work on them, as most of us didn't have a previous experience on blogging, what takes me to think that if my classmates and I took this exercise not just as a homerwork, it would have increased even our critic and argumentative skills but in english. I must say I really enjoyed the process of writing and always trying to take it as far as I could, but I also discovered that is not something depending on the level of english, of course it is important for developing a good text, but it is most important the commitment and interest you have on posting. This was about having a development of writing and what else can we do than just writing, trying and even accepting mistakes and going over them, enhancing everything we write, by revising.
This was kind of a first experience, but at least, most of class members wanted to work. The class was good, I think we did new things that challenged us, and gave us tools to become better with our writing, this is a process and we must cotinue with it, something I expect my mates to do, because I've seen their potential.

The ringing of a flashback

After explaining the activity in the last post, here I leave, the story that represent flashbacks for me: 

Once, I was damning the world because I lost the right hand. It was when I was just 17 years old, just a boy that was starting to live the world that is disallowed for kids, because they wouldn’t handle so much in just one bite, maybe it is too much even if you are 20 or 30, but at least you are able to do it. We know how much dangers are there outside, not waiting for the perfect victim, or the perfect moment, that would only be important if you wanted to be married.

 But no, that’s not the street like, because it doesn’t wait, it just carries on even if you fell or went out, but it’s just impossible to leave, once you are inside it. I know I was kind of young and my father aware me one thousand times, but I would rather not to listen, but my riffs. I use to go around with something I added to my body, something I would rather not to live without, dreaming not to be big, but to make her important. It wasn’t another girl, she was just different, always quiet waiting for me to arrive, and only speaking to me, that guitar was just awesome. Her curves would take you into the deepest ride you would never get not even owning a rollercoaster, she yelled as fantastic and terrific as a lovely woman does, when you are doing right. Her strings were just as the song says, the highway to the warmest and best place to play, for me and her, the hell. I must accept it was my fault to lose her, and if she’s not here anymore there is nothing else to say but, that I took her away. Of course it wasn’t because I wanted, because I even lost my hand in the same moment. If I had the choice to recover any of them, perhaps it would be my hand, so I would honor her, playing until death, but that was kind of the sacrifice like asked, because of my stupidity. Everything started, one night, I was supposed to stay home, as my father grounded me. I forgot to say, I was kind of an outlaw, and I don’t know if you share this with me, but school was just boring. Everything I wanted was to go around making people realize how a guitar can change either your day or your life, and I used to do my prophet job, in a rookie band, that sounded good enough to make me an addict of music. That night, was supposed to happen our best concert, with lots of people waiting outside wanting to listen to us, and a good set of songs that were going to rock them. Only 10 people was at the place, and 5 worked there. I felt disappointed, perhaps I had to big dreams about what it was going to be like, and for it to be worse I escaped home, so I supposed I was going to be grounded the double, paying for a crime I was supposed to enjoy. As we played for those 5 people, I better packed my guitar and rode my bicycle home, I was kind of blind by anxiety. I was close to the 33th avenue and it was really late, maybe 2 or 3 a.m. I was wearing earphones, listening to those songs that always made me feel happy, but they were not working that night. I didn’t looked at both sides of the street, and a drunk driver, ran over me. He escaped of course, and let me there, kind of unconscious, but looking around for my guitar.

All I could see was that amount of broken wood. A big part of the neck of the guitar was crossing my right hand, making me lose the sense, I was about to faint, but in the horizon I could see some lights, another car I guessed. I expected it to see me, and when I totally fainted, I just can’t remember what happened after all of this. I spent two months on the hospital, recovering myself thinking on other things. Doctors tried to save my hand in every single way, and what I will never forgot what they said: -“I’m sorry, but it’s better for you to let it go”- Immediately I understood what he meant, as he added: -“You’re going to be alright”-. As I was in the hospital, I just listened to my thoughts, nor my music or other people, just my mind. I just laid in the bed looking everything and thinking of everything. No more music for me, I thought after I was out the surgery. I took the imminent choice to leave music forever because it just got me problems. After I went out the hospital, it passed 3 years, which I consider really incredible, 3 years of not listening a guitar. Sometimes I even forgot about I played, and those great moments I had with it, forgetting even my feelings about it, not being able to express about guitar in such a poetic way. I really had taken the choice to be far from music. I had to learn a lot about just using one hand, they even gave me a book to read, but believe it is hard to do with just one hand, I had to change a lot of things I used do, not only playing but quotidian things I never knew could be so hard with just one hand, the world is designed for people with two, I thought. I was kind of making it, trying to change my life, because even school started to seem interesting. Perhaps that made me stronger and less absent from reality, helping me face another things, but just one day, after three years of successful avoid of the guitar, I decided to go for a walk, which I not used to do a lot. One block, six blocks, half an hour walking and I found it kind of distressful, as I was getting nearby a little village close to my town, a single sound, made me stop. I know that, I said. It ringed from the outside of my ear to the deepest room of my soul, and made me freeze, and fall into an absence moment. I remembered those old days, when I used to be less serious, and life was happy to me. When just a sound meant everything for me, and I could make as much as I wanted, I was happy in the many single ways it sounded. It kept ringing, and everything it did was growing that big smile on my face. I didn’t wanted to move, a lot of things inside myself started to explode. It sounded once again, and stronger, like if my own heart was releasing all of it strength in just one sound. I decided to follow it, and found a young man with an old brown acoustic guitar, he was surprised with my presence but I just could ask him to keep playing, that was pure pleasure and immediately I understood why I decided to let it go, perhaps I was too sure about all the pleasure it meant, and it would be harmful to have this machine of love lying in my lap not being able to make that lovely sound. In that moment I forgot about all of my thoughts, my sadness and stopped feeling that kind of emptiness nothing could fill, and just let the guitar ring not in my ears, but in my soul. I knew even I couldn’t play it, I could at least, appreciate it and let it live inside me. Forever.

Thank you! 

Flashback

Memory for me, is a labyrinth where we hide things, whose destiny is to remain there, intact, until we come back because of whatever is a trigger for us. In the last class we had, we were asked to remember the first class based on something in that class that transported us to the first... That's kind of what a flashback means, I will explain with this example: 

Today the teacher arrived and said hello with his deep and strong voice. That took me to the first class when I was expecting everything, then he arrived and  started speaking and his voice made me think the class was going to be fun. 

That was kind of what the teacher was expecting from the excercise, but from every single one of us. I must say not everyone understood that, but we did our best until we all could make a better example, thinking of those triggers that make us think of something that was not forgot but turned off, while we find that thing I call "trigger" or also "detonator" for those memories, good times or feelings that in any moment of our lives, made us feel great. If I had to answer te question, What detonates you? It would be really hard to know, many things make me get into flashbacks, but I think they're always different ways to get to the same point, things that are related to my memories in any way. Actually I don't focus too much on the way I become involved in flashbacks, but I'm sure It can be many amount of things. Whatever is the trigger, I'd like to know which is yours readers. Are you able to answer? 

Thank You 

Further the horizon, words mean different.

I was asked to write a story with re-meaned words, and here I present you it, a little piece of digital paper. The words I'll use are:  take the Metro = diving; a kiss = monster; telephone = night; smiling = house; looking = zoo (Words taken from the blog of  my classmate Julian because  I really  liked them.)

There was I trying to save myself from the looking filled  with fears and darkness. I knew I was not going to survive, as I did not know how swim and I had to take the metro to escape. Things were getting stronger and harder in my head, I was hearing lots of voices confusing myself about what to do, and me, standing there watching  life losing the battle second by second, losing time while the fears were at smiling waiting for me to fall again. All of those kisses wanted to approach on me and attack until there remained nothing, but the ashes of a coward man, that lost because didn't fight. I was being consumed by the pass of telephone, and it ringed as strong as never. My destiny was to know my horrible end, and as I couldn't decide what to do, I risked everything, I lost everything, just to stand there, watching how I wasn't even able to take the metro. Kisses of my deep, now you can forbid me in this world that only accept the risky, and dismiss the afraid.

This was kind of a little paragraph, but I'd like you to write a short one with this words I'm going to invent:

Fish=Girlfriend

Sword=Dreams

Eat= kill

Robot= love

Water= journey

Thank you!

Colombia very well, very fast.

I assume most of the readers know what I'm about to speak, and it is indeed, the new program of english the goverment proposed for the spread of it. I say this as I want to focus on the reflexive aspect from the point of view of a teacher on  formation, and even most important being formed in the area of languages, exactly english. I think is nice to start being aware both teacher and goverment of the fast grow of societies nowadays and how they expand, making possible the concept of globalization, and for this languages are a key. English since the launch of american economy in the past century, has been becoming a strong language that is being adopted by many continents as the global language, opting to start including it as a second language program, and in Colombia's case we're about to start developing it until 2025, which is for me a really short term, but workable as it is becoming mandatory for teachers to do a hard work, to reach to the levels they have proposed. I think that is responsibility of everyone, goverment, teachers and students, of the success of this program. They must apply a collaboration and start accepting a work together making of it related in any aspect, so everything daily will improve, creating a consciousness of easy access from the economical to the individual aspect. English is going to be better, as the people is able even more each day to meet the world by internet, or accesing to travelling, which also is getting easier. Colombia very well from the positive eye I watch it, may be the start, not the mere success, but the doors of a even better politic on language education and the creation of a generation of people who trust languages as a proved way of being even more free, and as a way of developing many other skills. Maybe 10 years are not enough, yet they can be really useful for our future work, on what for me will be the matter, and its facing the real need of not only english but many other languages.

My readers, I'd like you to answer also this questions:

1. What could you improve from Colombia Very Well ?

2. Why you trust or not the program?

3.From your point of view of teacher in formation, Do you feel like facing this program and doing everything to accomplish it? Why?

Thank you!

The writers.

There is a lot to expect when it comes to writing, as you can find there a lot of yourself, and maybe a little bit of the others too. Writing is further putting words on a paper or a screen, as it is for me, the process that takes you to the deep of yourself, and start making it tangible while it catches sight.Words also, can always change our way of being, thinking or acting, as they're suposed to have the power of ten gods, because what is said, cannot be changed. Books are a great example, as if you find the correct one, it might make of your life totally different and thanks to the tangible expression of anything trought words. All of this in orden to explain kind of the importance, not only as something that can transform, but as the set of many qualities that make of it, the immortality of language. Just a few days ago, I found myself writing, not only one story but many at the same time,It sounds kind of impressive, and maybe people would believe I'm exagerated but it really happened as I point. The master that leads the class, gave us one simple thing to do, mention a noun and an adjective, after this we had to pick two of each category and try to build a question that answers this other: Where are you going later? Maybe it sounded too simple, but what came after this, was just the amazing representation of each different imagination present in the classroom, all conveyd in many different papers. All of us where continuing those endless answers, that developed every kind of unimagined stories, because they were really unimagined as they were the complex ensemble that promoted us to work together, without taking in account the possible strange plots of each, it had us there as a lovely remind of us enjoying the great thing we have been given, writing. I think that we actually didn't mind about the order of ideas, promoting the free sharing of our ways to be, not being ashamed nor scary about it. I really loved the exercise, as it got me closer to my classmates trought writing, which is something I really like feeding, because it makes me feel certainly released from quotidian things, and also makes of quotidian life more enjoyable helping you to get new points of view. I must say my peers have a great imagination and they can manage to fix it with fun and get out of yourself a laugh while reading the text. After we all read and fixed mistakes, we picked two of them on different groups and posted it at classroom, so people could read them and either feel amazed or confused, because for understanding those lines, I believe you must be able to go further than normal. This kind of exercise encourage people if they feel identified, to keep on writing, to develop this lovely skill and to use it to conquer the world, that inner world we all have, and would like to discover. I may say I would repeat, to have a laugh or to work with my mates without wondering about what to write, but to let it flow being coherent of course yet letting imagination, go as far as it wants. There's a word on spanish for what we did: "Cadaver exquisito" and we all are now an important part of all of those corpses, that now rest in the paper that makes of them, immortal.

When small details are the most important.

This is not another text about why people wonder small details are the most important, and they just can't find out what other people mean by that, but in our context small details live and hide everywhere among the letters, those letters togheter are words, and words make a language. All of this is structured and managed by a very important social convention on languages that is Grammar. Something we can not pass by when about learning and making propper a language, from school to home, this must be evangelized like if it was a religion, and this kind of exageration is maybe the accurate aim for expressing the importance of such a thing. Grammar from my point of view, make us focus into the importance of the small details, in this case of languages. Because by making us stare at things as such the importance of a noun or and adjective, grammar goes further even wanting to express the manage of rhythm by  simple signs as comas (,) or even points (.) things as simple as those have a lot of meaning when we consider the grammar, and that must be consider a social rule, and also the non-use must be fight with education. People who usually don't care that would say that even what I write is not important, but as a language teacher student, I'm making on my mind a really active user of grammar just by checking it, learning from it, and always going further by understanding it, which take us to be almost experts when talking about speech structure, and that also would be really worth for us as person, as individuals because the correct use of the language may bring eloquence, synthesis capacity, better than average skill writting, of course an amount of things that might be supported by surveys. This all is gotten by practice, and practice take us just to understand a little bit of our cotidian life, as grammar is present everywhere; In the supermarket list, the agenda, the newspaper, the announcements, the tv, and even in the morning conversation with our parents or friends. Grammar has a lot of meaning and we should encourage ourselves to understand that and share it, because we are owners of it.

1. From your point of view, why you care about grammar?
2. How you think grammar influences  learning different languages?
3. Do you think you apply correctly grammar? How you develop those skills?

I must thank my readers, leave also your opinions or comments.

Idioms: expressing culture

Idioms on languages are important because they’re also a way to speak and communicate with people. The social context set a kind of expressions that serve in the cotidian life, expressing many things saving words, and even thought at first sight many aren’t easy to unveil, it helps us to start a reflexion on  language, because makes us think, wonder and explore the language, not as a bunch of rules but as a community adapting to it by the pass of time, while words adquire strange connotations. That’s for me a great exercise for any person who’s trying further to learn the language, and start to feed curiosity of understanding what they learn, contextualizing knowlegde in language on the culture that language belongs to, also exploring manners from language, and why not meeting people. I think there are many tools for us as learners to get even more involved into a language, and one of them are Idioms, as they deepen us into a context by their usage and when we learn them and use them, we are also appropiating the language culture.

Here I will put some examples of idioms on english and their equivalent on spanish, my beloved native language.

Actions speak louder than words = Un hecho vale más que mil palabras

People's intentions can be judged better by what they do than what they say.

People use this idiom when they are tired of listening the people saying things they don’t re-afirm by acting.

Cry over spilt milk = No llore sobre la leche derramada

When you complain about a loss from the past.

People say this when someone is retracting something that is already donde, even i fis just a loss from the past or a mistake they comitted.

Your guess is as good as mine = Me corchaste

To have no idea, do not know the answer to a question

When someone is really confused as the explanation says, to have not a single idea.

Costs an arm and a leg = Cuesta un ojo de la cara

This idiom is used when something is very expensive.

Caught between two stools = Entre la espada y la pared

When someone finds it difficult to choose between two alternatives.

My readers, do you know any different idiom? Have you tried to look for Idioms on a language different of english and spanish? I did and went like: Tomber dans des pommes (pass away)
thank you readers

When the waves take you apart.

"Die Welle", or just as simply as "The wave" it's a german movie, that got me into a deep state of thinking. I should not talk about the movie but the effect of it in myself, but that's exactly the problem, how it did not affected me because everything inside the movie I believe is though to get straigh in to your mind and then change many things around. Even the movie is no that though in the beginning it gets stronger meanwhile the ideal inside the movie develops, and is the way an ideal conveys people and people's skills to reach everything, and reafirms for myself that things like nazism, socialism, communism and any of their relatives are just encaged waiting  for the people strong enough to give the first path for their release. Even in our times, when technology seems to reach even higher tops putting everything to stake, and always taking our societies to evolve really fast, the fastest known in our history. Ideal keep controlling us and our way to behave, we may make prejudices about different ideals, yet they're really quotidian but most of people usually don't notice bacause they're so custom to those ideals, they just never think about it, and like in the movie, when things get automatic, also can get out of control. Reflexion is a necessary part of our daily life from my point of view, we don't need to doubt everything but at least try to understand it.

Here I leave you the link to watch it:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2acb6f_the-wave-2008-die-welle-original-title-original-full-movie-hd-quality_shortfilms

1.How can ideals as nazism can rise in our epoch?
2.What is your conclusion about the movie? (If you  have watched it)
3.Which ideal do you think you follow?
Thanks.

One of a thousand.

Before I start writing about the real activity, I'd like to explain in few lines what do I mean with my title. I say "one of a thousand". Every teacher without taking in account if he's a bad or good teacher is one of a thousand as not everyone has got the courage to envelop the responsibility of forming people and having good results, or at least having many lives changed into every possible and positive way.
After having an interview with an English teacher from the language center of the PBU (Pontificia Bolivariana University)  who is also teacher in the Facultry of Education,He is called Juan Franciso Vasquez, I was wondering how would I answer my own questions in a few years, when I become so.
The Interview was followed by these:
1. Q:How many time has passed since you learnt your first language?
    A: 20 years

2. Q:Do you feel passion for languages?
    A: A lot, since I discovered languages set no boundaries for your world.

3. Q:You think from the role of language teacher you can generate educational changes?
    A: Of course, but It's not just about the teachers, because this envolves also the system we run here          in Colombia, so I think a stronger relation theory-practice would help to generate changes from          the practice not as language teacher, but as Teacher.

4 .Q: What is your favorite language?
    A: English

5  Q:What was the key factor for becoming a teacher?
    A: The taste on languages and teaching

6  Q:How do you describe yourself as a teacher?
    A: As another one, who read lots and built a lot of knowledge and share it with people

7 Q:Are you proud of your career?
   A: A lot, it have made feel like all my dreams can come true, and I really believe so, this is  a really    good profession, that if you do it with love it will pay you back with happiness.

Now I'd like my readers to answer another question: From the point of view of your career, are you able to change the world?
Thank you for reading.

Involving music to education

When it comes to choose a song we like, we may think of lots of them, as there are millions of songs ready to be listen, but when it comes to choose a song about education, we maybe would think a little bit more on it. This week, I was asked to choose a song related to the most important matter of my entire career, education. In the begin I had some blurry ideas, about what song would be the most proper for the occasion, indeed my election was a song which is such an anthem for some, people like me. Its name is "Simple man" but its lyrics aren't that simple, because the implicit meaning of every single word you can find on it, it's just huge when you attach them all. The song is a story about a mom whose son listen to every single word of wisdom, and she spokes to him about a completely different style of life, a way where everything you need is beneath your soul, also she is asking him to be a simple kind of men, which means that life is as hard as we turn it, and if we're not so difficult people everything we'll need in life is going to be there within us, waiting to be awaken. I do believe the song speaks to us through a simple message which is that we don't need to be part of any stereotype but ours. Sometimes I start thinking about what the woman's wisdom would do to my life, and even feel some way identified as the opposite of what she is asking his son to do, but eventhough the song makes me feel wrong, as always I can find the light at the end of the tunnel, which for me in this case is apreciating the song's message and aplying it step by step on my life, living slower and happier, but more active and prepared for being challenged, furthermore since the first time I listened to this song I felt really sticked to it, because the lyrics got me, and so did the band who did the cover, Shinedown. Indeed it is a cover, the original song is a famous composition by Lynyrd Skynyrd. But yet, I believe the song speaks to me, and is asking me to create some changes on my life and my environment, and those don´t need to be large changes but simple changes, as Lao Tzu said: "The journey of one thousand miles, starts with one step." When I presented the song, I wasn´t afraid of what people could think about it, because maybe in the first sight, it has no relation to school or education, but as I said, education is not just about memorizing, reproducing knowledge and mining the brain for the state's purporses and interest, it has to go further by FORMING, and I do capitalize because is the proper verb to describe what education should do, and we do not form things or animals, we do form people, and that´s what the song is inciting us, to be formed and even it explains it in a very simple way, just try to be someone you understand and love, and from my point of view, that's what school should aslo take in acount, still I'm not saying school is a bad place, but that doesn't mean they have to keep ignoring important needs, as integral formation of people. Continuing the relation between music and school, I would also say that the relation could be reciprocal  if our schools started music programs to encourage students to discover this awesome world, and that would make school really influent on musicians formation, which lead to a generation of people adicted and pasionate for it.  Still school needs to enhance their own potencial. After all this discussion, I'd like also to highligh another song from a class mate, "Jeremy" from Pearl Jam. My childhood wasn't bad at all, also I had interested parents, but even I had everything a child need, I tried many times to comit suicide, of course on a very innocent way, but still the real worry is the fact that as I child, I was dealing with really big things, as suicide. So the song is for me a prove that we can carry own, eventhough jeremy shoots himself. As conclusion I'd like to say that music offers us a lot of possibilities, but my favorite is that it allows us to analize it and disdain it until we find more than one sense, so as activity I would ask my students to listen to the song and to write a little text about how they think, is the better path to reach satisfaction, happiness and self understanding, They'll be able to meet themselves, and who knows, that would save some lives.

Questions:

1.  How do you believe school needs to reinvent itself?

2.  Which song defines you? 

3. What's the best aspect for you about music-education relation? 

Myself

I always liked writing but eventhough I haven’t started a book, I’m living one interesting history, I’d like to summarize. When my mom was 21 on October 31st of 1996, was tired of waiting for me because I was suposed to be born on October 27th, so she started to get worried and then at 8:19 p.m suddenly I appeared from darkness. My early childhood was filled with joy, and discovery of myself as a person, then I began growing alongside music with drums. It didn’t lasted too much, the clases were cut because of low budget  But life was still enjoyable and it reduced to school, friends and going around. Later when I was 10 music came back to me as a guitar and since then , I’ve been addicted to it even dreaming to become a rockstar, it has been with me trought lots of situations. Writing also has been an important part of my life, I love poetry and also tales, and that will always be an option when it’s about releasing the inner me. Within myself are lots of things, people sometimes get the risk to know, but simple things as music, writting and languages are perfect for having an idea of me. By the way I’m Juan Felipe Pabón, and I’m a current Bachellor on languages student.