Blog Session 7

How green are you?

This is 2012 and I can’t believe how people are not yet aware of the importance of taking care of the planet we live in. I think people learn about “green issues” at school. Sometimes children learn how to make recycled paper and some others, they have workshops to learn some aspects of recycling. Environmental-friendly practices can be learnt at school and also at home. Since I was a little kid my parents, brother and sister taught me lots of things like not throwing my waste anywhere that’s not a bin.

I’ve always tried to be careful with the waste I produce. I use special bins (usually glass, plastic and organic bins) every time I can. Apart from that, I use water wisely -at least I try. I learnt that in Chiloé when I was 13. It was only when we spent more tan 2 weeks with a family in Nalhuitad, where they didn’t have tap water the moment I realised about the importance of using water wisely. I’m constantly thinking about ways to reduce my carbon footprint and transmitting the information so more people are aware.

I use my bike in the summer mostly. In Winter it’s too cold for me and too contaminated as well but as in Spring and Summer is more windy I tent to think that I’m not breathing so much smog. I don’t have a car so I’m always walking and taking the bus or the tube.

I support Greenpeace but only through the internet. I do that by signing emails requesting more laws or an action to stop some stupid objective of a millionaire company. I admire their mission so I think we should support any eco-organisations if it’s because they want to take care of the planet. I’d love to make tons of copies of “The 11^th Hour”, which is a documentary about the state of the Earth, considering air and water contamination mainly.

I think Santiago is missing more laws and public policies so people learn and participate in solving matters related to the environment. Our society needs to learn environmentally friendly practices so we can live more as a community.

Blog Session 7 Instructions

Dear Class,

Please ask yourselves how green you are and write about the following:

a) Where do people learn about environmentally friendly practices?

b) Have you incorporated recycling into your habits? Describe

c) Do you use a bike or your legs instead of a car?

d) Have you joined or supported any eco-organizations? Why/Why not?

e) What else have you done/would like to do?

f) What have you done to reduce your carbón footprint?

g) What’s missing in our society/Santiago regarding this issue?

Write 240 words mínimum and remember to make comments on at least three of your classmates’ blogs.

Best,

Belén

Blog Session 6

The human brain

I’ve always been interested in how the human body works. One of the reasons to be interested is that I practice sports, so why we sweat, stretch and how we can work out our muscles are intriguing facts about our bodies. Those, among other incredible facts like gestating as to have new generations. Sleeping, dancing, walking and reading are just some of the activities that have to do with the brain.

Biology and Education are closely related if we analyse the brain activity. As a teacher, when we study the way human beings learn, we study Psychology but unfortunately we didn’t study Neuroscience. Therefore, as this science has always caught my attention I wanted to learn more about it. A couple of years ago, because of the Masters programme I was studying, I had the chance to read lots of interesting papers about how the brain works when we read and how the way we stimulate the brain affects our learning process.

The human brain is a complex organ and as human beings we are supposed to be the only ones to know something about the way the brain works. With that skill, Pierre Paul Broca (1824-1880), a French pioneer doctor was able to draw a map of the brain and consequently, he discovered a small area in the left hemisphere, which controls the production of language. And, I guess that 100 billion neurons in our brains* are responsible for language, communication and many other aspects of our lives.

*http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/facts-about-your-brain/7038?image=2

Blog Session 6 Instructions

Dear Class,

Today, it's time for a free post. That means you are in charge of finding what to blog about.

Here you have a very complete link you can use to organise your ideas, once you have chosen your topic:

http://www.writingforward.com/news-announcements/guest-posts/three-writing-tips-for-building-an-outline

Remember to leave comments on at least 3 of your classmates' posts and this time you need to write 230 words minimum.

Good luck,

Belén

Blog Session 5 Instructions

Dear Class,

Today I'll offer you some tips on summarising so you can post without using google translator.
For today's post you have to use your own words. In academic writing there are some things we need to bear in mind. Apart from using our own words, we need to include the main points and avoid interpretations.

Visit this link in case you want to read more:
http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/Support/Heat/index.php?page=489

Please go to: www.guardian.co.uk and

a) Select a piece of news connected to your field and/or your future career.
b) Write a summary of it on 220 words minimum 250 maximum
c) Provide the link to your piece of news
d) Remember to leave comments on at least three of your classmates' posts.

Good luck,


Belén

Blog Session 4

Documentaries

I really enjoy watching films as well as documentaries and documentaries unlike films are meant to document some aspects of reality. A couple of friends have created their own documentaries so I’ve seen what it takes to actually complete one. I like documentaries because I think we can learn a lot about so many different things in a more dynamic way. Also, I like documentaries because, as a translator, I could work subtitling a film and that’s an interesting job to have.

I do remember “Nanook of the North” (1922) even though it’s not my favourite one, it’s an interesting documentary considering the year it was filmed and also, it’s considered to be the first anthropological documentary film ever. There you can see the life of Inuit Eskimos, Nannok and his family.

What I really like about documentaries is that they’re non-fictional motion pictures so we should see real life and real experiences. I don’t have one single favourite documentary but here I left you the trailer of the latest I watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOArGfIR0c

If interested in Chilean documentaries, please watch “La batalla de Chile” by Patricio Guzmán and you can also check this blog if you want more information:

http://documentaleschilenos.wordpress.com/

Blog Session 4 Instructions

Themed post

Dear Class,

Today you can choose the topic to post in your blogs. This is the first out of three themed posts so, hope you can find an interesting topic!
This time you must write 200 words minimum and remember to make comments on at least three of your classmates' posts.

As we need to organise what we're going to say, think about what you want to say about the topic. Some people find useful the Writer's 5 Ws (and sometimes H for "How"), which corresponds to:
What, why, when, where and who, and sometimes how.

For example, if you want to write about your favourite film, you can write three paragraphs to say a) what is the film about, b) why you like it and c) when and where it was filmed.

If you have problems finding a theme, check this out:

http://www.thewritesource.com/writing_topics/


Good luck,

Belén