Blog Session 6 ::: Sample Post ::: Free Post

"Without music, life would be a mistake" F. Nitezsche

I'm going to write about Brazilian music and how much I love the music coming from that country. There's a singer I like, who I first listened to because of the film "Fast & Furious 5", which is not the kind of films I like but as it has Brazil as a setting, I watched part of it and just by coincidence the part where this song appears.

This singer is called Obando D2 and the name of the song is "Dasafabo deixa eu dizer", which literally means "Relief let me tell you", or something like that... I know very little about this singer but I think he's been singing for a long time because he has more than one hundred songs. He's in hip-hop and he's one of many singers who rap about the situation in Brazil, about poverty and crime in the favelas. Just like Os Paralamas do Suceso and other bands have also sung to protest as well as the many documentaries about their reality.

I like this song because of the lyrics, where he talks about what is to live in a favela and how he'd like Brazil to be. I'm interested in Brazilian culture, specially because I practice capoeira and I hope I can continue practicing it. With the different teachers we had and friends from there, who now live in Chile, (plus one or two boyfriends, I've learn't a great deal about the way Brazilians are... and they are a lot. The current population estimate for 2018 es 210.87 million.

Here you have the first song I mentioned: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2iz6MEtLM

I can't help including Antonio Carlos Jobim, the greatest bossa nova singer ever...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44sp4W3WiBk

Belén

Blog Session 6 ::: Instructions

Dear Class,

Today you are free to choose the topic of your post... Maybe something about our society, friends, interesting movies, music, you choose.

Just remember to write your post in 180 words and please don't forget to make at least three comments on your classmates' posts as well as on mine.

Good luck,

Belén

Blog Session 5 ::: Sample Post ::: A career-related website

Today I'm going to write about a very useful website I use when translating and also when I teach: www.linguee.es 

This is an online dictionary and translator tool and it's interesting how they are able to offer more than 100 million translations made by humans. Most of the times, online translators are not reliable because they offer translations made by machines but this website is different. Here you can find examples of how the word or phrase you're looking for has been translated in bilingual websites like the ones companies, international organizations and universities have.

I visit this website every single day, especially when I'm translating and also to check if the translation I want to use is the most suitable. In an English class, I like to use it show the difference between a bad online translator and really good one, because this totally the opposite to Google translator. I usually support all Google creations like Google Classroom, Google Earth and Google Drive but when it comes to translations, I prefer www.linguee.es

I really like this website because up to this point, I've always found what I'm looking for. Apart from that, as you can find many examples, you can decide what translation to use and you can see where that translation has been used. This website shows you the paragraph where the word or phrase appears so the context helps a lot.
If you want to try this website, the creators recommend to look for phrases instead of single words.

Blog Session 5 ::: Instructions

Dear Class,

How are you doing?

This week you have two choices, so please choose one and good luck with your writing.


Post 1 
Write about a career-related website that you enjoy visiting.

You should:
- provide a link
- describe the website (sections, features,etc)
- say how often you visit the site
- explain why you like the site.

>Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs plus one comment about my post.
>Word Count: 170 words minimum
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post 2 
Who is a person/expert on your field that you admire?

Say:
-Who she/he is (short biography)
-What she/he has done (examples of her/his work)
-Why you like her/him.
-Include his/her image

> 170 words minimum
>Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs plus one comment about my post.


Best,

Belén

Blog Session 4 ::: Sample Post

A photograph

It’s not easy to choose one photo I like to write about. There are so many to choose but it’s easier if I think of black and white photos. I definitely prefer black and white and I love going to the lab and develop my own pictures.

This photo was taken by Luis Poirot, a well-known Chilean photographer, and that day Víctor and Luis were near Cerro Blanco, trying to obtain a photo for Víctor’s new album cover. 
Here you can see part of the complete picture. I found this copy on the internet but on my wall, I’ve got the original and it’s bigger. Apart from Víctor Jara holding his guitar, and the old lady behind him, you can a see a boy to the left, right next to Víctor, looking at the camera. And you can also see the entire guitar Víctor is holding. The difference between this picture and the one I have is that in the one on my wall, Víctor is not looking at the camera.

This photo was taken in 1968 or 1969. According to Luis, the photographer, this photo wasn’t authorized by the Communist party, so Víctor’s new album cover for “Pongo en tus manos abiertas” was the one – that you might have seen- with two palms together.

Finally, I really like this photo not only because Víctor Jara is in it but because I admire him and I respect everything he was and did.

Sample Post 4 ::: Instructions

Dear Class,

Please remember to write in your blogs. I've seen just some of you have posted it and then the incovenient will be to write all together plus not getting all the score.

This time you have to choose a photo that you really like and write:

a) Who took it
b) What it shows
c) When it was taken
d) Why you like it
e) Upload the photo too


Wordcount: 150 words minimum and please remember to make comments on at least three of your classmates' blogs and one about mine.

Best of luck,

Belén

Sample Post 3 ::: Free Post

I remember the long weekend after Labour Day last May, and the news about the sit-in the faculty. We were not surprised because some students had mentioned a strike could be possible and considering the context this year, nothing but a sit-in would fit better not only in FACSO but in other faculties of UCh as well.

I can't deny it was convenient for me and my family because we had to move. We moved to a different region for the first time and we now live at the beach. We really like it, specially because of the clean air for our baby boys. So, the time without teaching was perfect to sell some things, to give away some others and then pack everything. But this time was different because I didn't get as stressed out as last time.

During these months not everything was happy... Something really sad happened and that was the death of our little cousin Camilo. He was 4 years-old and died of a heart attack because he had a strange syndrome. As you can imagine it was shocking for the whole family and specially, for his mother, sister and father.

As I wasn't teaching I had more time to tour foreigners, which is always fun. I don't care if it's the centre of the city, Santa Lucía o San Cristóbal hills, I always enjoy it. I also toured young people like you but younger, from segundo tercero and cuarto medio. They study in Puente Alto and went to the city centre for a 2-hour tour with us. That day I had the chance to practice my sign language, which it's difficult to practice with a deaf person because my deaf friends lead read me, but there it was José, a very nice and young student, who was surprised I could speak sign language.

Blog Session 3 ::: Instructions

Dear Class,

How are you?
I'm taking care of my eyes so I can be with you next week.

In the meantime and after all this time, I invite you to write again in your blogs about you, your life in general, experiences or anything you'd like to share... because you can choose the topic of your blog.

Remember to write your post in 140 words minimum and please do not forget to make comments. You need 3 comments on your classmates' posts and 1 on mine.


Best of luck and welcome back,


Belén