Career-related website or An expert in your field

Hi, peeps, for today you can choose between two interesting topics: A website related to your career or an expert in your field. Obviously, I will give the sample language for both.

First, let's go with the career-related website I like.

The career-related website that I enjoy the most is Wikipedia (wikipedia.org). This website is an open encyclopedia that can be updated everyday by people from all over the world. The website has many sections and features being the most important one the ability to search in any given language any topic that you want. You just have to type a topic, pick a language and that's it. If wikipedia does not find your exact topic, it will provide other related topics.
I visit wikipedia weekly to look for information, decide disputes or just invest (waste for some people, but that depends on the point view) time.
I really like this site because inside each article, you find links to the articles of related topics, names of the people involved and you can click on them and continue learning. I have spent hours going from article to article only by clicking on the links, you can start reading about 9/11 conspiration theories and end up reading about the second law of thermodynamics. I also really like the fact that you have to give references for the claims you make in the articles because that gives wikipedia seriousness, for example. if an article does not have any references, wikipedia will post a notice stating that as a means to prevent people from believing in falsified or unreferenced articles

Now, let's go for the second topic.

One person that I really admire from Linguistics is Michael Tomasello. He is a North-American psychologist who studied his BA and PhD in the US and currently works in Germany. His main area of research is to establish the cognitive and cultural differences between humans and primates. In order to establish these differences, Tomasello has worked with different types of primates such as apes and bonobos, and he has studied how children acquired cultural norms to be active members of society. For example, he has established that primates share with humans some means to attract and direct the attention of others by using their hands and eyes. Also, great apes use gestures to communicate like we sometimes do.
When studying children's acquisition of cultural norms, he has focused on language acquisition. He posits the idea that language acquisition is a crucial aspect of the acquisition of cultural norms. On this topic, he has earned a very powerful enemy called Noam Chomsky. Tomasello goes against Chomsky's theory that children have an innate component in their brains to acquire language. Instead and based on his extensive research with primates and children, he posits the idea that children acquire language by learning social functions and using it, what people refer as socio-pragmatic or usage-based theory of language acquisition. Chomsky really hates Tomasello, and that feeling is mutual.
I really like Tomasello because he is quite emphatic when it comes to hating Chomsky and he is always finding new ways to disprove Chomsky's arguments.


If you go for the career-related website, you have to:

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


If you go for the famous person in your field, you have to:
-Who she/he is. (short biography)
-What she/he has done. (examples of their work)
-Why you like her/him.
-Include his/her image

> About 170 words
>Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs

My favorite song

So this is a free post in which you will write about your favorite song. I'm quite sure you have dozens of favorite songs but you can only talk about one.

My favorite song is Across the Sea performed by the North American band Weezer. This song is featured on their second album named Pinkerton. When Pinkerton was released in 1996, The Rolling Stone magazine said that it was the worst album of the decade and that Weezer would regret releasing it. Lots of magazines gave the same review. In the early 2000s, The Rolling Stone magazine said that they made a huge mistake and that Pinkerton was among the best albums of all times, furthermore, it gave Pinkerton a score of 5 out of 5 and added it to The Rolling Stone Hall of Fame. Pinkerton is full of songs about unrequited love: a lesbian whom Cuomo (lead singer) wants to marry, a girl who doesn't want to go to a Green Day concert, and a Japanese fangirl that infatuates Cuomo with a letter. That last description  is the theme for Across the Sea.

Across the Sea is based on a real life event that ocurred to Cuomo. He enrolled in Harvard to study English language and literature (like me) and was having a rough time, feeling quite empty and sad. Until one day he received a letter from an 18-year old Japanese girl written in a funny English. In this letter, she asks him several everyday questions. Cuomo has stated that she fell in love with this girl immediately although he never met her. And the song is about that. The opening lines are about the questions the girl made, and then, the song is all about Cuomo's reaction and desires being the most important his depressing feeling of being away from her. The song is filled with powerful guitar chords and a feeling of despair that hits right in the soft spot.

When I listened this song for the first time around 2008, I fell completely in love with it. I was feeling quite empty at that time, and I felt even emptier after listening to this song because I had no one. Nonetheless, I felt  reassured that if that nerd Cuomo was able to survive, I could as well.

So, you have to write about your favorite song stating:
- Who performed it
- In which album it was released
- The topic of the song
- Any funny stories related to it
- Why you like it
- And a link to the song.

The minimun number of words is 170 and don't forget to comment on 3 of your classmates' blogs.

I photograph I like

Hi, guys and gals, today I will show a photograph that I really like.

This picture was taken by a stranger that was at the rooftop at that moment. On the background you can see the Parthenon and you can see me with two of the best people in the world, my wife-to-be, Nati, and our Japanese friend, Satoko. This picture was taken on Saturday, October 6th, 2013.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this picture because this is the last picture that we have with Satoko before she returned to Japan. Therefore, I get sad because we spent an awesome time with her. We travelled through almost 20 countries together. I am also happy because we were able to spend some quality time with her and she was an awesome travel buddy. We went from Spain, through all Western and Central Europe to end our trip in Athens. We ate lots of weird food and drank lots and lots of beer (they say that beer creates a protective coat in your stomach). From time to time Satoko would cook Japanese dishes which were awesome. Also, we (and by we I mean I) had to carry a 30kg piece of luggage all through Europe. By the end of the trip I was really strong. I wish she could have stayed longer with us.

I also like this picture because I was wearing a band-aid on my nose which made look pretty badass. And the story behind that is badass as well. We were in Istanbul, 4 days before this picture was taken, walking in a beautiful park and there was a strong wind. A huge branch fell from a tree and hit me directly on the nose and my forehead making me bleed a lot. Luckily, I didn't fall or cry from the hit. Then we had some awesome kebabs, another great day.

 So, the instructions for tbis week are:

Write about a photograph you like.

Say:

Who took it
What it shows
When it was taken
Why you like it
Upload it too

Include any other information you'd like to mention.
Write at least 150 words.

Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs

Today's subject: Christianity

Alright guys and girls, last class I gave you the chance to decide the topic for this week's blog. There were a lot of good ideas such as pets, favorite movies, books, bands, etc.. Nonetheless, the majority decided that the topic would be Christianity. That shows that democracy sometimes does not work very well. Here we go.

Although I'm not a Christian myself, I can see its influence not only in religions, traditions or laws. The Bible, a Christian work of art, has influenced art in all its forms. It is pretty easy to think about
examples for this: Da Vinci's Last Supper is clearly influenced by Christianity; The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem based on the symbol that the albatross, a large seabird, represented Jesus. This rime was also turned into a song by Iron Maiden. Another example is Aslan, the talking lion in the Chronicles of Narnia, which is also seen as a representation of Jesus: he dies and then comes back to life to save everyone. Although Aslan is not afraid to get his paws dirty, he remains true to some of the characteristics that Jesus was supposed to have like wisdom and mercy.

Art critics, when they are studying different works of art, try to study which previous works of art have influenced them, and it is really common and easy to find a link to Christianity.

I read the Bible once I understood that if I wanted to gain a deeper insight to the art I like, I had to trace its influences in order to get to better interpretations. When I read books regardless of the gender, I often find references to the Bible. In all honesty, I enjoy finding those references a lot, although, as I said before, I am not Christian.

One reference I really enjoy is the reference to Judas's treason. In one of Isaac Asimov's books, the best science fiction writer ever, he makes reference to this. One character, Golan Trevize, asks another character, Munn Li Compor, how many silver coins he had received to sell him to the government. Interestingly, the reference does not stop there. After asking the question and getting an answer, Trevize reflects on the myth that that idiom "receiving silver coins means treason" is really old and is commonly used in all the planets of the galaxy. This story occurs in the future, in the year 22000 after Christ.

This reference is my favorite because it shows how Christianity has influenced our culture and will continue doing it even if there are no more people who called themselves Christians. I think that is the point that Asimov wanted to make, especialy if we consider that he was an atheist.

So as you can see, you can discuss the topic of Christianity in a free manner, it only depends on you.

The minimun word count for this week's blog is 140. And remember to comment on 3 of your classmates blogs.

Cheers

My favorite piece of technology

In all honesty, I don't like technology that much. Yes, it is quite awesome to be able to videochat with friends from all over the world, and yes it is awesome to play computer games. Nevertheless, I get the impression that technology is making life too easy for us and, in the process, making us very lazy and out of touch with the real world. As you know, I really like reading, maybe a hundred years ago they had the same opinion about books.

Although I just said I don't like technology that much, there is one piece of technology that I was reluctant to have that now I really enjoy. I am talking about the e-book reader Kindle. The Kindle is a piece of technology that allows you to read e-books and PDF files. Now you are thinking "I can do that on my laptop, tablet or smartphone." Yes, of course you can, but the cool thing about the Kindle and other e-readers is that the battery can last for a whole month and that your eyes do not hurt when you use it for too long. Furthermore, it does not reflect light which means you can use it outside with sunlight.

My Kindle was a gift from my girlfriend for my birthday. When she bought it, I was not too sure if I were going to like it, but I was completely wrong. I love it.

It is a pretty simple device. You can upload the books from your laptop or download them from the amazon website. Then you select the book or file you want to read and then you start enjoying. I use it every week, on the bus, subway or any long trip.

I really like the Kindle because I can carry all the books that I love with me everywhere. Lots of books can be found free online easily and you can carry complete collections from your favorite authors. It saves a huge amount of space when you are traveling and it is really light.

If I lose it or it stops working, it would not be the end of the world because I still have lots of books. However, I would feel really sad because I think it was a really thoughtful gift.

So, peeps, for this week's blog you have to write about your favorite piece of technology.

You have to state:

What it is.
When you got it.
How you use it.
How often you use it.
Why you like it.
What life would be like without it.


The minimum word count is 130. This week, you have to include a picture of the device and remember to comment on at least 3 of your classmates' blogs.

No picture of me with the kindle, I couldn't find any.

Auf Wiedersehen.

Expectations for a new semester

This semester is really important to me because I have had the opportunity to teach really interesting subjects. I am teaching in five different places and all the classes are different. I am teaching linguistics at U ARCIS, general English in U de Chile and U Católica, teaching language skills at U Central, and grammar and teaching methodologies at UDLA. There are two classes that I am really enjoying. The first one is linguistics because I had never had the chance to work on linguistics. The second one is grammar because I really like teaching grammar.

But teaching is not the only activity I take part in. I am currently taking one extracurricular at UDLA. Every Friday evening, I practice Kendo, the Japanese sword art, at the Providencia campus. It is not a very demanding sport and I do not get physically tired, although the mental pressure that you and your opponent generate is quite exhausting. I hope I can learn a lot because I had wanted to practice Kendo for a long time.

I really hope I can teach and learn a lot in all my subjects because I think that now I have a good opportunity to improve my skills as a lecturer and researcher. This would allow me to pursue a PhD in the future.

Likewise and in a related topic, I hope I can get some of my academic articles published. Otherwise, I won't be able to improve my practical skills as a researcher.

So, as you can see, I am a really huge nerd but I am having lots of fun doing the things I like.

For this week's blog you have to write about the following:

- the subjects you are doing this term
- extracurriculars you are taking
- other activities that you are part of  at the university
- what you expect from this new academic period
The minimum word count is 110 and don't forget to comment on the posts of three of your classmates.

Martín out!

My auto biography

Hey peeps, this week's activity is quite simply although quite useful in order for you to get used to writing in English. Each writing activity will be introduced by a sample of real writing written by me. This week we have to write our autobiography, and here is mine!



I was born on Santiago the 1st of July of 1987. I have lived my entire life in Santiago except for the year I was abroad in the UK. Until recently, I lived with my parents, Violeta and Andrés, my little sister, Angela, and my two dogs, Perri and Epi. I have an older sister who moved out two years ago. Last Sunday, I moved out from my parents' house in Lo Prado to an apartment in Santiago Centro. Now, I live with my girlfriend and a small puppy called Chipolita.



I studied in Santiago Centro, in a small school called Colegio Santa Cruz. This school was both my elementary and high school. Then, I went to Juan Gómez Millas, where I studied English Linguistics and Literature. After finishing my BA, I pursued an MA in English Linguistics at Juan Gómez Millas (It seems I really like that campus). A year ago, I earned a scholarship to study Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath come from Birmingham. Tolkien was inspired by two important towers in Birmingham when he wrote "The Two Towers".

I like reading a lot, even more than playing computer games and watching movies. I think that writing and reading are two of the greatest human inventions ever. I often read a book a week, although if I have enough time, I can read 3 to 5 books a week. I often re-read books in order to interpret them in a different way. I also like running and practicing martial arts a lot, because for a long time people told me I was not fit for sports because I'm a huge nerd and my lungs were pretty weak. 

I'm working as a university teacher, and I have been doing that for the past four years. Surprisingly, I do not have a teaching degree, I only have academic degrees. I really like teaching, specially linguistics and theoretical grammar because I feel that I'm getting paid for studying and having interesting conversations.

Please, for this week's blog, write your autobiography including the following topics:

- Birth info
- Studies info (elementary/high school/ univ)
- Family Info
- Hobbies
- Others...

For this assignment, the minimum of words is 100. Also, you have to make comments on three of your classmates posts. It can be questions, sharing experiences, etc..