My blogging experience: The best of the english class this term

My blogging experience in the English class was very important. I enjoyed it, because it was a way of learning where I learnt from my own mistakes in grammar and vocabulary when the teacher checked my tasks. For example, in one of my first tasks, I learnt the adjectives must not be in plural, because this language is very mathematical, unlike Spanish, where we use words with more freedom.

Of course, I think this experience helps me to improve my English, when I’m writing or speaking in English, because allows me to improve my grammar and vocabulary when I’m expressing my ideas. Also, I can write faster than before the course and I learnt about little details in grammar that I didn’t care for when I wrote my things in English.

Blogging, in English classes, has a lot of advantages. First of all, it was a personalized way to learn grammar and vocabulary, following my own rhythm. I could improve style and redaction, learn new words, and the meaning they have got in English. Practice was another important factor. As I practiced, writing in English, I could do it faster and better. And I think blogging was our first step into the future, when we, journalists, will need to write essays or articles for newspapers. I learnt doing, according to my own mistakes and defects, with the help of dictionaries and grammar lessons, that, through a quick access, allow me a quicker learning.

It has a serious disadvantage though: the time.. It was too late. Many students were tired and when we wrote, we couldn’t express ourselves well, and the tasks were written, many times, without any motivation.

To conclude, the best part of this English course, in my opinion, was the blogging experience. Although grammar, listening and theory lessons are important, blogging allows to practice those abilities and, effectively, improve each one’s level and expression, in the English language. We can learn of our own mistakes and improve it in the next task. With the blog, we are learning to do something that we are going to need day by day. To make sentences that will enable us to communicate ideas is important for us. And the best, is that we could learn from our own mistakes with a digital tool that a journalist will be going to use every day in our jobs, maybe. That’s the best of this pre-intermediate English course. Certainly, it’s a very good way of learning.

My ideal job in the future

My ideal job in the future would be something in TV or behind cameras, because I like that area from I was a child. For TV, I need personality and courage to clash with a camera, a correct domain of energy and speed for improvise any unexpected situation. Also, in TV, the journalists needs talking habilities, with a correct expression of different ideas for people. The appearance, or look, is other important element and quality for find a job in TV.

I think I would be good at this job because I’ve got a strong voice and diction, and the skills for making interesting and creative notes or clips. Also, TV needs shyness journalists to clash with audience and I think I'm not shy for TV, but I need practice these skills and qualites, because I can't be good at clashing with cameras or talking good inmediately.

Find this kind of job, of course, would be difficult, because there are a lot of schools of journalism, so, TV channels select only the best students. However, TV select, also, students of the best schools and universities, because they know their quality and prestige.

Do schools kill creativity?

Sir Ken Robinson, in his talk, "Do schools kill creativity?" has a bold statement to make: creativity should be treated, in the educational systems, as importantly as literacy. Kids are not afraid to being wrong; they are always willing to take chances, and that's what an ideal educational system should exploit. And the truth is: the fear to being wrong is engraved to them in our schools. There isn't a real focus on other activities that don't involve intellectual development.

Sir Ken Robinson argues that current educational systems were designed in the 19th century with a purpose in mind: to turn everyone into a "university professor", or, at least, into someone with a degree. Educational systems don't take into account the tremendous leaps in our understanding of how human brain works, that happened in the 20th and 21th century. And maintaining those educational systems in their current fashion is unsustainable.

My favorite subject this term

My favourite subject, in this term, was Analysis of Fixed Images, taught by Rafael del Villar. I like it, because this subject speaks about the behaviour of communication media; about microcultures, like videogames, anime, comic, and such; about how society imposes you ways to behave, and how can you confront that pressure, through your inner world. Also, it speaks about how music videos are made, the theory of pulses, and the correlation between pulses, images and sound.

I've learnt, in this term, how do different communication media, or supports, correlate themselves. For example, when you are consuming a cultural product, you are doing a lot of things at the same time: you are browsing the Internet, you are listening music, and that wasn't so before. Technologies change perceptions. I've also learnt that, in the eastern culture, there's no notion of subject, because there is an equilibrium between imaginary and symbols. In our western, Catholic culture, however, there is a notion of the subject, a subject who must seek his own development through serving others.

Jorge Lanata, a great argentinian journalist

In my field, the journalism, it's very hard to say who is the best. But I think Jorge Lanata is a great representative of latinamerican journalism.

Jorge Lanata is an argentinian journalist who born in Mar del Plata in 1960. He started his career at 14 writting short news for Radio Nacional. Since 1977 he was a collaborator of several written media: Siete Días magazine, Clarín Revista. In 1983, he entered the news program of Radio Belgrano and made investigation reports for Sin Anestesia show, while collaborating with Humor, El Periodista and El Porteño magazines. Outside Argentina, Lanata had worked in El Nuevo Herald of Miami, The Washington Times, El Espectador of Bogotá and El Diario de Caracas.

In 1987, at 26 years old, he co-funded Página 12 and was its journalistic director for seven years. Today, Página 12 is one of most importants newspapers in Argentina.

In 1998, he founded with the important chronicler Martin Caparós and other journalists, the Veintiuno Magazine. The next year it called Veintidos and finally, in 2000, it named Veintitrés, the same name it has at present.

In 2008, Lanata founded the newspaper La Crítica de La Argentina, but recently he renounced to his job as a director.

In TV, he hosted Dia D (D-day), a very popular TV show that achieved Martín Fierro award for best journalistic television show in 1996 and 1997, and Clarín Award for best TV show in 2003. Lanata himself achieved Marín Fierro award for best journalistic TV host in 1996, 1997 and 2004. Also, he conduced "Viaje al Fin de la Noche", "Luna" and "¿Por qué?".

In Radio, he conduced "Hora 25" and Rompecabezas, that, like in TV, achieved Martin Fierro award in 1995. In 2007 he returned with "Lanata AM"

In cinema, In October 2004, he premièred Deuda, a documentary on foreign debt and his opera prima in cinema discussing bureacratic corruption and ignorance, a film which was nominated for many awards.

I like him because he is a journalist with a great trajectory. He had worked in different places and he had provided Argentina and journalists with big knowledge about how to make journalism in controversial situations, specially with power. His irony and sarcasm for present news, his non-prejudiced attitud in his reports and books and his acid humor makes him one of best journalists of Argentina and Latin America.

I would like to talk about his books, like a example of his work. In 1987 he published El nuevo periodismo (The New Journalism) as a compiler, and the following year La guerra de las piedras,Vuelta de página (Turn of the Page, 1997), a collection of press articles written throughout his whole journalistic career. In 2004 he published "ADN, mapa genético de los defectos argentinos" (DNA, Genetic Map of Argentine Faults, essay). I think this last book it should be very interesting, I haven't read yet, but an investigation of argentinian's faults would to make happy to chilean people jajajaja.

My career, The Journalism

Well, you know, I'm studying journalism at University of Chile. My school is the oldest of the country. I'm studying this beacause I always like mass medias and comunication in general. My favorite subject is all about TV, mass media culture and chronicles about topics not told in traditionals newspapers and TV Channels. Since I was seven, eight years old I have watched tv news and from nine, ten years old I have read newspapers (Really, I try, beacause I only read the sections that I like and when I've got free time).

A Journalist should be a complete professional, with all the tools for working in different places, because I don't know where I'm going to work when I finish my career. For example, I like very much TV, but at first I could work on press, radio or Public Relationships. Also, a good journalist ought to be brave, because sources of information are not always available or willing to talk, specially in some controversial situations. And, this is very important, a professional of press must have got personality to clash with a camera or an important minister, president, famous singer, etc.

Professionals in my area contribute to society... Well... They could be Alejandra Matus, her investigations always are controversial with power, Santiago Pavlovic in "Informe Especial", María Olivia Monckeberg with her books, Cristobal Peña with his investigations for CIPER (The Civil Registry's problem and a report about Pinochet's library). These Journalist are valiant and conmmited with society and people.

A Beautiful photograph of argentinian patagon.

This beautiful photograph was taken by Marta Salinas for "La Nación" a very important newspaper from Argentina. I don't know who is she, but I like her photo very much.

The picture shows a big green field with a little laggon. Also, there are some big leafy threes and next to them, a great and wonderful house. It is similar of wood and behind it we can see a hill with a lot of threes. But is not only a simple hill. It is the majestic Los Andes Mountain Chain, the most important and long of South America. It starts in Venezuela and ends in chilean Antartica, with the name of "Artantandes". Really, this picture was taken in a beautiful sunny day, with some clouds over and behind the hill.

This field of Villa Trafull, this is the name of this place, was taken on January 14th in 2007. Not long time ago.

I like this photograph because shows a green, fertile and great field. The house also is very wonderful, I would like to live in it. I have always liked and enjoyed places like in the picture. Blue lakes with a big volcano, vast forests with a blue sky, tropical beaches with palms and with white sand, etc.

Also, Villa Trafull is near places that I have been to before, like Bariloche or Villa La Angostura, two of most turistic villages in argentinian patagonia. In winter, snow falls and falls and ski centers are open for many tourists and travellers who like skiing.