Post 10: English experience

The year is finishing, this class too. So, it is time to evaluate and report the experience. In general, I have a positive and thankful evaluation. This class is the number … I really don’t remember how many times I have been enrolled in an English class, and the majority of times I have finished boring and disengaged. Maybe for the kind of knowledge (a new language), the used didactics, the lack of usefulness-relevance in the daily life or a mix of all, but ever the final taste is not completely sweet. This time has been different. Blog activities have been motivating, simple but effective, and definitely challenging. The continuous writing exercise is a perfect way to improve English skills, vocabulary a final proficiency. I admit that at the beginning I felt uncomfortable writing about certain topics, but as time went by, I recovered an old fascination by the writing. Today I can write faster than three months ago, although the checking of English expressions is a necessity yet. In the other hand, direct classes on Fridays were useful but could be better. Interactions in English are uncommon here in Chile, we don’t have the necessity, so an English class is a perfect instance to practice it. Regarding the video records, it was absolutely new and motivating. I checked the first video three or four times, learning a lot from the mistakes and overcoming it, I hope.

Finally, the experience to share a class again with younger people was an extra and unexpected learning. From the point of view of a teacher, many things are invisible, and in my role of student, I appreciated things in my partners that have helped me to improve my teaching skills.

Thanks all.

Post 9: Bucket List

Well, this is an interesting topic. Everybody has dreams, but just a few can reach them.  Leaving out the external conditions, I think the reason to make or no your dreams is the capacity to plan the future. Time passes quickly; therefore some degree of planning is needed. Personally, I have never written a bucket list, but of course, I have dreams in mind. Fortunately, some of them have become a reality. For example, when I was 18 years old, I dreamt to travel around the south of Chile and I could do it at 22 ages. Someday I want to visit Isla de Pascua and I am sure that it is completely possible. Could be a little expensive, depending on how many people I want to travel with, but I have a real chance. However, other wishes are really unlikely. To the extent that the number of factor increases, the possibilities decrease too. So, simple things are a better start, and less frustrating. Another personal example is my brief life as a musician. When I was 17, I started to play in a rock band with my friends. Our dream was to become a band, not famous, just to play and enjoy. After a couple of years, the band disappeared but the possibility to enjoy playing music not. At this point, I don’t think that individual plans are better than collective ones, but the opposite. Definitely, some dreams are impossible to be real if you act alone.

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Coming back to the list, in the future I want to write a book. This is pending. The rest are thankfully done.

Post 8: changes to my study programm

Hello again: as I have mentioned before, I work in the department of kinesiology at UMCE. So, this time I will analyze the design of our career here in UMCE. Regarding the curriculum I have ever wished to introduce a couple of subjects, in the way to improve the analytical skills of the students. Nowadays, Kinesiology is a applied science based mainly in the observation of patients to get features of their movements. That is a limitation, definitely. In parallel, now as never before, there is a wide range of technology to measures basic movements parameter and with low costs. Technologies are the present and the future of therapeutic intervention in developed countries; therefore, our student must be prepared to change current interventions by introducing new technologies. With respect to the workload, ever is desirable the lower amount of hour per day to get the same academic results. That demands the implementation of actions directed to increase the efficacy in the use of time, as new technics of study, distribution of activities, didactics oriented to improve the learning inside the classroom, etc. To achieve that, communication between professors and students is essential, which doesn’t happen frequently today. Finally, one of the main problems in UMCE, as in many others public universities, is the shortage of money to get new buildings and equipment, at the same time to maintain the existing. In my opinion, this is the core of the public education at the superior level. Any other problem and solution depend on this one, so a national police is necessary in the line. In our hands is the possibility of small but not less important changes, but certainly a new conception of education is necessary, and possible, if we work for that.

Post 7: summer plans

This summer is going to be special, with my wife we are waiting for the birth of our second child. This event is so exciting and challenging as you can imagine, but fortunately, we have some experience. Considering the changes in our life after the birth, we have decided to take some rest in January. Our best option is to visit the house of the parents close to Matanza beach, in a place named Pupuya.

 That zone is agricultural mainly, with beautiful landscapes. Go up to a little hill, walk around a green field or just to take rest in the beach are some of our favorites activities, so we hope to spend a peaceful time there. Also, we eat a lot each time that we visit it, many of our parents meet, and the barbecue is on fire ever, so the familiar party is a guaranteed activity too.  In the nights, frequently we share some drinks, talks and card games, but I don’t know if the quiet environment, the amount of food previously eaten or just the fatigue of a worked year push me to sleep early. As I said before, our summer vacation must start in January, so I have no plans of work or study from the second week ahead. This is unusual, I often take a rest in February for just two weeks, but this time we have to be energized waiting for our second big happiness.

My favorite movie

It is difficult to define a favorite movie. Just as a fast try, four or five movies come into my mind, but maybe because I saw it a few months ago, one of the amazing films in the history is “The Godfather”.  I really enjoy movies based on real events, historical films, but in the case of The Godfather, I was engaged in the complex and fascinating relationships between the family head and the rest. The manage of the power that “The godfather” did to achieve their wishes, characterizes very well as today the things happened in certain levels of power. The traffic of influences is a dangerous problem and difficult to be detected for any organization, especially for the governments. And if we want to know about it, starts seeing “The Godfather” is a good idea. Regarding to the most recent movie that I have seen, it is “The Circle”. That film is starred by Emma Watson, and speaks about the control of the society from a closed-loop based on the technologies available today. Maybe that is the most highlighted feature of the movie, and the work of Emma is not bad, but lost credibility along the story moves forward. So, excluding notably new movies, I prefer to choose a classic one to spend an afternoon Sunday in front of the TV.

Going to the past

If I could, I would like to go to the past and the future, but definitely the future is more interesting. To explore your future life, see what is happening and understand the relation with the present could allow changing something now, and modify the future. This would be an amazing opportunity to get better results in your life and learn about it. Now, changing the past is something that everyone wishes sometime, I think. What would happen now if I had taken other option in a particular moment of the past, or if I had decided anything different? Particularly, I often ask me what would happen if I had chosen other career. Finishing the secondary education, I wished to be physician. I had the opportunity to study medicine in a different university that I had planned, and I decided to follow another career here at the University of Chile. The reasons to choose medicine were the same to follow kinesiology, but definitely my present would be different. Not best or worst, just different, and the curiosity to know the differences motivate me to come back and change that decision. However, I feel fulfilled with all I am living now, especially with my family. Ever you can evaluate the present regarding the decisions taken before, and looking at the consequences in the future. Maybe that could be the way to travel along time, but testing and learning in the present.

Post-graduate study

Continuous formation is highly recommended for any professional. Today there are many alternatives of courses to pursuit after completing your career. In healthy area, there is a growing market of graduate course, with offers of questionable quality. So, I think it is indispensable to consider several factors at the time to choice a course. For example, new treatments to healthy problems need to be tested before to take a formation course about these. In my case, a couple of years ago I choice a master that expanded my labour fields, gave me the opportunity to follow the academic career. Now, if I would have to give a next step, maybe I would take a course about project design, administration or related topics. In the scientific career you depend on getting funding, and to get it, you need to elaborate and manage projects. Many good ideas die at the moment that are put in paper, because to be a good scientist don’t implicate to organise people or budget, define priorities and highlight the strengths of the proposal. With a couple of courses, very specific and well structured, maybe you can improve the ability to transmit your ideas and make these happen. In Chile there is a variety of modalities, from classroom to online courses, during the weekends, in consecutive days or in a regular plan. One limitation could be the cost of these courses, but even free-courses are popular by internet. One example is Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), where you can follow a complete formation in a theme with four or five short courses. Alternatives are emerging constantly, and today it is easy to complement your theoretical background or expand it to new disciplines. The limit is the time, as in many other dimension in the life.

Future job

I am kinesiologist. From 2006, I have worked in a couple of places as a clinician with patients that have suffered a neurological lesion. This activity goes beyond a biological intervention, because in many cases there is emotions, expectations and fears that you need to confront, so every patient is a new experience. That is the good side. the bad one? Maybe, as any other job, the routine of start and end at the same time, or the inability to change what you want, is finally exhausting. This pushing me to study a master, and now a PhD, which has been so challenging and funny. As part of the program activities, I've had the opportunity to travel a lot, meeting new people, learning different ways to enjoy the live and grow as student and professional. In the future, The idea is to merge clinical interventions with investigation, as in developed countries is conducted, together with teaching in a undergraduate and graduate level. Travels? That is one of the most atractive components of my job, because to attend to meetings or to visit foreig labs is advertised and financed. Regarding the salary, the scientific position is not a good chance to be millionare, but you can have a comfortable live. Finally, it is better to wake up every morning to enjoy your job that to earn money doing boring things.

Japan: an ancient country

Japan is present in our daily life. If you put attention in a shop, in the transit, in the restaurants, a ´piece of Japan is possible to recognise in everything. Maybe for these superficial things, or the influence of the Japanese cartoon series in my childhood (how to forget Robotech or Supercampeones), I´l like to visit Japan. Spring, summer, fall... and spring (2003) was a delicate and reflexive film that came me to admire the Japanese culture. Through the images, it is easy to appreciate a beautiful country that supports mystic legends, and a long history. Social relationships are characterised for clear principles and a suspicious kindness. The streets, as a reflex of that, are ever clean and well-maintaining. A couple of friends told me that the switch  to call the green light of the traffic light really works¡¡¡ (here you must be lucky to find one of this). To some extent, Japan could be close to the perfection, but to me that is wrong. The same rules that define the human interaction, separate one of each other. The search for success produces a high competitiveness, with limited free time. In some sense, the Japanese society is focus on the work. So, a short travel to Japan is ideal, a long stay not. Just one example, Host clubs allow to pay for hours of conversation with a nice guy, so you need to spend money to get, here in a latin culture, that which is part of our style life.

The first time with Iron Maiden

Music has ever been present in my life. At different moments, years and stages of my life, I have enjoyed it. Moving me from classic to experimental, slow to heavy or very popular to unknown musicians, I have learned to appreciate the creativity and quality behind it. As it is said, just exist good and bad music. So, Why do we remember particular songs, groups or concerts? Probably because a particular emotion is associated with the memory, in a particular time and place. And that is exactly what I feel when I remember the first time that I lived a concert of Iron Maiden, the band that joined me from the adolescence. It was a warm day in the summer of 2001, many people waiting for their, many expectations and a lot of energy flowing through us. The concert started with "Brave new world", and finished with the classic "The number of the beast", "Iron maiden", Hallowed by the name", etc. (I don´t remember exactly what was the last song, but sure it was amazing). Cellphones and firelighter light up the scene, and a chorus of fifty or sixty thousand souls were the perfect company of the Dickinson´s voice. My friends were beside me, and we could not believe the experience that we lived. At the end, overtired, with at least one kilogram less (due to the dehydration) and with the mission to find the way to come back home, we strengthened our friendship, and maybe that is the reason why it has been a very special moment and a great concert.

Practice post 16/08/17

What topic would you like to include as part of your Blog Sessions
I would like to discuss about the current problems in the university. For example, the last project sent by the government to reform the universities. Maybe by a brief summary of the project we can share ideas of the consequences that this project will have in the daily activities of the students, as well as How the actual government could change the destiny of the University at all?. Must be the Universidad de Chile a completely autonomous institution, as it is today, or part of its work should be control by the economy or education ministry? Rector of our university has motivated a strong claim about the current project, but it is representative of the all community, included the students?



* Which of the four skills in English (speaking, reading, listening, writing) is easier and more difficult in your opinion. why?
The easier are reading and writing I guess. We frequently interact with messages in English, so there is some daily training reading these. The phenomenon of TV series by streaming has motivated to interact with the language, so many people need to read the subtitles to understand the content of them. Writing can come as a consequence of the reading. In my experience, the majority of the English classes in the school were dedicated to reading and writing, so we have a good background. The cost of that? We have less training listening, and definitely speaking. That situation is not easy to resolve, because to get a real progress speaking English, you must to use it. So, instances like this (an English class) allows us to interact in a complete English environment, speaking and listening a lot.

* What's your opinion about the use of blogs in this course?
It could be useful if we acquire the routine to check it.

post draft

If you can see this, everything is working