Post nº9

Today we have to write about a topic that we choose, and I would like to offer you three options. You must choose ONLY ONE option.

Option 1: A Book or Novel I’ve Enjoyed Reading

In this post you must include the following:

-The title and author of the book or novel

-The genre (fantasy, mystery, drama, horror, etc)

-Why you liked it

-What the story was about

-A picture of the front cover

Option 2: A TV Series I’ve Enjoyed Watching

You must include:

-The name of the series and main characters

-The genre (fantasy, mystery, drama, horror, etc)

-Why you liked it

-What the story was about

-A picture of the main characters

Option 3: A Game I Like Playing

You must include:

-The name of the game

-How you play it

-Who you play it with

-Why you like it

-When and where you play it

-A picture of the game

-You must write at least 190 words

-Remember to write a comment on my post and on three classmates’ posts.

Here is my sample post:

A Book I’ve Enjoyed Reading

I like reading different kinds of books, about different topics.

A book that I remember enjoying a lot was “The Debt: A 5000 Thousand Year History” by David Graeber, an anthropologist and anarchist. As you can see in the title, the book is about history but also about a view of the economy. I read this book about 7 years ago, and it was about a thousand pages long, so a lot of its details escape my memory. But in general, the book explained the link there has been in history, especially from the time of the Roman Empire, between war and looting, the creation of slavery, and the creation of Nation-States based on imposing taxes on the people that are conquered, showing the direct link between the capitalist economy and the use of military force.

One of the points that I really liked about this book is that it showed that there have been in history (and still are in some parts of the world) different systems of economy. One example is that instead of using paper money, people get indebted with each other in such a way that everyone in the community should have access to the things they need. According to the author, this debt system makes us take care of our human relations, because we need people to trust us in our community in order to have these kinds of exchanges.

The book is really well written and is easy to understand for everyone. And he can be funny as well, sometimes using irony and a sense of humour. 

A Subject You Enjoyed Studying this Semester

Hi everyone!

Today we are going to write a post about A Subject You've Enjoyed Studying this Semester.

You must say:
What the subject is about
Why you like it or why you're interested in it
What it is useful for

You must write at least 180 words.


This is my sample post:

Western Feminism and the Arab World

A topic that I am really interested in learning more about are the misconceptions of feminists over the views of the lives of women in Eastern and Middle Eastern societies and how we can free ourselves from these prejudices.

Feminism as a movement for women’s rights originated in Europe and, therefore, it has done a great job in defending women’s rights in those parts of the world where white people are dominant. Nonetheless, this kind of feminism does not really address the needs of women coming from other parts of the world, women who are basically not considered white or who do not live under liberal Western values.

Because I volunteer in a solidarity organization for Palestine, and we work on the ground connecting our local social struggles with that of Palestine, I have learned how in our Western society there are many negative preconceptions about women in the Arab world in general. There are many prejudices against Islam, for example, such as the idea that all Muslim women live under brutal male oppression. There is also a very common misconception that being Arab and being Muslim are equivalents, when in reality, not all Arabs are Muslim, and not all Muslims are Arabs.

This is why I have started to read papers and watched speeches from Middle Eastern female scholars, either Muslim or secular, who talk about the lives and struggles of women in this region. The misconceptions that Western feminism have created around the lives of Arab women, and how they somehow feel entitled “to save” Arab women from male oppression are, in my opinion, very dangerous. These ideas of saviourship inevitably cast an image of inherent weakness in these women, as if somehow they could not take care of themselves, but worse of all, the very arrogant idea that we in the West can actually tell them in the East how they are supposed to decide how to live. This sense of entitlement is a form of colonization.

Examples of women working for their rights in Eastern societies are numerous, and I can share with you some names of Palestinian women, because this is the territory I know best. Janna Jihad, Ahed Tamimi, Hanan Ashrawi, Khalida Jarrar, just to name a few. When you have time, you can search them on the internet and learn about their leading roles.

A Career-Related Website or An Expert in Your Field

Today, we are going to write a blog post and choose only ONE of the following options:

Option 1

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

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.

>Add comments to 3 of your classmates’ blogs + a comment on your teacher's post
>Word Count: 170

Option 2 

Who is a person/expert in your field that you admire?

Say:

-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 3 of your classmates’ blogs + a comment on your teacher's post.

_________________________________________________________________________

You can find my post as an example here:

My Favorite Career-Related Website

My favourite website in this moment for all topics related to English teaching is Larry Ferlazzo’s EduBlog.

You can find it here: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/

I visit this website once in a while and I find it useful to get ideas about ways to motivate students or how to use teaching materials in classes.

This blog is full of teachers’ resources to teach English as a Second Language and for English Language Learners. It includes links to resources like videos and podcasts, and many tips on how to use technology in the classroom. You can spend a long time browsing it because it is a lot of fun to discover what it offers, and it makes me enjoy preparing my classes.

The website’s author, Larry Ferlazzo, is a High School Teacher in California, and he is constantly uploading interesting articles from American newspapers about education and how to improve it. He occasionally posts videos of himself discussing different relevant topics for teachers, such as a video where he talks about how to keep your students motivated in class.

I really admire a person who is passionate about his or her work and wants to share it. It also makes me feel like I am part of a community of English teachers around the world. 

My Favourite Place in Chile

Today I would like to propose writing about a place that we love, this could be your favourite place in Santiago, in Chile or another place that you have visited abroad.

In this post, you must say:

Why you like this place

How often you go there or when you went there

What you can do there

Who you go there with

Write a minimum of 160 words

Include a picture

Remember to write a comment on my post and a comment on 3 other classmates' posts.

This is my sample post:

Valle de Elqui

I have been to Valle de Elqui two times in my life, and the last time I went there I was with my mother. This place is very special for me because I think it has a very special energy where you can do meditation and watch the stars at night. Of course, it’s also a very hippie place, there’s a lot of partying, too, and a lot esoteric gurus and teachers, many of them not really serious. But its still fun to visit, and the place itself is just very beautiful and relaxing, and the mountains are gorgeous. 

The place has changed a lot since the first time I went there. I remember when I first visited with my ex boyfriend, I think that was 2006, in the middle of winter, and the night we arrived was the date when the Mayan New Yew started and we had no idea. So, there was a massive party in the camping site Río Mágico, everybody of course was very drunk and high, but it also started snowing a lot, and the next morning people where calling the police to get everyone from the campsite out of the Valley because of the cold, it was freezing!! People where getting sick, the roads where blocked with the snow, and we invited a few people into the small cabin we had rented to keep them warm. Anyway, it was crazy because even the locals said it never snows in Valle de Elqui, or maybe just a little bit every 10 years.

In the trip I did last year with my mother, we went to an observatory to watch the stars, as you can see in this picture.