English Language Challenges

A different language is a different vision of life

Federico Fellini

Learning a new language may be quite an adventure...!

Some people see language just as a means of communication. Sherlock would say "That's obvious, Watson, but..."

Learning another language means far more than acquiring and using varied lexis, mastering grammatical rules, understanding common idiomatic expressions, and using appropriate pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation. These and other issues are the building blocks of everyday communication. However, language is produced by people differing in origin, race, cultural background, climate, educational system, interest, well-being, ...

Thus, the language of a particular group of people varies widely compared to that of another group of people living in a distant geographical site and using the same language; people living in warm, tropical regions are more talkative, express their feelings with strong voice and bodily movements, while people in cold regions speak with a lower voice, almost whispering their ideas, taking good care of cold drafts from affecting their throats and moving slowly to keep their bodies warm.

Similar and different

The pronunciation and the writing may also vary widely even in people speaking the same language. For various reasons, Irish, Scotish, English, Australian and American people of the USA, among others, speak English with their personal touch, either you like it or not. Immigration has also played a part in the complexity and uniqueness of the language.

Thus, you might read "Monday thru Friday" instead of "Monday through Friday" or "tonite" instead of "tonight" and may hear "overr-itiin" instead of "over eighteen"...

Films, comics, facebook, videos, blogs, internet, RPGs, emoticons, chatting via WhatsApp, twitters, ... are contributing to enrich,  for the better or the worse,  our language.

In this modern, computerized world, people are closer than ever in the history of mankind through the use of internet and learning a language can be facilitated through the use of plenty of resources, such as videos, online activities, games, blogs, songs, pen pals, youtube ...

Even visiting other countries is becoming easier.

Friendly communication about almost anything...

I hope that learning to express your ideas in English via blogs have been enjoyable, fruitful and educative activities; writing posts of such a wide number of subject matters that ranged from general to scientific issues is an opportunity to both share your viewpoints with your classmates  on subjects of general interest and also learn, explore and write posts about scientific themes.

During the terms you have been bombarded with exercises of various kinds: exercises from the web, WebQuests, role-playing games and situations, instructions and dialogues in English, pronunciation exercises, blogs, units with special contents, oral interactions, videos, ... and still there is a lot to be learned.

So, I wonder .... what are your English language challenges?


Now it's your turn.

> What comments can you make about your experience learning English at university?
> What about the use of blogs?

> What aspects of your English need to be improved and how do you plan to do this?

> Outside the English class, how much are you using English these days? What for?

- Wordcount: 260

- Make comments on your teacher's and 3 of your partners'  posts.

Changes to my study programme

"Always keep your eyes open; keep watching, because whatever you see can inspire you" 

Grace Coddington

My good old days at the university were also demanding. Both the academic staff and the students claimed for changes to improve education and,  like today, there was a feeling of insatisfaction: libraries did not have enough books; the laboratories lacked enough supplies and/or technicians; the classrooms were not as clean as they should be; the materials to work with were expensive; the study programme missed significant subjects; ...  Yet, on graduation, we were all proud of the formation received and satisfied for all the accomplishments reached in those good old days.

Time seems to stand still and, although progress has solved many of the problems of the past decades, new demands arise that require major solutions. One issue that usually comes up is the study programme that seems to be always behind the times. Technology provides the tools that make things easier today ...

A few decades ago, the internet was an interesting tool with plausible applications in the future; today, we cannot afford living without the internet with all its benefits and risks...; robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly becoming common issues in everyday life.

Education has also benefited from technology, mainly the internet, which has turned into an important source of information, training, entertaining...Thus, new areas of knowledge and new subjects have been created to fulfill the needs of current times and your career has also been touched by this era of changes: clinical pharmacy, gene therapy, biotechnology, genetically modified foods, nanotechnology, ... are just a few of the many new fields created in the last decades that have been included, to a certain degree, in your study programme.

As we speak, robotics is widely used in industrial processes and projects, smart buildings and smart homes are still the privileges of some, yet the time will come when they will be commonplace. Some domestic robots, such as robot vacuum cleaners, are slowly gaining space in household activities, and they will in time be cheaper. Robotics, AI, and androids will surely be essential in our lives in the coming years…

Smarter and smarter homes...

Imagine your life in about ten years’ time. In this scenario, education will definitely play a significant role in human well-being, adapting itself faster to new situations and challenges; AI will probably be leading the way to improve the standards in various areas…

In my good old days at the university, my classmates and I also thought that the study programme should have had significant changes to improve our education... What about you?

------------

Write about some changes that could be made to your study programme (career)

Among others, think about:

- The curriculum (the subjects you have to study)

- Workload and length of studies

- Faculty facilities (buildings and infrastructure)

- Use of technology

- Teaching methods

- Word Count: 250

- Leave comments on 3 of your classmates’ and the teacher's posts.

In my opinion

Chile is an extraordinary place to live and learn... A distinctive mountain range,  deserts, rivers, lakes, beaches, islands, seas... together with warm people inhabiting every place in our country should lead us to be proud of and take better care of our environment, our culture, our history, our surroundings... 

Cóndor

Outlanders enjoy their holidays by doing a countless number of activities that range from skiing on the snowy slopes of Andes' mountains to fishing in rivers or lakes or surfing the long waves in Pichilemu coast or... The activities are so varied that I could spend hours describing them in a post like this.

Foreigners certainly want to know how people live in small towns as well as in big cities and they usually feel pleased with the warm welcome of our people.

In my opinion, we have much to do to be really proud of ourselves in relation to our way to communicate with one another and with the foreigners, how we take care of our environment, our culture and our belongings. We still have much to learn to love our country, our people, our history, our folklore...

Not long ago, Santiago was chosen as one of the most beautiful cities in America by an international tourism organization; yet we hardly find any information about the origin/history of the names of some places or streets in our capital city. Some names are of native origin, mostly from Mapuche's language, the Mapudungun. Did you know that Manquehue comes from "manque" meaning "condor" and "hue" that stands for land or site? That Nuñoa is a native term that means "a placed filled with Ñuños (a small plant with yellow flowers)"? I think that we should spread this kind of information via information displays not only in Santiago but also in other big and small cities and towns with the names of rivers, lakes... Another example: Curicó comes from "curi", meaning "black" and "co", meaning "water".

As citizens of a big city like Santiago is, we should also take good care of our language, which reflects our way of living and thinking; we should also try to keep places clean, which shows your education... and so on and on...

Chilote's Minga

Some years ago, my family and I were spending our summer holidays in Chiloé and I couldn't but feel proud of the historical information that we spontaneously received from a family living there. They told us about their traditions, folklore, cuisine, local attractions as well as their daily life activities and the future of their island... They actually felt proud of themselves.

I would have liked that this experience were commonplace all over our country, ...

In my opinion, globalization, especially via the internet, is making us informed citizens and as such we should learn to become better individuals, exhibiting respect to our environment and to one another. There is still much to be learned ...

“Do not Do unto others what you don’t want others Do unto you.”

Confucius

Now, your turn,

 Choose 4-5 of these questions. For each of them, write a 40- to 50-word response describing your personal opinions on the topic.
 Total number of words: approx. 240
 Leave comments on 3 of your classmates' posts + a comment on my sample post.

What is your opinion about women in the military?
What is your opinion about the Chilean politicians?
What is your opinion about violence on television?
What is your opinion about buying instead of adopting pets?
What is your opinion about having an exotic pet at home?
What is your opinion about legalizing marijuana and other drugs?
What is your opinion about climate change?
What is your opinion about cloning?
What is your opinion about recycling?
What is your opinion about Immigration?
What is your opinion about the legalization of abortion in the 3 cases?

From cartoons, animes to TV series

"Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere"  Anton Ego, Ratatouille

From the moment we are born, we are attracted by the colorful surrounding we live in and soon, in about a couple of years, we are ready to draw with coloured pencils all the objects and entities playing in our world. Pablo Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci would be jealous of the eagerness we have to grasp the beauty of nature and the easiness we have to represent very complex images with just a couple of strokes of our pencils. We feel artists doing artwork.

In time, we learn to read and this permits to uncover the mysteries of the drawings with text we had so many times cherished in our hands. Cartoons and comics become an attractive source of entertainment.

Phenakitoscope

When I was a kid, I enjoyed cartoons and comic books with the adventures of  Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Archie...and of superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and many others. The interest in reading comics books was such that there were even places where you could buy, rent, or exchange your comics book for another one over a modest pay...!  That was a win-win opportunity.

Then, a long-awaited wish came true: animated cartoons in colour and with a perfectly synchronized sound. The Disney studios were pioneers in this respect with shorts that were common in cinemas and later on TV. A large number of other studios, such as Walter Lanz's (The Woody Woodpecker);  DePatie-Freleng's (The Pink Panther) and Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, The Jetsons); became popular. Thus, the dream of animation that started with ingenious devices created by visionary inventors as far back as the flip book in 1886 or the phenakistoscope in 1893 was materialized.

Anime is a Japanese term for animation. Animes use a different, but effective manner to give life to the stories in mangas (Japanese comics books). Animes focus on the illustration over the fluid movement of the characters, thus they give the observer time to think and have a deeper appreciation of the characters and the story. Marco and Heidi are probably two of the first most widely watched animes worldwide.

Walt Disney's Fantasy

Technological advance has permitted that the traditional hand-drawn animation were later replaced with computer animation, leading to better end results in the quality of the films. New important studios have appeared, such as Pixar's, that have added diversity to the field.

The focus of animation is the whole family. Animated cartoons have also been a good way to appreciate classical music. Perhaps one of the best-animated films showing the power of music is Walt Disney's Fantasy, a film that included musical extracts from  Bach, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Stravinski, among others.  And the tale "Peter and The Wolf" is also a good way of developing a liking to classical music.

How to train your dragon

I must say I am currently a fan of many animated films; Ice Age 3 and How to Train your Dragon are just a few of them. Sorry, I cannot leave Ratatouille behind ...

The Flintstones

Yet, I cannot but miss those days in front of the TV set happily watching the adventures of the Flintstones or the Pink Panther ...

Now it's your turn:

Tell me about:

The cartoon, anime, or TV series you like the most; describe.

Are you a fan or an occasional reader and/or watcher? Give reason(s).

Describe the role of comics or mangas in your life.

Describe the importance of cartoons or animes in your life.

Describe the TV series you or your family usually watched.

Are cartoons, comics, animes and/or mangas good conversation topics for you and your friends?

Write any other relevant information.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on your teacher's post.

- Word Count: 230 words

Post graduate studies

Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.

William Pollard

Perhaps you wonder whether it is fair to ask about future postgraduate studies now when you are just undergraduate freshers studying at the university. Some of you are still evaluating your current career, wondering if you have chosen wisely.
(UK, postgraduate student = USA, graduate student)

The fact is that we live in times of haste, changes, progress, specialisation, ... Society is changing so fast that we need to be prepared and be flexible enough to adapt ourselves to new demands...

Some decades ago, Master and PhD degrees were a luxury that some privileged professionals could afford. At present, most universities have a Graduate School that offers graduate studies in the form of Diplomas, MS and PhD degrees... and these studies are becoming a necessity in various fields. 

Time flies and sooner rather than later you will have to think of having further studies on a specific subject. After four years of successful study, you will have a major in a discipline and then you should decide to go on after a professional degree (ie. Biochemist, Pharmacist, Chemist, Food Engineer...) and/or go on after a Master, PhD degree and do research.

Summing up, you will have a display of possibilities that will certainly have an impact on your future:
Professional degree (Chemist, Pharmacist, Biochemist, Food Engineer...) is awarded by a university after completion of the professional programme;
Diplomas: usually short programmes given within the year to professionals or majors.
Master degree: usually a 2 yr long programme, is an academic degree awarded by a university (MA, Master of Arts; MSc, Master of Science; Master of Education; Master of Engineering; MBA, Master of Business Administration).
Ph.D. degree: usually a 3-4 yr long programme given to applicants having a major or a professional degree

Higher specialisation has become a necessity in almost any area; however, sometimes technological advance leaves some specialties obsolete and newer specialisation is required to face novel challenges. On-line learning, following a well-designed program and suitable supervision, may become a serious alternative to make the most out of your time.

Thus, it seems wise to start thinking of promising postgraduate studies as soon as possible to have a wider range of attractive working fields of your liking at your disposal.

Now tell me about a postgraduate course(s) that you would consider taking in the future.

Include:
- Reasons to do the course
- Subject(s) you would like to study
- Where you would like to study (Chile or abroad)
- How you would like to study (distance learning, blended system, part-time course, etc)
- Any other relevant ideas

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts + a comment on your teacher's post.

- Word Count: 220 words

Your New Job

"If you think you are too big for small jobs, maybe you are too small for big jobs"

The Ingalls family

Little House on the Prairie was a TV series of the 1970s and early '80s based on the life of the Ingalls family who lived in the nineteenth and the turn of the 20th century in the USA. The everyday activities of this charming family give us a glimpse of their way of living in the new world.

Apart from surviving in a sometimes hostile surrounding, finding a job was not then a big deal: people worked as farmers, as fishermen, as craftsmen, as woodworkers, as handymen, bankers, silversmiths, furniture makers, traders... 

The probabilities of moving from one place to a distant one to find a new job offering greater possibilities for personal growth in a new attractive surrounding were limited, not always an easy decision, nor a feasible choice.

Downton Abbey's butler, housekeeper, maid

By then, in England, the butler and the housekeeper were common jobs, less glamorous than we want to believe after watching the BBC series; the butler was the chief of servants in a household, while the housekeeper ran the house with the help of maids,  cooks, gardeners...  Many young people were moving from the countryside to the city in search of a better future; some of them working in textiles, clothing, ... and leaving farming, mining, and other heavy activities behind.

At present, research and development, R&D, in various areas account largely for the continuous progress of mankind, the internet being probably the most important breakthrough in our growth, and innovations in different areas are a challenge for today's man.

Inserting samples into a freezer - Nutrition Study
Credits: NASA

Thus, finding a good job nowadays is becoming a complex issue. After studying a significant number of years, you want a well-paid, comfortable, challenging job ... with modern (research) facilities in a healthy and friendly environment. In addition, globalization now permits mobility to work here and elsewhere and usually calls for a fairly good command of another language, mainly English.  

Our civilization becomes more demanding and we have to be prepared to improve our abilities to adapt ourselves to this brave new world since novel fields of work are open to your participation.

Luckily, we can use internet resources to find the best possible job and also to keep updated in our field of work. Some people have online jobs... maybe a future trend...

Freelance online job

I would like to have an online job in the near future. Technology is becoming a wonderful tool to work indoors and earn your living, thus it would be challenging to have a new start in a different environment...yet, I think that writing professional issues is gaining space in my mind.

At present, the once unreachable institutions, like NASA, are ready to offer new opportunities for a job to capable professionals like you will become.

So how will your future be? I cannot but expect the best for you all.

Now, it's your turn,

- What kind of job would you like to have? How do you imagine it?

- Outdoors /indoors?

- Would you like to travel a lot in your job?

- What about the salary?

- What major are you studying /are you thinking of taking? Explain why

- Add any other related ideas.

Total Wordcount: 210
Remember to make comments on 3 of your classmates' and the teacher's posts.

From the invisible to the visible world and back

Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. 

Rumi

From  the minute we are born, we  increasingly  receive  novel  information about the world we shall live  in: louder  sounds  find  their way to  fully functional ears; our eyes receive  light  from the wild world and  blurred-to-clear  images  are  processed by  a brand-new  brain; our soft skin feels the gentle  touch of  air and the warm contact of familiar hands....

The newborn brain grows incredibly fast up to the third month and then adapts to an adequate rhythm... The infant, once almost invisible in the womb of his mum, observes with an inquisitive mind the objects around him... he grasps them, tastes them, and observes them... He repeats this routine time and again as if it were the first time... he giggles... At times, he seems to comprehend the nature of them, as if the objects were his old friends.

Yet, neither he nor we probably think of the actual nature of his "friends". A plastic ball, for example, is, to our touch and sight, a solid of a certain shape and colour with mechanical properties that make it roll easily on a flat floor... Kids, dogs, and cats feel compelled to run happily and nervously after a rolling ball... and that's enough for us...

I'm watching you...!

But the ball is not the same for all of them. While humans have a considerable number of red, green and blue cone photoreceptors to process colours, cats and dogs may have them, but in lower amounts, different densities, having problems to receive red light and distinguish the wide array of colours of visible light, particularly the "red" colour of the ball. 

And the colour of the ball is elusive to humans as well... it will depend on several factors, such as light intensity and a sound number of healthy blue, green and red photoreceptors able to convert light into electrical impulses that will reach the brain for color processing... Thus, we might fairly say that the ball is "red", but that we all perceive particular shades of such a color.

Can you actually believe your eyes? Of course, we can, they give us valuable information about the world we live in. However, there are instruments that detect signals that the human eye cannot notice... devices that "see" the invisible world.... out there and in here...

Probing the Outer Space

While powerful telescopes scan the sky, sophisticated satellites are our eyes that travel, "see" and give information about the piece of the universe that is at hand. In here, on the other hand, the micro and nano world is gaining interest in all of us, when we see how powerful electron microscopes are used to understand the "invisible" world... when complex devices are used to obtain MRIs and thus understand what goes on in our body... when gold nanoparticles are used to treat  cancer... when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is used to understand unsolved physical laws and mysteries of life ... and the traveling into the micro and nano world has just started and has a long way to go ...

By the way,  nanobots are currently being tried in humans to seek out and destroy cancer cells... the present and future of nanomedicine are becoming apparent and unavoidable to scientists.

Diverse disciplines and products receive the benefits of research and development in this micro and nano world: gene therapy, cloning, miniaturization, nanotechnology, telecommunications, genetically modified foods (GMF)....

Sooner rather than later, we realize that life is deeper and, like an onion, has different layers... Meanwhile, the kid, the dog and the cat will go on playing happily and nervously with no further concern.

Now, it's your turn:

Tell me about materials (eg gold nanoparticles), instruments (eg LHC) and/or techniques (eg cloning) that are important in the micro or nano world and have or might have a promising use in your career.

What they are used for

What importance they have in your career

Why you chose them

What future use they may have

When you learned about them

What impact they may have in human welfare
What advantages/disadvantages they may have

Minimum number of words : 200

Add comments to 3 of your classmates’ posts
plus a comment on your teacher's post