BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND!

This past, long weekend I went to my uncle's farm near Termas city. It seems that my mind and my body needed some relaxation after an exhausted week. The problem is that for most of us this time of year is the worst. We have to cope with a heavy burden: exams, work and many other things. But I guess the most important of all is finishing our carrer. This dream coming true puts a lot ofpressure upon our shoulders.

Anyway, I had the chance to be alone and reflect about many things. Especially, those related to my job, my life in general, I guess. And being in contact with nature helped me a lot.

I sometimes feel that I have no strenght to carry on. But I try to focus again and continue. Otherwise, I will blame myself for not having finished what I have already started. I hope I can do it. And there are only two months left to finish the year. So there is a short path to jump into another year, full of excitment and expectations.

MY ANGEL

Once upon a time, in Heaven, God and His angels were sightseeing in the endless woods of His palace. Suddenly, He calls one of his angels and tells him that he should go to earth and live there for the rest of his life. The little angel felt sad and told God that he did not want to live in the planet earth because people were mean, and did a lot of harm to each other. "Well", said God "I ask you to go to earth but you are not going to be alone. I will give you somebody who will look after you until you come back to this place. This person will be your mum". "She will be at your side every day and she will take care of all your needs".

After a few seconds, the little angel agreed. His mother and him took the first train to earth. The little angel was no longer afraid because he knew there was his mum next to him to love him and protect him.

When they arrived to earth, the little angel and his mum saw that the landscape was not very different from heaven. The only difference was that there were some sad faces; faces which had tears in them. The little angel thought: "when we get all together in God's home there will not be no tears, all will be equals. There will be peace and love". "That's right" said the little angel's mother.


This is dedicated to all the mums who take care of us, her angels.

HOW MANY FINGERS DO YOU SEE?

Recently, I have been having some problems. This morning I got up and one more conflict was added to the list. I was blamed for something I did not do, or better to say, for something I am not. For some minutes, I had to sit and listen how one member of my family was criticizing me. And I felt impotent because what she was saying was not true. I tried to stay calm and go away. When a person goes through these situations which are part of life, the only solution is to stay and fight or think that there is an Eye that watches everything and knows everything. At this moment, I have to say that I chose the second option because I do not like to shout and fight. This is not part of my personality.
Anyway, I did a great effort to see eight fingers instead of eight. I think this is the only way not to be devastated by other people's behaviours and attitudes. Looking beyond problems helps you see the solution more clearly and to realize that there is always a way out, I guess.
This idea was taken from the film Patch. Arthur Mendelson, one of Patch's friends at the mental clinic, comes up with this view, which in the end was of great importance to Patch when he had to face difficulties.
At the end of the movie, when Patch Adams is at the trial with all the other doctors and students he says out loud that he wanted to be a doctor with all his heart. And I guess that I should say I want to be a teacher with all my heart.
I know I cannot prevent trobles from appearing but I hope I have the strenght to overcome them. And grow up because of its consequences.

I AM PROUD TO SAY!

It is really nice when you can look around you and realize that the world is full of talented people. More often than not these men and women go by without notice.

This happened to me yesterday when I was at the ANGLO listening to students who share the same passion, and the one truly desire to become English teachers.

But what made me feel proud was that I had the opportunity to see how talented my friends are. It happens that we share many years surounded by human beings we do not get to know much. Therefore, we beleive we know them but this is not so.

Anyway, my fellow students gave two lectures. One was related to the Internet as a means to social awareness, and the other was about blogging. Both of them were really great. I beleive that the difference is that they talked about something they had created and not tabboo issues which have being exploited and disscussed several times.

Talking in front of a big audience is not easy. But they managed. I guess because they really wanted to be there and do what they were asked to do.

Consequently, I have to say I feel proud to be one of your partners. I learn a lot from you every day and it's a pleasure to share with you so many things. Thank you. And thanks also to our language teacher without whom we would not be able to discover new horizons.

THIS IS YOUR CREDIT TOO!

THANKS AGAIN!

When you feel that the whole world is upon you, there is alwas a light that shines through.
Writing in the blog was a huge amount of work because I was not accustomed to writing so much I guess. Anyway, sitting in the computer for an hour, trying to search inside me some ideas to write about, was a bit tough. But, after a while, I started to see this journal writing not as a must. I really felt it was a good way of expressing my emotions. And it became quite therapeutic.

Four days ago, Charly said that this assigment of reading and writing was going to change. And some sort of release invaded the air. No more cyber cafes, no more pressure. I was really happy and so were my peers.

Because of this generous gift, I would like to thank you Charlie again for doing what you did.

It was great news!

TO SANTIAGO

With the break of day
He willingly takes her school bag full of objects
He barely touches.
In his mind there is only one thought.

He arrives to school and a bunch of smilling faces
Triggers the desire to be release from obligations.
All he wants to do is to run away to an unknown place
Where he can spring his wings
And be in peace.

But, instead, he is tighted to the rules
He always breaks.
He sits in his classroom
Trying to purse others not to do what they are told
He smiles at the teacher's speech,
He doesn't care at all.

The message cannot come across.
He feels the whole world is against him.
He needs to be loved.
He won't change his way of living.
All he wants is to be somewhere else.
In a freer land.

Time passes. He doesn't understand
that he is loosing the chance.
I wish he does some day.
I hope it is not too late.

FAAPI 2007

Hello folks. Back in the road again. And this time with a lot to write about.
Yesterday Patricia, Jesica and I came back from the FAAPI, which was held in the province of Jujuy. it has been a wonderful experience because we had the chance to be in contact with other people who are doing the same as you, and sharing with you their experiences and work.

This was my first FAAPI, so I was thrilled with all the the things I saw and listened to. The opening ceremony was really great. After the different speeches, there was a sort of dance with masks and typical customes of Jujuy. It was a group called La Juventud Prolongada, a bunch of young old people who dance together. It was simply beautiful. The overall organization was fantastic. Everything was in time and we were treated very well. Most Jujeños are really nice and willing to help foreigners.

Most of the lectures were excellent. To tell the truth, never in my life had I listented to so many foreigners speaking. And being in contact with them was really useful.
Michael Byram was there. I could not beleive it. The pages of a book came alive with his presence among us. Although we were not able to attend all workshops and lectures, there are many things I could learn, and these people encouraged me to try them with my students because after all this is what is all about: trying to make English lessons more interesting.

Anyway, there is a lot more to be said and told about this experience. I will try to do my best.

SUCH A LONG TIME

It has been a while since the last time I had written in this blog. I have found that this writing was therapeutic and I tried to do it as often as possible. But because I had other occupations I did not devote much time to thid task. In addition, for several days I could not use this blog because Internet was not working properly so I could not catch up.

I hope I can do it now more often. Otherwise, I will far far behind. And I do not want that.

PRINCESS OF HEARTS

Last August 31st, the English conmemorated the 10th aniversary of Lady D's death. On channel four, Marley broadcast a good programme with the life of this amazing woman. And I was shocked when I heard some things I did not know about her.

Diana Spencer was a simple kindergarden teacher who happen to fall in love with the wrong man. During his marriage with Charles, prince of England, Diana did not have an easy-going life. Since the moment became the prince's wife, the mass media started to stuck her wherever she went to. Ironically, rumour hast it that the photographers that were persecutting her and Doddi Alfayet were the ones who caused the couple's death. Anyway, She was in love with Charles but he did not feel the same way towards her. She was tight to a man who cheated on her from the beginning. I remember Charles' words when his second child was born. He said: "Oh a boy again and he has red hair". Lady D was really unhappy because of her husband mistreatment.

Nonetheless, she became the people's princess. English citizens love her very much. And she is the one to blame because she earned this sentiments. She tried to help the poor together with Mother Theresa, travelled to Africa, and many other things. So, in a way, she did what other monarchy members did not do.

It seems that when she got divorced from Charles there was a happy future ahead for her. But a tragic accident took away all her hopes and dreams. All in all, she set an example and many english citizens will remember her because of her love and tenderness for those in need, and because she took good care of her boys who fulfilled the love she did not have from her husband.

Inside the Googleplex

Source: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9719610
Date: Aug 30th 2007

Vocabulary

1. Mainstream: the principal or dominant course, tendency, or trend.


2. Hammock: a hanging bed or couch made of canvas, netted cord, or the like, with cords attached to supports at each end.



3. Fumbling: The act or an instance of fumbling.



4. Computer worksheet: a type of software for microcomputers that offers the user a visual display of a simulated worksheet and the means of using it for financial plans, budgets, etc.



5. Wary: watchful; being on one's guard against danger.



6. Wince: to draw back or tense the body, as from pain or from a blow; start; flinch.



7. Livelihood: a means of supporting one's existence, esp. financially or vocationally; living.



8. Incubent: obligatory.



9. Sauce: any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.



10. Negligible: so small, trifling, or unimportant that it may safely be neglected or disregarded.



11. Kudo: honor; glory; acclaim.


12. Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.


13. Rogue: a dishonest, knavish person; scoundrel.


14. Trade off: an exchange of one thing in return for another, especially relinquishment of one benefit or advantage for another regarded as more desirable.
15. Log: any of various chronological records made concerning the use of a computer system, the changes made to data, etc.

Summary

This article is about the way in which Google has increased the amount of users all over the world. And what is surprising is that it is all for free. Google evokes ambivalent feelings. Some users now keep their photos, blogs, videos, calendars, e-mail, news feeds, maps, contacts, social networks, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and credit-card information—in short, much of their lives—on Google's computers. And Google has plans to add medical records, location-aware services and much else. It may even buy radio spectrum in America so that it can offer all these services over wireless-internet connections.

Google's success still comes from one main source: the small text ads placed next to its search results and on other web pages. The advertisers pay only when consumers click on those ads.

The machinery that represents the fixed costs is Google's secret sauce. Google has built, in effect, the world's largest supercomputer. It consists of vast clusters of servers, spread out in enormous datacentres around the world. The details are Google's best-guarded secret. But the result, explains Bill Coughran, a top engineer at Google, is to provide a “cloud” of computing power that is flexible enough “automatically to move load around between datacentres”. If, for example, there is unexpected demand for Gmail, Google's e-mail service, the system instantly allocates more processors and storage to it, without the need for human intervention.

But the privacy problem is much subtler. As Google compiles more information about individuals, it faces numerous trade-offs. At one extreme it could use a person's search history and advertising responses in combination with, say, his location and the itinerary in his calendar, to serve increasingly useful and welcome search results and ads. This would also allow Google to make money from its many new services. But it could scare users away. As a warning, Privacy International, a human-rights watchdog in London, has berated Google, charging that its attitude to privacy “at its most blatant is hostile, and at its most benign is ambivalent”.

Personal Reaction

I beleive that google is an unending source of information. And that we all take advantage of this. But when it gets to the extreme of going into the personal life of people it becomes something to pay attention to.

All in all, there is a lot to be said about this because technology is in constant growth. The need to be comunicated increases and computers are here to stay.

AFTER ALL, IT'S ONLY ENGLISH

Sundays are special days for me because part of my family comes to my house to have lunch.In between mates, we have the opportunity to catch up with the lives of all the members. Due to our activities, we do not have the chance to see each other as often as we wanted to. Therefore, sunday's meals have some sort of magic that keeps us in unison.

In one particular opportunity, one of my relatives asked me how I was doing in my carrer. I told him that I was about to finish. Perhaps, in December or March. But this was the end of my time as student. He looked at me and said "another year?". His tone of voice was quite ironic, and suddenly my Mr. Hyde appeared. After a short pause and a deep breath, I said that it was not easy for me to finish this career because it involves having to read and prepare many things. I tried to explain that it was not only the language itself, but other aspects of it as well.

I guess people in general tend to think that studying English is like learning to sew or going to an intensive summer course to learn a foreign language.

I do not know if this is the case of any other English student, but this happened to me in my own house and with my own family. Can you beleive it?

Since I can remember, my family asked me thousands of timeswhen I was going to finish my studies. In one way or another, this constant enquiries put a lot of pressure on meBut they do not care about this.

Anyway, I did not reveal my anger in front of everybody because it was not the perfect occassion. But i wll do it in time. Comparing people is not always healthy for one's self-steem because it makes you realize how dumb you have been and you are the one to blame for not finishing your career in time. But every man's life has its own mountains and valleys. Nobody is entitled to judge other people's flaws and misfortunes.

All in all, I guess that my relatives' opinion was out of ignorance. After all, it's only English and not medicine or Law.

AND THE WINNER IS...NOT AGAIN!

Yesterday all the citizens of Tucuman had the chance to elect the its new governor. Unluckily, the results were not as I expected. José Alperovich was by far the winner. It was said during election day that he was going to be chosen by most citizens but I had a small illusion that somebody else would.

During four years, the re-elected governor probed that he was determined to do many things for the welfare of those who were kindly enough to vote for him. Indeed, he showed us he was doing something. I beleive that he used his previous mandate to win this time. Anyway, Everyone of us had the chance to see the way in which we vote here in Tucumán. Politicians hire citizens to work for them. Consequently, these people offer those who were about to vote bolsones and money to vote for a particular candidate. Moreover, in my neighbourhood, if you wanted to be taken to the place you voted, there were many cars and chauffers waiting for you and willing to take you back home. Along the ride, they provided you the vote with which you had to enter the dark room. Isn't it amazing?

I was mad when I saw this. But I guess it is part of the Argentine folklore. Corruption is all around. Undoubtedely, it is our fault too because these ñoquis are lay men and women that do this because they will get something in return. Those who received the bolsones and the $20 are guilty too. If all of us would have being against all this mafia, this would have ended long ago.

It seems that Alperovich will try to do his job during this four coming years. Maybe, he will not steal so much, and pretend that everything he does is because he is a kindhearted fellow. God helps us! Poverty, education, salaries among other issues requiere the compromise of someone who really cares about the needs of others. As Mother Theresa used to say: "To talk about poverty you have to live it" Otherwise, politicians will enrich their existent fortune and forget about those who once gave them the chance to rule their future.

SEX SLAVES

Last Friday I saw a terrible report about women who are kidnapped in different parts of our country to be solved to a chain of sex dealers. Moreover, girls from other countries such as Paraguay are broght illegally to our country, and they are oblished to have sex with whomever pays for this "service".

The girl's ages go from 9 years up untill 15 or 18. They are kept in rooms with no clothes and scarcely any food. Consequently, these sex gangsters inject drugs into the girls' body so as to keep them right.

The different testimonies that were presented in the show were really dramatic. There is one particular case which was known widely. Namely, Marita Veron's case. She was kidnapped five years ago. Since then, her mother has struggled a hard battle to find her daughter. At the beginning of the year 2007, this desperate woman decided to dress herself as a prostitute and she went to all these places were men pay to have sex with women. She and two more policemen dressed as civilians helped 100 girls and women who were trying to escape from this nightmare. Moreover, several gungs and drug dealers were taken to jail because of this investigation. She has guts! Veron's mother has also received a anonimous letter saying that her daughter was dead already, but she promised herself that she will not stop searching and trying to find her daughter because she beleives Marita is alive.

The emotional, pshychological and physical damage that these girls have will not be recover. Never did they imagined all the pain. THey were normal girls who dreamed with a better break of day. But now all they wish is death because their wounds are still open and they will be open forever.

I wonder if there will be some kind of punishment for all those who were in charge of ruinniing the lives of others. And I hope Marita's mother can be with her lovely daughter some day.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?

Today is one of those days in which I feel the whole universe is upon my shoulders. But it helped me realize once more that people are not the same. That there are some who are kindly eager to help you and some whose only purpose is to take advantage of you. This morning I went to ask permission to do my teaching practises at Normal school. The teacher who happened to be quite rude said to me she did not accept practicantes because she has had bad experiences with them. I still wonder: Is it my fault? Maybe, I have to pay for bad things others said or did? I guess that what made me go crazy was her rudeness. Supposelly, teachers have to teach respect and other values. Well, once more I have learned things I should not do in the future.

On the other hand, my students in 2nd grade did no behave at all. So, I had to yield and scream to keep them quiet. Children nowadays are difficult to handle.

Anyway, everything will go away some day. And a door closes but more will open. It is just a matter of trying.

GUILLERMO JAIM ETCHEVERRY

Yesterday my friends and I had the opportunity to go to a lecture about Educating in the Modern World. The speaker was Jaim Etcheverry; a doctor who has been dean in an important university of Buenos Aires. He was really great because he explained very clearly and accuratelly the problems that education in general has to face nowadays. In my opinion, he based his talk in three important items: Youth as a long lasting stage; educating by rules and the idea of equality among relationships in the classroom.

The modern trends leads us to beleive that the younger you are the better. Consequently, Etcheverry says that we want to be friends of the younger generations, and more especifically of our students. But this is not so. In the equation teacher student there is a major power in the hands of the first. They cannot be equals. I have to say that as a teacher I really like to talk to my students and try to help them with some problems they are going through. But I try not to get involve; mainly, because our job is to educate them. Anyway, it is inevitable not to do so because we are in front of people not plants. The passing of time is unstoppable. And adults should take advantage of this and try to help the youngest what they have learnt through their experience.

On the other hand, he talked about rules. We have to be governed by rules. Otherwise, everything would be a caos. At school, these set of norms are extremely necessary to keep the system going. I know that in this respect parents do not participate. Moreover, they see the teacher as the bad person who is trying to harm their innocent sons or daughters. My God!
How mistaken parents are! School and family should work together, I guess. Mutual colaboration is the key to solve many problems we have such as lack of students efforts to study to pass the subjects, and try to learn something. Teenagers do not want to use their brains at all. They do not have an opinion on anything. It's terrible and depressing at the same time because you wish them to think by themselves and they cannot do it.

In addition, Etcheverry also talked about the inequality of the relationship between students and teachers. And this is absolutely true. We as teachers have the responsibility to educate our students, not make more friends. In my experience, I have met one teacher who was friend of his students and it was terrible. During adolescense, this cannot be done I beleive.

All in all, I really liked this man. I hope he comes again. He has been really enlightening.

The Night the Andes Shook

Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1653614,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-bottom
Date: Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007.

Vocabulary

1. To sway: to move or swing to and fro, as something fixed at one end or resting on a support.
2. To pop out: to burst open with such a sound, as chestnuts or corn in roasting.
3. To shed: to cast off hair, feathers, skin, or other covering or parts by natural process.
4. To overrun: to run over; overflow.
5. Dire: urgent; desperate.
6. Swelling: to increase in amount, degree, force, etc.
7. Pledge: a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something.
8. Aftershock:
   A quake of lesser magnitude, usually one of a series, following a large earthquake in the same area.
9. Shantytown: a section, as of a city or town, characterized by shanties and crudely built houses.
10. Outskirt: Often, outskirts. the outlying district or region, as of a city, metropolitan area, or the like.
11. Iffy: full of unresolved points or questions.
12. Breadbasket: an agricultural area that provides large amounts of food, esp. grain, to other areas.

Summary

This article is about the terrible earthquake that took place in Peru last Wednesday. 7.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Peru for more than two minutes caused the capital only cosmetic damage and one fatality. But as rescue firemen try to remove the wates of thousands of adove houses the death number starts to grow. Pisco, a city of 116,000 in Ica province, suffered the worst damage and most of the 450 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries that Peru's Civil Defense Institute have so far reported.

In any case, the needs in Peru are dire and immediate. Production Minister Rafael Rey said the most immediate needs are food and water, since Pisco's water system had collapsed. The civil defense institute has begun flying in supplies, including tents for the swelling numbers of homeless. "The President has pledged all the resources required to attend to the needs of the victims and repair damage to infrastructure," Rey said in a telephone interview. Approximately 20% of the city's buildings were damaged. The quake also destroyed some stretches of the Pan-American Highway, which runs along the Pacific coast and is Peru's principal highway — as well as the link between Lima and Ica. Other major roadways, like the Central Highway, which connects the capital to the country's breadbasket in the central highlands, were also damaged.

Personal Reaction

I was shocked when I saw the images on TV about this earthquake. Lima was completely destroyed and rescue workers were trying to find more people among the remains of what once were houses. Peruvian citizens lost everything they had; and more importantly, most of them lost their lives in this fatal aftershock. It will take some time before the city of Lima goes back to its beginning, and much more before the victims recover from this catastrophe. God help them.

HOW DARE YOU?

Yesterday I had the chance to chat with an old fellow of mine. He was part of my promocion when I was at University. He was a very good student. Though he was able to pass almost all subjects and do some tutorial classes as a student assistant in Phonetics, he is still struggling with some subjects he cannot pass. But this is the consequence of something he did. Never did he imagined all the difficult situations he would have to go through before getting his degree.
The thing is that when he sat for Language 5 for the first time he failed. When the teacher showed him his test, this woman did not give him clear reasons why he could not pass it. A few months later, he went again through the same situation, and having to sit for a third time made him want to tell the teacher some things he had being keeping inside. What he did was, after receiving the results of the test and seeing that he had failed again, he started to tell this teacher a lot of insults and bad words. Consequently, he was able to pass Language but now, he is stucked with Linguistics because the same teacher is in charge of this subject too, as well as Shakespeare, with which he could not easily make it either.

On the one hand, I admire him for doing what I did not have the courage to do. That is, sending some teachers to hell. I know he will be a teacher some day soon because of his temper and self- steam. On the other hand, I am still wondering if this is the best method. I mean, as a student, I have to say that we have to go through really unfair moments. But this is part of being a student and having less power than the teacher. But insulting him or her is not the best solution, I guess.

Anyway, I would have paid some money in order to be able to see this moment. Watching, the teachers face when she was listening a this cry of injustice we all carry inside. I beleive we tend to forget that we were students once; and that they deserve respect too. And that it does not care the level or the stage (University, secondary school, etc) people are there to learn. And there is always a chance to learn from your students and viceversa.

I hope my frind gets his degree some day. And that he finishes with this nightmare soon. All in all, I thank him for donig what I would have liked to do three years ago.

Adiós to poverty, hola to consumption

Source: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.
Date: Aug 16th 2007 .

Vocabulary
1. Breeze-block: a light concrete building block made with cinder aggregate; "cinder blocks are called breeze blocks in Britain".
2. Depot: a bus station.
3. Fourhold: in fourfold measure.
4. Sewage: the waste matter that passes through sewers.
5. Grinding: the act of grinding.
6. Club: to gather or form into a clublike mass.
7. Shantytown: a section, as of a city or town, characterized by shanties and crudely built houses.
8. Sewerage: a system of sewers.
9. Ply: to run or travel regularly over a fixed course or between certain places, as a boat, bus, etc.
10. Nadir: the lowest point; point of greatest adversity or despair.
11. Abjured: to renounce or give up under oath; forswear.
12. Pampered:
To indulge with rich food; glut.

Summary
This article is abouta faster growth, low inflation, expanding credit and liberal trade that are helping to create a new middle class in Latin America. Signs of progress are all around. New tower-blocks, of the kind ubiquitous in the smarter parts of São Paulo, now jut up from among the houses of what still resembles a favela, or shantytown. Public services are improving fast: nearly everyone has electricity, piped water and sewerage. Smart new school buses run by the municipal government ply up and down the hillsides. And the mood of optimism is palpable.
They are members of a new middle class that is emerging almost overnight across Brazil and much of Latin America. Tens of millions of such people are the main beneficiaries of the region's hard-won economic stability and recent economic growth. Having left poverty behind, their incipient prosperity is driving the rapid growth of a mass consumer market in a region long notorious for the searing contrast between a small privileged elite and a poor majority. Their advent also promises to transform the region's politics.
The kind of people who call themselves middle-class in Latin America tend to be at the top of the scale: prosperous professionals with several servants, children at private schools and holidays in Europe or Miami. From the 1940s to the 1970s, state-led industrialisation and the growth of public employment saw the rise in some Latin American countries of a middle class of managers, bureaucrats and a labour aristocracy of skilled workers. But the policies that pushed them up proved unsustainable; they were abandoned after the 1982 debt crisis, which triggered a decade of mediocre growth and high inflation. Since then, partly because protected industries were subjected to privatisation and import competition, this group has struggled.
The middle class that is emerging now is very different. It is more accurately described as a lower-middle class. Many of its members have small businesses, like Mr Gonçalves. Others act as consultants to larger concerns.
In Mexico, argues Jorge Castañeda, a political scientist, some of the new middle class come from the informal economy, others from new industries or service businesses. The class is less concentrated in Mexico City and is rougher-edged, culturally and socially, as well as darker-skinned, shorter and more Mexican-looking than its predecessor, he says.
These trends are furthest advanced in Chile. But they are most dramatic in Brazil and Mexico, which between them account for more than half of Latin America's 560m people.
Something similar is starting to happen in Colombia and Peru. In Argentina the decline of what had been a predominantly middle-class country until the 1970s reached its nadir in the economic collapse of 2001-02, when a majority of Argentines fell below the poverty line. But a rapid economic recovery has been mirrored in a revival of the middle class. Ernesto Kritz, a labour economist in Buenos Aires, reckons that around 40% of Argentine families, up from 20% in 2003, have the monthly income of $1,000 that he sees as necessary for a middle-class lifestyle.
Several factors lie behind these trends. The first is that, since 2004, the region's economies have grown at an annual average rate of 5%. That is not spectacular, but it is not bad (the population is growing at only around 1.4% a year). And the growth is having a bigger social impact than in the past.
In the early 1990s Latin America saw a burst of growth driven by an inflow of capital and accompanied by overvalued exchange rates. This combination tended to boost the relative price of non-tradable services, and the incomes of those in the informal economy. This period is different, says Guillermo Perry, the World Bank's chief economist for Latin America. Exports are booming, partly because of high prices for Latin America's raw materials. But the export growth also follows a round of devaluations and two decades of market-opening economic reform. This time the growth is generating more jobs in the formal sector. In Mexico the economy grew by 4.8% last year and created 900,000 new jobs—in line with the growth of the labour force. In Brazil, too, the proportion of the labour force employed informally is starting to shrink.Another new element is innovative social policies. In both Mexico and Brazil, one family in five now receives a small monthly stipend from the government, provided they keep their children in school and take them for health checks. Lastly, in some countries remittances from Latin Americans who have migrated help their poorer families back home. The result is that in both Brazil and Mexico the incomes of the poorest half of the population are growing faster than the average. In both countries poverty is falling steadily, and income distribution is becoming less unequal. In Mexico, although growth has been only moderate, poverty, defined as income insufficient to feed a family, fell from 37% to 14% over the decade to 2006.

Personal Reaction

I was really happy when I read this article because it was opptimistic with regards to the economy in Latin America. It seems that the lower classes are beginning to increase their incomes a bit more. What is particularly stricking about this middle class is that they are proffesionals. They have gotten a degree to be able to find a better job but the different situations of the third world countries did not allow them to grow. I think that there is no clear cut between Middle classes and Low classes. Nowadays, people are rich or poor. No way out.
In one of the paragraphs, the article mentions the Argentinian growth economically speaking. It says that a family income has incredibly increased in comparison with the 2003 crisis. Today we can see this is true but prices are going up every minute, so salaries go up and prices too. What is the difference? We gain more money but we spend even more. I hope this changes in time. Otherwise, more and more people will not be able to have enough food and supplies for surviving.

ASIGNATURA PENDIENTE

One of my dreams when I started to study English was travelling to London. My first encounter with the language was in 1996. A friend of mine recommended me a private institute where I could learn English. So there I went. The name of the institute was and still is Dickens. I spent there 5 years. It was an incredible time because people there are great, especially the partners I had. There was also one particular teacher who was fond of The Beatles. Therefore, she used to teach us many songs from this band.

When students reached the last course, the owner of the institute offered them a trip to London. It was a really nice one because you went to the houses of native speakers and you could have the opportunity to learn more about the language and put into practise what you had already learnt. Anyway, there was one problem: money. My family was not able to afford it. So my dream remains there in my head and in my heart.

Hopefully, after hard work and saving, I would be able to fulfill this desire of mine. I know it is very expensive and requires a lot money. But I know I will make it.

FOURTY LOVE

This is the last time I call you
And the last time I shall
Share a word with you.
Fourty times I have forgiven you
Fourty times I have listened to all your stories.

Fourty times I've loved you
And in fourty times
I shall discover
I will not forget you.


(These couple of poems were written by me during a class)

THIS IS JUST TO SAY (2)

This is just to say
the world is going unsane.
Boms. Weapons. A black air
full of blood and misery.
Nobody cares.

Are we just blind?
Or lost in the one-way road of ambition.

This is just to say
We are not dead.
We still struggle
for a better break of day.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

In a few days, the city of Tucuman will have the chance to chose the destiny of the city. Politic campaigns are all round. And politics try harder to make us beleive the unbeleivable. The fact is that most of those who run for a chair in the gouvernmental palace persue their own interest and just forget that we are not stupid, and that people in Tucuman have needs which need to be solved.

Since Peron and Evita, most of the Argentinian politicians tried to imitate the kind of governmet these two had implemented in Argentina. But the idea is not to copy what others have done but to see how what is the main concern and problems of a society who is constantly changing.
It seems to me that the only reason why people enter politics is to gain more and more money, and use citizens necesiities to cover their desire to be richier. I wonder if these politics of our would change this sometime, or they just do not realize that money cannot be taken to the grave.

The current governor of Tucuman has proved that he is "working" for the welfare of all tucumanos y tucumanas. He has built new houses, tried to buy more eqipment for the public hospitals and many other things. At least, he did something. The other day I happen to take a taxi, and the driver was telling me that Jose Alperovich did many things. But all of them were in project many years ago. The only thing he did was to put them into action. This cap driver also told me that the governor's wife has some trouble with the law for a big amount of money she robbed when Palito's wife had an association which helped poor children. And this is something ordinary people do not know because police hides this information. Another good example of the corruption there is in politics. If this be true, I cannot say.

When election time comes, we would see how the right to vote becomes a fraud. Some citizens who are poor can gain a bolson or just some money for voting this candidate or the other. The candidates even pay cars which will pick you up from your house and take you to the school where you vote. Isn't it amazing? Gone are the days when there was some honesty in us.

My point is: Who can we chose this coming August 26th? There is not good answer because all the candidates will do the same. And if they happen to have some pure wishes, the system is so corrupted that they will end up stealing and pepeating the wrong deeds of their predecessors.
There is always the desire for a change, and I hope that we, as the ones who have the power
to change the future, are capable of thinking before putting the vote in the envelop. God help us.

AN EMPTY CHAIR

Psychologists say that it is a good exercise to put an empty chair in front of you and imagine that somebody important is sitting there, and you have the chance to tell this person whatever you want to. Consequently, I have decided to follow this advice and try to do it myself. I do not know what is going to come out of this. I hope something good.

A few years ago, I met a man who is an engineer and a professor. He knows a lot about everything. Mechanics, electronics, computers drive him mad. He would spend the whole day working and working with no stop. Last year, his mother was very ill. She had cancer. He was devastated. The fact of his mother's death was something he could not understand. After a time, this woman passed away. And the world was upside down for my friend. I tried to be with him all the way long to support him because I had undergone the same experience once and I know about the pain and suffering. Anyway, I tried to be there and help him some how.

The problem arose when my feelings for this person started to changed. He was no longer a friend to me but the person I had fallen in love with. For a while, I had tried to avoy the fact of my wanting to be with him. The worst part was watching him cry and not being able to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be ok. Foolishly, I began to think that after all this sad period I would have the chance to tell him what my feelings were toward him. But this did not happen.

For a year or so, I had kept this secret in my heart. The desire to be with him did not go away. And neither my love. One day, I talked to a friend of mine who happens to be my best friend and he is a priest. I told him everything. Surprisingly, he advised me not to tell him. He did not say why. I was so sad. Since then, I continue to carry this on my own. But the burden was getting hevier and heavier.

A month ago, I told all this to a female friend because I was desperate. She told me to let him know the truth. That in this way, I was going to be at ease with me, and if this guy felt the same about me we could be together. Therefore, I called him and asked him to meet me whenever he could. Unluckily, this meeting never happened because of his job and mine also. One evening, he calls me. And he tells me that he did not have time for a reunion, so it was better to talk on the phone. I was so nervous. But I had a gold and I had to accomplish it.
After talking for a while, I tried to explain what was the purpose of this talk, and what my feelings were towards him. And that I did not expect nothing from him, except that he knows that I love him. At this point, all I wanted was a reasonable answer, but he only said that he was glad for knowing this, and that he appreciated all this love I had in me. And this was the end.

In my empty chair, I would like to sit him. I have got so many questions to ask him. So here I go.

First of all, I would like to know WHY did you disappear since that telephone call. I did not tell you a terrible thing. I said I loved you. Nothing else. Secondly, you told me once that once you were in my place, so WHY didn't you send me a message at least to know if I was ok. Not just some stupid e-mail with words that were not even yours but from Garcia Marquez. Thirdly, WHY is it that when you said you were sorry for making me undergo this you felt I was passing judegement and blaming you for all my sorrow. I was not. I just wanted to let my heart shout the truth. I do not blame you. I think it just happen that why. Love is blind I guess.
I just wanted you to care about me the same why I did to you. But this was my mistake. ONE CANNOT ASK ANYTHING FROM OTHERS. It is a matter of giving. As simple as that.

After this, I think that if I have the chance to meet him I do not know what my reaction would be. But, at least, I could say these things out loud. Love is something good. Do not run away or lose hope in it. Happy is the man who has found his or her love. I do not want to give up upon it. Hopefully, I will find mine.

BACK TO CLASSES AGAIN!!

Today my partners and I went back to classes. The crazy time is chasing us again. But this was inevitable. Holidays are so nice but so short!! The first part of the year was a hard nut to crack. We had to do a good effort and push ourselves to the limit in order to pass the subjects we took. And there are still some others which are throughtout the year. I hope we can cope with all the pressure of this part. Moreover, this stage in our carrer as student trainnes is full of expectation and anxiety because it is the last step for having our teaching degree, and this adds an extra ingredient. But I think we are going to do well, as we have always done because we did the best we could to study.

Anyway, there is a lot of work to be done. And there are people willing to make of this few months an unforgetable journey.

MY TEACHING PRACTISES!!

Today is one of my happiest days because I finished the first part of the teaching practises thanks God. I was lucky enough to be allowed to do them in Santa Catalina school. The girls there were really nice and caring about me, especially because I had to talk to them in English, and some, if not most, were completely lost and did not understand anything. But I told them that I had to do that because it was my duty. Generally speaking, the girls paid attention to the classes, did their homework on time, and more importantly, have some fun doing their major task: learning. I think that this was the hardest part: finding interesting and fun material and activities which they could enjoy. From all the things I have done in class, the one that they liked the most was working with songs. Music has its magic I beleive. And some artists have good lyrics that help you move to different fields and enrich your classes. That is, by reading the stanzas from any song students can reflect upon feelings such as love, hate, sadness; or the lyrics can be related to the conservation of nature and many other kind of general interest.
Students have a big imagination as well. This contributes a lot with the development of the class because they reach to conclusions that you have not even thought about. And this is great!
During this period, I was able to meet really amazing people like the course teacher Pamela Robles to whom I am tremendously thankful because she is a true teacher in my opinion. She did not only care about what I was going to do with the girls but also about my comfort and welfare. This is the kind of teacher I do not find quite often. She says that teachers in general should not forget that they were students once. And this made all the difference.
The school, and the principals, were really nice too and generous. So I would like to thank them too.
This has been a profitable journey. I hope the second one is as good as the first. And if not, I hope that I would have enough strength to be able to get over it.

HANDS READY TO HELP!!

These days I happened to come across with a book about the life of a simple nun who had given her life for the welfare of thousands of Indian citizens. She was given the Peace Novel prize for all her work in India. She was born with the name of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. But we all know her as Mother Theresa. Her place of birth was Skopje in Macedonia. When she was 18, she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for children who were living on the streets and were very poor. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.
Mother Theresa did not only tried to end up poverty. She wanted make poor and ill people know that they were cared and loved. She said that Western civilizations had more money than the Oriental countries but that the first were in need of love, and affection. Not being loved was worse than poverty she said.
She died at the age of 83. Once a journalist asked her if she was tired because of all the activities she had done throughtout her life, and she said that never one is too old to love.
Today the order comprises Active and Contemplative branches of Sisters and Brothers in many countries. The Society of Missionaries has spread all over the world.
At last, One of Mother Theresa's thoughts was that if any person wanted do the same as she did in India did not need to travel to this country because in every country there are many poor people to look after. She was right, don't you think?

IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

Last Saturday, I went to a birthday party organized by a friend of mine. It was her 28th birthday, so she decided to celebrate it in a different way. The only thing you could not forget before going to the party was the costume. Yes, the costume was a must. You could not show up at the party in normal clothes. You had to be dressed up in a funny way.
It was hard for me to choose which character or animal I would be because I was not accustomed to going to this kind of parties. But, in the end, it was worth the effort. After too much thinking, I made up my mind with regards to my outfit. I decided I would be a ladybird.
The worst part of all was when my sister, my aunt and me had to get into the taxi. Oh, my goodness. I was so embarrassed. I felt as if I had made the wrong decision. Anyway, when we got to the saloon and we started to see the rest of the group, we could not stop laughing. Moreover, some of them had their faces painted so we did not recognize each other at first.
After a time, it was time for karaoke. Again, laughter was inevitable. Up to this moment, shame was no longer around. We sang or tried to, broke some glasses, and performed some kind of musical show. A couple of drinks were of great help. I think through the effect of alcohol we were able to release and do things that we would not do in normal life. Then, we danced all night long.
In the end, it was a good idea. The costumes, I mean. We enjoy and could pretend we were somebody else. Some of us were magicians, some bugs, others angels, the devil or even priests. But there was one thing that united us all: happiness.

FRIEND'S DAY

On July 20th, most of us celebrated Friend's Day. It is said that on this date the American astrounauts reached the moon surface, or something of the sort. Consequently, this event is conmemorated on this time of year. In my case, I do not have a lot of friends because I beleive that it is difficult to find good friends with whom you can share your life and will not let you down. I think that there are two types of friends; those who are always near you. They know you as well as all your life. These friends will accept you as you are and will not turn your back on you no matter what. In adittion, they will try to help you grow by letting you realize of your mistakes as a fraternal correction because it is done from the love this person has for you. More importantly, these people will forgive you if you hurt them in any way because they know that you are not perfect, that you are a human being who can make mistakes. When a person is lucky enough to find a FRIEND like this, he/she must consider oneself to have found a treasure. And this treasure must be carefully taken care of, and never try to do any harm to it. I am a person full of flaws, but I was blessed because life has given me some of this FRIENDS. And I would like to tell them that I am thankful for all the help and support throughtout my life. And I wish I can have you near me forever. Because of life's plans some of them have travelled to different parts of the world and are not here anymore. But I carry them in my heart. And I want to say that I miss them so much.

The other type of friends are those people who are around you, who share some time of the day with you and think they know you, or, what is worse, you think you know them. But, in the end, you realize that this is not so. In a way, they also help you grow up because they teach you things you would not learn in any school.
I do not know if I am wrong, but this is what I feel. I am just in the middle of the road and there are still many things to learn.

A TERRIBLE PLANE CRASH!!

Hello folks. Welcome back to this daily writing of the blog. This time, Iwould like to comment about an unbeleivebable plane accident that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rumour has it that the plane had more passengers than it is allowed. Others say it was due to some problems in the electric systems. Anyway, the investigation will last 10 months, as it was estimated by the Brazilian police. The investigators are looking for the plane's black box, which will actually say what has really happen. Apart from this, 180 people were killed. And this is the most striking fact because a pleasure trip or just a simple flight turned into nightmare for the families of the victims. I think that the Brazilian state will go through hell because of this accident. But somebody must be responsible for it.
This tragedy was similar to the one Argentina´s in 2004 when one plane from the Lapa company crashed in the airport. Many people died too. It was a terrible episode.
In the New York Times, there is an article where aircraf companies ask for help to the government in order to solve problems related to this type of accidents.
All in all, Lulas' responsability in this tragedy is huge and he will have to face it.

THE FINAL DAY HAS COME!

Today my students of the ninth grade put on stage LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. At first, they were very nervous. But as time passed, they started to feel more comfortable with the play. I was afraid that the wouldn't bring their costumes and that they would have forgotten the dialogues. But they did not. The costumes were simply adequate and extremely beautiful. The wolf ws so funny. And Little red Riding Hood was so nice. The grandmother too. She was perfect for the part.

Doing this kind of presentation took time anf effort but it was worth it. They really enjoyed it very much. And, more importantly, they learnt a few things as well. I think that they were able to see that they do not be proficient in the language in order to perform plays in English, or read plays in this foreign language. In addition, working as team helped strengthen their peers' relationships.

It is amazing when you realize all the things that a teacher can learn from the students. Today I was proud of my students.

How Benefitial or Damaging can Internet be?

During our languages classes, a classmate of mine talked about Bulimia and Anorexia, and about an Internet website which was created by teenagers who are suffering from these diseases. They use this website to share their daily experiences with the these illnesses. This page is used as a sort of catharsis. But is this good or bad? I cannot truly say. But I beleive that Internet has a lot of good benefits for people, but also can be used to make harm to others. In this case, there is anything beneficial for these girls who have bulimia or anorexia because all they do is to talk about how skin they are, how much exercise they have done, how much water they have drunk. And the worst thing is the photos they have published. They are really shocking because you can see their naked bodys so thin that scares you. And my classmate said that if you tried to say to them that they were ill and they needed some medical treatment, they will not allow you to interact with them.
These girls need instant help. But they say that being bulimic or anorexic is a personal choice and a way of living. They are completely blind. In this case, other girls who see this kind of website can feel the innert compulsion to look the same and follow this trend, or just ignore it. Nevertheless, this kind of websites should be controlled by somebody. Otherwise, the can do a lot of harm to the minds of innocent teenagers who use Internet to be connected to the world.

The Importance of Appearance

Looking perfect and nice has always been a duty for women and men. The importance of feeling confident by showing a good image is very important for a person´s character. Nevertheless, problems arise when our image is distorted, and we start to think that our body is not perfect and the need for a change becomes an obsession. When this happens, eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia appear. These two mental diseases have become very popular in societies around the world. They have to do with a wrong perception of the body that can lead to eating disorders and several physical damage. They can even cause death if they are not treated in time.
The question is who is to blame on this issue? I mean, whose fault is it? Is society oblishing women and men towards perfection in order to belong to it? or Is it just an internal obligation?
The truth is that both are connected. In the modern world, sometimes happens that an employee is not only given a job for his or her qualifications, but because he or she looks extremely sexy, or has a good looking body. Studying in the best universities is not always a chance for success in business. Something else is needed.
On the other hand, Television and its programmes have a powerful effect on this issue too. TV programmes are filled with acrtors and actresses who have the "perfect body, the perfect face" which are not very common for the rest of the population. And viewers tend to imitate their appearences. As if this was easy. How come that on MTV there is a programme that helps the viewers have plastic surgeries in order to have the face of their favourite celebrity. Are they crazy or what? What are we doing to our teenagers?
Tenagers are in their search for identity. For this reason, they tend to feel identify with these fake "idols" that appear on their favourite soup operas. But they are not "real" characters. It is all a matter of a lot of makeup and some plastic interventions. The human body, as time passes, suffers changes and they are normal. Not all of us have the body of a super model, but it is our body and that makes it special. We are unique. And that makes the difference. We have to accept our body because is the only one we have. Not matter how bad it looks.
After all, it is somebody else´s creation.

Oral Presentations

Yesterday, in language, my classmates and I had to give some oral presentations for our language classes. To tell the truth, this oral presentations help us a lot in the developing of our speaking skill. Also they are good for loosing shame when talking in public.
This kind of talks are very interesting as well because you get to know many new things related to different issues. Moreover, there is some research that has to be done in order to prepare your presentation, so it is a taugh work.
In yesterday's meeting, important issues were shown. Jesi talked about bulimia and anorexia. Two important diseases for our time. She did an excellent research on a website that teenagers have created to tackle their eating disorders. The pictures that we saw of these girls were shocking. It is unbeleivable that been so skinny they see themselves as cows.
Mauricio presented something about psychodelics drugs. This topic is very interesting too because many people use this kind of drugs, which can be harmful for your health.
Raquel talked about good shoping habits. That is, how to buy correctly. It was very helpful to know something about this because not only we have to know what we buy but also what we eat.
Juana presented something about Shiwi girls who live in a small towm in Egypt, and how bit by bit they are recovering their freedom. As most eastern women, they are submitted to men's authority. But know they are able to choose their husbands, to earn their own money and to be more independent. This is just the beginning some say. I hope this goes on in the future.
I talked about recycling. This is atrend that should be apply in our country too because it helps to protect the environment, and it is good for diminishing the amount of garbage we produce.
Everyday we can learn new things. So the process of uducation is never over!

Honesty is the best policy

We live in a country which is embedded with corruption. We vote politics that pretend to be what they are not. Their sole purpose when entering politics is getting as much money as possible. But this corruption is not only in the political field. It exists everywhere. Even in families. I have a friend who has received money because her mother´s house has been sold. The problem comes when she found out that some relatives of her sold the house but with a different price than the one mentioned in the papers. Therefore, she got fewer money than she had to. I cannot describe how angry she was. She could not beleive that her own family has stolen money from her. I do not know if this is very common. I have not heard of it before. But it is beyond understanding.

I think that if one wants to get profits from a wrong doing he or she will not get it in the end because there is someone who is watching from above. Stealing or killing someone you know is the worst crime.

On the other hand, there is a big problem now in the Junta de Clasificacion Media because people who have only a certificate that says that he/she did a course in an institute is able to teach in public schools. Can this be true? Yes, of course. Only in Argentina this kind of things can happen. And students who are in the last course of the teacher trainning cannot have access to the system. This is not right at all. The national government should control this kind of mischief. Moreover, teachers do not have a job because they did not have the chance to register in the public system. This shows us that if people lie and go the wrong way they will get what they want. Nonetheless, I beleive that honesty is still the best policy after all.
There is always a light that shines through, and enlights the way.

Under Preasure

This week has been terrible for me. Working and studying at the same time is not an easy way of living. I guess for me. I decided to work because I wanted to and also because I needed the money. I had the need to be independant for oncein my life. Therefore, I started to work in one school. The hours I had were not that many, but suddenly they started to increase and I could not refuse. And so, I found myself teaching English in EGB 3 up to Kindergarden. It is very exhausting but fulfilling as well. After a few months, I was offered a new job in another school. This time was in Primary school. Without thinking, I accepted. What I did not measure was the lack of time I would have for doing my own homework for my subjects.
Some people say that working and studying is good because you have already achieved your gold. But I have my doubts. I feel I am under too much stress and I do not know how to handle it. Some days I do not have time for eat or rest, which are fundamental in any person´s health. Moreover, I cannot see my family much as I am always out.
On weekends, this nightmare is not over because all I do is prepare classes, homework,and things I need for the rest of the week. I do not know if this happens because I do not organize myself or because I am obssest. Last Saturday, I took a look at myself and I felt sorry because I imagined my friends going out and having fun, and I was sitting in front of a computer typing with no stop for nothing.
Maybe, it is the time of the year. But I am under pressure. I hope to be able to continue with this. Otherwise, there are things that I will have to give up if I want to keep my sanity. I know some people that went through the same and are still alive and kiking. In the end, it is all about sacrifice. Nothing is for free.

Plays in the classroom

This year is the first year that I work with plays in my English lessons. I suggested the idea to my 9th grade students and they accepted the challenge. At first, I was a bit scared to do this kind of activity because I was not sure about the way in which teenagers were going to react. Contrary to my own prejudices, they were eager to do it. What is more, they took an active role in the organization.
They also adapted the play and gave it a different ending with their own ideas.
The play was familiar to them in Spanish so that helped a lot. The story of Little Red Riding Hood is very famous in the Spanish Literature. In this way, they felt free to make some changes to it.
One big barrier that students had to overcome was stage panic. In most cases, they did not want to act in front of students from other courses. I said it was compulsory so they were oblished to act.
We have a big stage at school so everybody could look at the play. Some parents were invited too and the school authorities as well.
What I enjoyed most about this activity was the fact that the students used English naturally and learnt new vocabulary and language expressions. And above all, they had fun doing it. So I strongly recommend this type of tasks. Teachers will not regret it.

Memories

Last Saturday night, some friends from high school and I got together in a bar to have some drinks. We do this whenever we have time because most of them are working or studying or something of the sort. In my case, high school time was the best time ever. My friends and spent wonderful moments. We shared some bad ones too. But we grew up together and so knew each other well.

We used to make jokes aboutour teachers. Boys were really terrible. they misbehaved all the time. They did not study much either. I think that the best time came when we travelled to Brazil. We only went 11 and we were 40. All the same we had a lot of fun. We danced a lot, visited new places.

We still remember those moments and we wish to live them again. When we go back to the past, it seems that we still are those noisy teenagers that filled the classroom of a public school at 7.30 in the morning. The best time ever!

A Little Love

I am fond of working with songs with my students. Today, we worked with a song called A Little Love by Brian Adams. It is a beautiful song indeed. The main theme of the lyric is the fact that a little love can change things, even the worst moments in life.

A little love would have prevent countries from going into war some of my students concluded after they worked with it. And it is true. The hole world would change if instead of killing we devote more time to loving one another. There are times in our own life that we think we are in the darkness but there is always a light that shines through, and it helps us go on. And that is love.

I was happy today when I saw that teenagers are eager to change the world a little bit. After all, they are the future generation. I hope we encourage them enough to do it. And we teachers have the power to do this in our classrooms.

Teaching Practises

Now that I am working as a teacher I can see the way in which our teaching practises affect students. Today, I went into the classroom and I started to speak in English but they seemed lost in the horizon. They did not get a word of what I was saying. And I felt frustated. We went to a seminar on Saturday and a repetitive topic was mentioned. Namely, that we have to speak in English all the time because the students need to receive input.
I hope that my students get used to the use of English in the class because this is the only environment in which they can be in contact with the language. And this is the only way in which they will learn it.

Whenever I have the chance, I go to other teachers´classrooms and I am amazed to see that they use very little English. The students only know how to greet the teacher and ask for permission to go to the toilet. I thought this is so because most of my collegues are a bit old and do not care much about the fact that students need to hera English spoken in class.
But then a sudden thought goes into my mind, and that is: I am going to be old some day too. What about my students at that time. I truly beleive that this profession is a vocation. And teaching practises should be on a constant change. Moreover, teachers in any department should work together, not in isolation. For instance, in my department we are four teachers. Two are old and two are younger, and the younger are working with plays and shotstories that the old have about because they do not want to take the time to prepare it. So, they miss the chance of teaching them many other things apart from verb to be.

As Esteban Cresta said in his Saturday talk, in our trainning teaching career we learnt about History, Geography, Literature. We have to transmit this knowledge to our students too.
And in this way, we teachers can work in accordance with teachers from other subjects as well.
Working as a teacher demands a lot from a person but a teacher receives much more than a poor salary once a month.

A Secret World

Once upon a time, there was a small village near the Atkinsons mountains. In there lived few families. The villagers knew each other well. They shared meals, jokes as well as sorrows and pain. The best time of the week was Sunday´s picnics. They gathered together in the woods and contemplated the beauty of nature. Laughter and joy invaded the scene.

One day, one of the families decided to make a trip to the city. They wanted to see the world. A world which was unknown to them. The departure came and so they went. When they arrived to the city, they were amazed to see all the people there were. But there was something that called the attention of these visitors, and that was the fact that people came up and down but they did not know each other. And the faces were filled with a seriousness that provoke strangeness.

As they were walking by a group of women, they heard that they were arguing on some things that some other peolpe did and they were passing judgement, and more importantly, they talk without measuring the consequences of the lack of love. They said to themselves that they had to accept others. Not matter what they did.

After a few days, this family decided to go back to the place they called HOME. As soon as they arrived, they started to tell the other villagers what they have seen in the city. They said that citizens lived differently because they did not have time to share with others, that they talked about the actions of others as if they knew everything about the other person´s life. And that what was more frustating was that the faces of these people did not have a smile. Friendliness was not around.

All the village families concluded that the way in which they lived was a bit better than the city life. Not only because they had so many things to share but also because they cared about living.


(This little "shortstory" was written by me. The place and the characters are completely fake) I am a frustated writer. Please, understand me.

Sad Faces

As I was walking by last night, I saw something that called my attention. There were a group of three boys sleeping in the street. Their only bed was an amount of papers and some other stuffs. Not heat at all.
Since then, these three kids from the street are in my mind. I do not know why.
With the cold weather and the poor conditions in which they are living, I started to think about how do they survive. What is the future ahead of them.
I also thought about responsibility. Mine and others. Is it society´s fault or is it their parents´fault? Does the government see this reality? I do not know much about governmental policies to take these people out the streets. What I do know is that w have to do something. These are kids who do not go to school, who have not enough food to eat, and, more importantly, who do not have a family to live with.
Once I heard a mother oblishing their children to go into the street to ask for money. She was sending her children to beg and she was sitting with the rest of her kids waiting for money to appear out of the blue. I was so angry that time and I wanted to go back to her and tell her that what she did was wrong. But I could not because I was going to get into troble because these kind of people do not listen.
Sometimes, you do help children who are on the streets but you know that the money goes somewhere else. Parents do not want to work. They only want to receive money for doing nothing. And put the heavy load on these innocent victims who are not the ones to blame. They are not responsible for having being born in this kind of world.
Anyway, I wish this changes some day. Childhood is the best period in a person´s life. And kids deserve to live it the best way possible. They need to play and have fun. NOT WORK.

Our Planet shouts for Help

I work near a sugar cane factory. It is terrible to see all the waste that is sent into the air because they do not have filters to prevent this from happening. During the active period of harvest, the air is filled with dirt. I think that government should do something about it.
Global warming is affecting us also, as we contribute to the pollution of the planet.
Businesspeople do not want to invest in new startegies and ways of avoiding thrush to go out. But this is a pivotal need for the welfare of nature and of us too.

I read in The Economist yesterday that one of the ideas to encourage enterpreneurs to pay taxes based on the amount of CO2 they produce. Personally speaking, the same idea should be apply in our country too. Otherwise, this trend will continue to grow and the life expectansy will start to decline as contamination rises.

My Experience with Death

When someone asks you about the happiest moment in your life, you recall it without much effort. But when it is time to talk about some experiences that changed your life forever the thing changes, at least in my case.
When I was three, my father died of a heart attack. I do not remember much about him as I was so little. My relatives tell me that he was caring and loving with all children, especially with his. My brother and sister tell me that he used to take us to the square and play with us a lot. I have known him through pictures and some descriptions of him. I would have liked to spend more time with him, but that is the way things were. No regrets!
At the age of eleven, my mum passed away. She had breast cancer. This is one of the most terrible illnesses a person can suffer because it is something that kills you bit by bit. It is hard also for those who are around because you cannot do anything to stop the disease. Moreover, you cannot prevent death from happening. From my mum I have a lot of memories. She was very strict with all three of us. We had to have a nap obligatorely because she got up very early in the morning, so nap was sacred. She worked a lot to so as to be able to take care of us. She had a small pension from my father but that was not enough to survive. Nonetheless, we also spent beautiful moments together, especially on Sundays when we got together with the rest of the family and played, ate spaghettis made at home and many other things. What I liked the most was Christmas time. This night was special because if the family was having problems or some members were apart, they knew that Christmas dinner was the time for unison companionship.
I was terribly sad when she died. But I do not know how I could get over it. I know I´ll see her again. No regrets!
With whom I am still angry is with my dad´s family because when he died they just dissappear from earth. They did not help my mother at all, and they knew she was aolone with three children to look after. But they did not care much I guess. I still some of them from time to time because I go to visit them whenever I can. No regrets!
Anyway, I do not complain about the way life has been to me. I guess those moments made my brothers and I stronger.

The Meaning of Freedom

I have recently read an article about the position of women in some countries of the Middle East. It is quite shocking to see that most females have to be covered in order to go out, or just to stay at home. The only part of the body that can be seen sometimes is the eyes. Nonetheless, I wonder and I think many of those who live in the other side of the ocean what is the meaning of freedom for these women. Some people argue that they are accustomed to that kind of dressing, but I totally disagree with this view. It is difficult to understand what is the purpose of not showing their body. Is it because of moral values or just because customs?
Apart from being oblished to be all dressed up, women do not have an important role in the city´s life. They cannot be part of government or any other type of public office, which is something incredible, isnt´it? Well, it seems that men are the only ones who can be completely free. As a woman, I have to say that in the modern society women have equalled men, not only in what refers to physical work but also in terms of importance. Today, we see husbands who stay at home and do the hose work, take care of the children and the wife is the one who goes out to work. In other cases, both husband and wife go out to work and share responsibilites in welfare of the family. So, there is not a real cut between what is female obligations and what is not. Thanks God we have evolved.
When I think about these women, I cannot avoy feeling sad for their situation. It must be hard for them not to be able to to the things they want to, or just dress the way they want and not being killed for that. I hope this societies change some day. Otherwise, the future generations will carry the burden of male´s absurd privilige.

America´s God

Last week, in our Literature class we read a poem by Harold Pinter called America´s God. In this poem, he described what is the meaning of America´s God to him. Honestly, I beleive that most of us agree with his view. For Pinter, this concept of America´s God implies war, death, dying for the country´s honour. But also, going to war without wanting to.

Due to the past war that we have witnessed between the United States and countries from the Middle East, the American president, George Bush, continues to fight against a false concept of freedoom, which in the end is all a matter of economical desire. What he does not take into account is all the casualties that war causes. Millions of soldiers have died just for the sake of Mr. Bush wishes.

Most of the American population does not agree with the president´s policy. In consequence, we have seen several demonstrations against the Middle East war. So, I wonder what is the concept od Bush´s God. Moreover, I ask myself if he represents his countrymen as he is suppossed to, or if he is just being guided for his own interests.

Life

Sometimes life can be a nightmare,
But there is always a way out.
Life is the most precious gift we can get.

There is always a chance
To help others make their life special.

Life is full of beautiful moments
That are worth living.

In one´s life there is always the opportunity to find
the person that will make us feel complete and loved.

There will also be sorrows and pain
But they are only part of one´s growth.

Life can bring a lot of friends,
But also a lot of enemies.

If a person wants to be successful in life,
He has to fight for what he wants.

Life is ruled by love.
So we must try to love as much as possible,
Because in there lies
The magic ingredient of LIFE.

Friendship

In this entry, I would like to write about friendship. Throughtout my life and up until now, I can only say that I have had and still do have few friends. Personally speaking, friendship is one of the values that I cherish the most. I believe that there are two types of friendships. Namely, those friends of you who are not your true friends but , in a way, are next to you everyday. And, more importantly, those who are part of your heart.

Luckily, I have to say that I was blessed to have some friends of those. These people are the ones that will always be there by your side to help you, to give you and advice when you get in trouble or have a problem. In a way, they are yor parallel family, and sometimes more than that.

This is for my friends at Lola Mora. When I decided to go to this Institute, I did not measure all the love I was going to receive there. My partners are my friends of the heart, and so I thank them for that because they have taught me many things, amd more importanly, they have supported me whenever I needed them.
When I was at secondary school, I met my dear friend Ana. She was a character indeed but she was the one who was with me when I needed some companionship and councelling. We still see get together and see each other as much as possible.

I beleive that as human beings we need these kind of people next to us so as to be able to grow emotionally speakingin our lives.

As a Religion teacher, I have met also valuable peple. And they are also my friends of the heart because we shared happiness and sorrow. We laught together and cry together. We were able to help each other develop. And that is something I cannot forget.

Thanks God I can say that I can love and be loved in return!

Ten things that I would like to accomplish in life

When I think about my future, I can only see myself as a teacher full of things to do. But, now that I can think of the things I would like to accomplish my perrspective changes a little bit.

My number one big proyect is to get married and have three children, at least. I know that it is a bit hard and complicated, but I am ready to accept the challenge. I want to have a family of my own and see my kids grow up and to get old next to the person I love. The number nine would be to travel throughout Europe. I tremendously wish to visit one place in particular: Italy because my family´s roots belong to this country. Some relatives of mine did actually go, and they could visit my grandmother´s house and some Italian cousins, aunts and uncles that are still there. I have seen some pictures of Trento, which is the city where my grandmother lived and it is simply beautiful. I wish I can be there sometime.
The number eighth important proyect will be to go to Africa, more specifically Angola. I belong to a group of Misionaries in the Salesian community, so I would like to see what some other friends of mine are doing there. It is said that it takes a lot of preparation to go there, but I think I can make it. The seventh big proyect I have is to have my own English Institute with my friend Rachel. I know it takes a lot of money and effort but I want to try. As for the sixth thing that I would like to accomplish is tospend some time living in England. I really want to go there so as to know what is the country and the English like in the island. I know it is a whole new world but I want to try. Especially because I have been learning this language for so many years that it is time to put it into practise.

The fifth thing I would like to accomplish is having my own car. This is also my dream that may come true some day. If I work hard, I know I will have it.
As for the other four things that I would like to achieve in life, I cannot imagine yet. So far I have plenty of goals to achieve. Therefore, I have to say that for now I just wish to be able to finish those I have already mentioned.

Isn´t it Ironic?

As time passes by, our city of Tucuman is becoming more and more unsafe. It happened to me today that while I was listening to the radio I heard an incredible news. The radio presenter said that a pregnant woman was sent to jail the day after for having participated in a robbery. The victim was a taxi driver. After the man arrived at the police station, he said that he had picked up this woman in the street and she asked him to take her to an specific address. When they got to the specific place, two men tried to stole the victim´s car. I cannot recall how was that the woman was cought by the police force.

I was really shocked by this event because I am not able to figure out how this woman can manage to risk her life and the life of the baby she is carrying. More importantly, our city is getting more insecure every day. We go out of our houses but do not know if we are going to go back safetly. I wonder if the Police force is doing something to prevent this kind of robbery from happening. Otherwise, we will have to carry guns to go out. Maybe, I am exaggerating, but I hope this really changes.

A Good Friend of Mine

In the year 2005, I met a priest who had just to the Salesian Community at Lorenzo Massa Institute. His name was Raúl. At the beginning, he and I did not get on very well. But, not until last year did I realiza how goog this person was. As time went by, we started to get to know each other more in depth. Since we worked together with the children, we spent many hours together playing with the kids, reading, and more importantly, sharing.
He is one of those friends you would miss terribly if they are gone. HE IS A FRIEND OF THE SOUL.
This year, on the 23rd of January, he was sent to Africa. More specifically, Luanda, the Capital city of Angola. For him, this trip was his bigest dream. He told me once that when he was a child he pictured himself in Africa helping those in need. And when he became a priest, he could not stop thinking about this desire of going there. So there he went, with a bag full of dreams and hopes.
As we all know, Africa is an inhospitable land. There is no access to pure water and the food is completely different from ours. But he did no care. And the language is also another impediment because in Loanda they speak Portuguese as the intranational language, but they have three different dialogues. Therefore, he studied Portuguese for a few months until he travelled to this place.
Anyway, I have recently heard news from him, and he says he is very happy. He has been ill for quite a long time with Malaria, but he is ok now. HE IS A CHARACTER INDEED.
From the day he went away, I have missed him terribly. I hope he comes back very soon. All in all, friendship is one of our precious gifts. And I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to meet this marvellous person!

Rally Barrionuevo`s concert

Last night, my sister and I went to Rally Barrionuevo`s concert in the Alberdi theatre. The place was full of people. The show started a bit later than it was appointed. But it was worth waiting. For those who do not know who Rally is, I can say that he is one of the best folklore singers I have ever heard. He is from Frias, a city in santiago del Estero. He started singing when he was at High school where he participated in several festivals. Nowadays, he lives in Cordoba with his family. He has a very little band that accompanies him.
In last night show, he played like three hours on a roll. He played all songs and also some news. The good thing is that you heard them as it was the first time. Anyway, the show lasted for three hours. We truly enjoy being there. We danced chacareras and we dreamed with the songs lyrics. One of my favourite songs is zamba y acuarela. It is a beautiful zamba.
Anyway, I wish I could stay there forever listening to his songs.

My first teaching experince with children

I have just finished work today. And it has been a long day indeed. This is my second day working with children at school. I teach English in 1st and 2nd grade. I really love working with them because they are sweet and kind. They are very friendly. But sometimes they behave so badly that you want to run away inmediately.
Personally speaking, I beleive that this age is the best period in any individual`s life. And I would really want to go back at this point again. It happens to me that when I see them play I want to be part of their games. Sometimes I do play. And I feel a child again.
As a teacher, I think that working with children is a great challenge because you have to learn to draw, to sing and so many other things that you do not imagine. When you see that the children are engage in the game or they enjoy the activities you present them you feel happy.
On the other hand, there are times when they misbehave all the time. They speak to you all tagether. They want you to correct every single thing they do. Anyway, I think I will need to be more patient with them. I hope I can because sometimes I feel that tolerance will not last long.

My experience at University

I dedicate this piece to some of my teachers at U.N.T. I wish they could read it some day.

After finishing Secondary school, I went to study English at Facultad de Filosofia y Letras. The firs two years were really great. I could pass all the subjects I had to with no difficulty except for one: English Grammar II. The following year I had to take the third year course, which indeed I took. But I was not able to finish it due to the fact that I had to pass Grammar II first. Having this in mind, I spent a whole summer devoting my reading to only one book: A Student’s Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk, which I believe many must have known. Finally, the exam day came. But the outcome was not as I wanted it to be. But I did not give up, and since that moment I tried six times to pass this subject. I cannot tell you how painful those moments were. I felt as if the whole world was upon my shoulders. Because of this, I had to loose one whole year, as I could not sit for the exams of the Subjects belonging to the third course. At that moment, my biggest dream was taken away from me. AND NOTHING HAS BEEN THE SAME SINCE THEN. But after some time, I could see some things I did not perceive before. Namely, that my teachers at university did not care much about their students. That they only cared about their own pride and prejudice. They believed themselves to be like gods, and they had to be respected for that. I think that most of these teachers tend to forget that they were students once. I did not want them to help me pass all the subjects, but to be there when I needed to solve my difficulties with certain topics related to the English Grammar and some other stuff because it is a tough subject to learn, as we do not have a solid knowledge about the Spanish Grammar.
Anyway, the last time I sat for Grammar I passed the written part, but not the oral. God knows why I didn’t because up until now I still cannot figure it out. What is even sadder is that there are still many students who still are in the same situation I was three years ago. I hope they are able to pass Grammar some day, and they can become English teachers at last.
The best decision I could have ever taken was to go to Lola Mora Institute because there I could prove myself I was not such a looser, and that I had a future ahead of me. And I realised that for teaching two things are required: knowledge and love for teaching. Otherwise, we can have a Master degree but if we do not have passion for helping others know more, we have failed in our profession.
If I am mistaken, please let me know.

One Fine Day

Today I do not have anything to write about. Therefore, this passage will be about today. Because today is a fine day!!! Today I woke up and the sun was shinning. Today I felt lucky because I had the opportunity to have a bed to sleep on, a cup of coffee and to receive a letter from a good friend who is thousands of miles away. Today is a beautiful day because I could go to work and come home, and be surrounded by those I love. Today is a fine day because I have food to eat and a place to study. Today is a fine day because I have a lot of friends with whom I share my dreams. Today is a fine day because I am alive. Today is a fine day because I have the opportunity to choose what I want to do. Today is a fine day because I was able to help a friend. Today is a fine day because I could feel how people love, and I could be loved in return. Today is a fine day because I saw some birds in the sky.
Today is a fine day because I could see a child laugh. Today is a fine day because I could give something to someone. Today is a fine day because I could stop being selfish and start thinking about others. Today is a fine day because the world is in peace. Today is a fine day because I could learn something else. Today is a fine day because I can see the beauty of Earth. Today is a fine day because I have money in my pocket. Today is a fine day because I have hopes and fears. Today is a fine day because I no longer care about what other people will think. Today is a fine day because I could be thankful for the things I have, and not feeling sad for those I lack.
Today is a fine day because I am lucky enough to be writing these things to you!!