Sample Post 7 ::: My option: A career-related website

Today I'm going to write about a very useful website I use when translating and also when I teach: www.linguee.es

This is an online dictionary and translator tool and it's interesting how they are able to offer more than 100 million translations made by humans. Most of the times, online translators are not reliable because they offer translations made by machines but this website is different. Here you can find examples of how the word or phrase you're looking for has been translated in bilingual websites like the ones companies, international organizations and universities have.

I visit this website every single day, especially when I'm translating and also to check if the translation I want to use is the most suitable. In an English class, I like to use it show the difference between a bad online translator and really good one, because this totally the opposite to Google translator. I usually support all Google creations like Google Classroom, Google Earth and Google Drive but when it comes to translations, I prefer www.linguee.es

I really like this website because up to this point, I've always found what I'm looking for. Apart from that, as you can find many examples, you can decide what translation to use and you can see where that translation has been used. This website shows you the paragraph where the word or phrase appears so the context helps a lot.

And last but not least, if you want to try this website, the creators recommend to look for phrases instead of single words.

Blog Session 7 ::: Instructions ::: Two options

Dear Class,

Today you have to decide between two options:

a)  A career-related website or b) an expert in your field

In 170 words minimum please include the following:

a) A career-related website you enjoy visiting

Provide the link
Describe the website (sections, features, languages, etc.)
Say how often you visit the website
Explain why you like the website

b) An expert in your field that you admire

Provide a short biography
Examples of her/his work
Why you like her/him
Provide a picture of the expert

As usual, please don't forget to make comments on at least 3 of your classmates' posts, including a comment about mine.

Best,

Belén

Sample Post 6 ::: Free Post

I’m going to write about Brazilian music because this is what I usually listen to when I feel sad so I can cheer up easily. I also want to explain how much I love the music coming from that country even though I have never been there but I really want to go one day with my family. 

There's a singer, who I first listened to because of the film “Fast & Furious 5” (which is not the kind of film I like) and as it has Brazil as a setting, I watched part of it and just by coincidence the part where this song appears.

This singer is called Obando D2 and the name of the song is “Desafabo deixa eu dizer”, which literally means “Relief let me tell you” I know very little about this singer but I think he's been singing for a long time because he has more than one hundred songs. He’s in hip-hop and he’s just one of many singers who rap about the situation in Brazil, about poverty and crime in the favelas specially. Just like Paralamas do Suceso and other bands have also sung.

I like this song because of the lyrics, as you could read in the video, he talks about what is to live in a favela and how he’d like Brazil to be. I’m interested in Brazilian culture, specially because I practice capoeira and I hope I can continue practising it. With the different teachers we had and friends from there, who live in Chile now, I've learnt a great deal about the way Brazilians are... And they're a lot; the current population estimate for 2018 is 210.87 million.

The other reason why I love music coming from Brazil is because I can practice Portuguese and the capoeira songs were some of the first one I remember learning by heard, just like we did with the instruments. What I also like about capoeira is that at some point, it becomes a language. You can be anywhere in the world and if you know how to "play" capoeira, you can join the roda.

Blog Session 6 ::: Instructions FREE Post

Dear Class,

This time you are free to choose what to write in your blogs. You can choose the topic of your post... maybe something important you'll always remember, your best friends, university life, something about our society, movies, documentaries, etc.

Just remember to write 160 words minimum and also, you need to read 3 other posts so you can make comments.

 Good luck!

Belén

Blog Session 5 ::: Sample Post

It’s not easy to choose one photograph I like to write about. There are so many to choose but it’s easier if I think of black and white photos. I definitely prefer black and white and I love going to the lab and develop my own pictures.

This photo was taken by Luis Poirot, a well-known Chilean photographer, and that day Víctor and Luis were near Cerro Blanco, trying to obtain a photo for Víctor’s new album cover. Here you can see part of the complete photograph. I found this copy on the internet but on my wall, I’ve got the original and it’s bigger. Apart from Víctor Jara holding his guitar, and the old lady behind him, you can a see a boy to the left, right next to Víctor, looking at the camera. And you can also see the entire guitar Víctor is holding. The difference between this picture and the one I have is that in the one on my wall, Víctor is not looking at the camera.

This photo was taken in 1968 or 1969. According to Luis, the photographer, this photo wasn’t authorized by the Communist party, so Víctor’s new album cover for “Pongo en tus manos abiertas” was the one – that you might have seen- with two palms.

Finally, I really like this photo because Víctor Jara is in it. I admire him and I respect everything he was and did.

Blog Session 5 My favourite photo ::: Instructions

Dear Class,

Think about the images of your life... so you can write about a photograph you like and say:

a) Who took it
b) What it shows
c) When it was taken
d) Why you like it
e) Upload the photo

Write 150 words minimum and please remember to make comments on at least three of your classmates' blogs and one comment about my post.

Best,

Belén

Sample Post 4 ::: Free Post

The human brain

I have always been interested in how the human body works. One of the reasons to be interested is that I practice sports, so why we sweat, stretch and how we can work out our muscles are intriguing facts about our bodies. Those, among other incredible facts like gestating and breastfeeding when we have babies. Sleeping, dancing, walking and reading are just some of the many activities that have to do with the brain.

Biology and Education are closely related if we analyse the brain activity. As a teacher, when we study the way human beings learn, we study Psychology but unfortunately we didn’t study Neuroscience. Therefore, as this science has always caught my attention I wanted to learn more about it. A couple of years ago, because of the Masters programme I was studying, I had the chance to read lots of interesting papers about how the brain works when we read as well as how the way we stimulate the brain affects our learning process.

The human brain is a complex organ and as human beings we are supposed to be the only ones to know something about the way the brain works. With that skill, Pierre Paul Broca (1824-1880), a French pioneer doctor was able to draw a map of the brain and consequently, he discovered a small area in the left hemisphere, which controls the production of language. Thus, 100 billion neurons in our brains are responsible for language, communication and many other aspects of our lives.