silvia

Reflections

2006-05-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

1. In which areas of language use have you improved, in your opinion?
In writting and reading
2.Which areas of langauge use are still a problem?
speaking
3.Which areas of language use do you want to spend the most time on during the rest of the semester?
In writting, speaking and reading
4.What type of classwork is most useful, in your opinion?
doing exercises practicing the writting skill,like narrations
5.What can you personally do to increase your rate of progress?
keep reading in english or maybe write letters or send e mails in english
6.Do you have any other comments or suggestions about this class?
the class should have games in wich we can learn what we are practicing

1. Now that the semester has come to an end, look at your goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the semester. Which of the goals did you achieve? Why did you achieve them?
Well i think that one of goals I had at the begining of the semester was to improve my writting skill and I know that I have improved it by the execises and essays I did during this time.
My speaking skill also improved I think it is more fluently by the presentations we did.

2. Which of the goals did you not achieve? What could you have done differently to achieve them?
Actually I think that I achieved all the goals, but maybe one of them more than the others.
The ones that I feel I didnt do well, is because I need a little bit of more practice.

3. Read the competencies list for this level (you can find this in the syllabus on WebCT). Check which of them you could explain without difficulty today? How many did you check? Does this number satisfy your real goal for English?I think that writing, reading, speaking and listening are the fourth competencies that I can explain without dificulties because i have improved in these areas. I think that with these is enough to satisfy my goal for english.

4. Do you feel you applied yourself to improving your English abilities? Why or why not?
Yes, I think I improved my english abilities, because my grades were kind of high and because I felt I could understand almost everything in the class, and that I could do great things.

5. Taking into account that at least 60% of our English courses will be content, what activities would you like to see happen with the other 40% of the time? going more to the lab to do different things besides to write, play games roleplays to practice our speaking and ponounciation.

6. Overall, you deserve a ___4.8___________ as your final note in this class because…..

Education is the most Important Factor In the Development of a country

2006-05-18T20:00:00.002-07:00

EDUCATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COUNTRY

Education is an important situation all over the world, and is maybe one of the most forgotten topics in the underdeveloped countries. This is the main reason why they don’t contribute to the progress of their own countries. Education is a human right, and as a fundamental right it is the responsibility of governments to provide it. The most important thing is that education influences human development, economic growth and the fundamental requirement for democracy.
It is important in a country to invest a big part of the profits in education, because in many countries, governments prefer to invest in weapons without thinking that they should give another direction to the resources from the military where war and win are the most important thing. The government is blind, and they want to see first in the outside than in the inside, when there are more important things to fulfill like basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. Another important reason why it is necessary to invest in education is because children are being prepared to be poor laborers, just as the people years ago. Instead of preparing them for the future, they have been sent to the past with obsolete laws
There is a big necessity for programs that can teach the responsible use of resources, because without the right knowledge these people without education could be wasting a lot of resources and at the same time could be contributing to an unsustainable development. When speaking of development, the role of women is important in these processes, because in the countries with the highest levels of human development it is

declared that they offer equal opportunities and gender equity in their societies. It means that women can reach high positions, and they can do many of the things that were restricted to them a few years ago. When people see the change now they don’t want to commit the same errors: to exclude women from positions of power, give them no voice in community decisions. Societies have changed and women are more important now. Not only in this case the importance of educating women take advantage in the development. In the context of world population growth, too. “ Many studies have shown that the most rapid and effective way to slow population growth in the developing world is through the education of girls and women. If the world's governments and international organizations took this evidence to heart and acted upon it, the global population level would surely stabilize soon” (Arias1).
We can reach human development not only because of these reasons there are some others like: Education helps to prevent the labor, trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, and their use as soldiers. Basic education provides girls and women with a greater understanding of basic health, nutrition and family planning, as well as of their own potential. Educated women marry later, have fewer children and receive better prenatal care. Children of mothers who have been to school are healthier, better nourished and more likely to attend and succeed in school than children of mothers who have never gone to school. It is one of the most effective weapons against HIV/AIDS and other diseases (Why is education important? 2).
Education is also vital for economic development, because it eradicates poverty and it allows people to be more productive. An adult with a primary education earns twice as much as an adult without any schooling . Farming practices can be improved through basic education, because the ones that people used to do are obsoletes and are not enough to cultivate. In Niger, the incidence of poverty is 70 percent in households headed by adults with no education, compared to 56 percent for households headed by adults who have been to primary school. In Uganda, four years of primary education raise a farmer’s output by 7 percent. It is the foundation for acquiring knowledge and skills necessary to participate in and benefit from globalization and technological change (3).
Education also generates political stability and is important for democracy , makes it possible for people to be responsible and informed citizens, and to have a voice in politics and society, which is essential for sustaining democracy, because people can give their opinions and be part of the country. It also provides people with the knowledge and awareness needed to promote tolerance and understanding among people. What a country needs now is people with the power of decision and if they are educated, they will have the right to change the bad things and to improve the ones that are good but could be better.
Most of the time the experience is better than the years of education, what I mean is that sometimes when you are able to do special things is not necessary to receive special training or education to be really good at something. Education is not the only factor that can contribute to the development, it has to be too with the enthusiasm you have, to do things and how serious you take things.
Maybe education alone is not enough but it is the major factor that can contribute to the progress of a country and with this, its development. In fact no country has achieved human development, a sustained economic growth and a political stability without attaining near universal basic education.
“Education provides the foundation upon which stable nations are built” (Ingram 4).

WORKS CITED
1.Arias,Oscar. “The Importance of Education for Development”. October 8, 2001. <http://www.arias.or.cr/fundador/speeches/GATE081001.htm>
2. “Why is education important?”. UNESCO 2004:United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization. < http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28703&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html >
3. Why is education important?. UNESCO 2004:United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization. < http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28703&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html >
4. Ingram,George. “Data show basic education underlines economic development, political stability, healthy populations: New Coalition Report Highlights Importance of Education to Developing World”. February 17, 2004.

Effects of the first Intifada

2006-05-18T20:00:00.001-07:00

EFFECTS OF THE FIRST INTIFADA

There have been many conflicts between Israel and Palestine, all of which were caused by Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. This uprising has the name of “ Intifada ” . As a result of the first intifada between this two nations, are the death of innocent people, the creation of Hamas, a radical and fundamentalist Palestine group and the Oslo agreement.
The Intifada was a conflict that encouraged Palestinians to show their feelings, through a movement of nationalism, for the territories that belonged to them. Not only adults participated in this war , “the Intifada largely consisted of Palestinian boys, teenagers, and college-aged kids throwing rocks at the most powerful military force in the Middle East” (Efaw 1). At the beginning this was not considered a war, it was just a confrontation of different ideologies. Protests made by people, including methods of nonviolence, demonstrated the overriding ideology. Later, protests took the form of strikes, boycotts, and other civil disobedience techniques (Kuttab 2). This situation led this conflict to a long war.
One of the most common consequenses of war is the death of people, especially children. The first intifada was not an exception; there were a lot of inocent people who were killed by bombs and some other weapons like guns and stones. There is an example of the tragic death of eight Palestinian workers after they were hit by an Israeli truck driver. “The strategy that the Minister Yitzhak Rabin from Israel used to kill Palestinians, consisted in encouraging soldiers to break the bones of Palestinian protesters . An Israeli camera operator for CBS filmed a 45-minute ordeal in which Israeli soldiers used rocks to break the bones of bound Palestinian youths” (3).
The first Intifada affected many aspects like the economy and the policy, but the most important was the social one. Families were destroyed by unnecessary deaths of relatives , and all these situations generated hatred and a feeling of revenge in the hearts of people. Psychological damage also affected people who survived to the war because all these experiences made them live with fear and with mental disorders contributing to a backwardness , because living in this situation is difficult to contribute with the progress in a country. Israel's purpose is to integrate the territories that are occupied by palestinians, to reduce or eliminate the population and any manifestation of Palestinian nationalism or culture. This has always been the case (Greene 4). If they keep on thinking the same, the war will never end and innocent people will keep on dying.
The creation of Hamas is another effect of the first Intifada. Hamas is a radical and fundamentalist Palestinian group. They have two ideologies violence and politis , mainly including terrorism, to pursue their goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel. All what they do is to defend their interests of having their own nation, but the situation that surrounds them is what really made them do terrible things such as behaving like terrorists. “Hamas receives some funding from Iran but primarily relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activity take place in Western Europe and North America” (Terrorist Group Profiles 5). Since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Hamas has taken part in local elections and won many seats in areas like Gaza, Qalqilya and Nablus (Who are Hamas? 6).
Every country that has participated in a world war know the importance of arriving at an agreement , because this is what could take them to a new beginning and start again, to contribute to the progress of their own countries. As a result of the first Intifada , pressure grew to reach a peace process between Israel and Palestine. Both countries wanted to discuss their problem in a bilateral way. The United States pressed Arabs and Israelis to pursue peace. For the first time, all sides sat together to discuss. This opportunity made a little progress and opened the way for future agreements. This agreement happened in 1993 and is well known as the Oslo Process. As soon as these two countries started the Oslo process, Palestinians took advantage by intensifying colonization and building an infrastructure designed to facilitate its military control over these territories (Achcar 7). Hamas became the first opponent of the Oslo accords. Despite many Israeli operations against Hamas by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian National Authority, Hamas found it had an effective power of veto over the process by suicide attacks. (Who are Hamas? 8) as a consequence, both sides ended up deeply disappointed in the results of the Oslo Accords.
The first Intifada was a failure. Through all those years of struggle and war they did not achieved anything , only the survival of some few and the destruction of many families left with feelings of revenge. This was a conflict definitely without sense , because at the end, both sides lost and none of them reached their purpose. The result of the first intifada between Israel and Palestine, left the creation of Hamas, the Oslo agreement and death of innocent people, not only this, but the continuing disagreement between the two nations contributed to a second Intifada.

WORKS CITED

1.Efaw, Jamie. “Palestinian Psychological Operation the First Intifada, Comentary and Analysis”. 31 January 2005. <

2. Kuttab, Daoud. “The Two Intifadas: Differing Shades of Resistance” tactics. Information Brief No. 66, 8 February 2001. <http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010208ib.html>

3. “The Two Intifadas: Differing Shades of Resistance” , lasting images, Information Brief No. 66, 8 February 2001. <http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/pubs/20010208ib.html>
4. Greene, Susan R. “ A Window on Palestine”. slingshot@tao.ca
5. “Terrorist Group Profiles”. Country Reports on Terrorism. 2004. United States Department of State, April 2005.
6. Who are Hamas? / 26 January 2006
7. Achcar, Gilbert. “First Reflections On The Electoral Victory Of Hamas” 27 January 2006 <>
8. “Who are Hamas?” / Opponent of Oslo . 26 January 2006

A kidnapping Story

2006-05-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

A KIDNAPPING STORY

Most of the kidnapping that takes place in Colombia is conducted by FARC.
Something common in this group is that they especially kidnap people traveling on the highways. People who work for a multinational company or foreign government represent the desired targets. These people will generally have a team of body guards with guns to protect themselves in a dangerous zone.

This was the case of Andres, the father of a guy I recently met in Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. On December 15, 2004, Andres was driving alone from Medellin to Bogota. When he was in the middle of the highway he was stopped by a froup of five boys. Each one of them has a riffle and dressed green and brown clothes. Inmediately they took him into the forest and started to walk. Five hours later they arrived to a little house. There, Andres was tied with tape and locked up in a small and dark room. The next day two of the boys entered in the room and gave him a piece of bread and water. A few minutes later when he finished his breakfast, the kidnappers gave him a cellular phone, so that he could call his son to say he was fine and to say that he needed all the money from the chain of restaurants and apartments he owned to be free. The boy was completely confused, he didn´t now what to do, but what the really knew was that the guerrilla will kill his dad if he say something to the police.

Raul, Andre´s son, took time to get all the money. As a consequence the guys that had kidnapped his dad decided to send him something that could prove that he was alive, but at the same time, to prove that he was suffering because his son was taking too much time. Raul did what his dad asked him to do otherwise the guerrilla will kill his dad.

While Raul was getting all the money to Andres, he was hoping to receive good news as soon as posible. Andres was dehydrated because of the long walks under the cold nights and sunny days, without something to drink besides he was an old man. During this walks he tried to be friendly with the boys, talking with them about interesting topics, without mentioning things that would offend them . With luck and little by little he made good friends, and with his personality he obtained the confidence of the boysthathad kidnapped him.Now they were able to talk about personal thingslike their family, and also personal problems.

One day, Andres was asked for a favor from one of the boys. E wanted a paper and a pencil to write something to his son. After tree days, the same boy gave him a piece of napkinand a pencil to write on it. He was not allowed to do that, because the victims can trasmit information about the place they are. But this boy was very special and wanted to help him. The boy sent the letter to Andre´s son and he wrote back , this continuo for one month. All what they used to write in this letters was about their feelings, to now were they during this time.
One day Andres was watching television, when he heard through a wall that the guerrill had received all the money he owned. After four months of being kidnapped, Andres was finilly realesed. The guerrila made an appointment with Raul near the highway, exactly in the place Andres had been kidnapped. When Andres arrived to his house, one week later he sought the help of a team of lawyers in an effort to salvage his business assets. The guerrilas that had kidnapped him knew what he was doing, and on day, when he was at the rear door of one of his restaurants they shot him till he was death. His family now are scared to walk the streets.

After all this suffering, the family decided to organize a march with the objective to protest aginst the Farc and especially against kidnapping and violence. A lot of people from each of the colombian cities went out to the streets to show their opinion about this situation that not only affected Andre´s family, but a lot of people like rich and poor. The method they used was to write in big placards and to show some pictures of corruption and delinquent acts.

" Biased language "

2006-03-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Language reflects and shapes society, it also powerfully influences attitudes, behavior and perceptions.
There is an important type of language, it is called, Biased language. This type of language refers to many different things at the same time. It calls individuals and groups by names or labels that they did not choose for themselves, it is based on stereotypes that imply that all lesbians/chinese/ women/people with disabilities/men/teenagers are alike, it treats groups in nonparallel ways in the same context.

One of the most polemic types of language is the sexist one, because promotes and maintains that male is the norm, the significant gender. while many people agree with this others think this is discriminatory . The word "he" refers to male, not to female and male at the same time. Maybe one of the reasons of this type of language is because women did nothing, contributed nothing and were nothing in the past, but this is men fault because they thought we weren´t able to do as many things as they use to do , but now we can prove that we can do many things and that we can reach high positions in good companies. I can say that this is women fault too because they didn´t do anything to show what they could do at that time.
As a general rule, it is good to remember that we should ordinarily view people as individuals and not mention our racial, ethnic, or other status, unless it is important to our purpose in communicating.

Ramallah reacts to Hammas win

2006-02-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

A lot of peolple support Hammas, because they think he is the right person to deal with the government .
Hammas is focused on resistance against Isrrael and on fixing the economy, on the other hand people think Fatah was interested in positions and money, not in the people and thats what made people vote for Hammas in the recent polls. After Yasser Arafat`s death Fatah collapsed , it couldn`t works , there were always problems and people got sick of corruption .
There`s also people that thinks Hammas doesn`t have enough expirience , but after all they trust in him
www.bbcnews.com

A True kiddnaping story

2006-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

The violence is not a new event in Colombia, this is a fact that started 40 years before, and probably it will continuo for a few years more. The guerrilla started because poor people wanted the goverment to solve their problems like work, studies, health insurance and others.
But the problem was that the government didnt help them , so they decided to create 3 revolutionary forces, FARC , ELN, AUC, All this forces have their own objective, but one thing they have in common is the way they use to press the government to do what they want.
For example they kidnap, kill people, but bombs in the downtown of the most important cities, they steal and they are also related with the narcotraffic.

Memories of my best carnival

2006-02-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

The last year i went to the Washington Park, there i met with some friends and we threw water, eggs and other stuff to the people. All my friends got drunk, so i was trying to take care of them , but it was kind of difficult because i felt tipsy.
I also went to the Country party. There i was dancing all night long with my friends listening to Eddy Herrera. Silvestre, Peter and others. the place was full of people , but everybody was happy, because carnival is the time of the year when people from Barranquilla take one week of rest and enjoy every day drinking and dancing, having a good time.
The day after that i went to the orquestra festival, but i was very tired, so i left early.
the last day of the week, a friend of mine invited me to her house because there was Eddy Herrera, who prepared dominican food for us, Eddy was also with his brother and manager. He sang and dance for us, it was deffinitly the best day of my life.

silvi´s blog

2006-01-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

My name is Silvia, im from Barranquilla , i was born on April 9 .
i live with my parents and one older sister . Right now im studying international bussines at the north university