Learning English at University

One of the most important things in our formation as psychologist is learning english as a foreing language, this is important to the extent that we are constantly reading, doing researches and contacting other professionals from different countries. Universidad de Chile have taken this as a responsibility and they have estructed their courses curriculum based on this necessity. And now we, as student, can benefit from this initiative.

In undergraduate courses, here in my University there are 4 levels of english that student must approve, these are: starter, begginer, pre-intermediate and intermediate. In my case, I’m on the 4th level of english, each level takes a semester to be completed and after the course a final test is taken to evaluate the knowledge, habilities and competencies adquired during the course. Once approved those three level we get a certification that confirm that the courses have been satisfied passed.

So far I have enjoyed and learnt things that I had not learnt before, teachers I’ve had so far have been very good, motived, patient, and they’re always ready to help us when we need. I think the methodology of class are really good, we can participate in many ways and we constantly recieve feedback from teachers at the class. One of the thing that I emphasize is the blogging experience which is a method that uses technology for learning. In relation to it my blogging experience was a very interesting experience, it was a new way of learning english that I never used before. It was fun and entertaining too! I honestly enjoyed it, because I could use my imagination and I could explore about topics related to my area. It also helped me to improve my englishn because I had to apply vocabulary and learn new expression while I’m writing. I also felt free to express my opinions about many topics and talk about my plans in the future.

In conclusion, learning english at University have been a good experience, I sincerely feel that I learnt many things and I can say that I have improved my english in fact, moreover I am sure that I am not the only one. Related to this, It’s very important that we have a good training in english, in that point Universidad de Chile have done a good work, because our future as students and professionals depends on it.

FACSO Facilities

I think the current situation in my faculty although is not the best, I think is not that bad and it could be worse. I think there’s a couple of things it could be improved as the number of the classrooms (for example, Education career doesn’t have their own classrooms), time ago we didn’t have enough computer for everyone on the third floor computer room and it was always crowded, now we have this one and another one computer room on the first floor, actually I don’t have problems when I need to use computers, there’s a problem with the bathrooms too, besides not having tissue in it, sometimes they’re closed or not available, on the other hand we have problems we the cafeteria, there’s not enough space for all student, teachers and workers of the faculty, sometimes we have to wait long time until a table is available. It’s pretty annoying.
I think there’s nothing that we could do to resolve this situation, I think we have to use what we have in the best way possible, I just try, for example, go to lunch early and be patient when I have to queue waiting for a vacant toillet. I think the main benefit of resolving this is a better quality of life and convivence. The impact would be positive, we’d feel more confortable and satisfied.
Despite of this problems I think our faculty has positives aspects as the elevator, for example, big spaces where I can park my car (and is free and safe too), green areas and places for sport.

Friends! friends! friends!

Hello! Today I am going to talk to you about a very special topic to me, about my friends!
I don’t think that I have only one closest friend, I wouldn’t like to rank them, I think I have many special friends, some of them I met at school, at university and others at my volunteer. I love them a lot in different ways.
I think I can make friends easily, I like meeting new people I am a very open and friendly person. In relation to it I even have made friends over the internet, actually I still keep them relatively close to me.
A friend should be someone who listens to you when your down or confused, who supports you in hard moments, someone to laugh (out loud!) with. In my opinion a friend must be loyal, cheerful, kind, nice, reliable, someone who wants you well, who are with you in hard moments and respects me. Friends are to make your life in this world a happier journey and to demonstrate you that unconditional generosity exists and it has a shape of a person.
I sincerely consider myself a good friend, I can sacrifice myself for making my friend happy, I’m a good listener, I’m always attentive to their need and for helping them with anything. Despite of my good experiences, I have had bad experiences too, I had friend who let me down, it hurt so much in that moment, but I got over it, it was difficult, but I did it.
I still keep in touch with my childhood and high school friends they are very valuable people, sometimes I miss them a lot when I remember when we were children, when we played and our long talks about many topics.
I think friends should be forever, they are like little angels who guide you and protect you. We must take care of them.

MMR vaccine and autism

There has been concern about a likely link between combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (the MMR vaccine) and autism. A research done in 1998 proves the relation between being vaccinated with the MMR vaccine and bowels problems that might cause a new kind of autism. Anyway, the researchers said that their studies could not prove any such link. The research was not representative, it was done with only 12 children and it was criticized by other experts. But the results were published and many parents decided not to give their children the MMR vaccine.
Actually the scientists involved in the research have retracted about linking MMR vaccine and autism.
It’s hard to say that vaccine is completely safe, many vaccinated people get sick, but we cannot necessary relate vaccine with their sickness. To prove it is necessary to do a type of research called randomized controlled trial, in those kind of research some children would get the vaccine and some would not. Other types of studies have provided reliable evidence about the MMR vaccine and autism those are cohort studies and case-control studies.
There have been a lot of researches on the MMR vaccine and autism and there’s no evidence of a link between both. Unvaccinated children are just as likely as vaccinated children to have autism and the increase in autism did not start at the same time as MMR vaccination started.

Beautiful Pets!!!

Today I will talk about pets! Our dearest animals!
Well, I have a pet, it’s a nice little dog that I love very much, her name is Channel she came to our house in 1998 when she was 2 mouths, actually she’s 11, despite of her age she’s like a puppy, so lovely and tender, something that makes her very special is that she’s sooo polite! In that aspects she’s like a human being! In my home she’s so loved and cared.
So far I have had a lot of pets, between them, one rabbit, one cat, four hamsters, six dogs, four birds, two frogs I think that all I guess.
My life would be surely different without pets, I guess I would always feel that it’s something missing in my life, they’re like loyal friends, they accompany you and they distract you, that’s why I think is important to have a pet too, actually dogs are used for rehabilitation therapy like canotherapy, horses are used in hypotherapy and dolphins are used for the same reason.
I think it’s important for children to take care of pets because it can promove responsibility, it promoves love and respect to animals and nature and they can play with them.
I don’t exclude the possibility of adopting a homeless animal, actually I’ve done it before, his name was Bruno, but he couldn’t get use to live in a house, so he left.
It’s sad thinking about the animals left in Chaiten, I would never do something like it, I can't imagine make a animal suffer!! That was terrible! But their owners may had a powerful reason.

Santiago

Santiago is the capital city of Chile and is the city I live in, it’s a very interesting place to visit I totally recommend it for anyone who wants to know Chile. Within the metropolitan area of Santiago there are about 174 heritage sites between them we can mention: architectural, historical and archaeological monuments and even typical neighborhoods and areas that any foreigner tourist must visit. For example, palaces in areas surrounding República Neighborhood or others 19th century architectural structures as Equestrian Club of Santiago, University of Chile, Catholic University, Central Station and Mapocho Station, Central Market, National Library, Bellas Artes Museum, Paris-London neighborhood, etcétera.
In Santiago there’re lots of green areas where I recommend vistors to go, among those places I con mention the fortifications of Santa Lucia Hill, the Sanctuary of the Virgin Mary at the top of San Cristobal Hill there visitors can take a ride on “teleférico” and watch the city from the sky, it’s beautiful. Santiago General Cemetery, Forest Park, O'Higgins Park where people can take a walk by the “Pueblito” in there, and Quinta Normal Park.
Five of the greatest place in Santiago are: Bellavista neighborhood, here you can fin popular bars, cultural center and internacional gastronomy, I’ve been there, it's a great place specially at night, Quinta Normal Park where tourist can visit the Museum of Contemporary Art, MAC-Espacio Quinta Normal, Chilean Railway Museum, National Museum of Natural History, etc. Beautiful place to spend some quiet time, Moneda Palace seat of president of Chile, the most important place in country, Forestal Park the most traditional park in the city, there’re important cultural and recreational activities, very typical place! And Plaza de Armas the historical center of the capital of Chile, here Santiago was founded, visitors can find the Central Post office, National Historical Museum and the Cathedral of Santiago.

Transantiago

I don’t take buses usually because I drive a car, I either can say how was the system of buses before Transantiago System, because in that time my dad used to take me to the school. I use Transantiago eventualy since its implementation, but my experiencie had been awfu at the first timel! Some background I can give tell about it are that Transantiago is a public transport system born to improve the old yellow buses system in Santiago, it would be a big chance for everybody in the city for best, but despite of the great plan of the creators of this system it was a chaos. In the first day of operation only 1400 buses took to the streets, a 72% than the total of buses, the lack routes generated chaos in various parts of the capital, which continued in the days following, agglomeration, travel delays and widespread discomfort between cityzens, faillure in implementation of recovery rate system. When I was a user of this system I hated, buses was fulled I was always delayed and as secudary effect Underground became a jungle!! It was horrible! Today Transantiago is better than before there’re more routes, the system is more coordinated, there’re more buses, the frecuency is better and the system of recovery rates is working without any major problems.
Some things that I would like to change from this system is frequency of the buses It could be more regular and quality of the machines it could be better adapted for older people and handicapped people and that buses could have their own way on the streets.