New York

Everything is Ok around here!
The only problem is that it is soooo cold!
Bye

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY!!!

Happy teachers' day to everybody who believe in changing society through Education. We can make it!

Funny

This picture is so funny! I love it!

Sometimes I say the same hahaha...

Manhattan

Yesterday I finally found out where I am going to go this summer. I am going to work in Manhattan, New York City. I am so excited of going there because there are so many things to do.

I am also really sad, and I feel homesick already. I am going to miss my family so much, especially my sisters. It is definitely a mix of feelings.

New York, New York!

Tweety

Sorry!

I will be (Leona Lewis)

There's nothing I could say to you
Nothing I could ever do to make you see
What you mean to me
All the pain, the tears I cried
Still you never said goodbye and now I know
How far you'd go
I know I let you down
But it's not like that now
This time I'll never let you go

I will be, all that you want
And get myself together
Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day
And make everything okay

I thought that I had everything
I didn't know what life could bring
But now I see, honestly
You're the one thing I got right
The only one I let inside
Now I can breathe, cause you're here with me
And if I let you down
I'll turn it all around
Cause I would never let you go

I will be, all that you want
And get myself together
Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day
And make everything okay
I will be, all that you want
And get myself together
Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day
And make everything okay
Cause without you I cant sleep
I'm not gonna ever, ever let you leave
You're all I've got, you're all I want
Yeah
And without you I don't know what I'd do
I can never, ever live a day without you
Here with me, do you see,
You're all I need

And I will be, all that you want
And get myself together
Cause you keep me from falling apart
All my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day
And make everything okayI will be, all that you want
And get myself together
Cause you keep me from falling apart
And all my life, I'll be with you forever
To get you through the day
And make everything okay

This is how I feel right now!

Art

Is this Art?

Who are we to define what's art or not?

If you ask me, this is not art. It is not beautiful, nor interesting, nor something that provokes feelings to other people.

In the sense of a tool for expressing feelings, it is art because in this painting I expressed my feelings.

Love

I would like to be as powerful as Love.
It is so strong that all my focus is in it.
When things do not work out with it,
You feel like how I am feeling now.

You love and feel happy,
But, when you are not loved,
You feel sad!

Love can change the way you are,
Love can change how you feel,
Love can change the way you perceive,
Love can change you, that's it!

Love will make you love,

Love will make you puzzled,

Love will make you joyful, and

Love will make you cry!

Can you change Love?

Nope,

Can I change Love?

Nope

Anyway,

We all love Love!

Who knows if this is poetry, but I loved it!

I am not a poet

Happiness* Sadness

It's life, isn't?Sometimes you feel full of joy and happiness, and the next minute you just feel miserable. On Tuesday, I was happy, full of joy, success and friends. Everything was going according to my plans. I still have some of these things but, unfortunately, they are not giving me happiness anymore. It is amazing how things change so quickly. Even though I've tried to feel complete by these things that make me happy, there are so many things that make feel sad.
How can a life be going through so many different situations that make you happy and sad from one minute to another? The worst of all this is that we do not choose this sad situations, for they just come and drag you to an immense feeling of hopelessness.

Unfortunately, we drag some of our friends with us, so I want to apologize to all of them who have felt being drag to unhappiness because of me. I am really sorry.Sometimes I feel I do not deserve all these sad things because I am not a bad person. I always try to do my best and to help and support everybody, so Why is life so hard on me? Please, JUST GIVE ME A BREAK.

It is very hard to feel as sad as I feel, when I am alone in my house with no one to lend me a shoulder. I could use some friends right now!

Farewell

This entry is about my farewell. It was really sad to say goodbye to the students I was with. I am sure I will never forget their little faces and how they made me feel today when they ask me not to leave. I had the chance of saying goodbye to all of them, to take pictures and to thank everything they did for me. I also told them how wonderful was for me to meet them. Moreover, I am really concerned of what will happen to them, and if they will learn as much as they can. It is so sad to say goodbye after you have started loving every single one of them. Next Tuesday will be really strange for me because I will not go to the school and I will miss them. But, I think next Thursday will be worse because I will really miss them. It is sad to think that probably I will never see them again.

About my teacher, I really hope she understands that teaching it is not playing or something easy to do. I wish she could understand that if she plays, she is playing with the lives of little people. I do wish her the very best and I am sure I will see her again. I hope she gains the experience she lacks, so she can improve her practice.

Although it was a good day, I think it could have been better. I had imagined my farewell so differently because I had heard my classmates speaking about theirs. I thought it was going to be similar to what my friends had commented. As always, you set your expectations. My expectations for today were high, but nothing happened. I thought the kids were going to write letters for me, but they didn’t. I also thought there was going to be a little goodbye party, but there wasn’t. In addition, I thought my teacher was going to give me a present or even a letter thanking for all I did for her during this term, but she didn’t. I felt really bad when I left the school with empty pockets. I only have good and bad memories, but it would have been so nice to have letters to show everybody and to read when I felt nostalgic. I guess life is like this and you have to accept it. Anyway, I knew the kids were not going to do the letters by themselves, but my teacher should have encouraged them to do it. She didn’t.
I have learnt so many things and I have met so many beautiful creatures in this experience that I will never forget it. It was the first time I wore a blue apron, and I felt like a teacher. But after observing different situations and teachers, I think I lack so many things that I am just not ready yet. Presently, I am looking forward to my new experience in a new school and I am sure I will learn a lot of new things.

Schools & Belen Educa

Today, I was in our second grade class and suddenly my teacher started dancing with a song and motivated every student to dance along with her. I think that is a very good way of motivating the students and a fun way of learning too. The problem was that there were like 4 students that did not dance at all. Then, when the dance was finished, I asked her what we could do with the students that did not want to dance. She told me “everybody was dancing” and I said that was not so. She did not reply, so I thought maybe she wanted to believe that everything was perfect or that it was impossible to think that 6 year-old kids did not want to dance. I did not mention this again because we have been having some problems about my performance as her assistant. Sometimes I feel she does not want me in her classes anymore because I see things in a deeper way. In this situation I can see segregation because not every student is considered in the pedagogical practice.

I have realized something very important the last few days. The teachers in this Foundation stay quiet without speaking their mind. I do not know why, but I definitely know that this should not be happening because as teachers we must understand that one of our most important roles is to have full responsibility for the students learning. With teachers staying quiet we are just allowing other people to make decisions about our actions in the classroom. Exactly the same that has happen with the Education General Law (LGE). Sadly, we are not considered because there are not many teachers that have something to say. As we have discussed in classes, there are many technicians in the system. For instance, I cannot understand how a coordinator comes once in a while and makes suggestions if he/she is not there every day with the kids. As lately, the voice of the teachers is not considered and we cannot let this happen.

I hate the position I am in now because I am only allowed to observe and I cannot change this tragic reality. I wish we could have a more active role, but when you make an opinion you are considered as someone that has no idea of education, that you have no experience or you are just learning; when the truth is that they have allowed the system to be like this. When I think about it, I see that some teachers that are in the system are guilty of it for they have done nothing to change it. Now there is this movement, everybody wants to join but they do not give anything rich enough to help. I truly think we are the ones that have to change this and I will work extremely hard to do it.

Just one question to finish, Is because of Belen Educa that these things are happening or is because of the teachers that do not do anything to change this reality?

Love

There is one truth I dare say about Love and that is that you must reinforce and reinvent it every day. When I was watching this movie, I saw this was so true because you must conquered your significant other every day. You must do this with little details that are extremely important like a flower once in a while, a song, a hug, a walk--I could go forever-- or actually imagine that your couple does not remember you-- like in the movie--, so you have to make him/her fall in love with you again and again. Thus, you will avoid routine and your relationship will be enriched.

Another important thing is that you must learn from your couple. This means that you must know him/her so as to know what they like, what they dislike or hate and what is meaningful to them. Without knowing your couple, your relationship will most likely be based on superficial aspects.

I say this with almost no experience at all, but for me these are important things about love. I would hate to have a boyfriend that does not know what I love or hate. In addition, I would also be annoyed if everything we do together is the same every day, or if he does not have time to talk to me and discuss topics about our lives.

In this movie, we see Adam Sandler making Drew Barrymore fall in love with him over and over. He does it, not always successfully, but he loves her so much that he cannot stop trying. At the end, he marries her and must keep on loving her and making her love him. It must be really hard for him to meet her one day and she is mad or she does not remember him and the next day she is happy and so on.

I guess Love is mostly about sacrifices we must do for the others, just as Henry in 50 First Dates. If we are not willing to do this for someone, we do not really love that someone.

To: no one, since nobody reads what I write, sad isn't it?

What do you think about Love?... just give your opinion

Truth

I know this is kind of childish, but I am kind of childish...
I just love this movie and the song. I really like the song "My reflection" because it captures the simple truth about being...
just be yourself... without masks or lies!

Here is the song...

"Reflection"

Look at me
You may think you see

Who I really am
But you'll never know me
Every day
It's as if I play a part
Now I see
If I wear a mask
I can fool the world
But I cannot fool my heart

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

I am now
In a world where I
Have to hide my heart
And what I believe in
But somehow
I will show the world
What's inside my heart
And be loved for who I am

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?
Must I pretend that I'm
Someone else for all time?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

There's a heart that must be
Free to fly
That burns with a need to know
The reason why

Why must we all conceal
What we think, how we feel?
Must there be a secret me
I'm forced to hide?
I won't pretend that I'm

Someone else for all time

When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?

I hope you have comments
What do you think about the lyrics? Is it true?

Thoughts...

I seriously have no idea of why this thought comes to me once in a while. Anyway, I don't like it, it makes me feel rotten. Actually, I just hate the way it makes me feel! This stupid thought is about death. When it comes to my mind I ask myself wheter life is really worth the trouble of living it.

I have this restlessness desire to know what happens after death. Where do we go to? Is there any place to go? Why have I taken all the trouble to live my life and do my best doing it if I will day and that's it, it will be over? This thought really worries me, and when I am thinking about it I feel so cold and my stomach gets tense. I mean, Death frightens me. And it makes me feel scared of wasting my time in silly things. I really think we have to live our life and take the most of it without wasting any minute.

Today, I was in the bus and this stupid thought came to me... I said, I don't want to die, I don't want to! But you can't live forever, right? Eventually, we will all die. What right does death have over me that takes away my posibility of living forever? For me, dying is the most horrible thing in life, but we all know it will happen, anyday since your birth.

I hope to feel a bit more relaxed about this topic that is a big issue for me!

Just a question,

What do you feel when you think about dying?

Now, Back at School 3

April 1st, 2008
Third day

Finally today, I arrived to the school with no problems. I was not lost at all. Because of that, I was really happy and I felt that it would be a great day.

Something I did not like very much, was that the little students are learning how to repeat, instead of thinking in the answers. The clearest point is that the kids answer “I am very fine, thank you” even though they might feel sad or bad. So, they are not really thinking in what they are answering, they just repeat it. Moreover, there is something that is pretty ambiguous for I do not know if it is good, bad or both. This is that, for example, she teaches in the three 2° grades the same. It may be good because they are in the same level. It may be bad, because she does not consider the different students in the different classes. The students are treated as objects with this methodology, because, as I said before, she does not consider what every single students can bring or what things can they come up with.

Anyway, it was a short day because the small kids I am with went home earlier today. The reason for this was that the elementary teachers had a meeting. I was pretty relaxed and we had a lot of time to talk and to prepare materials such as drawings for the English room. During the talk, I got to know Ximena, my teacher, better. She told me a little more about her personal life, her education, how she got to be a teacher and some things about the school. That was really good for me, because at that moment I did not really trust at her. In other words, I did not have much confidence to tell her my opinions, but after the long conversation I got more confidence.

Although I had only two classes, today was a really good day because I had more time to get to know Ximena and to discuss some things about the school. I hope Thursday to be a great day too.

Now, Back at School 2

March 27th, 2008
Second day

Today was really exhausting. In my school, three teachers had to go to Fundación Belen Educa to attend some kind of seminary. Because of this, the rest of my group had to be teaching alone. That was not my case, so I decided to ask Ximena if I could go and help Katherine. She said “no problem”

However I helped Kathy, I had some classes with Ximena. I noticed how she makes every class a sort of competition because she gives a sticker for every student as a prize for the winning row. Moreover, she prepares funny and relevant material for the kids to learn nouns (toys), colors and numbers. Also, she uses body language so the kids can remember the words when they see certain movement. Another useful activity is to ask certain questions every day, such as What day is today? And what’s the date? I think this is a very good technique because the kids will always remember these certain questions and answers.

Although the good things I like about Ximena as a teacher, I don’t like some things about her. For example, many times she has severe reactions to some kids’ behavior, such as kicking them out and even making fun of them in front of everybody. She also has the misconception of school as only existing for students to study and not as an institution that creates a culture and has many relationships within the people inside of it. Ximena almost never treats the kids with some love.

As far as I’ve seen, the school is really good because the small kids really learn. It also accomplishes its purpose of helping people because it provides good meals to the students. Another good thing, in my opinion, is the time for English. This is only one pedagogical hour, twice or three times a week. In this way, kids don’t get really bored with more time doing the same.

My experience with Katherine in 5°c was really terrifying. When I arrived to the classroom, Kathy was standing there in silence as hoping for a miracle to happen. All the students were making noise and standing without even noticing we were there. I did not know how to start, how to tell them to be quiet and how to start working. Kathy started handing out some activities and I shouted for them to listen the instructions and the explanation of why Miss Rosita was not there. To conclude, I must tell you that it was scary and exhausting and luckily we made them sing and revise the numbers.

As I said before, this is only the beginning and I’m looking forward for more.

Now, Back at School

March 25th, 2008
First day
I had such a strange beginning this day. First of all, I was extremely nervous and anxious because of today’s experience. Secondly, I have never had such a hard time getting to an address. Thirdly, because of my bad luck my trousers got torn in a leg.

I finally arrived at 9.15 to the school and my group was already there. I signed my arriving time paper and we talk to Miss Nirmia. She told us to wait until the break and we were leaded to the Teachers Room. During the break, we met Miss Rosita, Miss Ximena and Mr. Cesar. Then we were introduced to the person we will be working with, in my case Miss Ximena.

Ximena is an English teacher and we will be working with primary students, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. Honestly, that was not what I wanted. I really wanted to be with older students. Anyway, at the end of the day, I realized that it was a really good experience because it is amazing to see kids so little learning a new language. And they do it very well.

About what I saw of the teacher, I must say that, in general, I liked it. She has very good ways of making the kids quiet by singing songs as “shh, shh, baby sleeping” and “twinkle, twinkle little star” and you can see that the kids remember and actually learn English. They know things as animals, what’s the weather like, the date and classroom material. Something I did not like is that she told a 2° grade student to go out because he answered “manzana” when she asked “what is the month”. Sometimes, teachers kick students out so as to avoid the problem and think in a solution. By kicking this student out, Ximena kicked the problem out.

The school has a great structure and infrastructure. They have a special room for English and the students go there to practice the four language skills. There it is a video and TV set, radios, books and they work by groups in circle tables. Every student has the chance to go there. Teachers (not only the English teachers) were very kind in general; they said good morning and treated us very well.

This first day was an extremely good day, but it is only the beginning. I am certain that in some months there will be many changes in me and in what will be my opinion about this school. This is why I am really looking forward to the following days of my first experience to see and learn more about this particular school’s culture.

Becoming Jane

Yes Nato, you will see that I am very into this. The truth is that, as I told you, for me Ms. Jane Austen is the greatest woman ever for all the things she accomplished. Nowadays, everybody can write a novel a story or anything, but, in the time Jane Austen lived, writing was something that few people, actually man, could do. What is most interesting about this is that she did it. And she did it perfectly. She wrote six of the greatest novels in English and you can say this of very few authors.

Unfortunately, I do not have enough words in this language to express what she means to me. Actually, she is one of my inspirations to get better everyday! It was amazing to watch the movie Becoming Jane and see that she could not be with her greatest love and yet she experienced love with her body, heart and soul.

I recommend everybody to watch this movie and you'll see that many of their characters are taken from her life.

Do you think Lady Catherine de Bourgh is like Lady Gresham from the movie? I really think so (answer in the comments)