Response Paper 10

1. How much time and effort did you put into this?
It was a lot effort, a lot of reading, and researching.
2. What do you think your strengths and weaknesses were in this course?
I think that me weakness is to speak in front of many people, however, it is not like when I started the course, but it still happens.
About my Strengths, I might say that I was interested about the subject, so the I liked the readings assigned by the professor, so it allowed me to learn a lot.
3. How did you feel you performed in this course?
I feel it was good, but sometimes with the negatives comments the professor did about some answers I gave, made me feel not secure enough about what I have read, and learned.4. What are the most valuable things you learned from this course?
I have learned about culture, and different ways of living, also some accents, and dialects that are used in another languages.
But, the most important experience was to know people from different parts of the world, and the friendship we set up, also the exchange of culture between us.
5. What would you do differently if you had a chance to do this all over again?
Nothing, I would not change it, I did what I could, and I really liked the course.
6. How do you feel the cooperative learning approach worked in this course?
I do not know what do you mean with “cooperative”?

7. Do you have any suggestions for improving this course?
I think that it was excellent, and that the term of “culture” is clearer for me now.
8. What else would you like to add that I did not ask?
I think that the rubrics of evaluating are not far, since they are the same either for Non native speaker or native speaker, so since English teaching and translation major is not only about culture and English, English native speakers should be evaluated in a different way, or make them do they speech in Spanish, with new vocabulary, and a higher manage of Spanish language, as is required for us to make accurate speeches, and writings in English.

The values Americans live by.

Response 7
THE VALUES AMERICANS LIVE BY
By L. Robert Kohls, Ph.D.
According to this reading, Americans practice a lot of values, and practices that for them are positive, but in third countries are seen like negatives.They believe they are unique, even though they are sharing in a group with many people they like; I perceive this like “they believe they are the best people on earth”, but once you say you are “the best”, you are not longer the best one anymore.
Americans think that they should control whatever can affect them, we are the other way around we are controlled by others. I mean Americans’ control is not only about controlling environment, it is also about controlling everything around them; Latin America is under their control, we must allow want ever they want to bring here or refuse to do, and this is about government issues.
I might say that American have achieved many things because they are positive people, they do not give up, and they will do whatever they can do to get what they want, and you can see this in wars, deals with another countries, and moreover now they control the world…and how I knew that, well when the crisis started, because if they were bad we were bad too, and it affected many places around the world, it dragged us. I define American with a simply word “CONQUERORS”.
Time and its control.
I like American’s reliability, and this is one of the values that I am trying to reach as Costa Rican, since now I am more aware that not every thing is about money, but your time and others’ time is very important and of course how you use it, and take advantage every time you do not waste time, and also sometimes the word “time” can turn into “money”, I think that this is one value that calls my attention.
According to the reading the term of “Equality” for Americans is that we all are alike, but I do not see them treating people like this, may be they only see alike themselves as American, but not the rest of the world or foreigners, nonetheless, if I am right some of them like to help poor people sometimes, but for me it does not mean that they see us alike, sometimes is because they are good people, sometimes because they want something else (benefit, deal, knowledge etc), I might say that I am based the way they manage commercial deals, and wars for example.
Now, Individualism, independence, and privacy are values that I agreed with, I admired them because time for yourself is always necessary to meditate about your things, and make plans, this makes you more self-confidence, and here in our country we tend to prefer being with some else most of the time.
However, Individualism or “ be unique, different from others, or whatever it is” I might say that I feel like that even though I am not American, I am proud of my culture, I love it, I act the way I am, I use Costa Rican sayings, an expression, I have my own ideas, I have a unique way and meanings to communicate, I feel different from other because everyone is different, I do not want to be or copy any other culture even though people in Costa Rica tend to copy o do things like Americans.
Self help/initiative is very important, and in U.S.A.if is necessary, journalist, media or a show will give you a space to give you a credit, to mention your goal, or accomplishment, on the other hand, here in Costa Rica they do not see that as important, the country will not give you support or an award even though you made something for your country.
Competition
Americans’ competition value is seen in most of their activities, and they foster themselves to do the best every time they have to do or perform something, one example of that is that most of the time they have people who represent them in many sports’ disciplines, and their performance shows the effort they do to win, they try so hard, in addition I believe that “competition” is linked to the strong feeling of love they have for their country.
Future orientation:
I do believe that if someone tries hard to achieve a goal, he or she might or might not accomplish it, of course that person’s effort to get it worth, but in my opinion there are things, events, and facts that you could not change since they are a thing of destiny, even God’s plans for you.
Action/work orientation
I think that a person should live to work and not work to live, so even though work and profession life style is very important part of a person life, is not his/her reason to have a perfect world. Life is experiences, is to have time to see your family, and is to have time to spend the money you earned.
Some Latin American people go to U.S.A to earn more money, but once they get there they realize that to obtain that sometimes they must keep working in two jobs, so it would be better to stay here with two jobs, but close to your family.
Informality
Americans informality is very nice, I like the fact that they do not worried about how they look every time they go to an event, here in our country everybody is going to talk about your clothes when you attend to a party, you have to be worried about what clothes you should wear for every occasion, if someone is going to hire you or not just because your clothes, hair etc.
Directness/ Openness/ Honesty
About this value I might say that we do not practice that in Costa Rica, Ticos always feel afraid to say things face to face or in front of other, we go like “take it easy” ; I hate this word and this attitude. I admired Americans’ honesty when they have to say something that may be is not what the others want to hear, I agree with this attitude, I think that is the best way to solve problems and be clear.
Practically/ efficiency
Practically is another thing that I like, for example here in Costa Rica we tend to ask for document, papers, sign and a lot of requirement to get a service, even though they won’t be necessary, or those would be throw out, long lines at the bank, many questions, many answers…so, Americans do everything more practical, for example arrange thing through e mail, video conference, phone call, fax, codes, express services etc.
Materialism/ acquisitiveness
Americans like to acquire all these kind of devices like: television, dvd, more than two cars, laptop, an expensive camera etc, because they want to make their life easier, also because they buy the product they make, I think that this is good, because in our country we tend to refuse to get something that says “made in Costa Rica”.
Finally, I think that we should take others’ culture values that are going to do our life better like “do not waste time”, but also I would like to emphasize in the fact that we should accept our culture, we should practice it, and that we should love our country. I do believe that in Costa Rica we are losing our identity trying to avoid Costa Rican customs and culture, and trying to be like someone else, so we should be proud of our country.

QUILT

I made a quilt about my mother’s culture since I think is very rich, and it was about Guanacaste, this place had given to Costa Rica a lot of different customs, culture, places, and it’s delicious cuisine. So, basically to make my quilt I used nail polish, and pieces of cloth; it had a bull which represented The most famous bulls at Guanacaste’s parties, their names are “Chirriche” and “ Malacrianza”, I really enjoy of these parties, and all the jokes that people make inside the arena.
Also there was a beach painted on the quilt, with the sea, a palm tree, and the sun, this last element was very important in my quilt because it represented Guanacaste´s weather which most of the time is very hot, because Guanacaste joined us we have these beautiful beaches, and now a days are very visited by foreigners, and famous people have built their houses over there.
Also I sewed the Guanacaste’s tree; there were many people under it because it has a big crown, its fruit is like a human ear, and its colour is brown, it works like a clothes’ bleacher, its wood is very useful to make furniture.
There was a “Tamal” which is a receipt from Guanacaste, but it has spread all over Costa Rica, it is a Costa Rican Christmas specialty , but some time it is eaten even though when is not December. Tamal’s preparation takes a lot of time and many steps. Tamal’s ingredients are: Corn flour, pork, beans, rice, and chili, all those ingredients are cooked separately, and then they are put together inside a banana leave, then you wrap them and tie them with a cotton string, and finally they are boiled.
I painted a mouth yelling “wipipia”; this yell usually sounds at typical parties, when people dance typical musica, so it expresses happiness.
On the other hand , It was supposed that we should made a presentation of the quilt at the university on Lobby I, but it was not like that, instead of that we had the opportunity to share with some students from Europe, they were from different countries, so the girl I met was from Finland, her name is Jeanette and we were talking about our countries, actually we talked more about Costa Rica than Finland.
Well, what called my attention about her opinions of my country was that she told me that not many people in her country know how to dance, and that here is very normal, so she told me about here wonderful experience when she went to a club here and she saw everybody dancing there…very close, so that was surprising because in her country people don’t dance very close, everyone has his/her own space, and men don’t ask you to dance at least they are drunk, but anyway the most important thing I learned from this was that in her country they pay a lot of money for teaching how to dance, so this idea is on my mind, may be some day I could go there to teach and make some money. I told her that I learned how to dance when I was 6 years old, and that I dance around of 6 kind of different rhythms, so she was surprised.
About our languages she told me that in her country she speaks finnish and of course English, and that her country’s population is like here, well there is different of 1 million of people more in Finland, but her country is almost 6 times bigger than Costa Rica, so wonderful they have more space!
Also she told me that she heard that here in Costa Rica is not a secure place, so I said the true which is that we have no rules, and that if she would walk she should see around her, and do not trust in every body, and always go out with someone else, this was something that I did not like to talk about but is true.
Finally, I felt satisfaction when she told me that most of her friends want to come here, and that they think we have the most beautiful beaches in the world. She told me that she would continue studying Spanish in her country, so she gave me her Facebook address and I told her that I would help her with her Spanish, of course, I would like to learn Finnish too, so and think that I got something good from it, definitely Culture activity was a good idea, and an input to our knowledge.

SHALL WE DANCE?

Describe the difference between both movies? Describe what happened , using operations, acts, and scenarios. And explain the significance of these movies to your lives.
In the Japanese movie we can see that they have more formal manner to ask “Shall we dance?”, also they dressed formal code, and when the girl is going to chose who is going to dance with her she did it very carefully, so, she stood up in from of every body and walked forward the man like following a protocol, after that the people that were around them hesitated to go and dance on the dance floor, actually they looked like embarrassed.
I the American movie, they looked more opened since they have a lot of physical contact, also there was one moment in which Jennifer was dancing with a man and he put his hand on her butt; Moreover the clothes they wore were more casual, and some of the girls wore sexy dresses.They showed through dancing all what they felt inside, there was passion while they were dancing. Dancing was not only a hobby it became part of their lives, and a reason to feel happy.

MORE FLOWCHARTS

Religious Ritual

REPORTING A CRIME

Getting a license

RESPONSE 5

My house is medium size. Every person has his/her own bedroom, the biggest one is my bedroom, my bothers usually spend a lot of time in my bedroom since I have a computer, and they use it.
We do not enter to my oldest brother bedroom because he does not like. My youngest brother bedroom is most of the time full with his friend, and sometime they stay at home and sleep in his berth. Some times we get in to my parents bedroom and all of us sit on their bed and we share stories.
My mother was born in Guanacaste, her family has a farm, so that why she has to have her own garden. She usually goes there when she feels sad.
The living room is used by my brothers and my father; they are always watching Tv, but on Fridays all the family get together to pray and talk in the living room. There is a small library in the living room, and it has a lot of books because every body in my house loves reading.

The kitchen favourite place of my father, he loves cooking, and he is always making coffee. I use the kitchen on Sundays because I cook that day.
The time the family gets together on Sundays to have lunch in the dinning room. We wash clothes once per week, and we do one sibling per week, some times when my sister wants to tell me a secret and we do not want to share with the others; we come to the laundry room, because it is apart from the rest of the house.
We just built a cellar because our kitchen is small and most of the time we keep a lot of food, because we are a big family, so we store it over there.
The bathroom is very big, and it is in the end of the house, we decided to build it in that corner to have privacy.
In the yard my mother has some plants, and there are like three kinds of worms, they are very special with different colours, and very strange features, so sometime my mother and my father go to the yard to see them, and they stay there talking.

ARTIFACT

Object:
Mini transportador
Culture: Costa Rica
What it is?
It is a kind of mini airplane; it is just for two people.
Where do you find it?
You can find it in Costa Rica, in my father’s cellar.
How do you use it?
It is used as a car; it has gearshift, horn, steering wheel, brake, and accelerator, but the difference is that it flies.
When?
It is used every time you want to go out, especially when you go to work, because at these hours there is a lot of traffic.
Which people use this object?
It is used only by adults, over 18 years old.
Which groups of people use this object?
All the communities in Costa Rica, but only for those who can afford it or pay it.
Perspectives: Why do people use this?
People use it because there is lot traffic, and car accidents in Costa Rica.
What significance does it have in culture?
Costa Rican culture tends to break rules, and even more traffic law, so this object is going to help the traffic issue in Costa Rica.
Also as we have very good knowledge of technology in our universities, and Costa Rica is distinguished for its inventions, I believe in the opportunity of creating this object.

Culture in second language Teaching

Response 4

Culture in a second language Teaching
Nowadays, culture is one of the topics that are taking into account at the moment of teaching, and it is been teaching in private Institutes, which is very important because it will allow the student to acquire more vocabulary, to use expressions inside a context, and it allows the student to feel indentify with the language.
I agree with Mrs. Peterson and Bronwyn Coltrane, when they said that “a student can not truly master the language until they have also mastered the culture context in which the language occurs.”, so, teaching culture to our students foster an appropriate communication, and it avoids misunderstandings, because a word, phrase, greeting could be annoying for a person who has a different culture.
Nonetheless, I think that something that is very important, and should be taught in culture course is the way you have to talk in formal situations or with people at work, besides we are learning about cultural behaviors, food, greeting etc, we are facing a real world, and in Costa Rica English has been set up in work’s curriculum, so most of the professionals might face a situation in which he or she should talk in English in a proper way.
About the activities we can use in class, I liked what was mentioned in the article about using students as cultural resources, because it will enable students to have a better insight of the target culture. However, I do believe that the best way to understand culture is living in the country, be related with member of the target language, so it is noticeable that teaching culture should improve and in order to achieve a real contact, and an opportunity to have an experience in the target-language community.

Seminar-Response 3

Sello Verde: Ambientes Inteligentes
Mrs. Silvia Castro has given a lecture about Intelligent Environments; also, it was about the brain’s functions, and the last scientific discovers in Neurosciences, all of them are important to know in order to teach in a better way, and to understand that people have different ways to learn.
About all that has been told in the lecture, there was something that was interesting for me, it was very rich to know about how we can make the learning process easier for our students, for example allow students to choose a topic or activity to work on, something that is meaningful for them, because they won’t forget what they learned, and students are going to have fun while they are learning.
I believe in the methodology of “Learning by doing”, but Mrs. Silvia Castro also Pointed out the way people learn, and it goes like this: By “hearing-reading” you can get a 20% of knowledge, “hearing-observing” you can get 50%, “Observing” you can get 30%, and “by doing” 70%; so based on that I think that it is necessary to include all of them in our classes, of course, it would be hard to determine all lacks in our students, or to know which is the best way for every student to learn,( by reading, hearing etc), but since we cannot know every single student’s necessity concerning to the way they learn, at least what we can do is take notes about some students, that we have noticed their lacks (hearing, reading, observing etc), and make groups according to their lacks, so we could assign them projects, homework, task related to those skills that have been mentioned in order to reinforce the skill is needed, and at the same time ask them to “do it”, or put it into practice.
Mrs. Silvia Castro has said that there are people that are smarter than others; I do believe that intelligent has to do with that way you face situations, and solve problems, also it has to do with the way we perceive the world, as is mentioned by Weschler, intelligent is “Global Capability to act with a purpose, to think rationality and to face effectively the environment.”, so I believe that intelligent is not only if you are good in your studies, school, or university, of course all of those are part of intelligent, but it does not mean that if you are good on those you are smart, since to be smart there are many thing in someone daily life that will show if this person is able to manage and react in a correct way facing one or another situation.
Also, I think that most of the knowledge we acquire is because we got it from the experiences, and the environment, so not all persons have the opportunity to study, to travel, to learn how to play an instrument even though they are smart, or they have a lot of skills. However, there people are very good in mathematics, but may be not in English, so who knows…we have our preferences, and we are not good at all, which does not mean that we are not smart.

Response paper 2

1.How do your beliefs, values, and culture upbringing influence the way you behave?
2.How does it feel when others see you as different-as an outsider?
3.How do others’ beliefs, values, and culture upbringing influence the way they behave?

Response

1. My beliefs influence a lot in the way I behave, since I believe they are the most important issue for me because my mother remained and still remains on that, so it is inside of my heart and my soul.
Most of the time I guide my life based on what I learned from the Bible, which gives me reasons to respect others, and in some cases it helps me to control myself,and my temperament.




2. Well, actually I might say that when I was in some foreign countries,locals have not seen me as an outsider, they treated me well, and they were very kind. Nonethe less, sometimes I feel like as an outsider here in my country, it is because now a days we have a lot of foreigners who have the same rights and guarantees as costa rican have; there is not a difference between them and us. They can do whatever they want, without rules, without limits…that makes feel as an outsider, and when we don’t like what they do, they argue, and they find that they can be free here, so I realized that we do not have any priority in this country, all of us are the same, that makes me feel as an outsider, also they treat us as outsiders, for example, there many people from other countries working in down town San José; They are selling things in the middle of the crosswalk, in Plaza de la Cultura, on the streets of Mercado Central, and they do not leave space to walk, so the situation is that every time Costa rican police officers come to those places to tell them that they must leave; they get angry, they hit, kick, and hurt the police officers, arguing that they need to eat, and that the governor must understand their problems, so this is not our country any more, we are the outsiders, and they are the owners .
Moreover, another issue that makes me feel as an outside is the fact that if we want to go to some of their countries; we have to get a visa, we have to pay, we cannot work there, and when they come here, Costa Rican government does not ask them for anything (proper documents); they can live here, they can work here without any problem, they can buy a house and nobody is going to take them out.… so that makes me feel as an outsider in my own country.

3.Well, I think that of course, values, believes, and culture influence that way others behave; for example I have a friend who is from Japon; once I invited him to come to the beach with me, I am 6 years older than him, and I knew that he loved Costa Rica's beaches, but I noticed that he was uncomfortable about coming with me, then I knew that in his country is disrespectful that a man goes out , or share with a girl that is older than him since they have to treat them as old ladies, with respect, and the only contact they can have is a greeting.
So,I understood that their custom, their background make them different, and sometimes we could not understand their behaviors.

CULTURE???

Culture?

We were talking about the meaning of culture, and I knew that there are many issues that involve culture like: food, greeting, language, music, practices, and so on, but they are classified in different contexts.
So, there are many things that we should take into consideration in order to understand a culture.

Now a days, all countries around the world have different cultures sharing together, so we should try to be tolerant with others.
Now I know that in my classroom there are different cultures, and believes, so it gave an opportunity to know more about my classmates, so I can see that culture is not generalized in a country, there is a different culture inside of every home, and a way to perceive things.