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.