Allusi's blog

Questionnaires: my experience of the exchange

2008-05-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

Picture taken from:http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/355390532_15683eb85f.jpg?v=0

I think so far you understand that I'm enthusiastic about the exchange. We always complain that we can't practice talking in English, especially to native speakers. Well, now we had that possibility. My peers and I talked about many topics, some of them were completely new for me, others not so. This experience was very exciting, although it was not always easy. I found it really interesting talking to my peers on Skype, but I usually feel more comfortable in face-to-face communication. To me body language and facial expression (non-verbial communication) play a very important role in conversation and make it more effective. Anyway, it didn't affect the exchange so much.

My knowledge about the other country and its culture is wider now. Furthermore, I think that talking to other people is an opportunity to change your mind and get to know things from another point of view. Nobody was stuck in his/her opinion. We never had particularly serious problems of misunderstandings. The conversation was fluent and if it happened that somebody didn't know much about one issue we simply tried to explain it.

Skype exchange: 4th part

2008-04-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

picture taken from: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/152/422536674_ea3f033232.jpg?v=0

Hi everybody!

Last Wednesday Stella, Cristina and me talked to our peer Ashley. This time we talked only about our final project: it's no easy task to develop a work method! First of all we taked about the possible topics and our ideas.

University life
Health care system
Pregnant women's rights at workplace

In the end we chose the third proposal because it is the most attractive to us and because I think we are the only group that decided to delve into the subject. It took a while since we all agreed but in the end we did it!

Then we had to think about our work method and we decided to send us e-mails and write on the wiki page of our group so that we could find information by ourselves and then compare them later.

So far we are still researching and we'll keep on till next Wednesday.

Bye bye

Immigration in Italy

2008-04-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

picture taken from: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1021/579960238_5806809402.jpg?v=0

In the year 2005 there were 3.035.000 imigrants living in Italy ( Dossier Caritas), 59% in the North, 27% in the Centre, 13,5 in the South. In the past Italy was a country of emigrants, now we are one of the country where people immigrate. When we talk about immigration, I think, we must specify who immigrants are. I mean, there are young people coming from abroad who want to study, there are workers , there are people who moved because they wanted to go back to their origins and there are 'clandestine' imigrants.

Legal immigrants in Italy are approximately 2.7 million, while estimates ranging from 500,000 to 800,000 people live illegally in the country. Many of them attempt to come into the EU through Italian coastline, a target for illigal immigrants who can then take advantage of the Schengen zone and travel free within the EU. In the last few years we heard a lot about desperate people who travel in inhuman condition, on untrustworthy boats in the hopes of finding a better life. The lucky ones who reach the coast lose their hope very soon. This issue is very delicate: on one side the government must control the phenomenon and says that illegal immigrants must go back to their home country because they don't have the right to stay here. On the other hand, if we consider that most of them come from very poor countries, where rights are denied and food is not available for everyone, then, developed countries we must do something to help them. The problem is that many 'clandestine' immigrants become then criminals and that's why citizens are worried. As a student living in Padova, for example, I don't feel safe. I think the system does not work; if you come in humble conditions from a poor country and nobody besides criminals can 'help' you (in fact they use you for their dirty purposes) you become then a criminal as well.

As far as legal immigration is concerned, I think that this is a natural phenomenon also due to globalization. In order to become a citizen you need 5 years. Before foreigners can partecipate in public life, although it doesn't include partecipation in political life except for EU citizens who can vote in municipal elections. Europe is becoming more and more international, maybe we are living the first steps for an european melting pot.

Skype exchange: 3rd part

2008-04-11T05:18:00.000-07:00

picture taken from: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/2234530043_8af7673803.jpg?v=0

Last wednesday Stella and me talked to Ashley about our favorite topic: election 2008. She asked if we were going to vote, the answer was no because both Stella and me don't live in Padova and don't have enough time to go home. Anyway, we made her a very interesting question: 'if Obama wins the elections, would it be a landslide victory defined by race?' And: ' if Clinton wins, would it be a landslide victory defined by gender?'. Well, she told us that both candidates have many supporters according to race or gender and she told us that a roommate of hers is going to vote for Clinton simply because she is a woman like her. She doesn't care about Clinton's political programm, is just a matter of female solidarity!!

Unfourtunately this time we had only few minutes to talk because Ashley had to go to class.

Skype exchange: 2nd part

2008-04-04T03:37:00.000-07:00

picture taken from: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/292573252_9d14d49d87.jpg?v=0

Before reflecting on my second skype exchange I would like to thank Sarah for having given us this great opportunity. We, as students, always complain that we cannot speak and communicate with native speakers, well, now we can. I would like to add that this activity should be part of the previous years' courses as well. I noticed that by talking to native speakers on actual subjects I can get an idea of my level of English. While we are having a conversation, we don't have so much time to reflect on grammar, syntax, words, etc. Everything becomes much more complicated and we have to be quick. That is why by talking we can really improve our English! For these reasons, I think teachers, in general, should promote this activity.

So far you understood that I'm enthusiastic about our skype exchange! Last wednesday I talked to Ugo and he told me that he has Italian ancestors, as my previous skype partner. So I thought that probably most Americans who decide to learn Italian are of Italian ancestry and are therefore linked in some way to our culture. After a brief introduction of ourselves we begann to talk about politics and I gave him the link to the video of Berlusconi. Actually, it took a while before I succeed in convicing him that it was not a joke. He could'nt believe that a political candidate could do such a thing. Comparing it with the videos of the Obana girl, we came to the conclusion that it could benefit but also demage the image of Obama himself and that it is not respectful of his privacy at all.

We then dicsussed about the role of the media (especially in democracy), focusing on the political campaigns. He knew that three of the major Italian channels belong to Berlusconi and that the other three channels are not so free as they are supposed to be. He told me also that CNN is on the side of Bush as well. So, where is media freedom? Is this control on print and broadcast media threatening democracy? I think that it could be worthy to explore further this aspect as we are living in countries which are always proud to confirm how important democracy is. I must to say that I have never been so interesed in politics as I am now. So our skype exchange is not only useful for our language but also for our personal knowledge: it is important for us to stay informed, not only about what is happening domestically, but also globally.

Intercultural Competence: the YOGA form

2008-03-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

picture taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tahliamm/1928802960/

I had never sat down and reflected on my intercultural competence before. By using the YOGA form I tried to assess and understand what intercultural competence is. I realized how important it is to have a cross cultural preparation nowadays: it is not only important if you work or study abroad, but it is also significant for other reasons. For example, if you simply go on holiday abroad, I believe, you need to be prepared and you need to know how you are expected to behave within a different culture. Of course, it is impossible to deeply know all cultures all over the world, but the awerness of the existence of other cultures besides ours is crucial.

Right now, I'm attending a course of international business at the Chamber of Commerce and from the very first lessons we were told how important it is to know other cultures, their differences and their similarities. We learned how similar situations are handled in different ways according to the country in which they take place.

I think I know the german culture better than any other since I've lived for one year in Germany when I went on Erasmus and now I go very often there. Before using the YOGA form I never examined my intercultural development. If I think about that, I realize that when I'm abroad I always attempt to integrate myself in with people who live there and I always try to communicate in the host language (of course when I can speak it), otherwise I communicate in English. It can happen that I see that some aspects of the host country's culture are very different from my own and if I have the possibilty I like to talk with people about it . It can be a nice comparison but it must be well-balanced.

Reading the YOGA form I realized that it takes a lot of time to deeply get to know host cultures. I think the most important thing to keep in mind is the attitude with which you face new situations and contexts. I personally went abroad many times and, as I like travelling, I always try to spend my holidays as far as possible. When I'm going to visit a new country I always try to get information about it before my departure even though I know that only by living there and being in contact with people I have the chance to know that society. In the end I can say that the self-evaluation guide helped me to analyze some aspects of my behaviour that I didn't considered before and I realized that although I don't know deeply many cultures I have a very postive attitude towards everything that is new to me and I hope in the future I can develop my intercultural competence more and more.

Skype exchange

2008-03-06T05:05:00.000-08:00

picture taken from:http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1381/1352483670_5247773b41_m.jpg

On Wednesday me and Stella talked to Ashley, an american girl from Dickinson University. We introduced each other and talked about different topics. We decided to organize our conversation talking 10 minutes in Italian and 10 minutes in English; we could talk for about 40 minutes approximately.

We discussed a lot on how different the education system in our countries is and we were all very surprised to see that they only have few things in common. She told us she lives on a Campus and she was very surprised to know that in Italy we don't have that kind of structure. I was very interested in her campus living experience and I believe it has many advantages: you can get involved in campus events and organizations, you can easily meet students from different cultures, you can live indipendently but you are not alone as you are surrounded by your collegues. I experienced something similar when I went on Erasmus in Germany, but it was rather a dorm and not a real Campus.

Then we discussed few minutes the meaning of 'meritocrazia'. I read on our wiki page that the Americans don't know this word and that they believe that a teacher who is 'raccomandato' is better than others who are not. Me and Stella explained to Ashley that here not always you get a job or you are appreciated because of your personal skills, abilities, or job's experiences. Most of the times you need a sort of 'abstract ID' which means you have to know certain people in order to make career or simply to get what you are trying to achieve. From Ashley's reaction I understood that this kind of thing doesn't exist in the US, or at least it is not as common as here. I believe this is a very negative aspect of our country, an obstacle which is hard to overcome.

Among another things we talked about the class size: can you believe that in America people who attend classes are 10 to 20? Here it would be utopia since sometimes there aren't even enough seats for students and one is compelled to sit on the stairs or even to stand. I think that class size matters and that students benefit from being in small classes. Unfortunately this is not the case with us.

I really liked this experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Personal Learning Enviroment

2007-12-09T06:45:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Even though we didn't learn a new tool this week, I still learnt something. I didn't know what a 'Personal learning enviroment' was and I had never heard of a software called FreeMind. Sarah told us a very interesting curiosity: 80% of our learning process takes place outside of the classroom in different periods of one’s life. I was very surprised at it; can you imagine how many hours we spent in classrooms at school or university? I actually can't because they are really too many. Furthermore, can you think about how much money governements and institutions spend for formal learning? It is kind of disappointing to know that most of energy and money are put into formal learning, which is just a small part of our learning process.

As regards my study-path I think that informal learning is more effective than formal learning. Personally I can memorize new things better if they require my active partecipation. How many times did I look up for a word in the dictionary and then forgot it simply because I couldn't use it? It often happenes to me. On the contrary, I can learn new words, new structures or new puns by listening to friends when we are having an informal conversation in English. I realized that I can keep them longer in my mind because I can also recall the context in which something was said or done.

While I was drawing my mindmap I could think about my learning system. Of course it is not stable, I mean it can change as we grow up. It made me reflect upon how important the way one learns can be. The system we devise and the tools we use are fundamental elements that help us in our learning process.

I'm looking forward to seeing your opinions.

CU

Judging information on the Internet

2007-11-30T02:44:00.000-08:00

picture taken from: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/472487618_51b1d20b46.jpg?v=0

The way we judge the information we come across on the Internet is a central matter if we want our search to be effective and accurate at the same time. For studying purposes (but not only) many of us need to get a lot of information we don't know and I myself do a lot of searches on the Web. The question is: are these pieces of information all reliable? Is there anything that can be a trap and so we'd better avoid?

On the Internet we can find almost everything we want but the difficulty is how to find the right things. In order to make it more clear as possible I'm going to make a list of what I think are the criteria of making a good search:

1) Use of a good search engine: there are many search engines but not all of them are reliable. I think google is a good one.

2) Advanced search: don't limit your search to what you come across at first; better making an advanced search so we can delimit the area of interest to us and filter the overload of information on the Internet .

3) Social bookmarking's websites: use websites of social bookmarking as del.icio.us; they give us the possibility to check if a website is useful or not according to what other people said and to the number of persons who saved it.

4) Author: always look the author of the website and check if it is compatibile with your search .

5) Comments: have a look to what the other peers said about the website. I personally think it is worthy to do that but I wouldn't trust it 100%.

6) File format and domins : specify the file format and domins you'd like in your results and search only a specific website, or exclude that site from your search

7) Use advanced operators : click on this link to see which are the most common operators.

This are just few points that came up into my mind. I read the suggestions other universities make for students and I totally agree with them. However, in my opinion, the level of accuracy of a search depends on what we are looking for. I mean, if you follow all these suggestions you will spend a lot of time; maybe it is not the case if you are looking for something which is not so important. On the other hand if you are looking for information that can be useful for your theses (for example) than it is worthy to spend 20 minutes more but have the certainty that what you came across is reliable.

I'm looking forward to reading which criteria you usually follow.

CU

YouTube

2007-11-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

I think all of us know this very popular video sharing website, where people can upload, share and view video clips. You can really find everything you want there: video regarding politics, entertainment, music, enviroment, sport, comedy and many other categories.

In the last few years I heard a lot of YouTube and I think that if on one hand this website can be very interesting, on the other hand it can also be dangerous if it is not kept under control. I mean, we know that nowadays many children are genius with the computer, and the fact that they can watch everything is kind of concerning to me. Of course it does not only regard YouTube but the World Wide Web in general. But if YouTube is used in a constructive way it can be a great tool.

If I think about my language learning, I believe that all these new Web technologies are really useful, not only because through them you can improve your English( you can do it through a grammar book as well) but most of all because you learn and have fun at the same time. If I happen to become a teacher, I will definitely make good use of all the tools Sarah taught us, because I think that catching your students' attention is the first step to be a good teacher.

You Tube can be useful for many other purposes: did you miss your favorite programm on the tv? No problem, you can find it on YouTube; do you want to watch the video your best friend shot on holidays? You watch it on YouTube. Do you want to see in advanced a place you are planning to go to? You watch in on You tube. Do you want to watch programms of other countries? You watch them on YouTube. Do you simply want to have a break while you are doing your homework? You watch a funny video on YouTube and then go back studying again.

The world of podcasts

2007-11-15T05:03:00.000-08:00

picure taken from http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1149/1328991469_b61dc79adf.jpg?v=0

Hi,

here we are again, talking about a new tool Sarah taught us in the last few days: podcast. As it can be downloaded on a portable media device such as an ipod or mp3player, it is preferable for us to have at least one of them. If you don't have none of them you can burn the files to a CD and listen on a regular stereo. Fortunately technology develops quickly and here in Italy almost everyone has got a mp3 player. On the market now it can be found at cheap prices. Unfortunately this is not the case with ipod yet, which is still very expensive :(

Podcasts have the advantage to be free; since they are of public domain we don't have to worry about all the legal/illegal stuff!! I read on our English course's blog that some Universities in the United States now offer many lectures online in the form of podcasts. Isn't it great? If you are ill or if you can't go to class for other reasons you don't need to ask classmates or send e-mails to teachers anymore, the material is now available on the Internet. But I think we have to wait a while for this to happen in Italy...

As regards our English learning process podcasts can be very useful. Most of us complain, we cannot improve our listening and comprehension skills because we don't have the chance to talk to a native speaker, now we have it.....at least we can listen to somebody who is speaking in English. The greatest advantage is that having the possibility to download material onto our mp3 player we can listen to it whenever we want. Most of us don't live in Padova and others like travelling a lot, now we can gain time by listening to our favorite English radio or stories while we are on a train or while we are driving our car home.

Surfing the net looking for some interesting podcasts I found one which I think can be of interest to us: Libri Vox. In this site the authors select a book from their collection and podcast a chapter at a time, three times a week, from start to finish. You can visit the Catalog Index or if you don't have a precise idea of what you are looking for you can browse the entire Catalog. There you find an alphabetically ordered list of books, which makes the research very easy. In order to listen to one of the audiobooks you need to get an audiofile onto your computer. It is preferable if you subscribe to iTunes, so you can download an entire book. However I was able to download some chapters of "Jane Eyre" by clicking on ogg vorbis.

Another interesting website I found is English Through Stories. This website is a bit different from the previous one because as far as I understood the stories here are not books. They are divided in episodes and they adress to an advanced speaker of English audience. Each episode is recorded by the host, Doctor Jeff M. coming from the Centre for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California. At the beginning of each episode he gives a short account of what had happened before. He speaks rather slowly so it is not difficult to understand what he is telling us. Furthermore the stories are also written down on the site so you can listen and read at the same time.

The third website I chose is BBC-Radio. If you are interested in what is happening all over the world this site may help you to keep always up to date. There are many many links to different subjects and programmes. You can listen to the radio in 33 languages, which I think is very useful for us students. I find the link to 'learning English' very interesting; here you find some quizzes and exams, explanations of words in the news, materials for teacher and much more. If you click on it you get on a webpage which may help you to improve your skills. I mostly like to listen to World news; when I'm home I can watch Sky, but here in Padova I don't have a digital satellite television platform . If you have problems with listening click on the link 'Help with listening'.

Be careful: to play episodes of a podcast you need a software. To listen to them you will need a media player, a piece of software, that can play mp3 files. Your computer should be installed with a media-software. If you do not have appropriate software loaded try to get one. The most popular media players are Windows Media Player, Real Player, iTunes.

C U soon

Social Bookmarking

2007-11-13T05:56:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!

Have you ever heard of del.icio.us? Of course you have, if you are taking part to our English course. This website is very useful, I like it so much! When you search something in Google you come out with millions results, unless you don't do a very precise and advanced research. I'm not saying that this search engine is not helpful but sometimes you need to restrict your search to websites that are more reliable. Now I can do all these actievities thanks to del.icio.us. I think this website can be very helpful for everybody, especially for students who have to write their master's thesis. I mean: if I look for a precise subject matter in del.icio.us I know that the results are webpages other people believe it is worth to go to and to take into account. Furthermore I can read the comments they left and get a better idea of what the webpage is all about.

As regars the choises made by the other members in my group I think the webpages that deal with grammar and writing are a very good source for students like us. Furthermore they are very easy to read. I like also the urls that deal with slang, as we don't have the possibility to ask a native speaker so often.

So thanks for all your suggestions!

C U

Use of RSS and aggregators

2007-11-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hi guys!

First of all I'd like to apologize for not having done e-tivity 4 before. As Sarah told us we are learning how those kind of thechnology works, but sometimes I can't understand why my computer doesn't respond to my commands :(

As a consequence I go mad and turn it off! Anyway today it seems to work properly so I guess I will be able to post what I'm trying to write.

As far as feeds and aggregators are concerned I believe they are definitely useful; I had never heard of them before and this points out the fact that I still have much more to learn about Internet technologies. Sarah is really giving us a lot of helful tips, that enable us to become more familiar with the world wide network.

I had a look at the websites I regularly visit and I noticed that almost all of them have Syndicators; to be honest I've never payed attention to them before. Having then an account in bloglines I realized that I can save long time and keep up to date on things of interest to me.

C U

Halloween

2007-11-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN FREAKS

Do you actually know what Halloween is? I didn't untill I took a sit in front of my computer this afternoon and I begann to look for information on the Internet. Well now I have some more knowledge of this feast.

"Hallowe’en” is an English word: all Hallows Eve. It means literally the evening before All Hallows Day or All Saints Day. In Italy the 2nd of November has traditionally been called “Il Giorno di Tutti Morti” which translates as the day of the dead. It’s a day where the dead are remembered and everybody goes to visit the graves of departed family and friends.

For the Irish Celts the 31st of October was called Samhain, which is Gaelic for "the end of the summer". It was the last day of the Celtic year. So it was actually New Year’s Eve. Samhain didn’t belong to the old year and neither did it belong to the new year, it was when death and life met and interchanged : the worlds of the living and the dead side by side. People believed that during this time the dead could enter the land of the living. The ancient Celts didn’t fear the dead and they would leave food out to welcome them. Neither did they believe in demons. In Irish legends there is no talk of evil demons and devils as such, only the evil of mankind. There wasn’t even a ‘god of the dead’.

But where do the different things such as the pumpkin or dressing up come from? First of all, there are no pumpkins in Ireland, there they have always used turnips (=rape). Legends tell us that when the dead wandered on the land, they carried a light with them; so it was tradition to dress up as a dead person and carry a light if you had to go out so that the actual dead would think you were one of them and wouldn't try to bring the living back with them . An interesting note (unknown to many Italians, me too) is that the use of hollowed pumpkins is documented in Emilia Romagna .

Halloween has become increasingly popular across Europe, although many people still say it is just an American custom that has got nothing to do with our culture. Moreover some clerics and conservatives complain it undermines our cultural identity. Personally I don't agree with them: all ancient races honoured their ancestors at some time or another and frequently in similar ways. People are free to celebrate as they want; we must not celebrate Halloween, I mean nobody is forcing us. If somebody does not like this feast because he/she thinks it is a manifestation of neo-paganism, well this person is free to just ignore it. But for the same freedom other people can celebrate it as they want.

As we discussed few days ago in class globalization does not necessary mean deprivation of identity. In my opinion we are living in a period of transition and that's why there are so many debates related to Halloween, this is just normal.

Halloween is a patchwork holiday; click on the link below to learn more:

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VRAemIvbI

My first two weeks of blogging

2007-10-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

I must say that although I already knew what blogs are, I've never thought of creating my own blog. So I'm totally new to this experience. I know many people who have one, but I was maybe too lazy and skeptical to undertake this activity. I often wondered why people, who I don't personally know, should be interested in what I do.

Then I found out that blogs are like a diary, not as private as the one many of us keep locked in the drawer, but still a diary, which anyone can read. You may find many useful tips about almost any subject: from cooking recipes to policy or enviroment. You can communicate with those people you can't have a daily relationship with and it is a good way to learn new things.

So I must say that I really like this course!

At the University I've never experienced learning English this way before. Since I attended High school, learning a foreign- language meant sitting silently at my desk, listening carefully to what the teacher said and taking notes as fast as possible.

The Italian way of studying we know is very passive, so I'm very happy that for the first time we can do something that requires our active partecipation. I really believe this is the most effective way to learn and memorize new words and expressions.

Another important advantage is that this way I can get to know my classmates better: we communicate with each other, we exchange our ideas, we share our opinions, we give and get tips and prompt.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Welcome to my blog

2007-10-17T06:00:00.001-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maddiedigital/

Hi everybody! My name is Elisa

I've been wondering for a while which image could give you an idea of who I am. It seems to be easy but to me it wasn't at all. Then i found this picture, which I think represents something about me.

I am very fond of sport: i can't imagine my life without it. When i am home i like going out for a walk in the wood with my dog , making day excursions to the mountains with my friends and family or simply going jogging by myself. I find it very relaxing, it helps me to free my mind.

Even though Padova is not a great metropolis like Tokyo, it still is a city which can sometimes be stressful. So playing outdoors sport is the most effective way that makes me feel good and regenerated after a busy day . Don't you feel relieved when you look at this picture? I do...so that's why I like it.

These are my favourite websites:

http://www.arpa.veneto.it/bollettini/htm/dolomiti_meteo.asp

I think this website is very useful for all those persons who like making excursions like me. You cannot miss reading the weather forecast if you are going for a hike. It is a very reliable source.

http://www.ltur.com/de/index.html

I think this website is a good resource for all those people who like travelling. I like it because here you can find cheap flights and hotels.

http://www.beppegrillo.it/

I often have a look at this website. Beppe Grillo is one of the Italy’s most famous comedian, as you may well know. The aim of his satire moves from politics to economy, from health to the environment. You can even sign up to the blog.