Post 2 (week 4) >>> Themed/Free Post 1

Describe your creative working process

What does creativity mean according to you? Explain briefly
Who are some artist you follow and find inspiration from? What do you see in them?
What are your sources of inspiration or creative ideas?
What materials/techniques do you use more often and what is their relationship to your working process?

Talk about your experience while creating a work of art and your experience as a spectator of your own work.

180 words

Please make three comments on your classmate's blogs

Dear students,

Here you get to decide on a topic you'd like to develop.

Brainstorm a few possible topics and finally agree on one through some discussion and voting. 

As there are several themed posts this term (see blog syllabus), the best thing to do is to negotiate all of them at once. Ideally, at least one of the free posts should be career-related.

Students should work in pairs or small groups to come up with their top 3 topics. Then as a class, find the most popular topics for the posts. 


- Comments: Ask students to leave a comment on 3 of their classmates posts
- Word Count for post 2: 170 words

POST 1 (Week 3) >> A COUNTRY I'D LIKE TO VISIT

- Which country would you like to go to? Why?

- What do you know about it?

- What would you like to do there?

- Would you like to study/work/live there? Explain.

- Make comments on 3 of your classmates’ posts

- Word Count: 160 words

Hi everybody! Today I'm going to tell you about a country I've always wanted to visit, Peru.

It's a lovely country full of interesting things to see and know. I really like the culture there. There are lots of beautiful cities and places to visit. I hear the people are extremely friendly and generous, not like here. Many excellent writers and artists are from Peru, creators such as César Vallejo and José María Arguedas, intellectuals like Mariátegui and Cornejo Polar make me admire this country very much.

If I go there some day, the first thing I will do is to eat a lot of their delicious food; I think it is fantastic! Second, I will travel around the country to meet people and know places. I would like to visit famous cities like Cuzco and historic site such as Machu Picchu. There's a lot to know.

If I have the opportunity, I'd like to work there for a year, maybe teaching English or Spanish at a school or college. This would give me the chance to get to know more of their culture.

Well, I hope that some day I can go to Peru and make my dream true.

Session 7: Talk about your studies

In this blog, talk about your studies at the university.

Say what you study and why you chose this career
What is your most difficult subject and why
What's your favorite subject and why?
What are your dreams for your job future?
Evaluate the infrastructure, services, and education quality.



Include any other information you'd like to mention.
Write at least 180 words.

Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs 

Session 4: Free-themed post

Decide on a topic with your classmates

Try this ranking activity >> First work in pairs or small groups to come up with your top 3 topics. Then as a class, find the most popular topics for the posts. 

IMPORTANT >> Each time there's a free blog session, organise your writing by adding some bullet points that mention the main points you should include. 

- Comments: Ask students to leave a comment on 3 of their classmates posts
- Word Count for post 4: 140 words 

Blog Session 3 (week 5) >> Carrer-Related Website OR An Expert on your Field

For this post, you have to choose ONE of these  two options: (Post 1 OR Post 2)

Post 1 (Instructions).
Write about a career-related website that you enjoy visiting.

You should:

- provide the link
- describe the website (sections, features,etc)
- say how often you visit the site
- explain why you like the site.




>Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs
>Word Count: 130



SAMPLE:
Well, I often visit ManyBooks.net because I enjoy reading so much. It's necessary for my job as a teacher since I'm always looking for new books to give to my students. These books are free to download and you can read many famous authors from the past. There are books in English, Spanish and other languages. It's a simple website and easy to navigate. You can search books by author, title or genre. There is a Books of the Week section, a Popular Download section and a Recommended section that's very good. The best part is that you can download books in different formats for android, kindle or pc. I visit the site about three times a week, sometimes even four, and I can also connect using my smartphone. I always have good books to read. The link to the site is www.manybooks.net. I hope you find great stuff there!! Bye!

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Post 2 (Instructions)
Who is a person/expert on your field that you admire?

Say:

-Who she/he is.(short biography)
-What she/he has done. (examples of their work)
-Why you like her/him.
-Include his/her image

> About 130 words
>Add comments to at least 3 of your classmates’ blogs
 


Sample:


As a writer I really admire Julio Cortázar. He was an Argentinean author born in Belgium in 1914, but he moved to Buenos Aires when he was four years old. He grew up in a big house where he read a lot, because he was frequently sick and had to stay in bed. He studied pedagogy. He wrote many short story collections and novels. He's famous for introducing the fantastic in his fictional world, though it's a very modern concept, because there aren't any ghosts or monsters in his work. Strange things happen to characters that they can't explain. He wrote novels such as Rayuela, Los premios and Libro de Manuel. His short story collections include Historias de cronopios y famas, Bestiario and Las armas secretas. I like his style because it's very fast and intricate. His stories always speak about the human condition, about trying to find other hidden aspects of life that too often we forget: creativity, risk and imagination. That's why admire Julio Cortázar.

I don’t really like to speak about music, maybe because I think that I know so little about it, that if I try to say something about the topic, I could be embarrassed. However, I don’t use to go to concerts, so I going to write a little of a singer that I like.

My favorite singer is Violeta Parra. She was a folklore singer from a small village next to the city of Chillán. In her life, Violeta gave to born four children. She spent her whole life crossing all the country to recover popular songs and the old tradition of the country people. Her work was a huge contribution to the Chilean music and culture. I like her a lot, because I think she is a very strong woman who never stopped even when she was practically alone and everybody say to her to stop, and what I like about her music is the social content of the letters that she wrote. She has hundred of songs, and its difficult chose one, but it could be “Yo canto a la diferencia”, because it shows the political thought of Violeta with her singular style of saying things.

(Aquí enlazaré este video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afzP8J3eP6M

Post 2 (week 4) >> A singer/band you like or a concert/exhibition you've been to

Band / Singer >>
- name
- what do you know about them?
- what type of music do they play?
- why do you like this artist/band?
- what's your favorite song? why?
- publish a picture or video
- 120 words minimum
- make 3 comments on your classmates posts.

Concert/Exhibition >>

- what was it?
- when did you go?
- where was it?
- why did you like it?
- mention more details about it
- publish a related picture or video
- 120 words minimum
- make 3 comments on your classmates posts.

Important for teachers >> include your own sample post as language input and guide for your students. The students choose ONE of these topics and write about it.