Learning by doing

I have always thought that the best way to learn anything is by doing it. Despite the errors we can make, practice can become in meaningful learning.

My experience learning English at University has never been very meaningful, but it has been nice, because the teachers are very dedicated to their work. I think I’ve always tried to make the grade in terms of requirements and participation. Besides, the blog has been a very good space to know better each other with my mates, and a good instance for practice our reading and writing.

Personally, my English is functional for my work in University, because I haven’t troubles to read scientific literature and use it to frame my researches, for example. Nevertheless, I want to improve my speaking and my English level in general, mainly because I think learning a foreign language is very enjoyable and a way to know other cultures. Learning English is also an advantage when applying for a job or a scholarship to study abroad.  I would like to improve my English by doing a course or, even better, going to an English speaking country, like Great Britain or Australia.

Outside the class, I use English very often, because I usually read scientific journals. But lately I usually see movies and hear radio podcasts without any kind of help to translate (like subtitles or something like that), so I just try to understand by myself what I’m hearing. That has been a very good instance to practice listening and it’s very cheap! Hahaha! I mean, I don’t have to use other resources besides my TV or my computer. The only complication that I have discovered in this practice is to stay focused, because I always have “something else” to do and several times I had to leave my practice aside… But despite that, I think I could gradually improve all the aspects of my English this semester.

Thanks for the opportunity and I hope to progress J

Know yourself and you’ll succeed

2014 has been a year of many ups and downs. I think I can describe it like a year of learning about myself. I have lived too many things this year, that’s why I can’t think about only one good or bad episode. Maybe I could talk about processes… I don’t know how to explain it better.

First of all, I learned to enjoy some activities that I didn’t use to enjoy, like meditation and sports. I discovered how much they help me to manage stress and anger, some moods that had often appeared in 2013. Until now, I have been feeling better, quieter and happier. This new mood has influenced my whole life, because happier thoughts make you see better things around you.

This searching of feeling better turned out to be a searching of myself, I mean, there are too many things that I’ve learned about my interests, my motivations, the things I would like to do in my life, the kind of relationships I would like to have, etc. I already feel that I have things clearer, I have some goals I would like to reach that I didn’t know that I had.  But now I know, and I don’t know how I will reach them, but I have a good feeling about it… I think I’m on track. I have seen so many good results by now that I would like to go on that way.

I still want to know more things about me. And I would like to instill this message to my daughter: self-esteem doesn’t imply self-importance or meanness. Knowing yourself is a way to find out what would you like to expect about life and experiences. 

That's all, by now.

Kind regards :)

The music of my life

I never had –and I still don’t- a favorite kind of music. I mean, I have some tendencies to rock music and derivatives, but I have always thought that every type of music fits with some circumstance of life, and that’s why I always talk about “the Life’s tracklist”.

My own life’s tracklist is compound of many artists and more specifically, of many songs. Every song of this tracklist has a special meaning and reminds me some situation or person that could be important to me.  

I always remember an occasion when someone asked me what song I would take with me if I would have to go to a desert island. On that occasion I said I would like to take “Highway Star” by Deep Purple. Today I probably would say something like “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. Tomorrow… I don’t know. Each day has its own song and that’s why sometimes I hear some pure rock music to activate my day, other days I hear classic music to relax, other days I hear some dance music to change my mood, etc.

I believe music is profoundly connected to our life; it talks about what we are, what we think and what our expectations are. We can express ourselves through music and, at the same time, we can allow ourselves to feel intensely our emotions. I think somehow... it's a way of catharsis, like every art expression. We can use it as we wish.

Kind regards! J

Between theory and practice: How we know what we know?

Probably the most interesting and curious thing of my career is the lack of practical activities in the program. Psychology in Universidad de Chile doesn’t have a practical orientation, so we usually don’t have any kind of practice that has been included in the syllabus of our courses a priori. Nevertheless, we always have some teachers whose opinions are different. They think practice is necessary and essential for our academic and professional training.

This semester I have my first all-practical subject: School Ethnography. This course, in fact, has become in a research team, because all the students have formed groups to do the fieldwork, but we all are studying the same phenomenon: the violence in educational contexts. Each group has to go to different kind of schools (private and public) and then we have a meeting every two weeks. In this reunion we talk about our experiences, read the field notes and discuss what we going to do the next visit, what we have to observe or what we have to ask.

This fieldwork has been very enjoyable. My group partners and I have reach the “synergy”, I mean, we don’t have many problems to coordinate as a team. However, the problems we have faced are related to the institutional protocols. We are studying the violent dynamics that occur in Liceo José Victorino Lastarria, but they are very cautious and suspicious to give us access to the school, so we had to be very careful with all we say or we do in the fieldwork.

This approach to the practice in educational context has been a motivation to me. I appreciate to have the opportunity to get involved in this activity, and know better the kind of relationships that we can face in the schools, because I think that practice is the only way to learn to be the best professional and prevent mistakes in the futures.  

Kind regards! :) 

The ideal job

I’ve always thought that when we choose what we want to do with our life, we have to think about something that makes us happy, mainly because we’re going to spend a lot of time doing it.

So, when I think in my future as psychologist, I always think about a job related to educational contexts. That would be a job that could possibly become a passion, because –like I said in some posts before- I’m very interested about education and how to implicate myself in those contexts to propose and proceed with innovations on the area.

I’m interested about researches too, so I also would like to participate in develop some studies related to learning processes and how we can introduce some changes in the current teaching-learning models.

Surely my job will be doing in academic centers, but I would like to move around other institutions, with the purpose of knowing the educational processes in the contexts that occurs. I think that take a look of what’s happening in the micro level is essential to develop innovations in macro level.  

I know that to achieve all this goals, I have to continue studying. When I finish my career, I want to find a good PhD program in some national university, which allows me to work in research and academy.

That’s all by now.

You can post your comments below.

Kind regards! :)

When a strange place must become home…

Traveling is a very nice activity, we all have a special country or city we would like to visit someday or maybe we would like to live in. Nevertheless, it’s hard to leave our country (even our own city) and venture to live in a new place. In psychology, some related phenomena have been defined and one of them has been called “culture shock” or “traveler syndrome”.

The culture shock is defined like a personal disorientation that a person may feel when facing a new context (new country, new culture) and has to experience a new way of life. Four phases have been described in this phenomenon:

 - Honeymoon phase: in this first moment, the differences are seen like nice and interesting. This period lasts a few weeks and the person feels delighted with new places, new food and new way of life.

- Frustration phase: this second moment appears around three months later, when the individual feels anxiety about the differences between the old and new culture. The people in this phase usually experience some changes in their circadian rhythm, and may get sick. The most important factor is the feeling of loneliness and lack of communication only worsens that sensation.

- Adjustment phase: after some time, between six and twelve months, the individual begins to adapt to new customs, adjusting his behavior to new culture, because he has learned more things about it. This adjustment allows the individual changes his attitude about the new culture, because he feels everything makes sense. 

- Mastery phase: in this moment, the individuals feel ready to fully participate in the host culture. It’s like a bicultural phase, because there are elements from both old and new culture in the person’s behavior.

I have never experienced a culture shock, because I have always lived in Santiago and every time I went to other cities or countries only for vacations.

What about you?

J

My best concert ever!

I still remember when I knew that VAMPS confirmed their concert in Chile. It was May of 2010 and I ran to buy my ticket, but I had to wait until November to see them. I was expecting the opportunity to see Hyde live in concert since 1998. He is the vocalist of my favorite Japanese band, L’Arc~en~Ciel, and I never imagined that dream to come true. It finally happened and I had to be there.

VAMPS is a Japanese band formed by Hyde (vocal), K.A.Z. (guitar), Jin (keyboard), Ju-ken (bass guitar) and Arly (drums). Hyde and K.A.Z. came from other bands and they join in this new project in 2008, while they left in stand-by their original bands. Nowadays, they are still working in VAMPS project, but they have their own bands at the same time.

The day finally came (November 6, 2010) and I arrived at Caupolicán Theater approximately at 5 p.m. The concert was starting at 8 p.m., so I had to wait a while with my friends. When it began, I was so excited and happy… I sang aloud every song that Hyde sang and I got a plectrum that K.A.Z. threw to the audience. I still have it J

The next two or three days, I was voiceless and my throat hurts a lot, but it wasn’t in vain! I enjoyed this concert more than every other. And the best thing was share that charming moment with my lifetime friends.