One of the best moments in my life

I really enjoyed playing soccer, it´s like my best ability, so I had a particularly situation in my life. When I was 10 years old I used to play with Saprissa soccer team, I was really happy in that team because I knew that is the best team in Costa Rica, yet. So I was playing in the matches with lots of inspiration, my father gave me a lot in all the games. We entered into a national competition, so also part of my inspiration was that we were winning all of our matches and we could be the National Champions. We were excited about that, so our coach gave us tips and pieces of advice that we could apply to win the match. We tried to applied that tips the best we could. So the tournament started, we were playing and winning. Then we got into the finals, we were kind of tired and afraid about the final match, because it was a long tournament. Many people were watching us in the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium. So the final match started, we were playing our last chance, and making a good effort. Then the other team shot a great goal, I remembered that we lost our hopes, but then in the half- time the coach told us what values are important in our life and that we need to fight to achieve our goals, and in that moment our goal was to win the game, after that we started to play the second time, when we were making a good job we shot a goal, we were tied. But in that case, a problem appeared, the problem was that a teammate started to be selfish and he focused only in himself and not in us, so he wasn´t thinking that we were a team and we had a great relationship , so the coach told him that, what was he doing alone? We are a team, and that coach taught us many values that we need to apply in our lives to succeed. A few minutes after that we shot another goal and we were close to the final of the game, then the referee finished the game and we were the National Champions, I was so happy because a thing like that had never happened to me, so I couldn´t believe what was happening, I started thinking that it was a dream but I said: No it wasn´t, I’m the winner, I’m a champion!!! Then a man gave us the trophy and we were celebrating a lot and also we were singing and dancing. Then a woman gave us a medal for each one, I noticed the feelings of my teammates, of my father, that he really inspire me when I’m playing sports. So that moment was one of the best moments in my life, I learned a lot in that tournament, I didn´t only learn how to play better at soccer, I learned how to be part of a team, how to practice the companionship, also it´s important the fair play, I learned a lot of values and anecdotes that are important for my life to succeed, and also the soccer it´s a way that I feel free, relaxed and happy.

The Goonies

I would like to talk a little bit about Chunk, because he is really funny in The Goonies, also he was always talking about food and candies, his favorite thing to do is to eat, definitely. Also he made a good job trying to escape from the bad guys. In a scene of the movie he went out to look for help but he couldn´t 'cuz the Fratellis kidnaped Chunk, so they started making questions to him, and also Chunk started telling bad things that he already made in his life, then the Fratellis put him into a room with a strange monster called Sloth, they became friends and then they escape from the Fratellis, so I really enjoyed Chunk, because he is funny, kind of brave but at the same time scared, so in context he is a good guy and I enjoyed the movie.

Urban Legend- " La Llorona "

Young girls migrate to cities in search of many young girls dream, to study and to have better clothes and money to help their families.

This and many came to town and started working as a house keeper of rich people, falling in love with his son, who cruelly made her pregnant and then dismissed from his job.

Not having more to do, he returned home his son hiding under her apron, which failed for a long time, her family, attached to Christianity, began to tell her mistake at all times, mainly by creating great anxiety.

A night under a heavy rain, she ran to the river and threw the baby into the current, when she noticed that the baby was into the current she tried to pick him up, but it wasn´t possible, so she was crying and screaming.

Still on the full moon after a current, people hear the cries of this woman, and you can see her after the moonlight on the river, trying to reach his son.

Thanksgiving Day

1- What is thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a holiday to express thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation to God, family and friends. It is celebrated on the fourth thursday of november.

2- Who were the pilgrims?

The pilgrims were a small group of people who sailed to North America in order to start a new life.

3- Who were the Wampanoag?

The Wampanoag are one of many Nations of people all over North America who were here long before any Europeans arrived, and have survived until today.

4-What happened to the Pilgrims during the first winter?

The Pilgrims did not have time to plant food for the winter.

5-What did the Wampanoag do for the pilgrims?

The Wampanoag taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish and grow corn.

6-Why did they celebrate the fist Thanksgiving?

Because of Squanto's help, the Pilgrims had a very successful harvest in October and had plenty of food for the upcoming winter. The Pilgrim's Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of celebration and thanksgiving sometime in the middle of October.

7-When is Thanksgiving Celebrated now?

On 1863 President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of Thanksgiving. On November 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving holiday.

It`s interesting to talk about Thanksgiving day 'cuz we don`t know really much about this day, so it`s really important to know about this day. I really enjoyed this!!!

12 Rounds Trailer - Starring John Cena - WWE Films

This film is about an officer who attempts to deal with his work but has to face a criminal very persecuted by the FBI, the officer killed the girlfriend of the offender, then the criminal learned the official name of Fisher in order to try to avenge death of his girlfriend. The film is based on 12 rounds, that as the officer is winning the challenges there are chances that the officer's wife dies because the criminal kidnapped the bride. Fisher ends up winning each of the challenges and at the end get to be with his girlfriend.

I was watching this movie yesterday and I started to think in the English homework so I focus on that movie and tried to make a good job for this homework. Also I like this kind of movies with officials, criminals, action, dangerous situations, risks!! It´s really interesting for me watching this kinds of movies so I inspired in this movie called " 12 Rounds ", it´s really good so I invite you to watch it.

Halloween

People in U.S.A celebrate Halloween on October 31st. This is a great custom because the people get used to wear nice and misterious costums to scare the people. Also the kids ask for candies in each house, they play trick or treating and the people who live in each house need to give candies or to make a trick, this celebration is really interesting, funny and in some cases scary. This celebration is really famous around the world and also the people make special dishes for this day.

My Goals

I´m very proud because in this course I learned a lot of new vocabulary and new phrases, about my goals I increased my level of vocabulary, I tried to focus a little bit on my grammar, also I made a good relationship with my classmates, but the only thing that I did´t seek for, was some TOEIC practice and I also made some practices outside the classroom, but in general I think that this level and group was excellent and good to admire, I really enjoyed being here!!!!

News Items

Vitamin D prevents breast cancer. If they had known about this cure before, probably no one had died.


Dozens of overdoses reported at a party in Washington state. If that party had had responsable people, maybe it wouldn't had happened.


Hundreds flee threat of new toxic sludge spill in Hungary. If there weren't less pollution maybe this wasn't happening.


Miners in Chile are trapped in a cave. If they had been more careful when they were digging the cave they probably weren't in that situation.


The police found a dead woman that was missing 13 days ago. If they had found her before these 13 days, maybe she hadn't been dead.


An airplane with lots of cocaine fell down in a river last sunday. If the airport had had better security this whole thing never had happened.


The government is not going to increase the Social Security for next year, if they increased the Social Security there won´t be many murders.


'Jackass' funny and trashy, if they weren´t as trashy and funny, they weren´t be as succesful as they are.


If Saprissa had fire their coach, maybe they had won.

If children were careful, they might hadn´t been stolen.

Heredia

Heredia is a city in Costa Rica located about 10 km northwest of San José. It is the capital of the canton and the province of the same name. It was the capital of Costa Rica from 1835 to 1838.The City of "Flowers", for its beautiful women, is the coffee capital of Costa Rica, producing grain Gold in Costa Rica.The city grew around the parish aid in the early eighteenth century Cubujuquí name. In 1763 was given the official name of town of Heredia, but the title of town was revoked in 1779. He was known locally as Villa Vieja, but that practice was banned by the authorities in 1801.The city of Heredia has several attractions including the historic center mainly composed of Argentina School, the Post Office building, La Casa de la Cultura, the Church of the Immaculate, the fort and the building of the Liceo de Heredia, City Hall is home to the Club Sport Herediano soccer team in the Primera Division de Costa Rica. It is the third national team with degrees from a total of 21 championships.
Heredia has the Palacio de los Deportes in which important events are held. It has space for the practice of swimming, basketball and gymnastics.

Aromas Café

I like Aromas Café because it´s a really nice restaurant and also is very cheap. The food are excellent, it has a variety of foods, from desserts to meats, the location is really good for this restaurant because this helps a lot in their economy, last weekend I ate there and it was really delicious. They prepare you the food in a fast way and the service is a good point to mention ´cuz is fast and efficient. I really like this restaurant, so I recommend you to visit Aromas Café.

Kevin´s profile by Christine

Kevin is a 16 years old boy, he lives in San Ramon but he's from San Jose. He has a little sister named Stephanie. He's currently studying at Patriarca San José high school, he´s on tenth grade. He enjoys practicing sports, his favorite one is soccer, and he’s on San Ramon's soccer team: "Playing soccer is away to feel relaxed", he said.

He's always doing things, is a very active person, whenever he is not practicing any sport he's surfing on the Internet or playing videogames or trying to do something interesting.

When He finishes high school, he wants to study business administration. His greatest ambition is to have a good job and a nice car. His idea of perfect happiness is not being afraid of changes. The best decision he has ever made was studying English because he knows the importance of this language nowadays.

He believes he hasn't made big or bad decisions in his life because he still is too young for that. His greatest achievements are the graduation from CCCN and English courses in TEC. He likes going abroad. "I would like to visit interesting and beautiful places", he said.

He describes himself as a generous and humble person.

While I was talking to him I noticed that he's a friendly person, and he gets along with everyone.

Christine´s Interview

She is Christine, she´s 18 years old and she lives in Palmares downtown, also she borned in Guanacaste. Christine has 3 sisters and 1 brother, all of them are older than her, their names are Leticia, Florita, Liliana and Alejandro. Last year she was in fith grade of highschool but now she´s studying at the UNED but she wants to study at the UCR, she´s in general studies. She´s like kind of bored of Palmares, she want´s to be in another place and also an important detail is that she doesn´t know what to study yet. Also she is a very lazy person, one of her favorite activities are to surf on the internet and to focus on her studies , she also is a good dancer, she says that she is really good and she doesn´t like to go out, she prefers to stay at home. Her boyfriend is called Adrián, her greatest achievement is the graduation from highschool and from the CCCN. The reason why she likes English is that she considers that this language is really important in our lives and also you will have better oportunities in your life. Her greatest ambition is to have a job and a nice car. She doesn´t know how to cook and she lives with her mother and her brothers. She doesn´t like when people think that they are better than others. Her favorite trip is to go to the beach: " I like when I spend time with my family", she said. The best moment for her was when she finished highschool and she didn´t like highschool ´cuz of the people's personality. She was in Palmares highschool and also her family is really important for her, she´s responsible and generous. In her free time she likes to watch TV, to chat, and to use facebook. She has a good relationship with her brothers. He would like to be an athletic person 'cuz: I like when people worry about their health and want to be in fit", she said.

KRONO´S Planet ( Christine´s Planet )

I think that inhabitants in KRONO´S Planet are similar to Marsians 'cuz they value power, it's like they try to prove themselves and develop their power and skills, they are kind of mysterious but them are similar to Venusians too because they like to live well and also they are nice people, they are kind of sensitive.

KRONO'S Planet is similar to mine because we like to set goals and to achieve them, also we like to develop our skills in sports.

Finally I think that it could be interesting living in KRONO'S Planet 'cuz is a big change and it´s similar to mine and it might be funny.

KLDA-HERCOLUMBUS

My planet is KLDA-HERCOLUMBUS. People from this country is humble ´cuz we don´t want to appear more, and we don´t want to focus too much in our belongings, we prefer more the values of each person. We´re really honest because we feel that being dishonest is kind of weird and disgusting, I mean we want to tell the truth with others. Also KLDA-HERCOLUMBUS people are very kind especially in the case of men, we want that woman feel comfortable with us, so we do all possible things that we can do to be kind, this is a good action for our planet. These people want to laugh all the time because we don´t want to be sad and we try to make new things and to invent things, we are really original, and also secure about ourselves, we want to love and it´s important to mention that we prefer to do sports than watching TV or other activities, I mean that we like to do exersice , for me; I like to play soccer, I really enjoy it, my father has played with me since I was 5 years old, but after that I started playing in different soccer teams like Heredia, Saprissa and now I´m continue playing. People from KLDA-HERCOLUMBUS feel that practicing sports is a good way to relax and to feel healthier. Another characteristic is that we are outgoing, we like to meet different peolple and to get along with them so we want to have a great friendship.

We are similar to Martians because we want to face risks and similar to Venusians because we want to treat well others and help people. We don´t have big differences between Martians and Venusians culture.

Cultural, Personal and Universal Behaviors

Personal Behaviors

*Few years ago a cousin of mine dead, at first it was so difficult because that person was very close to my family so we were sad, his parents got hurt and it was a strong shock on them, after that my cousin's parents got divorced, because my aunt thought that it was my uncle's fault. The situation was that my cousin and my uncle were riding motorcycles but in a quick moment my cousin went into a hole and after that he got a fracture in his neck and then he dead so it was a value of external control 'cuz that moment couldn't be changed, and it wasn't my uncle's fault because in a moment of the live when we less expect we die

*Two days ago I was walking to the school and I saw two cars that were close to crash, so one of those got angryn and he tried to scare the other driver so he crossed his car close to the other one and they were yelling bad things between them, at first it was kind of funny but then the situation was difficult, so a lesson of that is that we need to respect the laws and this represents a value of directness 'cuz the drivers were to direct between them.

Cultural Behaviors

*Today I saw two guys in the park that was staring something and I was like " I wonder what they are looking for?'' and then I got noticed that they were looking to a girl, that It was really nice, and what I laugh about is that in Costa Rica men used to make hipping sounds to a girl for try to catch her attention, but in my oppinion I prefer not to do that because I think that the girl are not going to pay attention of that and also is kind of ridiculous. So this is a cultural value that reflects informality.

*Everyday you see in the streets people that use many slangs like: Pura Vida, mae, etc. this actions are proper of costa ricans, as other countries Costa Rica have different cultures and costumes from other countries, we always use this kind of slangs to express our ideas so it represents that everyone is egalitarianism in the sense of general culture.

Universal Behaviors

*People use to have fears, many fears as an example of that is when we have a car accident it's normally that the people get scare and frustratring because we feel the fault of the accident, the feel like panic and it happens all the time in every country, like the example that I said before of the two car drivers, it's the same so it represents a value of desrespect.

*Another behavior are beliefs 'cuz we belief in God and we also think that there are spirits that are going to scare us, I think that everyone beliefs that, but in my oppinion that are only supersticions, but sometimes is true because I had the experience of that, few years ago I was scared of a ghost jajaja!! it's for real if you don't believe me.

Cultural Values

Last month my friends and I were in a soccer match, the soccer match was too difficult because the other team was older than us so we need to play pretty well to achieve our goal!! Then the other team shot a great goal so we were frustating about what was happening, so a friend of mine decided to made an own effort but he doesn´t noticed that we are a team so he tried to make his own game, and that doesn´t works so the coach told him that being self-reliance is not a good value in a soccer team who has eleven players!! At first he was annoying but then he apologizes and thought that we really are a close team, so finally we won the game.

Last week in highschool we were discussing about our uniform for next year so some people prefer one style but others prefer another style so we were discussing about what to choose so we were directness because all of us have different ideas and different arguments so we need to express our thoughts. Finally we chose one that everyone likes.

I had the experience of making efforts, because my father had the experience of being father but at the same time he needed to take care of my mom and I and also finish collegue. It was so difficult for my parents because my father does´t had enough time to do all the things, so after he worked he needed to go to collegue so it was very hard ´cuz he doesn´t had enough free time. He was practicing the centrality of family value ´cuz he made big efforts to maintain us and to achieve our goals, this is a good example to say that you can reach wathever you want but it is not going to be easy, you need to focus on what you want for your life. And also you always are going to have difficult steps in your life.

Culture Shock

And advice that we could give to foreigners is to be friendly, try to get used to the culture, it is important to adapt to our foods so if a foreigner wants to come to Costa Rica he/ she should try our foods, I mean start eating different. Another important advice is to get informed about our laws our behavior. In addition is common in Cost Rica to greet someone with a kiss the firs time, only for women jaja, because in another countries people use to kiss men too, so for men you shake hands.

To prevent culture shock you need to seem friendly, kind, normal, and pretend that everything is going to be right. I think that the most important part is to get informed about Costa Ricans traditions, customs, culture in general. If you practice this recommendations you will be well adapted to our country in this case, and also it will be easier to prevent culture shock.

My opinion about what is the most severe aspect is asking for addresses because we don´t have avenues, and the name of the streets or blocks, we give strange addresses and when is to a foreigner is so difficult and strange.

An aspect that I concider less severe is to socialize because ticos are supposed to be very kind, so we give a good treat to the foreigners so they wouldn´t worry about that.

Classs Homework- Week 2- Culture

The cultural values of a community give it and identify of its own. A community gains a character and a personality of its own because of the culture of its people. Culture is shared by the members of a community. It is learned and passed from the older generations to the newer ones. For an effective transfer of culture from one generation to another, it has to be translated into symbols, language, art and religion. And also is good to know other cultures because you can obtain experience in that country and it´s going to be easier to learn if we know another cultures.
I think that foreigners are interested in our culture because of our traditions like " Gallo Pinto ", that it´s one of our traditional foods, also is good to mention our slangs like " Pura Vida" or " mae", so the foreigners like that, also the weather and the nature we have.
My oppinion about what is challenging for foreigners is that they have some troubles to pronounce some words, and also I think that our slangs confuse them.
I concider that sports in USA are the best things in that country like football, soccer is not so important as in our country but they like to try it, also the basquetball have lots of fans. And one of the least things is that sometimes they are serious and lordly.
One of the things that I like from Costa Rica is the food and also the slangs and what I don´t like is the culture of the people to treat each other, sometimes we become disrespectful.
I like Costa Rica and I don´t want to change anything, I guess, because I like how it is.

Journal Entry Questions- Week 1

What I like the most about English is that this language make a change in our lives, English is a great opportunity to get a good new job in my case, another important point is that English is an universal language so it´s really interesting to study it. I like the vocabulary and the pronunciation of each word because the sound of the words is really interesting for me, also the linking words are really helpful because when we are talking with somebody we need to apply this linking words rules.
What I don´t like about this universal language is some kind of grammar, because sometimes becomes boring but it´s really neccesary to improve our English Skills. Grammar contains lots of important material that people concider that sometimes we don´t need that but I think that each word, phrase, structure it´s really neccesary to speak well. Another reason what I don´t like grammar is because some parts of grammar are so hard to understand what I´m learning.
Some stronger skills of mine are the pronunciaton ´cuz I think that I have good skills to pronounce words, some words are easier to pronounce but others are not so easy. Another stronger skill is that I like to write in English and I think that I´m doing it well, I mean that I write well the words, not always but I try to do it better everyday.
My weakest skills are in grammar, sometimes I have troubles to use time expressions, I need to work on that and not all in cases but sometimes in the structure of a phrase.So in summary I need to improve the grammar including time expressions, phrases structure because each little detail it´s neccesary and important to improve my English level.Some activities that we can do to perfect our English skills are:

• Try to pronounce the words only with the movements of our tongues.
• Make roll plays with grammar
• Work in groups to help each other.

I expect for this course to improve my language skills, also to increase the vocabulary level, and I want to get a good knowledge about what English means and it bases.