Final Job

Part Of My Life.

Hello, my name is Nataly I am thirty years old, I am single, I am sergeant of the army of the Dominican Republic, and I'm studying a degree in modern languages ​​mention English.

In this essay I will write a little of my life as a military: I started working at eighteen, I have twelve years working there, this experience has helped me to mature many things in my life, because I am working as a customer service, for pensioners, these were soldiers who gave everything for the country while they were active; I also work for the widows of the military; it's a very nice job.

The place where I work is called Junta de Retiro de las Fuerzas Armadas, that institution is divided into departments, such as: Retirement Department, Legal Department, Research Department; these are the most important areas.

Retirement Division: is responsible for giving the bill to the guards and widows, who are retired from the army, or air force or army of the Dominican Republic, so that their corresponding pension can be transferred.

Legal Department: is responsible for investigating the documents deposited by the pension applicants, whether original.

This department is also responsable to create an notoriety act, of any pensioner`s represent, who is not mentally and physically able to collect their pension monthly; this represent will do it for him / her through a notarial act.

Research Department is responsible for ensuring that widows have not contracted new nuptials, because if they do, they automatically lose their pension.

This department is also responsible for ensuring that pensioners remain alive, since most of them are elderly, there are cases that when they die relatives continue to collect the pension illegally.

However, despite the fact that it is a good job, I can personally consider that it is not the most feasible place for me, beacuse in my professional area I am not growing; and although they give me a considerable salary, finally I understand that I should look for another north to be able to advance in my life and my professional area, since the money runs out, but the knowledge remains.

Unit 4

 The tipping point: Is the time at which a change or an effect cannot be stopped.

For instance the global warming, is one of the tippint point on the world, and its is affecting us.

Fonts: 

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/tipping-point

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5NY4ej5gQo

Unit 3

The Bold and The Bashful

Bold: not frightened of danger.

Bashful: often feeling uncomfortable with other people and easily embarrassed.

The persons with the attribute of be bold tend to be missunderstood, because they always are seing the positive side of each situation, then for that reason  the other people whose don´t think like they, have bother by them.

Having good thinking and extrovert personality are the best features to work in costumer services, beacuse is sciencitifically proved that if a ower want arise in his sells, he need people which have a good leading with his costumers.

Instead the bashful people, are good to work in the administrative areas, with nothing to interact with the costumers.

Font:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/bold

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/bashful?q=Bashful

Unit 2

Honesty is the best policy

Honest/Honesty: the quality of being honest; telling the truth or able to be trusted and not likely to steal, cheat, or lie.

If we are honest we whith  ourselves help to discover our inner being to continue the true mission  in our life. However, knowing who we are and take the responsability to enhace the imperfection, is the great action that a human being can do, this is a sublime action, because when we are honest with ourselves we can be honest with all person aorund us.

Finally, whe a person is honest, the closed door start to open, beacause he or she going to win their familiy´s confidence even at work, and every his or her enviroment that they have some relation.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/honesty

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/diccionario/ingles/honest

Unit 1

Adictons:

The word addiction is derived from latin term for enslaved by or bound to.

For many years, experts believed that only alcohol and power drugs could cause addiction.

However  recent research have shown that certain pleasurable activities, such as gambling, shopping, and eating, can also cause addiction.

In the 1930s, when researchers firts began to investigate what caused addictive behavior, they believed that people who developed addictions were morally flawed or laking in power. Today we reconize addiction as a chronic disease that changes both brain structure and fuction.

font: book focus your mind, real scene one.

UNIT 10


THE MICROFINANCE´S ORIGING START IN THE XVIII CENTURES, IN IRLAND, ITS WAS CREATED BY JONATHAN SWIFT, WHEN THIS COUNTRY LIVED A LOT OF HUNGER, NEVERTHELESS, WAS THE ECONOMIST YUNUS WHO DEVELOPED AND MODERNIZED THIS CONCEP.

THEN THE GRANEEN BANK (EL BANCO DEL PUEBLO) WAS CREATED, WITH THE PROPOSE TO GIVE MICROFINANCE TO POOR PEOPLE.

https://microfinanzasglobal.com/definicion/

UNIT 9

ACCORDING TO NATURE MAGASINE IF CHILDREN PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT, ITS PRACTICE WILL INCRESE THEIR ABILITY IN LECTURE, COMPRENHENSION AND EXPRESION

IN OTHERS WORDS ART IS GOOD TO LEARN A NEW LANGUAJE BUT THIS METHOD IS MORE EFFECTIVE IN CHILDREND THAN ADULTS.

http://conpeques.es/2017/01/16/aprender-ingles-traves-del-arte/

UNIT 8

ONE OF THE BEST CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLD IS THE GENEVA 

CONVENTIONS, (WHERE THE INTERNATIONAL COMITTEE OF THE RED 

CROSS WAS FOUNDED), BECAUSE  THEY HAVE HAD VERY CLEAR OBJECTIVES, 

TO HELP WOUNDED SOLDIERS IN A WAR, NO MATTER IF THEY BELONG ANY SIDE.

MY PERSONAL OPINION IS: IF WE BECOME A SYMBOLIC RED CROSS AND WE APPLY THIS KIND OF HELP TO GIVE AN ADVICE OR EXPAND OUR HAND, WHEN SOMEONE ASKS FOR, WE CAN BE A GREAT HELP TO HEAL THEIR PERSONAL LIFE, BECAUSE OUR ENVIRONMENT IS FULL OF EMOTIONALLY INJURED PEOPLE.

The Bold and the Bashful

In this unit, we told about these two adjectives, bold and bashful.  The professor asked us, which of the two we identified with.  My opinion was, it depends on the moment, I can be bold or bashful.

For example, if I am with people I already know and I am used to talking and joking with them, I tend to be bold.  But if it is with someone I just know, I generally behave bashfully.

The vocabularies that this unit has are the following:

Reticent: unwilling to talk
Phobia: very strong fear
Merit: value
Extroverted: very sociable
Adverse: negative
Syndrome: condition
Chronic: continual( in a medical sense )
Kindred souls: people having similar traits
Misattributions: false assumption
Handicap: disadvantage
Aloof: distant
Condescending: treating others as inferior

The bold and the bashful

I believe that when shyness is not extreme, it can be kind of healthy since being a little reserved is not bad when you know when to act like that.

As we saw in class in China being shy may not have adverse consequences as it does in other countries. In fact, some studies have shown that Chinese children who are shy are well accepted by their peers and often end up in leadership roles.





Many people do not know that sometimes we believe to be outgoing, but in reality each person is shy in their own type of way, some are more than others and others might not show it so vividly but the shyness is there. we just need to try to keep a balance between the to sides and remember all excess is bad.




Finally, I can not help praising the vocabulary chosen for every single unit. Words such as the followings:

• reticent
• kindred souls
• aloof
• condescending
• adverse
• standoffish
• grouchy
• draw out 

I have learned great words during this summer, and I look forward to using them and understand them when someone else does.

Here is a list of vocabulary I also find useful 

Honesty is the best policy

Once again I have to mention the vocabulary in this unit, just perfect. Very useful, handy and diverse.

 Expressions as; the rule of thumb, to be caught lying, and put the pieces together are already part of my vocabulary




Another point is the accuracy in this unit when it comes to honesty and how people have lost their values maybe to get a better position at work, to get friends, to avoid embarrassment, to avoid punishment, and many other reasons.

 It is human to lie, I mean each one of us has lied about something in life but we have to avoid this, since as we learned, it is quite difficult to gain trust back when we lose it.






We have to be aware of the consequences of lying, but also the causes. As we saw, narcissistic people are most likely liars, people who only think about the here and now might as well drop into the liar category.

If you want to find out more about why people lie and how to avoid it click here: https://www.paulekman.com/blog/why-people-lie/




Speak the truth. People will forgive an honest mistake; they won't forgive you if you lie. Mark Goulston

The internet and other addictions

On this unit we got to know more about social media impact in every life and each person around us, even ourselves. The dependance we have developed to machines, the loneliness in front of the computer and growth of the support groups are some of the reason why people need to wake up and break the bad habit of internet addiction.




Some of the vocabulary used here was the following: 

• engaging in
• turning each other in
• fulfillment 
• therapy
•  present with
•  compulsiveness
• surf
• anxiety

It is good to remember what the professor has been saying during this summer class, we need to handle the difference among noun,verb, and adjective and know this by heart. It is imperative that when speaking, writing or teaching we use the correct form of the word otherwise we would not be delivering the trust of a expert in the matter.

On the grammar point we saw WISH to express unreality, it can be used in present, past, or future.

Using "wish"

1-   We use wish + simple past to express that we want a situation in the present.

              a.      I wish I had a big car.
                       I don’t have a big car.

              b.      I wish I was on a beach.
                       I’m in the office.

              c.      I wish I spoke French.                       I don’t speak French.
  

 2- We use wish + past perfect to express a regret, or that we want a situation in the past.

• I wish I hadn't eaten so much.
  I ate a lot.

• I wish they'd come on holiday with us.
  They didn't come on holiday with us.

• I wish I had studied harder at school.
  I was lazy at school.



3-  We use wish + would/could + base form to exprees that we want a situation in the future.


  • I wish you would stop smoking.
    You are smoking at the moment and it is annoying me.

  • I wish it would stop raining.
    I'm impatient because it is raining and I want to go outside.

  • I wish she'd be quiet.
    I am annoyed because she is speaking.

Source for examples with wish     https://conditionalsotherwaystoexpressunreality.weebly.com/

Microfinance: changing lives $50 at a time

In this class we saw how poor people can start having their own businesses and maintain the profit it makes, or even multiply the value of this one. Even though there are many pitfalls when you manage a business, it is always compelling to have a source of income that makes you go ahead every day.

It is great that these type of assistance is there for poor people and entrepreneurs since this not only helps them succeed in life, but also it improves the economy and disemployment is diminished every day.

On the other hand, I love the vocabulary in this unit, it is just so interesting and useful, to be honest, I had a backlash when I saw this many words that I did not know, but then as a started to go through them, I was thankful I learned them now instead of regretting not knowing them later.

When it comes to the grammar in this unit, we talked about the unreal conditional in present past and mixed:

PRESENT     IF I CLEANED THE ROOM, I COULD INVITE FRIENDS OVER AND WATCH A MOVIE.

PAST              IF SHE HAD NOT EATEN THE ROTTEN TOMATO, SHE WOULD NOT  BE IN THE HOSPITAL.

MIXED        IF PEDRO HAD NOT STUDIED, HE WOULD FAIL THE TEST.

I liked this exercise because I was not sure we could use this conditional in a mixed way and now my expressions have improved a lot.

To sum up, this unit was very handy to today's way of living, where almost everything we see is on sale and almost everyone has a small or large business, with the knowledge we obtained we could we can actually be more understanding and maybe even get motivation to start a cottage-industry.

How shy are you?

How Shy are you?

As we could see in the short film, Shyness can be considered as a decision. If you deside to be shy you might lose a lot of opportunities in life. However, if you challenge yourself to face your fears, you will achieve your goals and succeed in life.

Honesty

HONESTY

Honesty is one of the most important but scarce values. Why? The answer is as simple as open your eyes when they're closed. Nowadays, we're living in a society that is in a very difficult time because everyone lies, everyone wants to get things easy, and no one is working on keep up the good values. What we were taught in the past, now seems to have never existed. Unfortunately, we are teaching the new generation a lifestyle that will end up in corruption, delinquency and failure.

ARE YOU ADDICTED TO INTERNET?

    Addiction to Internet or Social Networking addiction are very common terms used to describe people spending too much time using Internet and Social Media. The impact of technology in our society is a very serious topic. I consider it as a disorder because when people are very into their smartphones, they forget about everything around them, and they are so immerged in that virtual world that they miss the most important things and the most meaningful details of life. Now, let's watch a short video about the Internet addiction. I hope you like it!

Microfinance

A little Story about Microfinance

Rosa's Microfinance Story

      Rosa spent the better part of her life sewing clothes by candlelight, but by the time she reached her fifties, she knew she needed a new career. The constant use of her feet, smoke fumes and dim lighting were making her ill.  Her family lived in a dirt-floored home without electricity and running water. Rosa knew she needed a new business quickly.

“Many years ago my late husband used to run a small flour mill in another part of the country. Living here, I had noticed the families nearby had to travel quite far to find a mill, so I thought it’d
be a good business opportunity,” said Rosa. But  there was only one problem: the grinding machines used in flour mills are quite expensive when you’re living on a limited income.

Rosa had heard about FINCA’s small loan and decided to apply for one. Shortly thereafter, Rosa received her initial FINCA loan of $681 to purchase her very first machine.

Today, a long line of customers forms at Rosa’s mill. Women, men and children wait, each carrying a large sack of raw corn that will be turned into flour for making.

Rosa purchased her house. Then she began making meaningful upgrades to her home. First, she installed electricity. Then, she added running water. And finally, she covered up the bare dirt floor with cement and added two additional rooms. Today, you’ll even find a refrigerator and a TV inside her home.

When asked what she’s most proud of with such a long list of accomplishments, Rosa said, “I paid for my kids to finish high school. Without this business, I would have nothing.” Even at the age of 60, Rosa has growth plans for her flour mill and her kitchen.

“I’d like to replace my two-phase machines in the mill with four-phase ones so I can serve more customers and faster. And I’d like to buy a microwave for the home,” said Rosa smiling.

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From Rosa's Story, I learned that Microfinance Institutions have the mission to provide financial services to the very poor. The thing is that many people are poor because they have no control over capital and without it they do not have any way to make money and businesses cannot start or grow. So with the loans from these institutions people are offered credit to financial services and have a new opportunity to improve their life conditions.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

Boosting Brain Power through the Arts

Correlation between Music, Math and the Brain

It is known that listening to music while doing homework or any other task may improve our skills.

As some people say: ´´When I listen to Mozart, the numbers just seem to crunch themselves´´. The secret for this is that Music is like Math. The rhythm of music is based on repeating certain melodies at specific times and it start over and over again. Those progressions of beats per minute, reinforces the areas on the brain that use Math.

So, it is counterintuitive to say that one loves Music but hates Math. In my experience as a Musician, I see Music as the most expressive Language, because through Music you express and transmit your ideas, your feelings and your desires. On the other hand, as a Human Being I see Math as  the tool that helps us fix our daily life problems. So, I strongly believe that we can relate both concepts for all their likenesses. 

In my free time, when I play the Guitar, I like to compose new melodies; and I have noticed that all of the melodies that I have created are very different. The reason why that happens is because of the feeling I have for that day. For instance, this means that Music reflects what is in your mind and what is in your heart. It is a way for you to vent your problems and feel how deep you can go through the notes. 

On the other hand, in my daily life, I'm always using Math; since I wake up until I go to bed. Even in some insignificant situations I require Math. For example: In the mornings I set my alarm at  6:00 A.M  and I have to use Math to calculate how much time I should take to get ready for work, otherwise I would be late and get in trouble with my boss. Also, When I'm paying my University with DOP 1,000.00 and the quote is DOP 232.85 I always make sure that the cashier returns to me the exact amount of money, which in this case would be DOP 50.  I'm sorry. Let  me play some music. Now yes!. It would be DOP 767.13 

You see? We can boost our brain Power through the Power of the Arts!

 

Boosting brain power through the arts

I have always believed music can lead to a major development of the brain skills as well as the ability to learn certain topics faster than usual. This unit 9 highlights that the arts can totally enhance the capacity or the way in which we process information such as math problems or even when learning a foreign language.

Another point in this unit is the grammar usage, we were able to practice the passive voice and the passive causative. The first one focuses on emphasizing the object of the action but not the doer, it is formed by using a form of the verb to be, plus the past participle of the main verb, while the second one is used to speak about a service arranged and it is formed by the verbs get or have and the past participle of the main verb.

Passive voice

Passive causative

Last but not least, on page 209, there was an exercise about literal and figurative meaning of things. I really liked this one since it reminded me we need to pay attention to the context we have in order to better understand and react in different scenarios. 

When saying; "I did not orchestrated that plan". We deliver a whole new meaning if saying; "I orchestrated my piece as good as you". It's the same word but it conveys two different ideas depending on the context.

Images source: https://pin.it/mxrzsld3rhd7vu

Warriors without Weapons

Welcome to Unit 8! 

´´ Warriors without Weapons´´

This unit has a very important topic. We usually tend to relate Warrior to the fighting context.  However, during the study of this chapter  we realized that we can be a warriors, fight for a good cause, and win it without the necessity of using a gum, hit or kill someone.

Thanks to the  hard work that many different organizations are making nowadays, many people are being saved.  The purpose of these organizations is not to make money of this situation. In fact. the  main idea is to offer assistance and  volunteer to cover other people's necessities.

  

Now allow me to tell you about my experience being a Warrior without weapons:

When I was a child I wanted to be a Doctor because as I had some healthy issues as a kid, I used to visit my Doctor very often.  

The thing is that I always observed how happy the Doctor was when she had a patient. One day, I asked my Doctor if she was not afraid of getting sick by getting in touch with so many sick people. Smiling, she looked at me and told me that every time she  helps someone she gets an unexplainable feeling of happiness. I asked how that was possible. She said: ´´Because when someone is happy for my assistance, that favor becomes happiness to me´´

I was very inspired by those words and since that moment I had the desire to help others.

So, when I was 17 years old,  I participated in a Catholic Youth  Mission, which consisted on going to a poor community to share and live with them for some weeks. The purpose of the Mission was to create new strategies to get teenagers out of the delinquency and the street problems.

This experience had a impact in my life because at the beginning it was very difficult for me to get along with the guys since they didn't like our ideals, and found our project stupid and useless.

To make the story shorter, we arrived to the conclusion that we needed to find a way for  them to  realize that there were other opportunities in life, like studying or working together. So we created a summer camp for the teenagers. There they played joyfull games, practiced different sports, had a lot of fun, and the best part is that we caught that time to work with them the areas that we wanted to cever. At the end we taught them how to become leaders in their community, the importance of teamwork, and the consequences that the street life can  bring to their life if they didn't make a stop in their life to think about their future. Fortunately we had great results. those guys who were not studying, after that summer camp, they went to school the following year, and they created social groups to make their community a better place to live.

In conclusion, that story is an example of a Warrior without Weapons because we didn't need to use violence to make concience on those teenagers. On the other hand, we found strategies to have them think about it and realize that in life they can achieve everything they work for. And the best thing is that when I saw those teenagers making a change in their life, I felt the happiness that my Doctor was talking about. 

Thanks!

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
– Victor Hugo