In many countries people no longer wear their national costumes. They are forgetting their history and traditions. More people should be encouraged to

Globalization and technology are part of today’s world. People all over the world are connected and they are informed about all that is happening in other cities and countries. Everything changes incredibly fast and people follow tendencies that may be forgotten in a couple of months, when a new one appears.
But; would this way of living, this rush not to be left by development, to be holding the hand of fashion and all these changes, make people forget about their roots? Are they forgetting what is part of their culture as a country and what makes them special and different from the rest of the world?

Every country has a national costume, a typical kind of food, a different history and many traditions that are representative of it. But sometimes those traditions are changed by what is popular; they want to be in fashion, because they want to be accepted by society, they want to be like everybody else.
Countries are losing their traditions and adopting new ones that are not part of them, which are not representative of their culture. They only remember them on the national day; they celebrate and feel proud of being part of a great country, but what happens the rest of the year?

This does not mean that people should wear their national costumes everyday, but they should definitely care more about what belongs to them as a cultural patrimony, and give less importance to what is a global tendency and does not represent anybody, because we will find it wherever you go.

Nowadays, there are many countries that still wear their typical costumes, they speak their own language and live apart from the rest of the world. While there are some others in which people do not even know about the history of their country.
It is acceptable if we want to be in fashion, if we want to be on the same level of technology with some other countries, but we should not forget about our roots, because that is what we are, that is our identity and we should be proud of it.

THE MAN OF THE PIGEONS...

Yesterday Carlos told me the story of the old man who lives on the street.
This man is always outside our university, feeding the pigeons who are his only company. He seems to be happy living there, despite being dirty and hungry.
People are used to see him every day, and maybe sometimes they do not even notice he is there. Furthermore, everybody is worried about their own problems, so why would they worry about an old man as many others who live on the streets?
However, I would like to know what this man thinks, why he is there.
Does not he need to talk to somebody as well as everybody needs? Could it be that he feels good living his loneliness?
Besides this, it is said that he belongs to the Onas tribe, and that he does not want to live anywhere else.

UNDERAGE DRINKING

Did you know that for an American teenager who wants to buy alcohol, it would be easier to come and buy it in Chile than in the USA?
From my perspective, we should implement more ways to control the selling of alcohol in Chile.

Underage drinking has become very common in Chile nowadays. We can see that in most of the licor stores people are not asked for their ID when buying alcohol. This means that teenagers can easily buy a bottle of beer just by saying that it is for an adult who asked them to buy it.
In places such as discos or clubs there is more control, because ID is required to enter. However, there are many underage people who use a fake ID and the guards at the entrance do not even notice.

I would like to compare this to the measures taken in the USA to control the consumption of alcohol, because from my point of view, we should consider some of them. In the United States, people can not buy any kind of acohol if they do not show their ID or passport. They are asked for identification in licor stores and supermarkets.
They also have to be over eighteen years old to buy cigarettes and they are asked for their date of birth.
At the disco, people are given a color bracelet, which means they are over twenty one, so they are allowed to buy alcohol at the bar without showing identification. But people under twenty one years old have to wear a bracelet with a different color. That way it is known who can drink and who can not.

Some of these measures could be really helpful for our society, because alcoholism is affecting young people more and more everyday. Besides making people get drunk, it affects learning and people's behavior.
Putting this into practice in Chile and being more strict in this area, will definitely decrease alcoholism and some teenage behaviors, such as street fights and delincuence, which are becoming more common everyday.

"CULTURE SHOCK"

Time ago it was very uncommon to see black or asian people walking around Santiago. They were probably here for business or for vacation time, but today there are lots of foreigners living in our country, as well as in some other countries around the world. They work and their children go to school. Most of us know at least one person from another country and we spend time with them. Thing that time ago would had been an amazing experience to tell, but today it is not a big event. So, why is this term of " culture shock" so common nowadays?

Working or studying in a foreign country has become one of the most common activities among young people. They feel attracted for the new experience of meeting people with a different culture and a diffrent language. They would like to know some other ways of living, habits and customs; but sometimes this could be a "shocking experience". People are used to certain habits and behaviors, which in another place could be completely different or misunderstood. There are also external factors that could affect; such as weather, food, transportation, currency, language, etc.

What could we do not to be affected by this? We should be prepared for what we are going to live by investigating about the place we want to visit and about the people who live in it. Once we are there, we should be very careful about what we say and the way that we ask for things. This is because there are some cultures which have very special religious customs and they do not do or eat some things.
Maybe in your country people are very affectionate, some other cultures are kind of cold. And we should involve a little bit in the language, if it is different than ours, because that way we can ask for things like directions, go shopping, and having conversations. This way our stay will be much better and pleasant.

SMOKING

Everybody has heard about people who try to give up smoking by reading books or attending different courses, but nothing works for those compulsive smokers.
Would it be that people only quit smoking when they realize they are dying, even though they have always known that smoking kills you?

COMPUTER GAMES

Computer games have become part of children's culture nowadays. There is no kid who does not know how to play these games and they spend hours in front of the computer as if they were hypnotized. But, could this affect children's behavior because of the violence of these type of games? Should parents worry about what their children do when they are in front of the computer screen?

Secondary education.

With regards to Secondary education, I strongly believe that the government should help parents pay for children´s books, materials and equipment. Some of the text books that students have to read for school are obligatory reading material, and they are also very expensive. From my perspective, those books should be given to schools by the government to improve students learning and make it easier for parents.
There are many schools that should be supported, because they need materials to aid the education procces and give students what they deserve. There are lots of people who do not have access to education because they can not afford it, which seems unfair as after all education is not a business, but should be a human right.

Turning to the topic of physical punishment, from my perspective it is an abhorrent practice. It is a type of mistreat and an authoritarian way of teaching. From my point of view, physical punishment only makes students be afraid of going to school. This kind of mistreat is not the best way to make students achieve discipline. This is backed up by a group of students from UCINF, who were asked about this matter.

As far as education is concerned, I firmly believe that mixed ability classes help students progress at secondary level. This is an excellent way to make students learn from each other. As some of them have difficulties with some tasks, they can be helped by their classmates.
In mixed ability classes, the teacher has to monitor student´s development to maintain the correct speed of the process. However, team work is extremely helpful to achieve effective teaching.
Research shows that most of people interviwed in a recent survey agree with this.

HEY!!!!

My name is Carol, I`m 22 and I live Maipú, Santiago..
I`ve been studying English for four years and I like it very much. I also work at the airport as a cashier in several stores.
I live with my mother and my sister and my dog ( Poncio).
I´ve been in a relationship for two months and it has been wonderful, because he is a great guy and he loves me a lot. His name is Claudio and I met him at work. The first time we saw each other it was like a movie scene, bacuse everybody noticed the attraction between us.
When I first met him he had a girlfriend and I was dating another guy, but everything was very fast and romantic, and now we are happy togather!!!

Talking about my hobbies, what I enjoy the most is hanging out with my friends. I´m kind of shy, so I feel comfortable with people who I have things in common with.

What I would love to do in the future is traveling a lot. I´ve already been to the USA twice, Puerto Rico and Easter Island. But I´d like to go to some other places and wherever destiny takes me!!!