Short Stories

Hi, classmates! How are you doing? Now that we don’t have Game of Thrones, and we still have to wait for The Walking Dead, we can read something short and sweet. Today’s post is going to be about my favourite short stories. For me, the most important elements of a short story are the theme, the characters, and the style.

     The Raft (Stephen king)

As you know, I love Stephen’s work. This short story is very good.  The story is about a group of friends that decide to swim in a remote lake. What they don’t know is that in the water lives a creature that is waiting for his next victim. Their only chance of survival is a wooden raft in the middle of the lake.  I love the story because it’s full of suspense and action. What’s more, I’m afraid of the ocean and lakes. Sharks, octopus, and whales frighten the life out of me.

   Genesis and Catastrophe  (Roald Dahl)

The story is about a woman who has just given birth to a baby boy. The couple has had three babies, and all of them have died. According to the husband, the babies were all weak and died after a while. This new baby looks weak just like the others. What they don’t know is that this baby, in particular, will survive and change history.

   The Black Cat  (Edgar Allan Poe)

I read this story when I was 14, and I got really scared. I have to say that Edgar Allan Poe was an excellent writer. I think he is the only author who can change my mood with one sentence. This short story is very dark and cruel. The only thing I’m going to say about this story is that everything starts when an angry man kills his black cat, Pluto. From that moment all hell breaks loose.

      Suffer the Little Children (Stephen King)

Oh! Stephen, you did it again. This creepy short story is about teachers. Emily Sidley teaches in a primary school, and she loves her students. After an incident with one of her students, she decides to take a leave of absence. When she goes back to school, she notices that her students have changed. They are evil now. She starts thinking that her students are doppelgangers. If you have read “Zero Hour” written by Ray Bradbury, you can have a guess what would happen next. Actually, Zero Hour has a happy ending comparing to this one.  

      Lamb to the Slaughter (Roald Dahl)

This story is a mix of horror and humour. I have a blast reading it. Moreover, this story could be a script for an episode of Desperate Housewives. Mary is a pregnant woman who loves her husband, Patrick. One day he decides to dump her. Mary grabs a frozen leg of lamb and hit her husband with it. I’m not going to tell you how the story ends, but it is very funny. I love how the writer mixes horror and comedy so easily.

Have a nice day! 

Books, my old friends

How are you, mates? Hope you are alright. I had a rough winter break. But today I want to talk about something nice: my favourite books. When people ask me about my favourite book, always freak out. I have a favourite cat: my lovely Peeta. I have a favourite colour: green. I have a favourite drink: scotch. But I don’t have a favourite book. 

So, here you have a list of inspirational books that have changed my life.  

    Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

I have already mentioned Alice in another post. I think Alice is easy to read, but difficult to understand. There are a lot of essays and articles about this book. Alice is the only book I read every year. It is kind of like a tradition. I have it in both languages, Spanish and English. What I learned from Alice is that even you feel alone, you can enjoy life no matter what.

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling)

Oh, Harry! The first time I read Harry Potter I was 15. I really fell in love with the story. I think the most important lesson I learned, with Harry’s story, is that we can all find happiness even if there’s dark around us. Life is not easy and sometimes is unfair. But we have to remember what J. K. Rowling says “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

"You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve."-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter, and the Half-Blood Prince

         Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton)

The first time I watched Jurassic Park, I was 10.  From that moment on I wanted to be like Dr. Grant. After watching the movie, I read Jurassic Park and The lost world. Both books are amazing. The second one has nothing to do with the movie. I think this book was very important for me because it made me read a lot about science. I went to college to become a paleontologist. After a year studying that career, I decided that I wanted to work with animals that were not extinct. This book inspired me to study the scientific explanation of life.

“Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something.” ― Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park

       11/ 22/ 63 (Stephen King)

You should know I love Stephen King. I think Stephen is the best writer ever. It is difficult to pick just one book from him. This book, in particular, is not a horror story. I would say it is a love story. The story is about a time traveler trying to save JFK. Jake Epping has to go back to 1958 and try to save more than one life. The book is very different from other stories Stephen writes. I think that I love this book so much because it gives you an important message: "life can turn on a dime."

“A person who doesn't learn from the past is an idiot, in my estimation.”- Stephen King, 11/22/63

    Black Beauty   (Anna Sewell)

We are going to get emotional. I love this book so much. If you love animals, as much as I do, you have to read this book. Black beauty is the fictional autobiography of a talking horse.  I love this book because you can see how animal lovers take care of him. But it also shows how people mistreat animals. I don’t want to say much about the story, but this book will do for horses what “Hachi: A dog tale” does for dogs. I had my own Black beauty, named Alexis, and sadly at the beginning of this year, he passed away. Every time I remember this horse’s story, I remember my beautiful Lex. I always remember something black beauty’s mother says, “Do good and give your best effort always and everything will work out.”

“We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.”-  Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

 Black Beauty made me investigate more about animals. Thanks to it, and a relative who has helped me, I discovered a great author: Vitus B. Dröscher. He was a zoologist and a psychologist. He made more than 51 expeditions and wrote a lot of funny stories about animals. Even if you know nothing about animals, his writings are very clear and funny. Vitus B. Dröscher has published 30 books. He sadly died in 2010. The first book I read from him was “Sobrevivir.” I love his writing style and his sense of humour. What’s more, I became obsessed with his work, and I wanted to have all his books, but sadly they are so difficult to find. I bought most of them in second-hand bookstores in Buenos Aires. They were not all in good shape, but I could read them anyway. 

Thanks to these books, I also fell in love with second-hand bookstores. Whenever I go downtown, I visit different second-hand bookstores.

Lucas Libreria Av. Corrientes 1247 (My favourite by far) 

Libreria Aquilea Av Corrientes 2008

Compro Libros Av Corrientes 1471 

L y L libros Mitre 3966 

Libreria Thesauros  Ayacucho 373

Book recommendations 

The list of books I can recommend you is quite long. There are books that we should all read like; Gulliver’s Travel, Don Quixote, 1984, Lord of the flies, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Brave New World, Frankenstein, Robin Crusoe, Dracula, Animal Farm, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Les Miserables, The Three Musketeers, The Wizard of Oz, The Jungle Book, Oliver Twist, The Metamorphosis and To Kill a Mockingbird.

I think that what I love more about books is that there’s nothing like them. Books have stories that can make you change your mood and even your life. I strongly believe that we can all get lost in a book, and find ourselves in one of them at the same time.

“I know I should never feel lonely or powerless again. So because of books, I’m here today, happy, living again with a purpose and clarity, most of the time. So may books be always with you.”- Lisa Bu

아주 Nice!

안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo), friends! How are you? Are you ready to go back to the prof? Today’s post will be intercultural. I want to talk about learning another language. We know about this. I’m not going to tell you about the stages and all that. I want to talk about my personal experience so far. Two months ago I decided to learn Korean. You may ask, why Korean? I don’t know. I feel attracted to the language, the people and the culture. I really enjoy learning something new and challenging.

Am I too old to learn another language? Meh, I  think age is not a barrier to do something you like. I know I want to do a lot of things in my life no matter what. When I was I kid, I wanted to learn a lot about animals, science, and different cultures. Then I thought, “When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies. When I grow up, I wanna see the world. Drive nice cars. I wanna have groupies.” To quote the PussyCat Dolls. Actually, when I was a kid, I hated English. It was too complicated for me. Then, I’ve realized that all my favourite TV shows and songs were in English. So, I had a reason to learn it. I was very bad at learning languages at school. I had to learn English and French. In secondary school, I had a teacher that changed everything for me. He made me realized that learning English shouldn’t be a painful process. At the moment I started enjoying the lessons, I fell in love with the language. There are a lot of things that are important when learning a language, but motivation is the number one for me.

As I told you before, I am a person that needs to do something new because I get bored very easily. It’s not that I get bored learning English. In fact, English is helping me a lot with Korean. How would you ask? Well, learning the phonemes, places of articulation, and sounds in English, has helped me a lot. I feel so happy when I can use something from English with this new language.

The Korean Language

The first time you see the Korean alphabet (or Hangul) you want to quit. It looks really difficult. The first time I saw the alphabet, I found it challenging. In the first lesson, we studied the vowels.

It is important to say that the Romanization is not always exact. If you are studying from English to Korean, pay attention to the sounds. The same if you are doing with Spanish. For example, the consonant “ㅂ” (b) could sound more like a “P” in English. In fact, certain names that start with “B” in Korean tend to sound like a “P” in English. For example, the last name Park should sound like Bark, but nobody would like to have that last name. What I do is to mix the languages up. Don’t tell my teacher. This is our trust circle. For example, the consonant “ㅈ” sounds almost like the “dʒ” sound in English. In Spanish, we don’t have this sound, so I’m using everything I saw in Oral. In the consonant “ㅊ” I can use the “tʃ” sound like the one in Nature. In the consonant “ㅉ” I can use the “ch” like the one in Chancho. It is not cheating. 

What’s more, English has helped me to make my sounds more natural. For examples, the following consonants are all aspirated: ㅋ (kh), ㅌ (th) and ㅍ (ph). Thanks to English I know how to make these sounds without much effort. There are other sounds that we don’t have in Spanish and in English.

But stop talking about the sounds and all that. Something that I love about studying this interesting language is the culture behind it. Do you know that are different levels of politeness when you speak in Korean? These levels show the formality or informality of the situation. In Korea, you have to be careful who are you are addressing to.

안녕하세요: anyonghaseyo: hello (formal)

안녕: annyong: Hello (informal)

Words also change according to the level of politeness.

아버지: abeoji: Father (formal)

아빠: appa: Dad (informal)

Some words change if you are a girl or a boy.

누나: Nuna: Older sister (if you are a boy)

형: hyeong: Older brother (if you are a boy)

언니: eonni: Older sister (if you are a girl)

오빠: oppa: Older brother (if you are a girl)

Different from English, Korean makes no distinction for the choice of verb to be (am, are, is) between pronouns. You have only one form of the verb to be: 이다 . Again, this will change according to the level of formality. 

Speech Level	Plain Form	Formal Polite	Informal Polite	Formal Casual	Informal Casual
is, am, are	이다	입니다	이에요/예요	인다	이야/야

Ok, now we need to talk about numbers. There are two numeral systems in Korean: the native system and the Sino- Korean system. The native numbers are used for numbers of items (1-99) and age, while the Sino-Korean system is based on Chinese numbers and are used for dates, money, addresses, phone numbers, and numbers above 100.

The first time I saw this table I was like...

You may think, I’m crazy, for learning this language. But let me tell you that it looks difficult, but once you've learned the alphabet, it is a piece of cake. Except the cake is on fire, and you're on fire and everything is on fire because you're in hell. Hahaha, I love it. I love learning something so unique. Whenever I do something right in Korean, it makes me happy. I also enjoy making mistakes because I’m learning. The first thing I learn in Korean was how to say: 배고파요 (be go pha io) (I’m hungry), which is a sentence we should all learn in every language. Just in case.

What’s more, I downloaded a Korean dictionary with pronunciation. It is really helpful. I’m reading children’s book in Korean to acquire more vocabulary. I’m watching TV shows in Korean, too. I used the language with my family a lot. They can’t speak Korean, but I should practice with someone. And they can’t understand me so is a win-win. As I told you in another post, I think that learning something new can help you to be happy and breaking the routine. In my case, it is working. I love it.

다음에 또 봐요: daume ddo bayo: see you again next time!

Links: http://www.sayjack.com/blog/2010/06/18/verb-to-be-in-korean/
https://zkorean.com/korean-alphabet-hangul
https://bijuarukei.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/korean-lesson-no-1-korean-alphabet/
https://hanguladay.com/korean-numbers/

Enough is never

Halo, mates! Today’s post is going to be short and sweet. It’ll be sweeter than you think. I want to talk about something delicious: chocolate. You can eat chocolate alone, or you can share it. Hahaha, I never share chocolate, no. I love eating chocolate because it is 10 minutes long and you don’t have to take any clothes off, which is exactly how my boss described my first interview at the lab. What a liar. I got the job, though. I think most people love chocolate. I’m not saying there’s something wrong if you don’t like chocolate. I’m just saying we can’t be friends, and I don’t trust you. Chocolate can help you in many ways. So, keep reading this post and, at the end of the day, you will be happier, smarter and younger.

The other day I read an article about the benefits of dark chocolate. We all know that chocolate protects our brain from damage, protects our heart, and makes us happy (thanks to the production of endorphins). Dark chocolate produces tryptophan, an amino acid related to happiness and positive mood. But did you know that chocolate can help you to concentrate when you are studying? According to the article, dark chocolate improves memory and focus. In addition, Dark chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, the so called “love drug,” because it gives you the sensation of being in love.

According to researchers:

• ·        Dark chocolate improves blood flow to the brain. Compounds in dark chocolate boost memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem-solving skills by increasing blood flow to the brain.
• Chocolate contains flavonoids which improve standardized cognitive test scores.The flavonoids in chocolate have been shown to improve blood flow to the brain in young and old alike. Cocoa’s flavonoids penetrate and accumulate in the brain regions involved in learning and memory, especially the hippocampus. 
• ·        Chocolate also contains some caffeine, a known brain booster that in low doses improves memory, mood, and concentration.
• ·        The powerful antioxidants found in dark chocolate reduce the risk of dementia. In fact, the more chocolate seniors ate, the less likely they were to develop dementia.
• ·        Including chocolate in your diet could keep your heart healthy
• ·        One of the most unusual dark chocolate health benefits is that it increases beneficial bacteria in your intestines. Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria are two of the most prevalent “good” bacteria in your gut and are found in most probiotic supplements.
• ·        Eating chocolate has been shown to be neuroprotective and enhance brain plasticity — a trait that’s linked to increased intelligence.
• Chocolate can protect the skin against sun damage. 

The article also says you should choose the darkest chocolate that you enjoy. Good dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of around 70% or more. I think it’s important to treat yourself now and then because there’s a new study where doctors proved that when you’re kind with yourself by eating chocolate, you’re more likely to be kind to others. And, yes, I made that up. To be fair, half of the stuff Dr. Polo says is not true.

Remember the rules

So treat yourself and have some chocolate. Being addicted to it won’t get you arrested.

See ya :)

https://bebrainfit.com/brain-benefits-dark-chocolate/

http://globalnews.ca/news/3288136/add-chocolate-to-your-morning-coffee-for-best-results-new-study-says/

NeverEnding Story

무슨 일이야? (What's up?) According to the weather forecast, it will rain a lot. So, grab a cup of coffee, chocolate milk or tea…quila, and a book. I don’t judge. On Monday I wrote about books, and how important they can be. Today I want to go deeper on that topic. 

I don’t want to alarm you, but I have some disturbing news for you. So hold on to your bookmarks, everybody. According to some people, kids don’t read anymore. Just the thought of it, makes me shudder.

The gasp!

Kids don’t read, eh? Is that so? I can’t believe it. I’m not a scientist, but I do own a white coat and some beakers. I believe they are reading, but not what “people” want them to read. At school, we are forced to read hundreds of books that we don’t like. We find them boring or uninteresting. I think the key is reading for pleasure.

According to Jessica E Moyer, "Today’s teens may be reading just as much as teens in the past, but their methods and formats of reading are so different from the older generations."

Everything must have a beginning. If the first encounter with a book is positive, you are more likely to become a bookworm. But what happens if that encounter is not good? Well, Houston, we have a problem. Maybe these kids don’t have the right motivation. You have to be encouraged to do something with passion. Most probably these kids are not motivated by their families. So, the role of the school is very important here.

Teachers can make a difference. First of all, you can ask your students what kind of stories they would like to read. Based on that, you can present some fairy tales or short stories. If they enjoy reading, you are doing alright. The first time I read Alice, I read a shorter version of the book. Then, when I was older, I read the complete version. The reading level is important.

Dorothy Dyer says, "At school, teachers are too busy teaching what the letters are and how to put them together, and so little attention is paid to developing children’s enjoyment of reading. So, children who come from homes where reading is not encouraged do not learn to love reading. Instead, they see reading as a difficult chore that you have to do for tests and exams." She also says, "How can we get learners reading, particularly those who have not enjoyed reading at home? A powerful way is to provide material that will both appeal to learners by being accessible language-wise, and reflect young people’s own lives and realities. More and more people are realising how important it is for readers to see their own worlds reflected in the books they read. If you grow up never recognising yourself or your world in a book, then you learn the lesson that your life and environment is not valuable or powerful."

I talk with my students about the last book I’m reading. I let them know that I enjoy doing it. I tell them I read at night, and on the bus. I also tell my students that I read in both Spanish and English. I always encourage my students to read in the language they want. If I want them to read a specific story in English, I bring it to the class. But if they want to discuss a story they've read in Spanish, I let them. Sometimes we read a story in both languages to make comparisons. If they like what they are reading, most probably, they will read it in English. That happened to me with Harry Potter and Alice.

Another thing is to allow students to dislike a book. They don’t have to like every story. They have to find the right one for them. I’m honest with them. If there’s a book that I start reading, and I don’t find interesting, I change it. 


But ok, we talked about the students. Now, we need to talk about the teachers. If you don’t like reading, your students are going to notice it. When you teach something with passion, your students also notice it. Passion is contagious. If you teach in this way, you can transmit this feeling to another generation of children. I work mostly in primary schools. I love using different strategies to invite students to read. I bring books, comics, magazines, and sometimes I use music, too. Every time I read, I try to make different voices for each character. After that, I bring my puppet theatre, and we have so much fun recreating the stories. 

Teenagers

With teenagers, this is even better. They read with passion. They also can analyse things in another level. They are passionate people. Furthermore, You can debate about the story you are reading. But again, you have to let them choose. When I was a teenager, I remember crying over the death of a character. I remember getting emotional with the end of a story. I remember getting angry with an unfair end. Teenagers love reading. 

The other day I watched a video of a girl, who said that his best friend read Percy Jackson. Because of that, he read "The Iliad and the Odyssey.” Classic literature is important, but I don’t think we must force our students to read it. We can guide them with other stories to it. 

I want to quote what Lisa Bu says, "Books have given me a magical portal to connect with people of the past, and the present. I know, I shall never feel lonely or powerless again. Having a dream shattered really is nothing, compared to what many others have suffered. I have come to believe that coming true is not the only purpose of a dream. It's most important purpose is to get us in touch with where dreams come from. Where passion comes from, where happiness comes from."

When I was young, I met a little wizard who chose to do what is right. I met a girl who lived with her grandfather in the Alps. I met a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs. I met a girl named Carrie, who was tired of bullies. I met a doctor who created a monster. Years later, I went back to the prehistoric park theme for the second time. I went to Maine to meet a killer clown, a Saint Bernard dog from hell, a car that was possessed by an evil spirit, and a pet cemetery. I also went to Rumania, without even leaving my house, to meet Count Dracula. All these stories and much more, live with me because I love books. It's like Abbas Al-Akkad says, "I do not read for I have a renounced life, I read because one life is just not enough for me."

When in doubt, remember what mama Rowling says.



Have a good one, people. 

Links: https://live.fundza.mobi/home/library/non-fiction-articles-profiles/the-importance-of-reading-for-pleasure/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/tutors/using-skillswise-as-a-tutor/reading-for-pleasure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ibCtsHgz3Y