POST 2: Why did you choose this career/study programme?

Today you are expected to tell us about one of the biggest decisions we have to make in our lives: your career. Write about:

- your dream jobs when you were a child

- other career options that you had at the moment of applying to university

- what made you decide in the end

- your experience at university until now

- the kind of job you would like to have

 > word count: 120 words

 > don't forget to leave comments on 3 of your classmates' posts.

>Also have a look at the expressions that may help you below my post.

“I want to be the owner of a candy shop or an icecream parlour!” This is what I would answer if someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Another dream job I used to have as a child was to be the owner of a stationery-book shop, so I could have all kind of pencils, pens, sketchbooks, water colours, books and toys galore and for free.

Years later, when I was in high school our counsellor gave us a test to see what our interests were, so as to help us choose a career, and she was shocked when she saw the results of my test which showed that I was interested in all job areas in an even way.  However, since, on the one hand I regularly played the teacher helping my classmates understand the different subject matters and as, on the other hand I was good at languages and enjoyed singing songs in English I decided to study to be an English teacher.

Things were not very easy at the beginning at the university because most of my classmates came from bilingual high schools and it was them who the teachers considered good students, but with the passing of time I started to excel in things which required logic, such as understanding and applying concepts, comparing and analysing sentences, making synthesis, etc.

If I could choose a different career now I think I would make a good architect because I am very artistic, creative and good at maths. I’m sure the world lost a good architect, ha, ha, ha.

-The first real dream job I had was to be a ...

-As a child I wanted to be a ...

-When I was a child I dreamed of being...

-I had different carrer options in mind...

-My top career options were...

-The things I wanted to study were...

-I thought of studying something related to...

-My first/second option was to study...

-Finally I decided to study... because I wanted to.../because of.../ for ......reasons

-What triggered my decision to study ... was ...

-My ............. convinced me of studying...

-So far things have been...

-My experience has been positive/negative so far because...

-The most difficult part has been..

-The hardest thing has been...

-What I enjoy the most is...

-I really love ...

I would like to have a job where I can...

I would like to find a job with ...

I would like to get a job that pays well/ fulfills my.../

Maybe you want a job that

·        rewards you well for your special skills, knowledge and passion

·        makes life seem blessed and extraordinary

·        inspires your soul and spirit

·        makes you feel wonderful

·        fulfills you

·        pays you well for your time and energy

·        brings you closer to the people you love

·        involves working with people you love

·        makes your community and the world better

·        makes you respect yourself more

·        recognizes and develops your potential

·        highlights your best qualities and abilities

·        upholds your principles and allows you to live them

·        supports and strengthens your values and relationships

·        challenges you to grow, evolve and succeed

POST 1: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Hello everybody and welcome to your first blog session.
Today you are expected to write your auto biography. Please follow the instructions carefully and have a look at my sample post below to get inspired. You may upload a picture if you like.

Make sure you include the following:

- Birth info
- Studies info (elementary/high school/ univ)
- Family info
- Hobbies
- Others...

Remember to write at least 120 words and make comments on three of your classmates posts and also on your teacher's.

Who am I?

Let me tell you a little about myself. I was born in Santiago, Chile, and grew up in Santiago, in the Patronato neighbourhood. 

After I finished my wonderful kindergarten days, I went to Rafael Sanhueza Lizardi School, where I became a book worm, and then to Arturo Alessandri Palma High School, where I made some very good friends and developed my liking of English.  As a result of that, I studied to become a teacher of English at Universidad de Chile (some light years ago) and after some further study in London, I took my master degree in Education in 2007 at UMCE and received my degree from there 4 years later. 

I´m the fifth oldest of a large family of seven children (and probably the gray sheep!)
I have a lot of hobbies, for example, I like drawing and painting; listening to music, singing karaoke and playing the guitar.   I also love reading (and used to write embarrasingly lousy poems) and watching movies (especially dramas and good comedies).  When I have time, I enjoy having long conversations with my friends over a coffee or some delicious food; plus a long etcetera. But what I like the most is travelling, so I’ve already been to quite a few countries. 

Five years ago I moved to a new flat near the university, and currently I am a teacher and campus coordinator at Universidad de Chile. I really enjoy working there. 

Timeline vocabulary

Use the vocabulary to write sentences in the past

1.      be born in (year, city)      

I was born in Concepción, Chile, in 1985.  

My brother Antonio was born                

2.      grow up in      --> I grew up in  

3.      start primary school    --> I started primary school in 1998 (Ingresé a)

4.      get my first pet

5.      go to ............ high school

6.      start university

7.      join .......... (a club/an institution)

8.      win .......... (a game/a competition)

9.      be elected (president of ........)

10.   be chosen (best classmate)

11.   travel to ............. for the first time

12.   kiss someone for the first time

13.   finish  (high school)

14.   take a course on ..................

15.   learn how to ...................

16.   move to ....................

17. participate in a (painting) contest

BLOG WRITING PREPARATION EXERCISES:

Choosing the right word

Put one of the words below from the menu into the corresponding blank space. Be careful; there are extra words.

interested      went      on      interesting      major      had      go      graduated      was     in

1.       I was born ______ July 25th.

2.       I ______ to school near my house during my childhood.

3.       I ______ from high school when I ______ eighteen.

4.       I decided to ______ in Biology because I am really ______ in how life forms.

Sentence Word Order

Unscramble the words to create a correct sentence.

1.       poetry, write, I, really, to, love .

_____________________________________________________

2.       grew up, with, I, a, sisters, brother, two, and .

_____________________________________________________

3.       was, moved, I, 12, another, to, city, we, when .

_____________________________________________________

Proofreading & Editing

Correct the mistakes in the sentences. Each sentence has one mistake.

1.       Name my mother is Griselda.

2.       I chose study at the University of Chile because it is a good university.

3.       In my free time, I like play the guitar.

4.       I born in 2001.

5.       I study Chemistry before I changed to Psychology.

USEFUL SENTENCES:

Studies

When I was .. 5 ... (years old) ...

After that, ...

Before I finished high school...  / After I finished high school ...

, and then I ...

In 2005, I ...

Family

I want to tell you something about my family.

There are  are (five) of us in my family.

My family consists of my ....., my ...... , and myself. 

My family is a small family with   (three) people:

I am the oldest  / the second oldest / the third oldest/ the youngest / the baby brother

Hobbies

In my free time I...

I like...  /  I love...

I´m crazy about...

I enjoy ..........ing  (reading/posting memes/etc.)

My favourite thing to do (on weekends/in summer/on a rainy day /etc) is ...

I collect...

I like to read things like ...

I´m interested in ..............ing,

I’m into...   =    I’m very interested in...

 For me, .................ing is the best thing in the world.

I like to to spend time listening to...  / reading about... / etc

HOW TO CREATE A BLOG

  Hello everybody. Welcome to the adventure of writing a blog!  I hope you have fun writing your posts,  learn new things and improve your writing skills.

The steps to create your blog are as follows:

Go to www.blogspot.com. (You need to sign up using your Gmail account. When you land on the blogger.com page, there are two things that you may choose to do that will give you the same result. You may choose to hit "CREATE YOUR BLOG" or "SIGN IN" on the extreme upper right corner of the page. Whichever option you have chosen, all will lead to the sign-in page)

1) Click on  Create a new blog:

2) Type in a title for your blog in the Title box. (Maybe the name of a song 

     or of a movie that you  like)

3) Type in a short, simple address. (Ex. superjorge194)

4) Select a template from the options provided by clicking on one. (Please choose 'Simple', since this template makes it easy for me to read your posts)   When a template is selected, it will have a blue box around it. You must select a default template for now, but you will be able to customize it later.

5. Click  Create Blog button.