Capital Letter

INDIFFERENCE IS THE NAME OF THE GAME Publicado en Capital Letter No. 7 Mayo de 2005 One of the questions we usually ask ourselves is why things are the way they are. There should be more peace, more security, more courses, more processes going on, more research, more changes… and endless list of other things. What are we doing to contribute to the construction of that better society we all envision and desire? Have we contributed in the creation and provision of peace, security, study opportunities or research processes for ourselves and the others? What has been our performance as individuals and as groups? What have our results been? The Universidad Nacional de Colombia is a place rich in human resources. Students and teachers have been given the chance to exchange and spread knowledge. However, we always complain about lack of opportunities to develop the writing skills and when the occasion comes we take no notice of it. The case of the present discussion originated from the ...

Capital Letter No. 6 Publicada en Noviembre de 2004 Click en la revista para ampliar visualización: CONTENIDO EDITORIAL STUDYING A POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMME ABROAD Yoana Cristina Pinzón  P. THE JAPANESE TEACHER: INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR NAKANISHI Lina María Conde BEYOND CLASSROOM INTERACTION Monica Patricia Aldana Cifuentes ABOUT BEING SENSIBLE OR SENSITIVE Ronnall Castro Q. PORTUGUÊS: DIZEM POR AI... Lina Oliveira PERCHÉ LA GRAMMATICA? Oscar J. Pachón Torres EL RESULTADO DE ESE HERMOSO MODO DE TRATAR LAS COSAS: INTERVIEW WITH CIELO VA RGAS Mariluz Ortiz RUSO: COMENTARIOS DE LA OBRA DE MIJAIL BULGAKOV "EL MAESTRO Y MARGARITA" Profesora: María Teresa Rojas Traducción al inglés por Javier Rojas FIRST COMIC STRIP CONTEST GLOBAL UNITY Vivian Chu A VERSION OF REALITY: THE PERCEPTION OF DISCOURSE IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY Carlos Alberto Aldana-Sanchez LOLO ¿"WEST INDIES" EN NUESTRA UNIVERSIDAD? Dayana Andrea Osorio E. REPRESENTACIONES DE LA ...

Bibiana Hernandez biyayita@yahoo.es Publicado en Capital Letter No. 6 Noviembre de 2004  National ELT Conference 2004: Self- Directed Learning Autonomy: a key element in the learning process Being autonomous is perhaps a challenging task since it requires a great amount of motivation and responsibility from the learners. As they are asked to propose and to discuss what is given, they are encouraged to view knowledge and truth as contextual, to see value frameworks and cultural constructs, and to appreciate that they can act on their world individually or collectively to transform it. The topic of the Seventh National ELT Conference, "Self-Directed Learning" held in Bogotá from 16 to 18 September 2004 at the Universidad de los Andes, was selected according to the responses received from suggestions made by participants the year before to the Sixth ELT Conference. The concept of autonomy as a key element in the learning process was challenged. The conference was an oppo...

Elsy Camila Reyes Romero camilare23@yahoo.com Publicado en Capital Letter No. 6 Noviembre de 2004 In this research we wanted to analyze the pedagogical issues that characterize Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory implementation during problem solving situations in project work. This study was developed with 9th grade students at the Instituto Pedagogico Arturo Ramirez Montufar (IPARM), the Universidad National de Colombia School, in an English Language Teaching (ELT) context. We approached data gathering using the following instruments: 1. Field notes; 2. workshop recordings and, 3. students' interviews. The data analysis showed that MI theory implementation motivated students because we worked based on their likes and interests. The research also helped students to develop their second language communicative and argumentative strategies improving students' problem solving and analytical abilities. Working with multiple intelligences theory helped me to understand classroo...

Luz Mary Ramírez Mejía luzmarylaf@yahoo.com Publicado en Capital Letter No. 6 Noviembre de 2004 There is a "widespread belief that one has to be taught in order to learn" (Littlejohn, 1983:599) which underlies informed and lay opinion about education. That means, among other things that learning depends on the teacher, that knowledge has to be transmitted by the teacher rather than discovered by the learners, and that students expect the teacher to be responsible for the assessment of learning. This is the well-known traditional system. In this approach the teacher is the central agent in the learning process. We are now facing a new approach called "autonomous language learning" where the learner is the central agent in the learning process. It has been recognized that such an approach can promote more effective and efficient learning. When a student decides to learn and know how to learn, learning is more meaningful and effective. The Universidad Nacional de Co...

Dayana Andrea Osorio E. yayis0822@yahoo .co .uk Publicado en Capital Letter No. 6 Noviembre de 2004 Desde hace cinco años existe un convenio entre la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y la Universidad de las Indias Occidentales (University of West Indies) Gracias a éste 20 estudiantes de las sedes de Trinidad, Tobago y Barbados vienen a la Universidad Nacional de Colombia a perfeccionar su español como lengua extranjera y a aprender acerca de nuestra cultura colombiana en un curso intensivo de español a cargo de la unidad de Extensión del Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras, Sede Bogotá. Por otro lado, el convenio permite que un grupo de 20 profesores de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia vayan a dichas sedes a perfeccionar su inglés durante el periodo intersemestral. En un futuro, se espera ampliar el convenio de tal manera que éste no sólo promueva el aprendizaje de las lenguas sino que también busque una integración en la que se establezcan programas de pasantías con los estudi...