POLITICS: elections in 2008

Last Tuesday together with Martina, Valentina and Allyson, I took part in an interesting discussion about American and Italian elections. Also this time the topic of the conversation was very difficult but it helped me a lot to understand how the electoral system in Italy and in America works and how different they are.
Allyson explained us that the American electoral system consists of two kinds of vote: the popular and the electoral vote. This latter seems to be much more important than the popular because if a candidate doesn’t win the popular vote but wins the electoral, they are elected… Is this democracy?!
In Italy there are many problems concerning the electoral system too. The main reason is due to the fact that there are a lot of parties and the electors find it very difficult to properly follow every political program… And therefore the result is that most of the people feel confused and uncertain.
Moreover, we discussed about the three videos "Menomale che Silvio c’è", "I’m PD-Si può fare", "Obama Girl" and we all agreed saying that there’s something pathetic in them… We all are rather pessimistic towards our politicians and we think that both electoral systems (American and Italian) should be reformed in order to be more effective.

As far as the cultural topic we will focus on in our final project, I’d like to deal with the situation of women in politics and in everyday life… Is it true that American women only think of their career and independence? What are the opportunities women have in the society they live in? What are their needs? Observing that in Italian society, especially in some jobs, women are still discrimated, I’d like to find out if American women suffer the same condition.

C u on Tuesday, have a good weekend!

YOGA form_intercultural competence

Hello guys!!!

Let's speak about intercultural competence!

The reason why I chose to attend “Foreign Languages” at University was not only the will to improve my English skills but also I liked the idea of getting to know other cultures, travelling or working abroad in international contexts. After many courses based basically on the improvement of English linguistic skills, I’m happy to deal with a concrete exercise, that is the exchange with students in the United States, to develop my intercultural competence. Well, I have to say that it is quite hard to become familiar with any culture you did not grow up into. Even if you spend some time abroad, your idea of the country you are living in will always be influenced either positively or negatively by your own culture.
Reading and reflecting on the document “Developing Intercultural Competence” was really interesting. It made me think of the current increasing need to be able to deal effectively and appropriately with diversity, whether ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural. We can simply think about the difficulties of some immigrants to fit in our society: insensitivity and mistrust are the main attitudes towards them. Is it right?
This is why I’d like to focus our attention on some fundamental traits pointed out by this document: respect, empathy, flexibility, patience, interest, curiosity, openness, motivation, a sense of humour, tolerance for ambiguity and a willingness to suspend judgement. I think we should remember all these words when we come into contact with people of different culture.

The YOGA (Your Objectives, Guidelines, and Assessment) form is definitely a useful tool to critically examine the development of our intercultural communicative competence (ICC).
It helped me to consider aspects I hadn’t previously considered such as the importance of ‘awareness’ (especially of my own culture) and the level of willingness to interact with members of the host culture I demonstrate.
The hardest part about it is the fact that it’s a self-assessment and I found it very difficult to rate myself! Anyway, I think that so far my intercultural competence is not very developed but through our exchange and experiences abroad I hope to become a multicultural specialist!

C u in class!

XCHANGE_second meeting

Hello everybody!

I’m here to tell you something about my second Skype meeting. I have to say that I’m a little bit unlucky with technological stuff… Also this time I had problems with the connection: I could hear Allyson and Martina talking but they couldn’t hear my voice.
This is definitely the main reason why for the first half an hour I only practised my listening skill… They spoke about some words we had to discuss on the forum and Allyson wanted to know something more about the meaning of the word ‘raccomandato’… It’s so difficult to explain something that is obvious for you and your culture without finding the right translation for that word, isn’t it?!
Later, when I was able to take part in the conversation, we talked about terrorism, the movie "Buongiorno, notte" and the attack at the Twin Towers in 2001… Allyson told us how she spent that day but I hope to ask her something more, especially about her feelings and fear towards these events.
Reflecting on these two Skype meetings, I want to point out that talking in three is not easy, I mean that it’s difficult to control the turns of the conversation… And moreover, I tend to listen rather than speaking…
Anyway, I’ll try to make it work better next time!

C u soon and Happy Easter to everybody!!!

Terrorism

The discussion on the wiki of this week was really interesting but difficult as we had to talk about subjects such as "Gli anni di Piombo" and terrorism... But it has been useful as I had the opportunity to reflect on an important part of the Italian history and to remember it and its victims. I think it’s necessary to know our recent history in order to make things change and improve.
I haven’t seen the film "Buongiorno, notte" yet but I’ve taken a look at some videos on YouTube and I’m going to watch it soon. Here is a small scene…the soundtrack taken from "The great gig in the sky" by the Pink Floyd is amazing and makes these images even more dramatic.

2nd semester...Padova-Dickinson exchange

Welcome back my dear blogging mates!!!

The second semester has just started and I feel really motivated and curious about all the activities we are going to do… Unfortunately I can’t attend the lessons on Monday because of a course at the Chamber of Commerce but I can take part in the Skype exchange.

Last Tuesday we had the first meeting with the American students and, as usual, I had some technical difficulties… I was able to contact Martina and Allyson after half an hour because my microphone didn’t work! Anyway, in the end we were able to have a general chat about ourselves and about Italian and American educational systems.

I had never used Skype before and in spite of my technical problems I think it’s amazing! By using chats, e-mails or blog posts you can’t realize that the other person really exists while through Skype you can hear the voice, you can see him/her talking to you… It’s so exciting! I’m sure this exchange will be very useful in order to improve both my intercultural competence and my language skills… I’m really optimistic and that’s why I look forward to hearing from Allyson and Martina soon!

Bye!!

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!

Working with you has been a useful and funny experience... Thank you for this first semester together and...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy holidays,

c u next year!!

Personal Learning Environment

Hello Group D!
Well, it was quite strange to think about my way of learning… I mean… When you have to study something you just do it without worrying too much about the method you use. However, reflecting on PLE I realized that it’s very important to know how to organize your own learning. This is true especially for language students: we have to practise and practise otherwise we forget; we have to pay attention to any kind of ‘input’ in order to make improvements and to keep on learning in an effective way. That’s why I find some activities really useful for my English learning: grammar and vocabulary exercises; listening practice; reading texts aloud; doing translations.
When I want to learn a new word or expression I write it down on my notebook, I check its use in the dictionary and I fix it in my memory linking it to some examples.
Of course, it’s important to attend lessons, to take part in discussions suggested by professors, and to speak with your colleagues at university.
Finally, making comparisons between my work and my peers’ one is very helpful: you can learn from mistakes and you can appreciate other styles of writing and different ideas... Very stimulating!

I’m sorry…My picture is not very good… However, I divided my mindmap in 4 macro groups called HOW, WHERE, WHO and GATHERING INFORMATION.

I hope u are able to read something!

Bye bye

Laura