El diario ya está cerrado. Este es el resumen de los envíos del mes de Agosto a este diario, como fue el último mes de mi estancia (hasta el día 18) publiqué algunas conclusiones:

• Mi clase (qué bien me lo pasé!) y la Metodología Didáctica en Berkeley.
• Dos centímetros, Dos paises sobre las diferencias de mundo dentro de USA.
• Is Berkeley a safe city?. Opinion about Berkeley and Meleia's issue.
• Viaje al final de las clases: Some dreams can be true (Surf Class), Lost in SFO while I'm waiting for Greyhound Bus, Working on OS X in Apple Store
• Cuanto costaba ir a Los Angeles (que al final no fui)
• Entrevista con Tom (profesor)

También publiqué un trabajo de clase ( Vocabulario Week 4 ). Este es el archivo del mes de Agosto de mi Estancia en Berkeley. También puedes revisar el...

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Una de las razones de ir a Berkeley era la excelente metodología pedagógica que utilizan. Por ejemplo puedes revisar diez sugerencias para enseñar mejor o una lista de recursos para mejorar la enseñanza. En este sentido, hacer el CAP es una pérdida de tiempo (no aprendes nada) pero leyendo estos documentos yo he aprendido un montón.

Sin embargo respecto a la clase me esperaba mucho más la verdad. Básicamente es mucho más práctica, con relación más directa con el alumno, mucho trabajo en equipo y con evaluación diaria. Obviamente en la influía mucho el profe, David Skolnick y la clase era muy dinámica. De hecho evaluaron la clase dos veces (una con grabación de video incluida) y gracias a esa evaluación, finalmente lo contrataron para todo el año en Berkeley en los programas de...

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Mi clase estaba formada por 15 alumnos, en su mayoría asiáticos (12). Salvo Patrick (Francés), Assane (Senegalés) y yo, el resto de los alumnos eran asiáticos: Corea, Taiwan, Japón y Hong Kong. En concreto los nombres eran: Sung Min, Gyu Min, Patrick, Maggie, Jin Ah, Ji Hee, Jayeun, Mina, Yoshy, John, Shantelle, Assane, Ava, Sang Gyeyong y Cesáreo. A veces los asiáticos se cambian el nombre para "occidentalizarlo", o sea que no es su nombre original.

La media de edad debía ser sobre 22 años. Yo era el mayor (34 años) y después creo que Patrick (25). La verdad es que fue un buen grupo. Muy participativo, con alumnos con mucho talento y con ganas de aprender y pasarlo bien. Yo creo que es una de las ventajas de ir a Berkeley, en general la clase será muy buena, tanto por motivación como...

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I'm now in SAn Francisco Apple Store. Finally I couldn't get a iMac to try OS X, the operating system of Mac. I have used it for about 20 minutes so, only some perceptions. Graphics are incredible. I'm on a IMacG5 with a 20' display and it's really nice to work on it.

But I miss my linux/windowmaker. It's not so cool but it is faster and I'm get on it. iMac is a little expensive but has the advantage that you have almos all software you need. Desktop is beautiful and you have all staff by hand through nice icons. Also, I noticed that it is some slow when starting applications and accessing filesystem.

But iPod and mini iPod are really the best device here. You can find whatever device you think about: sorround system, earbuds, batteries, etc. Yesterday, a housemate bought a pink one for...

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I really want to go surf. It has been difficult to take the bus at 06:00 AM. Here, in Sunday, life doesn't exist until 10 AM.

I had no bus, no train (BART) so the only chance to take the 6AM bus to Santa Cruz was to take a ride of someone to the airport. But, finally, it was Oakland Airport, not SFO Airport, so I was $50 by taxi from there. No way, go back to house, sleeping in a coach, make some calls to Spain, chatting with loving people and, after brunch (breakfast + lunch) try to take 12:30 bus.

It is my first time getting Greyhound terminal so, like a newcommer, I didn't know that I could change my ticket at the bus. I was late because AC Transit bus came late so when I arrived to Greyhound office I lost all my time in the queue. So I lost 12:30 PM bus :-)

And now I am waiting until...

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How to plan a surf camp in Santa Cruz CA.

You need

• A Beach. There is a lot of beaches in Santa Cruz. From San Francisco I took a Greyhound Bus.
• To Sleep: This is a cheap place to stay and you can book-it on-line (three days before). If you are a group you can find very good rooms for $100 ($20 each one).
• To eat: I suppose that $20 each day is enough
• To learn: It should be a lot of choices, but I contact this good school: Richard Smith School. I think prices are too expensive. It depends of week day but each lesson (2 hours) is between $60 to $80. You can also check at this school

Finally, I had a lot of problems. Greyhound bus went out bus station one hour late and bus driver got lost in San Jose Junction, so I arrived one hour and a half later to Santa Cruz. The hostal closes at 10 PM and...

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Y al final se terminó. La última clase fue hoy 12 de Agosto en casa del profesor (David Skolnik). Revisamos el último trabajo que era un periódico realizado con MS Publisher en grupos de tres.

Estuvimos en casa de David, con su familia (esposa y una hija bebé) y disfrutamos tranquilamente de nuestro último día de clase. Terminamos yendo a comer a un restaurante hindú (uf! qué picante la comida), cogimos el bus y regresamos al campus.

O sea que se terminó lo que se daba. My ESL Summer class is over.

Some people says that this country is unsafe but I think that, even though you need to be careful, you can feel pretty safe in Berkeley. Sometimes, news about violence are not followed completely and only helps to increase our fears. Newspaper pieces about Meleia's killing in Berkeley can show us what is the actual story behind the scenes. Probably she was killed by a friend in an not-so-clear incident and not because Berkeley is a dangerous place.

Two weeks ago, on July 17, Meleia Willis-Starbuck, was killed very near the UC Berkeley Campus at 1:45 AM after an argument between her friends and a group of men. "A black male exited his car on Dwight Way and fired multiple shots in the vicinity of Willis-Starbuck's group of friends" as said by The Darmouth on July 19. She was only 19 years...

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My interview with Tom Mcnichol was taking a glass of lemonade in Cal Bears Bar, near Cesar Chavez Center. This kind of interview represents what I like most in Berkeley. You can spend a good time talking with a teacher. It could be a trivial thing but doing that in Spain (unless in my University) it is strange. Perhaps too much ego, not all but mostly, in spanish-university teachers

Tom McNichol has been a member of CCSF faculty since 1984 and has been teaching in UC Berkeley some course of ESL program. So he has been teaching for 20 years ago. He got his B.A. at Bucknell University and his M.A. at San Francisco State University. He lives in Oakland with his wife and his three daughters.

He speaks very well Spanish and he is learning now Italian. One of his goals now it is to travel to...

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Last Week, we were planning a trip to Los Angeles. Some people of Tauhouse (my residence house) went there and we were trying to figure out a budget for a trip.

There are different kind of trip. We prefered by car because it's cheaper and makes the trip more interensting.

An aproximate budget could be:

Car Rental: $205 for five days.
You can calculate a maximum of $60/day, more days it is cheaper, but for estimations it is a good rate).
Gas: $140 round trip
Sleeping $100 for a room and a day
Food: $30 per day

So, for a four-day trip it would be over 300USD if you are minimum four persons by car.

outraged (v)
Book Context: That it outraged him
Guess Meaning: get crazy
Dictionary Meaning: to make someone feel very anger or shock
My Own: He made a horrendous plan and that travel was a outrage

ousted (v):
B.C: They ... overwhelmingly rose up and ousted him
G.M:
D.M: to force someone out of a position of power, especially so that you can take their place
M.O: Alonso ousted Mikka Hakkinen in last F1 Grand Prix

livid (adj)
B.C: Indeed, many democrats were livid that Schwarzenegger did noy run on the issues
G.M: worried
D.M: extremely angry
M.O: I was livid when your mother told me that.

grabs (n)
B.C: Right-Wing Power Grabs
G.M:
D.M: to suddenly try to take hold of something
M.O: He grabed his clothes from my hands.

arise (v)
B.C: Morality and Survival jointly arise from such discipline
...

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Hoy comienza la semana 5, ya sólo quedan 2. A estas alturas en general los estudiantes en Berkeley estamos cansados. Algunos porque el ritmo se acelera, ya pasaron algunos exámenes (mid-term exam) y se le ve las orejas al lobo, que viene la semana que viene y otros porque es demasiada rumba para el verano. El próximo jueves se terminan las clases y esperamos la nota final.

Yo no me quejo porque con un curso sólo de 4 unidades se puede llevar perfectamente, es mucha tarea para casa a veces, pero es muy llevadero. Aprovechando la jugada, el viernes me fui a un club de Jazz. La verdad es que pude comprobar parte de esos contrastes de la sociedad norteamericana.

No sabía llegar al sitio muy bien y fui caminando como unas seis manzanas porque pensé que el sitio estaba cerca. Caminar por San...

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