miércoles, 21 de mayo de 2008

Passion

Hi from Washington DC again!

Since María Martha and me always like to share our passion for teaching and learning, I thought of her and her blog when I came across this quote that puts it so very nicely. Hope you enjoy it, too.




"Call me in my office any Friday night and I’ll tell you the secrets of my success. The truth is, I’ve worked hard, I’ve been lucky, I’ve had a wonderful set of mentors along the way, and I now have a very dedicated set of people I’m working with. My parents gave me a piece of advice that I took to heart: find something you’d want to do anyway, and let somebody call it a “job” and pay you for it. It’s great advice!"

Randy Pausch, 2007

The summer is round the corner here, and I love it! Sunshine, green leaves and tons of flowers and birds are all around. We all look happier, too. I can't wait to go back home to Argentina with my husband, Scott in a few weeks. We'll be there on June 6th. I'll also take a class in Resistencia, Chaco and, while I'm there, I'll visit the Iguazú falls. I'm thrilled. I haven't been there in a long time.

That's all for now. Hope you are all having a wonderful May.

Hasta pronto,

Monica

Mónica Domínguez Mulholland
www.key2spanish.com
www.spanishisfun.wordpress.com

martes, 20 de mayo de 2008

On achieving goals- Sobre llegar a las metas propuestas

Last May 8th, my friend Vicky and I, passed our final examination by defending our thesis entitled "The socio-cultural aspects of the acquisition of a hegemonic language (Spanish) by learners whose L1 is a heritage language (Mbya Guarani): Bridges or walls?" at UNL (Universidad Nacional del Litoral- Santa Fe).

It was not an easy task since it involved attending seminars and writing papers and then, organizing and carrying out the research that became our thesis paper.

In this process we learnt a lot as we shared our learning experience together and that is the content of this message. I consider that growing and becoming a better professional go hand in hand with becoming more reflexive and generous. Giving out what you have learnt helps you develop an interaction that nurtures you as part of a vital circle that is fed with what it feeds.

Learning with my friend and achieving a goal together has been one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. We not only shared discussions and reflexions but we grew as our friendship became tighter and deeper.Life rejoices when we honor friendship being able to LOVE with capital letters.

We did not quit when difficulties came and kept on writing and working on our tasks bit by bit. We always saw that we could make little steps; and now, when we look behind, we can see we came a looong way!

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Hace unos días, el 8 de mayo pasado, mi amiga Vicky y yo aprobamos la defensa de nuestra tesina titulada "Los aspectos socioculturales en la adquisición de una lengua hegemónica (español) por alumnos/aprendientes cuya L1 es una lengua originaria (mbya guarani) en la Uiversidad Nacional del Litoral. (UNL-Santa Fe)

El camino no fue fácil, si consideramos que hubo que asistir a muchos seminarios, aprobar trabajos para cada uno de ellos y finalmente, embarcarse en un trabajo de investigación que dio como resultado la elaboración y redacción de la tesina.
De todos modos y a pesar de las dificultades, muchas de ellas relacionadas a que durante todo el tiempo seguimos trabajando al mismo ritmo frenético de siempre, alcanzamos la meta que nos propusimos.

Lo mejor de todo, fue ir descubriéndonos como personas y afirmándonos como profesionales (y como amigas) en un círculo de retroalimentación en el que dar y recibir fueron siempre de la mano. Este aprendizaje nos permitió conocer a muchas personas, que se brindaron generosamente y colaboraron para que nuestro trabajo fuera fructífero y valioso.

Estaré siempre agradecida a todas esas personas y por sobre todo a Vicky, que generosamente, compartió conmigo discusiones, lecturas, escuchas, escritos y todo lo que fuimos aprendiendo juntas. ¡La vida se regocija en actos tan hermosos llenos de AMOR, con todas las letras!


Saludos a todos y todas, ma.ma.