WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH THE CHILEAN EDUCATION?

The education is a very complex system, and point out just one problem is a hard and uncomfortable decision, because there is a real consciousness about the subject.
In general, the main problems with our educational system are three:

1. Teachers without motivation
2. Lack of infrastructure
3. A lower demand level for the students

These three factors are the base of an insufficient educational system, in which the common denominator is the lack of soundness in the educational policy.
Chile’s public education system is supervised by the Ministry of Education but run by the city hall of each small district, but the problem here is that a city hall can’t properly oversee and manage public schools, as a result, districts of poor areas deliver poor education to their students, with a low standard and high number of students per teacher. On the other hand, districts which are well funded and manage a less number of students (private school) result in a better education for children of richer areas.
Other important point is the traditional methodology of education given, which is old and defective, because it gives a great emphasis in the memorization of facts, instead promoting critical thinking, partially due to a cultural emphasis on factual knowledge as the sign of an educated person. Furthermore, the almost equal emphasis and lack of high standards for testing all subjects make it difficult for students to identify what they would like to study in their future.
In general terms, the education system has to worry about the motivation of the teachers, because if they are not satisfied with their jobs, they will not perform in the right way, and as a result the student’s level will not be the required for the Ministry of Education. This is a very important fact because it supposed that we as a teachers have to form the students, which imply the acquisition of values, knowledge and a social commitment, this mean that the emotional state of the teachers would affect the perception of the students about the society.
The teacher, due to carry out many functions, in some way is a kind of significant person for the students, they spend many hours of the week with the students and for that reason they are implied in the behaviour, character and opinion of them.
In my opinion, our future work or labour has a vital importance, as a teacher, we have to make the difference between our students, in terms of what they like, their preferences, their motivation, we have to know how to motivate our students, and try to make our classes more dynamic and interesting, use common and daily material, with all these variables our labour will be more satisfactory and the students really will reach a significant learning.
If the teachers change the education will change, for that reason is very important that the government give more resources to improve the infrastructure, to acquire new and fresh material for the students, which it helps our future labour, and the main goal to reach an equal education in our country.

CHOCOLATE: FRIEND OR FOE?

Chocolate is one of the world’s favourite flavours, which give us the most intensive ambivalent feelings among its proponents.
One of the few foods which truly crosses all frontiers and appeals to people all over the world is chocolate. Originally developed in South America by the Aztecs, chocolate was brought to Europe by he Spanish explorers around 1500 and soon developed into a fashionable and exclusive drink. By the nineteenth century the Swiss has invented milk chocolate and learned how to make the substance into a solid form which could be eaten rather than drunk. Chocolate bars rapidly became a popular snack for European and Americans.
Chocolate derives from the beans of the theobroma cacao or cocoa tree, a sensitive plant; the cocoa tree can only grow in equatorial regions with regular rainfall and consistent temperatures. South America, West Africa and parts of the Far East are the only regions able to support the cocoa tree. The beans are removed from large pods which grow directly on the tree trunk or branches, left to ferment for several days and then dried in the sun. The dried beans are exported to processing plants where the hard shells are taken off and the soft cocoa paste, known as cocoa mass is used as the basic ingredient for all chocolate recipes.
The word “chocolate” is derived from “Xochiquetzal”, the name of the Aztecs goddess of love, and for centuries chocolate had has a reputation as an aphrodisiac. It was the favourite drink of Casanova, and it has always been one of the most popular presents between lovers on Valentine’s Day. In fact chocolate contains the chemical phenylethylamine (PEA), a mood altering substance which can induce a feeling of pleasure and contentment.
Perhaps the most common complaint against chocolate is that is fattening and unhealthy. It is true that chocolate has a high fat and carbohydrate content, but recent research has shown that around 75% of the saturated fat in chocolate is made up of stearic acid, a substance that helps the body to digest and break down carbohydrates, and much of the fat content in chocolate is in a form which can’t be absorbed by the body and it’s therefore expelled in the usual way.
When compare chocolate with other sweet snacks, chocolate is frequently scores well, it contains good levels of calcium, phosphorous, potassium, vitamin A, iron and sodium; all highly desirable and nutritional. Its chemical composition makes it stimulating and energy-giving, and its fat content is no higher then ice-cream or french fries. Of course chocolate will make you fat if is eaten in excess.
With chocolate, as with life in general, the best advice comes from the old proverb: “a little of what you like does you good”.

Twisters or Tornadoes

What is a tornado?

The word tornado comes from the Spanish or Portuguese verb “tornar”, that means “to turn”.
A tornado is an extremely intensive windstorm known by a twisting, funnel shaped cloud. Also it’s defined as a violent rotating column of air in contact with the ground and pendent from a swirled cloud. This formation is visible for the presence of dust that is sucked from the ground and for the water’s condensation in its centre.
Tornadoes from severe thunderstorms usually happen as a result of a hurricane.

How do tornadoes form?

Tornado’s steps
1- Before thunderstorm develop a change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed creates an invisible horizontal spinning effect in the lower atmosphere.
2- Rising air within the thunderstorm updraft hits the rotating air from horizontal to vertical.
3- An area of rotation of 2 to 6 miles wide now extends through much of the storm. Most strong and violent tornadoes form within this area of strong rotation.
Tornado’s formation occurs when cool air over takes a layer of warm air forcing the warm air to rise rapidly, but a more detailed explanation would be that tornadoes born in the hurricane’s walls, owing to the fact that two opposite strengths confront, the wind strength turns in circles (all this happens for the rotation movement of the earth, like the hands of a watch, in the south hemisphere, but on the other way in the north hemisphere, although sometimes they can change its behavior) and the suction force that is created when the warm air is sucked and ups until the coldest zones, where it generates more suction that makes the phenomenon more powerful.

Tornadoes’ classification

The method of measuring tornadoes in known as the Fujita Scale, this scale measures a tornado’s intensity by the damage that it causes, and by its wind speed. A tornado can be:
*F0= wind speeds up to 73 miles per hour (115 km/h), light damage (branches broken off trees, damage to chimneys)
*F1= wind speeds 73 to 112 miles per hour (116-118 km/h), moderate damage (moving cars blown off roads, mobile houses pushed off foundations)
*F2= wind speeds 113 to 157 miles per hour (181-250 km/h), considerable damage (mobile homes demolished, cars lifted off ground)
*F3= wind speeds 158 to 206 miles per hour (251-330 km/h), severe damage (trains overturned, most trees in forest uprooted)
*F4= wind speeds 207 to 260 miles per hour (331-415 km/h), devastating damage (well constructed houses leveled, structures with weak foundations blown away some distances)
*F5= wind speeds 261 to 318 miles per hour (415-510 km/h), incredible damage (strong frames houses leveled off foundations and swept away, trees debarked, cars fly away)

In the movie Twister an F5 was considered as “The finger of God”, people believed that God was dragging a finger across the earth wiping out all the things that were in his path.

How often do tornadoes occur?

Tornadoes occur all over the world, but the most affected region measured by the numbers of tornadoes per unit area is United Kingdom, especially England. In Canada, an average of 80 tornadoes occur annually causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. On the other hand the United States experience is dramatic, because this country has been the victim of the strongest tornadoes, in US an approximately 100.000 thunderstorms occur in one year causing 1.000 tornadoes and almost 50 deaths per year.

Tornadoes in Chile

The lower temperatures in Chile make impossible the formation of a tornado, but, however in our history there are two phenomenon that were considered as a tornado, both in the north of our country, the first one occurred between Iquique and Antofagasta on June 20, 1929, a violent hurricane swirled the dunes of Iquique, invading almost all the city and parts of La Pampa, Antogfagasta y Chañaral. The second case, in Antofagasta, happened on July of 1954 killing two kids. These two phenomenons didn’t have the characteristics formation of a tornado, and even in the second one, the wind speed was just 80 km/h, and that speed in not enough for call it tornado.

How can we protect us of a tornado?

The forms of protection are very similar to the ways of a hurricane, but the emergency in bigger because a tornado is faster and unpredictable. The safest refuge is a basement or a room in the middle of the house without windows.
In United States, the authorities warn to the community through a “watching” when the conditions of a tornado are favorable, and a “warning” when a tornado begins in some near place. In tornado season, the government spends time educating people about the damages and what they can do to improve the chances of surviving a storm.
There is no way to be sure when exactly a tornado can occur, but with the new technologies that bring us advises a few minutes before a tornado, many lives can be saved.

SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS

Even when some of us don't smoke, this serious addiction affects us anyway: "Cigarette smoke that is inhaled unintentionally by nonsmokers and may be injurious to their health if inhaled regularly over a long period", that is, not even a law can protect us to this toxic smoke. There was a study that consisted in measure the component of secondhand smoke and the results wasn't very good for us; nonsmokers, they tasted the air in front of a local, where smokers are, with clean air, and the study found that the pollution was elevated outside, that means: even smokers are outside the level of contamination doesn't change, and the nonsmokers are affected anyway.

NEWSPAPER: "THE NEW YORK TIME"/ SECTION: "HEALTH"/ ARTICLE: "At Risk: Where Smokers Congregate Outside Bars, a Cloud Hovers"

hello...hello....=)

well, first of all I hate share my personal thoughts with strangers, but I have no choice (it's a homework after all), and I hope that all of you write nice things....PLEASE!!!!!!!!