Advertisement
Published: April 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Laboratorio de Idiomas
This is where I take my spanish classes. It is located downtown, a few blocks from the Plaza de Mayo. My Spanish Class
I'm taking Spanish here in Buenos Aires, 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. It is a regular University class, in the Laboratorio de Idiomas. It is "semi intensivo," because it last 8 weeks as opposed to the full semester of 16 weeks. I tested into level 6, out of 8 levels, which I'm realizing is an advanced level. They expect us to basically know the whole grammar and just have a few "problem areas." Our first unit was "If, then" statements. Next we looked at uses of the subjunctive after various types of connectors and in adverbial clauses. Our next unit was use of Ser and Estar with adjectives. Our current unit is "polemica" or building an argument -- how to write a persuasive essay in Spanish! Some of it is harder for me than others -- writing the essays has been relatively easy -- but the ser/estar really is hard for me. The distinctions are very subtle. I have to do an oral presentation this week. Next week is a midterm exam. The standards are very high and the teachers are not very nice if you don't do your homework and study. The technology in
Grand Staircase
This is the stairway to get to the first floor (the second floor as we number it). the classroom is very limited -- a whiteboard and photocopies. The condition of the building is appalling, although the style is very grand. The building knew better days. I've attached some photos.
Psychology
I have visited two psychology class at the UBA. On March 31, I visited an Intro to Educational Psych class, taught by Mariela Duhalde. I had made contact with Mariela by writing a letter of introduction last summer. Once I arrived in Bs.As., she and I met for coffee and she gave me lots of information about the academic system here. The class I visited was an undergraduate class in the psych major. Students take 2 years of General Education (Ciclo Basico Comun) then two years of a major (Carrera). With an undergrad psych major, students can practice as therapists here. All University classes (materias) consist of a lecture (teoretica) with a lot of students and a small group class called a practica. The class I visted was a practica, and Mariela was the teacher. She cares a lot about her teaching and tries to teach in interactive and progressive ways. I think that this is not the norm, however. The class I visited was very
Students
Here are some students chatting on the steps. You can see the beautiful columns. interactive. It was the first day of the autumn semester. The students all introduced themselves, then she had them work in groups and think about all that they knew already about ed psych - what kinds of jobs might an Educational Psychologist have? Then they shared. I took some notes. It was very hard for me to follow the class, unfortunately. She talks really fast, the room is acoustically bad, and very noisy. This campus of the UBA is in much better shape than the Lab de Idiomas. Still, there is no technology in the classroom - just a chalkboard.
On Thursday, April 10, I visited another of Mariela's class, called "Didactica General." It was taught at another campus of the UBA (in the Engineering College) because there were no classrooms (Aulas) in the Psychology Building. The building was beautiful -- in the Gothic style, but again there was no technology in the classroom. The class I visited was a graduate class, co-taught by Mariela and Liliana Federman. The students want to teach psychology and already have psychology undergrad degrees. It was a wonderful experience. They discussed two articles, working in groups and then presenting their ideas. The topic
Peeling paint
The building is in great need of general maintenance. of the class was defining "Didactica General." They were interested in my ideas, and several times the professors asked me for my opinion on various questions. They invited me back and I think I will try to attend the class as much as I can before I leave Argentina.
Here is the general web site of the UBA. I believe it is the largest and one of the best Universities in South America. It was founded in 1821. The campus is distributed in locations throughout the city. http://www.uba.ar/homepage.php
Here is a very recent article talking about the crumbling infrastructure in the UBA. It mentions some numbers of students affected as 310,000, and the number of professors as 26,000 and the number of staff as 12,000. I don't know if this is the total number or just a fraction. http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/04/12/sociedad/s-04401.htm
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0659s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Bill Roach
non-member comment
Puerto Rican Cafe
Hola Catherine: The Puerto Rican Cafe that I told you about must be right down the street from your University classes. It is right around the corner from the Museo De Cuidad. It would be worth a cafe some afternoon even if they don't serve Puerto Rican cuisine! Its exciting to hear that you are participating to actively the curriculum of the University. I hope that you save the lesson on ser/estar so that you can share that when you return! We brought back a wonderful CD by a great singer, Leon Gieco. You might really like him. We do. Xavier called him the Argentine Bob Dylan. Ask some of your fellow students what they think of him.