www.busuu.com

Hi everybody! Today I’m going to talk about a webpage to learn languages, which is called “busuu.com”. First at all, I knew this page in English class as a recommendation of my teacher and, a few days later, I check that page and I really liked.

Bussu.com works as a social network that joins a lot of people from many countries and different languages. The idea that this page follow is that is possible to learn a language whit the support of the other users of the page, who works as teachers of their own languages (Native or advanced languages).

The languages that this page offers to learn are English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Russian; and all of them in three levels: Advanced, intermediate and elemental.

The mechanism of the page is the next: You have to choose the languages that you dominate and the languages that you want to learn (associated to a determinate level), after that you are ready to use the options of the page, which include several of units with different topics. This unit consists in the analysis of vocabulary, the understanding of a dialogue (listening and reading it), the write of a text about the topic (which is evaluated by other users), a chat with other users that are connected and, finally, a small test about the lesson. All this is included on the free version of “busuu”, but there is also a premium version that adds a podcast, print material and voice recordings.

By the other hand, you can work as a teacher commenting and evaluating the exercises of the other users and win some points (busuu-berries), that represents your development in the page.

I think that’s all I have to say about “bussu.com”. Thank you everybody, see you next week.

Gino Germani (Session 3)

Gino Germani was an Italian sociology that was born in 1911. In his first years he formed in economy, but left that at the age of nineteen years old because was exiled by Mussolini’s fascist regime. At 1934 he came to Argentina, and begins to study philosophy in the University of Buenos Aires. Years later, Germani started to study the Argentina’s society, and created the first sociology career in all Latin America. He wrote five books in Spanish; Social structure of Argentina (1955), Studies of Social Psychology (1956), the sociology in Latin America (1964), Politics and society in a time of transition (1965) and Sociology of modernization (1971). In addition, he wrote two more books on Italian and one on French.

Germani cared about studying the phenomenon of populism in Latin America and the comparison between the social processes in Argentina and Europe (He focused his studio in the Peronism in Argentina, and his relation with the Italian Fascism). I like this author because is the founder of the sociology in Latin America, and I knew about he because of a seminary of Latin American sociology that I assist the last year at the university).

Gino Germani died in 1979

My favorite picture

The picture that I most like it’s a photograph that I and my other three brothers (Eduardo, Claudia and Ivan) take us as a Christmas present for our parents the last year.

This picture was taken by the personal of this studio (which is located in the “Mall plaza Oeste”) approximately in the second week of December. In it, me and my brothers appears together with clothes of the nineteenth century, and also with some objects like sticks and newspaper of that time.

The story of this picture begins in the firsts days of December in 2010, when my big brother Eduardo has the idea that we all can take us a picture in one know photography studio called “El baúl de la abuela” (The grandmother’s trunk), which is characterized by take pictures like the old times, in black and white and with old clothes. Then, we go a saturday to the mall without my parents, and take the picture in a two hours I think. It was a lot of time because we have to dress us whit trousers, shirts, jackets and hats in the case of the men, and my sister with an old dress. Then we take our positions (the older brothers behind, and the smaller at the front) and took at least ten photographs in different positions (some sitting and others standing). A week later my big brother at the studio and choose the best picture and buy them.

I like this picture because I think is the best present we ever given to our parents (even my dad cry when we show them) and also because is one of the few photographs where I and all my brothers are together.

Quantitative Methodology

The quantitative Methodology is one way to study the social reality that is based on the quantification of the properties of the objects of study in numbers. This definition involves the next considerations: Should be possible to assign numbers to the social reality, It’s need to have some techniques to manipulate, describe and synthesize a lot of information, for this is used the statistics. In addition, it’s required some instrument that facilitate the transformation of reality in numbers, work that meets the survey. Finally, this methodology frequently makes use of probability sampling to select their study subjects.

            Another topic that is important to consider are the strengths and weaknesses associated to the use of this methodology; With respect to the first, the possibility to handle a large number of information, to control a lot of variables (see how it relates) and the representativeness of the data with respect to reality are some of the most important. On the side of the weaknesses, the most common are the simplification of reality, the indirect nature of measurement, the results are only probable and the margin of error that is associated.

            To end this theme, I like to introduce you to some of the challenges that this methodology have to face in future, this are the further development of triangulation techniques with other methodologies, to promote the application of validation strategies, to improve the link between theory and methodology and enhance the use of multivariate analysis.