Updating my PLE

My Personal Learning Environment (updated)

At the end of the first semester we were asked to think about the way we learn and develop a mindmap of our PLE (Personal Learning Environment). I remember that it took me a lot of time thinking about my PLE and how to arrange it. When I showed and explained my PLE to Sarah and the my peers, I noticed that it was quite different from the others. Now that I have to update my PLE I prefer keeping the same structure and simply adding new parts.
First of all, I added ‘Using Skype’ and ‘Wikipages’ in the section ‘Gathering Information in Informal Context’ since in this second semester we had the opportunity to use Skype and speak with American peers. I think it has been a wonderful experience, even if I spoke only twice with Michelle. Wikipages have proved to be useful as sources for gathering information since I read the wikipages of my peers and that of the course. Wikipages have been a helpful way to store information while doing our group project and so I added this tool in the ‘Storing and Organizing information’ section. They have been an interesting means to practice formal writing since the final project consisted in creating a group wikipage about a topic related to culture in US and in Italy.
I decided to be more specific in the section regarding ‘Formulating and Expressing Information’ and I added the people with whom I often speak English: peers, professors, foreign people and my American peer (Michelle). As far as the writing skill is concerned, I specified that I prefer using paper to take notes, while I use the computer to write blog posts, my part of the wikipage, comments in blogs and in the forum about Culture 'Confronti' and to give feedbacks to my peers. I also use the computer to write papers and essays, to chat and send e-mails to my peers and to Michelle. The computer has been useful also to write my thesis during the third year of university and to do some exercises to improve my knowledge of foreign languages.
Finally, I added a new branch to my PLE: ‘Self-Assessment of my Intercultural Competence’. During this second semester I learned that assessing my Intercultural competence is very important and the only person who can do this effectively is myself. During the last years of university, I had already filled in other questionnaires regarding my language and intercultural competence, such as the European Language Portfolio. However, it was during this last months that I had to consider thoroughly my intercultural competence and describe and explain it in details. The mid- term paper, the YOGA form and the ICC questionnaire forced me to think about my intercultural competence and improvements in language and constituted the starting points to write blog posts and prepare oral presentations about these topics.

That’s all for now!

Veronica

My experience of the exchange: evaluating my Intercultural Competence.

photo by Bluejeff

This week I would like to speak about my experience of the Skype exchange with Americans and of my improvements in language and intercultural competence.
First of all, I have to admit that I liked skyping with a student from the other side of the world. I never used Skype before and I was very enthusiastic of this new and exciting experience. I skyped with Michelle only three times, but the first we had big technical problems and so I could not speak with her for more than 3 minutes. However, in the other two times we spoke a lot about immigration, education, health care system, political candidates and political situation and the situation of young adults (especially as far as the choice of buying or renting a house is concerned) both in USA as well as in Italy.
I was very surprised to hear that she did not know much about Italian political candidates but that she had an idea about who would win the elections. She said that Berlusconi would win because Italians preferred economic stability in a period of economic crisis. I was happy to answer to her questions and talk about several interesting topics. I never felt uncomfortable because we tried to be polite and friendly and we never asked for very private information. Perhaps she felt uncomfortable only once when one of my peers asked her which candidate she would vote in the next political elections; she explained that it would be the first time she could vote and had not got a clear idea yet. She said she would vote for the party her family preferred.

Thank to this exchange I had the possibility to improve my knowledge of American culture. Even before skyping with Michelle I knew that university in Us is very expensive and that parents try to save money since their child is born so that to afford paying university fees; however, Michelle gave me a real example: more or less 46,000 dollars per year! She said also that even if the US are a country immigrants, there still is discrimination against foreigners, especially against Latinos. She was very interested in having information about the situation in Italy as far as the health care system, immigration and education are concerned.
There were not misunderstandings or problems during the exchange. Sometimes I asked her more precise information about my part of my final project and I had to work out my answers. I think I was able to communicate in a different language with a different culture; Michelle said that my English was good. I tried to be polite and friendly and to avoid expressing value judgements about her personal choices or considerations, for example as far as her political preference is concerned.
I think I have improved my intercultural competence because I learned some new facts about the American culture, both about the dominant culture and about a minor social groups. Michelle and I spoke a lot about health care system, education, politics and immigration and she explained me the situation of immigrants from South and Central America, who she considered as the most discriminated.
I also managed to understand another culture by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from another perspective. As far as the choice of renting vs. buying a house, I learned that Americans prefer renting than buying and I tried to see this fact from the point of view of an American. They tend to leave their families relatively early for several reasons, for example to go to college, and it is comprehensible that they prefer renting than buying since they have not economic stability and often they cannot afford buying a house. Moreover, they often move to another state to change job, to go to university or for personal reasons and so they do not want to apply for a long-term loan. After having analyzed the situation in Us, I noticed how different the situation in Italy is. Italians prefer stability and tend to buy a house rather than to rent it.
As far as language learning is concerned, I can say that in this second semester I improved my English. As in the first semester, I improved my reading, writing and listening skills and I learned new words. I had to read a lot of articles, dossiers, reports and my peers’ wikis in order to write posts on my blog, to give my contribution in the wiki about the elections, to write my part of the final project and to provide peer feedbacks. I improved my writing skill especially because I had to summarize a lot of information and data in few lines and I had to post coherent and cohesive texts which could be interesting and easy to be read. I learned new words concerning elections, politics and buying a house. Thanks to lessons and to the Skype exchange, during the second semester I also improved my listening skill, my pronunciation and intonation. Michelle had a different accent from that of my professors and spoke quite quickly; at the beginning I could not understand all words, but then I managed to understand her. We seldom spoke Italian, because she did not know it very well; she said she studied it only for some months. However, she said that she understood what I said and so I tried to speak faster.

If you want to know something more about this topic, please visit my ICC questionnaire.

Veronica

Skyping with Americans...

Few days ago I had the fantastic opportunity to use Skype and speak with an American girl: Michelle. I had never used Skype before and I have to admit that it's a fantastic tool! You can talk in real time with people all around the world and with more than one person at the same time! I think I will install this programme also at home and I will use it to chatter with my friends.

After having decided the topic of our final project, the members of my group and me spoke with Michelle about immigration. I think that Italians tend to consider the immigrants from a powerful country more welcome than those who come from a poor country. We asked her if the same situation is present in America too; she answered that it would be a paradox for a country which is composed of immigrants from throughout the world to have bias against the people of a particular nationality. However, this phenomenon is present in America too; some Americans tend to have prejudices against Latinos. A great number of people from the Central and South America move and settle in the USA and a lot of them try to immigrate illegally. Once arrived in the USA they work illegally or if they found legal jobs, they are underpaid. I think that the same situation is sometimes present also in Italy.

Michelle then said that his father is Italian and was born in a village near Naples; he told her that when he arrived in the USA he was very discriminated because he was a foreigner. However, she as the daughter of an immigrant doesn't feel discriminated. We concluded than that it's more difficult to integrate in a foreign country if you don't know the language. I know a family of immigrants from Albania; the daughter was my best friend at high school and speaks very well Italian. She feels totally integrated in Italy, while her parents have some problems because they don't know Italian very well.

We spoke then about the health care sistem in the two countries. Michelle said that in the USA everyone must have a health insurance in order to receive medical cares. This insurance is very expensive, as well as medicines in general. I explained her how is the situation in Italy and she was very surprised and curious. We focused then again on immigration and she said that in the USA immigrants who don't have a health insurance have the right to receive the first aid cares anyway. The cost of these medical cares is then payed by the American citizens and this fact is considered a controversial issue by many Americans. I explained her that in Italy too there is the legal duty to give emergency cares to ill or injured people.

Immigration in Italy

photo by carf

Italy has long been a country of emigration; for centuries Italians went abroad to escape from poverty and hunger. Then, from the Seventies onwards, Italy has become a country of immigration. People throughout the world come in Italy to escape from wars and/or to search for better living conditions. I think that the Italian government wasn’t prepared to such a change of tendency and continued to consider immigration a temporary phenomenon; for this reason, it didn’t take the suitable measures in order to regulate immigration. In recent years, however, the Italian government has become aware of the importance of this fact and has begun to realize that this is a permanent state of things and an increasing phenomenon. According to the Caritas Dossier about immigration, in 2006 there were more or less 3,690,000 immigrants in Italy, 21.6% more than the previous year.
On the Web there are several websites that explain the Italian rules governing immigration, as for example: how to achieve the permit of stay, the citizenship, the asylum, health care. In the website of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs you can find useful information about immigration; there are also several links to Italian laws and decrees and to certain Web pages where immigrants can fill in some documents online. These websites are good starting points to communicate with immigrants in a simple and easy way and to make a bit more clearer the complex Italian bureaucracy.
However, a lot should still be done to effectively regulate immigration in Italy and the integration of immigrants. They are sometimes considered only a work force that contribute to the growth of our economy; they often do humble job that Italians don’t want to do and this often doesn’t reflect their choice, but it’s due to the fact that their educational qualifications aren’t valid in Italy. Immigrants are also important because they contribute to the growth of birth-rate; in Italy there is a higher percentage of elderly people than of young people. Some Italians, however, don’t recognize the importance of immigrants and fear that they could change the present state of things and ‘steal’ job and resources. They consider all immigrants as criminals and dishonest people, while in fact they represent only a minor part of them. These Italians citizens are probably exasperated by the increase of crime and of illegal immigrants.

Veronica

An aspect of culture that I would like to analyze

This week we were asked to think about an aspect of the American and of the Italian culture that we would like to explore further. I think this isn’t an easy task since there are several different topics that I would like to analyze and discuss with my peers: education, health care, food, public holidays. All of them are very interesting and they would be good talking points. Since I have to choose only one of them, I would like to focus on public holidays. I would like to know exactly which are the national holidays during which Americans don’t work and compare them to the Italian holidays. It would be interesting to analyze differences and similarities among the nature and origins of such holidays, what people do during these holidays and the importance they give to them. I think that there are some differences between Italian and American cultures and this final project could be a good way to explore them.

Elections '08

photo by smallcaps

photo by LEOtm

Even this week my post deals with one important current news: the elections in the USA and in Italy. I watched some videos and I read some articles in the websites that I had already visited in the past weeks and found particularly reliable: the online newspapers The New York Times, BBC News and La Repubblica, and the official websites of the candidates of the left wing: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Walter Veltroni.

As far as the Italian situation is concerned, I noticed that in these days both La Repubblica and the official website of the PD dealt with the problem of Southern Italy. In all Veltroni’s public speeches of the last few days in the southern regions of Italy, he repeated that one of the main points of his political program is to solve the major problem of Southern Italy, that is, poverty, the inadequacy of infrastructures and the Mafia. He asserted that if he win, he will purpose a draft bill to the Council of Ministers containing some measures such as: the development of transport (especially the railway); the improvement of the communication network that will allow the use of broadband to the whole Southern Italy; the increase and refinement of educational and professional offerings for young people; incentives and special measures for the development of small enterprises; the fight against the Mafia. According to Veltroni, solving these problems means creating the necessary conditions for the South to develop and contribute to the national growth.
Another article of La Repubblica that caught my attention concerns a study research of the “Osservatorio Universitario Mediamonitor”, which showed a certain trend among Italians voters. The research displays that there is a great number of people that don’t know who they will vote and IF they will vote. A high percentage of Italian voters isn’t interested in politics and doesn’t actively participate to political manifestations. Many voters are confused and don’t feel represented by the candidates; they are disillusioned about the political situation in Italy and don’t trust in a positive change after the elections. The alarming fact is that this percentage is increased compared to the last political elections.

As far as the American elections are concerned, I noticed that news mainly deals with the race between the two Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and concerns several aspects of their campaign. The newspapers agree that this race is becoming more closer and bitter than expected.
The New York Times and the BBC News reported the fact that Clinton acknowledged her mistake when she affirmed that she came under sniper fire on a trip to Bosnia 1996; she attempted to justify herself saying that every human being makes mistakes and apologized for her behaviour. She then tried to change the subject and criticised Obama since in last weeks he didn’t leave his Church and disown his former pastor Rev. J. Wright, after his inflammatory sermon.
The newspapers then focussed on the fact that Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont and other Obama’s supporters suggested Clinton to quit the race, because by continuing her campaign she would help the Republican party. They said that Obama leaded in delegates and total votes and the uphill race between the two candidates would hurt the Democratic party’s chances to win the elections in November. Mrs. Clinton, however, firmly refused to quit the race, unless she loses the race in Pennsylvania on April 22; even Obama supported her choice and declared that she should continue her campaign as long as she is willing or able.
Another matter of discussion is the ‘transparency’ of the candidates. Obama recently released copies of his tax returns covering the last seven years and his aides invited Clinton to do the same before the elections in Pennsylvania. Clinton replied that she would provide as soon as possible. The aides of one candidate constantly tried to disrepute the clearness of the other candidate’s personal finances in order to get votes and public approval.
Another clear signal of fierce competition between the two candidates is how they try to gain public approval. In their official websites, for example, each candidate tries to underline that important public figures support them and their ideas. In Clinton’s website there is a link to a video showing Rep. John Murtha praising her qualities and ideas, while in Obama’s website there is an article dealing with the fact that Bob Casey, Senator of Pennsylvania, endorsed him to be the next president.

Veronica

Comparing the news regarding the elections

photo by Mezzoblue

This week we were asked to analyze three online sources from three different countries for few days and see how the news dealing with the political elections in Italy and in the United States was presented. I chose to read three online newspapers that I considered important and trustworthy: the American New York Times, the British BBC News and the Italian La Repubblica. Perhaps the last one is a bit partial and ‘left oriented’; however, I chose it since I sometimes read it (together with other Italian newspapers) when I surf the Net and because I decided to analyze the news regarding the candidates of the left wing: the American Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the Italian leader of the PD Walter Veltroni.

As far as The New York Times is concerned, I noticed that every day in the home page there was an article with a big attention-getting title dealing with political elections. Other pertinent links were situated at the bottom of the page mainly under the topic ‘Politics’. I read through some articles regarding the two Democratic candidates and I noticed that they were all very long and detailed. There were plenty of quotations from the candidates’ speeches and from other important public figures in America. Throughout each article there were several links to other Web sites or to the personal descriptions of the candidates; other links to correlated articles were also present on the margins of the page. There were always one or two photos of the people who were the subjects of the articles and under each image there was a clear caption. Ot the left side of the page there was also a link that allowed you to join a blog and express your opinion about elections.
Journalists spoke a lot about the political race between the two candidates of the left wing and several specific events or quotations that can affect their public image. An article, for example, dealt with the case of the inflammatory statements of Rev. Wright, who has been the Pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Obama was asked to express his opinion about what Rev. Wright said, since he had been his Pastor; Obama strongly criticized him and clarified that those ideas had nothing in common with his ideals and his campaign. In other articles, Obama was described as a leader that uplift national unity, whose personality is more proper to the office of president. Clinton was described as more competent, but she was criticized because she often questions Obama’s experience and thinks that he can only be a vice president.
In The New York Times it was very difficult to find news dealing with Italian political elections. They weren’t present in the home page or under the section ‘World’. If you typed the name of Italian candidates in the search bar you find few old articles, which dealt with the main political events of the past months; you could find also some short quotations or agency news, but there were no photos.

As far as the BBC News is concerned, I noticed that the US elections news was presented in the front page even if only as a small link under the topic ‘World’, ‘Other Top Stories’ or ‘America’, with no photos to catch the attention. If you clicked on the link, however, there were long and detailed articles, complete with some photos of the candidates and several related links on the right side of the Web page. As The New York Times, the British online newspaper dealt with Obama’s contempt for Rev. Wright remarks; however, the style was different. The BBC News articles were shorter than the American ones and gave a more general overview of the situation in the USA; sometimes they focussed on the racial issue, that is, the percentage of African-American or of ‘white’ that voted Obama and Clinton. I noticed other differences between the American articles and the British ones: the latter always began with a short period in bold that summed up the content of the news and than the articles were subdivided in various parts with different subtitles. As The New York Times, there were many quotations, but they weren’t always followed by comments. For all these reasons, I found the BBC News articles more easy and pleasant to read than those of The New York Times.
As far as the Italian situation is concerned, I noticed that even in the BBC News was difficult to find updated news about this topic. The only difference was that in the few articles that I found in the British newspaper there were some photos of the Italian candidates and some links to the Italian Government Website and to the Italian Parliament Website.

As far as La Repubblica is concerned, I noticed that the topic of the elections in Italy had always a space in the front page. Under the section ‘Politics’ there were a number of links to articles dealing with the political situation ordered from the more recent to the older ones. On both sides of the page there were always other hourly updated links to related articles. If you clicked on the link “Tracce dei Candidati” from the main page, you entered in a Web site entirely dedicated to the elections; here you could find a geographical map of Italy and see when and where the next public speech of the different candidates will take place. For each candidate there was also a short personal description and a list of links of articles dealing with him/her. You could find the list of candidates for the parliament and the Senate from each Region and several graphics, polls, and also a ‘popularity chart’ daily updated.
I read through some articles dealing with Veltroni and I saw that there were always a subtitle that summed the main points of the content and then the text was often subdivided in sections according to the different aspects of the news. Photos were not always present; however, they represented either Veltroni and his main opponent, Berlusconi. A detail caught my attention and made me think that this newspaper is a bit partial: in some articles, on the left side of the page, there was a big blinking image that suggested you to vote the left wing.
Generally speaking, the news dealt with the main problems of the country: the national security, the relationships with other countries, the way our troops in Afghanistan and Lebanon should be employed, the issue of the short-term jobs, the proposal of a minimum salary and of a reduction of taxes.
Unlike The New York Times and the BBC News, in which the news dealing with the Italian political situations were hard to find, in La Repubblica there was link in the front page dealing with the elections in the US. If you clicked on the link you entered a Web page which was entirely dedicated to the American elections. There was a big photo of Obama, perhaps because the political program of the Italian left wing (Veltroni) is similar to that of the Democrat Obama. On the left side there were the photos of the American candidates, their personal description, the good and weak points of their campaign. At the bottom of the page there were also the main themes of the American campaign (health care, abortion, immigration, climatic changes, Iraq, Iran) and you could read what the various candidates think about them. On the left side there were other links that allowed you to deepen your knowledge about the political situation in the US. Some articles dealing with the American elections were present also in the section ‘Esteri’.

Veronica