Universidad De Los Andes Facultad De Humanidades Y

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES Y EDUCACIÓN

ESCUELA DE IDIOMAS MODERNOS

ACQUIRING PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FROM A WORK EXPERIENCE

REINA ELENA ANGULO RONDÓN

MÉRIDA, ENERO 2011

UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES Y EDUCACIÓN

ESCUELA DE IDIOMAS MODERNOS

ADQUIRIENDO ETICA PROFESIONAL DE UNA EXPERIENCIA

LABORAL

Informe final de pasantías presentado por la Br. Reina Elena Angulo Rondón como requisito parcial para optar al título de Licenciada en Idiomas Modernos.

IDENTIFICACION DEL PASANTE Y DE LA ORGANIZACIÓN

Nombre y apellido: Reina Elena Angulo Rondón.

Cédula de identidad: V-17521350

Carrera: Licenciatura en Idiomas Modernos.

Tutor académico: Profesora Brisa Sepúlveda.

Título del informe: ACQUIRING PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FROM A WORK

EXPERIENCE/ ADQUIRIENDO ETICA PROFESIONAL DE UNA

EXPERIENCIA LABORAL

Identificación de la institución sede:

Organismo: Embajada de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela en Trinidad y Tobago. Departamento o unidad: Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperación Andrés Bello “IVCC”. Dirección: 16 Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain, Trinidad y Tobago. Teléfono: (001868)6279821 Fax: 6242508 E-mail:[email protected] Nombre y Apellido del Responsable Institucional: María Eugenia Marcano Casado.

Cargo: Embajadora de la Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela en Trinidad y Tobago.

Duración de las Pasantías: 3 meses.

Fecha de Inicio: 1 de Mayo de 2010.

Fecha de Culminación: 29 de Julio de 2010.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 1

Profile of the Host Institution 3

IVCC Organizational Chart 6

Nature of the Internship 7

Reflection essay 14

Conclusions 21

Recommendations 24

Cultural Essay 25

References 33

Appendices 34

TABLE OF APPENDICES

PAGE

A. Basic Spanish II and Spanish Basic Conversation(Cultural topics)

(Appendix A) 35

B. Gastronomical Journey # 1 Norteastern region and Guayana region

(Appendix B) 36

C. Gastronomical Journey # 2 Capital region and los Llanos región

(Appendix C) 37

D. Merida Preciosa(Appendix D) 38

E. Cineforum: Tocar y Luchar (Appendix E) 39

F. Know Venezuela… dancing (Appendix F) 40

G. Cineforum: Miranda regresa ( Appendix G) 41

H. Spanish Assistant at the Summer Camp BLT (Appendix H) 42

I. Celebration of the May Cross (Appendix I) 44

J. Sixth International Congress of Literature at the University of the West

Indies(UWI) (Appendix J) 45

INTRODUCTION

When I decided where to carry out my internship, I had several options.

Once I reviewed all of them, I decided to go to a place where I could connect with people from different cultures and where I could develop my communicative skills through them. So, after much deliberation, I chose to do my internship at the

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago.

I had the opportunity to do my internship at this Embassy which works together with the Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperación “Andrés

Bello” (IVCC by its Spanish acronym), which is a non-profit institution whose main objectives are to promote the necessary tools to enter the labor market and promote local integration. The IVCC’s staff comprises a Coordinator; an education professor who specializes in Spanish language, teachers and administrative staff.

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and

Tobago has an agreement with the University of Los Andes and the Modern

Languages School, facilitating student internships and recruiting a Spanish assistant every semester to help Trinidadian students to develop an easy approach to the language learning process. Besides, the IVCC looks for interns who can facilitate other types of tasks, for example: Venezuelan cultural projects, translations, logistics Assistant, protocol events, basic administrative tasks and also to teach Spanish. In my opinion, the internship experience was dynamic and I

was fortunate to receive the opportunity to learn professionally and personally outside Venezuela.

In this report, you will find a description of my personal and professional experiences for the time I worked at the embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago. The report is divided into six parts. In the first one, I will give a description about the place where I worked, its short history and how it is organized. Secondly, I will describe the main tasks and responsibilities that I fulfilled at the Embassy during my internship. After this, I will reflect upon my experiences in that institute, by explaining some anecdotes that had a positive impact in my life.

Also, I will provide some information about what I learned as a professional during that time, all the values and the skills. Later on, I will make some recommendations to the Host Institution, “Instituto Venezolano para la

Cultura y Cooperacion ”Andres Bello” (IVCC)” and the School of Modern

Languages of the University of Los Andes, with the aim of helping other students in their future experiences during internships as Modern Languages students.

Finally, I will present the topic I chose for my cultural essay: “Three predominant and contrasting musical genres in Trinidad and Tobago”. Here I will present an analysis related to these islands and their mixture in music in addition to presenting a brief description on steelpan, soca and calypso rhythms, chutney music and parang.

PROFILE OF THE HOST INSTITUTION

“The Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperacion Andres Bello”

(IVCC, by its Spanish acronym) was founded on April 19th, 1963 under the name of Instituto Cultural Andres Bello. It emerged as an initiative of the Minister of

Education, Siso Martinez and the Venezuelan General Consul in Port of Spain,

Humberto Egui Luna under the supervision of the Ministry of Education three months after the independence of Trinidad and Tobago on August 31st, 1962. Its purpose was to reinforce the linguistic and cultural links between both countries.

Nowadays, the “Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperación

Andres Bello"(IVCC) has a particular mission, to offer Spanish courses to the local community, achieving a permanent communication of the culture of both countries, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. The IVCC is a nonprofit institution whose main objectives are to promote the necessary tools to enter the labor market and promote local integration. IVCC has a staff comprising a coordinator; an education professor specialized in Spanish language, teachers and administrative staff.

This Institute offers classes of Spanish as a second language with different levels from basic I to Advance Level and Conversation. The approach used by the

IVCC for their language courses is for each level to develop the four basic communication skills (oral and written comprehension and expression) with the help of different contexts and communicative tools.

In addition, there is a Bilingual Conversation Club that includes

Venezuelan and Trinidadians students in order to practice both languages and share different conversation topics. There are also other activities that involve dancing groups from both countries and art academies. The exchange is possible thanks to the support of the Venezuelan embassy and the coordination of the

IVCC. All these people have the opportunity to acquire experience and share their culture at the same time to cover the cooperation aspect of the institute to improve relations between these two countries.

Since its establishment, the “Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y

Cooperación Andrés Bello” has been located in different places in the city of Port of Spain due to the high demand that all courses have had, and after that an IVCC was opened in another region called San Fernando.

In January 1985, the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs took the responsibility for the fourteen (14) institutes in the Caribbean and it extended its field of operation to include programs of cooperation and help in many different areas. In March 2002, the Conversation Club began which has been developing topics related to the Venezuelan historical and cultural background.

Objectives

a. To act as an expanding centre for cultural programs and cooperation.

b. To support culture and cooperation activities carried out by embassies and

consulates in Venezuela.

c. To give Spanish classes to facilitate communication among people. 9

d. To serve as exhibition training and promotion centers, of the Venezuelan

culture.

e. To carry out any other activity determined by the Ministry of Foreign

Affairs.

After this description of the place where I worked, its short history and how it is organized, I will present a brief description of the activities and responsibilities that I fulfilled at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago during my internship.

IVCC ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

NATURE OF THE INTERNSHIP

During my internship at The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago, I had the opportunity to collaborate with workers and participate in cultural and educational activities. My institutional supervisor in Trinidad was the Ambassador Maria Eugenia Marcano Casado, but my immediate superior was Ellisha George who is the Coordinator of the

“Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperación Andres Bello” (IVCC). I worked for three months (from 4th May, 2010 until 29th July, 2010) from ten o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock in the evening with a recess of one hour.

My specific activities are going to be described in the following paragraphs.

1. - Spanish Teacher: It was the first activity that my supervisor Ellisha

George assigned me in the internship. During the first day at the embassy, she showed me the different Embassy departments specifically The IVCC, which was the place where I had to carry out my job. Here my supervisor gave me two different books where there were activities and exercises to prepare my Spanish lessons.

Besides, I organized the Spanish lessons and I adapted them to the needs of Trinidadian students. In this way they could discover a foreign language and begin to understand vocabulary and oral pronunciation. Also, I planned cultural sessions to show them the Venezuelan culture with the purpose of learning about other traditions, gastronomy, arts, etc.

I had two student groups; the first was formed by Basic Spanish II and the second one was formed by Spanish Basic Conversation, each group had 20 students and the classes were about three months long. (See Appendix A)

2. - Cultural Projects: In this assignment the other interns and I organized various activities every Friday, in order to show many aspects of our great Venezuelan culture. These different aspects were: Cineforum, Gastronomy and Venezuelan traditions (music and dance).

In my case, I did this project together with a partner and we worked with the Venezuelan Gastronomy. The title of our project was “Venezuela, Our

Culinary Identity”. We had two presentations, the first Friday, we presented

Gastronomical Journey #1 “Northeastern Coast Region and Guayana Region”

(See Appendix B). The second Friday, it was about Gastronomical Journey #2

“Capital region and Los llanos region” (See Appendix C).

We showed Trinidadians and Tobagonians (Trinbagonians) the main products to prepare our typical food, as vegetables, fruits, and also the cooking process. Also, we made a presentation to show step by step the preparation of some dishes and some videos about our cultural gastronomy. In addition, we organized some food tasting sessions during each presentation, so that

Trinbagonians could enjoy Venezuelan food.

3. - Translating letters and communications: In this task, I had to translate different kinds of documents. First of all, I had to read some Trinidadian newspapers to know about the news in this country and about Trinidad and 13

Tobago Prime Minister engagement book. The translations were from English to

Spanish. I read it several times and I tried to interpret the context with the intention of writing the main purpose of these articles and to send them to the

Embassy in Caracas, specifically to the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Secondly, I received different letters sent by the Assistant Trade Officer, Eleonora

Guevara. In this activity I had to do translations from Spanish to English. They were sent by email to her and she needed help in translations area.

Furthermore, the Interinstitutional Affairs Department sent me a document about Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Affairs between the Bolivarian

Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. I translated this document using the dictionary to understand some meanings that I had never seen before.

4. - Assisting in the coordination of the IVCC: I had to create a data base for Trinidadian students of the “Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y

Cooperación Andres Bello” to the next semester which lasted about three months since September until December.

I made a list specifying the information of all students with their respective professions and workplaces. My supervisor gave me this information everyday to add it into the data base and I could carry out the control related to how many students will go on to study the following semester.

5. - Logistics Assistant: It was a constant activity during my internship because every Friday I had to organize cultural events related to my gastronomic project and the other interns projects too. I had to send virtual invitations (by e- 14

mail), and communicate with all my students of the IVCC about the upcoming events at the Auditorium “Simon Bolivar”. These events need a high sense of responsibility, because besides the IVCC students, important people attend it. For example: ambassadors, consuls, chefs, artists, and the staff of the Venezuelan

Embassy.

I also had to make a list of different snacks and sometimes I went to the supermarket to buy them, and to have everything organized for Friday's event. On

Friday, I was to receive the guests, be aware of the bar for snacks and serve guests. Here there is a short list about some of the events that I had to organize:

Gastronomical Journey #1 “Northeastern region and Guayana

Region” (21/05/2010)

Mérida Preciosa (04/06/2010) (See Appendix D )

Cineforum: “Tocar y Luchar” (11/06/2010) (See Appendix E )

Gastronomical Journey #2 “The Capital region and Los llanos

region” (18/06/2010)

“Know Venezuela…dancing” (25/06/2010) (See Appendix F )

Cineforum: “Miranda Regresa” (02/07/2010) (See Appendix G)

Visit of Venezuelan Tourism Minister Mr. Alejandro Fleming

(25/05/2010)

Art Expressions – Arima’s Artists (16/07/2010)

6.- Spanish Assistant at the Summer Camp “Building Leaders of

Tomorrow” (BLT) in Tobago: The project developed by the organization,

“Building Leaders of Tomorrow” aims to provide Tobagonian children aged 6 to 13, the opportunity to know and study the Spanish language, through the interaction with the culture of Spanish-speaking countries, in this case Venezuela.

The input provided during Venezuelan cultural week is part of the cooperation project undertaken by the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in

Trinidad and Tobago. This Embassy works with IVCC to teach Spanish as a foreign language and supporting the current government efforts to implement

Spanish as a second language.

I had the opportunity to teach Spanish in this camp for a week, with a group of children aged between 11 and 13. Every day we had a program to cover all basic aspects of the Spanish language, for example introductions and greetings

(ice breakers) with the intention of instilling confidence in the group. We also taught numbers, colors, family, fruits and conducted cultural activities prepared by the Venezuelan Embassy supported by videos, puppet shows, stories and poems, dance, music, games, presentations and how to make kites. (See

Appendix H).

7. - Representation of the embassy: These were different activities we were invited to as representatives of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela:

7.1- Angostura's House Charity Event: It was a representation of

typical Venezuelan food in order to show our different kinds of arepas.

There was food from all over the world in the same event to share different

cultures.

7.2- Celebration of the May Cross: It is a Holiday in Lopinot region in Trinidad and Tobago. We went with all Embassy members from

12 at noon to 9 at night to celebrate Corpus Christi “The body of Christ”.

May Cross is a religious celebration and we attended it with the intention to show support of cultural events and especially those which are shared by both nations. It was an opportunity for the IVCC students to be in direct contact with the Venezuelan community interacting with Spanish speaking people. (See Appendix I)

7.3- Closing Ceremony of the Spanish Presidency of the

European Union: Besides the activities mentioned before, I went to the

Closing Ceremony of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union invited by the Embassy of Spain. The Ambassador of the Bolivarian

Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago Maria Eugenia Marcano

Casado invited all the interns to go there as Venezuelan representatives to maintain friendship between these countries and to support cultural activities.

7.4- San Fernando Latin Party: I was in other events in San

Fernando Region celebrating The Commemoration of the 199 th

Anniversary of the Independence Day of The Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela (July 5 th, 2010).

7.5- Finally, I attended to the closing ceremony of the Sixth

International Congress of Literature at the University of the West

Indies (UWI). (See Appendix J)

8. – Organizing the file of Venezuelan citizens in Trinidad and

Tobago: At the Venezuelan consulate in Trinidad and Tobago, one of the main activities is to organize birth certificates and to renew them. Consequently, updates are made every day. In this activity, I organized the cards manually in alphabetical order registering Venezuelan people at the Venezuelan consulate. I was in this place just one week organizing file “B” of Venezuelans, because the other interns worked on the rest of files. (See Appendix K)

9. - Data base of the Venezuelan community in Trinidad and Tobago:

After the other interns have finished filing all the information at the consulate, I had to introduce the information about Venezuelans in a data base in order to register them. After register this on the computer, workers could have a better and easy system at this place. I said better and easy because workers at the consulate currently can introduce Venezuelans ID Numbers in the Computer and look for the information they need without spend time working manually in the cards.

As we have seen, I carried out a lot of activities when I worked at the

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago. It was a great experience and, in every task I had the opportunity to learn and improve my knowledge. I could reflect about each experience as it will be discussed in the next section.

REFLECTION ESSAY

Before I began writing these reflections I did not have any idea about which of my experiences I could choose to reflect. During the long process of choosing the place for my internship and applying for it, too many challenges appeared on the way, but in spite of that, finally everything turned easy to reach.

I recalled times at University when I went to the Modern Languages

School to look for a workplace for my internship, and I asked the Coordinator about the different options I could apply for. After some difficulties to find a place for my internship, she gave me the opportunity to go to the Embassy of the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago.

It was good news for me; I was excited and anxious to know all the details about the place and the work. Once all the interns were accepted by the institution, we had a meeting with the coordinator to talk about different activities that we had to carry out. Particularly, I had to work with Venezuelan cultural aspects especially with gastronomy. Additionally, I would teach Spanish, make translations, and some additional tasks related with the proper activities of an embassy.

Once I decided to accomplish my internship at the Embassy of the

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago, I began to think that I would have a really good time there. I remembered one part of the Bible, Hebrew

13:5 where God said “I will never leave you or forsake you”, and I began to

believe that it was my destiny to complete my internship in Trinidad and Tobago because at the beginning it was really difficult to find a place.

Thinking about my professional option (International Organizations) and linking it with my main role in this internship (Spanish teacher) I thought I could take advantage of this experience. I was completely sure that I would not only learn about teaching but also about the common activities of a diplomatic mission, a topic related to my professional option.

During my internship period, I worked for three months from ten o’clock in the morning to seven o’clock in the evening, with a recess of one hour. Even though I performed many activities and tasks, now I want to reflect on two of them that made me feel a little confused about having chosen the International

Organizations professional option in my major.

For that reason, I will start with the activity that was constant during my three month internship which was teaching Spanish. Besides it, I would like to reflect upon a particular anecdote that made me realize how important is ethics and professionalism while being a teacher. Further on, I will focus on another activity that was doing translations from English to Spanish and vice versa.

Firstly, I have to say that I was out of place, because it was the first time I was in direct contact with English speaking people, and also the first time I was preparing Spanish classes. I must say I only took a Spanish Assistant Course for

40 hours, which helped me a lot but not enough to address my classes. However,

Ellisha was always aware of my classes and helped me with the dynamics so that 20

they were not boring to my students. She always contributed with different ideas and gave me some advice to continue with my classes. At this time I thought what was I teaching Spanish classes if I never had subjects in my career related to planning grammatical information or activities as is the case of Education students

(those who follow specialization in education, as teachers) who had techniques to make programs and evaluation methodologies. They would be better prepared, than a student who has taken Modern Languages International Organizations as was my case. Although the program was designed, I had to prepare the lessons and the evaluation which was not an easy task.

Even though at the beginning, of my internship it was really difficult, as time went by, my work as a teacher was becoming easier. Every day I felt more confident with my students and I was not afraid to be standing up in front of 15 or

20 people teaching them what I know.

At the middle of the semester at the IVCC, Ellisha told me I should give her a list of students who would approve the Spanish level and those who would fail. This methodology seemed cruel, because I had to call each student to tell them how they were doing in the course and if they would pass or not. I found it difficult to say "Look you can not continue," though they could attend classes but could not provide assessments. I felt deeply that they did not spend much time to study Spanish. I believed they looked tired and did not take advantage of the classes because they did not practice Spanish. After doing my work and advising some of my students about their situation at class one of them did not accept my advice. 21

This student was a lady; she attended all my classes and also asked me her doubts. She arrived an hour before I started the class, she wrote me e-mails every single day, and I sent her online exercises, but she always had bad grades in evaluations. I think it is because she is an old woman, and it is difficult to memorize Spanish grammar structure. Also, she had a lot of spelling mistakes that she carried from her previous class: Basic I Spanish. For that reason she was not able to get good grades.

However, halfway through the course, I had to tell her, she could not continue because the grades would not let her pass to the next level. I felt bad because I knew she wanted to learn but I thought her basic Spanish level did not help her much. She refused to stop coming to classes, and she told me she did not care that she submitted all evaluations and asked me if she could continue. I felt frustrated and I had to talk to my supervisor, and tell her what happened because I had to follow the rules of the Institute. Ellisha told me to let her continue until the end but she knew it was wrong and against the rules of the IVCC.

I would have liked to help my student much more but it was too late, and in my personal opinion, she should not have advanced from Basic I. At this time, I thought about the ability and capacity a Spanish teacher should have to assume the responsibility of students continuing with the course or not. I could have passed her to the other level, and although I was not a Spanish teacher and I did not have knowledge of the different evaluation systems, my decision was not to pass this student. She gave me gifts, she wrote me all the time, and I asked myself

if she had done the same things with her first teacher, so for pity or sympathy the student passed that level. However, she was severely affected in the long run.

This anecdote filled me with questions; I thought about the strength and professional ethics that teachers must learn from their years of study and practice.

So, I wondered why International Organization students had to teach Spanish.

Perhaps these students should be prepared to cover any activity or task at workplace. I did my best to be a good teacher and this experience made me feel that I overcame most of the challenges that I faced, because it was the first time I taught Spanish. With this experience I could learnt that it is important that teachers know all the requirements that students must have to continue in the course and go to the next level. Even though my professional option was not a

Spanish teacher I felt I could accomplish this task.

On the upside, in my free time I would carry out with extra activities inside the embassy, and one of them was the assignment of translations from different departments sent by Trade Office and Interinstitutional Affairs. Also, I had to do translations in some cases related with the political agenda of the Prime

Minister in Trinidad and Tobago to send this information to Caracas.

Whenever, someone brought me translations, I felt impotent; I just wanted to run away, because it did not have anything to do with my professional option. I did all the translations they assigned me, with a lot of effort. But also, while translating, I wondered why in the pensum of my major, no matter which option a subject of basic techniques in translation it is not included. The techniques that I

could apply were from the reading and writing course I studied. I could say that I had to create a personal method to do translations. I read the text one and again, I looked for the main and secondary idea and after that, I wrote with my own words trying to interpret all the text and analyzing the content of it. In other cases, I had to do translations phrase by phrase because sometimes I received legal documents and I could not interpret that kind of translations.

However, with each translation, I felt that my ideas flowed quickly and I tried to interpret the context, but often I had to ask my students for technical phrases because it was difficult to understand some words, idiomatic expressions and other literal meanings .In my opinion it was another activity that was not easy.

I thought translating had its techniques. I would have loved to have done a simple basic course, or a semester to understand how to organize ideas, and also how to pass the information to another language giving it the same sense.

I learned a lot from these two experiences, teaching Spanish and doing translations. Although they were not directly related or focused on my professional option, I learned about how to carry out an activity imposed by your boss, to work together as a big team and under pressure, to solve quickly everyday difficult situations, and to understand the English language from being in direct contact with my students. I felt really happy with all these learning experiences because in different situations I tried to look for the easy way to solve all problems. I made my best effort to fulfil my activities and to feel I was able to carry out every job in every area.

Besides, I learned English as my second language in a different environment, such as going to the bank, to the supermarkets, shops, etc. I began to get more fluent, and I lost the fear to speak in places where there were many people, which was something that makes me felt proud of myself. Furthermore, I acquired a lot of knowledge during the learning process, because I improved and enrich my vocabulary making translations of some words and phrases that I did not know. I put my organizational skills in practice and I also learned how comprehension, communication and patience were vital values to succeed in the working environment.

CONCLUSION

After my three-month internship period at the Embassy of the Bolivarian

Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago, I could remember the entire transformation process that began with a person having no previous work experience to a person with knowledge about the work area. In fact, I emphatically believe that I have grown personally and professionally.

It was one of the most relevant learning experiences of my life because the knowledge acquired as a Modern Language student at the University of Los

Andes, personally and professionally, were something that made me think of the importance they represent to achieve new goals in your life. As a University student, I can say that it is important to know what you want to do upon graduation. It depends on your professional options because most students just want to finish their degree. They never think about the consequences of choosing one professional option or the other, which may bring a bigger opportunity when you look at all the various potential work fields and strategise on how your professional life should be.

As a person, I realised that my own strengths lie in direct contact with people. I was able to use the knowledge acquired at University to ask directions, to go to the supermarket, banks, etc. The responsibility of living alone in another country without the support of your family means that you must be able to make decisions and to quickly solve difficult situations that may arise daily. Moreover, I learnt to respect and to appreciate the Trinidadian mixed culture, the history and

lifestyle of both islands together as a nation and the great diversity with regards to music, religion, ethnic groups, not to mention the kindness of Trinidadian people.

Contact with persons in Trinidad and Tobago has considerably improved my communication skills and my confidence.

On another note, working at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of

Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago showed a similar pattern of what real responsibility will be like in my future workplaces, including how I will carry out the tasks and situations required by other employers. Nevertheless, the most important aspect was being part of a team and learning how to work with colleagues. I felt the knowledge gained about values, confidence, and behaviours or attitudes and their practice were the main accomplishments in this particular work experience. I put all my knowledge in practice to achieve the best final result in each task. In spite of some work experiences which were not directly focused on my professional option, I learned how to carry out an activity directed by my employer, to work under pressure and as part of a team in order to solve any difficult situation on the job.

Finally, in my view, I benefitted both in a personal and professional capacity, as a Modern Language student at University of Los Andes. Each one of the steps in these personal experiences taught me that I have the ability and capability to overcome challenges and achieve my dreams.

For that reason, this opportunity to accomplish or fulfil my internship at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Trinidad and Tobago

helped me to understand how I have to face a real job, a real internship and real team work.

It was not what I expected before the experience, but having had this work experience, I now feel that I can start to think and prove to myself and that I am capable of performing better when I put everything I have learnt into practice.

Nowadays, I could say that I have become more self confident at work. I have improved my knowledge, appreciated my culture even more. Although, it is necessary to emphasize that this internship experience could have been better, if there was not excellent communication and cooperation between the host institution and Modern Language School. That is why, it is important to continue positively contributing to both of them, to provide students with the necessary tools for academic advancement, in the next section with recommendations.

RECOMENDATIONS

In this part of the report I will present some recommendations to the host institution “Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y Cooperacion Andrés Bello

“IVCC” and to the School of Modern Languages at the University of Los Andes.

To the Host Institution “Instituto Venezolano para la Cultura y

Cooperación Andrés Bello “IVCC”

Z To inform the interns about all the important details related to work

conditions (place, schedule and work) in order to let interns be

better prepared when they start the internship.

Z To improve the evaluation systems to the Trinidadian students in

order to achieve them the adequate proficiency level.

Z To update the grammatical material used by students in each

course to improve their Spanish language.

To the School of Modern Languages at the University of Los Andes

Z To consider reviewing the pensum to International Organizations

option in order to implement a Translation Basic Course and let

students be better prepared when working.

Z To offer other Spanish Basic courses to implement the best

methodology in each Spanish lesson.

CULTURAL ESSAY

THREE PREDOMINANT AND CONTRASTING MUSICAL GENRES IN

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Trinidad and Tobago comprises diverse cultural histories that co-exist in this country. Although it consists of two different islands that form one Republic, as a Caribbean country it is exposed to many people from different parts of the world and for that reason, over time, foreigners settled in these islands contributed to form its current cultural identity. Immigrants from many countries (Spain,

France, Scotland, Ireland, Africa among others) and different ethnic groups introduced several aspects of their culture, customs and beliefs that are commonly seen in the mixtures of food, music and religions.

It is important to mention that these two Caribbean islands have their individual characters, undiluted by large-scale tourism. In both Trinidad and

Tobago, distinct as they are, you will find a spectacular natural environment and creative people with humor and candour. Tobago is perfect for an idyllic beach getaway, an escape into nature, eco adventures on land or at sea. Trinidad, meanwhile, is the economic powerhouse (based on oil and gas) with a unique culture that spawns dynamic, creative industries and world-renowned festivals like Carnival as William (1964) has argued. There is much to discover in these two islands, but in my view, the musical aspects in Trinidad were the best aspects that impress me. In spite of the many mixed cultures, my focus on this descriptive essay therefore will be on the mixed music.

My first impression of “Trini” music was confusing since, the rhythm and melody were different to anything I had ever heard but I saw how people danced and enjoyed this genre of music. This variety exists because the traditional

Trinidadian music is comprised of Spanish, Scottish, Irish, African and Indian music, among others. The way in which styles and folk have been distributed in all regions was something that caught my attention. I think it is necessary to share a brief history of how “Trini” music has resulted from different styles adopted by other cultures.

Before I start to explain the different musical genres in Trinidad and

Tobago I would like to outline the evolution of music in Trinidad, since the first instruments used by the first inhabitants during the Neolithic period dated back

2,000 years. There is a lot of information about the aboriginal population of

Trinidad which comes from chronicles of early Spanish settlers. Arawaks and

Caribs apparently engaged in agriculture, ceramics, and weaving, but no musical instruments have been unearthed, possibly indicating that their music was primarily vocal.

Following that, in nineteenth century sources from Trinidad mention an

Arawak dance accompanied by drums and sea conch shells, where choral groups sang tropical humorous songs also attributed to themselves. It was a kind of genre supported by some authorities named “calypso”, surviving after the influence of

Europeans, Africans and East Indians throughout the nineteenth century.

After time, music suffered different kinds of changes due the quickened pace of urban life, the impact of technology, the introduction of mass media and the development of global communications. However, Trinidadian people preserve their own roots with reference to genre and melody in music.

The most widespread music of the Caribbean islands is of African origin, derived from black and Creole populations. But, a distinctive musical culture in the Caribbean is preserved by the Hindu population of Trinidad and Tobago.

Apart from the evolution of musical history, I could mention the

Trinidadian government responded by welcoming white and non-slave African

Roman Catholic settlers. French Creoles also came in large numbers, from Saint

Vincent, Dominica and most significantly Martinique and established a local community before Trinidad and Tobago was taken from Spain by the British.

Furthermore, Carnival had arrived with the French, and the slaves, and there was a mass migration of East Indians beginning in 1845, as has been pointed out by

Williams (1964).

Based on the above, I realize that Trinidad and Tobago has been influenced by the arrival of many cultural groups throughout history. It has generated a fusion which is the true Trinidadian identity with regard to the music.

I observed how music is used to refer to a person’s background, depending on the country where he or she comes from.

Every day there are celebrations and festivals in Trinidad and Tobago and people share their traditions with the rest of the community without taking their 32

descendency into account. It is very common to see a person of East Indian descent dancing soca music which in most cases, is of African descent. Music is freely exchanged regardless of its origin.

With this example of the exchange of music, I would like to make an emphasis related to Trinidad and Tobago which has a population of 1.3 million:

40% of Indian descent, 37.5% African, 21.7% mixed, according to Dowrich-

Phillips (2010). I would like to say there are people from several parts of the world. They share different cultures and for that reason each group has different musical rhythms, melodies and styles; however they continue preserving what they brought to the islands and start sharing their musical roots.

In the Trinidad and Tobago’s environment there are combinations of instruments from different countries. It has resulted in new melodies, new sounds and musical groups. Different rhythms surprised me such as the steelpan, calypso and soca rhythms, chutney music and the traditional parang. Each one of them has a different rhythm and their origins are uncertain. These rhythms have adopted different instruments of different countries, and it is sometimes difficult to determine their real origin. Nevertheless, they are influenced by sounds from the

East Indian, African and mixed population in Trinidad, and of course there is music for each one of those people.

The common rhythm that is famous and very popular in Trinidad and

Tobago is the steelpan music, which is an instrument made from steel oil drum

instruments. “This musical instrument is indigenous to the country and is, a concave oil drum produced varying tones and notes” as Mendes (2003) affirms.

As Trinidad and Tobago progressed toward independence from Britain during the late 1940s and 1950s, the steelpan movement was gradually integrated into the formal institutional structure of society. Middle class Trinidadiands affirmed the steelpan as a local art and potential symbol of national identity, according to Stuempfle (1995).

This instrument is in every corner of downtown Port of Spain where some persons are playing the instrument. The first time I saw it I thought if it was trini music and I wonder how these concaves drum produce many sounds, those persons played Hispanic songs and it was something that impacted me because they had good rhythm.

We also find “Calypso rhythms can be traced back to the arrival of the first

African slaves brought to work in the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, and robbed of all links to family and home, the African slaves began to sing songs with drums and shells. This is a rhythm that people enjoy in

Venezuela too during carnival time, specifically in “El Callao”, Bolivar States. In this sense, I would like to say that the closeness that Venezuela has respect to

Trinidad and Tobago reflect a kind of connection between these countries to share their cultures, such as music for instance calypso, food and religion.

Another popular style is soca music. It is an Afro-Caribbean style that people enjoy a lot and it is the music played during the carnival season. It also has 34

influences from other nearby islands like Barbados and Jamaica. The rhythm is one of the most energetic, cheerful and contagious coming out of the Caribbean, and it is obtained directly from Calypso music. Here we begin to see the evolution of music again because soca derives from calypso.

We can also see how the steelpan, calypso and soca have originated from the African descendants. They are the favorite rhythms that people enjoy during carnival time. Nevertheless there is also a reflection of India in chutney music.

This appears to be a mixture of soca (African) and traditional Indian music.

Chutney music is indigenous to the southern Caribbean, originating in Trinidad &

Tobago. Its elements come from traditional soca songs and Indian film songs. The music was created by Indo-Caribbean people with roots in the Republic of India.

As stated previously, the population of Trinidad and Tobago comprises

40% East Indian descendants, 37% African and 21.7% mixed, but I observed a greater number of persons of African than East Indian descent. Nevertheless, in my point of view, the fact that after the recent national elections that resulted in the election of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the country’s first East

Indian female elected to office, this has increased the confidence of people of East

Indian descent to showcase their culture, especially chutney music.

During my last weeks on the island, I saw a real change in this community,

I started to see more persons of East Indian descent on the streets, more Indian clothes in stores, and, fortunately, I had the opportunity to hear chutney music and to feel this different sound. Apart from these mixtures between the African

and Indian, Trinidad and Tobago is best recognized as the land of Calypso and

Steelpan.

Nevertheless, when Christmas season arrive, the popular music is parang which has a controversial origin. One theory is that parang music originated when

Christianity was introduced to Amerindians by French Clergy Indians in (Spanish)

Missions. This theory however does not explain the frequent references to

Venezuela. The second theory is that parang music was introduced by

Venezuelans imported to work in the cocoa estates and this appears to have some merit, as Allard (2004) affirms.

We could see that this interaction exists with Venezuelan people because parang not only has been a popular kind of music in Trinidad and Tobago, but also throughout the Caribbean. This demonstrates the closeness that exists between these different countries. This parang is very popular at Christmas and the musicians play instruments like the cuatro, mandolin, violin, Bandol, bass, tambourine, and chac-chac or shak-shak “(Maracas), a key player in "Parang, as

Mendes (2003) has argued. Also, parang has taken to other music styles, and I can affirm that, because I saw Soca Music fusing with Parang creating Soca-Parang with lyrics in English and in Spanish. Although singers did not know how to speak Spanish, they sang Spanish songs such as Rio Manzanares, Viva Venezuela and others.

There is a mix of musical styles in Trinidad and people who immigrate accept the different music genres. They are open minded and are able to live and enjoy each rhythm of music, without problems. It is a homogeneous nation in 36

spite of the cultural and musical differences. It is a wealth of music created by the mixing of wonderful cultures- African, Indian, European; all great melting pots that create these styles. There are nearly infinite styles and names, but they make us move our feet. Trinidadian music is sexy, fast and above all, enjoyable. Bands in Trinidad and Tobago, from my point of view, co-exist and influence each other, because they take parts of other musical styles to form a new one. It's like letting their true musical roots to mix with others and influence without losing their music. Besides, they share all of their own culture with others and without caring about their origin and enjoying each festival and celebration as part of their lives.

REFERENCES

1. Williams, Eric (1964). History of the People of Trinidad and Tobago.

Published in the United States of America by Frederick A. Praeger, Inc.,

Publisher 64 University Place, New York 3, N.Y.

2. Stuempfle, Stephen(1995). The Steelban Movement/the forging of a

National Art in Trinidad and Tobago. Printed in The United States of

America. Library of Congress Cataloging - in - Publication Data.

3. Mendes, John(2003). Cote ci cote la. Trinidad & Tobago dictionary. New

millennium 1st ed.

4. Allard, Francisca (2004). Feature Article. Soca Parang/Parang Soca. The

Oral and Pictoral Records Programs/ The University of the West Indies,

ST Augustine.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: Basic Spanish II and Spanish Basic Conversation

Cultural Topics

APPENDIX B: Gastronomical Journey # 1 Norteastern region and Guayana region

APPENDIX C: Gastronomical Journey # 2 Capital region and los Llanos regió

APPENDIX D: Merida Preciosa

APPENDIX E: Cineforum: Tocar y Luchar

APPENDIX F: Know Venezuela… dancing

APPENDIX G: Cineforum: Miranda regresa

APPENDIX H: Spanish Assistant at the Summer Camp BLT in Tobago

APPENDIX I: Celebration of the May Cross

APPENDIX J: Sixth International Congress of Literature at the University of the West Indies(UWI)