Política y Gobierno de Costa Rica (Cuarto Objetivo)

Conversation Question: What is the politics and government structure of Costa Rica like?


Pre-Conversation:

•  What will be your topic of conversation be?

I will investigate about the politics and government of and the role it plays in people's lives.

•  What are 5 questions related to your conversation goal that you can think of ahead of time to ask your partner?

1. How many states/provinces are in Costa Rica?

2. What are the different political parties in your country?

3. How are the people represented?

4. How often are elections held?

5. How does the government help improve the lives of people?

•  What are you looking forward to about this conversation?

I am looking forward to learning about the role that the government plays in the lives of the people. This include how the government helps the poor and even student who want to go to university.

•  What are you nervous about?

I am not nervous about anything since this is my fourth blog post and I have had a lot of time to practice and improve my skills. I am prepared with all of my questions, so there is nothing to be nervous about.

Post-Conversation:

Reflection:

• Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

I spoke with Carlos Huertas and I chose him because he lives in Costa Rica. I also choose him because of his age. Carlos is 38 years old and this means that he might know more about the government and its polices that a younger person.

• What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

I learned that there are 7 provinces in Costa Rica and Carlos lives in San José, which is the name of the province and the capital city. The name of the other provinces are Alajuela, Heredia, Cartago, Guanacaste, Puntarenass and Limon. San José is located in the center of the country. There are many different political parties in Costa Rica. The main ones are the Liberacion Nacional, Partido Accion Ciudadana, Movimimento Libertario, PUS and the PASE. The political system is largely bipartisan and Congress is made up of multiple parties. Carlos also told me that election are help every 4 years in Costa Rica. The government has many programs to help its citizens like such as student loans to student so they can go to university and housing programs. There are also food stamps and employment programs run by the government. 

• How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

I was able to learn about a topic hat I was interested in while at the same time sharing information about the government of the United States. Carlos was also very enthusiastic about the conversation and this helped to drive the conversation even more. I learned a lot of new vocabulary and I got to use vocabulary that I never even knew I had. I also had to substitute words that I wanted to say with words that I actually knew how to say in spanish.

• What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

I did not use a translator during the conversation. I used my 5 questions that I had prepared before hand and these questions helped to drive the conversation. I was also able to sustain the conversation for well over 5 minutes and ended up talking to Carlos for over 15 minutes. This was not something that I could have done before so I was very proud of this achievement. 

• What specifically do you need to improve on?

I think that I need to respond more quickly during the conversation. This conversation was hard because I had to think hard about what I wanted to say and the vocabulary that I had to use. I also had to think of words that I could use as a substitution for words that I did not know.



List of Costa Rican Political Parties: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Costa_Rica

Travel Guide to Costa Rica: http://costa-rica-guide.com/