Diego introduces himself and provides background on his education experience. He shares that he struggled in school, especially with English, mathematics, and history. However, he found a passion for English language in high school thanks to an inspiring teacher. Diego notes that university level courses have been challenging and he has failed some classes but passed them on subsequent attempts. He hopes to understand the professor's teaching methodology clearly and pass this course without many complications, while requesting flexibility to attend class half time on Fridays due to a new part-time job.

1. Dear professor:<br />I know you do not know me yet, but this letter will talk briefly to you for me.<br />I am Edison Diego Ulloa Iglesias; however, everybody calls me simply Diego because I detest my first name. I have lived 22 years –almost 23, and I’ve always lived here in Concepcion.<br />When I was a 6 year-old boy, I studied in a state school named “Marina de Chile” (from Kindergarten to 2ndgrade elementary school) and then I moved on to “Prieto Cruz” –now called “Santa Luisa” where I studied from 3rd grade to the 8th.<br />I took my first official English class in the 4th grade elementary school, but a teacher of mine from my first school taught me some basic things such as numbers, colours, and fruit; nevertheless, English subject was one of my worse wars in school, others were Mathematics and History. Honestly, I was not good at any subject because I actually did not like studying, but everything got better when I was in high school; from that moment on I have loved English Language.<br />I had a great teacher in 2nd grade of high school, who was kind, humble, lovely and honest; moreover, she used to say that she trusted me that I would never be a simple teacher but a master, she used to give me some right pieces of advice and I still appreciate that, utterly.<br />Now that I am studying what I wished, I have realised that it is not easy. It is not easy either to keep the good academic level through the years or to keep the same position in matter of reality when it is lived and not simply thought. According to this, I can tell you that I have failed some courses like “English Grammar II” which was passed just the last term, and also “Literature I” because I did not even attend the 50% of the whole subject –it was a big fail, I know, but it was passed the last term too. I just hope not to fail any course anymore!<br />Uhmm... What else?... I think English Language was the most difficult course ever. I will not lie to you, sometimes I thought I would not pass it but I studied harder over and over and it is finally finished!. “Literature” was another complicated subject because one has to analyse poems and some short stories which were not too long but difficult to understand and to give an optimum interpretation with solid arguments. On the other hand, there were some subjects as “Filosofía de la Educación” or “Antropología de la Educación” which were very easy to not fail at all, truly.<br />Every term is more complicated than the last one, so now I understand that we can have lots of techniques or strategies to understand the theory of every single subject, but all of these will not always help you; you will have to find out which fits better the course in question. That would be my best strategy, but you also must be responsible, persistent, careful and methodical with your study time.<br />... And that’s it!. Now I wish I could pass this course with not many complicated situations involved because I think I am not able to find out how to avoid them, and finally I hope you could make us understand your teaching methodology in a clear way, somehow.<br />I just hope you are OK,<br />Best regards<br /> <br />Diego.<br />PS: I just got another partime job and I have to work on Fridays from 4.30 PM. Would you mind letting me know whether it is possible to attend the last Friday hour just half time or not? It will be discussed personally anyway. Thanks in advance.<br />