Beliefs, Teaching Practice and Proposals for the Attention of Cultural Diversity: the Case of a Costa Rican Teaching and Three Nicaraguans Infants

This article presents data from a research that studied a teacher belief regarding three Nicaraguan students. Specifically, presents findings related to teaching practice and its relation to diverse education proposals. It includes an analysis of four subcategories: daily dynamic of a teacher who works with infants of another culture, students’ assessment in the classroom, discipline strategies to children, and diverse beliefs and proposals. The data shows that, in the classroom, the teacher does not demonstrate different treatment to Nicaraguan and Costa Rican children, suggesting that equal treatment is the strategy per se used by the teacher to solve the issue of cultural diversity in the classroom. On the other hand, discipline is assumed by the teacher with scolding criteria, using a loud tone of voice and aggressive vocabulary.

Towards modern municipal sports and recreation management in Costa Rica

Sports and recreation management is addressed here using a model that combines the policies and methodologies applied in the Costa Rican context as a result of a concern to identify the real needs in the sports, recreation, and health promotion fields through the different manifestations of human movement.  This approach has been developed during eight years of work in the Costa Rican Sports and Recreation Institute (Instituto Costarricense del Deporte y la Recreación-ICODER) together with different Costa Rican communities, both rural and urban, and local organizations, such as Comprehensive Development Community Associations, Sports and Recreation Community Boards (CCDR), Municipal Mayorships, and NGOs, among others.  This article particularly takes into consideration the experience of the CCDRs as entities that have been given the responsibility by the Costa Rican Government to promote and manage municipal sports and recreation services with a convenient offering that would meet the needs of users or customers.  In this way, this article is aimed at answering the question on how Boards should conduct an efficient management in a way that they also meet the needs of public users or customers in the municipalities of the country, by proposing a management model that serves as an additional instrument to improving the already existing services managed by the aforementioned entities.  This study presents a model of Costa Rican management structured with the theoretical elements that currently define the organization and planning of sports and recreation as a service.

Derechos humanos y libertad de expresion en el contexto del TLC

La libertad de expresión, entendido como el derecho de informar y ser informado son parte esencial de nuestros derechos humanos. Cualquier circunstancia que limite esos derechos atropella la dignidad humana. Existe una abundante y explícita normativa de derechos humanos que buscan garantizar el libre ejercicio de la comunicación: instrumentos internacionales y regionales y una reiterada jurisprudencia. El derecho humano de libertad de expresión es entendido como el derecho a expresarse, buscar y recibir información. Censurar o limitar ciertas publicaciones o establecer mecanismos que restringen el acceso a información pública son formas sutiles de atropellar esos derechos. El recurrir a figuras penales como el desacato o insulto a funcionarios o delitos contra el honor podrían activarse y tornarse amenazantes para el que ejerce el periodismo. Esta sería una forma de silenciar cualquier cuestionamiento a figuras públicas en detrimento de un principio fundamental de toda democracia. Suerte parecida corre el derecho de reconocer el secreto profesional del periodista y la expresión del pluralismo. De hecho que al igual que en otros campos como el laboral, salud, alimentación, el derecho a un ejercicio digno de la comunicación también es susceptible de verse amenazado. Abstract An essential aspect of our human rights is that we have freedom to express ourselves and to be informed. There are wide and specific human rights regulations, which seek to guarantee the freedom of expression: international and national instruments and reiterative jurisprudence. Two main principles that set the foundation for freedom of expression are liberty to express oneself and liberty to obtain and search for information. Censuring or limiting certain publications, as well as setting up mechanisms to restrict people’s access to public information, are subtle ways of threatening these rights.

LA POLÍTICA MONETARIA ANTE LA CRISIS

Resumen La actuación del Banco Central frente a la crisis ha sido objeto de críticas constantes por distintos sectores del país, pues su accionar se considera pobre e inclusive equivocado. Los problemas de la gestión de la política monetaria no son recientes, iniciaron en el 2006 con la implementación del sistema de bandas cambiarias. El sistema como tal no tiene fallas, sin embargo, las autoridades han cometido errores importantes en su aplicación que dificultan adoptar medidas anticrisis en el presente. Una política monetaria procíclica es quizás el principal problema que enfrenta el Banco Central, que en la actualidad afronta una fuerte contracción de la economía costarricense y no ha creado las condiciones para aplicar medidas paliativas. Adicionalmente, el Banco aún no reconoce la contradicción de sus medidas y pronto deberá enfrentarse a una disminución de las tasas de interés y un ajuste del tipo de cambio. Abstract The Central Bank's performance against the crisis has been the subject of critics by different economic sectors, because its performance is considered poor or even wrong. The problems of management of monetary policy are not recent, initiated in 2006 with the reform of foreign exchange policy. The system itself has no faults, but the authorities have made mistakes in its implementation that difficult the anticrisis action. A procyclical monetary policy is perhaps the biggest problem facing the Central Bank, which now faces a sharp contraction in the Costa Rican economy and has created the conditions for implementing mitigation measures. Additionally, the Bank still does not recognize the contradiction in their policies, and must soon face a reduction in interest rates and exchange rate adjustment.

Brúnkahk Tek: An Extinct Language

En Costa Rica hay seis lenguas indígenas reconocidas oficialmente. Cada una de ellas disfruta de una condición diferente en cuanto a sus tradiciones y números de hablantes, entre otras. A pesar de los esfuerzos del gobierno de Costa Rica y otros investigadores desde 1995, las lenguas han enfrentado dificultades a nivel interno y externo, las cuales han resultado en el debilitamiento o inclusive pérdida de las mismas. Esto nos lleva al caso de boruca, una de las lenguas de Costa Rica que puede ahora ser considerada una lengua extinta. Este artículo presenta una descripción general del pueblo boruca, sus tradiciones y sus principales características, y a la vez ofrece al lector una descripción tipológica general de la lengua en la cual se discuten brevemente los rasgos generales de su gramática.In Costa Rica there are six officially recognized indigenous languages. Each enjoys a different condition in terms of its traditions and number of speakers, among others. Despite efforts of the Costa Rican government and other researchers since 1995, the languages have met endogenous and exogenous difficulties that have resulted in the weakening and even loss of the languages. This leads us to what happened to Boruca, one of the indigenous languages of Costa Rica which can now be considered an extinct language. This article presents a general description of the Boruca people, their traditions and main characteristics, and it also introduces the reader to a general typological description of the language where the main features of its grammar are briefly discussed.

La traducción del espacio novelesco de Fernando Contreras Castro y su transferencia a la realidad alemana (la estética de la recepción y traducción como factores determinantes en la oposición «literatura universalista-literatura localista»)

Se señala la pertinencia, cultural e histórica de las letras costarricenses, y el escaso conocimiento en el entorno europeo. A partir del análisis de la traducción al alemán de la novela Los Peor, de Fernando Contreras, se estudian dos aspectos: la localidad esencial en la discursividad literaria del texto original, y las operaciones respectivas que desde ese mismo punto de vista se ejerce en la traducción. Se comenta como rasgo destacado el efecto de extrañamiento que emite la obra, favorable como expectativa estética en el lector europeo; ello propicia interés literario, traductológico y editorial.Reference i s made to the cultural and historical relevance of Costa Rican literature and the fact that it is not well known in Europe. With the analysis of the German translation of Los Peor by Fernando Contreras, two aspects are addressed: the essential place of the literary discourse of the original text and the respective operations which take place from that same perspective in the translation. One outstanding feature mentioned is the effect of estrangement that this novel conveys; this is considered positive by the European reader and promotes interest from the perspective of literature, translation and publishers.

Apuntes acerca de la ironía y otras variantes humorísticas

La ironía como figura retórica es un asunto de particular riqueza en los estudios literarios. En este artículo se analiza un conjunto de causas que podrían explicar el concepto de ironía y sus correspondencias con la sátira, la parodia y la comicidad.Irony as a rhetorical figure is of particular interest in literary studies. Here a number of causes are analyzed which could explain the concept of irony and its correspondences with satire, parody and humor.