TED & walls - Entry #18

Don't Ask Where I'm From, Ask Where I'm a Local | Taiye Selasi 

This Nigerian woman talks about how we do not belong to a country, but to a place instead. She mentions that she had been taught to think in terms of countries as if they were eternal and natural, when actually they are not constant and were created by man. Her parents were born in countries that no longer exist, for instance. The question "where are you a local?" helps to reflect upon rituals, relationships and restrictions.

This video is very interesting because I agree with Taiye's point of view. She proposes the idea that we are locals. We have relationships with cities, neighbourhoods and experiences lived, which do not relate necessarily to the country where we reside in, rather, to the place where we find ourselves at present. The final conclusion I have reached is: we are local where we feel at home, beyond human boundaries. The words she ended her talk with, speaking about herself and how she would like to be introduced, are accurate and thought-provoking: "she's a citizen of the world".

Film Medianers -Entry #17

My overall impression is that this movie criticises the city life and deals with not only sidewalls (medianeras), but also the invisible walls that surround us, such as the urban overpopulation, emotional distress and even technology. Both main characters suffer from different types of emotional disturbance for different causes. They have in common loneliness and problems when starting a relationship.
The movie itself was intriguing to me and I quite enjoyed it. I found the colours and settings just as the University of Palermo paper described them: a reflection of each character; in Mariana´s flat there was a lot of light and bright colours, but Martin´s place was darker and many times the only source of light was the computer or a single light bulb. Another interesting feature of the movie was how structures, buildings and architecture imperceptibly mingled and fused with each of the stories: either a character's or some of the smaller stories they have. There are many symbols in the film, however, the one I consider the most important is Where is Wally? book. Mariana has never been able to find him in the city, after looking for him for years. At the end of the movie she finds a person dressed the same way as Wally, so she thinks she finally finds her Waldo in the city. This 'Wally' is Martin.

Walls all over the world - Entry #16

One of the things that surprised me the most was the amount of countries that built/ were building walls, "a third of the world's countries have completed or are building barriers – compared to 16 at the fall of the Berlin Wall". I had no knowledge of this fact, apart from the one diving Israel and Palestina. Another surprising fact was the analysis made, that "a structure so simple as a wall or fence can have profound psychological effects" and that ""They (the walls) are mostly effective against the poorest and most desperate" and 'well-funded drug cartels and terrorist groups are not affected by walls at all because they have the resources to enter by safer methods, most likely using fake documents'. I found all of that to be true, after giving it a thought. 

Whereas I am not so sure about the solution to this situation, whether it lies in politics, an international treaty, or social management, it is worth to stop and consider the opinion of Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, from Canada's University of Victoria. He says that real border control comes only through the slow, exhaustive work of building ties and sharing information with other countries, but it's a lot more difficult for people to accept that diplomatic cooperation and sharing databases are much more effective in the long term.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3205724/How-65-countries-erected-security-walls-borders.html#ixzz4O46Bh0NY

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I Build Walls: poem - Entry #15

I build walls:
walls that protect,
walls that shield,
walls that say I shall not yield
or reveal
who I am or how I fell.

I build walls:
walls that hide,
walls that cover what's inside,
walls that stare or smile or look away,
silent lies,
 walls that even block my eyes
from the tears I might have cried.

I build walls:
walls that never let me
truly touch
those I love so very much.
Walls that need to fall!
Walls meant to be fortresses
are prisoners after all.
Source: http://rhlschool.com retrieved originally on April 8, 2003

Analysis

A person may decide to build walls around his/her feelings because s/he is suffering and resolves not to let other people know about it, or in order to prevent from further damage. Some other people, on the other hand, may decide to build figurative walls because they are detached from the society they live in. They are happy about being alone, are lonely people, or have issues socialising, so they stop from doing it altogether.

Personally I do not believe I am a person who usually builds such walls, but I have met people who do so. In case I get in a bad mood or moody I probably try to hide those feeling and mask them, so as to protect others and not regret something I carelessly said. 

The narrator does not believe that having these walls is always a good idea. By the end of the second verse, it reads that "silent lies" and by the end of the third "walls that need to fall", thus, showing that walls are not beneficial all the time.

In my opinion everyone needs to build walls every now and then, so as to restrain oneself from doing regrettable actions or words, or so as not to make people worry about us unnecessarily. But having walls up all the time, every day is not a good thing either. They should only be raised when necessary, and allow us to be free.

Walls -Entry #14

The macrostructure in the text "Across the Great Divide" in Time. Nov 15, 1999 is the following: differences perceived between east and west Berliners in ideologies, politics, perception of social equality and how they are not so different after all.
Its semantic organization is:
Topic: The Berlin Wall and its fall; social consequences
Genre: written, non-fiction, magazine article
Type of text: argumentative, expository
Field -what-: changes in Berlin inhabitants' lives derived from the Wall falling
Tenor -who- journalist to public, audience, readers
Mode -how- formal and semi-formal style
Some of the cohesive devices present in the text are near synonyms such as half, split, divided, split, barrier, other side. Repetition is another device. The repeated words are: disappointment, wall, city, west, east.
The organization of its twelve paragraphs as regards the topics are as it follows:
1° social injustice: occupational discrimination based on place of origin
2° social issues: people being hired for less money and unemployment caused
3° how the Wall and its separating power linger in time even after its physical disappearance
4° different political mindsets; polarised opinions
5° different political mindsets; polarised opinions, West vs. East opinions in detail
6° expectations versus reality
7° disappointments and social consequences of the fall of the Wall
8° current women situation
9° prejudices & occupational differences perceived faced with facts
10° households in the West and East, education and a new wave of educators and search for knowledge
11° yearning for the past Germany from a fraction of the society
12° investment in the East, resentment provoked
13° In spite of problems, most people are contented with the present situation

A video - Entry #12

Key words

Economically disadvantaged

Irreversible

Acceptable

Physical torture

Psychological torture

Horror of waiting

Attack against human rights

Inalienable

Crossing the line

Key phrases

·         The death penalty targets the economically disadvantaged

·         The death penalty is irreversible

·         The death penalty is never acceptable

·         No one should be target to torture

·         It tortures psychologically by forcing individuals to wait to be killed

·         Attack against these [human rights] is an attack to all of us

·         The right to life is inalienable

·         They’ve [criminals] crossed the line, but do we really want to join them?

Concepts

Death penalty and its inability to decrease criminal rate

Moral issue of death penalty

Economically disadvantaged being targeted

Irreversibility of death penalty

Violation to basic human rights

Death penalty as a double torture

The right to life conceded to everyone

Crimes committed; not enough a reason for the death penalty

A letter - Entry #11

Yoko Onno, John Lennon's widow, wrote a letter to the parole board when the subject of granting it to the musician's killer was in discussion. Here is a summary of her letter. A link to a copy of her letter is provided as well.

• Yoko Ono loved John Lennon profoundly. He was a kind man and his death affected her deeply.
• Yoko was in a state of denial when her husband died.
• She tries not to think about that fateful day, but it is very difficult for her.
• Lennon was a person who could enjoy his surroundings and nature even if he had been deprived of freedom.
• If Lennon’s killer was released on parole, his physical integrity would be in danger.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7G6NMHtraemSndUejBPMk1HU0ZJLVNXN2ZYSHNIM21GTFVj/view

A Podcast on Argumentative Writing - Entry #10

Teachers of other subjects are expected to support student writing.
The five paragraph essay is a basic format of essay, very useful, but not the only one. In fact, the problem is that many students, even of university level, cannot go beyond it. It helps them to understand the basic structure.
Going beyond the five-paragraph-essay
Any type of writing should have an introduction of some kind, a body of about three main points, and a closing. This is basically a five-paragraph-essay; but students should not feel they are to write only five paragraphs. It is not true, either, that each paragraph should have a certain number of sentences.
1 Read good writings
Show mentor texts, examples of well-written texts in the genre we want students to write. Thus, if we want them to write a good piece of argumentative essay, models of such genre should be provided to them. Real life texts are the best at this initial stage. It is also a good idea to deal with topics students feel connected with, so they have more to say about it.
Reading is not enough: comparisons need to be made, how the writer cited, criticism and analysis are to be carried out before actually writing.
Formulaic writing is not quite a s important as experimenting a variety of writings.
2 Free style arguing
Icebreakers are used, where one polemic issue is discussed and students take their stand. They defend their position, so ideas flow freely. This is to show that giving an argument is something done regularly and sometimes unconsciously. An easy topic which students can talk about is ideal.
3 Formal argument
The teacher gives written data and information to learn about a topic before beginning the writing process. This helps to back up one´s personal opinion and strengthens one's argument. Students look for evidence to support their points in the material they were given. This is an oral discussion.
Philosophical Chairs
A little bit more formal and structured debate, two sides argue their points. One side is supposed to summarise the opposite's point before talking. Students are required to refer to evidence in their texts. As a result of this, they get acquainted with citing textual evidence for one's argument.
4 Performance assessment 
It takes time; it could take up to four weeks. A sample is shown, teacher-created or a well-done student model as a model of the assignment. teaching how to do a research should be taught in a different lesson.
5 Building the base
Not leaving students work alone without help is important. Students can look at their partners' work. After all, they are going to write different things. The teacher could start composing and writing his/her own essay on a topic of his/her choice to show how the process works. Seeing how the process develops really helps their own. This step, the writer's workshop, would take two weeks
Once students have their thesis statement and three reasons they could work at their own pace. This is self-paced learning. Students write and clear up their doubts with the teacher's help and work at their own pace. Some skills students need to develop are knowing how to choose the best evidence, how to distinguish reliable, credible information, the kind of language necessary, citing sources correctly and how to move from one idea in a paragraph to the next one.

How to write an effective essay- Entry #9

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A well-written paragraph – Entry #8

Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction

 Alex, at his YouTube channel “English Lessons with Alex (engVid AlexESLvid)” offers information about how to write a paragraph, the basic information needed to write it well.

He states that the North American formal writing style has a ‘formula’:

1. Topic sentence
2. Body – order of importance or chronology
3. Closing sentence

His piece of advice is... 

• For the topic sentence, do not make it over-detailed
• The body is the heart of the paragraph. The supporting details and arguments are here and should always be linked to the first sentence
• The closing sentence reminds the audience of what the paragraph is about by restating the topic sentence and adds a little extra to keep them thinking

This is part of the information you are going to find in the video. Here it is

Examples of Topic Sentences

1) Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm, but I'm not so sure. I saw around Velva a release from what was like slavery to the tyrannical soil, release from the ignorance that darkens the soul and from the loneliness that corrodes it. In this generation my Velva friends have rejoined the general American society that their pioneering fathers left behind when they first made the barren trek in the days of the wheat rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this, I can feel their nearness.

2) There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes.

3) We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline.

4) Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations. In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

Retrieved on June, 1st 2016 from the website http://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/writing-paragraphs/review-topic-sentences

Exploring ideas in Literature: Genres – Entry #7

What is Literature good for? Exploring literature may help people think about the important questions in life, and there is a variety of genres in literature. Genre also means "form" or "type". Therefore, each genre or form in literature has certain particular characteristics and there are different categories of genres: fiction,  poetry, drama and non-fiction.

·         FICTION. This genre refers to stories about non-real events and characters but that does not necessarily mean that in fiction everything can be made-up. Some authors invent every element of a story, from the setting to the plot and the characters, whereas there are others who, get the inspiration from real events and people and then build a story around them. All fiction should have a plot, a setting, and characters. Fiction also has themes or messages about life.

Three examples of fiction are:

·        A short story often focuses on a single event or incident. It is the shortest.

·        A novella is generally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. Novellas usually have a limited number of characters.

·        A novel is a longer work of fiction that describes different events, storylines, and characters. It is the longest.

Elements of fiction are: plot, conflict, characters, setting, theme, narrator, and point of view. We can analyse fiction through these elements.  

·         POETRY. In this is a type of literature words are chosen and arranged in a precise way to create certain sounds and meanings, specific effects, for example: odes, sonnets, narrative poems, lyric poems. Poems are made up of lines grouped in stanzas which may follow a recognizable form or not.

·         DRAMA. A drama is any work that is written to be performed on a stage, a dialogue among characters. It shares the same elements of good fiction: plot, characters, setting and theme. But it differs from fiction in the way it is written. It is written to be performed on stage  and it is usually divided into scenes, grouped into acts. The characters and conflicts are developed through dialogues and action. Examples are comedies, radio plays and historical dramas.

NON FICTIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL TEXTS describe real events, people and places. Informational nonfiction is related to those sources consulted for information such as news articles, manuals, directions . Another example of this genre is the autobiographies and biographies which provide details about a person´s life from the person´s point of view or a third person´s version. Essays and speeches pretend to share personal experience to express feelings, to inform, to persuade or to entertain. The first one can be written in a formal or informal style and the second is written to be performed orally. In nonfiction the events actually happened, and the characters are real people. Informational nonfiction includes and other sources you consult for information.

Types of nonfiction texts are:

+  AUTOBIOGRAPHY/ BIOGRAPHY. (The true story of a person’s life. Written in first or third person)

+  ESSAY.(It  focuses on a single subject to be written with one of the styles: informal style with an academic tone or informal style with a conversational tone)

+  SPEECH. (Oral presentation of the ideas, beliefs, or proposals of a speaker)

+  NEWS/ FEATURES ARTICLES. (they report recent events)

+  FUNCTIONAL DOCUMENTS. (user manuals)

MEDIA. It is important to become media literate and learn how to read its messages. Featured films and TV shows are created to entertain people and technology is found everywhere nowadays. News media are designed to inform. Media messages influence people's beliefs and actions and that is why it is important to become media literate and know how to read all types of media messages. 

·         Advertising to persuade and Web sites present information however they require evaluation as most web sites are not checked for credibility.

• News media: designed to inform and entertain viewers presented in many forms such as magazines, newspapers, television, the radio and the Web.

• TV shows: programs broadcast on television which are sponsored by advertisers. They could be dramas, sitcoms, talk shows, documentaries and reality shows.

• Web sites: present information through text, graphics, audio, video, animation and interactive features. Most web sites are not checked for credibility.

• Feature films: motion pictures that use narrative elements to tell stories with the purpose of entertaining and making money.

What is "Academic" Writing? - Entry #6

Communication and miscommunication - Entry #5

We’ve all experienced miscommunication. Trying to say something and being misunderstood or not listened to. Not understanding the other speaker is miscommunication too.

Some model try to explain what communication is:

Transmission model described communication as a message going from one person to the other but that was too simplistic. Real life communication is really more complex than that.

Transactional model is more interactional as it considers the reception of feedback from the other speaker. We create meaning while speaking.

Still, our internal perceptions determine what we are going to interpret from the other person, even emotions can cloud our understanding. The message is always changing as it is passed from person to person.

Passive hearing and active listening are different so when you listen, listen with eyes and ears. Pay full attention.

Take to time to understand, be open.

Be aware of your own perception and what conditions your understanding

Speech acts-constative-performative - Entry #4

Is culture the fifth skill?

     If a person is knowledgeable about the linguistics and language/s, this person knows that there are four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. But is there a fifth skill? Should culture be taught in the field of teaching a second or foreign language? An article of which a summary is offered here deals with these topics, written by Barry Tomalin, a guest writer for Teaching English website.

What do we mean by 'culture'?

What culture covers is the commonly held traditions, values and ways of behaving of a particular community, ‘daily life’ and also cultural artefacts, such as the arts or sports. This is all interesting and sometimes useful knowledge and it is often included in textbooks.

There is also another level of understanding of culture. This covers how cultural awareness is built, what qualities are needed to deal successfully with other cultures, and how to operate successfully with people from other cultures. This is often considered to be a business skill for adults. It could be argued that the teaching of culture in ELT should include these things:

·         Cultural knowledge
The knowledge of the culture’s institutions, the Big C, as it’s described by Tomalin and Stempleski in their 1995 book ‘Cultural Awareness’.

·         Cultural values
The ‘psyche’ of the country, what people think is important, it includes things like family, hospitality, patriotism, fairness etc.

·         Cultural behaviour
The knowledge of daily routines and behaviour, the little c, as Tomalin and Stempleski describe it.

·         Cultural skills
The development of intercultural sensitivity and awareness, using the English language as the medium of interaction.

Culture – the fifth language skill

Why should we consider the teaching of a cultural skills set as part of language teaching and why should we consider it a fifth language skill, in addition to listening, speaking, reading and writing? There are two reasons. One is the international role of the English language and the other is globalisation.

Many now argue that the role of the English language in the curriculum is a life skill and should be taught as a core curriculum subject like maths, and the mother tongue. The reason for this is globalisation and the fact that to operate internationally people will need to be able to use a lingua franca. For the next twenty to thirty years at least, that language is likely to be English. That means that English will be a core communicative skill and will need to be taught early in the school curriculum.

The second argument is globalisation itself. You could say, ‘We are all internationalists now’. We are or will be dealing with foreigners in our community, going abroad more, dealing at a distance with foreigners through outsourcing or email, phone and video-conferencing. Kids are interchanging experience and information through travel schemes and networks like Facebook. This is the time to develop the intercultural skills that will serve them in adult life.

You can learn a lot of cultural features but it does not teach you sensitivity and awareness or even how to behave in certain situations. What the fifth language skill teaches is the mindset and techniques to adapt your use of English to learn about, understand and appreciate the values, ways of doing things and unique qualities of other cultures. It involves understanding how to use language to accept difference, to be flexible and tolerant of ways of doing things which might be different to yours.  It is an attitudinal change that is expressed through the use of language.

Retrieved April 25, 2016, from British Council’s site Teaching English site: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/culture-fifth-language-skill

10 ways to have a better conversation

Undoubtedly, having a good conversation is important. It is an art, some may say. A key for it is to listen. In this video, Celeste Headlee gives 10 tips on how to have good conversation. Some very important quotes are:
Be present in the conversation. Do not be half in it.
Assume there is something you can learn.
Do not ask yes-no questions, but open questions.
Try not to repeat yourself.
It takes effort and energy to really pay attention.
Most of us do not listen with the intent to undesrtand, we listen with the intent of understand.
Here is the video.

The benefits of being bilingual

Is English your second language? Maybe even your third one? Did you know that there are three different types of bilinguals? They are compound bilingual, coordinate bilingual and subordinate bilingual. What are they all about? Can they all become fully proficient in the second language? Watch this video and find the answer. Also, further information about how the social and emotional aspects influence the bilingual brain is provided.

How did English evolve? - Entry #3

If you are a Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or French speaker, have you ever wondered why English has some words which are so similar to some words in your own language, when it is supposed to be a language of Germanic origins? Here is the answer:

By the year 400 C.E. the Romans protected the British Isles from Barbarian Saxon tribes. But then the Roman Empire crumbled and Germanic tribes invaded the isles. Anglo-Saxon became the main language, Old English. In 700 C.E. Viking invasions began up to the point in which the isle was divided in half, with Saxons on one side and Danes on the other. Vikings spoke Old Norse which mixed with the language. The Norman Conquest occurred in 1066 C.E. and Normans brought their language with them, Old French. A Norman king was placed on the throne, William the Conqueror. Time went by and French became the language of aristocracy. Latin also influenced the language thanks to clergymen brought by the Normans. Language continued changing and it expanded. Today words related to government come mainly from Old French, so today sophisticated language is of French origin. Undoubtedly, the words we use evoke different feelings. This is related to the roots of the words, whether they are of Anglo-Saxon origin, Norse, French or Latin. 

Advice on academic writing - Entry #2

Advice on Academic Writing is based on the article made by the University of Toronto. Its website is this: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/
And these slides are a summary of the full article you can find in this link: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice
Please go and check those sites. You will find invaluable information.

LEE ISFD 18 from Joel García

Welcome! - Entry #1

Feel welcome to this blog where I will be posting regularly information about the English world: from history to cultural aspects, going through grammar and phonetics, accents and recent events, and last but not least education, that is to say, teaching strategies and techniques. I hope this will be an enjoyable trip for us all.