What you’ve learned this semester
This semester we have learned lots of things, starting with kinds of “Englishes” and other’s culture way of talking.
CONNECTION OF THIS CLASS WITH REAL LIFE
I think that this class has a lot of things to offer to us, because for example last week I was talking to a friend who lives in Haiti and he told me that my English was ok, but we had differences and we had to discuss that our englishes were different, I explained him that there were different kinds of englishes and he said that he had noticed that because of American movies, but he didn’t know that in mexicowe spoke this kind of English. I told him that we had United Sates’ influence since we are really closed and he agreed.
How can the content of this class can make you more successful?
We can understand that there are some other people who speak differently from us, and that make us more successful in a way that we can communicate with others who won’t speak in the same way we do.
What other kind of activities would you like to do?
I would like us to have a picnic so we can eat, we can talk and discuss how fun and interesting our class is and we can practice our English
Friday, October 15, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke and Colonization in reverse by Louise Bennett comparison.
When authors write poems, they have an aim, which most of the times is achieved, an aim that is wanted the most is the reader identifying himself with what he is reading. Poems such as The Soldier, written by Rupert Brook, who lived from 1887 to 1915, are well understood by people who fight against their country’s benefit. Colonization in reverse, written by Louise Bennett, demonstrates how people should work harder to get what they want; in this case she refers to her country's failure, and people emigrating so they can get opportunities. What similarities and differences are there in these two poems? Let's find it out.
We can see how in both poems, the authors refer to their countries as a powerful factor in life. In The soldier, Rupert Brook analysed death, he romanticized and glorified it. Moreover we can see how Louise Bennett refers to how people should fight against a country’s failure so they get opportunities in life. In both poems we can see how the authors indirectly talk to people who in that time were having trouble; we can notice how Brooke is talking about a soldier, and in those times the World War II most of the people were identified with these cases, since they could either be soldiers or know someone who was having trouble with this difficult situation. Both of the countries were having trouble, they were actually different kind of problems, but one similarity that exists between both poems is the way they expresses about the beautiful love they have for their country. On the other hand we can see how Bennett writes about Jamaicans, trying to survive to what their country difficulties have to offer them; She is looking to what people is going through and she writes this poem so when people read it, they make conscience of what they are doing wrong and what they should be doing; she refers and make a good point on why they should fight, ant in this case it is not the benefit of their country but the benefit of themselves.
A point that marks both, a difference and a similarity of the poems is LOVE. They both include love for their country, but what we can analyze is the fact that in the soldier poem, the author is completely going through unconditional love to their country, through his poetry he is somewhat building up this romantic relationship that he has with England, and encouraging others to have this same relationship as perhaps a release of fear of dying. And when reading colonization in reverse we perceive how she refers to personal salvation so the country stabilizes and people reach their goals in a way they can help their own country. The similarity would be the love they have for their country even though at the same time is a difference since they both give different solutions to a problem the readers might be facing.
We discern in both poems how the tone differs, because in The Soldier poem the author draws a magic image of what death is, otherwise in Colonization in Reverse Bennett states a formal tone in which she refers to life bluntly, which gives the reader the capacity to overview what she is expressing. Both methods achieve the aim of the author and that is what counts. There is another difference in the structure the poems are written and those are the sonnets; since The Soldier was written as the fifth part of the continuation of other sonnets, this was the last poem written a year after Brooke died, the structure is as far as rhyme scheme; the octave is rhymed after the Shakespearean / Elizabethan form, while the sestet follows the Petrarchan / Italian pattern. This difference exists since in Colonization in Reverse, the poem is actually written almost as a song, it has rhythm and the suffixes it has, evolves in every single sonnet.
So both poems are meant to express the authors kind of love for their country, they are both meant for the reader to elaborate an image of the country, but they talk about different kinds of love and it differs in what people might think. We could noticed in this essay how both authors used different tones and formality to express their thought and even when the tone nor the formality was similar at all, they both talked about the same thing; and that is COUNTRY LOVE.
Word count: 747
WORDS WANT TO BE FREE.by: Gio Maggi
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tongue-tied taxi drivers could face English tests
Sep 7 2010 by Abby Alford, South Wales Echo
Recommend TAXI drivers could be ordered to take English tests as concerns grow over some drivers’ grasp of the language.
Councillors were due to decide today if they should make cabbies take a special course if passengers complain about their ability to communicate.
A report due to be considered by Cardiff council’s public protection committee states concerns have been expressed about existing licence holders’ understanding of English, especially where it is not their first language.
The new rule would apply to black-and-white hackney cab and private hire drivers who obtained their taxi licence before January this year.
Since then all new drivers are required to sit a BTEC course in taxi and private hire driving which, while not a test of English skills, requires drivers to be able to communicate to a high level.
In his report to the committee, chief officer Sean Hannaby said: “Where the authority has concerns about the English language skills of an existing licence holder it may be appropriate to require that individual to provide satisfactory proof of having undertaken an English language course.
“There are many courses being offered in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). It is recommended that where an existing licence holder is reported to the committee and there are concerns about their understanding of the English language it would be appropriate to require them to undertake a Skills for Life ESOL course to a minimum of entry level three.”
Entry level three requires students to know enough English to feel comfortable talking to people and reading simple texts.
But Mathab Khan, chairman of the Cardiff Hackney Association, which represents hackney drivers, has written to the committee’s chairman, Councillor Ed Bridges, stating “linguistic difficulties” between drivers and their passengers are rare.
He said only a small number of local authorities across Wales and England have language policies as tough as Cardiff.
“According to my own research, out of 380 local authorities there are as many as 368 that do not include BTEC course level two as a mandatory requirement to grant licences for transporting passengers by taxi and private hire vehicles.
“However, on January 1 the BTEC course was introduced to overcome the linguistic difficulties felt by the committee in a very negligible number of cases.”
In his submission Mr Khan asks that councillor Bridges and his committee evaluate the success of the BTEC course and consider scrapping it before introducing further measures.
Recommend TAXI drivers could be ordered to take English tests as concerns grow over some drivers’ grasp of the language.
Councillors were due to decide today if they should make cabbies take a special course if passengers complain about their ability to communicate.
A report due to be considered by Cardiff council’s public protection committee states concerns have been expressed about existing licence holders’ understanding of English, especially where it is not their first language.
The new rule would apply to black-and-white hackney cab and private hire drivers who obtained their taxi licence before January this year.
Since then all new drivers are required to sit a BTEC course in taxi and private hire driving which, while not a test of English skills, requires drivers to be able to communicate to a high level.
In his report to the committee, chief officer Sean Hannaby said: “Where the authority has concerns about the English language skills of an existing licence holder it may be appropriate to require that individual to provide satisfactory proof of having undertaken an English language course.
“There are many courses being offered in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). It is recommended that where an existing licence holder is reported to the committee and there are concerns about their understanding of the English language it would be appropriate to require them to undertake a Skills for Life ESOL course to a minimum of entry level three.”
Entry level three requires students to know enough English to feel comfortable talking to people and reading simple texts.
But Mathab Khan, chairman of the Cardiff Hackney Association, which represents hackney drivers, has written to the committee’s chairman, Councillor Ed Bridges, stating “linguistic difficulties” between drivers and their passengers are rare.
He said only a small number of local authorities across Wales and England have language policies as tough as Cardiff.
“According to my own research, out of 380 local authorities there are as many as 368 that do not include BTEC course level two as a mandatory requirement to grant licences for transporting passengers by taxi and private hire vehicles.
“However, on January 1 the BTEC course was introduced to overcome the linguistic difficulties felt by the committee in a very negligible number of cases.”
In his submission Mr Khan asks that councillor Bridges and his committee evaluate the success of the BTEC course and consider scrapping it before introducing further measures.
Friday, August 27, 2010
The History of the English Language by Lucy Rucker
How Did the English Language Begin?
The topic of the reading I read is The history of the English language. The audience might be all those people who want to research about the language, maybe some students who have any homework. Teachers who want to talk about how English has changed in years, and maybe some other writers to criticize what, in this case Lucky Rucker, tried to emphasize. The purpose of the reading is to update readers about how English has being changing, and the way native speakers do not say word since they have no meaning at all; we can also tell that the purpose is knowing how words are differently used in the South, North, East and West of the countries. The tone of this reading is considered to be formal since we can see how the author expresses in a proper way her idea of what English’s changes have been
We can notice in this reading how English has being changing with years, not only in the way people use the word, but in the significance they give to words, for example, it is really interesting how even in the same countries, people –being all native speakers – can develop different ways to use words. It is not the function of the word only, but the way we can use the word, maybe in Boston we can use one specifically word as an adjective, and even when in Texas we do know the word with the same meaning, we ,my use it as a noun or as an adverb.
It is also interesting how the English has evolved, not only because of the Middle English’s changing of grammatical expressions, but also for they deleting words had no use at all. It is interesting how there is no specific word for an action or a term, just as we saw in our first classes of English A2, but even though they have no word for that, they are removing words that could’ve been practical for those meanings.
I, as an student, think that Modern English, is actually what we like the most, because we do understand its meaning, even though sometimes is frustrating when you’re trying to explain something and you cannot do it. But that’s what learning is all about. So English has been changing, just the way we have, so there’s no reason to concern about EVOLUTION, because we will change, and we need languages able to explain what we want to express.
The topic of the reading I read is The history of the English language. The audience might be all those people who want to research about the language, maybe some students who have any homework. Teachers who want to talk about how English has changed in years, and maybe some other writers to criticize what, in this case Lucky Rucker, tried to emphasize. The purpose of the reading is to update readers about how English has being changing, and the way native speakers do not say word since they have no meaning at all; we can also tell that the purpose is knowing how words are differently used in the South, North, East and West of the countries. The tone of this reading is considered to be formal since we can see how the author expresses in a proper way her idea of what English’s changes have been
We can notice in this reading how English has being changing with years, not only in the way people use the word, but in the significance they give to words, for example, it is really interesting how even in the same countries, people –being all native speakers – can develop different ways to use words. It is not the function of the word only, but the way we can use the word, maybe in Boston we can use one specifically word as an adjective, and even when in Texas we do know the word with the same meaning, we ,my use it as a noun or as an adverb.
It is also interesting how the English has evolved, not only because of the Middle English’s changing of grammatical expressions, but also for they deleting words had no use at all. It is interesting how there is no specific word for an action or a term, just as we saw in our first classes of English A2, but even though they have no word for that, they are removing words that could’ve been practical for those meanings.
I, as an student, think that Modern English, is actually what we like the most, because we do understand its meaning, even though sometimes is frustrating when you’re trying to explain something and you cannot do it. But that’s what learning is all about. So English has been changing, just the way we have, so there’s no reason to concern about EVOLUTION, because we will change, and we need languages able to explain what we want to express.
The history of English Language. By Laura Howard.
Topic: How the English language came to be.
Audience: People interested in the English language and the history of it, and on its changes over the time.
Purpose: The purpose is to inform people about the History of the English Language. It explains how the English language came to be the most popular language in the world and how is it divided through time.
Tone: the tone is formal, although it incorporates some opinions and judgments.
English has become the most popular language in the world, it is the official language of the Internet and it is the one people really want to learn.
English didn´t exactly began in England, as funny as it may sound, but in Germany. The English language is also divided into categories, for a better explanation of it.
The old English was spoken in Europe, especially by Germanic people. But the language was limited in vocabulary, which meant borrowing some of it to the Celtics.
The Middle English changed the language a lot with the incorporation of French words that was spoken in the Royal courts. It is recognizable to an English speaker; however it would have a degree of difficulty.
The early modern English was also a reformation of the language, with Shakespeare introducing many idioms like “Vanished in thin air” and with the change of pronunciation of many words.
English today is constantly evolving with the new technologies and terms that are added to it. These words didn´t existed in the old English, but they had been incorporated and are now commonly used in the day by day language of native English speakers, and they are learn by 418 million of people now a days.
The rise of the British empire brought the English to the world, but today it remains as a powerful language with being the most popular language, under the Chinese, in the world. It is spoken in the most recondite places on earth and it would still be the predominant language in the world.
It is important to know where the language originally came from and from what period of time, as it is still developing because of the new technologies and the introduction of other languages to it.
That´s mostly why people learn it so easily, they had been touched by the several influences of the English language that now a days we have from all over the world, interviews, news, internet. And all because of the rise of the British Empire.
Audience: People interested in the English language and the history of it, and on its changes over the time.
Purpose: The purpose is to inform people about the History of the English Language. It explains how the English language came to be the most popular language in the world and how is it divided through time.
Tone: the tone is formal, although it incorporates some opinions and judgments.
English has become the most popular language in the world, it is the official language of the Internet and it is the one people really want to learn.
English didn´t exactly began in England, as funny as it may sound, but in Germany. The English language is also divided into categories, for a better explanation of it.
The old English was spoken in Europe, especially by Germanic people. But the language was limited in vocabulary, which meant borrowing some of it to the Celtics.
The Middle English changed the language a lot with the incorporation of French words that was spoken in the Royal courts. It is recognizable to an English speaker; however it would have a degree of difficulty.
The early modern English was also a reformation of the language, with Shakespeare introducing many idioms like “Vanished in thin air” and with the change of pronunciation of many words.
English today is constantly evolving with the new technologies and terms that are added to it. These words didn´t existed in the old English, but they had been incorporated and are now commonly used in the day by day language of native English speakers, and they are learn by 418 million of people now a days.
The rise of the British empire brought the English to the world, but today it remains as a powerful language with being the most popular language, under the Chinese, in the world. It is spoken in the most recondite places on earth and it would still be the predominant language in the world.
It is important to know where the language originally came from and from what period of time, as it is still developing because of the new technologies and the introduction of other languages to it.
That´s mostly why people learn it so easily, they had been touched by the several influences of the English language that now a days we have from all over the world, interviews, news, internet. And all because of the rise of the British Empire.
The history of Enligsh Language. By Sammy Stein
This topic is focused also in The History of English Language, but this time it was written by Sammy Stain. The Audience might be all those people who want to research about the language, maybe some students who have any homework. Teachers who want to talk about how English has changed in years, and maybe some other writers to criticize what, in this case Sammy Stein, tried to emphasize. The purpose of the reading is to illustrate people who are interested about how English has being evolving and how its changes affect us either in good or bad ways. The tone of the reading is not as formal as the other ones were, but it is still being formal since the informal words he uses are to explain how English has been changing.
In this article, Sammy Stein explains how English has being changing not only in a scientific aspect but also in the social one.
The one thing I like the most of this author is that he expresses how much people who were not from England, or the united states became part of the history of this beautiful language, because even though we don’t know how to use the language in a perfect way, it does contains words that derivate from Spanish, or even French.
Sammy Stein puts in plain words not only how we contributed some words to the English language, but also the way that having French people working in the parliament affected in good and bad ways. Another example that even though Sammy did not mention in the article is how Spanglish and Chicano are important, because they may not be official but as he said, nowadays the language is changing, and we can see that if we look for some words in a dictionary that was written 25 years ago and in another one written nowadays. That means that we are evolving, but English is too, which make us competitive and that makes a progress in every aspect of communication.
There’s also another interesting idea Sammy expressed in this article and it was how much technology – for example – has become a major part of the English, because years ago we did not used words such as he mentioned download, hyper drive and even byte. This makes English stand out from other languages since we, speaking in Spanish, don’t have words for those meanings, which demonstrate how English evolves, and maybe Spanish doesn’t.
In this article, Sammy Stein explains how English has being changing not only in a scientific aspect but also in the social one.
The one thing I like the most of this author is that he expresses how much people who were not from England, or the united states became part of the history of this beautiful language, because even though we don’t know how to use the language in a perfect way, it does contains words that derivate from Spanish, or even French.
Sammy Stein puts in plain words not only how we contributed some words to the English language, but also the way that having French people working in the parliament affected in good and bad ways. Another example that even though Sammy did not mention in the article is how Spanglish and Chicano are important, because they may not be official but as he said, nowadays the language is changing, and we can see that if we look for some words in a dictionary that was written 25 years ago and in another one written nowadays. That means that we are evolving, but English is too, which make us competitive and that makes a progress in every aspect of communication.
There’s also another interesting idea Sammy expressed in this article and it was how much technology – for example – has become a major part of the English, because years ago we did not used words such as he mentioned download, hyper drive and even byte. This makes English stand out from other languages since we, speaking in Spanish, don’t have words for those meanings, which demonstrate how English evolves, and maybe Spanish doesn’t.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean*
Despite English is not my first language, I do shoot the breeze with my friends like if it were. I'm definitely a person who enjoys learning about English, but what I enjoy the most is PRACTICING what I've learned. I know it’s important for us – as students – to understand not what people say, but what they mean; that is why I think we should learn English as a lingua franca. We definitely know the meaning of words, but what we should be familiar with is how to express what we feel. English is not only about what you say, but the way you say what you mean. “Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” (Benjamin Lee Whorf ).
We are now in English A2 and I’m hoping to learn about the language and about the modus operandi; because this is a higher level and we should focus not in what we already know - such as listening comprehension, grammar, reading and speaking, - but in what we still have to learn; GETTING TO KNOW THE TONGUE.
We are now in English A2 and I’m hoping to learn about the language and about the modus operandi; because this is a higher level and we should focus not in what we already know - such as listening comprehension, grammar, reading and speaking, - but in what we still have to learn; GETTING TO KNOW THE TONGUE.
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