MY ENGLISH PORTFOLIO Joselyn Delgado Yachay Tech University English Language Program Yachay, Ecuador
MY ENGLISH PORTFOLIO BY JOSELYN DELGADO ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM YACHAY TECH UNIVERSITY LEVEL
6-016
TEACHER: HAMILTON QUEZADA JANUARY 13,
2017
YACHAY, ECUADOR
Table of Contents 1. Portfolio letter 2. Response essay 3. Literary Analysis 4. Interpretation essay 5. Argumentation essay 6. Final research project essay 7. Sixth level Experience in photos 8. Thank you letter
Portfolio letter
Joselyn Delgado Yachay Tech university Ibarra - Ecuador December 15,2016
Dear Portfolio Reader, My name is Joselyn Delgado Andrade, and I am a student of third semester of Yachay college. In this college, I have had a nice experience, especially in English classes. For me English is my moment of relaxing since this subject is the most creative among all subjects that I take. In Yachay, I take many subjects where the common sense and logic are the elements mostly used. Although I like these type of subjects, I think that changing of activity to refresh the mind is something good for my mental health. In English, I can forget about science and math assignments and concentrate on reading articles and writing essays. As I like to write , I do not have problems about that. Although I am a good writer in Spanish, I have many problems in writing in English since I still have many things to learn about grammar and writing, however I think that I will improve my writing over time. When I started this level I was so scared but now I am not afraid anymore. I thought that being in sixth level would be a traumatic experience because the last semester I always saw my friends of sixth level with many assignments. Also, because I cannot speak English very well. As speaking has never been a strong point of me. I have never particularly enjoyed speaking and therefore I was not confident in my speaking, specially speaking in public. Thus, I assumed that sixth level would be very difficult for me however I have discovered this is not so since this level was very grateful for me due to two reasons. The first reason is that I spend less time writing my essays than previous levels. And my second reason is because I had the opportunity of writing about interesting things for me. In the previous levels, I only wrote about chosen topics by the teacher but now I had many options to write my assignments. Therefore, my experience about this level has been very positive. My writing has become more stronger than before I started sixth level since I have written many essays. In my portfolio you can find all my essays and also my research paper. Definitely, writing my research paper was the most difficult task and for that reason I will
start talking about this. When I said that this assignment was difficult, I wanted to say that I spent much time looking for good references to support my ideas. However, I noticed that I can write more fluently than my first assignments about writing. I think that the above was possible because I have written a lot of assignments in this level. Now, I want to write about my literary analysis essay. This essay was my favorite since I had to use my imagination and my sensitivity to make it. Whereas to make my argumentative essay, I had to read a lot . This essay was not exactly my favorite essay because I would have preferred to talk about other topic and not about language. With regard to my response essay, I can say that I never expected a good grade but fortunately I almost got a 10.This essay was about education and maybe for that reason I did it well since education is one of my favorite topics. Finally, I will talk about my interpretation essay. This essay was difficult of writing since this should be written in a group way. All members of my group had different ideas about interpretation of the art work chosen but we managed to finish this essay. To sum up, I want to say that anything is possible even surviving to level six of English program. Finally, I only can say thanks to my readers for taking the time to read my portfolio.
Sincerely, Joselyn Delgado Andrade
Response essay
College Education is not a Good Investment in the Current Society Joselyn Delgado Yachay Tech University
College Education is not a Good Investment In the current society, the opinions about the importance of investing in the university are divided. Some people think the university increases the possibility of getting a well-paid job. According to them, the employers demand a high level of academic preparation to their potential employees since they need people who are able to face this globalized world managed by technology. However, others think a college degree does not guarantee a person gets a job. They say the majority of jobs do not need of academic preparation. Besides the above, the university is very expensive. In this context, the author of the article I will analyze agrees with the last two ideas. The author's ideas about considering the university as an unnecessary investment in this globalized world are interesting, but this is not completely true because investing in a university can be a good choice for some people. In this article, George Leef provides some arguments about why the university is not a good investment in the current society. He begins by mentioning the majority of jobs do not require people with academic preparation. After, he says the university is very expensive. He supports his above idea with a research of Richard Arum and Josipa Rocksa. This research says more than a third of graduates paid the university without getting immediate economic benefits. Besides his arguments against the university, the author provides counterarguments to his research. However, he concludes the counterarguments to his research are not strong nor valid. Also, Leef (2013) mentions university does not guarantee to get a job since the employers do not reward workers for having a college degree. The employers reward workers for their productivity. After, he provides some examples to explain his above idea. The first example mentions a student benefited by his college degree. The second example talks about a student with a college degree who works in an unrelated job with his career. The final example mentions a successful person who has a good job although this person never
attended university. Finally, the author says the university is a waste of time in the current society since the success does not depend on a college degree. Leef thinks investing in the university does not guarantee to have a good lifestyle in the future since if you want to have success in the current society, you must know success depends mainly on your personal performance but not a college degree. The current employers need people help the development of their companies. The employers appreciate a potential worker with a college degree, however they know a college degree is not enough to hire someone. The employers prefer to hire a person with vision and talent for business although this person does not have a college degree. Thus, if you want to have success in the work market, you need vision and talent more than an academic preparation. According to Leef, many people with college degree do not work in a job related with this. I agree with the above idea because I know some people who found a job related with their college career but this job was badly paid. Thus, these people drop out their jobs and look for other job with better salary. In many cases, this new job did not require of a college career. For example, my aunt is psychologist, however she worked as psychologist one year. She decided to work in a construction company since she earned the basic salary when she worked as psychologist. Thanks to a friend, she could work in the above job and now she has a lot of money. Therefore, I consider a college degree is not enough to find a well paid job. Many times, you only need good luck to get a good job. I agree with many ideas of the article, nevertheless I consider the author makes a great mistake when he assumes his ideas about the investment in the university can be applicable for everybody. He is very sure investing in the university is a bad idea, however he does not notice that investing in the university can be a good choice for some people. Although the employers appreciate more the talent and vision for business of a person than his-her college
degree, they also need people with intellectual abilities in their companies. A college degree does not guarantee to have success in life, however this gives more opportunities of finding a job. Also, if you get a college degree in a good university, you will get a job and to be a successful person in. Thus, a college degree can be the best thing happened to someone if person graduates in a good university and get his-her college degree with effort. In conclusion, the importance of the college education is something questionable. In the last times, employers need people with vision business although these people do not have a college degree. In this competitive world, a college degree is not enough to get a good job, however this opens the door to new job opportunities. A college degree can be useful if your university career is necessary in the current labor market. Thus, we live in a world where a person can be successful without having a college degree and a person with a college degree must face low salaries and few job opportunities. Maybe by the above , many young people consider the university is a waste of time.
References Leef, G. (2013, June 12). Don't Buy The Hype, College Education Is Not An
Investment.
Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/06/12/dont-buy-the-hype-collegeeducation-is-not-an-investment/#4a82dc0d7ee6
Literary Analysis
The story of an hour Before analyzing a story, it is necessary to know the context where this happened. Our story happens in the nineteenth century. This century is different to our century since this had different ways of thinking and doing things that in these days were considered wrong. For example, the role of women were to do domestic tasks in the nineteenth century. She cooked and cleaned house while the husband worked in some job. In this context, Mrs. Mallard, who is the main character of the story, lives her life. One day, she received bad news about her husband. The bad news says that her husband died in an accident. The story does not finish here since almost whole story is about the things that happen after this. All story happens is one place: the house of Mrs. Mallard. So, a good question would be why the whole story unfold in one place? Well, I consider that the setting of the story is very limited because this represents the feelings and the way of thinking of Mrs. Mallard. The setting of the story expresses the loneliness of Mrs. Mallard and her lack of freedom to do things that she really wants to do. In the first place, the author used a limited setting because the story speaks about a woman who does not have a life outside her house. A common day for Mrs. Mallard consists in cleaning her house, cooking for her husband and maybe talking with her sister about the news of the newspaper. Thus, she does not have many friends. Maybe the unique person that she has to talk is her sister. Now, the situation of Mrs. Mallard would be something very stupid because in our current society a woman can do anything. However, Mrs. Mallard lived in a century when the women cannot do many things as having their own life. Maybe, for the above reason, she saw the positive side of the death of her husband. The death of her husband was to her an opportunity to have a life outside her house. She considered that without her husband, she could know the world outside her house. Unfortunately, her husband was never dead. Thus, the limited setting expresses the limited life of Mrs. Mallard.
In the second place, the limited setting expresses the lack of freedom to do things that Mrs. Mallard really wants to do. One of the min things that she wants to do is to live her own life. In the reading, Kate(1894) says "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself". The above idea talks about the desire of living the life of Mrs. Mallard. She wants to start a life without social pressures. She wants to have many friends, walk by streets in the night or do anything different to her domestic tasks. She wishes to have a better life and the death of her husband is a great opportunity to archive her desire. She feels that way because she is hidden in a shell. In other words, we can say that she wishes her freedom because before the death of her husband, she had never considered to be free. Thus, The limited setting expresses the lack of freedom of Mrs. Mallard. In conclusion, the limited setting expresses the loneliness of our main character and the absence of freedom to do things that Mrs. Mallard would do if she was in another century. Thus, a good question to finish this essay would be if you were able of living a life as the life of Mrs. Mallard.
References Chopin, K.(1894)."The Story of an hour"
Interpretation essay
Interpretation essay: “The sleep of reason produces monsters” When the human beings do not use the reason to live, they can commit the worst acts of violence and cruel treatment against others. Violence against others has existed throughout human history. Many people had protested against this. Some people made strikes, however others used the art to protest. One of them made a tenebrous etching in order to protest against society of his time. This etching consisted in a sleepy man on a table with bats and owls deformed flying over him. The name of this
is “The sleep of reason produces
monsters”, which is a piece of art from the collection “Los Caprichos”. This etching was made in 1797 by Francisco de Goya, who was an important Spanish painter and printmaker. At this time, Spain was in war and it was dominated by a religion that practiced the Inquisition. Also, Spain was in a process of intellectual, artistic and political illumination through the reason.In this context, we can say that in the “The sleep of reason produces monsters” etching Francisco de Goya portrays bitterness that some Spanish people felt when they notice that their country was dominated by the ignorance and the fear of the church. In this work, there an asleep man that representing a society without an own viewpoint. Also, this work has owls that may be symbols of madness and bats symbolizing ignorance and a feline that represents people that did not protest against church, although they knew this was making terrible things. In the etching of Goya, we can see an asleep person on some books and pencils. At first glance, we can say that books and pencils on the desk mean that the asleep person is someone intellectual. However, the name of the etching suggests us that the asleep man represents to all Spanish people. We say the above because the Spanish people allowed that
institutions as the Catholic Church or Spanish royalty to commit inhuman acts as the Inquisition. Besides this, the majority of people never protested against all crimes that were committed in this time. Some people did not protest for fear of the Inquisition. For example, many people were sentenced to death by hang during that time due to that they did not believe in God. Nevertheless, the above is not the worst part of this story since the worst part is the fact that the people sentenced to death were betrayed by the members of his-her own family. Therefore, we think that the Spanish people and the asleep man are similar since both cannot see the truth due to they do not use the reason in a correct way. The owls and bats of the etching have a meaning too. In the first place, owls may be a symbol of madness. When we mention madness, we refer to a feature of Spanish society of that time. According to our point of view, the Spanish society was insane due to that they practiced cruel acts as Inquisition. In the second place, the bats symbolizing ignorance. We think that bats are an example of the ignorant society of that time. We say the above because that society allowed that many crimes happened without any inconvenient. In that time, the majority of people did not attend to school since the education was only for rich people. Thus, the majority of people did not have the intellectual tools necessary to face to church and the royalty. Finally, we can say that owls and bats represent features of Spanish society in that time, which do not talk fine of this society. Finally, the last animal to mention is the feline .The feline represents the idea of “look at without interact�. This feline is lying on the floor without doing anything, but something interesting is that the feline is aware of what is happening around it. According to the representation mentioned previously, the feline represents the Spanish people. Some people were tortured, raped, killed during the Inquisition age. The church established rules for the people, and people who did not obey those rules were killed and tortured. For example, scientists received death threats if they published a research that was against the Bible. In
fact, any person could be killed if he-she did not obey of the commandments of the Bible. For the above reason, many of them believed that those rules were for their wellness. However, there were people that think that the church was doing horrible things but unfortunately those people did nothing about this. Thus, The feline represents the fear that the people had of protesting against the church. In conclusion, the author's etching reflected his point of view about Spanish society, which he portrayed in his art collection “Caprichos� as insane, corrupt, and ridicule. This society was considered this way by the author since many Spanish people made horrible things in the name of the church. Thus, we can say that the author portrays his own bitterness and frustration with the cowardice and lack of common sense of people of this country. We think that the ignorance and the fear to the punishments of that time do not justify the bad behavior of Spanish people. To be a good person is not an easy task but it is something possible.
References Mora, M.(2007). ¨El sueño de la razón…: Apuntes sobre la idea de Razón en el grabado de Goya. Costa Rica. Retrieved from https://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/especulo/ numero36/suerazon.html Schaefer, S.(n.d). Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becomingmodern/romanticism/romanticism-in-spain/a/goya-the-sleep-of-reason-producesmonsters
Argumentative essay
Argumentative Essay: Ecuador should not replace English for Kichwa Many people struggle to preserve their customs, traditions and native language. The above situation happens because the world lives a process of globalization. This process of globalization the Ecuadorian culture since the majority of Ecuadorians replace their customs for foreign customs. For the above reasons, many Ecuadorians struggle to preserve their customs and thus their language. They consider that replacing the customs is losing the national identify. In this context, we could say that Ecuadorian people must preserve their customs and their native language, which is Kichwa. Also, we could say that Ecuadorian people should not allow that English, which is the global language, replaces Kichwa. However, the ideas above are not realistic since all the world lives a process of globalization and it is very late to stop it. In this context, we can say that Ecuador should not replace English for Kichwa for two reasons. The first reason is that knowing English opens the doors to modern knowledge. The second reason is that English promotes tourism since almost everybody speaks English. In this globalized world, people who know English, have more opportunities of accessing to modern knowledge. Unfortunately, the scientific research is written in English. Thus, if a person does not know English, this person will not access to these scientific research. In Ecuador, the majority of people do not know English and thus there are not many people that does scientific research. For the above reasons, Ecuador is a country that depends on other countries to have a good economy. Thus, Ecuadorian people could make science and develop technology if they did not close their mind to idea of learning English. The idea of that knowing English open s the doors to modern knowledge is something interesting, however is not a good argument to not replace English for Kichwa. It is true that most of information is in English, however if a person does not know English, this person can access information since there are technological tools as online translators. Thus, the fact that
English opens the doors to modern knowledge is not an excuse Ecuadorian people to not replace English for Kichwa. Kichwa is part of Ecuadorian identity. Also, the majority of Ecuadorian people do not know English. Unfortunately, English is only popular among rich people and governments ministries (Agrawal,2015). It English was not replaced by Kichwa, Ecuadorian people could lose their national identity. In the worst of the cases. Kichwa could disappear. Thus, Kichwa should not be replaced by English since the above situation would mean a loss of national identity. The above ideas are interesting however these ideas are sentimental and these do not analyze the circumstances that Ecuador lives today. For example, Ecuador is in a stage of social and technological change. Thus, Ecuador needs to replace Kichwa for English since if Ecuador really wants to have a better economy and more opportunities in the world, Ecuador has to value the importance of English. To know English promotes tourism in Ecuador because the majority of tourists that visit Ecuador speak English. If most of Ecuadorian people were English speakers, they could have better relations with the tourists. The above idea refers to that speaking English promotes tourism. For example, an English native speaker will be more comfortable with people who speak his-her native language that with people that do not speak it. Thus, if a person feels comfortable in a place, this person will decide to return to this place. In other words, English should not be replaced for Kichwa since English promotes tourism. The above idea is interesting, however the majority of tourists visit Ecuador because they want to know about its traditions and customs and obviously, Kichwa is part of these customs. Thus, if Kichwa was replaced by English, Kichwa would disappear. If the above situation happened , tourist would lose their interest to visit Ecuador since Ecuador without Kichwa would a country with a poor culture. The above ideas are interesting however the fact that Kichwa could be replaced for English does not mean that Kichwa will disappear. Thus, it is not a good point.
In conclusion, Ecuador must replace Kichwa for English since knowing English opens the doors to knowledge and thus, to know English is an opportunity for Ecuador to be an independent country, Also, English helps to promote tourism, which means that the country will have a better economy since tourism brings more job opportunities. So, Ecuadorians need to open the mind to English.
References Agrawal, A.(2016), Why Pakiston Is Replacing English With Urdu.Time.com.Retrieved 23 November 2016, from http://time.com73975587/pakistan-english-urdu/2iid=si-link1
Final research project essay
The Entire Curriculum of Yachay in English Joselyn Delgado Yachay Tech University
Abstract Today, to learn English is more important than before due to that knowing this language is one of the main requirements that students must fulfill to participate in the working market and the specialization programs of foreign universities. In this context, the Ecuadorian government created a college called Yachay, which has all classes in English. This paper will discuss the impact of receiving all subjects in English on Yachay students. This impact is classified in three categories. The first category is to emotional level , which talks about social abilities that students will get. The second is academic and this talks about acquisition of learning skills. The final level refers to the increasing opportunities to study abroad and getting job. Also, this paper has opposing opinions, which are refuted with ideas and evidence of numerous articles about positive effects of learning a new language and importance of knowing English currently. Keywords: Yachay, English, language, curriculum, academic, emotional
The Entire Curriculum of Yachay in English "One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way"(Frank Smith). Currently, people must learn English to survive in this globalized world. The great companies, colleges and government institutions prefer to hire people who know English than people who do not. A good question would be: Why does this happen? The most obvious answer is that the process of globalization was created by countries and organizations which have English as one of their main languages. These countries control culture, economy, technological and scientific development and politics of the majority of countries, especially of underdeveloped countries as Ecuador. Although Ecuador is still economically dependent on countries as Japan or The United States, the current government has created colleges as Yachay in order to change the situation previously mentioned. Yachay is a college specialized in scientific research and the development of industrial projects. For achieving the above goal, Yachay students receive all subjects in English. The impact of having bilingual students will be huge in Ecuador since the majority of the commercial relations between countries have English as official language. Besides the impact in Ecuador, this also will affect students as individuals since learning a new language brings consequences to intellectual, emotional and personal level. In this context, a good question would be: Why the impact of receiving all classes in English is to intellectual, emotional and personal level? It is to intellectual level because learning a new language increases the learning skills. This impact is also emotional because bilingual students have higher levels of flexibility and ability to adapt to environment. Finally, this impact is personal since having a curriculum entirely in English in Yachay allows students to have more opportunities of finding job and studying abroad.
Firstly, learning of a new language increases learning skills since learning a new language makes that brain works constantly. To make some activity in the best way possible it is necessary that a person practices and practices. Learning something as any task needs that a person who wants to learn something practices a lot. For a better understanding of the previous idea, this paper has a good analogy which says that when a professional runner trains and trains, he probably runs faster in his next competition. The same happens with learning, however this person should train her-his brains and not her-his body. In this context, a good way of training the brain in order to develop more cognitive abilities is through learning a new language. This information is supported by a study made by Bak, Nissan, Allerhand, & Deary(2014) which had as results that people who speak two or more languages have better cognitive abilities, emphasizing better yields in general intelligence and reading than who do not. Thanks to the above results, we can ensure that Yachay students get many intellectual benefits. Maybe if there was a study in Yachay about the relationship between good academic performance and receiving all subjects in English, the results would be satisfactory. Thus, learning a new language during college is something beneficial for students since this helps them to improve their learning skills. Secondly, bilingual students have high levels of flexibility and this quality helps them to improve their relationships with others. However, the previous situation is difficult to believe without evidences. Fortunately, this paper has one article to support the idea about a connection between bilingualism and flexibility. According to Lynch(2016) people who know more than one language are able to demonstrate high levels of cognitive flexibility, or the ability to change responses based on environment and circumstances. To illustrate the above idea, we can imagine a Spanish native speaker, who speaks English and French besides his-her mother tongue. If this person travels abroad , he-she will have an immediate connection with French and English people since this person can understand them. As we
know, language is the basic element of communication and thus if a person travels abroad and that person knows the language spoken by that foreign country, this person will have a good level of understanding with people of that country. To sum up, this person can adapt to this in an easier way than others who do not know the mother tongue of country that they are visiting. In this context, it is necessary to say that Yachay students will have a greater ability to adapt to English speaking countries than students who did not receive all their subjects in English. Finally, to receive all the subjects in English allows students to have more opportunities of finding a job due to they will have more linguistic abilities in English than their opponents. Currently, the majority of companies, research institutions and other organizations need people who know English. The above happens because most companies in the world have economic relations with foreign countries. Thus, if these companies need to sign an agreement or make a deal, they need to have employees who know English. In addition to the above, to have an entire curriculum in English is something good for students because they will have more possibilities of studying abroad. The above happens because many colleges around the world only admit doctoral students that know English even some government institutions only give scholarships abroad when the applicants to the scholarship have a good level of English. Thus, learning English in Yachay is a good opportunity for Yachay students since thanks to this, they have more opportunities of being engaged in a company and studying in abroad. Bilingual education has been considered for many years as a great opportunity to develop
intellectual
and
emotional
skills.
However
according
to
ConnectUs
foundation(2016), learning a foreign language sounds as something good, but the reality is very different since the majority of students do not assimilate a new language easily. Many times, these students are very concentrated in learning a new language that they reduce
focusing on their college career. The above situation happens due to that if a person is obligated to spend much time in learning a new language, he-she will not have time to study other subjects as Math or Biology and thus this person will not develop necessary skills in them. In the case of Yachay, many students spend a lot of time studying English when they could spend their time studying subjects of their career. Finally, it is necessary to say that people who do not agree on bilingual education have a good point, however there are some studies made by experts that contradict their views. Learning something new can be a difficult task and maybe a challenge, however very few things in the life are so gratifying as overcoming a challenge. Many people think bilingual education is not a good idea because learning a new language is difficult for the majority of students. Besides that, they say that the time spent on learning a new language could be better spent in studying other subjects. However, some studies have also found that the aging of the brain is slower in adults with bilingual capabilities. The previous situation has sense because the brain needs to be used. For example, if a person reads and writes during all his-her life, this person will have less risk of suffering diseases as Alzheimer. The Alzheimer is a disease that consists in the loss of memory. For the above reason, this disease is avoided when a person increases his-her cognitive activities. Thus, the learning of a new language improves learning skills as memory and the critical and creative thinking because language learning is about training your brain. Learning a new language is not a waste of time, but rather a good investment for learning other subjects as Math, Geology or Science. In conclusion, the impact of receiving all subjects in English on Yachay students is huge since this situation affects them in emotional, intellectual and personal level. Although, receiving all subjects in English can be a difficult task, it is something possible and necessary today. Receiving all subjects in English helps Yachay students to face this globalized world due to they will have an advantage over other students who have never had their curriculum
entirely in English. The advantage consists in that they will have more opportunities of getting a job and studying abroad than people who do not know because they develop in a better way their adaptation and learning skills. Although thanks to knowing English, Yachay students will have more opportunities in many levels, they should not believe that the world is theirs because in this competitive world nothing is enough. Therefore, it is import that students are preparing emotionally and academically in a constant way.
References Bak, T., Nissan, J., Allerhand, M., & Deary, I. (2014). Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging?. Annals Of Neurology, 75(6), 959-963. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ana.24158 ConnectUs.(2016). 8 Prominent Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education. ConnectUS. Retrieved 20 November 2016, from http://connectusfund.org/8-prominent-prosand-cons-of-bilingual-education Lynch, M. (2016). Why Bilingual Education Should Be Mandatory. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 27 October 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/why-bilingual-educations_b_6168638.html
Sixth level Experience
Finally, I only can say thanks to my readers for taking the time to read my portfolio. Sincerely, Joselyn Delgado Andrade