Evelin G. Cuadros Buenaventura Yachay Tech University January 10, 2017.
Dear Portfolio Reader,
My name is Evelin, and I am very happy to share with you through this portfolio some of the work I did in my last level of the Yachay Tech English Program. I have to say that I am very proud of how much I have improved my English so far thanks to this program. When I entered this University, I really had a very low level of English. As a result, I could not even write a paragraph because of my limited vocabulary and lack of grammatical knowledge. Now, English is part of my daily life, and it has made to me to have a conversation in English or write an essay in this language. For this reason, it makes me very happy to share the result of my level six through this portfolio, which contains three essays and a research paper. Each of these writings was made possible by all the knowledge, skills and talents that I acquired during level six and the rest of the English program, which not only helped me to improve my English, but also to organize and develop my ideas in order to write an essay better. At the same time it helped me to express my thoughts and to participate in discussions about different topics.
In the same way, the Yachay Tech English Program has been a very enriching experience, since I have been able to witness the progress I have made in several aspects. First of all, in my writing. When I compared my first essays with the essays that I did in level six, I have noticed the improvement. Second, I have learned to lose the fear of expressing my ideas and speaking in public. For example, when I was in level four, and I had to give my first English presentation, I could not do it. I was very nervous and the words did not flow to me. Little by little, with the help of all the teachers who have been part of my academic training and the support of my classmates, I feel more secure when I make an English presentation. In addition, level six has played perhaps the most important role of this program, and undoubtedly was a challenge, because this was the final phase where everything learned has been consolidated and put into practice. During this level, I think that I have improved my improvised speech thanks to the warm-ups that we did every morning before starting the class. Also, I was able to feel more confident about my presentations and essays. I have learned so much and I have enjoyed it. However, the human being never stops learning, and this program has inspired me to continue preparing and acquiring more skills related to this language, because I consider English a very powerful tool, which to learn it, has greatly facilitated my academic training. I know that everything I have learned thanks to this English program will be useful to my university career. Needless to say, I hope this portfolio is both useful and pleasing to you Sincerely,
Evelin Cuadros Buenaventura
SELF-EDUCATION AND FORMAL EDUCATION
Self-education cannot replace to formal education Evelin Cuadros Buenaventura Level 6-002 Yachay Tech University Octuber 2, 2016
SELF-EDUCATION AND FORMAL EDUCATION Self-education cannot replace to formal education Self-education has become something truly revolutionary in the last years, but why has this happened? One of the reasons could be technological advances. Currently, there are many devices and mediums which have greatly facilitated the access to information, actually we can find information somewhere all the time. Another reason is the educational system. In many of the countries around the world, the educational system is not designed to keep the interest of the students. For this reason some of the students end up hating school, and they decide to take education in their own hands. However, is it possible to replace formal education to self-education? The article “Why Self-Educated Learners Often Come Up Short� by Scott H. Young, contains several important points about this topic. Also, self-education cannot replace the formal education, but it is very important in the formal education, because it allows you become really good at something. First of all, the curriculum offered by formal education is very necessary to train good professionals. According with Young, to have a curriculum is very important because this gives to students an overview of what they need for their profession. Sometimes many students wonder themselves, how many of the things that their curriculum requires them to learn are useful in their lifes. For example, I have heard more than one of my classmates say that to learn math does not make sense if they want to study biology as their major. However, if you decided that you want to be a great biologist, you do not have to study just the thing that are related with the biology. You also have to study other subject that you will need. This is a great and interesting example given by Young. Biology, is a science which needs other subjects as a tool for its study, one of them is statistics. Biologists need statistics most of the time because they do the analysis and reach conclusions in basis on statistical techniques. In contrast, when you
SELF-EDUCATION AND FORMAL EDUCATION learn just by self-education, you usually do not have a plan about what you need to study. As a result this education could be an incomplete education, because it often does not cover everything that a professional needs. Second, in the same way as the author, I think that to be a self-taught person takes a lot more discipline that formal education. According to the article, it is because formal education have many requirements that you must to complete. These requirements puts pressure on the student to help them keep focused, and keep the interest and attention to learn. On the other hand, self-education requires more discipline than you can imagine, because you do not have someone to supervise you, or tasks to perform, or take you quizzes. People who decide to take the education into their own hands have to keep in mind that it is not equal to research a topic because of curiosity or to clarify a question. It is about learning all that implies a university degree and on your own. For self-education you need willpower, because in this case you do not have a schedule to follow which forces you to study for a certain period of time. As a result, you have to decide when you will study. For this reason, I think that the discipline is the most difficult step of selfeducation, and it is the reason why self-educated learners often come up short. Third, practice is very important during the training of a professional. In accordance with Young, in formal schooling applying the ideas is not a priority. In this case, I disagree with the author, because on the contrary, I think that in formal education students can put their ideas in practice in a better way, because they have the capacity of carrying out projects, and they have access to laboratories. In the same way, currently the educational systems is searching for student’s abilities development through the application of knowledge. Finally, self-education is very important, but it cannot replace formal education. Self-education should support the formal education. According to the article, self-
SELF-EDUCATION AND FORMAL EDUCATION education is important if you want to become really good at something. It should be deeper, especially when it comes to professions that are evolving every day. I completely agree, because as well as self-education cannot replace formal education, if you really want your education to be successful, formal education cannot go alone. Simply, because the time of teachers to give you information is very short, and a human being never stops learning. Also, currently, it is very difficult trying to find a job only being self-taught. In conclusion, I think that the education is one of the most important things in the life of human being, and we have to take it seriously. I am not against of self-education. On the contrary, it is one of the best way to learn, but it cannot replace to formal education, because formal education give you some benefits that the self-education does not. For example, formal education organizes you learning process through a curriculum, and it gives you a college degree; as a result it gives you more opportunities. Finally, educate you only by self-education has many disadvantages, because if you do not take it with responsibility, it could be an incomplete education. In this way, self-education does not give you a good training to become a professional.
SELF-EDUCATION AND FORMAL EDUCATION Reference
Scott H. Young. (2010). Why Self-Educated Learners Often Come Up Short . From https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/02/24/self-education-failings/
MORALITY AND ETHICS AFFECTED BY LANGUAGE
Language as the main factor affecting morality and ethics Evelin Cuadros Buenaventura Level 6-002 Yachay Tech University November 22, 2016
MORALITY AND ETHICS AFFECTED BY LANGUAGE Language as the main factor affecting morality and ethics Language or culture? Which one has a greater effect on ethics and morality? In the last years, this has been a much discussed topic in psychology and other areas such as neuroscience. On one hand, language is the principal factor which could affect our morality and ethics. On the other hand, there is the culture as that has the greatest effect on ethics and morality of people. It has become in a conflict between both sides because do not exist so far the enough technology to find the correct answer to this question. However, currently there are several papers which strong arguments about this topic which could help to take the decision about which one has the greatest effect on ethic and morality: language or culture? Based on the article “How Morality Change in a Foreign Language� by Julie Sedivy (Sedivy, 2016), I think that the language is what has the greatest effect on ethics and morality because of its complexity and how we change our thoughts when we learn a new language. There are many experiment which have been done about the changes that morality have depending of the language. One of this is the social experiment made by Albert Costa. In this experiments the volunteers had to choose between saving five people by activating the switch to change the direction of the trolley where is one person, or stopping the trolley pushing a large stranger off a footbridge into its path. In this experiment Costa could note that when this problem was proposed in the foreign language of participants, the possibilities of the second option increased considerably. Whereas when this problem is proposed in the native language of the people, the possibilities of both options are similar (Sedivy, 2016). This experiment proves that our morals and ethics or the perspective we have about which situations are correct or not, change according to the language.
MORALITY AND ETHICS AFFECTED BY LANGUAGE In the previous paragraph the results of a social experiment were analyzed, about how language influences ethics and morality. However, what does science say about this? Catherine Harris in her research she used the skin’s electrical conductivity to measure emotional arousals when people hear taboo words and neutral words. In general, this research revealed when people hear taboo words their skin’s reaction were higher than when they hear neutral words. However, the volunteers skin’s reaction was highest when people hear the taboo words in their native language (Sedivy, 2016). In this case also we can realized about the change of perspective that people have about morality and ethics depending of the language. It could be because of the environment in which people learn each language (Sedivy, 2016). In addition to this examples and evidences, there are also many research that say that language is not a factor that can affect the morality and ethics of people, because this is only about the translate of ideas. They also say that the main factor that influence ethics and morality is culture. However, I think that the cultures define the customs of a population, not ethical and moral principles, because these are the same in most cultures. That is to say that is bad in a culture, surely will be bad in a different one. In conclusion, the language is an important factor which affects the perspectives that people have about ethics and moral, because it could be influencing by the environment where the people learn each language. As a result, the way in which each situation is interpreted changes. Finally, so far exist many good arguments that support the idea that the language is the main factor that influence ethic and moral of people.
MORALITY AND ETHICS AFFECTED BY LANGUAGE Reference Sedivy, J. (2016). How Morality Change in a Foreign Language . From https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-morality-changes-in-a-foreignlanguage/
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF VIVALDI: SUMMER
The Magnum Opus of Vivaldi: Summer (The Four Seasons) Evelin G. Cuadros, Jocelyn F. Romero, Patricio A. Molina Level 6-002 Yachay Tech University November 16, 2016
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF VIVALDI: SUMMER The Magnum Opus of Vivaldi: Summer (The Four Seasons)
First of all, you cannot talk about a piece of art without first know about who was responsible for such a magnificent job that undoubtedly involves having passion and skill. “The four seasons” is a musical work composed by the Italian Antonio Vivaldi (March 4, 1678 (Venice) – July 28, 1741(Vienna)). He was a composer and late Baroque musician. His virtues and abilities in music are reflected in each of his works. Vivaldi was nicknamed il prete rosso (“the reddish priest”) for being a catholic priest and red-haired. He composed 770 works, between which 477 musical works and 46 operas are told. (Saavedra, 2010). The most famous and important composition was a group of several concertos called "The Four Seasons" “Four Seasons” is one of the most famous musical compositions in history. This musical work is a group of four concertos: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each of the concertos are accompanied with Italian sonnets (poems) which are not currently known if they were written by Vivaldi or was someone else who wrote them (Pianolessons4children.com, 2016). In this work of interpretation, we will analyze the summer season and each of the concerts that compose it. Summer’s first movement is called Allegro non molto. Allegro non molto is a Italian term that means not very happy. The length of the melody is around 4:55 so in this period of time start with emotion of the intense summer heat and also seems to evoke slow deep breathing separated by silence. In addition, there is a sonnet that helps to understand the main idea of the concerto. Vivaldi described how the cuckoo in the warm nights of summer sings rhythmically. Those melody and continues songs disappearing by a strong wind and we hear the shepherd's cry for fear of the storm. This part of the work shows a well-marked rhythm, as is the style of the baroque.
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF VIVALDI: SUMMER Summer’s second part is called Adagio e Piano. On the one hand, Adagio is an Italian musical word that indicates a speed somewhere between Andante (moderately slow) and Largo (rather slow). In the same way, Piano refers to a soft sound. Its melody duration is around 1:47 minutes, and it is composed with the violin. In addition, this second part correlates to a three verse sonnet that reflects the melody’s main idea. The poem mentioned that the shepherd is worrying because the summer’s storm is closer. About the slow part analysis, the musical work has buzzing insects and bird sounds; in contrast, the fast part represents the rough wind simulating the thunders with the violin. All of these elements (birds, insects and storm) are representative symbols of the Summer season (Study). The connection of these components refers the fear of the upcoming storm and the tranquility before that with buzzing insects. Listening the slow movement part of the melody, and then the fast one allow us to feel preoccupation and be alert. We can feel that something is coming to happen. Presto is the third movement of this concert. It is the fastest melody, and the duration is 2:47 minutes. This melody has the violin as main instrument, in the same way as this musical work. Besides, in this part we can notice a musical background and a main melody, which together do not leave a single blank space throughout the melody. The emotion produced by this movement to the listeners is the anxiety, because of its rhythm and its compass. The poem written for this melody is very short, it is composed of three verses describing the meaning of the melody. In the musical area, Presto means “very fast” (Music Theory, n.d.), which is related to the rhythm of this melody. The short poem that Vivaldi wrote in reference to this melody describes the storms and thunders which are representative of this season, and he represents it in this melody through the strident sounds and with the speed of the melody. It is also why this melody produces anxiety and a little stress to the listeners.
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF VIVALDI: SUMMER About the interpretation of Presto, I think that it is the easiest of the movement of this concert to interpretation, because we can imagine all that Vivaldi wants to say through this movement that are the storm and thunders of the summer with only listen this melody. In conclusion, the second concert of Vivaldi: ‘Summer’, as all the concerts of ‘Four Seasons’, is a piece of art very clear and easy to understand to the common listener, because each of the musical movements have one poem which explain what is the mean of the melodies. Also the rhythm and the compass can help to understand the mean of each melody because it is very evident for the intensity and speed of each of these. So, to finish, ‘Summer’ is a great work which explains why this piece of art ‘Four Seasons’ is one of the most important musical composition through the history.
THE MAGNUM OPUS OF VIVALDI: SUMMER References Artsalive. (n.d.). Vivaldi – The four seasons. Obtained from http://artsalive.ca/pdf/mus/map/map_saskatchewan_en.pdf Barroque Music Club . (n.d.). Barroque Music Club . Obtained from http://www.baroquemusic.org/vivaldiseasons.html Muscato, C. (n.d.). Study . Obtained from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-fourseasons-by-vivaldi-analysis-structure.html Music Theory . (n.d.). Obtained from http://www.musictheory.org.uk/res-musicalterms/italian-musical-terms.php Saavedra, Á. (2010). Antonio Vivaldi and the 'Four Seasons' explained. Obtained from http://vinculando.org/en/antonio_vivaldi_the_four_seasons_explained.html Vivaldi, A. (Dirección). (1725). Antonio Vivaldi- The Four Seasons- Summer- Presto [Película]. Obtained from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5c_JZIM6M
RUNNING HEAD: A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION
A Real Successful Education Evelin Cuadros Buenaventura Level 6-002 Yachay Tech University December 6, 2016
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION Abstract The education is one of the most important things in the life of a human being. For this reason, it is very important that people are interested in having a deep and successful education. Nowadays, the advancement of technology has facilitated access to information, as a result, education has evolved to such an extent that new educational models have been generated that suggest self-education as one of these. However, this is an educational model which despite being a very effective way to learn, it has many holes, as well as formal education. From this perspective, it can be observed that no current educational model has a complete and deep education, but it is possible to achieve a successful education through the work of self-education and formal education.
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION A Real Successful Education Which is better: self-education or formal education? What if both? One of the main things to keep in mind is that education has never been as it is now. It is evolving at the pace of society, and new educational models are forming every day in order to improve the learning system. In the same way, people have to remember that in antiquity, education was possible only for those who had power, such as the church authorities, and for people who had large amounts of money. However, little at a time, things were changing, and now education has become in one of the main human rights, and most people have access to it. Also, currently, thanks to technology, most people can have easy access to information, providing a new means of learning such as selfeducation (C. Campbell, G. Sherington, 2002). However, self-education cannot provide by itself a complete and deep education which is required by the current competitive model of society. But students should not pretend either that formal education will provide everything to obtain a successful education, this must be achieved together. For this reason, the benefits of self-education and formal education are necessary in order to achieve a more complete and deep education. There are some reasons why these two types of education must be combined to get greater benefits in the learning process. First of all, the information that is received by students from colleges and universities is not enough. In fact, the educational institutions organize the teaching through a curriculum, which allows the student to give directionality and order to their educational process, and also help them to have the least amount of holes in their training (Young, 2010). However, the hours of classes are not enough to receive all the necessary information. Therefore, it is the student's job to complement the information through other sources.
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION Currently, there are many means that student can use in order to get extra information that could be also necessary into the learning process. It is here that selfeducation plays an important role within the formative process of people, because it is in the hands of the students to take advantage of all the sources that they have at their disposal to complement the information received in classes. The role that formal education plays in the formative process of people is to provide key points that impel a more complete education. In this way, the holes that formal education has can be filled with self-education in order to completing, coupling and consolidating all information to achieve a better understanding of the information. On the other hand, self-education helps the student to consolidate and deepen all the information received in classes. It is expected that students who are concerned about seeking extra information from different sources to have different perspectives, ideas and points of view about the same topic, which helps them to develop the capacity to classify information and draw their own conclusions, because they can understand a specific topic in a better way and be sure about it. Also, when the students steep in information, they have a broader view that will allow them to infer it about new ideas. In the same way, according to the results of a survey carried out to a small group of students of Yachay Tech University, students who take time to consult other sources, and extra information get better grades in comparison with students who only review notes taken in class. This means that self-education helps the student to achieve a better and wider knowledge, therefore it has great benefits in the academic formation of a student, apart from all the other benefits that this has even in our personal formation.
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION Third of all, through self-education, the students can acquire tools and extra skills, which can be very useful for their future profession and their daily life. Although in most educational institutions there are extra-curricular clubs that allow the student to explore other areas like art or different sciences, self-education is also a tool that allows the student to explore new fields through all the sources of information that currently exist. According to GroĂ&#x; (2014), one way to develop new skills through self-education is deep work. It consists of when the students read any book, they have to be able to explain what they read, and write a summary in their own words. Also in this way they could absorb the knowledge of the reading, developing a more effective understanding. Another alternative is the deliberate practice. Students by themselves must find a way to put into practice what they have learned (GroĂ&#x;, 2014). As a result, the acquisition of new skills and extra knowledge in our field of study is a great benefit since it allows a person to be more versatile, and to perform interdisciplinary work more easily. Also, this type of self-education is one of the most important, since it has to be initiative of the student, consequently this helps to student to make of self-education a habit. Fourth of all, students must learn to make a habit of self-education, because after college, this is going to be the easiest and the most efficient way to continue acquiring knowledge. When people finish university, what they do most often is find a job, which reduces their time to take classes (Andrade, 2015). However, there are professions that require to the professional to be constantly updating knowledge. This is where selfeducation plays a very important role and it becomes indispensable. For example, a computer programmer. The science of computing is something that is always changing in the same way that other sciences. For this reason many of the things that a person learned obtained its degree or even port-graduate, become obsolete very fast, so you need to be constantly updating your knowledge, and this is just to give an example, but
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION is the same with other sciences such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology (Young, 2010). Although formal education and self-education are the best conjugation to have a successful education, there are those who defend the idea that only one of them is enough. According to Snell (2016) the reasons that people have to be self-taught are sufficient to give up formal education. One of these reasons is that the world is constantly changing, and there are industrial fields that change very rapidly, this means that when a person finishes his studies, many of the things that this person will have learned will be obsolete. That is why one of the advantages of self-education is that you can learn according to the advancement and development of science and society. Besides, another reason to be self-taught is that, this form of education is much less expensive than formal education. Currently most of educational institutions have a very high cost, and for many people, it is very difficult to access to a formal education. In the same way, another of the reason is the lower time requirement, and therefore get a job while you are educating yourself. Finally, being self-taught allows people to acquire experiences from the real world, because when people learn on their own, they have the facility to carry out projects and perform jobs according to their preference (Snell, 2016). Indeed, these are good reasons, however being just aself-taught person is not enough to receive a deep education. It is necessary complement this with formal education. Both kind of education are an important part of the training of a professional. Also, the idea that formal education does not allow the student to be at the forefront of knowledge is false, because educational institutions are constantly updating the curriculum with the objective of providing the necessary knowledge that a professional needs. In the same way, about time, most universities give student a variety of hours
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION that allow them to adapt their schedule to their convenience, so that, the student can perform other types of activities. Finally, it is important take into account that the information that is received by students from university is not enough, but it is very important. For this reason, it cannot be replaced but it can be improved by self-education, which is able to complete, deepen and help to achieve a better understanding of students. In addition, selfeducation, in the company of formal education, can help to students to develop new skills and at the same time provide more tools for a better learning. Also, one of the most important parts of the union of these two types of education is that people learn to make self-education a habit, allowing them in the future to be always updated with the information in each of the fields that each person chooses to develop.
In conclusion, education is a very important aspect today, because this is part of both personal success and social success. The current society is becoming more demanding and more competitive. For this reason, the academic formation of people must be one of the most important and serious things during their life. Finally, it is known that there are now many ways of learning, two of these are through an educational institution and by oneself. However, neither of these two options will provide you with an education as complete and profound as you can get when you combine formal education with self-education. Therefore, if you are seeking success in education, the key point is to learn to combine these two educational models.
A REAL SUCCESSFUL EDUCATION Reference Andrade, V. (2015). La importancia de la autoeducaciรณn. From http://periodismonlineucuenca.blogspot.com/2015/04/la-importancia-de-laautoeducacion.html C. Campbell, G. Sherington. (2002). The History of Education . Change:Tranformation in Education , 46-58. Groร , T. (2014). Forget university-4steps to design your own education. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUnpSYMNEhY Jim Rohn. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. from BrainyQuote.comWeb site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimrohn121282.html Snell, S. (22 de April de 2016). Vandelay Design. From http://www.vandelaydesign.com/learning-web-design-self-taught-vs-a-formaleducation/ Young, S. (2010). Why Self-Educated Learners Often Come Up Short. From https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/02/24/self-education-failings/