Memento: My Travel Through English Language. By Eduardo Lรณpez
Yachay University of Experimental Technology and Research.
Memento: My Travel Through English Language. By Eduardo Lรณpez English Language Program Yachay Tech Level 6-0019 Teacher: Ercilia Delancer January 12, 2017 Imbabura-Ecuador
Table of Contents
Portfolio Letter Response Essay Interpretation Essay Argumentation Essay Final Research Essay Thank You Letter
Portfolio Letter
Eduardo Emilio López Vélez I 2-2 Yachay Tech University Urcuqui, Imbabura, Ecuador
January 12, 2017
Dear Portfolio Reader:
My name is Eduardo López; let me welcome you to my English assignments. I am a student of level six of the English program at Yachay Tech. Since the beginning of the semester, I have been working very hard on my tasks and as a result here is my portfolio. In this collection of documents, you will find all my assignments including essays and presentations.
Since I arrived at Yachay, due to several reasons I was really distant from the English language. However, the last semesters I have been focused on learning the English language. From that point, I have been growing a lot as an English language user and that growing is remarkable in this portfolio making a contrast through the time.
In the last five months, I had to change all of a sudden my writing way and frequency. I took the level five crash course of the university. This course lasted three weeks and all day we were writing a lot. So at that point, I started to practice writing. During these three weeks, I do five essays and in this semester in level six some more. So, I have been growing as a writer through of practice in the crash course and in the semester and you could read and proof my growing in this portfolio.
Remembering all tasks of the semester, there are some that I enjoyed while I was doing them. For the art interpretation essay, I wrote this assignment about a cinema masterpiece. I chose a movie because this expression of art is very complete and it contains almost all of them as writing, acting, and music. This assignment was complicated to make because there are different ways to interpret the cinema. Nevertheless, I think that the interpretation of this essay is properly notable and you will find this essay in my portfolio. I liked a lot to do this essay because I could explore others ways to appreciate art.
The last few months, I have made a journey through English language and this portfolio as evidence of my efforts and hard work. Finally, thank you for reading my portfolio; thus in some way you can be part of this journey.
My best regards,
Eduardo Lรณpez
Response Essay
College Education: Obtaining a Job With or Without It Eduardo Emilio Lรณpez Velez Yachay University of Experimental Technology and Research
“The best and most important part of every man’s education is that which he gives himself” (Edward Gibbon).
Each year a new generation of professionals get out to working world. The world is full of professionals each time with more capabilities. Young people invest in education to get better opportunities in this competitive world. George Leef, Juris Doctor, claimed that higher education is not necessarily a good investment. Leef in the article "Don’t buy the hype, the college education is not an Investment" said that employers see in their worker's productivity over the college degree. So, a college degree looks like a good investment but this does not assure competitive advantage in a job. Leef is partially correct because the competitive advantage depends on each one. Nevertheless, a college degree is a good investment only if you take advantage of it for having more job opportunities. In order to discuss this article, first a general view of the article, then a brief summary of the article and finally an appreciation more personal about the topic.
In this paragraph, there are general aspects in order to follow the article. The article has an organization easy to follow and this accomplishes the purpose of the author, that is gives a point of view with important information about the actual situation of education as the investment for the future of each person. The audience for this text is young people that want to follow their studies after ending high school. The author has many publications about this kind of topics, for this reason, the text is trustworthy. The paper was published in Forbes magazine that has a lot of prestige. Although the article has not a defined structure like introduction or conclusions, it is easy to read and to understand because the ideas in each paragraph are concise. The explanation with examples is very good because they are simple and accurate. The language is a mix between formal and informal because the
author explains in a formal way but he uses contractions in the text. The document is understandable because the author explains his ideas in an organized way.
In a nutshell, the article mentioned the next points: The students think that financial stability is in a college degree and they do not develop their skills because get jobs where only needed basic abilities. First, the higher education boosters present to young people questionable research about college. The conclusion of these research is that the people need degrees for a good quality of life. Leef affirm that these research are very questionable because are very vague. So, telling people that want higher wages that the best option in buys a college degree, it is very irresponsible. Second, young people cannot get a job or they have jobs where is not necessary academic preparation because they need money to pay debts, for this reason, they do not develop their skills.Leef explains that the employers do not pay to complete college or to obtain a college degree, they pay the productivity of their workers. These days with more college graduates, it is most important developing competitive skills. College degree is not necessarily an investment but it could give you more options.
The text was interesting for me because of this express idea that I knew but extended my knowledge even to the situation of the United States. This kind of articles should make in each country in order to the students can understand the possibilities that they have. Leef, in the publication, affirmed that “telling young people that college will be a good investment is careless and irresponsible� (Leef, 2013). The altered information is worse than disinformation. So educational institutions and students should search trustworthy information about education. The educational institutions should teach how to search good information for their educational formation of the student and these take
responsibility in their learning. George Leef at the end of their article added “College itself isn’t an investment, just one way of increasing your value” (Leef, 2013). College degrees are not an investment because that sheet of paper only increase the people’s opportunities but it does not guarantee it. These ideas have extended my way of thinking because of this show me a point of view larger than I already had.
College as a good investment is possible but this does not assure to get a job. The college degree is necessary to obtain more options of a job. So, college is an investment, if you can develop productive skills. Although in this competitive time the graduates do not improve their capabilities for find better job opportunities. Now the graduates work in jobs where they only use basic abilities and they are according to this kind of jobs. While higher education boosters claim that the college degrees are the best chance to get a job with high wage when this is not true at all. The employers pay the performance of your workers, they do not pay for finishing the higher studies. To conclude, finding jobs without a college degree and with good wages is possible with productive skills for a good performance. These skills do not depend on education, for this reason, education is not an investment. However, a college degree could open the doors to excellent opportunities.
Reference Leef G. (2013, June 12). Don't Buy The Hype, College Education Is Not An Investment Forbes. Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/06/12/dont-buy-the-hype-collegeeducation-is-not-an-investment/#2ced466e7ee6.
Interpretation Essay
Interpretation Essay: Essential Reasons for Considering “2001: A Space Odyssey” as a Masterpiece Eduardo López, Natasha Jurado, and Alex Imba Yachay University of Experimental Technology and Research
“If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed” (Stanley Kubrick). One of kind of art most complete is the cinema; it is because this art includes almost all others. In cinema, a lot of people work in several ways and in different kinds of arts, and as a final result delivered a piece of art. It can be seen in the movie “2001 A Space Odyssey” that was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The director of this movie was born at 1928 in New York, also he was a scriptwriter, producer, and photographer. He is considered as one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century because he stood out for his technical precision, the great stylization of his films and marked symbolism. The movie was filmed in 1968 by a time where the special effects are not developed, as they are now. The gender of this movie is science fiction, but also it is considered a cult movie by the impact that generates through the time. The movie is considered a milestone in the gender of sci-fi because it defines this kind of productions by the innovation of the scientific realism. As a result, to analysis this work developing more about: special effects and scientific realism, the evolution of the intelligence through of visual communication and analysis and interpretations of the end of the movie. The movie had special effects so advanced that earned it an Oscar in this category. The special effects in a movie are very important because the greatest special effects open the doors to the possibilities to create another kind of stories. Kubrick worked many hours a day by 4 years to prepare the film, he was obsessed with realism in this film. He spent months studying photographs of the Moon, so that the image of our satellite in 2001 was rigorously faithful to the latest scientific findings and with help of technological advances could represent his view. He tried to make even the smallest detail of the film authentic. For example, he decided to give voice to HAL 9000, the supercomputer that plays a crucial role
in the plot, because the American and English experts in computers assured him that such machines would speak before the end of the twentieth century. This rigor in the approach forced him to decide on a series of issues, more delicate than it seems at first sight. The special effects and scientific realism in the details give to this piece of art its charm and status. The evolution of the intelligence through of visual communication was an important element during the film. We are interested in three parts of evolution represented in the film, which are a reflection of the changes of the era in the history of mankind. These are: monkeys, humans, and artificial intelligence. The film initially focuses on the monkeys, because it shows one of the main stages through which the man passed a long time ago. It also shows how these animals were developing intellectual capabilities at a basic level, so as to be able to think and create tools to survive in a better way, with which we can note great changes that had to suffer the human race to be able to reach its current form. Then you can see the evolution that has reached the man until now because he has developed his intellectual capacities completely. Therefore of this, he is able to think and analyze, as a result of this can create machines and manipulated them. For that time, human beings had evolved enough to develop a space flight and the technologies necessary for a travel of this kind. Finally, the evolution of man comes to the point of being able to create artificial intelligence, which is created with the objective of replacing the real intelligence of man by a machine because it is thought that this could be more accurate and efficient than that of men. The intelligence is the main characteristic of man and of this depends on the creation and development of artificial intelligence. In addition with the time, the man is still evolving and acquiring new skills and unique features that a machine could never achieve.
Even though there are multiple analysis and interpretations of the end of the movie, it only depends on of self-criticism. After of the new release of the movie “2001 A Space Odyssey” in 1968, a lot of real and non-real interpretations were ascribed to this movie; however, the end of the movie caused different analysis. Therefore, to understand the meaning of the end it is essential to make a quickly summarize of the end of the movie. Thus, according to Dolan Reynolds in an article called What Does The Ending Of 2001: A Space Odyssey Really Mean? says: “ In the last 30 minutes of the film Dave is given all the knowledge of the universe and has been transformed into an immortal, all knowing being. Dave is now the film's version of God sent back to advance his race further than they ever could have by themselves”. Now, a catholic interpretation can be attached in the fact that the movie expresses the chase of God; and at the moment when Dave receive all knowledge, it seems as a supremum God that is irrefutable and almighty. But, as the director of the movie Stanley Kubrick “You are free to speculate, as you wish, about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of ‘2001’.” So, as the first sentence of this paragraph says after that someone sees the movie, the interpretation only depends on of the selfcriticism. In 1991, 2001: A Space Odyssey was annexed in the National Registry of Recordings of the Library of Congress of the United States because of its cultural or historical significance in American life. This work means several things for different people and this was possible by every person that work in the movie in special to Stanley Kubrick. The special effects are the most important visual part of the movie, this combined with scientific realism made possible this movie. Also, the evolution of the intelligence was one of the most important elements of the movie, because it could show the importance that has
the human intelligent because all the technological discoveries that exist now and going to appear in the future are formed from this. Which shows that human intelligence is something unique and irreplaceable. At the end of the movie, various kinds of interpretation and analysis can be made; from a catholic point of view it seems to be the case of a search of a true God; it is because of all knowledge is shared to one character. Nevertheless, the director of the film claims that the viewer is free to interpret and analyze the meaning of the movie.
References Kubrick, S. (2012). 2001: A Space Odyssey - Trailer [1968] HD. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2UWOeBcsJI [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016]. H. (2013, February 25). What Does The Ending Of 2001: A Space Odyssey Really Mean? Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-theending-of-2001-a-space-odyssey-really-mean Kubrick, S.(producer and director). (1968). 2001: A Space Odyssey. [Film]. United States: Metro-Golden-Mayer. Joyce, P. (director). (2001). 2001: The Making of a Myth. [Documentary film]. United Kingdom.
Argumentation Essay
Essential reasons to agree with legalized all drugs Eduardo Emilio Lรณpez Velez Yachay University of Experimental Technology and Research
Essential reasons to agree with legalized all drugs “How did the United States entangle itself in a policy of drugs prohibition that has failed so much misery and so few good results?” (Baum, 2016). The Unites States has been almost 50 years on a war drugs. Richard Nixon was the first president that take this option. Since the criminalization of drugs, these has been the results, a path of misery in life’s users and not users of drugs and the consumption is most than never. Analyzing these facts, I agree with the legalization because prohibition did not work and decimalization has possibilities to change the situation. So, these are essential reasons to agree: the unnecessary expense from the government, using of drugs does not mean dependence and propose of proper use of money from drug tastes legalized. The spending of money in order to reduce drugs problem must be a decision of whole society because society is main investor on this war through tastes. Dan Baum in his article said, “dealing with addiction shouldn’t require spending $ 40 billion a year on enforcements, incarceration half a million, quashing the civil liberties of everybody, whether drug user or not” (2006). Spending money is not justifiable and affect the civil liberties of citizens. For this reason, people should take account in this kind of decision. Using of drugs does not mean dependence. At this point, is important to know the difference between use and abuse. The difference is the dependence, for example, Baum said “lots of Americans drink but relatively few became alcoholics” (2006). The general thinking of the majority of the population is the problem, this is with legal drugs people will consume and will create dependence. But this is not true, addiction is an illness, it is not an option. In the words of the author “so under legalization I have become a pot smoker
again. But I don’t drive stoned or need treatment, so who cares?” (Baum, 2006). In another word the Baum is a responsible consumer, thus consuming of drugs is different to be a drug addict. Legalization could generate a lot of money from tastes and destined to the prohibition. This money could help people addicted to drugs and society in general. The reflexing of Baum about this is, “Addiction is a hideous condition, but it’s rare. Most of what we hate and fear about drugs – the violence, the overdoses, the criminality – derives from prohibition, not drugs” (2006). So, money from decriminalization must be used for solving problems from prohibition and to make a good policy of regulation drugs. But also it should help with other problems around society because it is much money. Finally, legalization all drugs is a good solution in our society because society has developed around tolerance and there is solid evidence to decriminalization works. Thus good policies about the use of the money from drugs are necessary in order to make an environment of safety and the better way to produce safety is the information about drugs. So, the money will spend in health problems of the minority of addicts and the rest in benefit of the community. To conclude, in the current world is possible to apply legalization and it could bring a change of thinking in the new generations.
Reference Baum, D. (2006). Legalized it all: How to win the war on drugs. Herpes magazine.
Final Research Essay
Technological Literacy: a Future Problem of Education Generate by Current Inequality. Eduardo Emilio Lรณpez Velez Yachay University of Experimental Technology and Research
Abstract Right now on the planet technological advancements have been changing the way of life of individuals in a few ways, and one of them is education that develops exponentially. Then, someday all information will be digital and global. Nevertheless, technological world is not for everybody by current social imbalance. Technological illiteracy is the term for people who cannot use technological devices. Now technological illiteracy problem is very serious because technology is advancing quickly. Nowadays people have the possibility to learn in interactive ways through uses of technology. Advancements around technology have been modifying the life of people in the last years. These modifications are in the sources of information and learning among others. For this reason, some people are trying to make models for integrating technological illiterates. Nowadays, the models to solve this problem are in process, so technology could develop education in equity ways. Working of models of training to apply over technological illiteracy in education issue is critical in light of the fact that Technological ignorance is a reality. Keywords: technological illiteracy, inequality, education, global information.
Technological Literacy a Future Problem of Education Generate by Current Inequality. “We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.� (David Warlick). Currently in the world, technology have been changing the lifestyle of people in several ways, and one of them is education. learning in educational institutions has been innovating with new technologies to improve education. Nevertheless, advancements in technological world are not for everybody by current social inequality. In consequence, new generations will have a lack of knowledge about technology, technological illiteracy is the term for people who cannot use technological devices. Like traditional illiteracy, one of the problems of technological illiteracy is the inequality of wealth because only people who have money can access this expensive technology. Now technological illiteracy problem is that in the future all information will be digital and inaccessible to these people, it is very serious because technology is moving in giants steps. As a result, there are three possible consequences that must be taken into account to change the impact of this problem. Technological illiterates will not have access to global information, technological advancements are going to generate modifications in way to learn and teach, but for current inequity this is not for everybody, and technological illiterates will have fewer job opportunities. Today people have the opportunity to use technology to learn in an interactive way. However, socioeconomic factors are determinant for this type of learning opportunity. At present, technology can develop education unthinkably in the past and is moving rapidly. Therefore, change is happening more often than before. These changes will exponentially
develop science and possibly humanity because with technology, learning is easier to maintain and all information is accessible to the public. Mark Warschauer, professor in the Department of Education and Computer Science, said "Computer-mediated texts, combining the interactive qualities of speech and the engraved qualities of writing, can potentially serve as an intellectual amplifier," (2006). With this fact, the author is showing the importance of technology in education. On the other hand, this argument is not true at all because socioeconomic problems are essential when it comes to getting a technological device, to know all information accessible to the public. Although, it is a fact that technology will improve in several areas the development of humanity in general, in particular is not true because there are many people who will not be capable of accessing this opportunity for many reasons, mainly money. The authors of 'Intended and Unintended Consequences of Educational Technology on Social Inequality' claim "Despite the favorable impacts of some technologies on educational excellence, these advances have taken place within a broader social context - which is significantly unequal" (Tawfiki, et al., 2016). The inequality is a problem that is affecting education and humanity. Technological advancements have been changing the life of people in the last years. Although, these also have innovated the education and grow in an exponential way. These modifications in the sources of information and learning are not for everybody. For this reason, wise people in the topic are trying to make models to integrate technological illiterates. Abdullah AdĹgßzel, professor of Harran university, said "In today’s education world, the learning activities are supported with technology in nearly all the government and private educational institutions"(2013). For the above reasons, inequality does not allow this worldwide. Thus is necessary to search educational models adaptable to the
problems of technological illiterates. The technological education has been based in the great changes that technological innovations have brought to the current society. The article “Integrating the Study of Technological into the Curriculum� purposes "While there are many examples of successful technology education programs that are grounded in the separate subject approach, it may take decades for technology education to gain acceptance as a new academic discipline" (Erekson, 2006). Nevertheless, the choice of models is important in order to find a model easily adaptable to the situation. Also, technological illiteracy problem needs to be solved soon in order to reduce its impact. In the article "Deconstructing technological literacy: Opening A Window to Problem Solving" argued "As new tools enter the educational environment, the term technological literacy is becoming increasingly aligned with digital literacy. It is no longer sufficient to teach students how to decode information they find in a book and then write a paper using pen/paper. Students need to learn how to problem solve within a digital world" (Ward, 2015). In consequence, this problem needs a solution quickly. Nowadays, the models to solve this problem are in process, thus the technology could develop the education in equity way. In the future, education possibly will be an option that decision determines the skills that are necessary for a specific jobs. So, depending on the choice will have limited opportunities or not get a job. In the other hand, nowadays technological illiteracy is not an option, it is a fact problem of our society. New modalities to study arise as education as an option, thus that option decides the skills that are necessary for specific jobs. Currently, some countries have adopted that modality already. For example, the education of Taiwan is divided into the following: the technological literacy education (TLE) that is the
education for all people to become technologically literate and technological vocational education (TVE) professionals. Lung-Sheng Steven Lee, professor of Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, assured "To sum up, both TLE and TVE in Taiwan are on track. However, the proverbs such as 'Slow progress means falling behind' and 'Followers can only see the back of the leader' remind TLE and TVE educators in Taiwan to continuously reexamine and redefine their fields. The will to innovate is also an aspect of technology" (2010). As a result, this modality of the decision to study is working. Possibly, this kind of method is applicable and it could work. However, the majority of countries does not have this modality. Now, Technological illiteracy is not an option and it is a reality. The authors of ‘Intended and Unintended Consequences of Educational Technology on Social Inequality' said, "If those at the forefront of learning technology innovation consider the broader social context during the design and development of future innovations, the field might be able to obviate potential negative consequences of educational technology and instead be part of the solution towards a more equitable model of education." (Tawfiki, et al., 2016). Thus, it is important building of models of education to apply over technological illiteracy problem. Generating these models the perspective of education in future is most encouraging respect to education and socioeconomic problems because gives the choice what wants to study and to create more jobs opportunities. In the future, all information will be digital and global. The problem is that digital information is not for everybody by several issues mainly socioeconomic. Technological illiterates will not have access to global information. Nowadays people have the possibility to learn in interactive ways through uses of technology. However, technology will improve the development our society in a lot of forms, particularly is not true at all because this
opportunity will not be accessible to everybody mainly by inequality that is a problem that is affecting education and humanity. Advancements around technology have been modifying the life of people in the last years. These modifications are in the sources of information and learning among others. For this reason, some people are trying to make models for integrating technological illiterates. Nowadays, the models to solve this problem are in process, so technology could develop education in equity ways. In the future, education will be an option, thus only will be necessary determined skills for specific jobs. So, depending of the choice will have limited job opportunities. Nowadays technological illiteracy is not an option it is a serious problem. Building of models of education to apply over technological illiteracy problem is very important because technological illiteracy is not an option and it is a reality. To conclude, these reasons are very important in order to generate good solutions to this problem that affect everybody as a member of society.
References Warschauer, M. (2006). Literacy and technology: Bridging the divide. In D. Gibbs and K.L. Krause (Eds.), Cyberlines 2: Languages and cultures of the Internet. Lee, L. S. (2010, February 17). Technological literacy education and technological and vocational education 1 in Taiwan. Paper presented at the Industrial Technology Education for Pakistan 2010, Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Japan. Erekson,T & Shumway, S. (2006). Integrating the Study of Technology into the Curriculum: A Consulting Teacher Model. Journal of Technology Education. AdigĂźzel, A. (2013). New Pedagogical Literacy Requirement Resulting from Technological Literacy in Education. IDOSI Publications. Ward, B. (2015). Deconstructing technological literacy: Opening A Window to Problem Solving. Technology & Engineering Teacher. Tawfiki, A. Reevers, T & Stich, A. (2016). 'Intended and Unintended Consequences of Educational Technology on Social Inequality. Association for Education communication & Technology.
Thank You Letter
Thank you so much for reading until here, I appreciate much that. I would like to share something with you, memento means memory but this word have other meaning that is remember someday you are going to die. I always wanted to learn English because I wanted to understand the movies in their native language, but I did not try because it was difficult to me. If you want to do something, do it, remember someday you are going to die. Now I understand the movie in English, actually, Memento is a phrase of a movie with the same name. My best regards,
Eduardo Lรณpez