My english Journey Germรกn Sรกnchez English Language Program Level 6
Yachay Tech - Ecuador
My English Journey By Germàn Sànchez
English Language Program Yachay Tech Level 6-005 Teacher: Alyssa Wolfe January 11, 2017 Imbabura , Ecuador
Table of Contents Cover Letter Response Essay Interpretative Essay Argumentative Essay Research Paper Thank you Letter
December 12, 2016 Dear reader:
In class, I learned that writing is a powerful weapon to express ideas, and we need to know how to use it. Writing in Spanish is not enough, especially in this time. Therefore, English is an important tool to connect with a greater amount of people. This portfolio contains the result of an important time that I invested improving my English skills. I hope you enjoy reading my work. Here you will find 3 essays and a research paper. I learned to organize my time, to be careful about details, and to go deeper into the topic. I think the last one is the most important because I discover things that I could not imagine without research. Reading this you will see the view of someone living between two different cultures. Elaborate an investigation in English showed me new references, ways to think, problems and solutions. It was an interesting semester, where I discover more about people by researching topics of this class. I find a great new world outside the limits that language had put me in. During this time in the level six of English for Academic Purposes, I have evolved my writing skills and also my thoughts. This rewarding time I wrote about art, language, education, and ethics. All the investigation to write this essays gave me new perspectives about the problems that were presented. My vision has changed, I consider that all that I have learned is invaluable for my education, and this opportunity to investigate in another language has shown me another cultural vision of some social problems. I hope you get new points of view too. Thanks for reading my portfolio.
Sincerely, Germรกn Sรกnchez
Schooling and Education: Two Pieces for Success Germán Danilo Sánchez Vera
Universidad de Investigación de Tecnología Experimental “YachayTech” Alyssa Wolfe October 2, 2016
Most of the students are not that different between them, same haircuts, they fell invincible, they believe that they are destiny for great things, their eyes are full of hope. But most of them just wait until is too late to make a difference. The university is not what they thought it would be and soon or later they lose their interest. But Till H. now how to keep his interest and make a difference in his career. Forget university? 4 steps to design your own education by Till H. GroB, is a Ted Talk that lets us consider the importance of developing skill and getting experience during college. I agree with the quote by Mark Twain, “I never let schooling interfere with my education�. University is a place where students have to make their own opportunities. Today standards are huge, because the advancement of technology and all the competition are really hard. Good grades and lots of knowledges are two important things that you will need for your profession, but it is not all. If someone does not develop skills for his or her profession it would be very difficult to start to advance (in) your profession. This could be a problem because college don´t help people to develop skill or get experience. Till knows that and he try to solve that problem. He give us four steps to design your own education and achieve tools for the professional life.
Schooling or Education? It is true that some people can achieve good jobs or make their own business without any college degree. Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg are good examples of this. But in a professional way it will be way harder to compete with someone who had a degree, skills and experience. For that reason the analysis will be about the four steps that Hill give to the people to try to achieve skill meanwhile you get a college degree.
First, I agree whit the text by Till H. The way that how he can achieve success in his career by auto education. Like he said in his first step “You need to develop skills”. That means that if you try to be good at something, it is not enough with just studied but you also have to practice in the real life. (Groß, 2014). For this reason people need work hard and make more thinks than a regular student will do. If you put the enough work in play the guitar and if you practice every day. You will be an excellent guitar man. Like this example you need to develop skill in whatever will be your profession, but Hill could improve his presentation saying that is also important to have good grades. This is important because many companies look your effort in your career in order to give you the chance to take the job. Second, I also agree with his second step “learn from the best” (Groß, 2014). If you want to develop that skills you need to stay with people that want it to because it would be easier. It is you stay with people that work hard, by the time, you study hard. It is the same with any skill that you need to develop. Third, I agree with the third step “learning is more important that make money” (Groß, 2014). Many people don’t get opportunities to win experience for the only reason that they will not be pay. This is a huge mistake because experience is way more important than money. Because you will have the chance to make money later but the chance that experience not will appear. And the last one, I also agree with the last step because you will have no chance to quit, you have to make the best of you in order to achieve greatness things in your life.
Conclusion It is important to develop skill and gain experience. It is that why you cannot just make the less effort, just in order to pass the university. You must know that the grades are not all that you need. You will need to have experience making stuff you future job. You have to be with the best people to be just like the. Grades are also important for you profession but is not all. College this will be up to you. Make your own opportunities.
Work Cited
Groß,T. H. (Dirección). (2014).TEDTalk: “Forget university? 4 steps to design your own education”
[Ted
Talk].
The power of “el levantamiento”
Borja, Merchán, Romero, Sánchez
Universidad de Investigación de Tecnología Experimental “YachayTech” Alyssa Wolfe
Novemver, 2016
The power of “el levantamiento” In December 23 of 1931 the retrospective of Diego Rivera is inaugurated in the Museum of Modern Art. It brings together 149 pieces and five portable Mexican-themed murals among them, El Levantamiento. It is made of fresco on reinforced concrete in a galvanized steel structure (188 x 239 cm). In the mural we can observe a woman with her baby loaded to the hip and defending herself of the attack of a uniformed soldier. Behind, there is a mutinous crowd clashing. The place is uncertain, although the tone of the skin of the people implies that the scene is developed in Mexico or in another country of Latin America. Diego Rivera was born on December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato, Mexico. (Bio, 2014) His passion for art emerged early on. He start as a Cubist painter in Europe (NGA, 2002), but the changes on the world in that period of time would change the subject and style of his art. Diego Rivera was inspired by the political ideals of the Mexican Revolution and also the revolution of Russia. Rivera managed to make art that mirror the lives of the workers and native peoples of Mexico. He went for a trip to Italy and he developed an interest in making murals. He fined inspiration in the Renaissance frescos there. When he returned to Mexico, Rivera starts to express his artistic ideas about the situation of Mexico. He received funding from the government to create a series ofght position murals about the country’s people and its history on the walls of public buildings (Bio, 2014). Now, we have to consider the historical context to understand better the piece of art. During nineteens Mexico was experiencing a great armed conflict. According history the problem began in 1876 when the Oaxacan general Porfirio Díaz took the power of the country but in the form of dictatorship. The problem remained for 34 years, which, discontent grows in the people. The crisis in the United States made the people leave this country and both, Americans and Latinos, showed dissatisfaction (Moma, 2016).
Although, Mexico had experienced economic growth and social stability. These achievements had high economic and social costs, which, regrettably, paid the less socially stable strata and those who opposed the Diaz Regime. During the first decade of the twentieth century. Various crisis erupted (Gonzales, 2016). There is currently no agreement on when these revolutionary problems ended, but there are those who claim that the process lasted until the 1940s. After all the corruption and the dismissal of other leaders that did not change the situation, Mexico was destabilized, there were a lot of chaos, even when there were not many strikes in the Mexico streets, this crisis affects men, women, and children. Even the lowest social stratum was the most affected, the feeling of discontent was ample in the Mexican people.
Returning to the work, “El Levantamiento� has as protagonist a woman, who tries to reassure the conflict between soldiers and civilian workers. Also, it is similar to the work known as the Intervention of the Sabine Women of Jacques-Louis David, who worked after the French Revolution. Additionally, it was published in 1799 in the Museum of Louvre. However, the work of Jacques reflects classic mythology, where women were most at risk in confronting conflicts in the hope of stopping it. In contrast, in Rivera’s work, it reflects a modern woman who is willing to fight for her family and herself (Schnapper A. & Serullaz A., 1992).
The couple painted as protagonists have modern clothes compared to the other people that are around them. The man wears overalls and a cap characteristic of the workers. On the other hand, the woman is represented in the fashion of the twenties and thirties using short hair, earrings, knee-length dress and high-heeled shoes. It is for this reason that for some artists of the left, it seemed to them pleasant the representation of Marxism in this work.
The red flags and the closed fist that rise above the crowd are universal symbols of the resistance of the workers. The artist worked actively in the Communist Party of Mexico, so this had a great influence in the inspiration of his works. After his trip to the USSR during six months, he used more and more elements such as red stars, urban factories, sickle and hammer, with which he seeks to represent the class revolution on an international scale.
This mural also recalls the militancy of “soldaderas�, women who fought in the Mexican Revolution and who became icons thanks to the popular photographs of the time (mediaproject , 2011).
In conclusion, most of the thematic of the works of Diego Rivera are influenced by the interest of the artist in Marxist and communist politics and above all by general discontent of the time. In the work El Levantamiento, Rivera represents the class struggle and tries to illustrate a part of Mexican history. Also, he highlights the role of women during the Mexican Revolution.
Work cited
Bio. (2014). Diego Rivera Biography [online] Available at: http://biography.jrank.org/pages/3436/Rivera-Diego-1886-1957-Artist-Began-Drawing-Toddler.html [Accessed 14 Nov. 2016] Gonzales, A. (2016). Revolución Mexicana. [online] Historiacultural.com. Available at: http://www.historiacultural.com/2010/12/revolucion-mexicana.html [Accessed 14 Nov. 2016]. mediaproject . (2011). Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art. Obtenido de 1F mediaproject: Dynamic International ART Network in English: http://www.1fmediaproject. net/2011/11/13/diego-rivera-murals-for-the-museum-of-modern-art-reunites-for-the-first-time-murals-the-artist-made-for-his-1931-moma-exhibition/ Moma.org. (2016). El levantamiento | Diego Rivera: Murales para El Museo de Arte Moderno. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/rivera/es/content/mural/uprising/detail.php [Accessed 14 Nov. 2016]. Nga.gov. (2002) The Cubist Paintings of Diego Rivera Memory, Politics, Place [online] Available at: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/features/slideshows/diego-rivera.html Schnapper A., Serullaz A. (1992). Jacques-Louis David 1748-1825. Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN) (15 février 1992) http://biography.jrank.org/pages/3436/Rivera-Diego-1886-1957-Artist-Began-Drawing-Toddler.html [Accessed 14 Nov. 2016]
Argumentative Essay: Culture vs Language Germán Danilo Sánchez Vera Universidad de Investigación de Tecnología Experimental “YachayTech” Alyssa Wolfe October 2, 2016
The capacity of communication is one of the best qualities that humans have. When a human star to grow, he or she develop the capacity of communicating with others, even if no one teaches them how. This capacity of interaction evolves in a more effective way of communication known as language. Native language is more related to people than a foreign. For that reason, language can affect our own morality in some situations The culture had an effect on our morality, but this effect is not caused by each person feeling. Culture is learned by teaching. In the other side, native language is something that we learn by our self ’s. For that reason, native language can cause a very different effect than a foreign. The “trolley problem” of Albert Costa shows this fact. In this experiment, people are asked if they would sacrifice a life to save five. The results are depending the language people are willingness to shove the sacrificial person using the foreign language The language is similar to the patriotism. For example, patriotic people care much more about their country than they care about the rest of the world. Language is similar. And the experiment of Janiet Geipel and her colleagues prove it. Janet found that using a foreign language shifted their participant’s moral verdicts even if they do not share the same culture. She uses for examples, stories in which siblings enjoyed entirely consensual and safe sex. The results were amazing. Those who read the stories in a foreign language judge these actions to be less wrong than they who road in a native language A counter argument for this topic is the people that know more than one language perfectly will be more affected by his culture. For example, it is easy to think a real situation where some person is asking for help. It does not matter if the person says help or Ayuda. But this is not true. Catherine Harris and her colleagues give evidence for the visceral responses that an original language can provoke. She uses the skin´s electrical conductivity to measure emotional arousal and she prove her experiment that neutral, taboo or conveyed reprimands have a different effect depending on the language that is used. The culture makes a perception of what is best to do in some situations, but this perception does not make us take a decision. This is because we are aware of this. On the other hand, language is something that no one teaches us and was always in our selfs. This makes that the effects that we have for language are not our decisions because we are not even aware. That is why language affect us more than culture
Work Cited Petress, K. (2005). The role of censorship in school. Journal of institutional Psychology. Vol 32, No3. (248-252). 1Minesota ACU Figthts School Censorship Of “Little House on the Prairie� (1998,December 11). Press release http://archive.aclu.org/news/n121198c.html found on 2016.
Research Paper
The Importance of Language and How we are Improving It Germรกn Danilo Sรกnchez Vera English for Academic Purposes II L6-005
Yachay University for Experimental Technology and Research Alyssa Wolfe December 06, 2016
Abstract
Throughout history, language has been a fundamental tool for the development of humanity as we know it. The ability to express ourselves in a form of language has given us a clear advantage over the rest of the animals and it is the key to the development of civilization. Language like sight or our thinking is a trait that we are constantly evolving making it more attached to the situation in which we live. The power of adaptation that humans have also applies to language. We can notice this situation in our life hearing the expression that the people use in each era that humanity has troughed. The skill of language is the most important skill that humans develop because it allows us to learn about our self’s and improve
The importance of language and how we are improving it
Language is the most important skill that the humanity development Humans are singular species capable to share feelings and ideas. Humans have a unique form of communication that are different from every animal in our world. Meanwhile, some animals can express specific feelings or situations like danger or that have hungry, humans can share their ideas with good accurate to almost any situation. Humans are the only species that evolved from a simple form of communication to be capable of use the language as a form of communication. Through history, people have evolved this skill, depending on the region of the planet and the time people have to change his language to be more accurate to the situation. By the pass of time language have been improving to what we talk to know. Think in a time when humanity still did not have an evolved form of communication because they did not have to develop language. From had not a single word to millions of words in our current time, all the words that were created in order for people to communicate are a part of a complex system. It is not easy to understand this situation because we’ve been using language for almost all of our lives and language have been used for thousands of years. Language is something that is constantly changing. It is the best way to cooperate with other humans and share feelings and ideas. Think a time when humans did not have language. How did they say to the others that they discovered a better way to hunt? If someone can make a better weapon they could not explain to other how they did it. The evolution of language changed forever human history. Boroditsky (2009) says that language is a human gift That is also central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity. (Pagel, 2011) talked about how language transformed human. He speaks about the ability of chimpanzees to use tools but he says that they are not intelligent. He say that because
Chimpanzees Lake of social learning. Social learning is the ability to learn from others by just watching and copy but for this reason, come a dilemma. Social learning is a visual thief and this makes that the humans hide their best ideas. This problem was solved by the use of language and the cooperation to improve. Also, Mark talks about why thousands of languages around the world exist and why in the end it would be just one language. Most of the time people are not aware of the importance of the language for our growth in almost every aspect of our history. From improve our technology to the basis of society itself. Lera describe very well this situation (Lera, 2009) write that she often start her undergraduate lectures by asking students the following question: “which cognitive faculty would you most hate to lose?” Most of them pick the sense of sight a few pick hearing. Ones make fun of the question and said the sense of humor. But almost anyone says that they would hate to lose their sense of language. (Lera, 2009) explain that if you lose or are born without your sight or hearing, you can still have a really well social existence. Of course that if you do not have one of this senses you can have a pretty good life, just like any person. But what would your life be like if you had never learned a language? Could you still have all the things that a normal person have? Like education, a job or star a family? The most realistic answer is that you cannot. Language is so fundamental to our experience, so deeply a part of being human that it’s hard to imagine life without it. That’s why the capacity to have a language is an evolutionary feature that differentiates us from the others animals. For the most part, it is think that language is just a simple combination of words and meanings passed down through generations so parents and children are able to communicate with one another. It is say that language is just a result of our culture and our capacity to speak. Language do not have the capacity to shape the way that we make things. A good argument for this is what (Birner, n.d.) says. He describes we can thinks in thinks that we don’t have a word for it. For example the colors. However, a sociolinguistic know as Vera Regan has a more complex way to see it. Vera Regan studies the way we use language. (Regan, 2011) says that people are constantly evolving their language with every new form to say something or write. Indeed, in our day we have created a language that does not need words. Although this seems something new, through history several civilizations have used this form of language.
For example, the Egyptians used geroglifics. For a modern time, one good example of this is the emoji’s that are drawings of expressions that all people can identify. (Regan, 2011) talks about the importance of the language, and what it can say about you. She uses a phrase “Mover and shakers” to describe the people that are innovating in the way that we speak. In this era, the young people are the mover and shakers of language by using an expression that is not part of any dictionary because this words or expressions are entirely new and for the most of the times just young people understand. For example, it is common use expressions like selfie, LOL, YOLO, dude, hipster, etc. But this is not exclusive for this generation, words like groovy is part of an era before ours. (Regan, 2011) also, explain that this evolves of language are something that happened always through history. We can compare the old English language to the modern one and see the difference. Our culture shapes our language. This is something clear in the case of learning a new language is not just learning vocabulary. The speaker of a new language should learn to pay attention to a new set of distinctions, for example, in the paper of Linguistic Society of America (Birner, n.d.) describes a language called Guugu Yimithirr spoken in North Queensland, Australia. They have an interesting language because they do not have words like left and right or front and back. Its speakers always describe locations and directions using the Guugu Yimithirr words for north, south, east, and west. So, they would never say that a boy is standing in front of a house; for example, they’d say he is standing east of the house. This could mean that these people evolve in a way that was necessary to always know were all cardinal points are. Language really is the voice of our genes. As language evolved, we did something strange, even weird. As we scattered the world something interesting happen. We developed hundreds of hundreds of different languages. It is consistent to think that as we separate, our languages will naturally do the same. But the real mystery and irony are that the greatest density of different languages on Earth lies where people are most concentrated. (Paguel, 2011) describes that if we go to the island of Papua New Guinea, we can find between 800 and 1,000 different human languages that’re spoken only on that island. (Paguel, 2011) also says that it seems that we use our language, not only to cooperate, but to draw circles around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and, perhaps, to protect our knowledge, wisdom, and skills
from intruders. And we know this because, when we study different groups of languages and associate them with their cultures, we see that they reduce the flow of ideas between groups. They reduce the movement of technologies. And even the circulation of genes. Chat can explain why is that the most developed countries share the language or are very scattered. Language is the most important skill that humans create. If we do not have language, it is possible that most of the human achievements had not been. It is a bit surprising that without language, humanity would be equivalent to chimpanzees. This comparison is made thanks to the fact that chimpanzees are using tools, and to this, we take it as a sign of intelligence. Paguel (2011) make this comparison. He said that if they were really intelligent, why would they use a branch to extract termites from the floor and not a shovel? And if they were really intelligent, why would they open walnuts with a rock? Why do not they just go to a market and buy a bag of nuts that someone has already opened? Why not? If that’s what we do. Well, the reason chimpanzees do not do it is because they have no language. As a result, they cannot improve the ideas of others or learn from the mistakes of others and they cannot profit from the wisdom of others. And so they do the same thing over and over again. In fact, we could disappear for a million years and come back and these chimpanzees would be doing the same with the same branches for the termites and the same rocks to open the nuts. That’s why the language is so important in our lives and it is the most important evolutionary trait of humanity.
Work Cited Regan, V. (2014). What your speaking style, like, says about you | Vera Regan | TEDxDublin. [Video file]. Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAGgKE82034 Pagel, M. (2011). Mark Pagel: How language transformed humanity. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_pagel_how_language_transformed_humanity?l anguage=es
Birner, B. (n.d.). Does the language I speak influence the way I think? The Linguistic Society of America. Retrieved from http://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/fles/Does_Language_Influence.pdf
Lera, B. (November 6, 2009.). How does language shapes the way we think, Edge. Retrieved from https://www.edge.org/conversation/lera_boroditsky-how-does-our-language-shape-theway-we-think
Thank You Letter This was an incredible semester. I am very happy for the people I met and the knowledge I got. Thanks for reading my portfolio