MY ENGLISH PROGRAM EXPERIENCE Steven Gaona
My english program experience
Steven J. Gaona T. Yachay Tech University English Language Program Yachay, Ecuador
Credits Steven Javier Gaona Torres English Language Program Yachay Tech University Level 6-005 Teacher: Matthew Mackey January 09, 2017 Yachay
Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Portfolio letter Sonnete Challenge Response essay Interpretation essay Argumentative essay Final research project essay Thank you letter
Steven Gaona Universidad Yachay Tech January 09, 2017
Dear Portfolio Reader:
Thank you very much for reading my English Portfolio, I am very happy that you read my little work story that I have made during sixth level, It have been a very long semester, after all I had two hours of English everyday so I am a little tired, but I have really enjoyed very much to learn new things like vocabulary, pronunciation and composition of essays. I know I have a very long way in front of me, but I am not afraid because I feel myself ready to confront anything, I have learned a lot of things this semester and now I hope to follow
forward and I am sure I will do my best in the next step that is waiting for me. I have enjoyed each day in class, because my teacher Matthew is so funny, and it is interesting because he does not know how to speak Spanish clearly, actually he says that we talk much better English than he Spanish and that is interesting for me. Also this portfolio shows my student life my mistakes and who I have been developing myself. Also, this portfolio is an open book about the way I think and how I express what I want to say. It is not easy for me because I am not very good with words, but I did my best this semester and you could judge me when you finish reading this portfolio. Even though, since the beginning of my English level, I have always had troubles because sometimes I do
not believe that I have a high level of English, but sometimes I am really good writing and expressing myself. Also I have to add that in my oral presentations I was really good, I am better talking in front of people than writing, I am very bad at writing and I know you realize it. But I have developed a little the way I write, and obviously that is product of my effort made when I wrote all my essays and those essays were not easy at all, I spend a lot of hours thinking and reading before writing, but now I realize that these is not wasted time, I have learned a lot of new things, I have failed and I have raised myself over and over I do not plan to give up. So in resume, I hope you enjoy this little disaster and it is a pleasure that you read my masterpiece.
Sincerely,
Steven Gaona
SONNETE CHALLENGE
“A Long Semester”
This last semester have been very nice, Despite I committed some big mistakes, I would not like to take it twice, So I hope to end it without headaches.
I have enjoyed reading all the lectures, I have also enjoyed Matthew’s music, Even though I made some gestures, I like to read and listen acoustic.
I really hated writing the essays, And doing all the Matthew’s assignments, Even more when we had kind of holidays, I suffered writing all his requirements.
I do not have time to write anything else,
So Matt will never forget our protests.
RESPONSE ESSAY
Language can make you feel that you belong wherever you go.
Steven Javier Gaona Torres
Yachay Tech University
September 28, 2016
Language can make you express how you think
What would we do without language? What do we do with language? Language gives us the power to express, Lera Boroditsky claims that language makes you think differently, but not only that, language is really powerful and actually it could help you to feel that you belong wherever you go by using the different way of talking of every place. And also according to Boroditsky we could not do anything without language, everything in our civilization depends on it.
Language is a powerful tool in so many ways, if you learn how to control it, you will be able of communicate whatever you want. You will have something very similar to a super power because language is so powerful that can move crowds, and you can move them to make them do what you want.
Lera Boroditsky claims that language can shape the way we think and the way how we see the world (Boroditsky, 2009). But language could imply much more. Boroditsky defeats that language modify your thoughts, and she is right, because if you are learning a new language, you should learn to think in that language, for example: Currently there exist a lot of students and people in general who are learning English and their biggest mistake is that they do not think in English, they do it in their native language. So if you are able to think what you are going to say in the language that you are studying, it will be easy to learn it. Besides there is not always an exactly translation of what you want to say from your language to another. So that is way it is important to think in the other language because the way you express your self is different. Furthermore, language offers you acceptance because when you travel to a different country and you do not know the
native language, you will be lost, but if you know the language and you dominate it, then all the people will see you like another of them. Or at last they would appreciate you more because you are trying to communicate with them in their own language. It is incredible how a simple idea can give a lot of different information in different languages, like the example that the author of the article gives about that Bush read a book. She said that if you tell that information in English is simple like that, a person read a book but if you say the same idea in another language like Russian, you should use a different verb form if you are talking about a man or a woman. Also she explains that if you are talking Turkish you will give more information in the forma verb, it would be the gender of the person and also if she or he read the whole book or just a part of it. Apparently you are saying the same, but you give more details in some languages than in the others. This does not mean
that English speakers does not pay attention to the details as Russian or Turkish speakers, as the author says, they are just not talking about them. Expressing our selves vary in which language are we talking. It is really amazing talk a language that is completely different than your native one. It is like make an entire performance for yourself because you change your voice tone, your facial and body movements that is known as body language. The article also mentions the way we ¨measure¨ life, like in English we say we had a short talk, in Spanish we could say we had a little talk. Despite we had different terminology, we refer to the same things. Some researchers are questioning if this is because of language, or is the culture that is with each region since its beginnings. I guess a good way to have a good answer to look if it is the language or the culture is to teach another language to a
person. And then look the way he express, like the person is going to talk like in his original language, so we know is the culture. But this change when the person starts to dominate the language and begins to comprehends how the new language is structured. As a main idea I get from the article was that we do think different depending on which language are we talking. Like English is a ¨compact¨ language, we talk about the same ideas but not refer about all the details. And we have Spanish that is a little bit more specific than English in the time of talk. In English we refer to a chair as just a chair, but in Spanish we have the chair with a article that refers the chair a feminine. But in bout languages we talk about the same object.
References Boroditsky, L. (2009, November 6). How does our language shape the way we think? Edge Foundation, p. 8.
Interpretation Essay
“THE GLEANERS” BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET
Some painters use art like a mirror that reflects the social reality in which they live! Over time, art has been used as a way through which people express particular ideas. Especially, artists like painters who use art for expressing through painting personal stories and historical events. For example, in 1857, the French painter Jean-François Millet painted the painting “The Gleaners”. The painting is a depiction of three-peasant woman gleaning stray wheat grains of land after the harvest. In fact,
Millet painted peasant people because they were considered the lowest ranks of French rural society, and he wanted to express social exclusion of poor people by rich people. As a result, Millet show us the French social reality of 19th century in which he lived. Nowadays, the painting “The Gleaners” is located in “Orsay” Museum, Paris, and the picture dimensions are 83.8 cm × 111.8 cm (33 in × 44 in). In this way, the painting “The Gleaners” by Jean-François Millet show us that poor people suffer discrimination due to fact that some people of high status have social prejudices because they believe that their opinions or actions are more important than other people opinion. First, the colors and textures in this painting are soft and muted, which shows us their low social class. The painter uses earth tones in this painting to show how close the people are to the earth. In other words, the people are close to the earth, much like people in poverty. Furthermore, the gazes and faces of the
three women are obscure, which shows us that they do not have a good life, therefore, they are suffering due to the fact that their low social status. It is interesting the dissonance of the colors in the painting. On the one hand, in the bottom, there are tall stacks of grain, which means abundance, and it is painted with the softest colors. On the other hand, in the foreground, there are the three poor women with waste grain in theirs hands, which means poverty, and it is painted with a little lighter colors. Another important characteristic is the color of ground and grass in the foreground. The predominant brown color in the floor shows us that it does not matter the effort of the poor people, in many cases they do not progress. Second, according to MusĂŠe d'Orsay webpage, the painting was painted in 1857 after the French revolution of 1848. Millet was son of peasants and lived in France (MusĂŠe d'Orsay, 2006). Therefore, the artist was a poor man in a difficult
situation, and he tried to show the world how difficult it is to live and work in the field. When Millet painted “The Gleaners”, people of middle and upper class were against him because they did not care about low class people life. The artist tries to show us the realism of fieldwork, this is not an easy job and women used to be in charge of this. The artist himself lived in poverty because that is the only way in which he could paint the reality of the poor people around him. In other words, Millet tries to describe the discrimination that peasant people suffered every day for their social status. Third, the painting “The Gleaners” is a way to express the personal point of view of Millet. The author show us the true face of rural work in its hardest aspect. In fact, the picture presents three women in full task, crouching to pick up the ears, represent a realistic work with its vivid colors and accentuating volumes (Musée d’Orsay, 2006). In addition, we can see the
three phases of these repetitive movements imposed by this work: bending over, picking up the ears of corn and straightening up again. The wish of the author is criticize the hard condition of the gleaners. Finally, the painting “The Gleanersâ€? by Jean-François Millet show us that there are some people who underestimate other people such as peasants because their social status. In this way, Millet expresses the social condition of French peasant people 19th century through representation of women picking grain of wheat from the ground. In other words, "The Gleaners" is a realistic vision of French society post Industrial Revolution. In addition, Millet made a social critique because the painting was a way for reporting hard and long hours of work in the countryside. However, the message about discrimination that show us Millet thought his painting is a significant fact. Because nowadays, we continue to live in a society with prejudice towards
minorities. For example, in Ecuador, some people who live in cities discriminated to indigenous people who arrive to these cities for working in bad and dangerous jobs such as candy street sellers. Social discrimination is a reality that affected some people in the last centuries; however, we can avoid it, accepting people as they are!
References MusĂŠe d'Orsay . (2006). Jean-Francois Millet . France: Gran Palais .
ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Children should be made to learn English at an early age.
Have you ever thought that your morality is stronger in your native language that in a foreign one? If you learnt a foreign language late in life, you must know that your moral compass points in different ways depending on the language you are using, so: Should all children be made to learn English at an early age? In fact, learn English could be easier if children are forced to learn a foreign language when they are at an early age. It would help them to speak two languages since they are children and to dominate each of the two tongues.
In deed, “among a group of delegates at the United Nations using a lingua franca to hash out a resolution. The findings suggest that when people are confronted with moral dilemmas they respond differently using a foreign language than
when using their native tongue”. (Sedivy, 2016) It means that we are more able to judge morality in our native language that in a foreign one.
In childhood, we have a lot of experiences and interactions that change completely the way we see the world. So when we are speaking, we recall experiences to remember a word or a phrase and the first idea that comes to our mind is prompted in the languages in which that event occurred (Sedivy, 2016), It could be easier to learn a foreign language if in “our childhood we are obligated to relate experiences with a foreign language because our childhood languages vibrate with greater emotional intensity than do those learned in more academic settings”, this according to Sedivy.
We need to be able to judge by equal anything we
experience independently the language that we are using. So if we could force to our children to learn English at an early age, they could have the chance to speak English like a native, because they would be able to feel everything by equal.
According to Sedivy: “When we use a foreign language, we unconsciously sink into thee more deliberate made simply because the effort of operating in our non-native language cues our cognitive system to prepare for strenuous activity.� (Sedivy,2016) So, if we use a foreign language like our native language, it would not happen.
In conclusion, our brain works different depending at the language we judge morality in a foreign language less laden than in our native language. If children are made to learn English at an early age, we would be able to judge any situation by the same
independently from the language that being used. So in fact, children should learn to speak English at an early age it is the only way, for them to speak like natives both languages.
Reference
Julie Sedivy, Scientific American, How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language, September 14, 2016.
FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT
Do What You Want, for Love not for Obligation Steven Gaona Yachay University for Experimental Technology and Research
Abstract When we are young, our parents and teachers always tell us that we will become a nobody if we do not get a college degree. These days students are influenced by their parents to choose a major and that is their mistake, parents always tell their children that they have to grow up studying to get a job to making money and we all know that who is under pressure do not work well and parents do not take care about and that is a big mistake. This essay will be focused in four points that will be described one at a time. People must do what they love and that is a universal truth, people who make what they love are happier than others. Some kids just study for obligation to not let down their parents because parents just want them to continue studying the family’s profession. The main problem is that society see dreamers as a kind of unsuccessful people who do not know what to do with their lives so they have to study
just for obligation, but actually they really do, they are happy and that is what really matters in life.
Keywords: major, money, under pressure, love, obligation, studies, happiness
Do What You Want, for Love not for Obligation Studying for love or obligation? We need to take a job in an industry just to make money that’s what society dictates. When we are young, we are afraid to become a nobody because that is what our parents and teachers tell us will happen if we do not get a college degree. But the reality is different because a college degree does not guarantee you a good job or the life you crave. These days students are influenced by their parents to choose a major and that is their mistake. People are worth more than a paper with the word “diploma�; it just certifies that you were in an institution for several years studying a specific major. In this essay will be discussed four points: first if studying University should be an obligation, second if choose what you love really matters, third about to choose a comfortable zone or take a risk and fourth there will be an example about someone that has no diploma but is good in other kind of work.
First, teenagers have to be clear about what they want in their lives. There is an important point and it is about going or not to college. Parents always tell their children that they have to grow up studying to get a job to making money, and that’s the first mistake in people. Not all the people like to study. There is an uncountable amount of jobs that doesn’t need a diploma to be exercised. The people that like to study should do it because they are going to do it great! Whatever the decision they take they shouldn’t think only about money. Besides money is an important part in our lives, we should not live just to make money, we should live to enjoy life. We must do what we love and that is a universal truth, people who make what they love are happier than others.
Second, everything depends in how much you can effort to achieve a good job. You can study for years, but
if you are not studying what you really love, you will end working for someone else doing things you hate, because it is not just studying for get a degree it is about studying for know more about the things you love. A lot of students are trying to obtain a college degree just because they are following the legacy of their parents or just because they told them to continue studying. Some kids just study for obligation to not let down their parents because in some cases they want them to success and have the opportunities they couldn’t, and in other cases they just want them to continue studying the family’s profession. Third, people have to choose between safe jobs or follow their dreams, living their life, studying what they really love or simply doing what they want to do. In the book Academically Adrift, the writers (Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa) came to the conclusion that more than the thirty percent of recent college graduates they had no skill or dexterity, it means they simply went through the
university without adding anything to their human capital. (Leef, 2013, påg. 1) The main problem is that society see dreamers as a kind of unsuccessful people who do not know what to do with their lives so they have to study just for obligation, but actually they really do, they are happy and that is what really matters in life. And if you are happy working in your dream, you may not have success at the very beginning but, if everything goes right and the person work hard on it, it would have success. Other people instead of follow their dream works just get an average job as employs and get the money to survive and live and average life. The human life’s average is around seventy years, so people have to choose if lose their life doing something for obligation or doing what they love and feel that they lived a beautiful life.
Fourth, some people have obtained everything they have just because they are good in business, a clear
example is Richard Branson, the owner and founder of Virgin Group. Virgin group is a British multinational branded venture capital conglomerate. Its core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, and it also manages ventures in financial services, transport, healthcare,
food
telecommunications;
and together,
drink,
media
Virgin's
and
businesses
consist of more than 400 companies worldwide. Richard Branson has not a college degree, and even so he is a multimillionaire.
(Forbes, 2016) He demonstrates that
you do not need a college degree to be successful, everything depends in your effort and dedication to achieve the life you crave. However, a few part of successful people have demonstrated that studying is not a wasting of time, they have achieved their goals through long days and nights of intense study. Usually they are trying to motivate young people to follow studying, to keep their dreams alive.
There exist scientists, famous people who are very qualified people for example Brian May, the famous guitarist of Queen, who also is an astrophysicist, he is demonstrating that sciences is for all, that you can get everything you want, and there are no limits while you are alive. (Kowsky, 2015) Also, as a matter of fact, if a person’s dream is medicine he/she will have to study because you cannot work as a doctor without the diploma. But life is not easier at all, a lot of young people have not a defined purpose in live, and they are fighting with themselves, another example is people of lower and middle class, they usually do not have the same opportunities, their reality is very different. So they have to choose between safe jobs or follow their dreams fighting against the current. In conclusion, anything you would like want to do, do it for love, do not follow other people, you must not care about people say about you, about your life or decisions,
you just must follow your dreams and concentrate in which you love, most of the time a college degree does not mean you are more important than others, it just mean that you spent valuable time in something that you believed it was worth it. You must go ahead and demonstrate everybody that it is not necessary to have a college degree for to be someone in life. Just trust in yourself and never doubt your skills.
References Forbes. (2016, December 1st). Forbes. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/profile/richard-branson/ Kowsky, N. (July, 2015 21). Rock Star/Astrophysicist Dr. Brian May Goes Backstage With New Horizons. Retrieved from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/rockstarastrophysicist-dr-brian-may-goes-backstage-withnew-horizons Leef, G. (2013). Don't Buy The Hype, College Education Is Not An Investment. Forbes.
Thank you very much for reading my portfolio, I really hope that you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my level 6 experience. Sincerely, Steven Gaona