Summary of my English Experience Andrea Valenzuela English Language Program Yachay Tech, Ecuador
Summary of my English Experience Andrea Valenzuela English Language Program Yachay Tech Level 6 002 Teacher: Alyssa Wolfe January 10, 2017 Imbabura, Ecuador
Table of Contents: Portfolio Letter Response Essay Literary Analysis Interpretation Essay Argumentation Essay Final Research Project
Andrea Valenzuela andrea.valenzuela@yachaytech.edu.ec December 12th, 2016
Dear Portfolio Reader,
My name is Andrea Valenzuela. I am pleased to present some of my experiences that I learned in the Yachay University English Program. This letter contains specific examples of my growth in the English language, specifically my speaking and writing. I make comparisons between what I thought at the beginning of this English program and what I now think. I also share with you some of the skills that I gained during this program and memories shared with my classmates. My way of speaking and writing has improved because each level of the English program contributes to creating good works and developing new skills in these two areas. For example, in the area of speech, the presentations benefit me to have more fluency to speak in public. My favorite presentation was about "The influence of art in science" because this topic was of interest to me and I had prepared this work for a long time. For this reason, when I did my performance and presentation, I was very happy to share my research with my classmates. I think the subject matter is very important when you decide to make an essay or a presentation. In level 6 of English, the subjects are more critical and contain more postures. On the other hand, my writing is better compared to my first essays. I have more ability to use APA rules, and I have clear organization of a good essay. For example, at the beginning, I did essays with a thesis that was not very strong or I forgot to put quotes in
texts. Now, I have the facility to look for good information that gives value to my opinions. I remember the argumentative essay, in this essay I had to defend my point of view so, I researched a lot and put some examples and quotes that prove my position. Working in groups is a good opportunity to share ideas and correct mistakes. At Level 6, most work is shared with classmates. At the beginning, it is difficult to work as a group because you do not know your classmates but then, you think that it is necessary to work in a group. For example, the interpretation essay was a group essay. In my opinion, this essay was the funniest because my group chose an art of painting called "Tenderness" by Oswaldo Guayasamin and each one had a different and curious perspective. For example some of my classmates said that the eyes represent the love and others said that the eyes represent the fear of losing something. This means that when we finished this essay we talked about all aspects of painting and did a good essay. I believe that everything that I learned in the English program will serve me well in my academic development as I will soon have to face the fifth semester classes in English. Therefore, I must be prepared and practice my English daily so I don´t forget what I have learned. I will spend my time reading more articles in English and practicing my essays so as not to have problems related to this language. Thanks for reading my portfolio. In this work, you can see all my energy and dedication. I hope you feel interested in the proposed topics and enjoy reading them. I am sure that all this effort will bring beneficial results in my personal performance. Sincerely, Andrea Valenzuela
Response Essay
Formal Education have more advantages than Self-Education Andrea Alejandra Valenzuela Guerra L6-002 Yachay Tech University September 30, 2016
Formal Education have more advantages than Self-Education With formal education you can get a job faster than self-education. To understand the issue we must know these concepts: Formal education is the type of education that is imparted in a classroom with teachers while informal education, is the opposite, it is out of a classroom and you educate yourself in open places like libraries or museums (Enhancing Education, 2002). Formal education is more organized than informal education as the author says. Analyzing information article has enough examples to prove this assertion. The author’s main point about formal education have more success than self-education because the author gives some examples and cases where self-education the most of the cases fail. Formal education has more advantages than self-education because it does people to achieve goals through discipline, order and to progress skills. Formal education permits people to develop technical skills. For example if a person wants to study biology, this person can read several books on the subject, but when it comes to issues such as photosynthesis or bacteria cultures. You will not have a practical learning, only a general learning. In addition teachers give us guidelines, methods and experiences that will benefit us to have better development. I agree with this point of view of the author because it is true. For example if you stay in a class, you put attention but there is something that you don´t understand, you have more facility of making more questions a teacher, while with no selfeducation. Formal education provides the discipline while self-education don´t provide. When you are studying for yourself, it is difficult to have discipline because you don’t be obligated to do this activity. For example when you are at school or at school teachers will send your duties which somehow you learn to do something, or else when you're in class and the teacher teaches
the subject. “Formal education has grades, assignments, attendance requirements and all sorts of external incentives to keep you focused� (Young, 2010). It means that while you are studying when you just have your own orders and sometimes you convince yourself to leave for more than it is right. Formal education helps you to fulfill your responsibilities of a continuous and disciplined manner, teaching responsibility to accomplish your tasks to get to learn. I think this point is important and of interest that perhaps most students usually occur when you try to study alone. I agree with the above because I am a student and am aware that having discipline is difficult when you want to start something for which an incentive is needed and in this case may be formal education. This allows educators learn to complete an orderly manner and through processes that provide an immovable knowledge to be a professional in any field of science. Also the lack of discipline is one of the reasons why self-education fails. "Those external incentives probably remove some of the intrinsic joy of learning and create new stress, but they also make learning harder to ignore"(Young, 2010) It means that formal education can sometimes be exhausted and stressful. Sometimes it gives us pressure to do the things but that somehow does not permit that we leave aside learning. Because the moment we lose the interest in studying, the goals proposed are not carried out. Formal education could ensure your curriculum. Formal education is a process that takes place from childhood as plot, then school, then school and then university. Each of these stages requires the approval of the above so after college may get a title stating the practice and conduct of courses. Formal education is systematic and orderly, allows for a job more easily because you get your title-law can go to introduce jobs and have an answer. While self-education has no evidence that it has complied with the study. In addition, an education against the latter is that most education systems are formal and history so most people have this ideology and not much
openness to self-education. I think to have a curriculum is important because there is much competition of work these last times. An additional opinion or a feeling that this article left me was that formal education and self-education should go hand in hand because formal education can do a preview practice but self-education obtain theory about the topic of practical. For example I can get the theory of reading several books that I read before the useful and take the best of it, to apply in practice. If these two systems work together, a person would use to the maximum all the knowledge that is available to them and it would has a lot of success. Finally, formal education is a form of education that ensures a more practical and safe for learning a job. The most important arguments of formal education are related with discipline, skills development and curriculum. In my opinion this view is correct as formal education is the incentive to learn more.
References Young, S. H. (February, 2010). Why self-educated learners often come up short [Blog]. Retrieved from: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2010/02/24/self-education-failings/ Enhancing Education (2002). Formal vs. informal education? [Blog]. Retrieved from: http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/started/what/formal.html
Literary Analysis
The Setting is the House Andrea Alejandra Valenzuela Guerra L6-002 Yachay Tech University October, 2016
The Setting is the House Araby is a story written by James Joyce. This story is about an adolescent who lives in a usual neighborhood, following the rules of his family and living his childhood with his friends. He has a “crush” who called Magan´s sister who was the girl of his eyes because he always was thinking about her. One day, he promised to give her present of Araby bazaar but when he arrived it, the bazaar had closed its doors. He feels frustrated and sad because he didn´t achieve his promise. In this story, the setting is the narrator´s house (adolescent’s house) because permits to know the world of the adolescent and his feelings through the actions that he did in the house. The narrator´s house is the nature of the boy´s world. At the begging of the story, the narrator define his house with a lot of details. “The house is located in North Richmond Street where most of the houses had grown somber” (Joyce, 1914). This place doesn’t have much color and has some gardens, where the narrator and his friends used to play. “Play brought is through the dark muddy nabs behind the houses” (Joyse, 1914). When the narrator said that, He express that in this street, near his house, he plays with his friends, he enjoyed the place. Also it shows that maybe he didn’t play in his house and so he went out to the street. Around the house the sky have different color and there is quiet. The walls of the house are dark, the house has lights which turn on when the night arrives. In the street, there are some lights. Added, in the story talks about doors which it means that there are a lot of houses. All of these details are showed in the story as the life of the narrator. It permits to identify that the narrator comes of a reserved family. This place didn´t have deliquesce and the world of this boy was good and safe. The setting is related with the feelings of the narrator. The world of the boy, the house, was safe so it influences a lot in his personality of him because as the principal place where the story is development. It means that he is a boy of house or don´t go out a lot like parties or some
similar. The narrator is shy and quiet person because in the story said that when Magan´s sister arrived to this street, he went to the window of house to see her. For example in this phrase: “watched her from our shadow peer up” (Joyce, 1914). It said how he looked at her with anxious and nervous, how he loves her and how he didn´t said his feeling to her. In the story, there is extra place that complete the story which is the bazaar but the most settings is the house and its surrounds because it permits to know about the life and the habits of the narrator. Finally, the setting of this story is the house because permits to understand the life of the adolescent, his feelings, his thoughts and his personality. The house is located in North Richmond Street where the boy talk about his life with his friends, his games and his world. The setting of the story permits the narrator express his feelings like the love that he had of Magan´s sister. He expressed his shy and quit personality. In a story, the setting is a principal part because it does that reader know a lot of things of protagonist and use the imagination.
References Joyce J. (1914) Araby Retrieved from: The Dubliners.
Interpretation Essay
Tenderness-Oswaldo Guayasamin
Kevin Cardenas Vanessa Hinojosa Andrea Valenzuela L6-002 November, 2016
Tenderness-Oswaldo Guayasamin “My painting is two worlds. From skin for inside it is a scream against the racism and the poverty; from skin to outside it is the synthesis of the time that I had to live” O. Guayasamín. Oswaldo Guayasamín was an Ecuadorian painter, drawer, sculptor, graphic designer and muralist. His work is divided in three stages: Huacayñan, The Age of Anger and the Age of Tenderness. In the last stage he has more than one hundred of artworks. The importance of this piece of art is know the Ecuadorian art, culture and history. This painting has different elements like colors, shapes, characters which to be analyzed have a mutual interpretation. His work Tenderness pays tribute to mothers which protect and love their children despite adversities, and it is a symbol of defense of life. In this piece of art people can observe different elements such as color, figures and shapes. Tenderness is a painting done by the Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín in 1989. This type of work was done in oil on canvas with a measurement of 135x100 cm. The background of the painting has an opaque blue color, and in this painting there are a woman and a child. The woman has a combination of few colors which are the yellow and the brown. In addition, the woman has her eyes closed, and she frowns. Furthermore, she has a hump and her ribs are noticed, and she has her big hands and her arms are slender and elongated with which she is hugging a child while she rests her head on his. On the other hand, the child has the same colors of the woman's skin and he is just as thin as the woman and he does not show his hands. The child's face does not show happiness, he is serious, his eyes are open and they are dark which are highlighted with a sky blue color. The painting tenderness transmits feelings and situations through all its elements. The title is Tenderness because it reflects the affection that the women has to child. It is the adjective that describes delicacy, sweetness, pure and gratuitous love, and it suggests that the woman is the
child’s mother. The use of warm and pure colors to paint the mother and the child gives warmth to the bond that unites them. Also, colors are similar to the colors of the earth. The colors that used more were the blue ones, yellow and green that when contrasting with the black and white they aroused much the attention of the spectator. The position of the child in the center of the mother and the embrace of the mother represents how the protection of the mother's womb remains beyond childbirth. Moreover, the frowns seem like the mother does not want to set free the child. On the other hand, the mother's eyes reflect her love, while those of the child convey their naivety and delicacy. Besides, the hands looks like the hands of indigenous people that work in the agriculture, and the shape of the lips and the ribs show the mistreatment or suffer of them. Additionally, eyes and nose are reflections of the world of the indigenous. The main point of the author is the love of mothers, the wish to protect their children, and to reflect the reality of indigenous people. The title and the affection of the mother to the child show the strong link between mothers and their children, and it is a way to express the love, delicacy, and sweetness that mothers have. Also, the earthy colors relate mother with the earth. The earth give us food and it is generous like mothers are with their children. Moreover, the hug that the mother gives to her child shows as she tries to protect him, and it express the wish that life continues. In the same way, the frown of the mother is because she want not set free the child. It is interpreted as the mother want to avoid suffer of the child and the wish that the child has a better future. Additionally, the agriculture hands and their bony ribs is an expression of suffer, mistreatment and abuse that indigenous people had. Besides, the look of the child express the naivety and delicacy, it could be interpreted as hope for a better life. Finally, the painting tenderness is composed of a diversity of elements like shapes, colors and figures which communicates moods and states. The analysis of all these elements permits obtain a meaning of the artwork. The interpretation of this painting is the love of the mother, the
requirement to defend her child, and to reproduce the authenticity of indigenous people. Tenderness of Oswaldo Guayasamin send a message that the love of a mother is infinity and she always will protects us.
References
Casalino D. (2016) Oswaldo guayasamĂn’s tenderness Retrieved from: http://www.pixelle.co/oswaldo-guayasamin/ Universia Ecuador. (2013). Descubre. Available at: http://noticias.universia.com.ec/en portada/noticia/2013/06/13/1030108/descubre-ternura-oswaldo-guayasamin.html
Argumentation Essay
Language and Ethics Andrea Alejandra Valenzuela Guerra L6-002 Yachay Tech University November, 2016
Language and Ethics Do you know that language is present on ethics? The language is universal but each person has different form of use. Language can convince others person about your ideas. Language is based in your experiences and in your knowledge. Language is related with the moral of a person. However, the language is modify to don´t said the true of you and there is a case where language is separate of ethics. Language has a greater effect on ethics because it has the power to convince, of express your moral and introduce about yourself. Language persuades people to do actions. There are people who has a good development with the language, with a big vocabulary. In fact, they use that to convince people to follow their opinions. For example, when you are a cars store of double use, the seller tries to convince you to buy the car. You like a car but you don´t know that this car has a fail in the door, but the seller said that the car is excellent and you believe him. In this example, the ethics is abstract but it is here because the seller isn´t ethic because He is causing fail to other person and language is used to achieve this action. You must also consider actions that are good of ethics in where language persuade to people. Language transmits an idea about yourself on your thought. The article [How Morality changes in a Foreign Language said that “There´s strong evidence that memory intertwines a language with the experiences and interactions through which that language was learned”. In other words, our language is founded on our memories, our childhood, and our experiences. For example, if a family is strong, direct and very reserved, the language of the children will be clear and direct without surrounds. Other example is when a person has a bad experience in your life like to be, in the jail, the language of this person could change and to be more vulgar or sad language. Most convincingly language is influenced of our experiences.
The language affects the moral of a person. The moral of the person could change depending of what language we are speaking like French, Spanish or English. For example, when we speak in other language or read something in other language the words don´t have the impact that the native words because we or the writer search words that are related with the context but we don´t express the real meaning with the feeling. “Reading these in a foreign language rather and less weight on intentions in making moral judgments” (Sedivy, 2016). For this reason the moral of the person change depending of the language that he speaks. Sometimes Language affects ethics of the persons. Language doesn´t affect ethics because ethics could go separated of feelings. For example a judge, he should very strict to take a decision, his language should express the true and the real meaning. However, the ethics is present here because he has to follow the ethics of the laws. For example, the judge should follow the rules to don´t cause problems between persons and create peace between the both sides. In fact, the language affects ethics and moral because language is used in the morality of the person, is used in situations that it needs to persuade. The language transmits what you learned when you are a child. Although there are cases that ethics are abstract, language always relate with ethics and moral. For example this reason, we have to use the language safely and in the correct moment.
References Seduvy J. (September, 2016) “How morality change in a foreign language� Scientific American Retrieved from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how _morality_changes_a_foreign_language/
Final Research Project:
Ethics of the Robots Andrea Alejandra Valenzuela Guerra L6-002 Yachay Tech December 07, 2016
Abstract
The present research titled: the ethics of robots. This work is about the concept of ethics, robots and the relationship between these two. Topics such as Roboethics and artificial intelligence will be discussed. The purpose of this research is to make known to people that the ethics of humans influence considerably in a robot since humans are in charge of the construction and autonomy of these intelligent machines. Research was done in several science journals, web pages and robotics books. To fulfill this purpose will be presented several examples and arguments such as ethics and humans, laws to build a robot and robotic inventions. After having checked this information, it is concluded that the ethics of humans affect a robot, so humans have a great responsibility when they create a machine of this type, since the consequences could be beneficial or harmful to the same human being as for society as well.
The Ethics of the Robots If a robot is ethical: Is it because of themselves or because of who built them? Ethics is the active responsibility of the human being that must main him to his personal excellence, the promise that one acquires with oneself of being always more person (Velasquez, 2015). A robot is a machine that can be used to do occupations. Particular robots can do work by themselves while other robots need to have a person telling them what to do (National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], 2009). The topic of robotics is very important due to the accelerated development of technology in recent times, an example of this advance are the robots. Robots have become a solution to everyday problems of people. Robots follow the orders of humans so they must follow the rules and principles of humans. These principles and rules come into contact with society, involving the theme of the ethics of humans, creators of robots. At present, there are specific sciences that analyze how robots interact with humans, called Roboethics, and another deeper science in the area of robotics called artificial intelligence that is in charge of studying the autonomous development of a robot. The ethics of people with respect to robotics have limits, which laws were issued by Issac Assimov (Ashrafian, 2005). These laws deal with the rules that should be followed when designing a robot. People´s ethics influence considerably in a robot because humans are the creators of design, autonomy and decision-making (logic side) of these intelligent machines. Ethics are present when we talk about humans and robots. Robots are subject to the ethics of people as humans build them. Ethics is the study of human behavior to decide between what is good and bad, as we said at the beginning of this paper, ethics deals with the responsibility of the human to achieve its perfectionism. So when humans create a robot, they take into account the objective with which they create a robot. There is an area of study called robotic ethics.
“Roboethics is related to with the behavior of humans, how humans project, construct, use and treat robots and other artificially intelligent lives” (Bionic Gates, 2016). The term Roboethics was invented by roboticist Gianmarco Veruggio in 2002 (Bionic Gate, 2016). In other words, there is a specific area that studies the ethics of humans with respect to robots. The robots are a very advanced invention with a lot of systems and programs which fix that this machine work. For this reason we can say that the ethics of humans is directly related to the ethics of robots, which governed by three fundamental laws. The construction of a robot follows three important laws. In order to build a robot, three important laws must be taken into account that allow robots to interact with society. These laws are satisfied and the ones that define them are as good as the bad ones that robots speak. Robotics or people who study robots must permit these rules because there are no longer any ethical snakes in their creations. Besides the ethics of people could be bad. Also, when talking about ethics we talk about getting to perfectionism and respect for others. “The Three Laws of Robotics formulated by science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov: robots may not hurt humans (or through indecision allow them to come to damage); robots must obey human orders; and robots must protect their own survival” (Ashrafian., 2005). According to The Economist (2012): “As robots become more autonomous, the notion of computer-controlled machines facing ethical decisions is moving out of the realm of science fiction and into the real world”. This means that in no way can a robot affect the welfare of a human being. These rules permit that human was ethical. In fact, robots must be ethical, right that is provided by its creators. Artificial intelligence is an area of study that involves humans and the autonomy of robots. At present, several discoveries have been carried out that try to get a machine to be autonomous. That is, they can make their own decisions. In general this area of study is called
artificial intelligence. Humans are the main creators, manipulators of these intelligent machines. But so far it has not been possible to create a robot that is autonomous enough for decision making. There are several institutions that are responsible for the study of the logic of robots, which are integrated by humans. The artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics societies face an important ethical decision: whether to support or oppose the development of mortal autonomous arms systems (Stuart, 2015). “Humans seamlessly integrate perception, cognition and action. We use our sensors to assess the state of the world, our brains to think and choose actions to achieve objectives, and our bodies to execute those actions. My research team is trying to build robots that are capable of doing the same — with artificial sensors (cameras, microphones and scanners), algorithms and actuators, which control the mechanisms” (Veloso,2015). “I think that robots will complement humans, not supplant them” (Veloso, 2015). All these examples show that there is a limit to make an autonomous machine, and that limit is human beings. To create an autonomous robot would be to overcome ourselves. So humans are responsible for a robot working well or badly. Robots are the future, but that future depends on humans. In general the future depends on us, in which we want to happen and a facilitator is the robot in which we place all our intentions. Most convincingly, the ethics of human beings mainly influence a robot, therefore in the actions of the robot itself in society. It is true that humans are in charge of the creation of the robots, but in the case that the humans create a robot which can create other robots, the robot could be in charge of the ethics of the new robot. Another of the cases is that: if humans are responsible for the creation of robots, they take care of the logical part of them, so when robots make decisions, these decisions are the responsibility of humans but how successful are these decisions. The ethics of people does not
always influence robots, since there are people who create robots because someone else is forcing it. In the case that a robot is created to create another robot, the human being is in charge of this compound process because he must program how that robot will create the other robot and that means that it must put limitations on the robot. Everything must be calculated. It is not only that a person is in charge of the logical part, it is a group of people who are manipulating and verifying through many tests that the robot works correctly, they must follow laws. Also there are new inventions that permit create a robot with laws. For example a google´s app which limit a robot’s abilities so that it endures to develop down the path wanted by the researchers, not by the robot itself (Templeton, 2016). Although the person who is obliged to build a robot does not directly influence the decisions that the robot is going to take, it is free to say no and do not perform this activity, ethics is immersed in any decision we make. The ethics of people is expressed in the inventions that they make. To a robot we could see for two sides: the robot like a necessity or a tool to satisficed our wishes. If the human see a robot like a necessity to develop his activities, he make a robot which only achieve these necessities, complying with laws. On the other hand, the human see a robot like a tool to satisficed his wishes, he create a robot without laws or without respect to other because he wants to achieve his wish. Of course not all desires are bad but there are examples of robots that have been created for an individual good and not a common good. Take Nixie, the wearable camera that can fly off your wrist at a moment’s notice and take aerial shots around you. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such technology could be abused (Selinger, 2015). In February, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help (Selinger, 2015). ViRob Miniature Medical Robot is about a machine that
crawl through the human body, locate a tumor, and treat it with drugs. Puma is other example that helped doctors perform prostate surgery on a patient (Robots and Androids). The human is able to build a lot of things related with intelligent machines. These example are a small sample of the vastness of robots that the human created. The human has an important role when he create a robot, the role to do an ethical robot or not ethical robot. This decision depends of his thoughts, conviction and goals. In others words, a robot depends of if the person is ethical or not. The ethics of people is directly involved in the creation of a robot because a robot cannot exist without having been created by a human. Ethics is existing when we dialog about humans and robots. The structure of a robot monitors three important laws. Artificial intelligence is a part of study that includes humans and the self-sufficiency of robots. The ethics of people is articulated in the discoveries that they make. The future will be a positive one if humans and robots can help and complement each other. People have a great responsibility in our hands. In other words we are responsible for the future of humanity since it depends on how ethical we are in realizing our discoveries, what goals will have.
References Bionic Gates (2016) Robots and Ethics Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150812-how-to-tell-a-good-robot-from-the-bad Brown G. (2009) Global ethic vs. national interest Retrieved from:
https://www.ted.com/talks/gordon_brown_on_global_ethic_vs_national_interest/transcrip t?language=e Deng B. (July, 2015) Machine ethics: the robot’s dilemma. Recovered from:http://www.nature.com/news/machine-ethics-the-robot-s-dilemma-1.17881 Lin P., Abney K., Bekey G., (2012) Robot ethics: the ethical and social implications of robotics
Recovered
from:
https://books.google.com.ec/books?hl=es&lr=&id=oBb-
lt3l4oYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Ethics+and+robots&ots=yuhOy2F2Wi&sig=SsVYm5cZMyy SiE94QKeZXEGeQBI#v=onepage&q=Ethics%20and%20robots&f=false National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] (2009). Roboethics Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasaknows/what_is_robotics_k4.html Veloso M. (May, 2015) Robotics: Ethics of artificial Intelligence. Recovered from: http://www.nature.com/news/robotics-ethics-of artifici al-intelligence-1.17611 Selinger (2015) Robots and the rights of humans. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencealert.com/deus-sex-machina-the-ethics-of-robot-love The Economist (2012) Morals and the machine. Retrieved from: http://www.economist.com/node/21556234
Thank you for reading all my hard work during the English Program. I hope you have been interested in some of these issues. Sincerely, Andrea Valenzuela