domingo, 29 de octubre de 2017

Portfolio entry #14 - Final reflection

Having a portfolio in which I can keep track of my writing process is undoubtly a wise decision. Firstly, the portfolio has help me to quickly go back to any of my note without spending to much time re-reading all the material. Secondly, it has also help me to keep track of my writing perfomance and now I am more aware which aspects of my writing style I have to polish for the future. Last but no least, having a completed portfolio is also a great tool in term of sitting for the final, as my records can be used a study note in order to have a clear idea of terms we have seen during the attendance. All in all, the implemention of the the portfolio in a classroom was totally a reliable tool as I could obtain many befenit from my own experience. As a result, I can now study in a more effecient way than I used to. 

Portfolio entry #13 - Reflection: "Improvements of the Writting skill"

At the beginning of the attendance, I found myself questioning how to improve my writing skill. At first, I was a bit lost, but as soon as I started to read the material from the course, I was able to acquire some tools to polish my writing skill. As time went by, I was capable of detecting my weak points and correct them by applying the theory we were taught in class. As a result, I ended up writing coherent and cohesive sentences in my paragraphs. Needless to say, I strongly believe that this course helped me to improve my writing ability, but I also admit that I need more time to keep practising, as I only have reached the surface of this time-consuming process. However, I think that I will be able to achieve that goal in a distant future. 

Portfolio entry #12 - Videos

Analisys #1



In this video, the concept of "accent" is being emphasized as we can clearly distinguish that the main speaker comes from another country. Despite of the fact that he claims he speak perfect, his arabic roots still present in his accent and pronouncation.

Analysis #2


In this skecth, the term "dialect" is being conceptualized. Even though they all the speakers belong to the same social group, they have different forms of using grammar and voculary to identify themselves as people.

Analysis 3#


In this video, the concept of "ideolect" is being conceptualized. The French inspector needs to acquire a perfect english prouncation in order to pass unnoticed. That's to say, he has to pretend to sound like other inside a different social group. 



Portfolio entry #11 - Chapters 18, 19 & 20.


jueves, 28 de septiembre de 2017

Portfolio entry #9 - Thesis Statement



Thesis Statement

Definition: It is a specific unit that supports your essay. Good thesis statements are not observations, questions. In fact, Thesis statements includes accurate opinions and reasoning. 

Parts of Thesis Statements:

1. Topic/The subject: It is topic of your essay. 
2. Claim/The precise opinion: It is your actual option about topic of your essay. 
3. Reasons that support your claim/Blueprints of reasons: This is the most aspect of a thesis statement. This where you show your reader how you will be arguing and proving your opinions. Al least, there should be 3 strong pieces of evidence that supports in your opinion. Generally, the evidence is developed thought out the body of your essay. 

Different ways of listing our reasons in our Thesis Statement:

1. You can include them at the end of the Thesis Statement
2. You can include them at the beginning of the Thesis Statement
3. You can include them in the next sentence. 

Sources:
Nawal Nader. (2010). How to write an A+ Thesis Statement. Retrieved September 28, 2017, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HePQWodWiQ
Chris Heafner. (2011). Thesis Statements – How to Construct and Compose (A Review). Retrieved September 28, 2017, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfUkhdh8Z08

sábado, 23 de septiembre de 2017

Portfolio entry #8 - Literary Essay

Minorities in the 70s and 80s

Bono from U2, Sir Elton John and Sting are iconic singers who were able to show how people “Homosexual and Humanitarian minorities” felt in the 70s and 80s, through songs such as “Where streets have no name”, “All the girls love Alice” and “An English man in New York”. These songs played the prime role of storytellers, as the lyrics reflected the main concerns that these minorities had to live inside of a narrow-minded society.
“All the girls love Alice”, written by Elton John in 1973, was the first controversial song in which the main character was lesbian teenager. The writer of the song addresses lesbianism as “It’s like acting in a movie when you got the wrong part”, referring to the fact that the lack of freedom was so non-existent that the sixteen year girl felt as if she had been “separated from the wheat from the chaff”. As a result, the teenager found herself in such state of confusion that she wasn’t able to express freely her own sexual orientation, thus making her feel out of place; out of context; out of society; even from their own peers.
In 1988, Sting was the second singer who started to introduce gay characters in their songs. The song “An English man in New York” was based on Quentin Crisp, a homosexual model and writer who lived his life normally and openly, despite of the constant accusations he had to face at that time. The lyrics described the life of this person as “I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien. I’m an English in New York” referring to the fact that he was just like the rest of the society, but due to his sexual orientation, he felt like an outcast within the community.
In 1987, Bono from U2, released the song “Where the streets have no name” which went beyond the problems of sexual orientation. In fact, the main focus of the writer was primarily humanitarian minorities which were unnecessarily suffering from the civil war between Ireland and Northern Ireland division. The main reason behind of the repetition of the stanza “where the streets have no name” along the song was to show Bono’s main concern about the war. His concern was that people shouldn’t lose the feeling of caring despite of the social issues. In fact, he addressed that being a street with no names meant that we were equally the same and that labels shouldn’t exist between people.

To sum up, these singers were committed to fulfil the difficult role of storytellers of these different minorities. These minorities got the voices they actually needed to express, which at that time, wasn’t possible to achieve; the feeling of freedom and acceptance from bigger social groups. 

domingo, 17 de septiembre de 2017

Portfolio Entry #7 - FROM PARAGRAPH TO ESSAY


From paragraph to essay by Cristian Zarza

Sources:
  • Mnecidisi Christian Maphalala (2017), University of Zululand, South Africa "The classroom as learning communities" Retrived September 17, 2017 from Sabinet: https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-77db5849d?fromSearch=true
  • CL Gray (2015) "Allergic prevention: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" Retrevied September 17, 2017 from Sabinet: https://journals.co.za/content/caci/28/3/EJC175909?fromSearch=true
  • Teshni Moodley (20) "Runny nose - Not always allergy" Retreived September 17. 2017 from Sabinet: https://journals.co.za/content/caci/23/1/EJC22541?fromSearch=true
  • What is better purchase: LCD TV or Plasma TV?" Retreived September 17. 2017 from Pencraft: https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/compare-contrast/lcd-vs-plasma.html

viernes, 8 de septiembre de 2017

Portfolio Entry #6 - WELL WRITEN PARAGRAPH


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How to write a good paragraph

Topic sentence
  • You start with a topic sentence.
  • Decide what you will be writing about ( topic, genre, field, goal, audience, etc.)
  • Topic sentences often can be personal opinions.
  • Don't overload it with details. Save it for the body of the paragraph!
Body
  • Write in a fixed order so your readers can follow the reading (Chronology)
  • Write from least important argument to the most important (Orden of important)
Closing sentences
  • You remaind your audience what they are reading.
  • Your main objective is to make your readers keep thinking.

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Examples of Topic sentences:
  1. I saw around Velva a release from what was like slavery to the tyrannical soil, release from the ignorance that darkens the soul and from the loneliness that corrodes it. In this generation my Velva friends have rejoined the general American society that their pioneering fathers left behind when they first made the barren trek in the days of the wheat rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this, I can feel their nearness. (from Eric Sevareid, "Velva, North Dakota"

    Explanation: Sevareid argues that farming is destructive as a way of life, no matter what romantic notions are attached to it. He is not writing about the productivity of farms, about his own life story ("I grew up on a family-sized farm..."), and his main point is not that people moved away from the cities in the late the nineteenth century.
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  2. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (from Debra Blank, "The Eternal Quest")

    Explanation: This paragraph is a straightforward description of two possibilities, neither of which is preferred over the other. In this case, it would be wrong to mention only one of the possibilities (the "internal time clock") in the topic sentence, or to treat it as a philosophical discussion of death itself ("we all must die..."). As for the biology professor, He or she might very well have given an interesting lecture, but that has nothing to do with the content of the paragraph.
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  3. In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

    Explanation: It is not enough simply to list all of the arguments in the paragraph ("People in Montreal drive faster..."), or to pick only one point to hilight ("People in Calgary are careful of pedestrians"). Instead, the topic sentence should highlight the interpretative nature of driving habits and their regional variations. Since the paragraph stresses the differences among drivers in different parts of the country, it would be entirely wrong simply to state in the topic sentence that "Canadians do not follow traffic signals properly."
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Dorothy Turner. Writing paragraphs: "Review: Topic Sentences". Retrieved September 8, 2017 from The writing centre - University of oUttawa's website http://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar/writing-paragraphs/review-topic-sentences
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jueves, 11 de mayo de 2017

Portfolio Entry #3 - SPEECH ACTS


There are two types of statements that can be categorised into two different terms: Constatives and performatives. Constantives are sentences that describe something true or flase. On the other hand, performatives are sentences that denotes actions. These actions(words) depends on context and reception (Felicity conditions) in order to be implemented in the world. When words are considered actions themselves, they are considered speech acts and they include the functions of ordering, requestion and so on. However, permofatives can be followed or ignored.