Entry 9 - Part 1: Writing Project- REFUGEES

 

We Refugees by Benjamin Zephaniah

The poem "We Refugees" written by Benjamin Zephaniah tells about people who had to flee or move from their countries due to different circumstances. It expresses issues such as discrimination, loss of culture, racism and the sense of freedom of expression and critical thinking. So I wonder to myself, why is there fear or discrimination if all the people in the world are intertwined for one reason or another?. In order to understand the subject, the sixth stanza says  "I come from a beautiful place where the valley is flooded every year and every year the hurricane tells us that we must keep moving forward", Benjamin discriminates one of the causes of being a refugee, it is clear that the reason by which people decide to leave their land vary according to the different situations that prevent them from progressing, or even more complicated, preserving their own lifes. Furthermore, in the fourth stanza, the author reflects on refugees and comes to the conclusion that everyone is a refugee at some point in life. Taking into account the history of each individual and their descendants, we all tend to be part of experiencing discrimination, abandonment of our culture, mixed feeling among others. Finally, the poem leads us to rethink that no one in the world is exempt from being a refugee, we all come from them, it is in history and that is why we all experience a change. After all, human history was built at one point by refugees.

Refugees by Brian Bilston

Brian Bilston poem "Refugees" offers a negative point of view towards people who have to flee or leave their countries of origin. In this case, he differentiates refugees from non-refugees by subtly persuading and emphasizing very unfavorable particularities. To begin with, the poem is nothing more than one stanza written in the third person of plural that seems to represent a sector of society that is indifferent to these circumstances. For example, at the beginning of the stanza ir reads "They don't need our help So don't tell me that these haggard faces could belong to you or me...". It could be said that society establishes a barrier between refugees highlighting inequality when it reads "...it is not okay to say that these people are just like us...". Of course I dare to say that these events are part or reality because the unknown or new tends to be rejected for the simple fact of generating fear and uncertainty. However, in most cases these events occur due to ignorance, lack of information or prejudice. To finish, I consider that the poem criticizes the society where it shows a fissure, on the one hand the refugees and on the other the people who do not agree to help them and believe, in some way, they are a superior race.

     This poem is a palindrome which means that it can be read both from top to bottom and from bottom to top. "Refugees" has two different perspectives, on the one hand it is pessimistic and on the other it is optimistic. In this opportunity, the reading of the poem will be analyzed from bottom up which has a totally opposite message to the previous analysis because they can be interpreted as addressing issues such as equality, empathy and solidarity. It could be said that the stanza is a criticism of people with lack of empathy but it also reinforces or affirms the ideal for those who are agree to help refugees. At the beginning of the stanza, it could be said that the author calls for non-discrimination when it reads "The world can be looked at another way Do not be so stupid to think that A place should only belong to those who are born there..." alluding to his intention to promote equality by questioning why people cannot live in a safe place even if it is not their place of origin. Of course empathy is essential and it is interesting the way it is carried out to reach the reader's perception, it makes us reflect and imagine on how terrible must be to be in a critical situation and it also refutes the prejudices that society imposes. Added to this, solidarity is another issue that allows us to rethink that no one is exempt from living a situation like this  and it concludes with "...These haggard faces could belong to you or me So do not tell me They have no need of our help.". Finally, I consider this poem represents society as a whole, with all the good and bad that goes with it. But above all, it makes us see that pride in the last expected moment can betray us.

Metacognitive analysis:

  After reading both "We Refugees" and "Refugees" poems, I have come to question over and over again why people are so apathetic to what is happening around them.

    It is true that there is a well-defined crack in society, but I also dare to say that slowly but continuously, these situations are being reversed as more and more people become aware of gravity while reflecting on gravity. itself.

  However, both Benjamin and Brian in their poems question the actions of society, since we all belong to the human race for what makes us equal. But I am also not unwise and I recognize that the media confuse and persuade individuals according to the political interests of each nation. That is why it is very important to be informed and achieve critical and autonomous thinking so as not to fall into media manipulation that only benefits a few.

   Refugees on an issue that concerns all human beings, land should not be worth more than a life and people should reconsider and show solidarity with those who need it most.

Entry 8: The Study of Language

    The book "The Study of Language, fifth edition" is a work  thinked  to knowing all about language from its origin to the key elements of language. It  implies differents social status and cultural beliefs among other, to understand meaning language and communication purpose.

 In this entry, you will have the opportunity to know a little about this edition in which you can see some chapters in the following Power Point presentations. 

CHAPTER 1: The Origins of Language  & CHAPTER 2: Animals and human language

The study of language fifth edition, chapter 1 and 2 de Erica Gisela Delgado

CHAPTER 11: Discourse Analysis

This chapter explains what discourse is. It is what gives language meaning in texts and conversations and it provides us all their characteristics such as cohesion and coherence among other. The first one gives us connection between paragraph within text and the second makes sense of what we perceive.

Chapter 11: Discourse analysis de Erica Gisela Delgado

CHAPTER 17: Language history and change

This chapter helps us to find out and understand all changes English Language has gone through. It involves the investigation of the features of older languages and the ways they developed into modern languages.

Chapter 17: Language history and change de Erica Gisela Delgado

CHAPTER 18: Regional variation in language

This chapter is related to different variations that language has, but it is most notorious in the way it is spoken.

CHAPTER 18: Regional variation in language de Erica Gisela Delgado

CHAPTER 19: Social variation in language

This chapter is related to language in social context. But it is especially focused on the variation in language use in terms of education and economic status. As a result languages varies according to upper and lower social status.Taking into account this aspect, Yule mentions the term "prestige" as a habitual element in which language can be used formal or informal in a particular situation.

CHAPTER 19: Language and Social Variation. de Erica Gisela Delgad

Source: George Yule, 2014. "The Study of Language,Fifth Edition". Cambridge University, New York. MPG Printgroups Ltd., Cambridge.

   The book "The Study of Language Fifth Edition" is an improved version of how language evolves through history. It explains the way it develops, it varies according to social status, and the different interpretation or meaning to the situation or context that is presented.

  It is very interesting to know the development of language because it mains purpose is to have access to communication before a previous necessity. To achieve this motive, humans need to use others sources such as physical features, for instance, teeth, lips, mouth, laryx and pharyx. In comparison to animals, humans can reflect on their action.

   Therefore, this characteristic can be observed in the ability to develop a language with a defined intention and  also with different explications according to intonation, register - among others - in a specific place or context. It is important to mention that a person who obtained a good education has better fluency and a greater amount of vocabulary than a person who did not obtain it. This advantage or disadvantage, depending on the place people are positioned, evidences two different social status, low and high, that divide the society inevitably.

     In addition, this volume provides us explanations and examples of how language changes depending on the social or educational level. But above all, it is interesting to find out how language varies in meaning or interpretation just because of context. 

     To conclude, this work helps us to understand the way language is constantly changing due to people needs. It varies between register, jargon, grammatical features -among others- and jointly they lead us the interpretation and the meaning in accordance with circumstances.   

Entry 7: Writing & Academic Writing

 WRITING

     Writing is not an ability that people acquire easily and naturally, it is a task that must be taught. Thence, learning or teaching how to write correctly is not just a thing of grammar or vocabulary but also a process that implies three stages. In addition to that, it is important to ask ourself what we want to convey to our audience or what could be interesting. So, the answer to these questions is to find a topic. Once we find a topic, we can assume all sub-skills to create, support, teach or learn a good piece of writing to have success in our productions.  

Academic Writing

  What is academic writing?

  Academic writing is clear, concise, focussed, structured and backed on by evidence. Its purpose is to aid the reader's understanding. It has a formal tone and style, but it is not complex and does not require the use of long sentences and complicated vocabulary. However, there are some general characteristics of academic writing that are relevant across all disciplines.

  Now I will share a brief summary related to both writing and Academic Writing key concepts.

Metacognitive analysis:

 Carrying out an effective academic writing means implementing writing strategies and providing support that argues or evidences what you want to communicate. So before I start writing about a specific topic, I must ask to myself what does an academic writing imply?

  To beging with, it is important to have knowledge about the writing processes. First, I must find a topic to develop and based on that, I must think about the background knowledge and what resources will support it. Second, I must think about the audience and the communicative purpose. And third, once I have finished writing, it is advisable to review and reread the work during and after to verify if what I wrote has coherence, cohesion, good grammatical use, order and unity.

    In addition to what is properly said, it is important to mention that during the writing process, evidence plays a very predominat role as it supports, reinforces, argues and enriches my writing. This documentation can be ideas collected from other authors or interviews. For this reason, it is essential to use hedging or boosting.

     Finally, the general structure of an acdemic writing implies an introduction - where I present the general and main idea along with the thesis statement; a body -where each paragraph has a specific topic along with its argument giving details and explaining the general and main topic; and finally, a coclusion - where in addition to giving a critical opinion with a clear posiion,I msut provide a summary of the thesis.

      To conclude, writing academically implies an introduction, body and conclusion on a main topic which is given different arguments that demonstrate what you want to communicate using strategies such as hedging, boosting, background knowledge and correct grammatical use. In my personal experience, I must confess that putting all this knowledge into practice is very overwhelming and difficult  to implement. 

    

      

           

Entry 6: Systemic Functional Linguistic

Systemic Functional Linguistic is a theory developed by M. Halliday in 1980, a descriptive and interpretative framework for viewing language as a strategic meaning making resource. SFL is theory about language as a social process , as well as analytical method which permits the detailed description of language patterns. 

The following presentation is related to Genre-based model language. Here you can find theory about grammar, text and genre.

A Genre-Based Model Language de Erica Gisela Delgado

Now, I will share with you two videos where you can get more information about the basic principles of SFL.

Then, I invite you to answer some questions related to the information given.

What do you want to do ?

New mail

Entry 5: Paragraph Organization

Academc writing is a very broad term that include a great number of different genres, such as research articles, essays, abstracts, papers among many others. Academic genres imply the use of formal English: words of Latin or French origin, no contractions, compound or complex sentences that begins with a TOPIC SENTENCE that is enlarged with examples, explanations, quotes, paraphrasing, statistics, and other instances of SUPPORTING MATERIAL. These sentences are placed IN GENERAL at the beginning of a paragraph, although INTRODUCTION and CONCLUSION paragraph are exceptions to this rule.


I invite you to watch the following video where you will find some more information about PARAGRAPH ORGANIZATION.






Summary:

TOPIC SENTENCE: It is the main theme or subject of the paragraph. It should be an interesting topic that catch the reader's attention.
You have to take into account the following characteristics:

• What is the subject?
• It should have an interesting topic.
• Giving an opinion on it.
• Not overly detailed.

BODY: It is the core of your writing. Here, you should place all of your supporting sentences, details and arguments. You can order them into two different ways: order of importance or chronology. The first concept implies to stand out the arguments. The second one refers to the ordering events.

CLOSING SENTENCE: This sentence reminds the audience what you are writing about and keep them thinking.

Source: Learn English with Alex (engVid). Published May 19th  2009. Parts of a paragraph- English Academic Writing Introduction. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=129&v=cCuExRE6N-4

Now I will share with you some examples of topic sentence:

Review: Topic Sentence

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 whrn they first made the barren trek in the days of the wheal rush. As I sit here in Washington writing this. I can feel their nearness. ( from Eric Sevareid, "Velva, North Dakota")

Topic Sentence: Many politicians deplore the passing of the old family-sized farm, but I'm not so sure.
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-sixed farm..."), and his main point is not that people moved away from the cities in the late nineteenth century.

2) The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggest 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 ru 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. A dvocates 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" [edited]).

Topic Sentence: There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death.
Explanation: This paragraph is a straighforward 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 was nothing to do with the content of the paragraph.

3) The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom--that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in space he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In space, speakin generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline. (from H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).

Topic Sentence: We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error.
Explanation: The topic sentence must emphasise the comparative nature of the paragraph. Mencken does argue that soldiers need discipline, but this is not all he argues in this paragraph. Likewise, while soldiers may well serve an important function in wartime, and while they may well be able to compete well in peacetime, neither of these points is discussed int he paragraph.

   This entry helps me to learn and improve little by little my writings process. I have to take into account many things at the moment of writing a text. Nowaday every time I read someting, I pay carefully attention on the topic sentence and the structure itself. 

Entry 4: Speech Acts

The following video is about "Speech Acts" developed by a British Linguist called J.L. Austin. He divides the Speech Acts into two different groups: Constatives and Performatives. As to Constatives (what "is"), they refer to words or sentences that describe something true or false. In contrast,  Performatives (what "do") include words or sentences that denote an action.  There are certain words in those actions or "speech acts" (ordering, promising, warning, sentencing, apologizing) whose source is a proper authority (authoritative), the message must be clear or understood, and be able to be executed. However it doesn't mean they are going to be followed; that will depend on the context and reception, also known as "felicity conditions". 

If you are interested to know more about J. L. Austin, please click HERE

Now I want to share with you a short multiple choice activity about Speech Acts: "THINK"

1) Which is not one of the parts of speech defined by Austin?
A. Constatives
B. Formatives
C. Performatives
D. None of the above

2) If the headline reads, "Heatwave", but the sky is cloudy and it feels cold outside, what best describes the headline?
A. It is a performative
B. The printers accidentaly printed yesterday's headline
C. It is a false constative
D. It is a grammar error

3) What is a Speech Act?
A. When people talk about what they are doing
B. When words are actions
C. A presentation that incites action
D.The constitutional amendment that allows for freedom of speech

4)Which felicity condition best describe a successful performative?
A. Authoratative
B. Understood
C. Clear
D. Able to be executed
E. All of the above

5) Just because a performative meets the felicity conditions and is clearly stated, it doesn't mean it's implicity followed.
A. True
B. False

Source: 

• Colleen Glenney Bogg. (October 3rd, 2013). "Speech act: Constative and performative". TED.ED. Available at: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/speech-acts-constative-and-performative-colleen-glenney-boggs

Metacognitive analysis:

    At another time in my life, the concept of the Speech Act was obviously unknown to me, yet it is heard, read and innately implemented on a daily basis. That is why the notion developed by J. L. Austin is very interesting to me and I must admit that it catches my attention because it makes me reflect on the purpose and idea of ​​sending a message.

     Likewise, words have a "why" and a "what for" that many times we have no notion of them. On this occasion, learning this topic was very productive and useful for me because it allows me to recognize what is performative and constantive, although on several occasions it is somewhat difficult for me to differentiate them.

     In addition, I realize that nowadays it is reported with false statements also with a defined purpose and at the convenience of a few. This type of knowledge helps us to build our own critical thinking without falling into manipulation and being persuaded with interests that do not benefit, allowing us to rethink and analyze whether the message is true or false.

Entry 3: How to cite correctly

There are several ways to cite a source (MLA, Turabian, Chicago). Here you have APA Citation Style.

Author(s). (Date). Title of Book/ "Title of Article"/ Title of Periodical/ Volume. Pages. Place of Publication. Publisher.

Journal or Magazine Article

• Wilcox, R. V. (1991). "Shifting roles and synthetic women in Star Trek: The Next Generation". Studies in Popular Culture, 13 (2), 53-65
• The teacher's magazine. April 2014. Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Grupo Adiba.

Journal or Magazine Article

• Dubeck, L. (1990). "Science fiction aids science teaching." Physics Teacher, 28, 316-318.

Newspaper Article

• Di Rado, A. ( 1995, March 15). "Trekking through college: Classes explore modern society using the world of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times, p. A3.
• Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). "Obesity affects economic social status". The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

Article from an Internet Database

• Mershon, D. H. (1998, November- December). "Star Trek on the brain:Alien minds, human minds". American Scientist, 86, 585. Retrieved July 29, 1999, from Expanded Academic ASAP database.

Book

• Okuda, M., &; Okuda, D. (1993). Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future. New York: Book Pocket Books.
• Dunne, B., &; Newton, R.(2019). "Go Up! 3 Student's Book". 1ra ed. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos aires: Santillana.

Article or Chapter

• James, N. E. (1988). "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth according to Kirk and Spock," in D. Palumbo (Ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic (pp. 219-223). Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Encyclopedia Article

• Sturgeon, T. (1995). Science foction, in The Encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 24, pp. 390-392). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
• White, P.D. (1998). Heart. In the Encyclopedia Americana. (Vol. 14, pp. 1-5). Danbury, CT: Grolier.

Website

• Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved from Psi Phi: Bradley's Science Fiction Club. Last visited: May 15th, 2020. Available at:

http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep 503 r.html

• English Language Teaching. 2019. Oxford University Press. from:  https://elt.oup.com/?cc=global&selLanguage=en

Notes

• Arrange the items on your reference list alphabetically by author, interfiling books, articles, etc.
• Use only the intitials of the author's first (and middle) names.
• If no author is given, start with the title and then the date.
• Magazine articles: include the month (and day) as shown under Newspapers.
• Websites: if the date the page was created is not given, use (n.d).