The 15/16 year blog, used in International English VG2
onsdag 1. juni 2016
School Year of International English
in Review- 2015/16
This
school year of International English
has been quite informative and interesting. I have learned a lot, history of
the English language, about immigration, the digital revolution, global challenges
and education/work abroad. I also improved my history knowledge by
incorporating it in my projects, even if I did not know so much about what I chose,
I quickly learned new information, which I can use in the future.
Personally,
I found the larger tasks that we did this year thought provoking, to say the
least, some of them are things we do not think about in our daily life. For
example, the global challenge concerning the future of the global financial
system. It is not something people really think about (if you are not an economist), but it is of
large importance to why the job market is what it is, people just write it off
as something too complicated to understand. Modern slavery is not something
that is talked about much in the media, even though tens of millions people is
in bondage, right now. The big topics I worked on, I have enjoyed them to some
degree, because they encompass unusual subjects, which make you think. I am
probably on of the few in class that enjoyed the “Reluctant Fundamentalist”; the book gave us an interesting point of
view of Media’s res, back and fourth, throughout the story. It had a strong
message of the American dream and in what ways it changed people. The In-depth work
we did was probably, the largest topic I have worked on to date, but felt it
was fulfilling in its own right. Something I had not really studied before and
would probably not know much about if it were not for my knowledge of American history.
I thought the work was good training for the future, being able to write a
bigger in scope paper.
I
found the use of the blog as an interesting writing and communication method,
not always delivering boring documents was a nice change of pace. You could see
errors later and fix them before a deadline, instead of delivering them on the
spot. It also made your learning experience more personally designed, with
pictures and videos. This could potentially attract other students better to
read your content and get feedback, compared to sharing a black and white
paper.
When
I think about personally, I do not have any particular criticisms. However, if
I had to say the least interesting things we did was English grammar. I
improved my English writing skills immensely, compared to last year, but I
still do not find it too interesting to acquire. The spot checks was not
particularly fascinating either, maybe because we do something similar in
almost all classes.
In
conclusion, it has been a fun English school year and one of my favorite
courses, up there with history classes. I broadened my history knowledge and
learned about several different new issues.
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights. A document containing
30 articles of human rights all people in the world should have, and even
though the world have been through much progress towards it, there is not freedom for all.
Chosen pictures: number one, three and four.
Picture
number one connects with article number 18 in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, especially freedom of thought and conscience. When, for example, a
person like Edward Snowden works at a job that gives him a lot information that
he feels is wrong, it gets on his conscience and effects his decisions. It
might make whistle- blowers feel bad and decide to release it to the public. This
is illegal, but it consists with the freedom of thought and continence, also speech. It is
important to speak your mind, when you have something on your continence and think it is wrong, but where should the limit
go? Should the whistle- blowers do illegal things for what they think is right,
even if they might release information that might “weaken” countries’ defences, or is the information they want to
release an unavoidable evil in the defence of a country, breaking liberties of
the people.
Education is as an important part of the rights of people
around the world, because without education a country cannot prosper and
evolve. According to the Global Development Goals of 1990, every child should
attend and complete primary school by 2015. They were not able
to reach the goal, but people attending school has steadily gone up and youth
literacy rate has increased from 83% to 91%. Many think that education is good, but
still, there are children that have to work instead of being able to attend
school and females under Taliban rule are forbidden going to school. The new development goals
continue having education for all as a goal for 2030; they are making great
strides for it.
Slavery has effected the world throughout history, but what
people do not think about anymore is that slavery still exists in the world
today. It is an extreme violation of the human right according to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and come in four versions, forced labour, child
trafficking, sexual slavery and organ trafficking. Recognized by almost all
countries as illegal, modern slavery still goes on in the form of exploiting
people in weak circumstances and in unstable countries. It is harder to deal
with than before, because the trade is not a product of a country, but of
black-market dealers and crime networks across the world. This makes it harder
for the authorities to put a stop for it, as the demand for it continues. Using
war-torn countries like Syria to collect people or lying to young girls in Eastern Europe about a
future in wealth. This problem should get more attention, but maybe fixing the
country’s problems first will make the criminals go away when authorities step
in.
The message conveyed in the first picture is about freedom
and justice for whistle-blowers, people demonstrating for Edward Snowden’s
freedom in China. It also depicts people truly believing that the united
States, one of the most powerful countries in the world, are wrong in their
judgement of Snowden, a man on the charges of treason. It could also say that people
in Hong Kong (where the picture takes place) seems to care about freedom of
speech and thought, compared to mainland China, which has been criticised for breaking personal
freedom.
Compared to the first picture, the next one is an edited
picture that wants you to understand the right to education. The picture also shows children, who are the main target for primary
education and the people that need it the most. The message could also be children
who were previously helpless got help, being able to go to school. This is
something that maybe children in western countries take for granted, while
children in developing countries sometimes dreams about doing.
The last picture could
be a billboard depicting a message of slavery. In addition, how it could be for
them. It shows all forms of modern slavery and indentured servitude and is a
problem that still persists and makes a huge sum of money, seen as it is
growing even now.
The most important trafficking according to UNDOC (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), is sexual exploitation, it is the most
common form of human trafficking and accounting for 79% of all trade. This is because it is a high
demand and flourish in war-torn countries, where they force people into slavery.
The second largest one with 18% is forced labour, needed because people do not
want to pay their workers enough. This even plagues a country like the USA
where farmers hire labour and then treats them poorly and even do
not pay them, making them indentured servants until they get payed. The thing
that worries the most, country authorities are ignoring or flat-out denying
that it happens in their country so they do not need to take responsibility or
do not want to look bad.
Firstly, picture 1 has some convincing ascetics that makes
you connect to article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Even
though some of the letters in the pictures are in Cantonese, you can presume
that it says something of Edward Snowden’s freedom and that the US government
is wrong on their judgment of him. It depicts protesters, which further
validates the stand that the picture wants to take, also a picture of Edward
Snowden helps. In all, the message they are trying get into the minds of the
people is effective, but does not capture all of article 18 content, like
religion.
Picture number 2 captures well article 26 and its message
captured in the picture, but still sugar- coats the realism of the situation
with children without education. The picture portrays children who are
learning, this fits well with learning. On the other hand showing children who
do not have education would give the message something more impactful to it and
match the message.
Lastly, the human trafficking picture conveys its meaning seemingly
strong, showing strong pictures that support its message. There does not seem
to be any negatives to this picture, other than it might be too strong for
children to see, but the message matters most. The “illustrations” in the image
are creative and do not “pull any punches”, you understand what it wants to
convey easily.
In conclusion, the pictures
tell what they want to tell and are quite effective at it. It is important to
talk aboutand discuss these topics to have a better
understanding of the world and to be betterinformed of things that people might not think of in
their daily lives.
“The
migrant” is about a woman who is on her way to hopefully, a new home. I think
she is quite uncertain and nervous about her new surroundings. She appears to be on a very long journey considering that she can not remember where she
came from or by what means she got there. But as many other poems, I think this
one represents a double meaning. I believe this poem symbolize the journey that many people have through their lives, being stuck in transit, being nervous
about what will happen next. In nervous or bad situations people often try to think
back at what got them into the situation in the first place, but this woman can not. They think about what some people have to go through in their lives, the hard
stuff, but also a uncertain future from the moment they are in. I think the
text also represents a migrants view about experiencing a new place for the
first time, learning a new language, reading foreign magazines and using new
currency.
In 2008, the great recession happened and the world would know the
downside of a globalized world. Many people that made it through poverty for
some prosperity were relentlessly taken down again, even people who had good jobs
in a western country were impacted. Loosing their houses because they could not pay there
mortgages, after been laid off at work. An interconnected world that gave rich
people even more money, ignoring the signs of an economic collapse, and then it
happened. An economic crisis the world had not seen since the great depression, impacted
most of the world, resetting many years of economic growth, which would set the
world back many years.
However, what about the future?
Well after
the economic collapse the world had to rebuild, it took a few year for the
economy to rebuild, but this did not affect the people, the workers. You see,
for the workers to get jobs, the infrastructure had to reconstruct, this was the problem for many. Now finally people have
gotten jobs, but the economy world wide have actually stagnated. The economy expects to develop with
an even more interconnected world, especially "BRIC" countries are taking a new
economic stance in the world, not just western ones.
1b) If I could suggest an English-language medium the ROC could use to promote their campaign for cheaper Olympics worldwide, I would suggest to use the newscast. Many, especially adults and elders, watch the newscast. The newspaper is not that popular anymore, because more people choose to watch the news on TV. Photos, videos, audio and text make it easier for us to understand and remember. Radio and newspaper however, have only one or a few of these aids. Commercials and advertisement are examples that have an impact on us because they provides the necessary funds. Viewers get a vivid image with sound that catches our attention.Things you say on the internet tend not to be taken as seriously, if you do not have a high number of followers, compared to TV where people feel a bigger impact when they see it on the television.
1a) This text is definitely formal, it is meant to be a letter to the world and especially to the International Olympic Committee about changing the direction the Olympics are heading towards. The text does not use informal words and seems to be directed to adults.
In the sentence “These games in Russia are part of a terrible trend sliding inexorably towards greed, overindulgence, capitalistic commercial interests and nationalistic narcissism”, they could have simply written “These games in Russia are a part of a terrible trend”, but they added adjectives to further amplify their point, making use of amplification. There is use of analogies to, comparing a “overindulgence path is the path to ruin” with the Olympic games heading for inevitable derailment. There is seemingly quite a bit of rhetoric behind the text seen as it is trying to persuade the reader to their point. There are many language features such as verbs and adjectives to make their point, another feature they use is a formal voice that seemingly has an opinion but does not say “I think” or other opinionated words.
a)Steriotypes that
americans have had about eachother are many but here are som examples, the
Germans were immoral and drank bear on Sundays (no bear drinking on the resting
day), Norwegians were simpleminded (the farmers mentallity, nothing else),
the Irish were ignorant and alcoholic (made a lot of potatoe vodka), Poles were
stupid (farmers country) and Italians were criminals (formed gangs).
b)The two groups that
have focus in multicultralism in America are the Mexican Americans and
American Muslims. Mexicans because of how many speaks that spanish, rather then
English. A big problem is that there are over 6 million illigale immigrants in
the States looking for work and that hispanic gangs contribute a large part to
the american crime.
Muslims
in america is also under the microscope, said to be assosiated with terrorsim
after 9/11. Other americans feel that their being threatened by them, even
though there are a small religious group there. Steriotypes about Muslims have also
made it happened, people failing to see that the actions from the few are not
the actions of the many. All of this have caused the American Muslims come up
with the word “Islamophobia” for people who fear Islam.
c) There are at least 32 million Americans in the
States, not counting other hispanic people, which are also a good amount of americans.
d)Answered in question
b.
e)Things that are
considered typical american are: music, jazz, soul, rock’n’ roll, all came from
a mix of sevral countries traditional music, especially African slave culture.
a) It is estimated that in 2010 there were 214 million immigrants in the
world.
b) Migrants are driven by a need for jobs, education in a foreign country,
driven away from their homeland by war.
c) In 2010, 199 930 thousand people were abroad in tertiary and 12956
were abroad to get a degreee.
d) Reasons why Norwegians chose to study in Britain, its close to home, a
few hour with plane, they also talk English there so you can understand them
easier.
e) With high mobility workers moving around, they can fill the gap of jobs
that there are too few of in other countries. Higher pay is also a contributing
factor, so theyt can support their families. Some negativs are that a influx of
workers can oversaturate the market, lower product prices that the workers are
making. Domestic workers also feel threatened by imigrants looking for work
(like in the States), they have to compete with them for work, when they feel they
have more of a right to work than them.
Tasks page 211.
2a) There is quite a few more women then men that choose to study abroad,
and its growing. Also it hit a downcline between 2000 and 2009, but then
started to grow again.
-From 2000/01 to 2009/10, there have been a incline with about 2600 studying
for degrees. Many countries have seen a decrease of people studying abroad, but
a few coutries have increased its numbers, like Czech Republic have seen a
surgens of 200 more attending there, and Poland have gone from 327 to 1269
people.
The reason for a decrease could be it has become more expensive to study
in popular countries, such as the USA, and a increase in countries were there
is more cheap to study, and have gotten better education.
2b) – There are more women then men
studying in foreign countries, this could be because women, more then men want
to experience the “romantic” and exciting expreiences of living in another
countries.
-The overall population of people studying abroad increases
each year, this can be contributed to overall a better economy for people that
could not afford to go before. Many private and gouverment funds for people
wishing to go to another country to get a degree has poped up. This is because
they can get information, not normaly used in their own counry and bring it
home.
-There have been a increase in students going to eastern
european countries, such as Czech Republic (53-251 between 2000/01 -2009/10),
Slovakia (0-265 between 1992/93- 2009/10), Poland (10-1269 between 92/93 to
2009/10).
The reasons for this could be cheaper studies compared to more
popular countries, such as the US and a better education system than 10 years
ago.
3a) Texts: Number one is an objective text, it uses
little adjectivs and it
reads quite informative and there are no emotions in it. You are suppose to learn from
it, “English is the linguistic means to the education and career end.” It is
quite analytical, analysing the topic “English in studies”, “Should a person
move to another country to study, he or she will have to use English as a
medium of study.” It breaks the topic apart and gives you an analytical explanation
of what you want to know.
the second text is diffidently an expressive text, it has lots of adjectives
and using personal pronouns. Starting of it is quite apparent, “I really dig
studying in English.” Just the first sentence you get a personal pronoun, an
adjective and the writer’s personal expression. In addition, the writer uses
personal memories, “Some of my co-students are not very strong in English so I find
I’m helping them with their English.”.
It formed in an informal tone, using words like “I’m” and “Lol”.
Compared to text 1, which has a formal layout. Source for video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQyIF4Uz6o
Source for picture: https://www.helpgoabroad.com/degrees-abroad/
When
I think about personally, I do not have any particular criticisms. However, if
I had to say the least interesting things we did was English grammar. I
improved my English writing skills immensely, compared to last year, but I
still do not find it too interesting to acquire. The spot checks was not
particularly fascinating either, maybe because we do something similar in
almost all classes. 
