Oral Presentation Analysis

     The four skills, listening, reading, speaking and writing should be implemented in an EFL class. My group was in charge of developing the speaking skill, in my case, I performed “Rules of Appropriacy”, which included delivering an understandable message. Thus, I tried to pay attention to eye contact and pronunciation however, I did not take into account the use of visual aids to catch the attention of the audience, and the use of new examples apart from those provided in the material.

     I found the material understandable, useful and practical. I noticed that some of my classmates had some doubts; therefore I tried to make the ideas more clear and repeated the most relevant concepts. Personally, I had the opportunity to prove by myself the principles for communication and Maxims of oral interaction, especially the principle of Quantity. It would have been useful to use this example in my presentation. As regards EFL class,  I could use these principles in class using as words as gestures as necessary to deliver an understandable message and to let students know the importance of learning English for a communicative purpose.

Spanish civil war

                                                                                                               

The calamity of a powerful country

     War has always been one of the worst things in humankind´s history. As a result of war thousands people died, and many other have suffered irreversible damages. The Spanish civil war, which happened from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939, was one of the most disastrous calamities of the 20^th century. The industrial decline and lots of Spanish overseas possessions caused confrontation between the Nationalists and the Republicans, who were in the government at that time. The Nationalists were conservative and catholic,   and had the support of the Church, the Army, the landowners and the industrialists. On the other hand, the Republicans were supported by the liberals, the socialists, the communists and the anarchists. For the Nationalist front the Republicans victory would represent a socialist revolution, on the contrary, for the Popular and Republics, the Right victory would represent the Fascism control. The division of the right and left parties implied the division between the town and the country side, the wealthy landowners and peasants. So, why is it that one of the most powerful countries experienced this calamity?

     Changes were needed in Spain in many areas. The Monarchists did not want to reform the country while people who wanted a republic hoped for reforms in the Spanish society. Some of the reforms were related to the agriculture area, as Spanish was an agricultural country, the south worked by landless laborers, and the north was worked by small farmers in poor economical conditions and starvation. Another aspect that needed to be reformed was related to the Church, many people resented the power and the wealth it had. What Is more, the Church had a monopoly in education and strongly opposed reforms.

     Other changes were needed in areas like the Army. This was over officered and poorly equipped. As regards regionalism, many areas wanted to be independent from the rest of the country. The regions had different languages and traditions. Republicans were for these demands, but conservatives opposed them stating that this could weaken Spain. As a result, the situation became so appalling that war broke out , cities and towns were ruined and Francisco Franco, who lead the nationalities group ruled Spain for 36 years with the support of the most powerful groups which included the Army and other fascist  leaders like Hitler from Germany and Mussolini from Italy.

     I strongly believe that war is the most dreadful thing that human beings have suffered through history. Many things had lead people from Spain to a civil war, such as application of new reforms and differences in personal interests but It is clear that most of the reasons had to do with strong feelings like alienation, animosity, hatred, enmity and envy as long as everyone aimed for their own concern, especially those who had more power.

My writing progress

        One of the major challenges I have faced during the Written Expression course has been to write efficacious essays. I have needed to improve my vocabulary as well as the grammar knowledge in order to succeed in formal language. In previous courses I used to write short paragraphs or compositions based on personal experiences. However, writing an essay requires more production and research for specific information, depending on the type of essay I need to work on.

         One of the types of essays I have written during the course is the argumentative one. It has taken me many times to gather suitable information from the web, and to decide the vision I would like to give to my paper. In addition, choosing the fitting vocabulary and grammar items to make the essay cohesive and coherent has not been an easy task. As a conclusion, I may say that writing an effective essay is far different from writing a simple paragraph, therefore, a paragraph is just the beginning of a convenient essay. So, everything is important and relevant in the world of writing.


New vocabulary items:

convenient: suitable or agreeable to the needs or purpose; well suited with respect to facility or ease i use.

efficacious: capable of having the desired result or effect. Effectve as a means, measure, remedy, etc.

thesis, paragraphs and essays

Art and Inclusion

Art and Inclusion:

Benefits and Barriers

       There are many reasons for people to focus on art. The first reason why art is important is that it provides us with inspiring ideas, symbolize aspects of the world and express meanings for communities, through for example pictures or plays about important events. The second reason is that through art children can develop a range of skills, self confidence and ways to work better with others. In addition, art events bring people together. However, there are also barriers for people to get access to art events, therefore, the state is expected to play an important role in including arts in the society.

     The first things we have to consider are the barriers which prevent people accessing the art such as lack of time, economic costs, family commitments, poor transport, social and psychological barriers. There is also variation in the type of arts events which people attend. People with higher incomes tend to go to classical concerts, plays and art exhibitions. On the other hand, people with lower educational attainment, social class and income are many times less likely to attend a range of art events.

     Fewer people participate in making art such as playing a musical instrument, singing, painting or drawing. In Europe and United States, the position of culture is arrested and being redefined and reset. At a physical level, the pressure arises from the global financial crisis. At a deeper level the breakdown is linked to a more serious disconnect between ordinary people and governmentality. There have to be ways to reset the public value of the arts as a contributor to greater solidarity and equality in families and communities.

     It is essential to point out the role of the state in including arts in society. State funding should provide greater inclusion in several ways. There should be better policy coordination, at national and local level, between art groups or organizations. As regards measures, data and evaluation, there could be outreach programs, public awareness campaigns, data on who is and who is not participating in the arts and statistics to measures the social impact on the art. Finally, there could be support for children, links between schools and artists, specific funding for disadvantaged schools and support for adult education in the art.

      As a conclusion, it is important to bear in mind the reasons we have to get access to theart as members of a society. Apart from the reasons, we have totake into account the benefits for individuals and society. Some of the most important benefits mentioned before are that art bring people together and that it is very important for children and their development at school. Art must be available for the entire society and state must play his important part providing the necessary elements to succeed in breaking the barriers that prevent people enjoy art in every aspect of life.

References

        Eapn,M (2012). Conversations about poverty network in ireland and Europe 
 www.creativecity.ca/database/files/library/eapnireland.wordpress.com
The Arts, Cultural Inclusion and Social Cohesion NESF Report 35 (2007)
    Files.nesc.ie/nesf. 
archive/nesf_reports/nesf_35_nefs_full.pdfreport.pdf

            

graphic organizer

CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH

          It is clear that many of the accidents on the roads are caused by the use of cell phones. So, adequate and  efficient regulation laws are necessary. In places where regulating cell phones use have been achieved, traffic accidents have fallen notoriously. However, there are still countries where regulations are needed, so people should ask authorities for them to be improved. Apart from that,  people must regulate their behaviour when they are driving and bear in mind that they may put their own life in danger.

Inmigration in Argentina

          During the past few years inmigrants from nearby countries have come to Argentina. People from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay and other countries from South America have arrived Argentina with the hope to find a job, to study or to find a settlement. All of these people share similar socio- economic characteristics, as a result there is not problem in adjustment in Argentinian society, except for some cases of racial discrimination. Most of the inmigrants have found location in Buenos Aires, the capital city thinking about more opportunities to work or to study at Buenos Aires University. As regards employment possibilities in Argentina, it is not so easy to find a profitable job, even though, inmigrants think that here there may be more chances that in their own country.