Writing Intro

Writing was one of the four language skills that was the most hard for me to improve, perhaps because it is very difficult to communicate all your ideas in a coherent and clear way in a piece of paper. Don’t you think?

Higher Education in Mexico and the United States

Higher education has been a topic that has concerned many countries in the world. Besides, the government in each country has made its best trying to fulfill the needs of their people in order to offer the best quality in education. Furthermore, this is the reason why educational policies are constantly changed, and what makes higher education in each country different. Higher education is an important issue, and this is the reason why in Mexico and The United States it is similar, but at the same time it is different.
First of all, higher education in Mexico and The United States is similar in what refers to the fact that both countries have public and private colleges and universities. Besides, in each country private institutions are not necessarily superior to the public ones, but they are more expensive and exclusive. Also, the American and Mexican university-level programs are from five to four years and lead to a bachelor’s degree. Moreover, the amount of money that American and Mexican students spend in tuition will depend on the requirements, the policies, and if it is a public or a private institution. In case students can not afford tuition, they will have the opportunity to ask for a scholarship or for a loan. In sum, both countries offer students the opportunity to study in a public or a private university. They both coincide in the number of years students have to study in order to obtain a bachelor’s degree. And finally, the government gives students the opportunity to ask or have a scholarship or a loan in order to pay their tuition.
On the other hand, in both countries higher education differs in what concerns to admission tests. For instance, Mexican universities although having competitive entrance examinations, such as the CENEVAL test, usually those students with high grades are accepted. In contrast, American universities asks students to apply for the SAT or ACT tests, at the same time they consider their grades, they often take into account their extracurricular activities, ask for a personal essay and made an interview. In addition, while m American universities provide residence halls, so students can live on campus, Mexican students, who are from out of town, normally live in boarding houses or apartments during their school year. Above all, the Mexican government spends the 25.3 % of their budget on education, as for the American government; according to the U.S. Department of Education it spends the 27.2 % of their budget. Therefore, we can notice that these are some remarkable examples of the differences that both countries have in what refers to higher education.
In conclusion, higher education in Mexico and The United States presents few similarities, but it also has remarkable differences. I consider that education in both countries is good, and what makes it better in one country or another, will depend on how much money the government assigns in each country for education.

20 MINUTE ESSAY

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

I would like to work as a reporter, who travels around the world and makes TV programs. In each show I would have the opportunity to tell the audience about the most important facts of each of the places that I have visited, and the most interesting things that happened to me during my trips.
First of all, I would love to visit different countries because I would have the opportunity to meet different people, and to make friends around the world. Also, I would be interested in learning about the different cultures, traditions, and customs in the world. At the same time, I would like to taste the different flavors that the food has in each place, and to know about the historical facts in each country that I visited. Therefore, this job would be a life experience, and something that I would not get tired of doing for the rest of my life.
In sum, I would love to work as a reporter who is always traveling, and making TV programs about it because I would be having fun, earning money and finally I would be doing what I would love to do for the rest of my life which is to travel.

Why Do Teachers Use Music in English Language Teaching?

It is very common to observe English language teachers who use music in their classes. Thus, teachers have different strategies, methods and reasons to include music in the English language classroom, they commonly use it when they want to stimulate and motivate students.

For instance, music as Jeremy Harmer (2001:242) says, “Is a powerful stimulus for student engagement precisely because it speaks directly to our emotions while still allowing us to use our brains to analyze it and its effects if we so wish.” It also changes the atmosphere in a classroom, and prepares students for a new activity. Besides, each student reacts in a different way, but most of them like the idea of listening music when they are in the classroom. In my opinion, most of the time music makes them feel motivated and willing to learn. Actually, I know many people that have learned to speak English because they like to listen, and sing English songs. In addition, as Jim Scrivener (1998:176) suggests, “Songs are often used as a ‘filler’ activity to change the mood or pace of a lesson. They sometimes tend to get relegated to the ‘Friday afternoon’ slot as a sort of reward for the week’s hard work.” Therefore, teachers tend to reward students by bringing them song lyrics, and also when they planned activities where they have to use music. In sum, most of the time songs are viewed as part of entertainment.

Besides the implications mentioned above, song lyrics tend to deal with the most common problems that most learners pass through. According to the article “Music in ELT”, “Songs tend to deal with problems relevant to young people, and the students identify with the singers and want to understand the words” (NKJA, 2005). Most of the time, this fact reinforce students to start reading, at least English songs, and care about what they mean. Also, it is very important for teachers, to know their students because this will help them to choose the song lyrics. If the students know and like the song, it will enhearten them to participate. Furthermore, it will help students to develop a variety of language skills because songs are useful in teaching the rhythm of language. Finally, songs are used to encourage students to learn more about the target culture speech community.

In conclusion, the way English teachers use songs in their classroom will depend on the purposes each one has to use songs, and also the skills they want their students to develop. In fact, teachers use music as a resource to help teach language and culture at the same time. Therefore, teachers might want to stop viewing music just as a filler activity, and use it more as a resource to help students to learn.

References

BOOKS

Harmer, Jeremy (2001) “The Practice of English Language Teaching” Ed. Longman 3rd Edition pages 242-245

Scrivener, Jim (1998) “Learning Teaching” Ed. Macmillian pages 176-177.

WEB PAGES

NKJA (2005) “Music in ELT” retrieved January 2005 –1 from http://www.tu.koszalin.pl/+nkja/teachingzone.html

NEWSPAPERS

Helgesen, Marc (2003) “How we use songs in the language classrom” ELT News from http://www.eltnews.com/features/thinktank/024_mh.shtml

Jarmol, Uchida Helena (2003) “Music in the English Language Classroom” ELT News from http://www.eltnews.com/features/kids/032_hu.shtml

Exercise on quoting, paraphrasing and writing a bibliography

The following are excerpts from a magazine, a book, a newspaper and a journal. Please paraphrase them and show how you would refer to them in your paper. What will you leave to quote? After that, write the bibliography pretending that you will have them as references in the same paper. Use APA style.

1. Adapting Textbook Activities for Communicative Teaching and Cooperative Learning by Anson Yang and Chan-Piu Cheung (Hong Kong)
English Teaching Forum Magazine Volume 41 Issue 3 (July 2003)

Teachers don't have enough time to implement Communicative Teaching and Cooperative Learning activities because, besides teaching, they also have to accomplish many other different activities in the places where they work.

2. From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 1997, printed in the USA published by scholastics Inc.

One day Harry found out who his real family was, and how similar they were to him.

3. published on September 21, 2006 New York Daily News
'Devil' of a tirade at Bush
Puts on bizarre show, says W acts like he owns world
BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

At a meeting in the United Nations, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, made fun of President Bush by saying he was the Devil because he was making decisions which made him looked like “he owned the world” (New York Daily News, 2006).

4. The Internet TESL Journal Vol. XII, No. 8, August 2006
http://iteslj.org/ Using Situation Comedy (Sitcom) to Enrich Learners' Vocabulary by Chi-Yen Chiu

A college teacher used the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond, to teach vocabulary to his/her students. In addition, most of the learners concluded that they have had a great time because they were relaxed and learning in an atmosphere where they had the opportunity to gain knowledge of the culture, humor and body language in the show and at the same time in the target language.

REFERENCES

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Bazinet, K.R. (2006, September 21). 'Devil' of a tirade at Bush Puts on bizarre show, says W acts like he owns world. New York Daily News.

WEBSITE JOURNAL
Chiu, C.Y. (August 2006). Using Situation Comedy (Sitcom) to Enrich Learner's Vocabulary. Retrived September 21, 2006, from The Internet TESL Journal, XII (8). Web site: http://iteslj.org/

BOOK
Rowling, J.K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. USA: Scholastic Inc.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE
Yang, A., & Cheung, C.P. (July 2003). Adapting Textbook Activities for Communicative Teaching and Cooperative Learning. English Teaching Forum Magazine, 4 (3).

Little problem

The students of the B.A. in English Language Teaching have attempted to talk with the authorities of the Department of Foreign Languages in order to have a place where they can talk, smoke and spend their time between classes. The only place they have to do this is the hall, but most of the time they bother their classmates and the teachers who are in class. Consequently, they upset their peers and the teachers tell them to keep silence, or to lower their voice. Therefore, the authorities now need to think how they can solve this situation. One solution to this problem should be the construction of a big and green area, similar to the one in architecture. In this way the students will not disturb anyone. They will have enough space to do what they usually do between classes, and no one will complain about their tone of voice, or tell them to be quiet.

Conversation

Tommy: Are you going to tell the teacher that you did steal the test?

Sue: I don’t know. But, I have been thinking about telling the teacher the truth.

Tommy: Well, Pam told me that she saw you when you were looking for something in the teacher’s desk. She was going to the bathroom. You do know Pam, don’t you? She doesn’t like you at all.

Sue: Oh know! She will tell the teacher that she saw me. I’d better stop thinking about it. I did see Pam the other day. But, I never thought that she had seen me.

Tommy: You’re in trouble Sue, and I do mean it. Pam does know how to harm you this time.

Sue: I do know Tommy. What am I going to do?

Tommy: Well, you can talk to the teacher tomorrow at lunch time if she’s not drinking coffee with Mr. Moon.

Sue: That would be a problem. She does drink coffee with Mr. Moon at lunch time everyday.

Tommy: But, it will be the only chance you will have to talk to the teacher!

Sue: I know! Oh my God! What am I going to do?

Tommy: Tell the teacher the truth. You do want to pass the seventh grade, don’t you? And, by the way, let’s talk about why you did steal the test?