inasaja's Blog

Re: Integrated Writing Task 3

Re: Integrated Writing Task 2

The reading passage discussed about how pop culture can influence the language use of certain cultures. The lecturer supports the statement in the reading passage and provides a few examples to demonstrate the points made in the reading.

To begin with, the reading passage asserted that people tend to adapt to the pop culture, such as entertainment, literature and sport, which is famous in their era. The language expressions that young people these days use differ from what their parents use.  In support of this, the lecture mentioned how ‘May the force be with you’ expression from the 1977 Star Wars movie was widely used in the older generation in western countries, such as Britain, USA and Canada; while expressions from “Harry Potter” movie is more likely to be used in current generation. They might not even know what 'May the force be with you' is.

Subsequently, the reading passage claimed that although highly popular event may be able to cross national boundaries and reach all around the world, many pop cultures stay within one country due to the limitation of media’s ability to spread the hype.  The lecturer also agrees with this point.  As an illustration, he mentions that ‘You hoser’ and ‘Take of e’, two Canadian popular terms that derived from a local comedy series, is not used in Britain, USA and other countries  because they never seen nor heard of the TV program. Thus, these two expressions are used only in Canada, which further support the theory stated in the reading.

Re: Integrated Writing Task 1

The reading passage suggested that generation of wind power brings about several disadvantages. The professor, however disputes the arguments presented in the passage.

To begin with, the professor argue that the initial energy required to start a new wind power is reasonable that it can be reclaimed within a short period of time, namely in nine months. This statement contradict the reading passage where it maintained that setting up wind power requires too much energy to manufacture and transport, which further creates ‘carbon footprint’ effect.

The professor also believes that the wind turbine’s negative effect on migratory bird and certain bat species are overstated in the reading passage.  He further argues that cars and pollutions are bigger threat to those animals. In fact, in recent study from Denmark, it suggest that migratory birds are more likely to avoid the location of wind turbines. In addition to that, the remote offshore location of many wind turbines significantly reduce the possible threat to bats as well.

The reading passage mentioned that the large amount of land required to build enough viable energy resource in wind power generation is a waste of land use. The professor cast doubt on this point as well, pointing out that each turbine consumes only little part of the overall land, and the rest of the land can be used for farming and algiculture.

On the account of the ‘aesthetic’ issue raised in the reading passage, the professor also maintains that this is unlikely to be true. He asserts that most wind turbine are located in the most remote area, away from where people live. According to the finding of British researchers, although the turbines are close to the residential area,   70% of the resident actualy like or don’t  mind the present of wind turbines. 

Re: Independent Writing Task 5

         Some people argue that if we make our children serve our country, it will make them resentful. This is definitely not true. You should ask any young people in your community who actually participate in community service; they will tell you that this is not the case. In lieu of this, I hereby agree with the asserted statement that all young adult should be required to do some sort of national service for their country, in the form of military service or community service.

         First of all, I believe that mandatory national service is necessary. A country is like a household. Its strength and weakness depends on the people who live in that particular house. For most family, there is one father, one mother and a few children. Both father and/or mother work very hard to earn income, take care of the house and take care of the children. The children go to school and study for their own future. On some days, the children help doing chores for their family. Now, have you seen that parents these days are becoming more and more stressed out because they feel pressured to meet certain goal and they have to cater to their children’s needs? Yes, I certainly have. As a parent myself, I have noticed that when I do not ask my children to help me doing some chores, they would rather play or watch TV. When I ask their help, they will do it.  What is the result? All necessary chores are done. If I have to do all those tasks myself, I will be overwhelmed and maybe at one point I will explode. It is the same way with a country. When the country needs help, it is necessary to call on their citizen to contribute something according to their capacity.

        In addition to necessity of the service, I feel that contributing to our own country will develop a sense of accomplishment, self respect and responsibility. When all citizens are working together and helping each other, the country will be a better country. As my parents used to say, ‘nothing in this world is free; you have to earn your living.”  I will use a comparison about country and household again to make my point. My oldest child learned to wash her dirty plates when she was seven years old. My second one, who is two years younger, learned to wash his dirty plates at the same time as my oldest. Yes, the plates are not clean. Yes, I have to rewash them. However, my children feel that they accomplish something; they feel that they are ‘adult’. With little encouragement, they continue to wash their dishes because they relate ‘washing dishes’ as something that is enjoyable. This small seed of responsibility has been rooted in my children’s life, that I often hear their teachers commented about my children’s maturity and responsibility in school compared to their peers.

        Finally, alongside the issue of the necessities and promoting self respect, I think national service can teach young adult many skills that can be useful later in work environment. When we are working in community service or military service, we usually work in a group. We communicate with people. We learn to work in a team environment. We learn to manage conflict. Also, we can actually observe how other people do their job, and who knows that this kind of opportunity can inspire young adults to choose a career path that they like and enjoy. One simple example, when I was in high school, I used to help around in the nursing home nearby my house. Sometimes I saw the doctor came and checked up on the residents. I saw how he was quick, smart, and courteous to the old people who live in the nursing home. It made interested to know more about medical field. And now, twenty years later, here I am going back to school to pursue a nursing degree.

        In conclusion, my consideration of the issue of the importance of national service has explored factors such as the necessities of giving back, self respect and the education aspect. Although some people might disagree with me, but all in all, I have never resented all the work I have contribute to my country. In fact, community service has inspires me to be a better and useful person, and I will teach my children to the same  These considerations lead me to agree that all young adult should do some sort of national service for their country.

Re: Independent Writing Task 4

Many universities have incorporated internship into their education program, while many are still conducting their program the traditional way. Also, some majors, like Nursing or Medical majors as an example, require their students to have some sort of internship before they can jump into the ‘real jungle’. However, there are many other majors who do not provide this opportunity. Personally, I completely agree that a university education should always include an internship or some type of work experience, as this will benefit students tremendously.

First of all, it will give students some ideas on what is expected of them in real working environment. In short, ‘prepare for the worst’. Many students these days attended college for the money. If they hear that computer engineer job pays a lot of money, a flock of students will apply to that major. If they hear that nursing job offers many benefit, you can see many students are waiting in line to be accepted into the major.  I somehow doubt that they know the pressure and the demand of those jobs. Both jobs require long hours and strong analytical skills.  I have seen enough friends complained about their job, how difficult it is to update their skills to adapt to the technology, how they wished they did not choose their profession because of the money. If we are aware of the expectation of the job, we can use these factors as a consideration when we choose our major.

In addition to that, the work experience will help new graduate to be more competitive when they are looking for a job. These days many employers prefer to hire experienced employees rather than hire new graduate students. They cannot afford to spend a few months for the new hires to adapt to the work environment.  As you are aware, everyone has different pace in learning new skills. Some people are able to learn new skills in a very short time; others need longer time to master new skills.  And, a small quantity of people just could not adapt to their new job no matter how hard they try and no matter how many hours they spend in the office. At this time of the year, especially, when there are so many experienced people on the job market who are willing to be paid the same amount of money as a new graduate. If you are an employer, which one will you hire?

Last, but not least, in addition to the ‘taste’ of the job and an ‘edge’ on the job market, an internship opportunity is very positive because it makes students taking  their education more seriously.  A few days ago, as I sat in my classroom, my professor was upset with some of my friends; I can practically see steams coming out of her ears. When she tried to explain one difficult chemistry reaction, some students were playing with their hair and some were actually sleeping in class. She made a comment that people can get fired if they play with their hair when the boss is talking.  Also, I have heard my young friends saying that they are happy enough to get a “C” as long as they pass the subject. Imagine yourself lying down on the operation table and the person who will perform the medical procedure is one of ‘the C is enough’ doctor.  Will you be confident enough to put your life on their hand?

In considering the importance of the internship and/or job experience as part of the education, I have looked into the mental readiness, competitiveness and education quality. While not all students are keen on the extra burden of the responsibility, these factors lead me to agree that an internship or some type of work experience would be very beneficial to students. After all, who doesn’t want to get a high-paying job right away after we graduate? 

Re: Independent Writing Task 3

We, old and young people alike, given a chance, would have wanted to watch the performance of the Lion King in Broadway. Phenomenal acting talent, beautiful voice and creative costumes can be seen from the audience’s seat. Watching this opera makes us happy. This is one example of the contributions of artists to the society. However, this wonderful performance cannot be achieved without the help of the special effect and sound system technology, can it? Thus, although artists’ contribution to the society is important, I personally think scientist make the most important contribution to society.

With science, human are able to increase our survival rate due to the invention of modern transportation.  Thousand years ago, human’s methods of transportation are their feet animals. It might take them many hours to travel a 10-mile distance. Now, look at modern society, you can see that by the invention of car, train and airplane, we can travel thousands of miles in a short period of time. Now, imagine if one of your family members is sick and needs immediate medical attention. What would have happened if the nearby hospital is one hundred miles away from your home? When I was two years old, I had a severe stomach infection. My mother used to tell me that I almost died if I did not get to the hospital in time.  

In addition to the transportation technology, one of the most important contributions of science is medical advancement. Without medical technologies, doctors will not be able to cure many diseases. You might remember about malaria epidemic that cause millions of people died in 19^th century. Without the discoveries of the cause of malaria disease and the knowledge on how to cure it, I am sure that it would have cause many more death at that time. You can also look at the heart disease, the current’s most disease leading to death.  In the last decade, death rate for people who have heart disease has decreased significantly. Why? Well, thanks to all scientists in medical profession, we can now be assured that we have higher chance of being cured when we are sick.

Finally, in combination of transportation and medical advancement, I think that communication technology really helps us to have a better quality and to further increase our survival of life. With the help of communication technology such telephone, web and video conference, doctors can share their knowledge and discoveries to many professional in the medical field, which in turn will benefits the society all around the world. People do not have to travel to United States to have heart surgeries. Doctors in the developing country can perform similar surgeries and save the patient life.

In considering who make the most important contribution to the society, I have considered the issue of the most basic need of human being, ‘life’ itself.  So without discrediting the artists’ contribution to the society, these considerations make me agree that scientists’ contribution to the society is indeed more important that artists’ contribution because they have made the biggest impact in human life.

Re: Independent Writing Task 2

It is better to have one or two close friends than to have a large number of casual acquaintences.

According to MSNBC news a few weeks ago, most people change friends every five to seven years. Why? It could be because the change of environments, or it could be caused by conflict. In our span of life, we will make and lose friends many times abound.  Human are social beings. We feel that we need to be around other people, just like some people said “, the more is the merrier.”  With current web technology such as Facebook and Twitter, we can make friends with just anybody from all around the world, however, personally, I agree with the assertions that having one or two close friends are better than having a number of casual acquaintances.

To begin with, I am an introvert person.  When I am in a public place, I have reservation and I could not just open up to anybody. Unless somebody speaks to me first, I prefer to observe and stay in the corner and be comfortable by myself. While it is true that nowadays lots of ‘how to make new friends’ books are available on the market, in reality, it is not as easy as it seems. Many people are shy and cannot just conjure words and make themselves the center of attention and take the first step to approach somebody else. Although this is a disadvantage for many, we cannot just change our personality. Just like my sister who can be someone’s best friend in an hour after she met other people, I sometimes feel the words are stuck on my throat and just could not get out.

In addition to that, not everybody can fit into our personality. Have you ever met someone and deep down in your heart you somehow felt that you have known that person for a long time? You can just talk to him/her like you know him/her forever. Also, have you tried so hard to bond and connect with someone, but either that person cannot understand what you are talking about or you don’t understand that he/she is talking about?  I have seen two people with good intention end up with fighting against each other because each take the other’s meaning in a negative way. Just because of one small joke, or advice. Someone who is aggressive does not have the patience to wait for friends who are passive.  Likewise, a person who is relaxed does not like to be rushed into making decisions. It is natural for people to be attracted to someone who share certain similarities. These similarities can be shared in hobbies, food types, or personality.

Finally, we can focus our attentions to develop better and closer relationship with a small group of friends.  It is easier to work in a small group rather than big group.  For example, we want to have dinner with our friends. A wants to eat at Ruby’s Tuesday. B wants to eat at TGIF, C wants to eat at Chili. It is harder to reach consensus on where to eat, isn’t it?  Although it is important for any human being to live in society and have as many friends as possible, deep inside us, we want intimacy. We want to belong.  We want to feel special. This can only be attained with an exclusive and close relationship. Also, if we have a problem, we usually share it with only the person closest to us. We would not just open our dirty laundry to just anybody, wouldn’t we? Furthermore, when I received a nice big surprise, I automatically think of my closest friends, and I do not even think of my casual acquaintances.

To sum up, based on the human’s needs to belong and the many type of personality, these lead me to agree that it is better to have one or two close friends. In fact, I think that you would agree with me in this issue, wouldn’t you?

Re: Independent Writing Task 1

TOPIC: "Watching television is bad for children"

Ask any children from age four to age seventeen what they think of television, you can be assured that they will say television is one of the best invention ever created on earth.  Likewise, ask any adult what they think of television effects on children and you will have conflicting opinions. This essay will discuss some arguments for and against television effect on children and why I think TV has bad effect on children and it is best to limit television time.

It is often claimed that television has many positive effects on children.  It provides educational value for children because it teaches children how to behave, socialize and solve problem.  While it is true to a certain degree, there are so many television programs these days that do not qualify to be called educational. One of the most popular TV program aiming for children audience is Hannah Montana. Girls as young as a first-grader love this program. Have you, as a parent, actually watched this program? Hannah Montana is starred by teenagers; most of the topics are about love, relationship and teenage life.  Nowadays, many fourth graders  who idolizes Hannah Montana actually goes to school wearing short dress, make ups and talk about love.  This is just doesn’t seem right.

How many children actually watch Discovery Channel or Animal Planet? Not that many, I guarantee. How many children watch Disney Channel and Nickelodeon? You will see many children raised their hands. Why? Because Nickelodeon is fun and entertaining, and Discovery Channel is boring. Children tend to use TV for entertainment purposes, not educational purpose. And, it is fine if you want your children to be entertained on some days. However, almost every television program includes ‘forbidden’ words that you would never teach or said to your children in your daily conversation. Don’t be surprised if your children said ‘stupid’ or ‘damn’ when he is angry or upset.

Have you ever heard your children asked you to buy one product – be it toy or snack - that they saw in television? They would rave about it and kept asking you until you gave in.  It is commonly said that the way to the parents’ pocket is through children, and it is very true. We, as parents would hesitate for a long time before we buy something for ourselves, but for our children, we would do everything to make them happy and satisfied.  In addition to that, we sometimes feel guilty if we deny our children certain things, especially if both parents are working and do not have enough time with our children.

Furthermore, it is common that children have their own television set in their room these days.  Many parents seem to believe that having more than one television in the house keep everybody happy. Parents can watch sport programs, children can watch Disney programs. Consequently, parents have less control over children’s media consumptions.

In conclusion, watching television is not qualified as educational purposes. It is more of an entertaining media, and it has many negative effects on children development. If we continue to let children watch too many television programs, it will be difficult to stop them later on. Thus, if we cannot eliminate television from our children’s life, we have to at the very least limit television time.

Re: Independent Writing Task 1

     In these days, almost every household has one or more television. Indeed, many people contend that television has become something essential and indispensable part of our life. The question whether television is good or bad for our children has attracted many debates everywhere. This essay will consider some arguments of the allowing children to watch TV programs and point to some problem with these views. It will then put forward a number of reasons why limiting TV time is actually beneficial for children.

     Some people argue that many television programs educate children as young as babies and broaden their knowledge. For example, it was claimed that Baby Einstein video series can help children's brain develop better and enable children to have advance vocabulary skills. However, there is no scientific evidence that prove that TV is actually educating children. In fact, as published in CNN a few weeks ago, Disney has offer full refunds to any customers who purchased  a Baby Einsteins video from 2004 to 2009.

    The defender of TV maintained that TV provide affordable entertainment alternative for children. They said that the cost of cinema tickets are so expensive nowadays, it cost family of four at least forty-dollars to watch one movie, not including the cost of the food and drinks.  While it is true to a certain degree that TV is less expensive than watching movie or going to theme parks, there are many 'free' entertainment around us that is often overlooked. One example of these are books. We can borrow children books from library for free. It allows us to read books to our children. Furthermore, we can increase our children' curiosity and love for reading. This will undoubtedly open a whole new world of imagination and creativity in children's life.

    There are many violent acts in TV programs. For example, in Fairly Oddparents, Vicky the babysitter often manipulate Timmy to do many jobs for her so that she can get extra money.
In addition to that, the language spoken in many children's program are not proper. There are many cussing, cursing and name-calling. In Spongebob, Squidward likes to say "stupid moron' to his friends. Would you like those awful words in your children's vocabulary? I don't think you would. Moreover, when you watch TV, you are actually being passive. There is no room left for your imagination to grow. Furthermore, there are so many commercials in TV that target young audience who do not have the ability to differentiate between advertising propaganda or accurate information.

    In conclusion, we are responsible to choose what is best for our children, be informed of what our children are watching. If we continue to allow our children to watch these unnecessary TV programs, we will do disservice to our children.