Thinking out in Words
lunes, 26 de octubre de 2020
viernes, 23 de octubre de 2020
Entry #12 Articles
What is an article?
Sources:
- ARTICLES CAE (CPE). (n.d.). OneStopEnglish. Retrieved October 28, 2020, retrieved from https://www.onestopenglish.com/download?ac=593
sábado, 17 de octubre de 2020
Entry #11 Writing Strategies: HEDGING and BOOSTING
HEDGING IN ACADEMIC WRITING.
HEDGING AND BOOSTING
Boosting examples:
BOOSTING & HEDGING.
Entry #10 Essay
TWO SIDES ON CHILDREN MIGRATION EXPERIENCES.
The desire of a better life is one of the many reasons why people decide to migrate. Throughout history, individual factors as well as socioeconomic ones have encouraged people to leave their country. It is a process that affects not only families and individuals in general, but children in particular. For some individuals, like refugees, migration to a new country is not a personal choice but a forced one. When it comes to refugee children, the experience differs greatly from that of children whose families moved by choice.
First off, the causes of forced migration are already traumatizing enough for anyone, but they hit children especially hard as they have not developed yet or lack tools to confront that trauma. Thus, it affects them emotionally and mentally speaking. As the *UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore said at a 2018 conference in Berlin: “Prolonged exposure to violence, fear and uncertainty can have a catastrophic impact on children’s learning, behaviour and emotional and social development for many years.” In spite of escaping from that conflict, these awful experiences may remain for a long time affecting their mental health. Besides that, in many cases it also leaves a number of unhealthy coping mechanisms. Nevertheless, this is absent in children whose families moved by choice. No matter what made their families take the decision to leave their country, they decided to migrate by choice; not being forced to do so. While it is true to say that this decision taken by the families may affect children somehow, they do not suffer the trauma of living a violent or tragic situation as refugee children do.
Secondly, it is common knowledge that most refugee children are separated from their families and travel alone; which doubles the risk for violence, exploitation, and abuse. According to UNICEF’s latest estimates, at least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were registered in 80 countries in a period of two years. Besides that, young girls can be the target of trafficking or gender-based violence. Their innocence and fear of being at a new place as well as the aftermath of traumatic events, leave these asylum seekers in a not favourable position while many vicious people take advantage of that. However, this seems not to be a problem for migrant children. They travel with their families who take great care of them and look after their needs. Although there are cases in which children must travel alone and then meet their families again, they arrange everything beforehand and study all the alternatives to provide their children a secure option. The lives of refugee children run quite a big risk which migrant children ignore.
Thirdly, many of the factors mentioned above, and some many others, can also affect how much “at home” a refugee child feels in their host community. Beyond these challenges, however, those seeking asylum may also be affected by xenophobia and discrimination due to the fact that they come from a very different place. This leads to the feeling of isolation and loneliness, which makes it even more difficult to rebuild a life or gain that sense of normalcy again. This situation may not only affect refugees but migrant children in general. Besides that, encountering such a new culture and sometimes a completely new language, can also affect the way in how they feel part of the new community. All the emotional stress children have to cope with, arises a feeling of homesickness which makes the adaptation even more difficult. Even when attending school could help them feel part of the society, sometimes more than that is needed to make them feel this new place as home.
In light of the above, migration presents two different faces depending on the circumstances children are exposed to. Although migrating for asylum and protection is hard because of all the problems it already faces, migrating by personal choice is not either easy; not even for children. Refugee children face a greater challenge more than just moving.
martes, 29 de septiembre de 2020
Entry #9 (2nd part) Writing Project: How to write an Essay
martes, 22 de septiembre de 2020
Entry #9(1st part) Writing Project:Refugees (Poems)
We Refugees - by Benjamin Zephaniah.
In
this poem, the author expresses that everybody is likely to become a refugee at any
time, no matter your age or your skin colour, it is only a question of luck. At
first, the author describes his personal experience of being a refugee but then
uses the pronoun “We”, involving the reader as well in this situation. This
idea is reinforced in the verse “We can all be refugees”. He makes emphasis on
how easily it is to be forced to leave your own country and how unfair society
can be towards anyone; as described in the verses: “Where they hate my shade of
skin/ They don’t like the way I pray/ And they ban free poetry”. Moreover, the
description of the beautiful place expressed in the first verse of the stanzas
contradicts the following verses in which the opposite is shown: “I come from a
musical place/ Where they shoot me for my song”. This depicts the idea of how
easily everything can change. As Zephaniah states “Sometimes it only takes a
day/ Sometimes it only takes a handshake/ Or a paper that is signed”, we are
all vulnerable and nobody is safe; it is all a question of luck.
Refugees - by Brian Bilston
Brian
Bilston introduces two very opposite ideas of how we, as a society, have
different points of view on the same matter. During the first reading, from top
to bottom as the traditional one, the author expresses such a negative point of
view that it is annoying. He refers to refugees as criminals “With bombs up
their sleeves / Cut-throats and thieves”. The author arises in the reader the idea that
refugees should not be welcome and that they should be kept out. However, during
the second reading, starting from the last stanza and reading backwards to the
first one, a completely different story is told. The author’s attitude towards
refugees seems to change. It is expressed a feeling of empathy and kindness
towards refugees. The author challenges the reader to take part on this subject
“It is not okay to say/ Build a wall to keep them out / Instead let us / Share
our countries / Share our food”. These two ideas stated in the poem makes the
reader reflect upon this matter and whether to choose one side or the other.
jueves, 10 de septiembre de 2020
Entry #8 Oral Assignment : The Study of Language.
CHAPTER 1 : THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE.
There is not register that can indicate how language originated, but it is suspected that some spoken languages must have developed between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. In most religions, there appears to be a divine source who provides humans with language. The hypothesis is that if infants grow up without hearing any language, they would spontaneously begin using the original God - given language. The Natural Sound Source set that primitive words may have been imitations of the natural sounds early humans heard around them. What supports this theory is that modern languages have many words that sound like their names. The Social Interaction Source states that humans must have lived in groups, so they needed some type of communication to be organized.The Tool Making Source expresses that the functions for object manipulation and vocalization are very close to each other in the left hemisphere of the brain, so there may be an evolutionary connection between tool using and language using. The physical adaptation source explains that in the study of evolutionary development there are certain physical features which appear to be relevant for speech. Finally, the genetic source states that humans are born with a special capacity for language, it is innate and it isn't tied to a specific variety of language.