Firstly, I must admit I found this topic really interesting. Reading the poems about refugees as well as looking for information about it on my own, has broaden my mind. I would have never imagine how inspirational and moving this topic was. Although this topic involves much of political and economic factors, it has an emotional face which touches you somehow while reading about it.
Secondly, analysing texts is something which I always find extremely difficult. I feel as if I had to make a big effort to enter on the writer's mind and see what he/she wanted to express on those lines. However, I consider this is something which I have to keep working on and as I always do, try to do my best.
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.
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 Sourceset 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.
As I have already mentioned in previous posts, I found videos really helpful and valuable when it comes to learning at home. You can have access to them at anytime, pause if it is needed, and watch it all over again.
Although these videos correspond to how to teach writing to our students, I found them useful to refresh my memory. I believe that the content found in this entry not only provides information on how to improve our students' writing skills, but also fundamental formation for us as teachers. We will certainly have to write academic papers on the future and I think it's good to have some material about it at hand, just in case.
an approach to language that considers language as a SOCIAL (to communicate) SEMIOTIC (there's meaning behind) SYSTEM.
Language metafunctions 👉 Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual.
Five basic principles:
social semiotics (system of signs used for social purpose)
language as a resource (a resource for making meaning rather than a system of rules)
text rather than senteces (as the basic unit through which meaning is negotiated)
texts and social context (close relations between texts and social context)
construing meaning ( a system for construing meaning rather than as a conduit through which thoughts and feelings are poured)
Agregar leyenda
STEP #2
STEP #3
Ater watching the videos above 👆, complete the following questionnaire 👇
STEP #4
OLD CONCEPTS
NEW CONCEPTS
SFL is a social theory of language
SFL is a linguistic theory that sees language as a
social process that contributes to the realization of different social
contexts.
It places more stress on the functions or
meaning-making potential of language.
It provides the tools for analysing written and
spoken texts with particular attention given to the context in which they are
produced. It can also help us understand not only the nature of language but
also things like how language evolves over time, how children develop
language as well as how people learn both their mother tongue and foreign
languages.
Register (Social Context, Cultural Context)
Context: Context of culture (genres) / Context of
situation (register)
“Context of culture”
to describe the system of beliefs, values and attitudes that speakers bring
with them into any social interaction.
The context of culture in SFL represents all the
potential ways we can use language to exchange meaning in socially
recognizable ways.
The term “context of
situation” in order to have a way to describe the immediate environment in
which texts are produced.
Context of situation: register; has three sub
variables field, tenor and mode.
We communicate meaning on three levels
simultaneously. Metafunctions:
oIdeational
oInterpersonal
oTextual
These three variables (field, tenor and mode) can be
broken down into many linguistic realizations (ideational choices,
interpersonal choices and textual choices)
☝Work done collaboratively with Maria de las Nieves, Bazán.
Metacognitive analysis:
I´m glad to keep on learning theories of language, especially this one which considers language as a social semiotic system. It's quite interesting the way in which SFL can be applied in the EFL classroom. SFL emphasizes the significance of context, and in the EFL classroom context applies whenever children read, write or speak. While reading, students can ask themselves questions that relate to the what,when,where and why of the texts. While writing, students should write about something that they understand, they find interesting and they can relate to their lives. For example, they could write about their pets or their best friend. Another important aspect of SFL is genre. Teachers should expose students to different genres and explain the specific conventions of these genres. In this way, students will be able to understand how members of a culture use written texts as part of their social lives and how a text purpose (narrating, arguing, explaining, reporting,etc.) reflects its shape. I feel there's a wide open field in which to work SFL in EFL classrooms. It just requires a bit of imagination and creativity in order to use it in many different ways and be able to meet the different needs of our students.
