mandag 9. februar 2015

TASK 2B

TASK 2B:
In the extract from the novel Honour by Elif Shafak in Appendix 1 we read about Iskender
Toprak, an immigrant boy in the UK, his sister Esma and his friend Arshad.
Write a text in which you discuss what the extract reveals about being an immigrant and
compare this to the experiences of another immigrant character in a film or literary text
from your course.

It must be a dream of all immigrants, to live a life in a new country that can offer you almost everything, where you have nothing to worry about. There are so many different reasons why people have to leave their own country, to go to another. Some people move because they can find better jobs, and earn good money. Others move because of better education, which will lead to a more positive future. Like I said, there are so many different reasons; war, poverty, natural disasters, political reasons, etc. However, being an immigrant must be rough. Immigrants that succeed reaching a better life in a new country, have to adopt to the culture, environment and the way people behave in that country. For some, this can be scary and very difficult.



FREEDOM WRITERS

Based on a true story, Freedom Writers is truly an inspiring story about a young committed teacher named Erin Gruwell and her class known as the “unteachable” college students, according to the other teachers. Ms. Gruwell has difficulties keeping the peace between her classroom of mixed nationalities; Asians, Blacks, Latino, and one white guy. Many of the college students in Freedom Writers only trust people of their same “kind” or in the same gang as them. What i mean by same “kind” is basically nationalities (Black, Asian, etc.). For example, in the beginning you could clearly see that they all separated into groups according to their race. With so many nationalities, there will always be some sort of problems; racism, fights, and etc. The college students can't be to close to another because that might start a problem with a rival gang. Almost everyone know somebody
(friends or family members) that has been killed by gang violence. Freedom Writers also gave the viewpoint of a white male college student in a class where he was the minority. This guy didn't belong to any of these gang related groups. This guy made it clear that he felt uncomfortable, since most, or basically everyone else were not white. You could almost say that that he were an immigrant in that class. In other words, it's a class full of immigrants, which can lead to conflicts and fights between these immigrants. However, the movie Freedom Writers is not about immigration, but about a young white committed teacher who inspires her class of  “unteachable” students to learn tolerance, making more out of themselves, and chase education.



HONOUR

In the extract from the novel Honour, we are first introduced to a nameplate. Her sister would want all “THE TOPRAK FAMILY” or else, all the family member's names on it. But, Esma's sister would personally leave the nameplate anonymous, because they had not really settled, they were only passers-by. The family were also a half-Turkish, half-Kurdish family, and they also lived in London.
They didn't really live there, they were only passers-by. They were half-Turkish, half-Kurdish, but they lived in London. All of this belong together with a typical immigrant-family.

My conclusion for both the extract from the novel Honour by Elif Shafak and the movie Freedom Writers directed by Richared LaGravenese, is that they both show some aspects and characteristics of what immigration is. The extract from the novel Honour shows regular immigrants who doesn't find themselves comfortable in London. In the movie "Freedom Writers" we didn't see that much about immigration,
 but about college students with different nationalities who must fight their way through every day, in fear of dying. More or less, these teenagers have to get accepted in the social network, and hopefully not be judged or harmed because of their background or skin colour. 

søndag 18. januar 2015

Summary


The Voices of Immigration in America

America has always been, and will always be the nation of immigrants; this will never change. Most of the people in the videos said that immigration was a good thing. Immigrants have contributed to a lot of good causes in America. Like for example, scientific research, business, education and etc. And there is also nothing wrong with the “Dreamers”. They are productive members of the society of America. They have lived in America for long time, and they are just as much American as anybody else, but not on paper, and this is something Obama want to fix.


Sources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/immigration-action

President quote




“Our beautiful America was built by a nation of strangers. From a hundred different places or more they have poured forth into an empty land, joining and blending in one mighty and irresistible tide. The land flourished because it was fed from so many sources — because it was nourished by so many cultures and traditions and peoples.”


LYNDON B.
JOHNSON
October 2, 1965

I liked this quote by Lyndon B. Johnson, because he is telling us that America was built by a nation of immigrants. But now it's such a powerful country with many different cultures, religions and people from more than hundred different places or even more.


Sources:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration/immigration-action

Obama's speech


Obama’s speech.
a) What is he going to do?
Obama wants to build on their progress at the border with additional resources for their law enforcement personnel.

b) How can he do this without Congress’s blessing?
Because there are some actions Obama can take as president without Congress’s blessing.

c) What is an American according to Obama?
What makes you an American is the shared commitment to an Ideal. That all of them are created equal, and that all of them should have a chance to make their lives as they want to. America is of course the nation of immigrants. However, according to Obama, being an American is about more than what you look like, what your last name are, or what you worship.

d) What does Obama urge the House of Representatives to do?
Obama wants the House of Representatives to pass the bill. He wants to work with both parties to pass a more permanent legislative solution.

e) What is your stand to the issue, do you think Congress will pass the bill soon? Give reasons for your opinion.
I don’t think the Congress will pass the bill. Because there are some many things that need to be done, and it will be very difficult to complete. But, it sounds like a good system, and I do hope that the congress will pass the bill.


Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q_Xk66gsRU

onsdag 7. januar 2015

Varieties of English

Oral English Presentation
English is the most spoken language all around the globe. English is spoken in almost every single corner of the globe. A lot of people are speaking English as their native language, But the reason why English is so widely spoken is because there are so many people speaking English as their second and third language. English is today the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin and Spanish. Mandarin is a type of Chinese; which almost every person in china is speaking. However, if we combine both native speakers, and non-native speakers, English is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world. With so many people all around the world speaking English, different varieties will develop. Your way of speaking English depends on culture and what language you grew up with.

English in India:
English in India has a status of assistant language, however English is the most important language in India. After Hindi, English is the most commonly spoken language in India, and it is probably the most read and written language as well. Indians who know English, will always try to prove that they know English. English symbolizes in Indians minds; better education, better culture and higher intellect.
However, I think some of the people from India, which have Hindi as their mother tongue and learned English as their second language, speaks in a very funny way. It’s I bit hard to explain. So I found this video of an job-interview with an Indian guy. Just listen to the way he talks.

video:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNyHP_IHO7I

The difference between English and Russian:
English and Russian are very different in important aspect, like their grammar system significant variations. English has a fairly fixed word order, meaning is expressed through the addition of words and movement of words within limited boundaries.
Russia on the other hand, conveys meaning largely through changes in the composition of words.

Their alphabets:
Russian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, some of those letters are similar to the letters in the Latin alphabet used by English.
While we used the letters as simple as ABC, but it’s harder for Russians to learn what seems easy for us.
Russian is largely phonetic language. This means that a word’s pronunciation can be predicted from its spelling. And its spelling from pronunciation. This is certainly not the case in English, and usually causes Russian people serious difficulty and frustration to learn English.

the differences between English and German

German is spoken by about 95 million people all around the world, and is the official language of Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland. English and German both belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Because they are so closely related, they share many features. Furthermore, the English language is pervasive in German media and popular culture. It is not surprising, therefore, that many Germans learn English quickly and easily. However, there are a number of aspects of German that commonly interfere with the correct production of English.
Here is an example: the /th/ sound as in words like the, and thing does not exist in German, and many speakers have problems producing such words correctly. 

fredag 14. november 2014

Task 2 p.178

The method Malin used was number 7: Influence the authorities.
Malin was one of several more amnesty activists who sent letters to Ethiopian authorities; they wanted to release an Ethiopian woman. The Ethiopian authorities didn't like that, and she was thrown into prison.

Amnesty International works both local and globally. They use Social Media (method Nr.2), They make petitions (method Nr.5), and method Nr.7 (influence the authorities).

onsdag 12. november 2014

Task 8 p.169


c)
  • The global free market consumer economy was pioneered by the United States and the United Kingdom.
  • Production, trade and investment has decreased.
  • Poverty and unemployment has increased. 
  • New Great Depression. 
  • Many today are pointing the finger of blame back to the 1980s. 
  • Leveraging – Using borrowed capital for (an investment), assuming the profits made to be greater.
  • Derivatives and the Sub-prime mortgage market.
  • For more than 30 years the rich have gotten richer, and the poor have gotten poorer.