Final Reflections

1. Do you feel like your writing has improved this semester? Why or why not? In what ways has it improved? In what ways do you want to continue improving your writing?

-Yes, my writing ability has been much better. Before taking this class, I had no motivation to write formal essay that I have done in this class. Through this class, however, I could learn how to write formal essay including the thesis statement and topic sentences. Moreover, I realized that whenever I write something in English, I try to keep the writing structure that I have learned in this class. I want to continue improving my writing ability by taking ‘Advanced English Writing and Presentation’ by Kyle next semester.

 

2. Do you feel like your reading comprehension skills have improved this semester? Why or why not? In what ways have they improved? In what ways do you want to continue improving your reading skills?

-Yes, I think my reading comprehension skills have been improved this semester. Through this class, I had chance to read English textbook once every two weeks so it leads to improving the speed of reading and the abilities of catching the key word and grasping the main idea. And it is good for me to keep reading english material as much as I can.

 

3. In what other areas do you think you have improved during the semester (grammar, speaking, vocabulary, confidence, etc.)? In what areas do you still need to continue improving? What will you do in order to improve in those areas?

-I am weak in speaking what I think by english fluently. Through this class, however, there were many chances for me to communicate with partners in English. Therefore, I just guess that my english speaking ability has gotten better in a degree. However, I hope to improve my english speaking ability still now. To upgrade english speaking ability, I plan to go to English language institute teaching for speaking in english in this winter vacation.

 

4. Was this the first time you kept a blog? Did you enjoy blogging? Was blogging a helpful way to practice writing? Did you enjoy reading your classmates' blogs? Do you think you will continue blogging in the future?

-This is not the first time for me to run a blog. Frankly speaking, I choose getting to sleep more rather than blogging because I have no enough free time. It is a little bit troublesome work. However, it is helpful way to practice writing by uploading posts on the blog. Actually, I didn’t enjoy reading our classmates’ blogs. If I have enough time to enjoy my life, I am willing to run a blog well.

 

5. What did you learn this semester? What do you want to learn in future semesters?

-As I mentioned above, I learned how to write well-organized formal essay through this class. I found out that I pay attention to write interesting hook, strong thesis statements listing key points, topic sentences, paraphrasing and beyond. In next semester, I plan to take the class named ‘Advanced English Writing and Presentation’.

 

6. What were some of the best and/or worst aspects of this course? Would you recommend this course to others? Why or why not?

-Actually, I am very satisfied with this course. I love professor’s teaching style. I will recommend this class to others who want to improve their english writing skills because I could learn so many things mentioned before through this class.

 

7. Please share any other thoughts about the semester.

-Even if it was difficult to upload several posts and write 2 essays, I am really sure that my writing ability in english has been improved. Thank you for your careful teaching, letting me making my own cyber space and providing me for opportunity to run blog regularly. Hope for your nice vacation and see you next semester!

Rewrites

Essay #2 Rewrites

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vYOtOISOS4Nd3R1FPiq2ScZKHQpQg39H-ooO3y1MUZc/edit?usp=sharing

Blog Post #7 - Unt 9 (Languages)

There should be one world language

Have you ever experienced ‘Language barrier’? Language barriers occur when people do not speak the same language. Difference in language is the most obvious barrier to communication as two people speaking two different languages cannot communicate with each other. If the speaker and receiver do not use same language and words, there is no meaning to the communication. Not using the words that other person understands makes the communication ineffective and prevents message from being conveyed. Therefore, there should be one world language that everyone speaks because it will be helpful for academic progress, eliminating translation errors and acheiving global peace.

    
 

First of all, one of the benefits of having one world language would be progressing in knowledge due to expansion of communication. Having a common language would help us in a way that sharing information and knowledge with the world would be much more effective. By communicating with people having different nationalities in a same language, the exchange of information could be much faster and academic achievements contributing to society could be accomplished much more.

  
  

Another benefit of one world language is that it would eliminate translation error. If everyone in the world spoke the same language, communication among us would be much easier and we all could express ourselves much clearer. Misunderstanding between languages would be prevented. Sometimes translators can be wrong as some words cannot be translated directly and it causes the problem of conveying wrong messages and leads to difficulty of communication. Thus, if we have one world language, the translation error would be reduced.

  
  

Lastly, one world language is beneficial for global peace. Communication becomes difficult in situations where people don’t understand each others’ language. And most of the wars happen because of not having proper communication between nations. However, if there is one world language, countries could become united rather than competing with other nations. By using the same language, the world would be better able to understand each other and reduce the amount of conflict because there would be no loss of communication when being translated. Furthermore, by using one world language, there would be an increased capacity to solve complicated world problems by having a way for the best minds in the world to work directly with one another, instead of having to work through translators.

  
  

In short, there should be one world language because it could be a great help to academic progress, eliminating translation errors and global peace. Therefore, we need to decide which language to get everyone to learn. If people use the specific one world language, communication would no longer be a problem. Furthermore business, travel, and trade would be much easier because we can all talk to each other easily.

  

Blog post #6 - Unit 8 (Innovation)

Kakaotalk, a wildly popular messaging innovation

In Korea, you can see many people on their smartphones on the street, in the bus, in the subway, and beyond. While different people use different types of smartphone applications, there is very common app that most Korean people use. It is Kakaotalk. Kakaotalk is the most popular messaging app in South Korea. It offers an array of features that caters to the requirements of users. Through this app, you can share photos, videos, content and other information. KakaoTalk has been launched in the year 2010 and gained around 50 million registered users by the end of 2012 and eventually 130 million users in 2013. As of August 2014, it had 152 million users. Within this short span of time, this messaging app has shown huge popularity. And this enormous popularity has become possible due to its important features such as providing users with diverse emoticons and allowing users to receive/send text messages quickly and share multimedia files easily.

 

 

One of the reasons that Kakaotalk has gained great popularity is that it makes texting even more dynamic by providing users with various emoticons. Kakaotalk emoticons have allowed Kakaotalk users to express themselves in a way that words could not. Texting has become a staple for quick and easy communication, but sometimes words fall short when trying to get your message across. It can be hard to convey tone, and when your friends cannot see your face, they cannot always figure out what you’re trying to say. With the Kakaotalk emoticons, however, everything becomes much easier to understand. Furthermore, Kakaotalk emoticons largely are supplementary feature, but they have allowed for a diverse communications experience. Kakaotalk offers a wide variety of emoticons for almost every situation, and deciding who you’re going to choose to go along with your text is a fun way to connect with your loved ones. Whether you are happy about getting a promotion at work, looking forward to a movie date, or sad about having a sore throat, there are diverse Kakaotalk emoticons perfect for spicing up your texts.

  

The huge popularity of this app is because it is quick to receive/send text messages and easy to share multimedia files. If you’ve ever used SMS texting, you would know that there is a slight delay when sending/receiving texts. Kakaotalk, since its launch, have always tried to make the communication experience instant, and one of its main objectives at its earlier stages was to improve the speed of sending/receiving messages. This resulted in instant sending/receiving of texts in. Also, Kakaotalk makes it very easy to share files like pictures, videos, voice messages. Conventional texting, which utilizes the cellular network, is limited in its ability to send pictures, videos, and other multimedia files. However, Kakaotalk, which utilizes internet connection, allows for easy and quick sharing of multimedia files. This allowed users to diversify their communicating experience.

  

Kakaotalk, a wildly popular messaging app, is truly ubiquitous in South Korea, and it has been used by 93 percent of smartphone users in South Korea. This great popularity of this app is mainly because of its special features that set it apart from other popular messaging apps. Kakaotalk offers various emoticons that make texting even more dynamic. It also allows users to receive/send text messages quickly and share multimedia files easily. Due to those features, Kakaotalk has been arguably the most influential smartphone application in Korea. Except for what I mentioned above, it still keeps broadening its unique services by launching mobile games, music streaming and beyond to become an extraordinary app. Thanks to these efforts, Kakaotalk seems to continue to retain a solid foothold in the industry of mobile messenger. For smartphone users, it is interesting to see how Kakaotalk will continue to expand and grow.

 

Rewrites

Rewrites-Comparing Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vYOtOISOS4Nd3R1FPiq2ScZKHQpQg39H-ooO3y1MUZc/edit?usp=sharing

Blog Post #5 - Persuasive Essay

The efforts to ensure a sustainable future

 

In these days, the air pollution is a serious issue. The increased population have contaminated our environment severely. And it threatens the environment to live for the next generation. After all, our future generation will inherit what we leave behind. However, it is our duty to ensure a sustainable future for our future generations to grow and prosper, rather than perish. And the most important way of ensuring sustainable future is reducing air pollution. Then what should people do to reduce air pollution? Using public transportation and reducing use of disposable products are two important acts to prevent air contamination.

 

 

First of all, we have to use public transportation to reduce air pollution. Buses, as an example of public transportation, are generally recognized as an environmentally friendly form of transport, particularly in relation to the number of car journeys needed to carry the same number of passengers. A full bus produces 377 times less carbon monoxide than a full car, which means that a bus uses less fuel per person carried, and hence less fuel than the number of cars needed to replace it. Therefore, by using public transportation, we can reduce the amount of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions generated by car, diesel vehicles. In addition, public transit relieves traffic congestion which increases fuel consumption from cars stuck in traffic. This is because vehicles cannot run efficiently. Public transportation is the easiest way to solve this problem. Public transportation such as buses or subway helps to reduce the traffic on roads then it can also leads to reducing wasted emissions contributing to air contamination. Thus, using public transportation can lead to reducing air pollution.

 

 

Secondly, reducing use of disposable products is another action that we have to take to prevent air pollution. Most of plastic water bottles, as an example of disposable products, are not recycled. And they just end up lying stagnant in landfills, leaching dangerous chemicals into the ground or infiltrate our streets. The only way unrecycled plastic bottles seem to go away is by breaking down into smaller pieces until they get so tiny that we no longer notice them. And it causes an environmental pollution. Furthermore, plastic bottles need large amounts of fuel to produce, package and transport themselves to the our local supermarket, home or office. Fossil fuels, however, are a limited natural resource and contribute to greenhouse gases which are bad for the environment and cause global warming. In short, by reducing the use of disposable products, we can prevent air contamination.

 

 

By using public transportation and reducing use of disposable products, people can prevent air pollution, which plays a key role in ensuring a sustainable future. As I mentioned above, our future generation will definitely be affected by what we are doing. Therefore, we need to think more about what responsibilities we have to the environment and our future generation. And let’s begin to preserve our environment by commuting to work with riding public transit instead of personal car and taking indisposable products such as tumblers or eco-bags rather than plastic bottles or paper cups for sustainable future.

 

Blog Post #4 - Explanatory essay

The importance of setting in The Great Gatsby

 

Where the story takes place is a major part of the setting. The setting has a tremendous affect on what happens in the story. Furthermore, the setting can do more than affect plot events. It can also establish the atmosphere, or mood of a story. And The Great Gatsby is an example of such a book which uses the setting effectively. The Great Gatsby is set on Long Island, in two areas known as "West Egg" and "East Egg". These settings in The Great Gatsby are specifically very significant because each of these locations is used to convey information about characters as well as the society in which the story takes place.

 

 

The East egg is considered to be the aristocracy of the social classes and home to the characters Tom and Daisy. East Egg is the location where the rich people who have inherited family money from previous generations meaning each family has prestige and rich predecessors. This type of money can be “old money” as it is passed through the generations and given to the new generations without effort or work. This aristocratic society has indulged in their money and material views that they have become immoral and superficial. And also, the image of the East Egg society is created as people of inconsideration and selfishness. Furthermore, Tom, a man of great wealth, lives in on an East Egg estate with his wife, Daisy, with whom Gatsby had once been involved and hopes to win back. They have both come from families who have been wealthy for generations and are considered as the ‘old money’ of society. In the East egg, they spend their lives manipulating people to meet their desires and care little about the collateral damage they leave behind. In short, The East Egg is an optimal literary setting mirroring the Eastern American society and the life of careless aristocrats.

 

 

The West Egg, on the other hand, is considered as the ‘new money’ of the upper class society and where Gatsby, main character of the story, lives. West Egg is where the newly rich live, bought or built extravagant houses to show off their newly acquired wealth that they earned. This can be called “new money”. Although those who live in the West Egg are super wealthy, they don’t have the high social status that the East Eggers have inherited with their money. However, people living in the West Egg would be considered as honest and hardworking people and retained their values. Jay Gatsby, the main character in the novel, is a man of great wealth who lives in West Egg. Gatsby didn’t grow up with money like Daisy but he acquired it. He owns a mansion and dresses well, but he lacks the background of an old and well established family. He is uneducated. Therefore, he doesn’t quite know how to handle his money or how to operate in his elevated social sphere. Gatsby often looks out longingly over the bay toward Daisy's house in East Egg and aspires to live in there. In brief, nothing but the West Egg represents well the Middle West society and the life of newly rich people with honest and hard working.

 

 

In ‘The Great Gatsby’, the settings are extremely important to help readers understand the story better. This is because each of these locations corresponds to a particular type of character encountered throughout the story and reflects the specific society where the story is set in. East and West Egg are the residential neighborhoods of the rich. While they both represent wealth, they are not at all the same; in fact, they represent two different kinds of wealth: East Egg where Tom and Daisy reside represents old wealth, aristocracy, and high social class while West Egg where Gatsby reside represents the new wealth, the quick and easy money earned unlawfully during the 1920's. Those places may have both pros and cons individually. And if you have an opportunity to choose either of those places, then where do you want to be born and live?

Blog post #3 - Geotourism

Geotourism in Jeju island

 

Jeju Island, Korea’s largest island, has long been the country’s favorite domestic travel destination thanks to its beautiful beaches, lush countryside and seaside hotels designed for rest and relaxation. And it is also voted one of the 2011 New 7 Wonders of Nature. Therefore, it attracts large numbers of tourists all year. As a result, people who live in Jeju have mixed feelings of joy and worrying about the effects of increased geotourism. The possible effects of geotourism in Jeju island, having both positive and negative, include providing local residents with jobs to earn their living by local businesses and also damaging the natural environment in there by crowded tourists.

 

 

One possible effect of geotourism in Jeju in positive aspect is that it helps local people earn a living. It means that local people respond to the growing number of tourists by finding jobs as tour guides or starting small tourist-oriented businesses. Thus, they can increase their income and improve their standard of living. For example, local people can work as tour guides in Jeju. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities : hiking on Halla-san, viewing majestic waterfalls, riding horses, etc. Therefore, by working as tour guide in Jeju, local people can help tourists enjoy lots of those exciting things and prevent tourists from being in danger. And also, local people can open lodging facilities, including private inns and guesthouse. If more and more tourists stay in these facilities, then the local people owned them benefit and it also leads to chances to hire more local employees. Consequently, local businesses benefit from the increased tourism. In this way, geotourism has positive impact on Jeju island.

 

 

Another possible effect of geotourism in Jeju island in negative aspect is that it destroys the natural environment of the island. For example, in Mt Halla, the highest mountain in Korea which is located in Jeju, trekking tourists generate a great deal of waste. Tourists on expedition leave behind their belongings such as oxygen cylinders and even camping equipment. Such practices ruin the natural beauty of the island. And also, if too many people visit this area, they can damage to the natural environment because most of them are not very careful about the environment. They usually throw away garbage thoughtlessly and use a lot of water. And it leads to environmental pollution. Therefore, geotourism may be harmful to the environment in Jeju.

 

 

So in summary, I talked about the effects of geotourism in Jeju island. I agree that geotourism has positive effects in many ways. And it is absolutely certain that it has negative effects, too. Therefore, if geotourism is badly managed, then it can destroy a place. However, geotourism is that tourism can be a positive force that benefits both travelers and local environments and economies. Therefore, we need to reduce the negative effects of geotourism in Jeju by being more careful about the environment and by treating it as precious.

  

 



 



 



Blog post #2 - Summary

Summary of "Living on an Urban Planet" (pp. 51-53)

 

In 1800, most people lived in rural areas, but from the 20th centuries, the number of people living in cities has been increasing rapidly. As large urban areas began to grow and spread, many people thought that it causes some serious problems like bad environments, disease and crime.

 

However, recently, people like urban planners, economists, and environmentalists have positive views on these urbanization. Many planners believe big cities offer a solution to dealing with the problem of Earth’s growing population. And, one economist insists that living in the cities is more efficient in economic aspect because it reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. Also, one environmentalist says moving people out of cities would be disastrous in ecological perspective. It is because people living in out of cities like suburbs and rural areas use more energy and produce more emissions.

 

Therefore, rapid growth of cities is an inevitable part of development rather than a real problem. And now, it is important to focus on how to manage rapid urbanization. And urban planners regard Seoul, South Korea as a nice example of successful urbanization. As for Seoul, a poor country can urbanize successfully and incredibly fast. Furthermore, it enabled economic growth, which paid for the buildings, roads, and other infrastructure that helped the city absorb even more people.

 

Urban planners expect dense and carefully planned cities are important solution for lifting people out of poverty without wrecking the planet. Therefore, urban planners around the world continue to struggle with the problem of how to manage urbanization.

 

In my opinion, I agree that cities bring largely positive benefits. However, the urbanization has had huge impact on Korea's family system. The rise of "apartment culture" has encouraged smaller families with one or two generations living in a household. Many people, particularly in urban areas, live single and lonely lives. The ageing population means a large proportion of the people will spend long but lonely lives without anyone to care for them. Korea already has one of the highest suicide rates among the elderly. In the past, family members used to take care of the elderly and sick. But with the decline of the family many elderly people must take care of themselves. Therefore, although urbanization offers lots of conveniences, I am personally sorry about the phenomenon.

Blog post #1 - Self Introduction

Eunji's Self Introduction

Hi, everyone! My name is Eunji Lee. I am 22 years old. I am senior in Sungshin Woman's University majoring in Political science. I live in Seoul ever since I was born. In the future, I want to get a job related to international trade. So I want to be good at using foreign languages fluently. That is why I choose English language and literature as my plural major. Also, nowadays I am learning Chinese, too. It is hard for me to memorize lots of chinese characters. But, it has many interesting things, too. Actually, this is my fourth time to enroll Kyle's class. I am very happy to take a class educated by Kyle professor again. Through this class, I am expecting to have fun and improve my english skill. I hope to get to know each other. Thank you^^