Lang III - Letter to the Editor II

Dear Editor,
I'm writing to share my feelings towards the place I live in.
I live in Rosario City, downtown, only a few blocks away from hectic Cordoba Street, but my block is actually pretty quiet. There are schools, cyber-cafés and enough shops to buy anything you need, but the great thing about them is that they all shut down early in the afternoon, helping the atmosphere to achieve a nice, pleasant siesta mood.
My street is full of tall tress and that's why it is specially cool in summer afternoons. It's quite a picturesque place, crowded with nice colonial houses inhabited by very sweet and kind people. Very "fairy-tale-like", in fact.
However, at night, it's a different story. Insecurity has affected the whole of the city and my beloved place in the world has been no exception. If when the day is bright and shiny you would expect bumping into Little Red Riding Hood, when the sun goes dow, you're most likely to meet the wolf. This is because the street lightening does not work well; and no one seems willing to fix it! This is terrible because it helps criminals rob and go without much trouble. In the last five years, my neighbours have been victims of all types of crimes: pick-pocketing, burglaries, car theft, etc.,etc.
I can't say I don't like my neighbourhood - apart from insecurity there's not much else I can complain about - but I kinda want to live a peaceful life, you know, free of worries and fears. This is mainly why in the future, I would like to leave the neighbourhood, even the city perhaps. These decisions are difficult to make, but I must admit that I wouldn't go on living here, not for the world. I would move far, far away to a quieter and safer place.
Unfortunately, I have the feeling I'm not the only one who feels this way, perhaps other will share my views.
I hope that I can read about my peers' experience in this subject too.
Yours faithfully,
...

Lang III - Letter to the Editor I

TASK: YOU HAVE READ AN ARTICLE IN A GENERAL INTEREST MAGAZINE. THE TITLE OF THE ARTICLE, WHICH GIVES ITS GIST IS: “Chilean miracle: a story of greed, a story of human greatness.”

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR RESPONDING TO THE POINTS RAISED IN THE ARTICLE AND EXPRESSING YOUR VIEWS.

Dear Sir,

I wish to congratulate you on your article “Chilean miracle: a story of greed, a story of human greatness” which was published last Sunday.

First of all, I would like to say that your analysis on the mine business in Chile was most thought-provoking. I speak as one of those millions of people watched the rescue of the 33 miners without realising that far from a miracle, what happened at Copiapó was not but the result of human greed. I was shocked to become aware of the wild precarious conditions under which miners have to work; and even more upset I became to find out that such conditions are not improved in order for companies to be able to tighten their belts and obtain higher profits than the ones they would receive if they sticked to mine safety and health conventions.

Nonetheless, it was a breath of fresh air to read about the huge efforts that the Chilean people and the international community have made in order to rescue the 33 lives on a completely disinterested and cooperative basis.

Before congratulating you once again, I only want to say that I hope that this letter will, provided they still haven’t done so, induce other readers to read your work and become aware, as well as I did last Sunday, of the whole story behind the Chilean miracle.

Yours faithfully,

Mariana Zárate

Lang III - Essay II

TASK: YOU HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING AUDIOVISUAL AIDS WITH YOUR PEDAGOGY LECTURER, SHE HAS ASSIGNED AN ESSAY ON THE BENEFITS OF MUSIC ON LANGUAGE 2 LEARNING. WRITE YOUR ESSAY.

Nowadays, the use of audiovisual aids in the English classroom has become naturalized. But although even the older generations of teachers have adapted their lesson plans to include this kind of didactic materials, there are still many educators who refuse to make use of some audiovisual aids in their lessons; especially music. However, the benefits of using this sort of input in lessons of English cannot be overlooked.

Recent resarch has shown that music patterns – and chanting in particular – resemble the underlying structures in our brains, thus making music naturally appealing to all human beings. Apart from this, it has been acknowledged that music helps people to calm down.

Furthermore, we should bear in mind that playing music at lessons of Englishc can be profitable in a number of ways. Firstly, musical support is a most valuable resource through which culture can beshared: playing typical American or British songs is a wonderful way to create positive feelings towards the target language. Secondly, using music to introduce an exercise, for example, is a good way to activate prior knowledge, since it helps students to make associations. Last but not least, including songs in the English classroom results in the creation of contexts for our teaching, which prove meaningful for students of all ages.

However, there is a common assumption among some people - older and more traditional teachers in general - that since auditory aids were not used in the past and students learnt all the same, music is a source of input that can be dispensed with.

There might be some truth in this argument, but it cannot be denied that working with music in the English classroom is a fruitful and motivating way of teaching, apart from a meaningful and enjoyable way of learning.