On Hostage Situation – I think that the idea of the paper is a great idea, I am sure it wasn’t hard to find the arguments on what is and what is not the right way to handle this type of situation. However, exactly like you said every situation is so different in this field. Also I am interested is this something that you hope to go into. Your presentation was great, you didn’t seem nervous, and I feel that you hit all the points about how the problems are discussed academically in the field.
On Patient/Doctor Relations – There were at least 3 of these, so I am going to say all I have to say about these and take with you what pertained to you individual presentation. I think that most of the presentations did not really say what the people in the field are actually saying about the way in which they communicate to the patients. You focused mainly on the way you felt the patient felt under certain situations. On the other hand, a few of you actually did and I think that is what this presentation and paper is supposed to be more about. I think that this was probably the most used scenario and profession for this paper and I think it would be very smart to be sure to thoroughly give examples of how the actual doctors relay information to patients. I think a great thing you may want to look into, is in the practice of oncology and how the doctor relays the news to the patients that they are going to die. I read an article somewhere that some doctors get hugs from patients when they tell them this or even get thanked. Others get yelled at or the patient is in denial. I believe this has a lot to do with the relationship with the doctor.
On Accounting – I was in fact an accountant for a Retail store, I have a real life understanding how hard it is to get the business owner to understand what is going on with the numbers of the business. Not only was I the head accountant but I also worked there as a manger. I was there over 40 hours a week, and the owners were very trusting. I knew more about the internals of the business than they did. To people that don’t deal with Revenue, Profit, Assets, Liabilities, and Payroll on a day to day basis good luck. This is a cool major to go into and you learn what the definitions of all the different words listed above. But in the real world you don’t use ledgers and balance sheets on paper. I suggest get a copy of QuickBooks and start learning how to use it now. Also business plans, get familiar with looking over the number portions and don’t be afraid to point out that it just isn’t going to work. As far as the presentation you did great, I think that this one would be hard because of the fact that people good with number tend to stay as far away from writing academically as possible. I am sure you could find some articles on how business owners either understand or don’t understand what is going on with their money. I like the topic and it definitely is something that is very hard to communicate. If you find a efficient easy way to get the points across let me know.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Essay 3
Ok, I have not began working on Essay #3 yet other than getting all the sources reading through each one and working on summing all the sources up. As I am doing a collabrative project and my partner has been out of town on a Drum Corps Competition it was hard for me to work on the project and have both of our view thoroughly expressed.
Friday, April 11, 2008
In response to If This Is French, Then What Did I Learn in School?
I feel that Duràn hit the nail on the head in his questioning why we learn something already obsolete in foreign language classrooms. He tells it like it is, and gives examples comparing and contrasting what one learns in a French classroom and what one should learn in a French Classroom.
I feel that Duràn hit the nail on the head in his questioning why we learn something already obsolete in foreign language classrooms. He tells it like it is, and gives examples comparing and contrasting what one learns in a French classroom and what one should learn in a French Classroom.
I agree that the bases have not changed nor has the need for the proper syntax for writing academically in the new target language. I am not petitioning that we stop teaching the proper way to write or speak, but merely incorporate the changes in the language into the class as well.
Step out into the real world and you will quickly find that you are unprepared to get anywhere other than la sale de bain or somewhere elementary like that, and you would most likely find that you couldn’t comprehend the answer because of unfamiliar responses. When learning a foreign language you have to understand that “ça va” is not the only way to say “How is it going?”
Step out into the real world and you will quickly find that you are unprepared to get anywhere other than la sale de bain or somewhere elementary like that, and you would most likely find that you couldn’t comprehend the answer because of unfamiliar responses. When learning a foreign language you have to understand that “ça va” is not the only way to say “How is it going?”
Est-ce que:
Est-ce que je vais aller au cinéma ce soir?
NOTE : Never taught in a classroom that I have seen is the fact that in common use Est-ce que, is only used with “I” as a question or “Je.”
Inversion:
Sais-tu le professer de biologie?
NOTE : This is the most common used but what is not taught is how the inversion can be used multiple places in the sentence.
Intonation:
Tu veux aller avec moi chez mi-mi?
NOTE : You just use voice inflection to ask the question as it is syntactically like a statement.
There are just so much more and so many exceptions in everyday use. When you hear a native speaker and they use the inversion somewhere else in the sentence it is easily confused. Also they do not follow the script of questions and answers laid out nicely for you in the text book.
Basically, I want to set up my own curriculum teaching the basics and all the major rules but incorporate the new French into it. Also using multimedia would allow me to keep up with the times teaching commonly used slang and words that wouldn’t find themselves past the old gray haired man editing the French books.
I feel that Duràn hit the nail on the head in his questioning why we learn something already obsolete in foreign language classrooms. He tells it like it is, and gives examples comparing and contrasting what one learns in a French classroom and what one should learn in a French Classroom.
I agree that the bases have not changed nor has the need for the proper syntax for writing academically in the new target language. I am not petitioning that we stop teaching the proper way to write or speak, but merely incorporate the changes in the language into the class as well.
Step out into the real world and you will quickly find that you are unprepared to get anywhere other than la sale de bain or somewhere elementary like that, and you would most likely find that you couldn’t comprehend the answer because of unfamiliar responses. When learning a foreign language you have to understand that “ça va” is not the only way to say “How is it going?”
Step out into the real world and you will quickly find that you are unprepared to get anywhere other than la sale de bain or somewhere elementary like that, and you would most likely find that you couldn’t comprehend the answer because of unfamiliar responses. When learning a foreign language you have to understand that “ça va” is not the only way to say “How is it going?”
Est-ce que:
Est-ce que je vais aller au cinéma ce soir?
NOTE : Never taught in a classroom that I have seen is the fact that in common use Est-ce que, is only used with “I” as a question or “Je.”
Inversion:
Sais-tu le professer de biologie?
NOTE : This is the most common used but what is not taught is how the inversion can be used multiple places in the sentence.
Intonation:
Tu veux aller avec moi chez mi-mi?
NOTE : You just use voice inflection to ask the question as it is syntactically like a statement.
There are just so much more and so many exceptions in everyday use. When you hear a native speaker and they use the inversion somewhere else in the sentence it is easily confused. Also they do not follow the script of questions and answers laid out nicely for you in the text book.
Basically, I want to set up my own curriculum teaching the basics and all the major rules but incorporate the new French into it. Also using multimedia would allow me to keep up with the times teaching commonly used slang and words that wouldn’t find themselves past the old gray haired man editing the French books.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
His is harder to write on than you think!
I am shooting myself in the foot for choosing this word. I need feedback! If it isnt up to par I need to just change my word! So let me know!
Imagine a world without gender markers, where everything was ambiguous. In the midst of a casual conversation and unable to tell if the person talking is dating a guy or a girl, a world without these markers could make conversation much less meaningful. Looking back on the evolution of the English language one can see how it has went from a language with gender for many of its objects to a language where only one gender was used, and back to a language that uses gender markers but no specific genders for inanimate objects.
One example of a word that marks gender now is “his,” the word was originally used in c1000 to describe a male and in a1200 in the 3rd person singular feminine. The word in both senses has followed a noun showing possession. The Oxford English Dictionary has the following definitions for the word, “1. as gen. case of pers. pron.: a. masc. Of him; of the male being or thing in question, L. ejus; b. neut. of it; c. refl. of himself, of itself, L. sui.” In the feminine sense it has the word defined as, “it; refl. Herself.” As well as yet another definition of the word meaning them, this is now obsolete. (Oxford English Dictionary)
The word now has taken its place in a modern dictionary, the Wikipedia definition of “his” is “a gender-specific pronoun, the possessive form of he” (Wikipedia) This has grown to be accepted, and I feel that it is a great definition. I think it is irrelevant to have only one word pointing to the masculine, feminine, and plural forms. Which “his” historically did, but I still feel that the English language should have stayed a little more closely related to the other European languages.
Another use past use of “his” was to means its, where an inanimate object posses another object. This is not something that is very common in language today nor was it very common in language in the past. This is most likely the reason why the word “its” was not in existence. The language then evolved and needed a word that pointed to a possessed object of an inanimate object. (Yahoo Answers)
“His” has been on a long roller coaster ride of transformation and has seen everything from biblical times where it was used to point to a possessing male or female. To where the language just needed a quick reference to a female. Then we entered into a time where women decided to fight for their rights and it seen some harsh times there. “His” has had a front row seat in the battle of the sexes, and has evolved over time to point to only the male gender. The last time the word was used in describing a female was in 1340, however the battles over women’s rights were far from over. The change in the use of the word merely implied that now we needed a way to refer in short to women. This need marked the first in a series of gains for women.
The word however not only stopped pointing to women but to the plural as well. This is where English took a turn from the format of other languages. Where in many of the other popular languages you have masculine and feminine beginning and endings attached to almost every word. Like in many other languages the word for his or her is also used in the plural sense and the word for his trumps the word for hers if there is just one male included in the group being discussed. This is where English began taking on its own form, and words began to lose gender.
Today we still assign gender to certain things, usually to things that is stereotyped as being a girly or a masculine thing. Such as a cat, when saying the cat owns something, we find ourselves saying her, or she. Especially if we do not know the sex of the cat off hand. The exact opposite with a dog, which is predominantly referred to as he or his. This is because of a preset notion in our brain that says cats are girls and dogs are males. We do this with many different words in the English language.
This is where I feel the fork should be stuck firmly into the road, and we should have to make a choice. This is also why the English language is so hard to learn. I do not think that certain words deserve to have gender if other words do not. If you were to show anyone born in the past five generations a document referring to a female as his, they would call attention to it and say it is a typo or a mistake. Unaware of the history of the word not knowing that that the word used to be used interchangeably.
The correct definition of the word “his” would be used in all necessary places of a masculine noun. The word would be used even to describe possession of an inanimate object as long as the object were masculine. The word “her” would co-exist and be the feminine counterpart. The English language should have kept gender markers on every word. I know the English language cannot completely change overnight but it does upset me that we go totally askew in the aspects of language and measurement from every other major language. This not only would make our language easier to learn, and make the concepts of other languages easier for us to learn, but make more sense for everyone.
This is the best definition of the word because it not only splits and makes masculine and feminine two separate things with quick indicators such as the gender markers, but it also keeps it fair to women. Beyond that is assimilates us into following other language rules followed around the world. Should we continue to use gender markers for only certain objects and certain situations? No, this makes it unfair and we are stereotyping what should or should not be a certain gender. Also it confuses the hell out of other people trying to learn the English language.
Imagine a world without gender markers, where everything was ambiguous. In the midst of a casual conversation and unable to tell if the person talking is dating a guy or a girl, a world without these markers could make conversation much less meaningful. Looking back on the evolution of the English language one can see how it has went from a language with gender for many of its objects to a language where only one gender was used, and back to a language that uses gender markers but no specific genders for inanimate objects.
One example of a word that marks gender now is “his,” the word was originally used in c1000 to describe a male and in a1200 in the 3rd person singular feminine. The word in both senses has followed a noun showing possession. The Oxford English Dictionary has the following definitions for the word, “1. as gen. case of pers. pron.: a. masc. Of him; of the male being or thing in question, L. ejus; b. neut. of it; c. refl. of himself, of itself, L. sui.” In the feminine sense it has the word defined as, “it; refl. Herself.” As well as yet another definition of the word meaning them, this is now obsolete. (Oxford English Dictionary)
The word now has taken its place in a modern dictionary, the Wikipedia definition of “his” is “a gender-specific pronoun, the possessive form of he” (Wikipedia) This has grown to be accepted, and I feel that it is a great definition. I think it is irrelevant to have only one word pointing to the masculine, feminine, and plural forms. Which “his” historically did, but I still feel that the English language should have stayed a little more closely related to the other European languages.
Another use past use of “his” was to means its, where an inanimate object posses another object. This is not something that is very common in language today nor was it very common in language in the past. This is most likely the reason why the word “its” was not in existence. The language then evolved and needed a word that pointed to a possessed object of an inanimate object. (Yahoo Answers)
“His” has been on a long roller coaster ride of transformation and has seen everything from biblical times where it was used to point to a possessing male or female. To where the language just needed a quick reference to a female. Then we entered into a time where women decided to fight for their rights and it seen some harsh times there. “His” has had a front row seat in the battle of the sexes, and has evolved over time to point to only the male gender. The last time the word was used in describing a female was in 1340, however the battles over women’s rights were far from over. The change in the use of the word merely implied that now we needed a way to refer in short to women. This need marked the first in a series of gains for women.
The word however not only stopped pointing to women but to the plural as well. This is where English took a turn from the format of other languages. Where in many of the other popular languages you have masculine and feminine beginning and endings attached to almost every word. Like in many other languages the word for his or her is also used in the plural sense and the word for his trumps the word for hers if there is just one male included in the group being discussed. This is where English began taking on its own form, and words began to lose gender.
Today we still assign gender to certain things, usually to things that is stereotyped as being a girly or a masculine thing. Such as a cat, when saying the cat owns something, we find ourselves saying her, or she. Especially if we do not know the sex of the cat off hand. The exact opposite with a dog, which is predominantly referred to as he or his. This is because of a preset notion in our brain that says cats are girls and dogs are males. We do this with many different words in the English language.
This is where I feel the fork should be stuck firmly into the road, and we should have to make a choice. This is also why the English language is so hard to learn. I do not think that certain words deserve to have gender if other words do not. If you were to show anyone born in the past five generations a document referring to a female as his, they would call attention to it and say it is a typo or a mistake. Unaware of the history of the word not knowing that that the word used to be used interchangeably.
The correct definition of the word “his” would be used in all necessary places of a masculine noun. The word would be used even to describe possession of an inanimate object as long as the object were masculine. The word “her” would co-exist and be the feminine counterpart. The English language should have kept gender markers on every word. I know the English language cannot completely change overnight but it does upset me that we go totally askew in the aspects of language and measurement from every other major language. This not only would make our language easier to learn, and make the concepts of other languages easier for us to learn, but make more sense for everyone.
This is the best definition of the word because it not only splits and makes masculine and feminine two separate things with quick indicators such as the gender markers, but it also keeps it fair to women. Beyond that is assimilates us into following other language rules followed around the world. Should we continue to use gender markers for only certain objects and certain situations? No, this makes it unfair and we are stereotyping what should or should not be a certain gender. Also it confuses the hell out of other people trying to learn the English language.
Friday, March 7, 2008
What matters?
I am going to go out on a limb here and hope I don’t shoot myself in the foot. But if grammar doesn’t matter all that much, and what really matters is that you get the point that is trying to be conveyed. Then why do we have to endure a class that is supposed to teach us language, or teach us how to write. Better yet why do I get points taken off my paper because of grammar mistakes? So does it matter or not. I AM SO CONFUSED!
Everyone has some sort of a different argument, it is only in speech that it doesn’t matter, or it only matters if you are writing for a formal audience. Well didn’t we learn to speak before we learned how to write? Why can we just write like we talk, it would be easier and we could spell things much more loosely? I honestly don’t think anyone would care. Except maybe for the person who wrote the article about how he is disgusted in how the language is failing.
I don’t think there is a real answer on what is happening to the English language. I think the language would be more effective if we did use these shorter words that have been invented just for test messaging. As long as the communication get the point across. I however know that by doing this we take out all the descriptive aspects of English. The thing I don’t understand is why everyone is so up for talking like they do in these text messages.
So writing and speaking properly is either crap or not crap. Can we please decide which way speech should go!
Everyone has some sort of a different argument, it is only in speech that it doesn’t matter, or it only matters if you are writing for a formal audience. Well didn’t we learn to speak before we learned how to write? Why can we just write like we talk, it would be easier and we could spell things much more loosely? I honestly don’t think anyone would care. Except maybe for the person who wrote the article about how he is disgusted in how the language is failing.
I don’t think there is a real answer on what is happening to the English language. I think the language would be more effective if we did use these shorter words that have been invented just for test messaging. As long as the communication get the point across. I however know that by doing this we take out all the descriptive aspects of English. The thing I don’t understand is why everyone is so up for talking like they do in these text messages.
So writing and speaking properly is either crap or not crap. Can we please decide which way speech should go!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Whom the hell nose grammEr?
It is hard when you come from the part of the country that seems that everything we have been reading about has been targeted at. My parents are the cliché, “I don’t want none of that” speakers. So my dad would be the last person to correct my grammar. This brings me to a thought about changing language like we change our clothes. Indeed I change my language for a English class drastically from how I would speak at home. I catch myself saying things such as, “I have already ate” or “Where is my car at?” I know these are wrong and the second they come off my tongue it is like I am reaching out and trying to grab the words and shove them back into my mouth. I can’t help how I was raised nor can I help that I didn’t properly learn the names for all the words in a sentence.
I can however recall a time in seventh grade when my Australian English teacher expected out class to know how to diagram a sentence. We seriously didn’t know an adverb from a hole in the ground. I guess that was the first time where we got a description of the names of words. It was a little too late, and at the time I couldn’t have cared less.
The first time I guess I figured out that the names of words actually mattered was in my High School French class when I was trying to describe how these words went in a specific order. Which is hard, when I still had no clue what exactly a direct or indirect object was or how to describe how they pointed to something? GERUND PHRASE? Can someone please explain?
But does language really have to be this scripted. I mean everyone knows what you mean when you say, “I didn’t get no money today.” Just like in class we discussed who the authorities were to say what is and is not correct. Who really cares as long as it just works? I guess I am saying this because I don’t particularly care if people are wrong or not in speech. However why they are wrong interest me. If we were all correct when we spoke or wrote, then I would be left without anything to sit back and be, “Like, Whoa!” And tons of people would be without a job.
I can however recall a time in seventh grade when my Australian English teacher expected out class to know how to diagram a sentence. We seriously didn’t know an adverb from a hole in the ground. I guess that was the first time where we got a description of the names of words. It was a little too late, and at the time I couldn’t have cared less.
The first time I guess I figured out that the names of words actually mattered was in my High School French class when I was trying to describe how these words went in a specific order. Which is hard, when I still had no clue what exactly a direct or indirect object was or how to describe how they pointed to something? GERUND PHRASE? Can someone please explain?
But does language really have to be this scripted. I mean everyone knows what you mean when you say, “I didn’t get no money today.” Just like in class we discussed who the authorities were to say what is and is not correct. Who really cares as long as it just works? I guess I am saying this because I don’t particularly care if people are wrong or not in speech. However why they are wrong interest me. If we were all correct when we spoke or wrote, then I would be left without anything to sit back and be, “Like, Whoa!” And tons of people would be without a job.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Old World! New World!
First off I want to say that this week has been the most stressful week of my life. STRIKE THAT! This week sucked.
How is that for concision? So this week we talked about our papers and how to make them more effective. I have always had a huge problem with writing sentences that go on forever. That contains multiple ideas, and most likely confuses the hell out of the reader. After reading in About Language on concision and going to class that day I was able to make my reading more effective. But I must say didn’t help on the length of my paper.
The time spent on writing a paper, editing, re-vision, and re-re-vision is well worth the time. I used to write papers and turn them out without second thought, and without even reading over them. I would get the papers back with marks on things that made absolutely no sense at all. I then started having someone else read my papers and help me be sure that they made sense. This was effective but I never thought about how powerful you can make a paper by taking out filler words, and just saying what is need to be said.
I will admit this makes it hard to meet the word wouldn’t requirements. Because usually I would have went on forever about my first sentence. In fact I feel everyone deserves to re-live what has happened.
OK so I am coming into this week from the worst Valentines Day ever. I was broken up with this year on V-Day! Yes I couldn’t believe it either, but it was my fault. I guess sometimes you need to choose your battles wisely. The fact that this relationship ended is not as upsetting has how it did. Moving on into this week. I spent the first part of this week with the flu, so I lay in bed and moped around about last week’s loss.
One stupid thing after another! Eventually it leads me to taking my best friend to the hospital where she lay I sat in the ER overnight on Tuesday. Her parents aren’t from here and she was very scared about being there alone, and I don’t blame her. OK, so after being there all night the next day they decide that she has appendicitis, and are going to do and emergency appendectomy. However they give her morphine right before they realize that her parents are forever away. Rendering her unable to go into surgery, because she has had pain meds and cannot sign a medical release.
This is where I come in! Her parents made me her medical proxy. Which means I am stuck at the hospital now. So I missed tons of important quizzes and papers in classes. But it was for my best friend so it was ok. The surgery went well and recovery was pretty quick. She had her own room and we ended up staying one more night. The chairs are very uncomfortable to sleep in, and I am not fond of the hospital at all. But we got out of there yesterday, after missing a final for a first session class.
Anyway, it has just been a stressful week!
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