Reflections about English class

We have learned a lot of things about English Language. This class is not about grammar, structure, vocabulary, anymore. Now, it is more about the culture of the language itself, obviously, applying all vocabulary, structure, etc. we have learned in previous English classes.

This can help us in our real life because today, English is the most important second language in Mexico. Today, many jobs require that its employees speak in English Language. As the world evolves, new cultures and languages get involved in our country, so we should be prepared to communicate with people around the world, and English will let us accomplish that. English, as well can help us to survive in another country.

This class will help us to practice our English in order to improve it. If we analyze the content of this class, we may think that it’ll not help us in order to be successful in the future. In fact, it’ll help us for our general culture. But the real goal of this class is mainly to practice English by writing essays, participate in debates, etc.

Other kinds of activities we can do in class are to: hear music, this will help us to improve our pronunciation, to learn new words, etc. We can also have games in order to learn playing. We also can dedicate our class to have a discussion about a certain topic in English to improve our fluency and pronunciation.

Comparing and Contrasting “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke and “Colonization in Reverse” by Louise Bennett.

A Poem is a specific composition of words arranged in a way that the author can express his/her feelings through it. As in English language there are many variations among different countries, it happens the same among poems of different countries. There are many different “Englishes” that have been established through several countries, making this language almost completely different from formal English. This is why poems from different countries may sound different at a point of becoming almost unintelligible. 

“The Soldier” is a poem written by Rupert Brooke, the poem is actually the fifth of a series of sonnets entitled 1914. Rupert Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, he died the year after “The Soldier” was published. “Colonization in Reverse” is a poem written by Louis Bennett in 1966. Louis Bennett was a Jamaican folklorist, writer, and artist. She speaks a blend of languages called patois, which reflected the island's African roots, her unique dialect was part of Jamaica’s cultural heritage.

The communicative purpose can be seen in the way that the author transmits his/her message in a form that the viewers can understand their points of view. In this case we can see that Rupert Brooke, in his poem “The Soldier”, tries to express the heroism of the English soldiers who fought in World War I trying to write as if he was a soldier. England was his birth place and it shaped what kind of person he became, it influenced his thoughts and beliefs. In his poem, he talks about his country and his people, as Louis Bennett talks about hers. We can see, in her poem “Colonization in Reverse”, her description of the Jamaican experience of the racial inequality of South Asian people living in London. She was influenced from both Jamaican and South Asian cultures that shared a similar experience in their move to England for employment and a better life, so in her poems she wrote her experiences about that. She also refers that Jamaican people are assimilating England culture and leaving behind Jamaica. In both poems the authors highlight the cultural precision and identity of their biological country.

The tone takes an important role in a poem; it goes according to the different word choice, punctuation, rhythm, etc. In this case, in the poem “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke we can see a formal tone, it is a serious poem; we can imagine that it is a letter from a soldier before dying. He also adds a patriotic and optimistic tone to the poem which makes it more representative of his country. On the other hand, in the “Colonization in Reverse” poem by Louise Bennett we can see a different tone from the first poem because of the differences of the Jamaican’s English Language. As we saw previously, changes in English language can occur because of the geographical differences. Her tone is also reflective because she expresses the changes among Jamaican people because of England’s influence. The poems are very different according to the tones, they’re written in a different form of English: UK English and Jamaican English.

The audience is the people of their countries that see the poems.  The audience from “The Soldier” should be the British people because Rupert Brooke is from England, the audience would experiment a “goodbye letter” from a soldier of the WWI. The audience from the “Colonization in reverse” should be the Jamaican people because Louise Bennett is from Jamaica, the audience would experiment a kind of reflection about what’s happening to Jamaican people today, how they’re influenced by the British culture. In both poems, the words are pronounced differently because of the different accents from their countries.  The authors uses different types of diction in their poems, we can see that by looking at the author's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression.

In conclusion the authors are able to express certain feelings through their poems by means of different elements that define a poem like for example tone, structure, language, style, etc.  These poems have more differences than equalities, the authors are not from the same country, they have different cultures, different thoughts, points of view, different themes, etc. On the other hand we can see some similarities among them like both are poems, even though they’re arranged in a different way, both have stanzas, both express feelings related to their biological country, etc. Somehow these poems are related to each other. Poems will always be a way of expression for people through different countries around the globe and these may present differences in language like the one mentioned above.

words: 776

"Rupert Brooke: V. The Soldier | First World War Poetry Digital Archive." Oxford 

University Computing Services (OUCS) Home Page. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/education/tutorials/intro/brooke/vsoldier.html>.

Hundred, By De. "The Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverley AKA Miss Lou 1919 - 2006."Distinctly Jamaican Sounds. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. <http://jamminjasounds.blogspot.com/2006/07/hon-louise-bennett-coverley-aka-miss.html>.

First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Laura Howard

This article is about how the influence of different countries in Britain has changed the English language. It also says that English is one of the most important languages in the world, after Mandarin Chinese. English is spoken in many powerful countries in the globe. The author explains us that English language doesn’t start in England, but in what is now Germany.  Then she explains Old, Middle, Early Modern English and Today’s English. The Old English was originally spoken by Germanic people who invaded Britain in the 5th Century AD.  At first they didn’t have an extended vocabulary. Then the Vikings invaded Britain around the 8th Century adding other words to the English language. The Middle English period started in 1066 when the Normans invaded Britain, they dramatically changed the language introducing a kind of French.  This period came to an end in 1204. The Early Modern English period started in the Renaissance around 1500 and 1800, in this period Europe brought many Greek and Latin words. English is related with all these languages mentioned above. The Early Modern English period came to an end in the invention of the printing press; this brought the standardization on English language because many people could read and their English was improved. English now-a-days have many technological words because of the industrial revolution. The author makes emphasis on the importance of the origin of English language.

The audience of this article should be the English speakers because they’re interested on their speaking language. Also the English Learners because with this article they can understand better the origin of English language. Another type of audience is the teachers because they would want to understand better this kind of topic so they can teach better.

The main purpose of this article is to inform about the origin of English language, how it was developing through centuries. It was also made to improve education in this topic.

The tone of this article is informal because of her way to write this article, including her opinions and judgments. It doesn’t look like a formal document.

The way she wrote her article is unprofessional because she says things like “our beautiful language” and maybe for some people think that English is not beautiful. Also the comment she wrote at the end of the article “I thought I should list my sources, otherwise I'd be at risk of plagiarism” is not really necessary and is not related to the topic. Anyway, she gave good facts about English history and a good structure in her explanations, like for example she organized the text with an introduction and then she explained Old, Middle, Early Modern and Today’s English with many details and examples, finally she ends the article with a conclusion.

http://anglik.net/englishlanguagehistory.htm

http://www.englishclub.com/english-what.htm

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Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/262926-the-history-of-the-english-language

First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Sammy Stein

This article talks about how English evolved from many years ago. The author starts with a brief description about how the English language has been changing in vocabulary overtime. This happened because England was desired by many civilizations and invaded by others. The first major change was when Vikings arrived and they brought some words from their language. After that the Romans invaded Britain and brought many Latin words. Then other rulers from Spain came to Britain and brought Spanish words to their vocabulary. The author mentions that English Language is unique because of the several changes in their vocabulary. She also says that English is the second most common language in the world, but even though it is the second, there are many other countries in which they communicate in English. She believes that language will still evolve in the next centuries.

The audiences of this article are the English students because they want to have a wider idea about the origin of the language they’re studying. Teachers are another audience because they try to understand better this language so they can have a better idea of what they’re teaching. Native speakers of English would be another type of audience because they would be interested in the history of their own speaking language.

The purpose of this article is to inform about the history of English, how the words were added or changed in English vocabulary.  The author also expresses different opinions about this language.

It is written in an informal tone because she gives opinions and not just facts about English language. She caught my attention with her first question “Do you speak English?” because she starts telling interesting information that makes you want to read the rest of the article. 

I really liked the way she wrote this article, like if she was talking to a friend. I understood all the text without any complication because she included many examples to make it clear.

She shows an organized list of events that gives us a better understanding in how English language was evolving and changing throughout centuries. Even though she didn’t include too many details, it was a good article because she explained all with examples to make it easier to understand.

I agree that English is the second most common language in the world, because I did some research and found out that Chinese was the first common language.

Copyright © 2002-2008 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.

Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/880886-the-history-of-the-english-language

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First Partial Journal Activity - The History of the English Language by Lucy Rucker

This article talks about the history of English, how it was formed throughout time and how English language was originated mainly from Britain, but also from other countries. It also mentions the evolutions of English language in: Old, Middle and Modern English. The Old English is situated after the year of eleven hundred, it would be rather difficult to read and understand it now-a-days. The Middle English is located between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries, there are actual words which have disappeared because they had no meaning, the order of words was reorganized and show new and different meanings. The Modern English is the one we’re using now-a-days, phonics and spellings were improved. The author wrote some common difficulties in English language, like words with different meanings, the modifications of English in some countries, etc.

She thinks that English is the most complex language in the entire world because it’s a combination of some other languages like Anglo-Norman-French and Latin. What she expects from English language is constantly developing in vocabulary, grammar, etc.

The audiences of this article are the English Learners because they want to find out how English became the most important language in the world, and mainly to know the origin of it. Also the English Teachers would be another type of audience because for teaching English they want to be more informed about this language.

Its main purpose is to inform people about the history of the English Language, how it was formed and its origin. Another purpose is to express the author’s (Lucy Rucker) ideas about this language.

It is written in an informal tone because she says things like “in my opinion” or  “we now have the language we love the most” in these phrases we can see that she wanted to express her ideas and not just facts about English language.

I think her research was complete because she explained the most basic things about English Language, even though she also could include more aspects about it, I think the message is clear and easy to understand.

I don’t agree that English is the most difficult language to learn because almost every language has its complications, like for example the combinations of other languages or different meanings with their words, etc. I really don’t think English is that difficult because if it was that complicated, then people wouldn’t choose it as a lingua franca.

Copyright © 2002-2008 Helium, Inc. All rights reserved.

Helium, Inc., 200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA

http://www.helium.com/items/878494-the-history-of-the-english-language

What should learn English as a lingua franca or “formal” English?

In my opinion, I prefer learning English as a lingua franca because in that way you can communicate with people around the world and not specifically leave your culture behind. A clearly example would be when Spaniards arrived to Mexico; Mexican people were forced to learn Spanish and leave behind their language and some of their cultures. What some people try to prevent is to lose their cultures because those are aspects that defines who we’re becoming.

Learning English as a lingua franca may be more difficult than learning the language just after you were born, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you learn English as your second or third language doesn’t mean you will never be able to talk as a native speaker; in fact not all native speakers are competent users of English, some of them have a limited vocabulary or a low grammatical competence. 

Anyway, if your first language is English you’ll not be forced to learn another language because it is not really necessary, but on the other hand, people who doesn’t have English as a native language will have the necessity of learning another language and that will help them to increase their knowledge.