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?

 

I definitely think that my writing skill has improved. Lots of writing homeworks and essays were tough, however it helped me get used to writing in English. Writings we did in class were on various subjects and some of them required research. This not only helped me to improve my writing skills but also upgraded my thinking power. Also, learning how to write thesis statement and subject sentences properly helped me to write more accurate formal essays. In order to keep improve my writings, I will write continuously on various themes.

 

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?

 

Through reading various passages and learning vocabularies in the class, I was able to study about geo-tourism, new innovations, languages and more. From these readings, I learned useful knowledges. Also, going over reading comprehension questions and reading skills in the class, helped me better understand the passages and improve my reading skills. I think reading and memorizing vocabularies are one of the most effective ways in improving reading comprehension skills. So in order to get better in reading English, I will read more and study vocabularies daily.

 

 

3. 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 was my first time having my own blog. Blogging was easier than I thought and I enjoyed sharing my writings with classmates. Also, reading comments and writing one to other classmate's writings were fun and interesting. Even after this class, I think I will continue to have my own blog.

 

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

 

I mainly learned about writing and reading skills this semester. I improved my reading and writing through this course and I would like to learn advanced level further. In future semesters, I would like to learn how to make good speeches and practice performing presentations in English.

 

5. Please share any other thoughts about the semester.

Even though it was hard to write essays in English, I think writing essays helped a lot with improving my writing skills. I had to write with correct thesis and subject sentences, and analyze it in the right format. Also, I had to research some information and write them with my thoughts in an organized way. Rewriting essays with the corrections and comments was the part I think it was most helpful. It improved my writing skills by letting me know the problems with my writing.

I really enjoyed taking this class and I would like to recommend this course to my friends.

 

Essay #2 rewrite

Seoyoung Lee

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW (04)

20 November 2015

Objection to New History Textbooks

South Korea’s government has recently declared that all middle and high school students must learn history from the textbooks issued by the national government. These new textbooks will be written by a government-appointed panel of history teachers and academics, removing the currently used textbooks that are published by eight different companies, which schools have been free to choose among. Despite the protests by opposition parties, it has been decided to use government-issued history textbooks from 2017. Even though South Korea’s government has already made a decision to make new text books, they should not be used to teach students because they will keep students from understanding the history from various angles, there is a possibility of history distortion and the textbooks will be poorly written since they have to be made in a short period of time.

To begin with, government-issued history textbooks should not be used because they will allow students to have only one perspective in understanding the history. History can differ from how it is interpreted and history education should present multiple interpretations of the past, but the government’s history textbook will block this. It will keep students from judging historical events critically and from various perspectives. For example, Yun bong-gil is described as Yun bong-gil the martyr in Korean history for throwing a bomb to protest Japanese imperialism. In China, they describe Yun bong-gil as just a young man from Joseon and Japanese consider him as a terrorist. As it is shown in the example, there can be variety of ways to judge the history by individual perspectives and ideas. It is not right to unify the various interprets to only one angle.    

Another problem in using new history textbooks is that there is a possibility of history distortion, which is changing the history in the form that current government wants. Some might say that the textbooks are not even written yet. However, according to the 2015 Curriculum Revision, they already have reduced the contents for the independence movement against the Japanese occupation of Korea. This shows the possibilities in distorting the history. For example, in the textbook, it should be written as ‘rice exploitation’ because Japanese have plundered large amount of rice from Korea during the period of Japanese Colonial Rule. However, in new textbooks, it will be written as ‘rice export’ which completely changes and distorts the meaning. Also, if we start distorting history, we will not be able to impose sanctions to Japan and China for distorting their history such as Japan’s repeated claims of ownership of the Dokdo Island and China’s claims on Goguryeo and Balhae, saying that it is part of their history. It is not only a severe problem for textbooks in Korea, but also for history textbooks that are written in other countries that have history distortions because we will not be able to criticize them. 

Textbooks need a certain amount of time to be written and analyzed. However, these new textbooks have only one year for production since it has been decided to be published and used from the year 2017. The currently used elementary government-designated textbooks and middle school’s authorized textbooks were written in two years and the new history textbooks will also need at least two years for production. These rapidly made textbooks will go below the standard and will be poorly written containing insufficient contents, confusing the historic education field. Furthermore, most of the history professors in Korean universities are refusing to write these new textbooks. Even with the professors, it will take more time to write the proper history textbooks for students.

Although it has been concluded to use government-issued textbooks, we should disagree with the new textbooks for various reasons, like eliminating various perspectives in understanding history, possibilities of history distortion, and short time for writing a new textbook. Using new textbooks will allow the government to interfere with the interpretation and teaching of history, making students learn history in the perspective that the government chose. This will cause distortions and keep students from learning the right objective point of history. Therefore, the Government-issued textbooks should not be the one to teach students right and proper history.

Languages

Korea should have more than one official language

 

  Being able to speak more than one language has become more important in this global world. Even though Korea has their own official language Hangeul, we should designate another official language such as English or Mandarine. This is because Korea depends a lot on exporting where it is important in being able to communicate with various people worldwide. Also, we use lots of words and languages that are in English in scientific area. Furthermore, since traveling and meeting people from different countries has become easy and common, it will be useful when communicating with people.

 

  First, since Korea's economy depends a lot on exporting to many different countries, it is important for people to be able use second language. For example, there might be a case where you have to work with companies in different countries. In that time, to prevent mistakes or misunderstandings, workers should be able to communicate directly with each other without translator when discussing or making a contract.

 

  Another reason is that Korea uses words that are English in scientific area. It is said that more than 90% of literature in some scientific fields is already published in English. Science is very important in our life and in order to have more development in scientific area, we need to be able to easily understand and use the words that are in different language. Furthermore, if English becomes another official language, general public will be capable of understanding science more than before since it does not require translation for each words.

 

  Traveling to different countries and meeting people from another culture has become more common compare to the past. When traveling to another country, it is important to use languages that other people might also use in case of emergency or to share different culture. Having English as another official language will let people in Korea able to speak without difficulty and communicate with different people learning about their culture.

 

  There are various benefits in having another official language such as communicating freely with global companies, understanding scientific field and speaking with people from other countries without difficulty. Another official language will let people learn and access the second language easily which, will bring advantages. For these reasons, Korea should have more than one official language.

Essay 1 - Rewrites

Seoyoung Lee

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW (04)

11 November 2015

Unsuitable Scholastic Ability Test in Korea

 

             The Suneung exam is a scholastic ability test that is conducted in Korea. It is the most important exam that a high school student has to take. Getting a high score on the Suneung is important to get into the top universities, where students believe that it will enable them to get a good job. However, many people think the Suneung is unsuitable for evaluating students’ ability these days. Therefore, if Suneung is not used for college admission, it will develop students’ creativity, help individual development, and solve social problems like teenage depression.

             First, if the Suneung is not used for scholastic ability test, students will be able to develop creativity. The Suneung is a single test that is held once a year to evaluate what student has been studying for their whole school life. A lot of what is learned is done by rote learning and this lowers students’ creativity. Students need to use time to solve the problems from various angles and think about the solving process itself, not by indoctrination. This will develop thinking skills, comprehensive ability, creativity and critical thinking power. However, stereotyped Suneung emphasizes ‘memorizing’ rather than serious consideration which causes abnormal intellectual development. So, for example, there are essay type exams which is already held in many colleges which evaluates creativity and logical thinking skills. If Suneung is not used, these kinds of exams should be used more widely. It will help students to develop creativity.

             Exams like Suneung not only lower creativity, but also hinder individual development. Getting into a good college is thought to be more important than what students want to major in. So it is common to see students selecting majors they didn’t wish for. Also, students tend to select majors that will benefit them more for the future jobs. This leaves no choice for students but to focus on Suneung. Even for students doing art, music and physical education require better scores to get into top colleges which makes them hard to good on both things. So by not having to study for Suneung, students will be able to study or develop their talent depending on their interest more freely. Also, colleges will be able to evaluate students not only by Suneung but try to truly see what student is able to do. For example, there is an admission officer system which does not, or only reflects little bit of Suneung scores and it has been successful. The admission officer system assesses students beyond their test scores and grades them on outside or inside school activities, awards, and more which shows self-improvement. This kind of system better enables colleges to recruit creative and talented students and at the same time, allows students to invest their time in self-development. So by not using Suneung, it will help student’s individual development.

              Last, since lots of students get stressed about Suneung, this can lead to social problems. Since Suneung is a test held only once a year, it gives lots of pressure to students. It is possible for the students to feels nervous and makes a mistake even if the student is very prepared. The result of the tension and errors are too harsh for students, since it is considered to decide their entire future. Most students get stressed by studying and just by thinking of Suneung. It’s not only Suneung they have to care for. They also have to get good scores on school exams. Last year for example, questions in the examination were considerably easy and this made students cry for even a small mistake they made. This stressful life leads to social problems like teenage depression and even worse, teenage suicide. It is known that the rate of teenager suicide in Korea has increased among OECD nations, where the total rate in OECD has lowered by 15% over the last decade. Most of the reason is due to pressure from studying Suneung. This shows the need for changes in exam and the problems will reduce if Suneung, the main cause of depression, disappears.

             Suneung has been taken for many years raising lots of issues. The problems like low student’s creativity, being poor at individual development and lots of social problems will somewhat disappear if college starts not to use Suneung and come up with better evaluating system. It will be impossible for colleges to change Suneung immediately however, it should try to implement different ways to evaluate students by increasing the importance of admission officer system or essay type exams. 

Medical Innovation : PCSK9 Inhibitors

PCSK9 Inhibitors for Cholesterol Reduction

 

 

  Heart diseases, strokes, and arteriosclerosis are some of the severe illnesses developed due to high cholesterol level. Although cholesterol serve many important functions in the body, too much cholesterol in the blood can ultimately be very dangerous. 'Statin' has been used for patients with heart disease for almost 30 years effectively however, there are some people who can't tolerate with Statin and have side effects. So, recently, Canadian researchers have come up with PCSK9 (Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin type 9) which not only helps to lower cholesterol level but also covers the problems that Statin had. PCSK9 can dramatically reduce the cholesterol and can be used for people who didn't respond to Statin.

 

  PCSK9 invention is important because it lowers the cholesterol level dramatically. There has been Statin that have been and still being used however, PCSK9 is found to be more effective in reducing cholesterols. It reduces the amount of harmful LDL cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream. LDL is known as bad cholesterol which promotes a lethal disease called arteriosclerosis, making America's number one killer, heart disease. So lower rate of LDL makes healthier arteries and reduces the chance of getting heart attacks, strokes, and other problems related to high level of cholesterol.

 

  Another reason that this PCSK9 invention is significant is that it can be used for people who can't benefit from Statin. Although more than 200 million prescriptions are written annually for Statin, in about one in five people, Statin doesn’t lower cholesterol enough.Also, some have side effects like digestive problems and muscle pains. So for those with problems using Statin, PCSK9 inhibitors can be an alternative treatment. In another way, combining a Statin and PCSK9 inhibitor may be a good option for people at especially high risk for diseases.

 

                                              Video clip about PCSK9

 

 More and more people suffer from diseases these days affected by high cholesterol level and PCSK9 will be medicine for those who can’t control their cholesterol through diet and exercise. It is important to reduce cholesterol rates and PCSK9 will effectively lower the cholesterol level and also be an important alternative for people having trouble with taking Statin therapy. 

Sustainable Future

 

  Growing population and growth in economy led people to consume more than the past causing lots of problems like air pollution, climate change, and lack of resources. It has made imbalance between what nature replenishes and humans consume. One of the most critical factors that influence Earth is increase of carbon dioxide in the air which harms both planet and people. Individually, we can reduce the carbon emissions by using public transportation instead of using cars. Internationally, increasing certified forests which helps purify the air will help reduce CO2.  

 

This graph shows the growth of Annual Carbon Emissions by region 



 

First, we can lower carbon emissions by using public transportation. Growth in economy allowed more people to have their own cars. Furthermore, some of the people or families own more than one car. Gas emissions from cars are the main culprit of air pollution. For this reason, use of cars should be reduced. Taking public transportations like buses and subways is one way. Since in our country, Korea, public transportation system is well organized, it is easy for people to use daily. Also, riding bicycles or walking to nearby destination is another way of not using cars. It not only helps to lower carbon emissions but also makes you healthier by exercising!

 

Increasing certified forests is another way to lower CO2 in the air. Trees provide oxygen and purify the air. However, people indiscriminately cutdown trees for their luxury goods, more than they need. For example, cutting down lots of trees in the rain forests is causing severe problems. Since it is commonly described as ‘lungs of the world’, it plays a big role in absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing clean oxygen into the air. Therefore, deforestation of this rain forest effects not only the people living in that area, but the whole world. So by certifying forests, logging will be regulated which will reduce the trees that are indiscriminately cutdown. It will help to reduce carbon emissions.

 

There are lots of ways to lower carbon in the air like not using cars much and increasing certified forests. However, even people know the ways to lower the carbon dioxide, they tend not to follow the solution. People should be more aware of the problems that are caused by CO2 before it gets worse. More people needs to understand the gravity of the situation that CO2 brings and make an effort to reduce carbon emissions.  

 

Explanatory Essay - Maze runner

 

 For some movies, the location is not so important that it could take place in any other city. However, there are movies with locations that are irreplaceable whether it's based on real or imaginary places. The location of the movie 'Maze Runner' is 'Maze' which is an imaginary, made up setting for the movie and it's important because it's irreplaceable. The location of the movie is essential because characters in the movie lives beside the maze and they try to escape from it together.

 

  One of the important factor in the movie is living within the maze where they have to figure out how to survive by cooperating each other. The characters live just beside the maze which opens in the morning and closes at night. They don't know why they are trapped in such place and work together to survive. The characters get food by growing fruits and crops and make rules to live in harmony. Also by working together, they get the map of the maze and try to find a way to get out of it. These kind of situations can't happen in any other locations which makes the maze an important element.

 

  Another important factor in the movie is escaping the maze. Since the characters now have the map, and they are eager to get out, some leading characters escape. There are monsters that appear at night and lots of unexpected obstacles they have to survive through. They fight over monsters and help each other to get through. However, some boys die in this process. These breathtaking events happening in maze makes many viewers to get immersed in the film which shows the importance of the setting.

 

  'Maze runner', as it is also mentioned in the title, most of the movie takes place in maze. It's the place where characters live and where all the process of escaping is done. These running through the maze and solving problems in this certain location makes the place important. Also, Maze is an unusual setting which makes the audience more interested in the story and this unexpected setting leads the viewers to more focus on the film.