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.