OBSTACLES IN NAME ONLY

                                         

                                               

                                                      

Time like flowing water

                                                       TIME LIKE FLOWİNG WATER

           In my essay, I wanted to talk about time and its value. Most of us complain about time so often. We say that it passes quite quickly and we cannot keep up with it.

          

           While I was thinking about time’s speed, I came across with this picture in the net. At first sight, it seemed a bit odd and I couldn’t get its meaning but after a while I understood what the message artist is trying to give. The artist adverts to an important side of time: Time flowing like water. That’s true; time is flowing like water which cannot be turned back. It takes away lots of things from us and never gives them back. The things which it brings back are generally sadness which makes people say ‘if only’ or happiness which make people say ‘well’, but I think nobody can live with this words towards the past. The important thing which all people should keep in mind is ‘Life is passing and they should keep up with it or in other words they should know the value of every minute in their lives.’ Like in a proverb, they should say to themselves ‘Carpe Diem’. Instead of running after empty dreams or the things which are never going to be real, they should be more conscious and live their life in a more proper way. Like in a Turkish idiom ‘Olmayacak duaya amin demek’, wanting empty things from life or from God is meaningless. Happiness never became behind these things and I think never is going to be. If we want to get the real happiness, at first we should know how to use our time and know what we want from it. If there is guilty, this is people who don’t know value of their time and regret for what they did or didn’t do. 
              All in all, that is right time is passing or running, the important thing is not knowing and complaining about it all the time. The real important thing is to know its value and act according to its rules.

Video reflection 3

http://www.onlinefilmlerim.com/the-ron-clark-story.html

              I chose a film this time in order to talk about it. We watched this film as homework, but my friends and I liked it so much, because this film is actually the thing most of us call for. We are going to be a teacher and this film is showing in an excellent way how to be a perfect teacher. Its plot’s being a real life story has also affected all of us.

         As most of us know, teacher, with his or her education techniques in determining the children’s future, plays an important role sometimes like a mom, an advisor and sometimes like a mentor. Especially for primary school students teachers are everything, and they want to be exactly the same as like him/her. Ron Clark also plays an important role in his students’ lives. He represents a great teacher who applies to every technique in order to get the attention of his students. For example, just in order to make them listen to him, he makes an agreement according to which, he is going to drink chocolate milk in every fifteen minutes while they listen to him. As students want to see his throwing up, they agree with Ron. It may seem a bit odd, but I think that real teaching should be like that. If we want student learn anything, we should show some endeavour for it, because I’m sure it is going to produce an excellent outcome. Ron Clark makes this, too. The steps he takes, the approaches he makes, the energy he extends and the devotion he shows produce a wonderful outcome. Best of all he makes each of them aware of their own self-worth. He gives them more than an education and a desire to keep on learning. He shows them that they can achieve everything if they want. I think a teacher cannot be more beyond of this type teacher. The important things are so simple, in fact for teacher. Determination, Ambition and Belief on his/her students’ ability to achieve. If a teacher has all these, there will not be a more difficult problem to think, I think.

       So, I suggest all students who are going to be a teacher and all teachers to watch this film if they want to see and be a real teacher. 

( I couldn't upload the video so, I wrote a link above the essay. You can watch the film from this link.)

Being a part of amazing metu world

Being a part of amazing metu world

BEİNG A PART OF AMAZİNG METU WORLD=))

Being a student at Metu was not my dream at all. I wanted to come neither to Ankara nor to Metu. I didn’t even think to be at Metu, because I had not liked Ankara anytime during my preparations to university. It was all the time away from my dreams. I wanted to be a student of Boğaziçi University maybe like all students at our department, however when I came to Metu, I understood that it wasn’t such bad or unbearable to live in Ankara or Metu as I thought earlier. Moreover I can even say that it’s enjoyable so much.

Getting adjusted to Metu was so difficult at the beginning for me, because I have begun to live on my own and for the first time I have been so away from my family. The first day when I leaved my family is still in my mind, and now I’m a second year student at Metu. The thing which was difficult for me at the beginning is now so much great and pretty. Metu has made me love it. =) It has many good sides and opportunities for a student who lives there. First of all, transportation is very easy thanks to RİNGS. Even if our department is distant so much, we can reach to there quite easily. Apart from this, we have a bazaar, that is, ÇARŞI where we can shop, we can eat and we can enjoy the life thanks to the game saloons there. We also have a hospital we can go when we need. Meanwhile Metu also offers to its students social health insurance that is a very good advantage for students who don’t have it. This shows that Metu not only gives importance to its students’ education but also their health. Even knowing this is enough to be in love with Metu. Apart from all these, spring fest at Metu is so much funny and enjoyable. You feel freedom there, you feel being a university student, you feel the life!!=D I think all these can show so clearly how life at Metu is or how living at Metu is.

Yes, living at Metu is beautiful, but being educated there is a wonderful thing. With its high quality education, it offers to us the real education. Thanks to its very good academic stuff, we can have very different abilities, talents and skills. And apart from these, we can have very different point of views or aspects about life thanks to different thoughts, cultures or traditions we have faced at Metu. Being at the same place with students who come from very different cultures is a very beautiful opportunity. I think that being English of Metu’s education language is another opportunity for us.

Finally, being a student at Metu and living there has many advantages and it is not so bad as I thought earlier. Moreover, maybe if I were asked whether I want to stay at Metu as an academician or not, I would say ‘of course, yes’. I think Metu has been already an indispensable part of me and I can say very comfortably that I’m happy to be in this amazing Metu world=)

English as a facilitator

          In my first essay I talked about English’s bad effects in our lives and now, I’m going to talk about its good sides.     

                                       ENGLISH AS A FACILITATOR

           English has offered many things to people on its way of being a global language. It has been sometimes an adviser like a mum, sometimes a job opportunity like an employee, and sometimes the visa of going abroad like a freedom. However, whatever it is, it has been beneficial to us all the time and so, it has proved that the facilities and progress the spread of English has offered always been superior to the destruction it has led to.

            Some may see English as a threat to scientific, technological, literary or academic works. According to them, it annihilates the real meaning of literary and scientific works. Those people claims that English damages the aesthetic side of literary works while they are being translated to English. Apart from these, they also think that complete translation of scientific or literary works is so difficult that there is very small chance of it. They may be right to some extent; however the fact that English is a significant medium for accessing information in those fields should not be forgotten. As Zelander showed, more than %85 of the works in those fields is performed in English (2006, p. 6). So, it is an impossibility for all of us to get the significant information without it. Besides, English has an importance, because we should know it in order to interpret these works and to communicate them in a meaningful way to communities. According to Mackay and Mendoza (1995, p. 4) good communication is an important instrument in the design and successful implementation of any project or work, and they claim also that any success of this project depends on the effective transfer information. We can say here that ‘Projects are run by communications’ (Kenzer, 1994, p.284)

           While the spread of English offers many benefits to people, its only good sides are not those. It also offers to people an international link. Firstly, nowadays many countries can have a progress thanks to their link with other countries. For example, since 1993, Language and Development Conferences have been hold in many different places and they offer to people in those places a chance of exchanging experiences and ideas with each other. Philippines is one of those places where a training course as ‘English for Agriculture’ has been started, because they have decided that it is a language of the agricultural research community (Coleman, 2010, p. 4). Besides, nowadays many of the scientists or researchers use English in order to have the international communication. Secondly, English offers to people the opportunity of working together, also. Currently, people are having a chance of doing organizations together. They can communicate with other people in another country in order to make any organization. Thanks to its being a global language, people can also be more ready to any disaster, because it facilitates a disaster preparedness as Coleman claimed (2010, p. 12).

          Apart from its benefits as an international link, the spread of English provides development in economy and employment opportunities for people. Firstly, on its journey being a global language, it makes economy more alive. One place to start in this subject is international tourism. In the tourism industry, there has been always a need for English so, language training courses are being given a response to demand of that field. Moreover, countries also see it as an indispensable tool in order to have a place in global economy. The other opportunities it has enabled are for employers. As international language of business, it enables people to have a good career. Besides, like a passport, it can offer people to go abroad and have a job or a good career there, too. So, maybe naming it as ‘Freedom’ would not be wrong as Coleman has done in his book ‘English Language in Development’(2010, p. 9).

           All in all, being a global and dominant language, English facilitates our lives in numerous ways. By enabling us a visa to freedom, an opportunity for development and a link for communication, it does what it can do best. Even if, according to some people, it is a threat to our values, knowing English is a privilege of our world. So, before judging the spread of English, people should think its benefits one more time.

                                                         REFERENCES

Coleman, H. (2010). The English Language in Development. (1^st ed.). England: British

            Council

Mackay, R. & Hopkins, N. M. (1995). The Critical Role of Language and Communication in

            International Development Projects. TESL Canada Journal, 13(1), 74-87

Melitz, J. (2007). The impact of English dominance on Literature and Welfare. The Journal            

           of Economic Behavior&Organization,64,193-215

Zelander, E. (2006). English as a Global Language-Good or bad? Mid Sweden: University

              Press              

English as a global langauge, is it a good or a bad thing?

        I wanted to speak about with you about English. As a person who will be an English teacher, I’m going to mention English’s effects in our lives within two essay and one of them is the essay below.

                      ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE, IS IT A GOOD OR BAD THING?

        English is on the way of being a global language. Starting its journey during the Seven Years War(1756-1763),English has been completing its task. From that time to nowadays, being boosted by many factors such as colonialism, British origin of Industrial Revolution, speaker migration etc. it has had a remarkable effect on all over the world. However, whether it is good thing or not is a controversial issue. Of course, we cannot ignore the benefits we have gained thanks to it, but unfortunately the destruction it has led to is superior to the progress it has offered.

           Some may see English as a fundamental tool in order to have a place in global affairs and trade. It is the contention of them that the spread of English is useful in terms of having a voice in some particular fields. For example; they believe that without knowing it, having a good reputation or progress is difficult, because people announce their inventions thanks to it. They also see English as a significant instrument in international trade. In their opinion societies can have a place in global trade thanks to it, as language of commerce. They may be right to some extent, however unfortunately the progress this voice has offered generally leads to destruction, also. Yes, people can announce their inventions thanks to it, but is it really possible complete translation if those scientific works? In his ‘The impact of English dominance on literature and welfare’, Melitz (2007) explains his personal opinion about this issue and gives an analogy by saying that:

                The natural or social scientist of outstanding ability whose prefered language is

         other than English can publish readily in his own language, even in the most prestigious

         journal, but will have much greater difficulty doing so in similarly ranked journal in English.

 The spread of English not only affects scientific works, but also literary works. While a poem  or novel can capture attention of reader  on its mother tongue, it can lose its value in another language, because English annihilates their aesthetic side on its journey of being a dominant language. Authors can also have difficulty in another language, because as Beajour illustrated, they marry to a language, and so the muse refuses to whisper them again in a different language.(Melitz,2007,p.210)  

       The spread of English has bad effects on translation of some particular works, however its only damages are not those. First of all, it damages cultural identity of societies and creates a linguistic gap among them, because language is not just a tool of communication. People do not just pick up the language. With a language, they do not look at matters the same as they did earlier. People start to lose their cultural identity although this situation is not always welcomed in a good way by society. As Ha (2008) illustrated in his book ‘Teaching English as an international language’, while an English teacher who has trained oversea, can be open to everything because of language, her or his that change is not welcomed in the same way in each society. Apart from these, people who know English, take the advantage of it on other countries, also. Countries manipulate the ideas of other countries with the help of English and so they gain soft power upon those countries. America can be a good example of this, because she can spread her ideas through her global language. Even people who have never been to there learn her culture by losing their own gradually. Association of English with economic elites is also another bad side of it. According to Crystal, because of these association, people begin to think that there is a strong relationship between economic wealth and language, and this leads to a linguistic gap among societies.

       Secondly, the spread of English damages other languages and thoughts about them. First of all, while English is being a global language, it reduces the role of other existing languages and it starts to do this by deteriorating those languages’ structure. Nowadays, even people who don’t know English, use English words in their communication or teenagers changes their own words’ structure especially during chatting. Moreover, unfortunately this situation results in disappearance of minority languages. Crystal names that disappearance as linguistic death and in his book ’English as a global language’ he states that although this is ‘an intellectual and social tragedy’ at least half of the world’s existing languages will die out until the end of 22nd century.(2003,p.20)Secondly, it affects people’s thoughts towards other languages. Its being so much widespread makes people unwilling to learn other languages, because according to them, it is unnecessary to learn them while they can communicate with most of the people thanks to ‘a global language. ’Unfortunately, this opinion turns into the opinion that learning other languages is a waste of time, and this opinion is so much common even in countries whose mother tongue is English.

       All in all, being a global and dominant language of English has damages rather than benefits or progress. It leads to deterioration in languages, cultures, literary or scientific works etc. During its journey, it removes so many values from societies. So, whether the spread of English is a good thing is worth to think one more time.     

Video reflection 1

                          VİDEO REFLECTİON (Studying abroad)

           In this video, three interviews are made with some international students who are studying in USA. All of these students are from different parts of world, and from different cultures, too. We see what being an international student looks like to thanks to these interviews. There are different topics in this issue and students speak about them. They firstly make comment on the benefits of being a student in USA. One of these benefits is practising according to them. While they cannot find any opportunity to speak in English in their hometowns, they can do practice freely in their new schools or in USA. The educational system is also another opportunity for them, because, thanks to it, they can study in more creative fields in contrast to their old schools’ education system. These students, who came to USA because of their relatives’ demand or with an advice, can study in a team work here, also. This educational system and the reason of their coming were second topic in the video. And the third topic is the differences they run into between their hometowns and USA. According to them, the educational system is freer than their hometowns’, because in their countries, studying at a different major beside your own or changing it after you chose it, is so much difficult. So, it is more comfortable to study in USA. That was a difference stemming from educational system, but there were also differences they see in daily life. For example, drying the clothes in a machine instead of hanging them up or speaking to people directly not indirectly were things they didn’t adjust to. After they mentioned from these topics, they make comment fourthly about the expenses they spent for their education here. They say that it changes according to in which field you study, but it doesn’t cost so much. Even if it costs so, they have to pay it for their education. Moreover while they are living these things they of course faced with some culture shock, but when all the differences between them and this new culture, this wasn’t something which is unusual. They are the results of anxiety, fear or disorientation so these weren’t unusual.

        All in all, if i were in the shoes of them, i would also want to stay in USA and improve myself in my field. Maybe, this has some difficulties, but i think it can worth to try. So, even if a person doesn’t go to there for a reason like education, he or she can go even in order to improve their speaking abilities. I’m sure it is a big beneficial facilitator at this issue.

                                                                                                              Burcu KARADUMAN