Juvenile delinquency

Over the recent years, the number of crimes committed by young people has dramatically grown. Although some citizens may claim that our area still remains a safe one, I personally believe that there are two main social issues that need to be addressed.
One of the biggest problems is vandalism. This may be because there is a high density of population, especially in shantytowns, and when people live too close together they can become angry and frustrated. As a consequence, young people may take this aggression out of vandalism. I would suggest that this problem could be solved through video surveillance. Cameras should be set up in affected areas, enabling the vandals to be identified.
Another serious issue is the quickness at which proliferation of crime among young people is spreading. Even schoolchildren are being lured into crime by older children. However, a great deal of crime is actually caused out of boredom. As there is little for young people to do in the evenings around here, I´d propose that money be set aside to provide leisure activities for teenagers .
In contrast, there are some people who claim that the problem of juvenile delinquency does not exist in our region. They point out that our area is not as affected by crime carried out by youngsters as others . In addition, they state that the percentage of idle teenagers does not surpass the 5 % and that the local government is keeping the situation under control.
Even though some may think that vandals are not prominent in our area, I believe that more and more youngsters are nowadays turning into crime. I am convinced that if the measures I proposed here or any other effective ones were to be implemented, there would be a noticeable reduction in crime across the whole community.

Poem: "maggie and milly and molly and may"

maggie and milly and molly and may by e.e cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
It’s always ourselves we find in the sea



I believe the four girls refer to only one person and that the trip to the beach symbolizes different life experiences from childhood to adulthood, either pleasant or not. The sea is a metaphor for life. Each girl experienced the beach in very distinctive ways, which represent the ways in which we go through different moments in our lives, how we experience them and how we feel about them. Similarly, we discover something new and challenging every day, no matter how bad or good that would be.

The message the writer wants to convey is that if we are lost in life we should reflect upon our experiences in order to have a picture of who we are. The last two lines constitute a violation of syntactic contiguity, realized by change of tense (from past simple to present simple) and voice. The voice is 3rd person except in the last two lines, in which the writer speaks. While the first part of the poem is quite childish, in the last stanza the writer’s attitude becomes serious and he makes us reflect upon the impact of life experiences on us.

Affective language teaching

Teaching and learning are based on communication and this involves much more tan the mere transmission and reception of a message. It implies connecting with the others through gestures, eye contact and body language as well as moving away form the self-centre to become aware there is much more than a student sitting in your class-there lies a human being, someone who has interests, needs, feelings and ideas to share with others. An affective language teaching approach generally produces an effective learning outcome basically because the teacher manages to go beyond the student and focuses on the human as a whole.
Knitting humanistic activities into the classroom allows teachers to create a relaxing and stress-free atmosphere. This is ideal for the teaching and learning process because it helps students to lower their affective filter and acquire language in a more relaxed way, since their self-confidence and self-esteem are enhanced in a non-threatening atmosphere. The flow of these positive emotions reduces anxiety and increases motivation and optimism.
Although nobody can deny the relevance of resorting to these activities from time to time, greater benefits will only be obtained if they were included in the annual plan. Some teachers are reluctant to include them in their classes due to lack of preparation time, the size of the classes or the lack of flexibility of their syllabi.
Whatever reason, a class will only become a teaching-learning community if members are educated and respected, decisions are shared and cooperation is favored over competition. Humanistic activities can only be carried out in non-threatening environments, where the concept of “team” outweighs that of “individual”. In these classes, communication flows naturally, values are respected and balance between reason and emotion are the stepping stones to reach a successful end.

Short story: “The revolt of the Evil fairies” by Ted Poston

The short story is about a young African American boy who attempts on, at least, two separate occasions to win the role of Prince Charming in the school's annual play. Each attempt to win the part brings him heart break since the role is awarded to "yarrlers," light-skinned African Americans. After Sarah Williams, his unrequited love since kindergarten, wins the part of Sleeping Beauty, the narrator goes all out to win the role of Prince Charming. Despite his efforts, Leonardius Wright, a "yarrler," wins the role of Prince Charming, and he once again assumed the role of the Head Evil Fairy.
On the night of the production, all proceeds as planned except for two instances. In the second act of the play, Leonardius raps the narrator over the head with his sword. Although the act was not in the script, Miss LaPrade quiets the narrator by telling him that it was a nice little touch. The second incident occurs in the third act when the vanquishing of the Head Evil Fairy is to occur. Just as Leonardius begins to take his sword to dismiss the Evil Fairy, the narrator cut loose with a right to the chin. Initially, the audience sees the fist fight as a new addition to the play until it fails to relent. Peace is finally restored after the curtains are closed, and when they are raised fifteen minutes later, the play continues as planned.
The theme of colour-based divisions within the black community itself is integral to Ted Poston’s “The revolt of the evil fairies”. The common held belief at that time was that lighter-skinned people were superior to the darker ones as the former group was thought to have some white features such as straight hair and white complexion. As a consequence of all this, lighter-skinned people had more opportunities in life and received a more favourable treatment.
At first sight, the Revolt of the Evil Fairies seemed to have a simple plot about a school annual play. However, after further reading, I came to realize that this short story is highly ideologically invested. Through the context of the play we learn that the colour based divisions within the black community itself are deeply engrained. The author in not merely narrating, but instead he is trying to raise consciousness about the harsh reality of the most disadvantaged members of the black community. He does all this through the use of rich vocabulary, wording of meanings, cohesive devices and humour.

How to survive in the twenty first century? Finding a way out...

The clock rules our lives. The more we try to save time, the less time we seem to have. In every area of our lives we are doing things faster. And many of us live in towns and cities which are getting nosier and more stressful as each day passes. Do you feel like there are too many pressures and demands on you? Do you often loose sleep worrying about tests and schoolwork? Do you eat on the run because your schedule is just too busy? If you experience these symptoms, you are probably suffering from stress.
But what can we do to handle stress? The best solution is to treat you body well. Experts agree that getting regular exercise helps people manage stress and eating healthily helps your body to get the right fuel to function at its best. It's easy when you're stressed out to eat on the run or eat junk food or fast food. But under stressful conditions, the body needs its vitamins and minerals more than ever.
In order to counter this rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat the Slow Food movement was founded in 1989. Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization with supporters in 150 countries around the world who are linking the pleasure of good food with a commitment to their community and the environment. It all started when an Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, saw that McDonald´s had opened a restaurant in piazza Di Spagna, the beautiful square in Rome. He thought it was tragic that many people today live too quickly to sit down for a proper meal.
I´ll give some tips that may help you reduce stress. Take a few deep breaths. This makes you breathe slower and your muscles relax. Exercise and try to think positive remember the good things in your life. Massage the tense muscles. The muscles in the back in the neck and upper back usually get tense when you are stressed. A massage will help them to relax. A hot bath or shower will also be useful to relax your muscles. Talk to tour family and friends about your feelings, it is important for them to know how you feel so hey can help you.
Personally, I enjoyed exploring this new way of making presentations. I believe that Pecha Kucha format can help you to make your presentation more vivid. But at the same time, I found the experience really challenging since to you have to compress a lot of information in only twenty seconds! I think it is also a tool which can help to develop visual literacy and ,in my opinion students, would get motivated exploring this new way of dealing with a topic.

When television is good, nothing is better; but when television is bad, nothing is worse

Television today is considered to be one of the most important and the most respected form of transmitting information. Its easy accessibility means that it has the largest audience of all forms of media and therefore the greatest impact. However, this powerful tool can be used for good and bad.

Firstly, the main aim of television is to entertain people. For most viewers, television is an escape from reality in a fantasyland of sitcoms and game shows. Through television people can fulfil their desires as well as witness a vast amount of experiences they would not have the opportunity to go through in real
life. In addition to this, television can take viewers across time and space to explore the world and life without actually travelling; it can be a window on the world.

Secondly, television is an excellent educational instrument, it can teach lessons in different subjects from Geography to Mathematics. Schools often use television as a way of educating students because on TV, they can demonstrate many things that cannot be done in the classroom.

On the other hand, violence on television affects children negatively. Studies at the University of Illinois found that children who watched many hours of television violence when they were at elementary school tended to show a higher level of aggressive behaviour when they became teenagers. By observing these youngsters until they were thirty years old, researchers found that the ones who had watched a lot of TV when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.

Moreover, people strive to be as beautiful and intelligent as their favourite TV characters. This is, of course, impossible as their lives are false. Therefore, the unsatisfied desire to achieve this perfect “TV” life often leaves viewers feeling disappointed and with low self-esteem.

In conclusion, television can have both beneficial and harmful effects. It can be used to educate and allow people to see a world they might never have a chance to see in reality, but at the same time, it shows a mall, distorted view of reality, which can damage people’s view of the real world, and this can influence
how people think and behave.

Cosumerism

Consumerism is the equating of personal happiness with the purchasing of material possessions and consumptions. On the one hand, consumerism can help to develop the manufacturing industry as well as to reduce unemployment. But on the other, it only leads to personal short- term satisfaction and to environmental damages.

One of the main advantages of consumerism is that it stimulates the manufacturing industry. Manufactures are responsible for satisfying consumers’ desires for material possessions. Therefore, the more products people buy, the more products factories produce. Another benefit of consumerism is that it creates opportunities for those in need of employment. The insatiable demand for industrial products evidenced in today’s society implies that more staff is recruited by industries.

However, the main drawback of consumerism is that it leads to short- term happiness. For western society members, material objects prove to be an escape from issues of the real word. It seems as if compulsive buying was the solution to job, family or personal dissatisfaction. The problem is that people fail to recognize that this feeling of completeness is only temporary.

Critics to consumerism point out that consumerist societies are more prone to damage the environment, to contribute to climate change and to use up resources at a higher rate than other societies. For example, in 2002, a person in the United States used ten times more energy than a person in China and over twenty five times more than someone in China.

Consumerism can have both beneficial and harmful effects on society. It can have economic benefits on industries and on those who are in need of a job. However, it can damage both our mental health and our physical environment. If we continue to think that a feeling of well-being is dependent upon what we have, we will be encouraged to become, as Peter Russell points out: “human havings rather than human beings”.