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 think my writing has improved a lot because my writing was not formed systematically before. I think it has improved in formal way. I want to continue improving my writing in technical and lexical way.

 

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?

I think my reading comprehension skills have improved this semester because I am able to understand an article in English. I think they have improved in vocabulary way and structural way. I want to continue improving my reading skills in recapitulative way.

 

3.In what other areas do you think you have improved during the semester (grammar, speaking, vocabulary, confidence, etc.)? In what areas do you still need to continue improving? What will you do in order to improve in those areas?

I think I have improved in confidence, grammar and vocabulary during the semester and I think I still need to continue improving in speaking areas. I will not be afraid of talking to foreigners in order to improve in speaking areas.

 

4.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?

It is the first time I kept a blog and I enjoyed it. Blogging is helpful way to practice writing. But I do not enjoyed reading my classmates' blogs not much because I was busy writing my blog posting. I think I will continue blogging in the future.

 

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

I learned many various reading and writing skills this semester and I learned the way and joy of discussion. I want to learn speaking skills in future semesters.

     

6.What were some of the best and/or worst aspects of this course? Would you recommend this course to others? Why or why not?

The best aspect of this courses is I could learn many practical skills and way in reading and writing and thd worst aspect is nothing. I will recommend this courses because this courses is a great help to improve many different English skills.

 

7.Please share any other thoughts about the semester.

Thanks to Professor Kyle for teaching me a lot of things :)

Essay #2 - Rewrite

HyeonSeon Choi

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW (04)

20 November 2015

Advantages of Online Courses

The 21st century can be referred to as the digital age. Therefore the current system of education also needs to change in a modern way. Although there are many online lectures at the university, most lectures are offline course that we have to go to the lecture room. It is a very inefficient way to earn a full degree by visiting the campus five days a week in today’s digital age. Online courses are a beneficial way to educate because there are no time and space constraints, online courses can repeat several times, and they are easy to communicate.

One benefit of online courses is that students can listen to class in anywhere and anytime they want. There are many students who came from outside of Seoul. According to Wikileaks’s statistics, some 60 percent of the municipal university's freshmen came from outside of Seoul. Even in my department in university, there are more students who came from outside of Seoul than students who came from Seoul. It takes a minimum of one hour to go to university for them. It is ineffective for both students and professors. Online lectures can solve this problem. Students can take classes when and where they want, and professors also can record the lecture anytime and anywhere they want. If we have a computer, it is possible to listen to the lecture in a situation that we are sick or when it is hard to go to university if we had a computer.

Another reason why online courses are convenient is that they can repeat many times. When students listen to classes, they may have many questions they do not understand. However in classroom they cannot ask to repeat the whole lecture because there are other students who understand the content and class time is limited. Online courses make it possible to understand the content easier. It is easy to repeat the whole lecture and also the part they want to hear again. So students can review all the time, over and over.

Finally, the last advantage of online courses is that students can communicate easier in online. If they do not know certainly even though they repeat the courses, then they can ask a question online. The way of asking question is simple and easy to communicate between students and professors or students each other. Also in online classes, students can have a discussion in the form of chat rooms. In terms of assignment submission, they can submit in online without print.

Online courses have many advantages over offline courses. They can save time and space, students can repeat the video again and again, and students can easily interact each other and with their professors. Students these days are always pressed for time and online courses can save their time. Therefore, online courses will become more and more common and offline courses and university buildings will disappear in the near future. So, I think that backboards, tables, chairs and books which do not necessary for online classes will be disappear soon because digital technology is developing fast while analogue technology is in a state of decline.

Blog Post #7 - Unit 9 (Languages)

 People are learning many different language in these days. Learning a second language is too difficult and time consuming therefore some people argue that it should there be one world language. However, it should not there be one world language that everyone speaks because each country has different culture and history, and there are many jobs that is related to different languages.

 

  It should more than one world language because each country has different culture in their language. For example, in Korean there is a word "ganggangsulae". It means traditional Korean circle dance play. It can not be translated to any language. It shows their own culture. While one world language can make their cultures to combine and make new culture, it is more important each country's unique culture.

 

  Another reason it should not there be only one world language is that each country has different history in their language. For example, Hangul, the Korean language, was created by King Sejong to help people to communicate each other well in Korea. While some people may think that the future is more important than the past so history can build in the future, we must know the past then we can know the present and the future, too.

 

  Finally, one world language remove many jobs that is related to many different languages. Even though it may help to reduce complicated problems to translate different languages, it is more important that it can help to reduce the lack of jobs problem in these days.

 

  The fact that each country has different culture and history, and there are many jobs that related to many languages indicate that it is not good idea to have one world language that everyone speaks. It would better that people in the world speak different languages and understand each other.

 

Formal Essay #1 - Rewrites

HyeonSeon Choi

Prof. Kyle Brebner

IERW (04)

7 October 2015

A Comparison of Two Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire

                      A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams, who received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. This play is set in a decaying residential street in New Orleans, a port city in the south of the United States. The play revolves around the story of how a woman named Blanche Dubois from the southern U.S. begins to live with her sister, Stella Kowalski, and her husband, Stanley Kowalski. Mitch who is Stanley’s friend is interested in Blanche but Stanley discloses her promiscuous past and rapes her. Then Blanche is committed to a mental hospital. In this story, Stanley and Mitch have similarities in attitude of treating woman and view of a physical relationship and differences in attitude of conversation with Blanche and experience of love.

The differences of character between Stanley and Mitch are conflicting attitude of conversation with Blanche and gap in experiences of love. At first, Stanley started talking to Blanche with sly jokes. He even asks her what he shouldn’t. Blanche had a husband before but he died in the past. It isn’t proper debate etiquette that he exposed her private past. It can imply that Stanley and Blanche will oppose each other. However, Mitch has good manners and this reveals when he also speaks to Blanche. He always talks to her in a formal way. So, he first brought up his private story that his lover was dead to bond with her who has the same pain. “And if God choose, I shall but love thee better-after-death!”; It is the inscription on his cigarette case, which his girl died gave him. While Stanley reveals her past and hurts her, Mitch first talks about his pain so that she doesn’t get hurt and sympathize with him.

Secondly, their experiences of love are different from each other. Stanley is a very rough and “manly” man while Mitch is a well-mannered gentleman. So, Stanley is all clued up to woman and love. But in the case of Mitch, since he had lost his girl he never met other woman. Also he considers the relationship between men and women sincerely than Stanley. Therefore Mitch is more pure than Stanley in terms of experiences in love.

On the other hand, the similarities of their character are the dominant way to treat woman and view of a physical relationship. First of all, they are similar to the patriarchal personality. That can readily be understood considering the background of the play, America in the 1940s. Stanley looks so patriarchal in terms of using force against his wife and his mention of Napoleonic code. “In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa. For instance if I had a piece of property, or you had a piece of property-” Stanley says. It means that Blanche family’s property is also his property. That is very patriarchal and coercive thinking. Mitch seemed to be a gentleman like people of the South in the beginning. However, when he knew Blanche’s past life in Laurel his attitude changed abruptly and he tried to rape her. Blanche led a fast way of living and slept around in Laurel. So, Mitch changed his attitude toward her.

This action of Mitch also shows his idea of a physical relationship. His perspective on woman is divided into two types: a virgin and not a virgin. He says to Blanche “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.” For him, a woman who isn’t clean and pure is just a subject for the satisfaction of sexual desires. The case is no different in Stanley. Every woman can be the subject of a physical relationship for him.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, there are commonalities and differences between Stanley and Mitch. They are similar in opinion of dominant behavior to treat woman and a physical relationship. However, they are dissimilar to way of talking to Blanche and disparity of love experiences. What if all men were like Stanley these days? Then all women have to suffer and struggle in desperate situation. Two characters have features of people in the 1940s. So, their personality is so conservative. If A Streetcar Named Desire remakes in modern version it will be a big hit like the past version.

New Innovations : Skytran

 Everyone maybe had ever imagined a flying car. It actually became a reality nowadays. Skytran is a personal rapid transit system invented by a company named Unimodal Transport Soultions. It is called a 'magnetic rise taxi' because it works on the principle of magnetic levitation and it runs like a taxi in unmanned system. It is very important that Unimodal company innovated Skytran because it is green vehicle and personal rapid transit system.

 

Unimodal's invention is important because it is a sustainable transport. Skytran generates no smokes and traffic jam. Also there is no danger of accident. It is very efficient for its expense. It is more cheaper and easy to make than another transport system like train and subway.

 

Another reason that Unimodal's invention is important because it is fast and personal transport. Skytran's maximum speed is 97~100km/h. It seems to slower than other transport however considering it has no congestions, it is quite fast. This invention is also a automated guideway transit system. So, it can be private because it is unmanned system. There is four-passenger seats in Skytran.

 

A flying taxi, Skytran is very innovative and important in the way that it is sustainable and personal and rapid transit system. It will open in Israel as a pilot project around the end of this month. It might be a worldwide transportation in the future.

Ensuring a Sustainable Future

 Air pollution and carbon emission are very serious problems in these days. For example, all creatures need fresh air to survive but fresh air of Earth in these days is becoming scarce. And carbon emission is contribute to climate change. Atmospheric of CO2 level is rising higher than the past. Thus, for sustainable future, we have to drive cars less to reduce air pollution and climate change.

 One environment benefit of less driving cars is that it helps to reduce air pollution. In these days, many countries worried about future air atmosphere following the water problem. We even might to buy fresh air in the future. The smoke from cars have a bad influence on air pollution.

 

 Another environment benefit of less driving cars is that it helps to slow down climate change. Carbon emission from cars is contribute to climate change. So if we drive cars less, we can slow down global warming, too. Also, cars use a lot of fossil fuels. These fossil fuels produce greenhouse gases. So, reducing cars can lead to slow down climate change.

 

 For sustainable future, we have to drive cars less to reduce air pollution and slow down climate change. And reducing cars can help to our health. When we don't drive cars, we have to use public transportation like a bike, bus, and subway. We have to walk to take these public transportation, so we can exercise in normal days. And if we less drive cars, we can save the place of parking area, too.

Explanatory essay about the importance of place in The Host

     Have you ever heard a fish became to a monster? This movie is about the host. Han river, korean representative river in Seoul, is this movie's place. Han river is a very important element of the movie,"The Host", because it shows that the movie's story can really happen in our life and makes us to save nature more.

 

    First reason why Han river is important is that it shows the movie's story can really happen. This place is very popular river in Korea and people visit and exercise commonly. So, this movie is more friendly and reality. And another example is that there are many mutation creatures already. So, that story can be real in these days.

 

    Another reason why Han river is important is it makes people to encourage to save nature. The Host, the movie's main character, has scary and very terrible looking. So, people think it has not to be a real in our life and especially in Han river. Then they will try not to throw in the river. Also in the movie, there is description of the process how to be created the host. People and companies have poured tons of dangerous chemicals into streams that feed the Han River and that leads into the birth of the host. It arouses people attention to save nature.

 

    What if the movie's background is not Han river? If the setting of the movie is in an ordinary place, that will be really boring. So, Han river is a very important element of the movie,"The Host", because it shows that the movie's story can really happen in our life and makes us to save nature more.

 

The important effects of geotourism in Gyeong-ju in Korea.

  Gyeong-ju is the tourist attraction of korea in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. Gyeong-ju is important place in terms of the best for having korean cultural properties and traditional buildings. That's why every school make a school excursion to there. And tourists for Gyeong-ju want to more traditional and more local so Gyeong-ju have possible effects of geotourism.

  The possible effects of geotourism in Gyeong-ju include helping tourists to see local history and experience traditional korean houses and buildings.

 

  One possible effect of geotourism in Gyeong-ju is helping tourists to see local history. Gyeong-ju is the place where has many korean history of t​he epoch of the three Kingdoms and the Silla Period. There are several cultural properties and royal tombs of Silla's kings. And they have attracted many tourists who want to know historical story of Gyeong-ju, where were Silla. The tourist spots having a lots of historical sights are the most important and have an local atmosphere.

 

  Another possible effect of geotourism in Gyeong-ju is helping tourists to experience traditional korean houses and buildings. Travelers who plan an overnight trip can see first an korean-style accommodations. Most accommodations in Gyeong-ju are traditional korean house and some of them include korean breakfast. And there are a lot of Korean buddhist temples and Korean palaces, travelers also look around korean building that were in Silla period.

 

  In conclusion, The possible effects of geotourism in Gyeong-ju include helping tourists to see local history and experience traditional korean houses and buildings.

Summary of "Tech Detectives" (Unit 2, Lesson A).

     This reading is the story and method that police detectives extracte and solve crimes using the latest technologies, DNA analysis and CT imaging technology. Specifically, in the text there are three real mysterious cases in different time and countries; in Australia, Arizona, and Italian Alps. These cases help us understand and feel more friendly to the life of detectives.
     The first solved case is a robbery in Australia in 2001. The case's suspect was arrested in 2009, after eight years of happening the crime by database from a leech. In Tasmania, Two men robbed several hundred dollars in old waman's house. Soon after they got away, a leech filled with blood was discovered in that place. Surprisingly, eight years later, a suspect was arrested on drug charge, but it was told that he was the robber because his DNA was same with taken from the leech. The detectives's speculation is when they was traveling through the woods, one of robbers was sucked by the leech.

     Likewise, there is the case that could be solved by nature, plant "palo verde tree". In 1992, a murder crashed the victim to his truck and there was left over a oager at the scene of the crime, Phoenix in the state capital of Arizona. The suspect insisted on he carried the victim by his truck, but she had robbed him, so there had been a pager there. However, seed pods, the fruit of the palo verde tree was found in his truck. Therefore, a geneticist of Arizona in Tucson investigated that seed and revealed it was individual plants and unique patterns of DNA. The murder was convicted of colliding a person and the one specific tree, too.

       Conversely, The last case was solved by body mark and CT imaging in past time. An Iceman, Europe's oldest mummy was killed in Bolzano, Italy where scientists speculated that he had lived there about 5,300 years ago. After then in 1991, a hiker of Alps found out the iceman. CT imaging technology and X-ray was the most important means to scientists to collect clues of reason how and why he was killed. There was an arrowhead buried in the Iceman's left shoulder, so scientists realized there was an attack of enemies behind him. Also a wound on his hand led scientists that he was chased and there was a fight between him and enemies. In conclusion of a supposition is that Iceman chased by threat and he escaped and he think he was safe but murder killed him behind.

      Through these three real examples, We could know what is detectives's work by the latest technology; DNA analysis, CT imaging technology, even X-ray. Both From the present and from the past, the mysteries and crimes could solved by one piece of clues because there are the tech and detectives now.

Self introduction!

Hello.
My name is Hyeon Seon Choi.
I’m 22 years old.

Because I came to this class on Wednesday, 9/9 (yesterday),
so I introduce myself just today. I'm sorry I'm late.

I'm born in seoul and I live in seoul, seongbuk now.
There are five in my family, dad, mom, me, my older brother and my younger sister.
My major is French language and literature. English is my double major.
My hobby is watching movies and playing the piano.
When I was high school student, I want to be a pianist.
But now I really like learning languages.
So maybe, I will become an official interpreter in the future.
This class is really interesting to me and everything is satisfactory.
It will be a great semester!
Thank you :)