English Class Reflection

Is my English class a tool for being a successful person?

I think that English for me is something that I have to put my best on because I didn't study in a bilingual secondary school, or something similar. Also, as I'm now in the IB bacclaureate and in the Prepa Tec where almost all the classes, books and exams are given in English. So, if I don't want to fail I need to learn how to express my ideas in English and also demonstrate that this language doesn't have to be a limitant for me to be a good student. This has been difficult because there are some words that in Spanish helps you a lot to say the same thing. 

However, in this class I've developed more my grammar skills because as it's an advanced class, I have to writte essays and commentaries about different things as I used to do in the Spanish Literature class. I think that practicing all the skills needed in English with the help of readings, movies, documentaries, and "Tell me more" was important to learn more about the language but I think that we could include music. We could writte lyrics of a song or try to see what the autor wanted to express and also, if we include some games in the class, it would be funnier and nice.

Finally, English is important for everybody that wants better opportunities in life because now, everything spin around in an English rhythm. More and more things are being managed by people who know more than one language, and if we want to do something important to our world and achieve your goals, you better start studying. 

Comparative Commentary 1

It’s amazing the way you can make an impact in some issues where almost everybody is afraid to complain about, and all because of literature, but in specific, because of the power of your ideas expressed by the strength of your language. In this case two poems are presented to show different points of view about the situation of their countries in a specific context of history.  The first sonnet called “Soldier” was written by the English poet Rupert Chawner Brooke, published in the sonnet sequence, also, his posthumous collection, 1914 and Other Poems. Then in 1966 “Colonization in reverse” is published in the Jamaica Labrish-1966, considered since the beginning as one of the most important poems written by the loved Jamaican writer, artist, and artiste: Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley.

Louise Bennett it’s considered in Jamaica as a figure that express all the culture of a country, the folklore, the proud and the nationalistic feelings of being part of Jamaican culture. In consequence, she has this responsibility to express in the best way how the Jamaican people feel about their history. In the case of the poem “Colonization in Reverse”, Louise had the purpose to highlight the history context of many groups of Jamaican and south Asian people that migrated to the United Kingdom, in specific to England, in the post-colonization years. Also, she established the ideas of these minorities of getting a better quality by looking for jobs opportunities in England “the land of opportunities”. Although, in the other side of the coin, Brooke, as a soldier during the first World Wide War, wants to express his nationalistic feelings about England, but also the proud that it represents to be fighting for his country. Additional to this, in the years when there was a lot of impact and feelings about the war, Rupert was part of a 20th century British movement named “Georgian” in honor of King George V. exalting the point of view focused only in the British culture.

Both Rupert and Louise direct their poems to a specific audience. While the poem of Bennett was written for the South Asian and Jamaican people that were part of the migration to Britain, Brooke manage his ideas taking in count the people of his country that he wanted to make more patriots and motivated to fight for the cause of England. However, a very important point to consider is the extent that their nationalities and mother languages have in the way they are influencing their audiences. In the case of “Colonization in Reverse”, even though the words characteristic of the Jamaican culture that Bennett used in her poem were considered as poor in grammar and sense, she could express all the color, rhythm and folklore in a few stanzas, contributing the position of her language in the map of literature and in general, of arts. Also, related to the diction of both poems, she achieved that sense of music in here poem, making it less formal if we compared it to the structure of the sonnet of Brooke. However, Rupert also use this formality and perfection characteristic of the British culture in his poem to convince and attract his readers.  

Analyzing the stylistic devices that both writers used to transmit their personalities by their poems we find that they have specific devices that makes them interesting. In the case of “soldier” the structure of the sonnet is visible in the number of verses per stanza, which are divided into two quartets and two triplets. Also, the metric structure that Brooke used (ABAB ABAB CDE CDE), and the number of syllables per verse (eleven each one), are representative of this poetic composition. However, “Colonization in reverse” is a special case where there are eleven stanzas with four verses each one. The rhymes are not always constant but if we consider some of the stanzas, we can place them as quatrain or in Spanish “redondillas” because almost all the stanzas have eight syllables per verse, and in some cases, the rhyme is placed in the following way: ABAB. We can also find that both writers make constant repetitions of their countries (Jamaica and England), and in the case of Brooke, he used a lot of adjectives to represent the greatness of his country.

Finally, as we could see through this analysis, every native speaker, no matter their nationality, can contribute to the cultural diversity of a world of people from different minorities and majorities that want to express themselves all loud. Both Rupert Brooke and Louise Bennett, but more in the case of this Jamaican writer, demonstrated that the language should not be a limiting in transmitting those ideas throughout the globe, and that each one add the personality of a specific culture in their work.

Words: 794

The History of the English Language by Sammy Stein

It’s right to say that now, when you are traveling around any country you might like, the first question that may come to your mind won’t be, do you speak French? Because, now we know that technology, business, and media are in terms related to English. That means that it would be easier to find help looking for some English speaker than any other language speaker in the world.

But, how did it happen? The answer is simple, Imperialism from the United Kingdom, but more specific from England. When in the second era of Imperialism, English became the elite language in India, and also the second one in schools, the spread of this method all around the world began.

However, Sammy Stein wants to persuade about the greatness of English above other Languages. He says that English, is not a pure language, but it’s the second common language in the world. Actually, he gives examples of how English is mixed with almost all the other important languages nowadays.

The firsts that arrived to England and imposed their dialect were the Vikings, with words like “ocean, and boat”. Then comes the invasion of Romans, from the ones all swear words derived. Finally, members of French courts and Spanish rules contributed to create this mixture of derived words that actually change in spelling, and that’s why they are considered as part of English.

Actually, I think that, as Stein said, even when you can find signals almost everywhere written in their mother language but also in English, in United States, for example, that is considered an economic and technological power, not all its habitants speak in the same way. Also, even a person from the south and one from the north would find that words that are familiar for one, are completely opposite in meaning to the other.

That leaves English learners again in disadvantage for trying to follow a basic and proper language, and of course, make that at least in other countries; people can understand what they are just trying to say. But as Stein says “The history of English is still being written”. That means that more technological and colloquial words would appear in later dictionaries. Hopefully, it would benefit in terms of using words common for everyone to understand (technological terms), but in the other hand, how many colloquial words could appear that we would have to learn? Maybe is just a matter of getting the right idea. 

The History of the English Language by Risa

Just think that you’re reading the poem of Mio Cid, written in Old Spanish. Would you understand every single word? Maybe just a few words similar of those you use every day in a modern era.  Well, that case it’s similar with Old English and how words shifted in the meaning and even in the stress when pronounced.

Even though English had changed a lot through centuries, it’s not old at all. Actually, Risa wants to demonstrate this getting deep into the origin and evolution of the language in different regions, but also emphasizing on the specific changes related to the pronunciation of syllables and the meaning of certain words in certain phrases.

And actually, this is the main topic of her article, with no more purpose but to inform English learners, and also native speakers about origin and evolution of English. She makes a statement that is interesting “Only dead languages do not change”, and that let us to think that not just English but every living language changes in a certain amount of time, but of course, the core still would be the same.

Modern English derived from the dialect spoken in Mercia, but the origin of old English remains to the late seventh century, with documents written in Common Germanic Futharc. But a couple centuries before, English arrived to England and was spoken for Angels and Saxons that called this dialect “englisc”, because in that time, England was considered the land of the Angels, an interesting cultural knowledge that explain why English is called in that way.

But talking more about the specific shifts and changes in the grammar and spelling, Risa mentions two of them. One is related to the tendency to move stress back the pronunciation of a word through years, and actually I agree with her in the example of the word “folk’s”, what if in the future, the apostrophe of ownership disappears? It’s a living language, so it’s a possibility. It would be a huge change but we would get understand it and apply it, just as the “great vowel shift”.

Finally, I agree with her in the point of several but normal changes in living languages, but as an English learner, the point is that is easier to understand how word had changed when you are acquainted with it for being part of your mother tongue than one that you are actually learning. It’s difficult, because the vocabulary is extensive and we can’t know how had change all the words, and also how would them change in a future. 

The History of the English Language by Lucy Rucker

English is a complex language, even for those who were born with it as a mother tongue. We can see that many experts try to explain and create a concept of what is “proper English”. But nowadays, who knows it? Globalization makes the spread of English come so fast, and also, new variations and idioms comes even faster every day that trying to organize how English is spoken and used in certain areas is almost impossible.

Most of the experts say that this problem comes from changes in history and improvements that modified grammar and spelling. Words coming and going makes us think that made this language as difficult as it is. But actually, those words were made to make it a little bit easy, and that’s what Lucy Racker covers in her article.   

In this article we can see that the main topic is shown in the beginning of the text: “How did the English Language begin? But Racker didn’t just want to talk about the history of Old, Middle, and Modern English. She also wanted to criticize the ways this language is challenging and always changing, making it difficult to non-native speakers to learn it.

Is just like she said, if even in the United States, people of different parts of the country can’t understand each other, though both are English native-speakers, what can expect other people that want to learn this language?  As an example, Racker uses the difference of pronunciation between UK and United States, but even the difference in the meaning that people in the north, south or any other area in EUA gives to some words.

Also, she wants to emphasize some key words to support her ideas and make English learners notice that the main reason of why English is difficult for them to learn comes from several changes in the history of the language. Beginning with old English, coming from Anglo-Norman-France, many of words changed a lot from this era to Middle English, and even the order in the sentences were modified. However, improvements were more significant in the transition from the Middle to the Modern era.

In my opinion, even when the author is proud of her language and explicitly says that loves it the most, she is aware of its complexity that represent to us as English learners to carry on with a language that I think has not just a single proper way to speak it. 

What should we learn, English as a lingua franca or "formal" English?

In my opinion, I think we should still learning English as a lingua franca because as we try so hard to learn a language that is not our mother tongue, we are overlooking what is related to speak and use our own language better. Also, I think that as we are getting so deep into English language world, we are losing our own cultural diversity; we are turning ourselves into an English native-speaker way, with all their traditions and customs.

 Moreover, if we get to that point, we would lose a principal feature of our world in general, that is related to cultural diversity. Finally, I think that as speak English is a trend in population these days, in a decade or two, maybe French will be the global language, or maybe German, we don’t know but we’ll have to be prepared and not only focus in one language.