Learning a third language-French

 

Since I entered middle school, I had a little hope of having the ability to speak three or four languages frequently. However, it was quite hard for me to grasp a chance to learn a language other than English and Korean, due to lack of time. I knew that learning a third language would cost me a lot of effort and time, which made me afraid because I was busy trying to get good grades in school.

Three years of hard work enabled me to enter KMLA. I gave up many of the hopes and dreams I had as a youngster because entering this school was one of the highest priorities for me. Thankfully however, KMLA has provided me a new chance to fulfill one of the dreams I had; learning a third language.

After I came here, I found out that I had to choose between three different languages; French, Spanish, and Chinese. After spending quite some time to make a choice, I chose to learn French. The reason was quite simple. It was because since I was young, I have been thinking that it was simply magnificent and awesome to be able to speak fluently in French.

Nevertheless, let me talk about the way students learn French here in KMLA. French is taught by Ms. Jung. She is one of the main reasons students including me are fond of French class because she is very generous, kind, and passionate. There are about 50 students who take French classes, and as it’s quite impossible for our teacher to teach all these students at once, we were divided into three separate classes. Unfortunately however, 29(including me) of the 50 students were jammed into one class, thereby making the class extremely crowded. Because of this, I was first worried of being unable to participate freely and concentrating in class. 

When I actually took the French class however, all my worries faded away. It was one of the most exciting and fun foreign language class I have ever taken, and I could easily participate freely in class and learn a lot about the language. Now, French is one of my favorite subjects that I am quite passionate at. I am quite grateful about the fact that I could grasp the opportunity to learn this fabulous language here in KMLA, and I personally hope to be fluent enough to be able to have a conversation with French people.

Choosing the courses for next semester

I believe that it is natural for every single teenagers to have worries about their future plan, especially if the ‘future’ is not so far away. This ‘natural phenomenon’ occurred upon me this week, as I had to make difficult choices that would decide how I would live the next semester. Choosing the courses for next week definitely was a hard job for me, and was also a great chance for me to think deeply about how I should spend the remaining two and a half years in this school.

On Monday afternoon, the list of courses I can take next semester was posted in the school website. Frankly, as I first took a look at the list with little expectation, I was extremely amazed to find out that I, as many other students, was given so many attractive choices. There were so many courses that looked so interesting and fun, and there were also a lot of courses that were directly or indirectly related to my dream. In a matter of fact, the first thought that came upon me was ‘It would definitely be a very painful job for me to choose among these choices.’, which came into reality in the next few days.

As some people might know, my dream is to be an expert in environment who studies about ways to reduce the amount of energy spent by buildings and city systems. Therefore, I am interested in fields related to this, such as environmental science, physics, and chemistry, and I also feel a need to study these subjects more deeply. This made me feel a great motive to choose courses like ‘AP Physics B’, ‘Advanced Physics’, ‘AP Chemistry’, ‘AP Environmental Science’, and ‘SAT Biology’. Not only that, my pure interest to particular subjects like ‘AP Microeconomics’, ‘French Grammar’, ‘AP Statistics’, and so on. Unfortunately, it is impossible to take all these courses as the amount of time I can invest to study these subjects is limited. This meant that I had to make a choice by arranging these subjects in order of priority.

In order to do this, I had to invest time to ask some seniors for advice, read ‘Know How Do How’, and talk with my friends and parents. Therefore, I could get some knowledge about both advantages and disadvantages of most of these courses. Ironically however, having more information proved to make it harder for me to choose between the courses. All the courses seemed to be more attractive now that I knew the advantages of them. At the same time, I was afraid of making a choice as I was afraid of facing the disadvantages of it.

After spending some time wondering what courses I should take, I came upon the fact that I could also take most of the courses next year when I would be in 11^th grade. This made my choice so easier. I finally came into a conclusion that I would spend this semester studying scientific subjects, as I had a goal of studying science more deeply. So, I selected ‘AP Physics B’, ‘AP Chemistry’, ‘AP Environmental Science’, and ‘Advanced Physics’. Of course, I still have two months left until the start of the next semester, which means that I still have time to think more carefully about the choices I have made and change them if necessary. I do really want to spend the next semester effectively and beneficially.

How does the use of genre and writing skills support the main ideas in George Orwell's 'Why I Write'?

 

George Orwell, the author of the essay ‘Why I Write’, mainly talks about the motives for writing throughout this essay. He especially focuses on two motives for writing; aesthetic enthusiasm and political impulse, and concludes that he wishes to be a writer who can satisfy both motives by making political purpose into art. In order to deliver this to the readers successfully, the author uses various types of genres and writing styles in order to support his main ideas. Then, how did George Orwell use diverse genres and writing styles, and what effect does it have on the impression that the readers get by reading this essay?

 

Using the appropriate writing style and genre is very important especially for the author, as using different writing styles results in the readers getting different impressions about the author’s writing. For example, this essay shows traits of personal narrative essay when the author describes his own life and writing experiences. By talking about experiences from when he was young, George Orwell implies to the readers that he first started writing by focusing on descriptive writing. On the other hand, by talking about the experiences he had in his later life, such as going through poverty, having a job in Burma, and experiencing the era of Hitler and Spanish Civil War, he explains how he started to write with a political purpose. He concludes that his goal is to make political writing into an art, as he wishes to fulfill both the world views he acquired in his childhood and in his later life. The author has stated in the essay that one cannot assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his development. Therefore, by using characteristics of a personal narrative essay, the author supports his main ideas about his own motives by providing readers of knowledge about the development of his own motives for writing.

The author also uses expository writing style in order to support his main ideas. This writing style is used in this essay when the author tells the readers about the four great motives for writing; sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. By choosing this writing style, the author successfully provides the readers with necessary information. As it is important for the readers to have knowledge about the motives in order to understand George Orwell’s main ideas about his own motives and goals, using expository writing style is very effective in supporting his ideas, as the role of an expository essay is to provide readers with new information and knowledge.

The poem that George Orwell introduces in the middle of the essay also acts as an important way for the author to deliver his main ideas to the readers. Through this poem, the author describes his dilemma got as he started to write in political purpose. The dilemma is about whether he should focus more on descriptive writing or on political writing, as he thinks that both of them are very important to him. By describing this through a poem, the author succeeds in making the readers get a stronger impression on the dilemma that the author was facing. This is because poetry has a characteristic of maximizing the emotion of the narrator by compressing it into a few well-selected words. As a poem is formed through putting these words together, a well written poem has to be able to provide readers with amplified emotions and feelings. As George Orwell has succeeded in this, the poem in this essay acts as an effective way to support the author’s main idea, as it gives the readers a strong impression on the conflict between the two motives which the writer thinks is most important to himself.

In order to give the readers the impression that the author has intended, the author must choose the most appropriate writing styles and genres in order as they effect the readers’ impression toward the literature greatly. Looking from this point of view, George Orwell has succeeded in this, which therefore lets the author deliver his main idea of his own motives for writing effectively to the readers.

 

Why is 'Tell-tale Heart' a gothic novel?

 

Novels that contain characteristics of various genres like thriller, Romantic, mystery, horror, etc., are called ‘Gothic novels’. For example, ‘Frankenstein’ is a gothic novel, as it contains characteristics of horror, romantic, mystery, science-fiction novels. Let’s now look at ‘The tell-tale heart’, a novel written by Edgar Allen Poe. As we read this novel, we can know that this novel is gothic, as it contains characteristics from several kinds of genres.

To start with, this novel has characteristics of a horror novel inside it. A typical horror novel usually creates an atmosphere of fear and suspense. In the case of ‘The tell-tale heart’, this kind of atmosphere is created several times. On the night that the main character kills the old man, a fearful atmosphere is created from the moment when the old man wakes up, and the main character waits for the moment to kill the old man. The way that the old man is killed and concealed also creates a fearful mood.

Secondly, this novel resembles a Romantic novel. A romantic novel creates an atmosphere of strong feelings, such as passion, madness, etc. The tone throughout this novel ‘The tell-tale heart’ makes the reader feel a strong feeling from the novel. Throughout this novel, the narrator tries to convince the readers that he is not insane. Ironically, however, this actually results in a stronger impression that the narrator is insane, and by the end of this essay, the narrator eventually fails to convince the readers that he is not mad. This strong impression of madness in this novel makes it resemble a Romantic novel.

Third, this novel also contains characteristics of mysterious novel. At the end of this novel, the narrator starts to hear a noise, which is something which only the narrator could hear. This sound drives narrator crazy, and it actually makes the narrator to confess his crime of murdering the old man and concealing his body. Then, where did this sound come from? This question creates a mysterious atmosphere, as it makes the readers think carefully about the source of the sound. Moreover, the author doesn’t tell the readers about the source of the noise, which deepens the mysterious atmosphere of the novel.

This novel also contains characteristics of other genres like crime novel, thriller novel, etc. Like this, characteristics from different genres come together in this novel, and make it a gothic novel.

toefl essay #2: the change in environment

The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.

It is an undeniable fact that the human species is currently suffering from the rapidly worsening environment. This average temperature of this planet is elevating very fast, leading to the rise in the sea level, endangering the lives of countless people. Species of animal and plant are being extinct right at this moment. Because of the gravity of the current situation, the human being has started to realize the importance of preserving the environment. Therefore, the 21^st century is the time that we should focus on preventing the environment from being collapsed through means of government policy and preservation technology, and the change of the society.

 

To start with, government policies are expected to stop or at least slow down the global warming, as they serve as an effective way to change people’s behavior. Countless research results suggest that in order to protect the environment, we should change our lifestyle to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and food garbage emitted. However, even though many people know the gravity of the current environmental issue, they do not truly know how they should change their lifestyle to achieve that goal. This is why government policy is important, as it guides people to change their behavior efficiently by setting a standard that people should follow. Government policies which are now being made will therefore serve as a great way to slow down the global warming.

 

Additionally, many countries are now putting great effort to develop technologies that help save the environment. One example is the development of alternative energy sources, which is significant as they greatly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the use of energy. Other technologies like CCS(Carbon Capture and Storage), which is being developed to prevent carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere by storing them deep inside the sea, are also being developed. Furthermore, city systems and construction technology is now changing into a more eco-friendly way. As the majority of the energy spent by the human civilization is used by buildings and city systems, this is a major change that would help our civilization itself to be more eco-friendly. These technologies are still being developed and are expected to reach a level where they can be adapted to our daily lives by a few decades.

Lastly, the society itself is changing, which is a very hopeful phenomenon. The 20^th century was the ‘age of progress’, where we could not care about the environment, as we were so busy trying to feed ourselves. However, the society is starting to change, and people are now cognizant of the fact that the 21^st century should be ‘the age of preservation’. This is because the society is now more mature, as the advance of technology has freed many people from the dearth of basic supplies. Countless people are now advocating the importance of protecting the environment rather than to focus on economic growth, and some of them started to change their way of living to be a help to this planet. The society itself is now starting to be eco-friendly, which will gradually lead to a positive change in the environment.

The new century has started with a collapsing environment. However, we, the human species, still have hope of saving the planet and ourselves, and have started to seek for ways to bring that hope into reality. Hopefully, 21^st century will act as a new start for the human species, a start of the ‘era of harmony’ when human species can develop itself and preserve the environment efficiently at the same time.