PRONUNCIATION DIARY

During Christmas break, to improve my pronunciation, I have been:

- Reading up loud to myself and when Igot stuck in a word I didn't know how to pronunce or I doubted, I underlined it. After reading a paragraphs or a couple of them I went online and checked the pronunciation.

- I've also watched movies and when a word that I didn't know popped up I wrote it down and checked its pronunciation afterwards.

- Lastly, I've also listened to the radio. To me this has been a very useful excercise because, if you're really focused in what you're listening to it helps you get the right pronunciation and intonation for a lot of words

FIRST VERSION

Why Britain should not quit the European Union

A British withdrawal is becoming an increasingly likely scenario seeing as public opinion polls show strong support for Great Britain quitting the European Union. The United Kingdom Independence Party is becoming increasingly stronger and leading politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron, are calling for a referendum on the subject, set to be held in 2017. Historically, Britain only joined the European Union out of necessity rather than ideology. Owing to this, the UK has always seen the EU as a means to an end. The British government thinks that Britain is too important for the European Union to let it go and so all the other member states must meet its demands in a renegotiated relationship. Many prominent (former) politicians such as Joschka Fischer however are convinced that while “for the EU, Britain’s exit would be a heavy blow”, “for the British it would be a real disaster [...]”. The reason for this is a number of political and economic consequences the country would suffer as a result of quitting the European Union and no longer being part of the Single Market or the political decision-making bodies.

Even if the UK quits the European Union, it will still be, at least geographically speaking, a European country. It will still have especially close ties, both economic and political, with many member states of the EU. The only difference would be that it no longer has the right and possibility to shape or block EU policies from within. Depending on the model that the EU and the UK negotiate for their post-withdrawal relationship, Great Britain will be excluded entirely or to a great extent from the decision-making process in EU common policies such as agriculture, fisheries, foreign, security and defense, justice and immigration and the Euro. Britain would go from being one of the most important and influential member states to being one of many important non-EU countries. Furthermore, a member state withdrawing from the Union would not only be detrimental to the Union’s perception in the rest of world, reinforcing the image of a Europe in decline, it would also be harmful to the United Kingdom. Throughout history, it has always been the United States’ closest European ally. As an outsider to the EU however, it would be a far less valuable ally and there are many powerful EU member states waiting to fill its position. This would mean a severe loss of international leverage and soft power for Great Britain. Withdrawing from the European Union would however not only be a bad decision with regards to politics, but also, and maybe even more importantly, with regards to economic aspects.

Many senior business figures and major business institutions have spoken out in favor of Europe, saying that an exit from the European Union, its biggest trading partner, could cost Great Britain billions, result in the UK having to pay for access to the Single Market and make them unable to influence policies that are potentially bad for the City, London’s financial services industry. Most importantly, inward investment from the European Union would fall away. The managing director of Siemens UK, Jürgen Maier, has warned the British government that the major German engineering and electronics conglomerate company Siemens AG would stop investing in its British plants should the UK actually quit the European Union. They compete with other European countries as well as with China and the US and having access to the Single Market with 500,000,000 inhabitants gives them a significant competitive advantage. Without it, investment in British plants would no longer be sensible. The company employs 13,000 people in Britain. The current CEO of both Renault and Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, also stated that Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, which is the UK’s biggest car plant and exporter, is European first and British second and that it would therefore have to reconsider its “strategy and investments for the future” if Britain were to leave the European Union. The company employs 6,500 people directly and supports another 23,000 jobs in its support chain. Most recently, Goldman Sachs, the world’s most powerful investment bank has announced that, in the case of a British withdrawal from the EU, it would move a substantial part of its European business to a Eurozone location such as Paris or Frankfurt. The bank employs 6,000 people in the UK. This pro-European attitude by big business is demonstrated on a wider scale by several polls. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s leading business lobbying organization which represents 240,000 businesses that together employ about a third of the British private sector workforce, estimates the annual benefits of Great Britain’s EU membership at about £78 billion. A recent CBI poll shows that 80% of businesses support British EU membership. Another poll by the British Chambers of Commerce found out that 58% of UK enterprises believe that withdrawing from the EU would have a “negative business and economic impact".

As can clearly be seen by the examples given in this essay, the UK would suffer severe political and economic consequences should it decide to leave the European Union. Not only would it be isolated from the rest of Europe while the European Union draws ever closer together, but it would also be excluded from the Single Market which would give cause to major companies to rethink their investment strategy and probably even cut a large number of jobs.

[896 words]

FEEDBACK

- The underlined sentence is too long.

- The underlined words are not needed.

CORRECTED VERSION

Why Britain should not quit the European Union

A British withdrawal is becoming an increasingly likely scenario as public opinion polls show strong support for Great Britain quitting the European Union. The United Kingdom Independence Party is becoming increasingly stronger and leading politicians, including Prime Minister David Cameron, are calling for a referendum on the subject, set to be held in 2017. Historically, Britain only joined the European Union out of necessity rather than ideology. Owing to this, the UK has always seen the EU as a means to an end. The British government thinks that Britain is too important for the European Union to let it go and so all the other member states must meet its demands in a renegotiated relationship. Many prominent (former) politicians such as Joschka Fischer are convinced that while “for the EU, Britain’s exit would be a heavy blow”, “for the British it would be a real disaster [...]”. The reason for this is a number of political and economic consequences the country would suffer as a result of quitting the European Union and no longer being part of the Single Market or the political decision-making bodies.

Even if the UK quits the European Union, it will still be, at least geographically speaking, a European country. It will still have close ties, both economic and political, with many member states of the EU. The only difference would be that it no longer has the right and possibility to shape or block EU policies from within. Depending on the model that the EU and the UK negotiate for their post-withdrawal relationship, Great Britain will be excluded entirely or to a great extent from the decision-making process in EU common policies such as agriculture, fisheries, foreign, security and defense, justice and immigration and the Euro. Britain would go from being one of the most important and influential member states to being one of many important non-EU countries. Furthermore, a member state withdrawing from the Union would not only be detrimental to the Union’s perception in the rest of world, reinforcing the image of a Europe in decline, it would also be harmful to the United Kingdom. Throughout history, it has always been the United States’ closest European ally. As an outsider to the EU however, it would be a far less valuable ally and there are many powerful EU member states waiting to fill its position. This would mean a severe loss of international leverage and soft power for Great Britain. Withdrawing from the European Union would not only be a bad decision with regards to politics, but also, and maybe even more importantly, with regards to economic aspects.

Many senior business figures and major business institutions have spoken out in favor of Europe, saying that an exit from the European Union, its biggest trading partner, could cost Great Britain billions. The aftermath of the exit would be having to pay for access to the Single Market and the inability to influence policies that are potentially bad for the City, London’s financial services industry. Most importantly, inward investment from the European Union would fall away. The managing director of Siemens UK, Jürgen Maier, has warned the British government that the major German engineering and electronics conglomerate company Siemens AG would stop investing in its British plants should the UK actually quit the European Union. They compete with other European countries as well as with China and the US and having access to the Single Market with 500,000,000 inhabitants gives them a significant competitive advantage. Without it, investment in British plants would no longer be sensible. The company employs 13,000 people in Britain. The current CEO of both Renault and Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, also stated that Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, which is the UK’s biggest car plant and exporter, is European first and British second and that it would therefore have to reconsider its “strategy and investments for the future” if Britain were to leave the European Union. The company employs 6,500 people directly and supports another 23,000 jobs in its support chain. Most recently, Goldman Sachs, the world’s most powerful investment bank has announced that, in the case of a British withdrawal from the EU, it would move a substantial part of its European business to a Eurozone location such as Paris or Frankfurt. The bank employs 6,000 people in the UK.

This pro-European attitude by big business is demonstrated on a wider scale by several polls. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s leading business lobbying organization, represents 240,000 businesses that together employ about a third of the British private sector workforce, estimates the annual benefits of Great Britain’s EU membership at about £78 billion. A recent CBI poll shows that 80% of businesses support British EU membership. Another poll by the British Chambers of Commerce found out that 58% of UK enterprises believe that withdrawing from the EU would have a “negative business and economic impact".

As can clearly be seen by the examples given in this essay, the UK would suffer severe political and economic consequences should it decide to leave the European Union. Not only would it be isolated from the rest of Europe while the European Union draws ever closer together, but it would also be excluded from the Single Market which would give cause to major companies to rethink their investment strategy and probably even cut a large number of jobs.

[894 words]

MY "BEST FRIENDS" FOR A MONTH

After some hours in front of the computer I've been able to choose the resources I am going to be working with to write my paper. I thought there was not going to be as much information as there is, but it fells like is quite a sensible subject... So for those of you who are interested on Women's Rights and more about the topic, I'm posting some really good links which include newspaper articles, and some more academic stuff.

BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/women_in_the_workplace/

THE TELEGRAPH

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/graemearcher/100196894/equality-in-the-workplace-mary-tyler-moore-did-it-on-her-own-no-eu-directive-necessary/

THE GUARDIAN

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/nov/19/time-break-glass-ceiling-women-europe

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/07/gender-pay-gap-government-maria-miller?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

http://www.theguardian.com/law/equality-act-2010

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+world/gender

EU COMISSION

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/documents/130902_starting_fragile_report_2013_en.pdf

ACADEMIC TEXT

http://de.scribd.com/doc/100170148/TEXTOS-ESPECIALIZADOS

SUMMARIES -  Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation policy      

ORIGINAL

What happened in Japan some years ago is now happening in Europe. Deflation has arrived and with it all of its inconveniences. A serious wariness about how to sustain the Eurozone and its debt rates is now exploding and a tense atmosphere can ne breathed Europe. Although the whole EU is immersed in this critical economic situation, different countries are approaching this situation in various ways. For example, the known as PIIGS are implementing austerity policies without offsetting any monetary stimulus. This directly affects the population by growing of the unemployment rates and basic care needs. Why is this happening to the PIIGS? Because of the “denominator effect” this means that debt is growing faster than nominal GDP. On the other side there is Germany that apparently is not doing bad, but is also at risk because of one the possible solutions that is being considered is that “Club Med” gets together with Germany so that it can implement the relation policy. Another possible solution could be inflation, but for the moment the option governments, politicians, economists … are taking is to hope for global growth to save us.

CORRECTION

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in October 23^rd 2013 wrote for The Telegraph an article titled “Europe already has one foot in ‘Japanese’ deflation grave”. In it he analysis Europe’s economic crisis and compares it with Japanese deflation.

Japanese-style deflation is threatening Europe and will end up worsening the debt crisis. This crisis affects the entire EU, but many approaches to dealing with it are being explored. For example, the known as PIIGS are implementing austerity policies without offsetting any monetary stimulus. This directly affects the population by growing the unemployment rates and basic care needs. Why is this happening to the PIIGS? Because of the “denominator effect” this means that debt is growing faster than nominal GDP. Germany, however, is not doing as bad, although is also at risk because of one the possible solutions being considered is that “Club Med” gets together with Germany to implement a relation policy. Another possible solution could be inflation, but for the moment the option adopted is to hope for global growth to save us.

HELPFUL TIPS AND SOURCES TO WRITE THE PAPER FOR PART 2

Introduction
- why is the topic important? why are you writing the paper?
- importance
- relevance
- careful NOT give your own opinion
- backround
- SCOPE: limitations (the extent to what you are going to look at the topic)
- capture the interest of the reader
- CAPTURE INTEREST: try and shown the reader why they it is worth to read your paper (not always possible at an academic level)


How to write it (structure)

 http://www.canberra.edu.au/studyskills/writing/introductions#conts (University of Canberra)

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/learning_english/leap/writing/moreinfo/ (University of Warwick)





LINKS FOR WOMEN´S RIGHTS IN THE EU

http://www.eidhr.eu/side-panels/highlights/lgbti-women-children-minorities/women-s-rights

http://www.eidhr.eu/side-panels/highlights/lgbti-women-children-minorities/women-s-rights

http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/tag/womens-rights/

http://www.pes.eu/en/en/about-pes/how-does-pes-work/pes-women/my-body-my-rights/a-charter-for-european-womens-rights

http://wideplusnetwork.wordpress.com/ (*)

http://www.customessaymeister.com/customessays/Feminism/11135.htm (**)

MY MIND MAP FOR SUK PART II

SUK3/ Part 4/ Fiona & Melisa/ WS13

Homework 1 - "Opinion from the text covered in class"

Brainstorm

Paragraph

ORIGINAL VERSION

Looking at the text in a broad way, I think it is well structured. The first thing we find when we start reading is an abstract, which I believe it is really useful for the reader. From the very beginning we get a general sense of whet the text is going to be about. The text is divided into 3 main points: "A durable peace", "Economic strength and prosperity" and "Theories and explanations" this division also helps us approach the text. Paragraphs are made with long sentences which also have a lot of subsentences inside the main one. This does not help to a good comprehension of the text, because the main stream of information is interrupted a lot of times. From my point of view, the text does accomplish the aim of informing us what the EU was made for, although at some points the text gets a bit repetitive.  The high register they have used I believe is the adequate one for an academic text, though to completely understand the text it is probably necessary to be aware of the specific vocabulary used for the topic treatise.

FEEDBACK

- The second sentence is too long.

- After naming the 3 main divisions of the text, a period is needed.

- Lower register than expected

- Linking words

- Too many repetitions of “the text”

- Concluding sentence needed.

FINAL VERSION

Looking at the text in a broad way, I think it is well structured. The first thing we find when we start reading is an abstract, which I believe it is really useful for the reader. From the very beginning we get a general sense of the subject he is going to be talking about. The text is divided into 3 main points: "A durable peace", "Economic strength and prosperity" and "Theories and explanations". This division also helps us –the reader – approach it. Paragraphs are made with long sentences which also have a lot of subsentences inside the main one; this distracts us from the main stream of information, because it is interrupted a lot of times. From my point of view, the text does accomplish the aim of informing us what the EU was made for, although at some points it gets a bit repetitive.  I believe the high register they have used is the adequate one for an academic text, though to completely understand it, it is probably necessary to be aware of the specific vocabulary used for the topic treatise. Therefore, as a whole, it is a good quality source if you need to understand what the reasons the EU was created for were.