Good: Surreal self-sufficiency

 

According to “Self-Sufficiency Is Overrated” written by Sarah Wildman (2021) in The New York Times, the author had been helped by her friends and strangers and this kind of generosity bettered her to understand her real feeling and new points of view of self-sufficiency during her struggling times. First, the author exemplifies the situation when she borrowed her friend’s house for a summer week. On top of that, her friend also made additional generous offers, asking if she wanted some supplies such as eggs or milk. Ms. Wildman stated that “I brushed off her offers. Really, I said, we don’t need anything. It’s kind of you just to lend us the space.” However, her friend insisted, and this kind of entreaties enlightened her to realize that she “want[ed] someone else to take care of”. Being isolated from covid has worsened everyone’s mental health as the research conducted by NPR has shown that a half of families have been facing serious mental problems in the past few months. Some added stresses also aggravated the situation to become not only weary but also frayed, and her daughter aged 12 would be an example for this. Her daughter received chemotherapy for cancer and was under numerous treatments before that. On top of that, her mother couldn't think of words and was sent to the hospital. Spending time for four days to monitor her mother, her family was offered some help from friends to take shifts looking out for the patient. Although she denied it at first, then she thought it was the time to not take on self-sufficiency anymore. She then had an opportunity to receive tremendous kindnesses from friends, salespersons, and even strangers, all of which made her reflect on a way of thinking of the concept of self-sufficiency that we, humans, need to live with other people and sometimes we need someone to support us at some points. However, it is difficult for us to not hold strange feelings when bumping into long-lost friends. Just simple words like “I love you” made the author feel more buoyed. 

Reference 

Wildman, S. (2021, November 25). Self-Sufficiency Is Overrated. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/25/opinion/self-sufficiency-generosity.html

Num: Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time

 

    According to “Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time” (2021), The New York Times’ reporters Mona El-Naggar and Sara Aridi reported that social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or TikTok were used as enlightening sources to provide sexual education to Arab women by numerous activists who are aiming to support reproductive health, solve cultural sexual misbeliefs based on religious doctrine and patriarchal societies in the Arabic world. Arab women have been facing gender equality. Moreover, standardized sex education is nonexistent in schools, with 40 percent of the unintended birth rate in Arab countries (Guttmacher Institute, 2018 as cited in El-Nagger & Aridi, 2021) attributable to women and girls have been left wondering, uneducated, and ashamed of their bodies. Activists are trying to mitigate the issues with the internet. Nour Emam, 29, an Egyptian activist, a professional doula, who helps women giving birth, and a former DJ broadcasts her show, “motherbeing”, via Instagram and TikTok. Fatma Ibrahim, 32, the founder of “Sex Talk in Arabic” posts her content on Instagram and Facebook. Dr. Sandrine Atallah and Dr. Deemah Salem, physicians from Lebanon and the UAE broadcast their show through Youtube and Instagram. The array of such online platforms and their ability to reach out to Arab women throughout the region is changing Muslim cultures. It's a common ground to provide a safe space for women to understand anatomy and open women to knowledge considered as harmful. To accomplish the main goal, to change a common religious belief that women have to oblige their husbands’s, every sexual desire, where those who refuse their husbands “the angels curse”, activists try to renew the idea with consent. Another misconception that they try to break is that families value women’s virginity, although many conservatives said that the platforms provoke unashamed, unembarrassed acts from women such as having sex before marriage, or learning about sex, which are not appropriate manners. However, many advocates found that the contents boost women’s confidence, and they can overcome their fear by understanding their nature.   

Reference 

El-Naggar, M. & Aridi, S. (2021, November 18). Sex ed, one Instragram post at a time. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/world/middleeast/sex-ed-arab-women-mideast.html

Pamin: Enhance educational lessons with machine-learning systems

 

   According to "The Machines Are Learning, and So Are the Students" (Smith, 2019), many classroom tasks like grading and providing immediate feedback are more and more being performed by a machine or so-called Artificial Intelligence, and this is optimizing and revolutionizing education. For example, in SAT exam preparation, "A plethora of online courses and tutorials also have freed teachers from lecturing and allowed them to spend class time working on problem-solving with students instead." Most tutoring systems in the past used rule-based artificial intelligence, cognitive theory, and decision trees to guide students to a pre-defined learning path. Nowadays, the machine-learning revolution enables the new capability of learning algorithms to learn from data. They know about the student through their interaction with the system.  Smith cites Kulik and Fletcher to support the claim that machine learning systems can now do better than human tutors in terms of improving student performance one reason is that it is more patient and insightful. More and more applications are being developed to support education. For example, Riiid TUTOR, an AI-powered TOEIC preparation application developed by a Korean start-up, and Acuitus's digital tutor application, created by a Silicon Valley start-up company, both use A.I. technology to support education.  Smith mentions in the article that schools, classrooms, and teachers are still important to teach social skills and subjects like art, music, and sport. As for A.I.-aided learning, its challenge might not be “technology but bureaucratic barriers that protect the status quo.” Dr. John Newkirk, co-founder, and chief executive of Acuitus, comments on A.I.-powered education that it is already proof that it is possible but still has much room for improvement in a decade or two. New education technology can reach students at home directly with machine-learning systems and the internet. Smith concludes by quoting Dr. Terrence Sejnowski who said that "Parents are figuring out that they can get much better educational lessons for their kids through the internet than they're getting at school." (Smith, 2019)

 Reference 

Smith, C. S. (2019, December 18). The machines are learning, and so are the students.

The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/education/artificial-intelligence-tutors-teachers.html

Sea: World's 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood

 

According to “How an 11-Foot-Tall 3-D Printer Is Helping to Create a Community” (Kamin, 2021), a partnership is working together to create “the world’s first community of 3-D printed homes” for the low-paid residents in Nacajuca, Mexico. Recently, the use of 3-D printing for building objects has grown rapidly in different fields, one of which is for construction. With the speed and requirement of less than three workers, the completion of a home can be finished within 24 hours. New Story, the nonprofit organization who is involved in providing homes for people in poverty, saw the advantages of 3-D printed houses. Therefore, in 2019, they started a project in Nacajuca, Mexico with Échale, an affordable housing social enterprise based in Mexico, and Icon, a construction technology company who had experience in a wide range of projects from charity to commercial. About 10 houses and more were printed by Icon’s Vulcan II printer, an 11-foot-tall three-dimensional printer. By placing layers of lavacrete, a special concrete mix, which  “looks much like a massive soft-serve ice cream cone” but forming a house. Then Échale played an important role in on-site building and selecting members for the village based on the needs. One of the chosen families is the Hernández family. Mr.Hernández is a carpenter with little income. Moving from the last tiny and messy place to a new home will provide him more working space and the feeling of a safe place for his daughter. Henry D’Esposito, JLL lead of construction research, agrees that this is an appropriate way to use 3-D printing for single-family homes in Nacajuca because of their size, repetitiveness and tolerance of  a magnitude 7.4 earthquake. On the other hand, he suggested that right now it might not be fit for all markets, especially the commercial real estate market. The study had to be made more about the building life expectancy and how it will perform over time.

Reference 

Kamin, D. (2021, September 28). How an 11-Foot-Tall 3-D Printer Is Helping to Create a Community. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/business/3D-printing-homes.html 

Yujin: Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai?

 

In “Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai?”, a New York Times article, Raymond Zhong informs readers about the disappearance of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis star, after she accused a Chinese “top leader” of sexual assault. Peng Shuai began her tennis career two decades ago, during which she gained titles as a three-time Olympian, a world No.1 in doubles, and the 2014 French Open double, but she disappeared from public view for several weeks in November. It is speculated that her disappearance was because she had posted an accusation of sexual assault by Zhang Gaoli, an influential politician, and a former vice premier serving from 2012 to 2017, on Weibo on November, 2nd. The post stated that three years ago Zhang Gaoli had invited her to his home and tried to pressure her into sex. She did not consent at the time, but ultimately, they started a “consensual, if conflicted, relationship”. The post became viral across China; however, within minutes, Ms. Peng’s account vanished from the internet, including her posts and almost all other posts of the related topic.  Nevertheless, these measures did not succeed in covering up the story because Steven Simon, the head of the Women’s Tennis Association called on Beijing to investigate the situation on November 14th. On December 1st, the association announced that it was ending all tournaments in China, losing an extreme amount of money. According to Steven Simon, if China does not comply with their requests, they are not going to play in China due to the safety of the players and staff. The International Olympic Committee is also in the process of trying to sort the situation. Many have called out the Chinese government, including The Wall Street Journal, publishing an essay advocating for the removal of the Winter Games from China, the Biden administration and the United Nations human rights office, and fellow tennis luminaries speaking out on social media. The Chinese government has not responded in an official way, but news outlets have been posting on social media trying to persuade others that Ms. Peng is safe. Ms. Peng has only appeared in a video in a Communist Party-controlled newspaper showing her eating in a restaurant and attending a tennis event in Beijing, and some time after that in a video call with the president of the International Olympic Committee. 

Reference 

Zhong, R. (2021, December 3). Who, and Where, Is Peng Shuai? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/peng-shuai.html 

Emma: Why people care about math education and politics

 

Image from The New York Times

In her news article “California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash” (2021), Jacey Fortin reports that in California, the attempt on revising mathematics instruction in public schools, which has been done by the state, has been strongly criticized as bringing “woke politics into a subject that is supposed to be practical and precise.” According to the news article, since the proposed draft on math education has opened for public comment in February this year, it has created intense debates over “the fundamental question on what or whom is math for?” In addition to that, the controversial issue has been used by Glenn Youngkin, a politician from The Republicans, to win his candidacy for governor in Virginia. Despite the fierce criticism, Dr. Jo Boaler, a professor of education at Stanford University who has been working on the proposed draft, argues that its aims are to provide high school students with alternative math courses such as data science and statistics to calculus, improve equality on accessing high-level math courses to students of different races, deny the belief in gifted children, and use math lessons to connect students to social issues such as immigration or inequality. As mentioned in the news article, in the United States, there is a racial gap in math achievement among the students. The statistics from the civil rights office of the Education Department indicate that 16 percent of students in high schools are Black students and only half of them studied calculus in 2015 to 2016. In contrast, students who are White and Asian dominated in high-level math courses. Although the proposed draft of the new guidelines on math education does not recommend that public schools select students who are good at math for gifted programs to study in advanced math classes in mid schools, the critics argues that it can prevent those students from the benefits of learning advanced materials. According to the news article, the proposed draft is still in the process of revision for further public comment that is expected to be arrange in summer to get approval from the education board of the state.

Reference 

Fortin, J. (2021, November 4). California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/04/us/california-math-curriculum-guidelines.html

Phum: Age Check Protecting Child ?

 

In the technology section, "Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web" (2021), The New York Times’ David McCabe exposes the pressure from activists and parents' desire to protect children from inappropriate content on the internet. In action, a lot of governments already require age checks for sensitive content, such as in Japan, where users need to verify their age to use the app Tinder, and in the same way, in Germany and France, users need to verify their age to enter pornography websites. In response, many companies and authorities are taking action on this matter by registering a new law on age checks to protect children. Leading online platforms are taking action on this issue, with YouTube requiring identification documents or credit cards for entry to watch adult videos, while Google and Facebook were looking for and developing new methods of age verification to prevent users from lying about their age. In the opposite way, Twitter doesn’t require aggressive identity verification for adult content. Users are allowed to click through to 18+ content without any document. The new rule of age-checking requires users to give personal information to websites, which might lead to concerns about privacy and hacking. Daly Barnett, staff technologist, states that users’ information given to websites is "a treasure trove of data that’s exploitable." Responding to a concerning privacy issue, many companies and governments have introduced new measures to protect the privacy of users by limiting the period of storage of data. Another worry about aggressive age checking is that anonymous users are no longer anonymous anymore. Requiring a lot of documents and evidence for verification brings more uncomfort and frustration to users. Some new technologies could help with this issue. Mr. Farid, along with regulators and companies, suggests that "We don’t want the solution to be more harmful than the problem." Automatic facial analysis is one possible solution for comfortable age checking, but there are a few bugs with female or darker skin. Anyway, the new trend of age-checking might be beneficial for Roblox, the game company, in order to ban inappropriate players, who cannot reenter with the same government document, which the possible method they suggest is video chat and ID card. From the customer point of view, some don't want to disclose their personal information for service that they might pay for,  or the age-checking policy might suit only adult 18+ content.  

Reference 

McCabe, D. (2021, Oct 27) Anonymity No More? Age Checks Come to the Web. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/27/technology/internet-age-check-proof.html 

Peter: A right regular joy

In The New York Times article “Why Does Coffee Make Me Poop?” Alice Callahan (2021), while also addressing related health issues, summarizes the available evidence and theory behind the rapid laxative effect that coffee has on some drinkers. In addition to causing a rapid desire to defecate, or to poop as Callahan likes to call it, coffee’s effect on the digestive system hastens the return to normal eating and pooping for those who have undergone colorectal or gynaecological surgery, for which reason her main source, Dr. Robert Martindale, medical director for hospital nutrition services at Oregon Health and Science University, offers his patients coffee the morning after such surgery. Similarly, some see coffee as an antidote to constipation, although Callahan reports that dietician Sonya Angelone advises that this is better dealt with by eating enough fibre, of which coffee contains only one gramme per standard cup of 0.2 litres. According to Martindale, the explanation for coffee causing a substantial percentage of drinkers to poop within minutes of drinking it is mediation by hormones or other factors in the brain, which are rapidly stimulated when coffee reaches the stomach, and which brain action stimulates a response in the colon long before the coffee itself gets there an hour or more after it has been drunk. However, the theoretical explanation is tentative since, as Callahan, citing Martindale, tells us, the research studies are largely “small, old and limited.” For example, while a 1990 study reported only 29% of coffee drinkers needed a quick trip to the toilet, Martindale reports his experience suggests that up to 60% of his own patients to be so affected: there is no strong consensus even on how prevalent the pooping effect of coffee is. Research from 1998 appears to rule out caffeine as the responsible chemical, since the effect is found to occur whether the coffee consumed is regular or decaffeinated, which leaves the cause to be found among the other 1,000 or so chemicals that make up coffee. Finally, having noted that the US Food and Drug Administration says that four or five cups of coffee daily is not a problem for of its drinkers, Callahan concludes on the cheerful note restated from her opening that for many people, coffee is “part of a comforting morning routine, waking us up in a multitude of ways.” 

Reference 

Callahan, A. (2021, December 1).  Why does coffee make me poop? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/well/eat/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop.html 

Peter: A necessary evil for constructive politics

In their opinion piece “It Is Every American’s Right to Curse the President” (2021), The New York Times’ Editorial Board argues that the strong free speech protections enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States must themselves be protected from the good intentions of those who would restrict speech that is deeply offensive to the community or to national leaders, as seen in a recent court decision where a woman was ordered to remove banners that used extremely offensive language about President Biden. The Editorial Board agrees both that the signs in question, which Andrea Dick had put up in her front yard in full view of her neighbours, are extremely offensive, and that she had intended to offend her neighbours. However, the board rebuts the argument that obscenity is a sufficient reason to ban such language from public display. Their first argument is the legal one that a previous US Supreme Court opinion in 1971 has clearly established that even the English verb which is “not actually advocating sexual intercourse” with the object noun in such contexts, as a lawyer in that case described it, is “legally protected in political statements” by the US Constitution, and that the New Jersey court ruling is contrary to that precedent set by the Supreme Court. The Editorial Board next explains why the Supreme Court is right to have upheld the right of Americans to use the most offensive words even in public and why all Americans should support that decision to maintain the strongest legal protection of free speech. They argue that keeping their freedom depends on Americans continuing to support their democracy’s emphasis on the value of free speech. The first opposing concern the board notes is that some are questioning the traditional American respect for free speech because divisions over politics mean that many no longer trust the other side to respect the tradition of tolerance for ideas that they dislike, so that Republicans in some states are passing laws to ban some expressions of ideas, such as race protests. From another side, Democrats are said to be guilty of falsely equating offensive speech with violence that must be outlawed. Whilst insisting that actual violence not be tolerated, the Editorial Board emphasizes that “Democracy requires that we feel safe while shouting at each other.” 

Reference 

Editorial Board. (2021, July 24). It is every American’s right to curse the president. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/opinion/sunday/free-speech-case-New-Jersey.html 

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 179- Critical thinking, E

What is it?

In their critical thinking questions that conclude "Successful Teams and Conflict", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 179) invite us to apply the ideas in the reading to our personal experience. 

Write one comment that responds to both questions. 

The order of the questions seems logical: question 1 asks us to reflect on our own experience working on teams, which will review and apply the five stages of Tuckman's account of team development to our own experience, after which we can move to our own approach to conflict management. However, can address the two questions in the opposite order if you prefer. 

____________________________________ 

The questions to respond to in one comment

1. Think about when you have worked on teams. Did you develop in the manner Tuckman describes?
    
2. 
    Which conflict management styles described in the text is your dominant style? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this style?

 

You have 18:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to both questions. 

I suggest you divide your time roughly as:

• planning = 4:00 minutes - 
• Which specific example(s) from your experience will you discuss? 
• Which details should you include to make them effective examples?
• What main ideas do they support? 
• ?
• writing = 10:00 minutes - it's much easier to write when you have planned 
• editing = 4:00 minutes

____________________

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 174 - Critical thinking, E

What is it?

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes "Groupthink", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 173) invite us to reflect on why concepts such as that of groupthink can remain popular despite the absence of solid evidence. 

Since we are asked to discuss theories "like groupthink," it will be useful to apply your explanation to more than the theory of groupthink. 

____________________________________ 

The question

1. Discuss why theories like groupthink remain so popular despite a lack of empirical data to support them. 
   

You have 16:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to question 1.

____________________

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 171 - After you watch

click to see images full size

Discussion after you watch

Although they all follow up issues raised in the video, Warwick and Rogers' three discussion questions can be addressed independently, even if some points might be relevant to two or three of the questions.  

Choose the two questions that most interest you. In two separate comments, write one paragraph responding to each. In addition to stating and explaining your main idea, what personal knowledge or experiences might be relevant support? What examples can you give? 

 

The three questions: choose two to respond to. 

• What personal attributes do you think would be brought out of participants during an escape room experience? 
   
• Do you think teambuilding events are a worthwhile use of both the employee’s and the company’s time and money? Why / why not? 
   
• To what extent are positive working relationships more important than other factors in the overall profitability of a business?
   

Planning and writing = 21:00 minutes 

You have 21:00 minutes to plan and write a response to two of the three questions. I suggest you divide your time into two ten-minute chunks. 

Remember: write two separate comments.  

A helpful strategy

Avoid writing things like "question 3."

Instead, imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you are responding to. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. But it will typically be more effective to paraphrase (rewrite) ideas in questions as a statements. 

Because our writing should make sense independently of the question it might be answering, this paraphrasing of questions to provide context is also a useful strategy in exams such as IELTS and TOEFL.

 

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 163 - Debate (academic words)

Number 3 was definitely the controversial one to debate.

What is it? 

The text used to illustrate the academic vocabulary introduced on page 163 of Skillful  introduces the opinions that we should "switch to a vegetarian diet as an ongoing way of reducing [our] use of water" (Warwick and Rogers, 2018, pp. 163).

We want to debate a slightly stronger version of that proposition. 

This is an opportunity to use the academic vocabulary introduced: advocate, equate, eventual, finite, intensity, legislation, ongoing, and resolution. 

The verb patterns introduced in the grammar section on page 166 might also be useful. 

The proposition

Meat consumption should be banned. 

The government team is arguing for this proposition, the opposition team is arguing against it. 

First, present key points

Your team has had time to brainstorm the supporting points for your side of the argument. Now, each team member will write a comment in one paragraph to support their allocated main point supporting their side of the argument. 

The topics have already been chosen. You have already brainstormed ideas in your group. Now, organize those ideas and write one paragraph that states and supports one of the main points for your side of the debate, perhaps including responses to possible counterarguments from the opposing side. 

Time: 12:00 minutes. 

How many of the words on the academic vocabulary list can you get into your one paragraph? (This is not your major concern, and depending on the key point you are presenting, some of the vocabulary might not be appropriate.)

Next - rebuttal 

Back in your group, read the opposing teams arguments. How are you going to respond to each of their points? 

Brainstorm responses, and allocate a team member to write the rebuttal reply to each of the opposing team's supporting points. 

Time: 20 minutes. 
I suggest you spend about 10:00 minutes first discussing how you might answer each of the other teams arguments, then each member has 10:00 minutes to write their one-paragraph response to their allocated comment from the opposing team. 

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Yok: Why chosing vegan diet

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851, regarded within the industry as a national newspaper of record. The New York Times’s news covers wide ranges of columns to choose from. I used to read several columns from it for many years. Unfortunately, the article which I am most interested in, a vegan diet, has rarely been posted on in the health column. If I had a chance to write a column in The New York Times, I would enjoy writing about vegan diets, which fit my passion and lifestyle. I would use this column to let my readers know how they and their planet can benefit from switching to vegetarianism, and also introduce some wonderful vegan shops in Bangkok.

As I can remember, my childhood life didn't have various activities to experience. I lived in a strict family where  my mother always forced me to focus on education as the first priority. From primary school years to university career, my life was mostly spent in the academic field. When I was an adolescent, my interests seemed different from the majority of teenagers. I did not enjoy playing games or partying at night, but exercising and sports. Playing football at school was the best activity for me. After I finished high school in 2013, I had decided to hit the gym for the first time. Eventually, exercise has become my daily habit. Our diet is the key factor to achieve every exercise goal and to enhance performance. I started to pay attention to what I eat, and researched on macronutrients and micronutrients. The most reliable result is that a plant based diet is the most effective way to maintain a healthy and balanced diet. This turning point made me switch to a mainly vegan diet and it has become seventy percent of my daily diet.

My column in The New York Times would explain why plant based diets are an extremely healthy option, and clarify the popular belief about the low amount of proteins and minerals that are received from eating plants. In fact, not only is a vegan diet nutrient-rich, providing all macronutrients and micronutrients needed, it also has very low calories compared to any other diet. For example, broccoli contains fibers, fatty acids, vitamins and even some protein and it has been proved by scientific research to help reduce bad cholesterol. This superiority of a vegan diet beyond a meat diet can let us live longer and healthier by preventing disease like cancer, stroke and diabetes. I think that this content can be very important to readers as poor diet is the number one cause of premature death.

A related issue I could explore in my column is to mention another aspect of plant based diet’s benefits. It is a resolution to solve top the global challenges facing humanity. Shifting from meat diets to vegetarian ones will lower significant levels of methane and carbon dioxide emissions from domestic livestock. These greenhouse gases are directly attributable to climate change, which continues to increase unprecedentedly. Moreover, a vegan diet is also a viable solution for water scarcity. Cultivation of vegetables and grains is far less water intensive than production of meat. From this evidence, switching to vegetarianism would dramatically reduce the amount of water consumption by agriculture, which accounts for seventy percent of global consumption.

The last issue is that I would like to use this area to help readers experience vegan diets more comfortably. I know that it is very hard, especially in Thailand, to change our routine diets to plant based diets  due to our tradition and culture. The toughest issue would undoubtedly be its taste. Fortunately, Bangkok has a large community of vegetarians, and there are a wide range of vegetarian restaurants and cafes available to try. I think it is a good idea to recommend some vegetarian hot spots to readers, so that they could get inspiration and probably change their views toward vegetarians. To start, Broccoli Revolution, Vistro cafe, and Plantiful are places where I want you to experience the new versions of vegetarianism. They are popular hangout places for vegans and their staff can provide very useful information to help you start to eat plants effectively and happily. 

I enjoy eating a vegan diet very much as it makes me become healthier, happier and fitter than ever before. I want to share my positive influences with readers, if I have a chance to write a column in the New York Times. This is a very useful principle to both readers and their planet. You will definitely get pleasure from the tasty foods which are good for your health.

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 161 - Critical thinking, E2

What is it?

In their critical thinking question 2 that concludes "Thirstier than Ever", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 161) invite us to apply the ideas in the reading to our own experience and ideas.   

____________________________________ 

The question

1. We have already shared our ideas on ranking the four methods for effectiveness in dealing with water shortages. The reflection we went through in doing this should be useful preparation for the following question, on which we now want to share our ideas. 
    
2. Do you think personal solutions, such as changing your diet, are effective or should governments and companies solve the problem?

You have 15:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to question 2.

____________________

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

_________________________________

Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Good: Movie reviews

 

Being a columnist in one of the most popular and prestigious newspapers like The New York Times would be everyone’s dream. Personally, I could not imagine this as I believe this career requires creativity to generate a piece of writing regularly. However, if I had a chance to produce essays on a particular topic in The New York Times, I would like to review disparate kinds of movies because I have considered myself a universal movie lover since I was a child.

To begin with, although it might be a bit difficult in the beginning to start writing a movie review in that newspaper, I would tend to start with family films such as the Harry Potter ones, which I really liked when I was in primary school. One of the reasons I want to write it is that I assume many of the newspaper’s readers may be adults or older; therefore, I think some of them will feel nostalgic and want to think back to when they were a child and watched these kinds of films with their old friends or family. Moreover, the Harry Potter series is one of my most favorite franchises according to my own preferences.

However, I do not want to stick with only one type of movie that I would write about. It is better to show my different interests and tastes through movies I have watched to the readers of this column. The Godfather would be a perfect film I would review as it has been recognized as the most valuable and greatest movie in human history, and I spent almost a decade before being able to feel its original value clearly. To be totally upfront, my friends recommended this movie to me when I was around 10, but after I had watched the legendary film, I did not like it at first and felt it made me sleepy as there was no exciting action scene similar to superhero movies. But between five to ten years later, I thought I was ready and old enough to watch and understand the hidden details from this renowned movie again, and finally, I agreed with other fans that it is appropriate to be one of the legendary movies. 

Another movie category that I would prefer to review if I were a columnist would be animations. I was interested in doing traditional cartoons by bringing hundreds of papers with slightly different motions of characters in each piece of paper and flipping them to see the movements of the characters. Nowadays, the process of creating cartoons has been changed and developed significantly due to computers, and there are more advanced animations created by famous studios. In my opinion, it is much easier to transform screenplays to animations because of realistic limitations in live-action. Therefore, some scenes beyond imagination can be composed by computer graphic software in a few clicks, and this might save time and costs of props or models, which might be easily broken and expensive.

In conclusion, it is well-known that being a columnist in The New York Times is difficult. However, if I had an opportunity to do that duty, I would provide fantastic movie reviews to demonstrate my personal interests.

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 156 - Critical thinking, E

What is it?

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes "Climate Change 101", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 155) invite us to critically reflect on two of the issues raised.   

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The questions

1. How compelling do you find the evidence that human activity is the main cause of climate change? Explain your reasoning.
    
2. Is there any point changing our behavior if it will take thousands of years to reverse the damage caused by climate change? Why or why not?

You have 12:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a response to question 1.

After we have published our responses to question 1,  you will have another 12:00 minutes to plan, write, and edit a new comment responding to question 2. 

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A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the question at the start of your response to it. 

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Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Phum: The business world

              A career in journalism is a kind of occupation that I have never thought of before. It doesn’t mean that I think it is not a great job or not a high-paid job, but a really outstanding journalist should have a broad vision, forward thinking, and be able to quickly summarize the main idea, which skills I lack. Anyway, if I have a chance to become a journalist publishing in the New York Times, a business column would be the one I would choose to write because the business field is the one I have become familiar with since studying at university in the past.

After I had browsed the business column, I found that various topics were covered in this section, including the Coronavirus pandemic, climate change, economics, politics, and more. Even the publication of some legislation issues was also included in this section; for example, the government's measure to raise taxes dramatically affects international trade and investment. Almost every movement in our world is reported in the business area, which is very fascinating. Furthermore, when I was a student at university, I studied a business major at bachelor's degree level, so I could say it's something I have spent plenty of time with. By studying business, I have learned a lot about understanding its mechanics, demand and supply, how to confront changing trends, and how to predict the trends in the market so that I have realized how important business is. 

Another reason is why this type of news is critical for traders and investors and needs to be up-to-date. If we understand the mechanism of the business market, we are able to make some profit on it. Let's suppose that some big company called "A" takes over another and you can predict exactly what is going to happen. Then you buy the stock of A company, waiting until the takeover process is done. The stock price in hand should rise by double or triple. That is one way to make a profit. It is also necessary for the owner's business to predict changes in customer purchases. It should mitigate negative effects if you're in a downtrend. In the opposite direction, it might help accelerate your success in an upward trend.

One thing that makes business more interesting is that business never stops but changes quickly every day. It is impossible to worry about a lack of content which you are going to write about, and this kind of context is always attractive to readers. Moreover, reading business columns not only gives you financial perspective or market trends, but it also is an interesting topic  for chit chat at lunchtime with your family and friends. It is better than bringing up a sensitive topic such as sexuality, religious beliefs, or political preferences. By taking this on in the conversation, you will have an exchange of information with the other person, expanding your vision and many perspectives on the issue.

Guidelines on investment in Japan and Japanese culture are especially interesting for me to write about, which topics relate to the business field. After I had recently studied the adaptation between Japanese and Thai employees in a Thai context, I found that there is a contrast in culture between Thais and Japanese working together within the organization. If I could declare and make readers understand the differences in both background cultures in The New York Times, it would help to encourage Thais and Japanese to coordinate more smoothly.

Have you tried to read something about business yet? Let's try to catch up with the business world. You might be surprised at how business revolves around us. Even if you are not a businessman or have your own business, it always expands your perspective, broadens your vision, and opens new possibilities for you. Besides that, you also have a topic for a little chit chat with your friend.