jueves, 25 de enero de 2007

Developmental Paragraphs (First Draft)

Sex Education that Works

“I was never told about sex before” said Vanessa Guzman, a twelve-year-old girl from El Limon-Maracay, when she was asked the reason why she had decided to have a sexual relation. Her parents said that they had not talked to her about sex because they thought she was not ready to hear about this complex, and for them, embarrassing topic, but what they did not take into account was that she was about to reach puberty, and that was the best age to start. On the other hand, Vanessa said that her parents never gave her opportunities to ask questions related to sex and that was why she decided to search for information everywhere except her own home. Vanessa asked the wrong person and now she is pregnant. Therefore, parents should talk openly about sex to their girls before they reach puberty and after they have developed patterns of behavior.

The lack of communication between parents and their daughters is one of the biggest problems girls are facing today; in fact, girls find it very difficult to talk to their parents about issues that are affecting their lives on a day-to-day basis. Many of them really want to talk to their parents on sex-related topics, but the minute anything that has to do with comes out of their mouths, their parents automatically put themselves in a defense mode and turn their girl’s questions into accusations. The first thing parents think when they are asked about sex is that their girls are having a sexual relationship or they are pregnant. Parents automatically jump to conclusions without even thinking about it. Furthermore, these kinds of parents accusations will eventually turn off their girls, and as a consequence they go to the next best thing, their friends, and what parents do not take into consideration is that sex education has to start at home.

Sex education that works start early and at home, but sometimes it can be difficult for parents to know when to talk about sex to their girls. What is important for parents is to maintain an open mind in order to gain their daughter’s trust, and provided them with opportunities to ask questions related to a sexual relation. However, when to start? The precise age at which information about sex should be provided depends on the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of the young girls, as well as their level of understanding. It is important not to delay providing information to girls but to begin when they are young. At this age, girls can be informed about how people grow and change over time, and how babies become children and then adults. It is also important for girls to be in touch with information related to viruses and germs that attack the body. Even if parents believe that young girls should not have sex until they are married, this does not imply withholding important information about sex and contraception. Rather than trying to frighten young girls away from having sex, effective sex education includes work on attitudes and beliefs, coupled with skills development that enables young girls to choose whether or not to have a sexual relationship, taking into account the potential risks of any sexual activity.

Nowadays young girls can get information about sex and sexuality from a wide range of sources including each other, through the media including advertising, television and magazines, as well as books and websites. Society has changed drastically; for instance, it is normal for young girls to see in the streets women who sell their bodies in order to get some money, and it can affect them negatively because they can take it as a concept about what a sexual relation is. Thus, to avoid negatively consequences, sex education has to start at home in order to provide young girls with an opportunity to explore the reasons why people have sex, and to think how it involves emotions, respect for oneself and other people and their feelings, decisions and bodies.


Elaborated By:
Pérez Stephanie
Rojas Mayerlyn
Sánchez Fernando

Essay Lab Activity


Your score is 100%.Questions answered correctly first time: 15/15

1. What does the introductory paragraph do?
A. It helps you to develop the essay.
B. It shows in a sentence the essay's purpose.
C. It summarizes the main idea of the essay.
D. :-) It introduces the main idea of the essay.

2. Select the most appropiate transition word to add more information:
A. On the other hand.
B. First.
C. :-) Furthermore.
D. Thus.

3. Which transition words do you need to show cause and effect?
A. However, even though, on the other hand, nevertheless.
B. Another, in addition to, related to, furthermore, also.
C. First, second, third.
D. :-) Therefore, thus, as result of, consequently.

4. What does the concluding paragraph do?
A. :-) It summarizes or restates the main idea of the essay.
B. It provides background information about the topic.
C. It introduces the main idea of the essay.
D. It develops the main idea of the essay.

5. In a descriptive essay you should...
A. :-) Provide details about how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, makes one feel or sounds.
B. Discuss the similarities and differences between two things, people, concepts, places, etc.
C. Present objections and refute them.
D. Separate things or ideas into specific categories and discuss each of them.

6. What is a thesis statement?
A. It is the first sentence of each paragraph.
B. :-) It is a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph, that present your argument to the reader.
C. It is a sentence that connect to paragraph.
D. It is a sentence that gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to deal with.

7. What is a supporting paragraph?
A. It is the opening paragraph that catch the reader interest.
B. It is a paragraph that contains the thesis statement.
C. :-) It is a pargraph that makes up the main body of the essay.
D. It is the conclution of an essay after you have finished developing your ideas.

8. A subordinating conjunction is use to...
A. To join individual words, phrases and independent clause.
B. :-) To introduce a dependent clause and indicate the nature of the relationship amog dependent clause and the independent clause.
C. To link equivalent sentence elements.
D. To keep coherence.

9. A traditionally thesis statement is...
A. As long as a composition.
B. :-) No longer than one or possible two sentences, even if your paper is long.
C. As long as you want.
D. As long as the concluding paragraph.

10. What is a topic sentence?
A. It is a sentence that identifies the purpose of an essay.
B. :-) It is a sentence that gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about.
C. It is a sentence that declares what you believe and what you intend to prove.
D. It is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the essay is going to deal with.

11. What do we use transition words for?
A. :-) We use them to connect paragraphs and make an essay easier to read.
B. We use them to separate one paragraph from another.
C. We use them to link the thesis statement and final thoughts.
D. We use them to put in order a paragraph.

12. What is an essay?
A. It is a text about several topics.
B. :-) It is an organized collection of your ideas about an specific topic.
C. It is a text where you can write all kind of ideas.
D. It is a long composition about someone's private life.

13. What is an outline?
A. It is a draft that contains all the ideas of the essay.
B. It is a text that provides ideas.
C. It is a guideline that will help you to find the purpose of the essay.
D. :-) It is an organized format of your ideas.

14. What is an argumentative essay?
A. :-) It is an essay that attempts to persuade the reader to the writer's point of view.
B. It is an essay that explains why or how some events happened, and what the results are.
C. Its is a essay that defines and classifies things or ideas into specific categories.
D. It is an essay that gives directions or intructions about how to complete a task, or how something is done.

15. An effective paragraph should contain:
A. A topic sentence and the major points.
B. :-) Unity, coherence, a topic sentence and adequate development.
C. An introductory, supporting and concluding paragraph.
D. A thesis statement.

viernes, 19 de enero de 2007

What do you know about Essays?

  • What is an Essay?

An essay is a short piece of writing that discusses, describes or analyzes one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or humorously. It can describe personal opinions, or just report information. An essay can be written from any perspective, but essays are most commonly written in the first person (I), or third person (subjects that can be substituted with the he, she, it, or they pronouns).

  • Which are the parts of an Essay?

Introductory paragraph:

Your essay should start with an introductory paragraph. There are actually many different ways to begin an essay; therefore, the format of the introductory paragraph is flexible. Often, essays begin with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an anecdote, description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your thesis, etc. Beginning this way, you will use the first few sentences to prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis, and use the last sentence of the first paragraph to present your thesis. However, your thesis statement can be anywhere in your introduction. In a longer essay, you can even wait to present your thesis until the second paragraph or later. Also for a longer essay, you should begin to introduce a few supporting ideas in the first couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas should be the topics that you will discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For a short essay, presenting supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.

Supporting paragraphs:

Your second paragraph generally begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea (the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next paragraph.

Your next two body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting ideas, but the three paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this format.

To connect your supporting paragraphs, you should use special transition words. Transition words link your paragraphs together and make your essay easier to read. Use them at the beginning and end of your paragraphs.


-For listing different points:
First
Second
Third

-For counter examples:
However
Even though
On the other hand
Nevertheless
-For additional ideas:
Another
In addition to
Related to
Furthermore
Also
-To show cause and effect:
Therefore
Thus
As a result of
Consequently

Summary paragraph:
The form of your conclusion, like your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves a strong impression and provokes further thought.

  • The thesis statement
A thesis statement in an essay is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas. A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you expect to write about.

Your thesis statement will have two parts:
-The first part states the topic:
Kenya's Culture
Building a Model Train Set
-The second part states the point of the essay:
has a rich and varied history
takes time and patience

  • The topic sentence
The topic sentence is usually the first sentence of the paragraph. It gives the reader an idea of what the paragraph is going to be about.The supporting sentences need to be about the idea presented in the topic sentence.

  • Organize your ideas
The purpose of an outline or diagram is to put your ideas about the topic on paper, in a moderately organized format. The structure you create here may still change before the essay is complete, so don't agonize over this.Decide whether you prefer the cut-and-dried structure of an outline or a more flowing structure. If you start one or the other and decide it isn't working for you, you can always switch later.

domingo, 14 de enero de 2007

My Greatest Dream


Traveling around the world is a dream a lot of people have, and they want to make it come true as I want. I've got this burning ambition to travel around this great earth since I was 14 years old when I went to Italy for the first time.

I would like to go to every continent and learn about different cultures and different languages, I would like to see the beautiful sights, make new friends, have fun memories and finally I would like to get married to a handsome Italian boy and be just happy.

I wish my life could just be spent traveling... I'll be waiting my dream comes true.

jueves, 11 de enero de 2007

Introductory Paragraph: "Sex Education"



"First Draft"


"I was never told about sex before" said Vanessa Guzman, a twelve year old girl from El Limón-Maracay, when she was asked the reason why she had decided to have a sexual relation. Her parentes said that they had not talked to her about sex because they consider it as an embarrassment and a topic very complex to explain at this age. It is known that sometimes it can be difficult for parents to know when to talk about sex to their children, but what they have to take into account is that sex education has to start at home, before the young people reach the puberty and after they have developed patterns of behavior, and parents have to provide their children opportunities to ask questions when they have them. Vanessa asked the wrong person and now she is pregnant. For this reason parents should talk openly to their children about sex before they reach the puberty, but after they have developed patterns of behavior.


"Final Version"


“I was never told about sex before” said Vanessa Guzman, a twelve-year-old girl from El Limon-Maracay, when she was asked the reason why she had decided to have a sexual relation. Her parents said that they had not talked to her about sex because they thought she was not ready to hear about this complex, and for them, embarrassing topic, but what they did not take into account was that she was about to reach the puberty, and that was the best age to start. On the other hand, Vanessa said that she always tried to ask her parents about sex, but they never provided her opportunities to make questions related to sex when she had them; that was why she decided to search for information everywhere except her own home. Vanessa asked the wrong person and now she is pregnant. Therefore, parents should talk openly about sex to their girls before they reach puberty and after they have developed patterns of behavior.



Elaborated By:
Pérez Stephanie
Rojas Mayerlyn
Sánchez Fernando
Rengifo Nasha

Reading and Writing 1
Prof.: Manuel Arrioja

Prof.: Diana Feliciano