Assignment 5. Review from assignment 3 & 4.

When I constructed my own assignment I wanted it to something that can be useful for a teacher. My assignment was to write a book review. My purpose with this was that the reader should reflect on what he/she have read, what did he/she like/dislike with the book, could they recognized themselves somewhere in the book.

I think it is good to write a book review, then you really get a chance to reflect on what you have read. Frida who took my assignment did follow my instructions and did a really good job with it.

I chose to do Frida.Westerberg´s assignment which was about problem solving. I chose this assignment because I know an authentic problem and I think that there is a solving on that problem. I also think it was a fun and inspiring assignment to do.

I think this was a good exercise to create your own assignment and then get the chance to look at your friends´blogs and pick out the one that you liked the best.
//Emma

Blog Assignment 4.

Do not close the school Grunnebacka!

This school is on the countryside, about 35 kilometers from Kristinehamn. The village is called Rudskoga. It is much discussion whether the school should be closed or if it can be an independent school. The district wants to build a new school for children in the village Nybble. In the new school the children from Rudskoga, Bäckhammar and Nybble will go in.

Grunnebacka School has about 50 children/pupils, from pre-class to six grade. This school also has after school recreation. Recently a sport centre has been built close to the school where the children can have their sport activities. Parents to the children/pupils and other people in Rudskoga are working really hard for the school. They have been writing several of application for an independent school to the district. They have received one no but are now working on new application.

The district want to close the school because they think that the pupil number is too low and it cost too much money for the district to have these small schools. They also think that pupils/children learn more in a big class and even that the teaching is better.
I have been going in that school when I was a child. I loved that school and I don’t think I have learned less then the pupils in a big school have learned. I think to build a whole new school is unnecessary and expensive when we have one in Rudskoga that is working.

Grunnebacka School is a good working school with many good locals and a new sport centre and a beautiful nature around it. They have 400 meters to the forest and they have 200 meters to a lake called Skagern and they also have cows and sheep outside the classroom. I think that is a good environment for the children!

I think this is good arguments for the district to consider. Why build a new school when we have one that is working very well? To build a new school must cost huge amount of money.

//Emma

Assignment 3: A book review

You will write a book review of a book that you recently have been reading. It can be a book from the course Culture, Media and Society, (The House on Mango Street, Boy: Tales of childhood, Bridge to Terabithia) or a book of your own choice. I believe that if you write a book review or a summary of the books you have read you reflect more about what you actually been reading and what you have learnt from the book. When we work as a teacher we will ask our pupils/children to write a book review of the book they have been reading, and with the purpose that they will reflect on what they have been reading and then practice on writing.

It is important to not write too much information about the book. You do not want to tell the reader everything. A book review should get people interesting of reading the whole book.

The book review should contain:

• The book title, author, publishing firm should be at beginning of the book review.

• Your review should focus on the book content and context.

• Write what you liked/disliked in the book and explain why you consider that. Write what feelings you got while you were reading the book and did the book mean anything to you?

• Compare the book to another book you read or with your own experience.

If you want more information and guiding you can look at this website: http://www.tidningeniskolan.se/article.jsp?article=7724 , or read Chapter 5 in Academic writing.

Good Luck! //Emma

This is my choice for the most important question in the election 2010.

Stop selling cigarettes in Sweden.

Every year 4, 9 millions of people in the world die of tobacco diseases. It expects to go up even more in the year 2020. This number is really a catastrophe and I think it is time to do something about this unhealthy thing that so many people are choosing to do.

In Sweden there are over one million people that smoke. Of them 600 000 thousand want to quit smoking. People that smoke the most in Sweden are in the ages of 45-64 years old. It is well know that smoking can kill you but still people are smoking.
The companies that produced cigarettes are very successful and make huge money on smokers. So it is all about money. The companies do not care if it cost a human life or his/her health. But the Government, should not they have the power to make a change that would result in a healthier country? On the packets of cigarettes you can read that smoking kills, smoking can give you lung cancer, smoking is dangerous for you and your baby and more shocking texts. The producers of cigarettes are forced to write this on the packet and I believe that someone has get a really eye-opener. In America and Australia it is a picture on the packet how your mouth becomes when you smoke and a picture of a healthy lung and then a smoker’s lung. This has been really effective and this is something that I think the governments should consider to have in Sweden too.

There are many arguments in favor for this claim. The most important one is: what is
in this “Death Stick” that so many people want to have? When you smoke you get a lot of dangerous and poison substance into your body and especially your lungs. In one cigarette it is about 4700 different chemicals, about 50 is carcinogenic. Some of the chemicals and substance in a cigarette are forbidden in a working environment because they are so dangerous and poison for us human. My question is: Do people know what they actually are smoking?

I think one counterargument will be that it is up to every individual to smoke or not smoke. No one can decide over someone else but I think many people want to quit smoking and to stop selling cigarettes in Sweden this can help them.

We need to do something about this health problem and I think we need to act now. If we make the access harder to buy cigarettes and tobacco in Sweden I believe people would consider quitting smoking.

Let Sweden become a non smoking country!

Formal and Informal text.

Formal text:

This is to inform you that your book has been rejected by our publishing company as it was not up to the required standard. In case you would like us to reconsider it, we would suggest that you go over it and make some necessary changes.

Infomal text:

You know that book I wrote? Well, the publishing company rejeceted it. They thought it was awful. But hey, I did the best i could, and I think it was great. I´m not gonna redo it the way they sy i should.

I think it is obvious that the first text is a formal and the second text an informal text. I see it in the style they are written in and the words that are used. In formal text for example you avoid using words/expressions, avoid contracted words and use longer sentences.

My Own text.

Formal:

We have been reading your assignment and we all agree that it is a good article. We would like you to come to our office next friday and discuss your grade and your application.

Informal:

Now we´ve read your article. It was really good. I didn´t know you wore such a good writer Ben! Please come to my office next week for a cup of coffe and discuss the job.. Have a nice day!