Essay Questions to Answer for Next Week

Dear 4A and 4B Language students,

Here are the essay questions that I handed out in class.

If you are in 4B, I would like you to post the essay by Monday (October 4th) night or at latest Tuesday (October 5th) morning. If you are in 4A, I would like you to post the essaay by Tuesday (October 5th) night or at latest Wednesday (October 6th) in the morning. This is so that I have time to review them and so that we can talk about grammar and syntax issues in class.

You should post the essays as a COMMENT to this post. When you do so, please include your full name, your class (4A or 4B), and your email address. The email address will allow me to send the corrected version to you so that you can easily see the changes I make.

You are to pick one of the questions and write approximately/at least two pages on the topic, with a clear thesis, introduction, supporting argument and conclusion. Your viewpoint should be clear in the essay.

Immigration/American Exceptionalism

1. Based on Mark Slouka´s essay on the attacks of September 11th, "One Year Later" America is a society which has a culture that has not only rejected history, but has rejected death itself. What does he mean when he makes this claim? What parts of American history and aspects of ideology in the United States lead to this phenomenon? In your opinion, what would be the ideal response to a huge terrorist attack like 9-11?

OR

2. We have two models of immigration - U.S. and Argentina. Argentina´s laws are very permissive towards the entrance of people from poorer countries in South America (Bolivia, Paraguay mostly), whereas the U.S. can be very restrictive with its immigrant population. Based on this, answer one of the following two questions

A. What do you think would be the best reform to U.S. immigration policy, and why?

OR

B. Do you agree with Argentina´s current immigration policy? Do you think that there are problems generated by the flow of immigrants into Argentina. Is there anything that the Argentine government should do that it has not yet done?

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at andrew.lyubarsky@gmail.com.

Suerte!

Article about Immigration Issues from Charles Bowden

Hello,

This is the link to the article from the Mother Jones magazine about the situation on the US-Mexico border that I wanted you to read for this week. My apologies for posting it late, and I hope that you have received the copies already.

Exodus: Border Crossers Forge a New America

See you,
Andrew

Short Article on anti-Immigrant Protest

I would like you to read this article on anti-immigrant protests on the Arizona-New Mexico border for next class as we continue to introduce the topic of immigration into the United States.

Activists Take Fight on Immigration to the Border

See you,
Andrew

Immigration and Cultural Diversity in the United States

Hello everyone!

We will be moving on to a new topic in the this semester, which will deal with Immigration and Cultural Diversity in the United States. As I always try to emphasize, the USA is a very diverse, complex and sometimes contradictory country, and we will try to explore these themes to understand it better. We will also try to compare the experiences of immigrants in the United States to the situation of migrants in Argentina.

The first reading that I would like you to do is an investigative report about the situation on the US-Mexico border. It features a reporter who went and spoke with the real people who are crossing the border and I find it to be very interesting. You must finish the article for homework and be prepared to talk about it next class.

The Business of Human Smuggling on the Mexican Border: Two Migrants for the Price of One

The Business of Human Smuggling on the Mexican Border: Waiting for the Right Guide


We will be working a lot more on writing responses this semester, so it is important that everyone finishes the readings in time so that they are ready to respond!!

Welcome to all fourth-year language students!!!

Starting with this August, two new things will be happening.

1) There will be a greater focus on writing. Many students who can speak and understand English very well are still having problems with essays and written expression. As you know, you cannot pass the exams for third and fourth year without strong writing skills. As such, I will be asking for more writing assignments, which will be posted on the blog.

2) There will be greater organization in the class. Videos watched in class and assigned readings will be posted here, so that everyone has the access to all the materials, and there is no excuse for not doing the reading.

Here is the link to the MANDATORY reading by Mark Slouka about the cultural responses to September 11th. PLEASE READ IT, IN DETAIL, BEFORE AUGUST.

http://www.mullenhigh.com/media/23231/a%20year%20later.pdf

See you soon and enjoy your vacations!