Wilsimara

= TDC 2 - Writing Course =



// Dear //// reader //

// This writing course is a "pilot project" because it is the first time that it is blended, which means: half face-to-face, half online. This way, we had class only once a week, instead of twice, which was pleased because we had flexibility to accomplish all the assignments. However, this flexibility did not mean less work, neither to us, nor to the teacher. On the contrary, we had lots of work to do and to post in the Wiki or in another virtual space where the teacher and also the classmates could see. As the final product of all this work, I present you my e-portfolio, which contains the final version of the three essays where you can see progress in each piece. //

// First of all, putting in practice the techniques used to write an essay is a challenging task. Practicing how to develop an academic text based on different topics, indeed, made me push myself to think, to research, and to pay attention to grammar rules, all in order to improve my writing skills. I, particularly, loved this process because with it I achieved my goal, that is, to write a text with coherence, cohesion, enough arguments to support the thesis and good organization with respect to its structure. Definitely, all effort has been worthwhile. //

// In addition, I would like to highlight my progress on spelling. In fact, when we are learning English as Second Language, we tend to commit some mistakes, influenced by our native language. Taking this into account, I can say that learning how to write in a formal way made me to enrich my vocabulary. I learned how to spell many new words and expressions that I beg to use them more and more in my texts. //

// In sum, this writing course helped me to achieve my goal, which is, to write better. Looking at the first assignment until the last one, you can realize progress on my writing skills. Hopefully I will keep my interest in learning English intensely, as I have done until now, on the next semesters of the Teacher Development Course (TDC). I also wish I can use the knowledge acquired through this course someway in the future, preferentially in my papers of Economics. //

// Best regard // // Wilsimara M Rocha //


 * 1. What are the advantages of being bilingual in today's society? **

Nowadays English is the most used idiom in the world. In the past generations, speaking Englishwas maybe not as essential a qualification as it is nowadays. I really believe that being bilingual in today’s society has some advantages, such as to facilitate the communication with people from different cultures, to have access to more opportunities of work and to develop other areas of knowledge.

Speaking English as a second language makes the communication with people around the world easier. Once this idiom is spoken almost everywhere, if you are travelling abroad, for instance, and you need to ask for directions or any other information, you will handle this situation easily using your English skills.

In addition, more opportunities of work can appear if you are bilingual. In today’s globalized world, the companies are looking for more qualified employees and this qualification includes knowing English very well. For that, statistic data of the labor market show that professionals fluent in English have more chances to go further in their careers than others who do not have this skill.

Furthermore, once you learn other languages, as English, you will be developing other fields of knowledge besides the professional, such as social and cultural areas. As you are able to read, to write and to listen to anything in English, you can be connected to the news of any part of the world. This fact will allow you to participate more in any type of discussion about certain subjects and to debate them using good arguments.

As you have seen, there are some advantages of being bilingual today. Hopefully the points presented here can convince you to learn English if you have not learnt it yet. It is always important to be open to new challenges. So go for it!


 * 2. Stories involving my process of learning English **

What is the best way to learn English? Some students start taking English classes when they are little until they finish high school, and many of them do not become as fluent in English as they wished. The parents might spend a lot of money on this long process of learning a different language. In contrast, one who gets the chance to live in an English-speaking country might spend less time, perhaps less money, to be fluent. I definitely think the best way to learn another idiom, be it English or any other, is to insert yourself in the culture of that language. Then you will speak, listen, write, think and dream in that different language. This process will allow you to be fluent faster than you imagine. I can tell it for myself, since my first experience living abroad helped me to learn English in a way that I never thought I could be able to do in a short time. However, I had some challenges to pass through and also wishes to accomplish during the process of learning.

First of all, my fascination with English started early, when I was 7 years old, going to the first grade. I used to repeat to my mother at home all the songs, words and numbers I had learned in my English classes at school. Then, when I went to university, to study Economics, I had the chance to attend more lessons in a regular English course. With that I went a step further to improve my English skills. After taking a few years of classes, I figured out the possibility to do a work exchange program in the US, while I was on vacation in university. For that, I took less than a year planning my trip carefully because it would be my first time abroad alone. Finally, in December 2006, my wish of inserting myself in an English-speaking country came true.

Then I started a new phase of my life, living alone in a country where I was the alien. For sure, that experience brought me a lot of challenges. Besides, some funny stories involving misunderstandings in English happened to me while I was there. One of them happened one night, while I was working in an Italian restaurant where I was supposed to set up the tables, according to the reservations made previously, and clean them as soon as the guests finished their dinner. Then, the waitress asked me to clean the appetizer plates. I misunderstood what she had said because I did not know what "appetizer" meant. Instead, I understood that I needed to set up the table with those small plates for starters. So, I took my time separating napkins, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to set up the table. After a while, the waitress came to me so angry asking me why I had not done what I was supposed to do. I got so confused that I had to control myself not to cry in front of the guests. On the next morning, I quit my job there because I thought the waitress had been very rude to me without any need. For the next days, I kept filling applications out for new jobs and ended up being accepted in the supermarket in town.

Another funny story is related to the expression "help yourself". One night at my friend's, I saw a note on the door of his fridge saying he had made soup and his roommate was welcome to help himself with soup. After reading it, I thought that my friend's roommate got into trouble and needed help. I left his house without asking what that note meant because I did not want my friend realizing that I had read the note for his roommate. Anyway, it took me several days to figure out the meaning of that expression. Since the day I learned the meaning of "help yourself", I started to use it every time I had a chance. These two situations involving misunderstandings were part of my long process of learning in the United States and I can definitely say they happened for my benefit.

In addition to those funny situations in my work and social environments in the US, another event was equally important to my process of learning: the English course I attended there. It was a course for non-English speakers living in that town. We were fewer than ten students coming from different parts of the world and each one of us was there for a different reason. The classes took place in a room at the Chamber of Commerce from that town and happened two nights a week. When I was not attending classes, I was working at the supermarket, so you can imagine how tired I would be by the end of the week. However, for me, those classes were not an obligation and they made me feel more confident to speak. Thus, the classes helped me to improve my communication skills with my friends and my co-workers.

Altogether, I can certainly say that the best way to learn is to be inserted in a native environment. As a result, from my experience living abroad and learning English in the US, I made progress in a short time and I learned the language faster compared to what I would have learned here in Brazil. For instance, it took me 2 months to start to understand completely what the natives were saying when they talked to me. In my opinion, I would take more time here, while attending a regular course twice a week and having listening classes occasionally. With my story, I encourage you, who really want to learn English, to have an experience abroad and to get yourself into the culture. For sure, you will have so many stories to tell about it later.


 * 3. Why a blended writing course should be adopted at CTJ? **

A blended writing course means having both face-to-face and online classes. Although some people defend the negative points against this type of course, such as the lack of personal interaction and the misuse of technological tools for some students who are not familiar with them, among others, there are some positive points in favor of a mixed writing course. In this sense, this text aims to present arguments in favor of the adoption of a blended writing course, as part of the Teacher Development Course (TDC) at Casa Thomas Jefferson (CTJ).

First of all, in a blended writing course, the student can improve his/her writing skill because there is more time to reflect about what was taught in class. Having a face-to-face class only once a week instead of twice is great because it allows the student to assimilate better the content given in class. Besides, the student will have more time to reflect and to research before doing his/her homework. After that, if there are any doubts or unclear topics, the student can even interact virtually with the classmates and teacher, using one of the several resources, as the Moodle Plataform, Wikispaces, Skype, email or any other technological tool that make our communication easier nowadays.

In addition, there is a flexible schedule in a blended course. Although there is a deadline to accomplish the homework for next week, the student does not need to do it in a specific time, but whenever he/she is free. Moreover, a flexible schedule can be a very positive point for the majority of the students taking the writing course at CTJ. Since many of them are already teachers that work very hard the whole day, sometimes teaching in different places in the morning and afternoon, it is good for them to be present in a face-to-face class only once a week instead of two. Perhaps, this flexible schedule also pleases the few students in class, who are not teachers but work or study somewhere else the whole day. What is important to complement is that the fact of having more flexibility to do the tasks has not resulted in students’ rash behavior. On the contrary, all the students have done the required assignments on time.

Regardless of the positive arguments of a blended writing course, there might be some people against it. The most common negative points presented are the lack of personal interaction and the misuse of technological tools for those students who are not familiar with them. However, the upgrading of the interfaces of communication is capable of switching these points of view. Due to the variety of virtual forms of interaction, the student does not feel alone while doing his/her assignments because he/she can chat, talk and even look at his/her classmate’s face on the screen of a computer. For those not familiar with these tools, there is always the option of going to the school in person and asking help for the teacher. Remember that the teacher is available for the students during the class time, even if there is no face-to-face class for everyone.

Overall, hopefully these arguments and examples mentioned here are enough to convince the TDC Committee to adopt the blended writing course, instead of just the face-to-face one. From experience, this type of course put in practice this semester has been successful, since the students have had more time to study at home and also have been benefited with a flexible schedule to do the assignments whenever they are free. Altogether, all the students have met the teacher’s expectation.

=April 05-10= =Task 1: Process Analysis Essay=

=Final version=

**How to plan an effective essay**

Writing is an art! Knowing how to put down your ideas on paper can be easy to many people but to others it can be a very difficult task. To make the writer’s life easier, there are some steps to follow in order to compose an essay effectively. According to Folse and Pugh (2010), essays are short written compositions that share our thoughts about a given topic with an audience. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind some recommendations you should pay attention to while writing an essay, such as the structure and organization of the paragraphs; the use of (the) formal language; the use of low-frequency words to enrich the vocabulary; and (not use) the lack of of contractions. All these tips are helpful for you to practice your writing skills. Taking these tips into consideration, the purpose of this text is to present the steps to write an effective essay, based on what is learned in an academic writing course. Developing an essay starts with an introduction that gives background information to the reader. A good introduction should contain a hook and a clear thesis statement. A hook is a phrase or a sentence that keeps the reader’s attention and makes him/her curious to know about what you are going to write about. Regarding (to) the thesis statement, it is the unifying force of the essay, that is, the main idea under (what) which the writer wants to explore his/her points of view. In my opinion, the hardest part in performing an essay is to create a clear thesis statement. For that, you need to know exactly the points you want to develop along your text. Once you have defined you thesis statement and then finished your introduction, it is time to start developing the body of your essay. In general, the body should contain three paragraphs and each one of them based on a topic, which is the unifying force of the paragraph. In other words, the topic is the main idea you want to explore in each paragraph. After mentioning your topic, you should give examples and details to support it. The recommendation is to present at least two examples or details to enrich your topic and to make your audience more interested in what you are telling them. I can say that sometimes it is hard to find enough details, but they make the whole difference when well highlighted.

After finishing the body of your text, it is time to write the conclusion, where you will summarize all the ideas you have explored previously. In doing so, you should avoid introducing new information or giving details and examples not mentioned along the text. An effective conclusion wraps up, in an interesting way, what was already commented on earlier. You can even add a suggestion or recommendation to your audience, related to the topic you developed. In my opinion, this part can be easier if you are able to present clearly each topic discussed in the body.

As we have seen, the steps to write an essay are simple and if you follow them **,** you will probably write an effective text. However **,** it is important remember that the best way to internalize new knowledge is practicing what was learned. So if you really want to develop more and more your writing skills, take the recommendations and tips given here and start to write soon. Reference: Folse, K. S and Pugh, T. **Greater Essays**. Second Edition 2010.

What a great and well-polished summary of what we have learned these two months, Wilsimara! You certainly put all the recommendations into practice.

=First draft=

**How to plan an effective essay**

Writing is an art! Knowing how to put down your ideas to paper it can be easy to many people but to others it can be a very difficult task. To make the writer’s life easier, there are some steps to be followed in order to perform effectively an essay. According to Folse and Pugh (2010), essays are short written compositions that share our thoughts about a given topic with an audience. Taking this concept into consideration, the purpose of this text is to present those steps – how to write the introduction, the body and the conclusion - based on what we have learned in this academic writing course.

Performing an effectively essay starts with an introduction that gives background information to the reader. A good introduction should contain a hook and a clear thesis statement. A hook is a phrase or a sentence that keeps the reader’s attention and makes him/her curious to know about what you are going to write about. In respect to the thesis statement, it is the unifying force of the essay, that is, the main idea under what the writer wants to explore his/her points of view. In my opinion, the hardest part in performing an essay is to create a clear thesis statement. For that, you need to know exactly the points you want to develop along your text. I, usually, take so long to do so.

Once you have defined you thesis statement and then finished your introduction, it is time to start developing the body of your essay. In general, the body should contain three paragraphs and each one of them based on a topic, which is, the unifying force of the paragraph. In other words, the topic is the main idea you want to explore in each paragraph. After mentioning your topic, you should give examples and details to support it. The recommendation is to present at least two examples or details to enrich your topic and to make your audience more interested in what you are telling them. I can say that sometimes it is hard to find enough details, but they make the whole difference when well highlighted.

After finishing the body of your text, it is time to write the conclusion, where you will summarize all the ideas you have explored previously. In doing so, you should avoid introducing new information or giving details and examples not mentioned along the text. An effective conclusion wraps up, in an interesting way, what was already commented on earlier. You can even add a suggestion or recommendation to your audience, related to the topic you developed about. In my opinion, this part can be easier if you were able to present clearly each topic discussed in the body.

As we have seen, the steps to perform an essay are simple and if you follow them you will probably write an effective text. For that, it is important to keep in mind some recommendations you should pay attention to while writing, as the structure and organization of the paragraphs; the use of the formal language; the use of low-frequency words to enrich the vocabulary; and not use of contractions. All these tips are helpful for you to practice your writing skills.

Reference: Folse, K. S and Pugh, T. **Greater Essays**. Second Edition 2010.

=March 28 to April 3= =Task 2: Second Narrative Essay - final version=

**Stories involving my process of learning English**

What is the best way to learn English? Some students start taking English classes when (since) they are little until they finish high school, and many of them do not become as fluent in English as they wished. The parents might spend a lot of money (in) on* this long process of learning a different language. In contrast, one who gets the chance to live in an English - speaking country might spend less time, perhaps less money, to be fluent. I definitely think the best way to learn another idiom, (being) be it English or any other, is to insert yourself in the culture of that language. Then you will speak, listen, write, think and dream in that different language. This process will allow you to be fluent faster than you imagine. I can tell it for myself, since my first experience living abroad helped me to learn English in a way that I never thought I could be able to do in a short time. However, I had some challenges to pass through and also wishes to accomplish during the process of learning.

First of all, my fascination with English started early, when I was 7 years old, going to the first grade. I used to repeat to my mother at home all the songs, words and numbers I had learned in my English classes at school. Then, when I went to university, to study Economics, I had the chance to attend more lessons in a regular English course. With that I went a step further to improve my English skills. After taking a few years of classes, I figured out the possibility to do a work (interchange) exchange program in the US, while I was on vacation in university. For that, I took less than a year planning my trip carefully because it would be my first time abroad alone. Finally, in December 2006, my wish of inserting myself in an English-speaking country came true.

Then I started a new phase of my life, living alone in a country where I was the alien. For sure, that experience brought me a lot of challenges. Besides, some funny stories involving misunderstandings in English happened to me while I was there. One of them happened one night, while I was working in an Italian restaurant where I was supposed to set up the tables, according to the reservations made previously, and clean them as soon as the guests finished their dinner. Then, the waitress asked me to clean the appetizer plates. I misunderstood what she had said because I did not know what "appetizer" meant. Instead, I understood that I needed to set up the table with those small plates for starter s. So, I took my time separating napkins, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to set up the table. After a while, the waitress came to me so angry asking me why I had not done what I was supposed to do (it). I got so confused that I had to control myself not to cry in front of the guests. On the next morning, I quit my job there because I thought the waitress had been very rude to me without any need. For the next days, I kept filling applications out for new jobs and ended up being accepted in the supermarket in town.

Another funny story is related to the expression "help yourself". One night at my friend's, I saw a note on the door of his fridge saying he had made soup and his roommate was welcome to help himself with soup. After reading it, I thought that my friend's roommate got into trouble and needed help. I left his house without asking what that note meant because I did not want my friend realizing that I had read the note for his roommate. Anyway, it took me several days to figure out the meaning of that expression. Since the day I learned the meaning of "help yourself", I started to use it every time I had a chance. These two situations involving misunderstandings were part of my long process of learning in the United States and I can definitely say they happened for my benefit.

In addition to those funny situations in my work and social environments in the US, another event was equally important to my process of learning: the English course I attended there. It was a course for non-English speakers living in that town. We were fewer than ten students coming from different parts of the world and each one of us was there for a different reason. The classes took place in a room at the Chamber of Commerce from that town and happened two nights a week. When I was not attending classes, I was working at the supermarket, so you can imagine how tired I would be by the end of the week. However, for me, those classes were not an obligation and they made me feel more confident to speak. Thus, the classes helped me to improve my communication skills with my friends and my co-workers.

Altogether, I can certainly say that the best way to learn is to be inserted in a native environment. As a result, from my experience living abroad and learning English in the US, I made progress in a short time and I learned the language faster compared to what I would have learned here in Brazil. For instance, it took me 2 months to start to understand completely what the natives were saying when they talked to me. In my opinion, I would take more time here, while attending a regular course twice a week and having listening classes occasionally. With my story, I encourage you, who really want to learn English, to have an experience abroad and to get yourself into the culture. For sure, you will have so many stories to tell about it later.

Comments: I can say that I learned the correct way to spell many words I had written wrong in the first draft (bellow). I thank my revisors for helping me to become a better writer every day more. This process of learning is certainly rewarding.

Dear Simara,

You certainly made great improvements in your language use. Your use of connectors is much richer now, too. Great job!

* apologies for not seeing this the first time around

=First draft=

Stories evolving my process of learning English
What is he best way to learn English? Some students start taking English classes since they are little until they finish high school and many of them do not become as fluent in English as they wished. For that, the parents might spend a lot of money in this long process of learning a different language. On the contrary, one who gets the chance to live in an English speaking country might spend less time, perhaps less money, to be fluent. I definitly think the best way to learn other idiom, being it English or any other, is to insert yourself in the culture of that language. Then you will speak, listen, write, think and dream in that different language. This process will allow you to be fluent faster than you imagine. I can tell it for myself, since my first experience living abroad helped me to learn English in a way that I never tought I could be able to do it in a short time. However, I had some challenges to pass through and also wishes to accomplish during the process of learning.

First of all, my fascination with English started early, when I was 7 years old, going to the first grade. I used to repeat to my mather at home all the songs, words and numbers I had learned in my English classes at school. Since my family could not afford to pay a regular course to me in my whole life, I only could enjoy English classes at school. Then, when I went to university, to study Economics, I had the chance to attend to a regular course. With that I did a step further to improve my English skills. After taking few years of classes, I figured out the possibility to do a work interchange in the US, while I was in vacation at university. For that, I took less than a year planning my travel carefully because it would be my first time abroad alone. Finally, on December 2006, my wish of inserting myself in a English speaking country came true.

Then I started a new phase of my life, living alone in a country where I was the foreign. For sure, that experience brought me a lot of challenges. Besides, some funny stories evolving missanderstandings in English happened to me while I was there. One of them happened one night, while I was working as busser in an italian restaurant where I was suppose to set up the tables, according to the reservations made previously and clean them as soon as the guests finished their dinner. Then, the waitress asked me to clean the appetizer plates. I missanderstood what she had said because I did not know what "appetizer" meant. Instead, I understood that I needed to set up the table with those small plates. So, I took my time separating napkings, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to set up the table. After a while, the waitress came to me so angry asking me why I did not do what I suppose to do it. I got so confused that I had to control myself to not cry in front of the guests. On the next morning, I quite my job there because I thought the waitress was very unpolite to me without need. For the next days, I kept filling applications out for new jobs and ended up being accepted in the supermarket in town.

Other funny story is related to the expression "help yourself". On night at my friend's, I saw a note on the door of his frigde saying he had made soup and his roomate was welcome to help himself with soup. After reading it, I thought that my friend's roommate was gotten into trouble and needed help. I left his house without asking what that note meant because I did not want my friend realized that I had read the note for his roommate. Anyway, it took me several days to figure out the meaning of that expression. Since the day I learned the meaning of "help yourself" more frequently. These two situations evolving missanderstandings were part of my long process of learning in the United States and for sure I can say they happened for my benefit.

In addition to those funny missanderstanding situations in my work and social inveronments in the US, another event was equally important to my process of learning: the English course I attended there. It was a course for non-English speakers living in that town. We were less than ten students coming from different parts of the world and each one of us was there for different reasons. The classes took place in a room at the Chamber of Commerce from that town and happened twice nights a week. When I was not attending to classes, I was working at the supermarket, so you can imagine how tired I would be by the end of the week. However, for me, that classes were not as an obbligation, they made me feel more confident to speak. For that, the classes helped me to improved my comunication skills with my friends and my co-oworkers.

Altogether, I certainly can say that the best way to learn is to be insert in a native environment. In result, from my experience living abroad and learning English in the US, I made progress in a short time and I learned the language faster compared to what I would have learned here in Brazil. For instance, it took me 2 months to start to understand completly what the natives were saying when they talked to me. In my opinion, I would take more time here, while attending to a regular course twice a week and having listening classes occasionally. With my story, I encorage you, who really want to learn English, to have an experience abroad and to get yourself into the culture. For sure, you will have too much to tell about it later.

=March 01-6=

Task 3: Outlining your narrative essay

 * Título**: Stories about my process of learning English in the US


 * I. Introduction**


 * A. Hook**: What is he best way to learn English?


 * B. Connecting information**: Some students start taking English classes since they are little until they finish high school and many of them do not become as fluent in English as they wished. For that, the parents might spend a lot of money in this long process of learning a different language. On the contrary, one who gets the chance to live in an English speaking country might spend less time, perhaps less money, to be fluent.


 * C. Thesis statement**: I definitly think the best way to learn other idiom, being it English or any other, is to insert yourself in the culture of that language. Then you will speak, listen, write, think and dream in that different language. This process will allow you to be fluent faster than you imagine. I can tell it for myself, since my first experience living abroad helped me to learn English in a way that I never tought I could be able to do it in a short time. However, I had some challenges to pass through and also wishes to accomplish during the process of learning.


 * II. Body Paragraph1 (point 1**): My fascination with English started early, when I was 7, going to my first year at school.


 * A**. I used to repeat to my mather at home all the songs, words and numbers I had learned in my English classes at school. Since my family could not afford to pay a regular course to me in my whole life, I only could enjoy English classes at school. Then, when I went to university, to study Economics, I had the chance to attend to a regular course. It was a step further to improve my English skills.


 * B.** After taking few years of classes, I figured out the possibility to do a work interchange in the US, while I was in vacation at the university. Then, I took less than a year planning my travel carefully because it would be my first time abroad alone. On December 2006, my wish of inserting myself in a English speaking country came true.


 * III. Body Paragraph2 (point 2**): I started a new phase of my life, living alone in a country where I was the foreign. For sure, that experience brought me a lot of challenges. Besides, some funny stories evolving missanderstandings in English happened to me while I was there.


 * A**. I was working as busser in an italian restaurant. So my dute was to set up the tables, according to the reservations made previously and clean the tables as soon as they finished. Then, the waitress asked me to clean the appetizer plates. I missanderstood what she had said because I did not know what "appetizer" meant. Instead, I understood that I suppose to set up the table with those small plates. Then, I took my time separating napking, forks, knives, spoons and glasses to set up the table. After a while, the waitress came to me so angry asking me why I did not do what I suppose to do it. I got so confused that I had to control myself to not cry in front of the guests. On the next morning, I quite my job there.


 * B**. Other funny story is related to the expression "help yourself". On night at my friend's, I saw a note on the door of his frigde saying he had made soup and his roomate was welcome to help himself with soup. After reading it, I thought that my friend's roommate was gotten into trouble and needed help. I left his house without asking what that note meant because I did not want that he realized that I had read the note for his roommate. Anyway, it took me several days to figure out the meaning of that expression.


 * IV. Body Paragraph3 (point 3)**: I made progress in a short time and I learned the language faster compared to what I would have learned here in Brazil.


 * A**. For instance, it took me 2 months to start to understand completly what the natives were saying when they talked to me. In my opinion, I would take more time here, while attending to a regular course twice a week and having listening classes occasionally.


 * B**.


 * V. Conclusion**: From my experience living abroad and learning English in the US, I certainly can say that the best way to learn is to be insert in a native environment.

=**Peer Review**= Wilsimara, it seems that you took a lot a time working on this, which is nice!


 * 1. Is there any aspect of the outline that looks unclear to you?**

No. Everything is clear.


 * 2. Can you think of an area in the outline that needs more development? Do you have any specific suggestions?**

She gave some good examples. If she explores them more on her essay, It will be very nice.


 * 3. If you have any other ideas and suggestions, write them here.**

I don't have many suggestions. The way she put it on her outline make me imagine the scenes and situations. I think she's on the right track. I'll be happy to read her essay. (Keep exploring the details, that takes us to your story!)
 * Âmara**

**Task 2: rewriting my first essay about the following topic: What are the advantages of being bilingual in today's society?**
=**First draft**=

Being bilingual in todays society is important for many reasons, specially if the second language is English. This is the universal idiom, used for communication among the diverse mations of the world. Some advantages of being bilingual are: to make easier the communication with people from a different culture; to access more opportunities of work; and to develop knowledge in other fields.

Having a second language besides the native one is an advantage in sense that to make easier the communication with people from different countries. Specially is this language is English because it is spoken almost everywhere. For instance, if you are travelling abroad and you need to ask for directions or information, you will handle easily this situation speaking English.

The second advantage of being bilingual is because you can count on more opportunities of work. Nowadays, the companies are looking for employees more qualified and this qualification includes to know other idiom rather than the original. Living in a globalized world requires to be conected to what is going on around you and if you can express your ideas and opinions in a language that other people can understand it is good for you.

Finally, the last advantage is to know other idiom makes you develop some skills of communication, writing, reading, so you make your brain to work in different areas. It is very important to learn and to be open to new knowledges always.

=Second draft=

English is the most used idiom in the world. On the past generations, speaking English maybe was not as an essential qualification as it is nowadays. Being a bilingual in today’s society has some advantages such as to facilitate the communication with people from different cultures, to access more opportunities of work and to develop other areas of acknowledgement.

Speaking English as a second language besides the native one is an advantage in the sense that to make easier the communication with people from different countries, since this idiom is spoken almost everywhere. For instance, if you are travelling abroad and you need to ask for directions or any other information, you will handle easily this situation speaking English.

More opportunities of work can appear if you are bilingual. In today’s globalized world, the companies are looking for more qualified employees and this qualification includes knowing English very well. So the labor market data show that who is fluent in English has more chance to go forward in his/her professional career than the one who does not speak English.

Furthermore, once you learn other languages as English, you will be developing other fields of acknowledgment besides the professional, such as social and cultural areas. As you are able to read, to write and to listen anything in English, you can be connected to the news of any part of the world. So this fact will allow you to participate more of any type of discussion about certain subjects and to debate them using good arguments.

As you have seen, there are some advantages of being bilingual today. Hopefully the points presented here can convince you to learn English, if you have not learnt it yet. It is always important to be open to new challenges. So go for it!

=Third draft=

Nowadays English is the most used idiom in the world. In the past generations, speaking English ( maybe was not) was maybe not as essential a qualification as it is nowadays. I really believe that being bilingual in today’s society has some advantages, such as to facilitate the communication with people from different cultures, to have access to more opportunities of work and to develop other areas of knowledge. // I like the way you improved your thesis statement. //

Speaking English as a second language it makes the communication with people around the world easier. Once this idiom is spoken almost everywhere, if you are travelling abroad, for instance, and you need to ask for directions or any other information, you will handle this situation easily using your English skills.

(In addition/ Moreover) More opportunities of work can appear if you are bilingual. In today’s globalized world, the companies are looking for more qualified employees and this qualification includes knowing English very well. For that, statistic data of the labor market show that professionals fluent in English have more chances to go further in ( his/her) their career s  than others who do not have this skill.

Furthermore, once you learn other languages, as English, you will be developing other fields of knowledge besides the professional, such as social and cultural areas. As you are able to read, to write and to listen to anything in English, you can be connected to the news of any part of the world. This fact will allow you to participate more ( from) in any type of discussion about certain subjects and to debate them using good arguments.

As you have seen, there are some advantages of being bilingual today. Hopefully the points presented here can convince you to learn English if you have not learnt it yet. It is always important to be open to new challenges. So go for it!

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