Reflection Note

This semester has been filled with work and I believe me and my classmates have been very productive. I liked the system of our work: not only did we write essays, but we could learn about groupmates’ opinions and comment on them. What I found useful was constant practicing of writing. It helped me improve my skills for sure. Also I am very glad that we continued using The Guardian as it is a very good platform filled with many interesting news from all over the world. Besides, now I can easily find information on any topic I am curious about. Moreover, reading articles in English has really improved my vocabulary as the articles were rich in new words and expressions.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the website Blogger because sometimes it wouldn’t load the page for too long or had some technical difficulties. However, those are not really problems, just small disadvantages.

In the future I hope we can continue practice our writing and only improve it. Hopefully, next semester will be even more busy and productive because only practice makes perfect. I would like to learn more about the ways we can brighten up our written speech, maybe some techniques that can make our essays more unique or “native speaker-like” like using inversions, for example.

Some topics I can suggest for discussion in our classes are abortion, homosexuality, poverty, ecology. I think these problems are quite debatable, and it would be interesting to hear what my groupmates have to say about it.

For and Against

Such topic as same sex marriage has been a topic of debate for many years, and it has attracted special attention lately due to more and more people aiming for equality. It is very disputable and has been talked about a lot lately, not stopping to be on the agenda of numerous meetings of state leaders.

Supporters of same sex marriage, whose number has grown steadily over the past 15 years, say that a relationship and marriage between people of the same sex is normal. Homosexuals don’t choose their sexuality, so their preferences are natural and can’t be forbidden in any way. They are just as capable of marriage, living together, and raising children, as straight couples. More and more countries are legalizing same sex marriage every day. Taiwan has recently become the first Asian country to do that. This is historical.

On the other hand, there are lots of people whose opinion differs from the above-mentioned for some reasons. It can be because of their religious beliefs or their moral standards.  Some tend to think that same sex relationships have negative effects on the offspring and that such marriages are totally abnormal. Actually, there are nations around the world that ban gay marriage and strongly disapprove of it.

All in all, the problem of same sex marriages is quite debatable and needs closer examination. But it is clear that before jumping to conclusions people should learn more about the nature of people’s sexuality, their psychology and other aspects of their mentalities. Only after that it is possible to say whether gay marriage is something that should be banned or something that should be legal and considered normal.

Summary

I have chosen an article about a teenage Malaysian girl who killed herself after an instagram poll. This girl created a poll for her followers asking them to choose death or life. 69% of her followers voted death and she did what they voted for. Lawyers say that those who voted for her to die might be considered guilty of abetting suicide. Malaysia’s youth minister said the tragedy highlighted the need for national-level discussions about mental health in the country. This is the reason why I have chosen this article. It says a lot about the current state of young people’s minds. They live their virtual lives and let other virtual people make decisions for them. Their actions depend on virtual opinions. Kids these days have become very focused on what others think of them and what others see. Besides, there is cyber bullying existing in many forms. Voting “death” in such a poll may seem like a joke, but some people like this girl can be very sensitive and take it close to their heart. The truth is, social media is not real life, but it can be harmful and cause pain too. What I have learned from this case is that we have a deep responsibility to make sure people using instagram feel safe and supported. In the article it says that we can contact emergency services if we see any behavior that puts people’s safety at risk. Now I know that social networks can cause problems but there are crisis support services can be reached 24/7.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/teenage-girl-kills-herself-after-instagram-poll-in-malaysia