Hi students,
This week's blog question comes from the preview questions at the beginning of the unit. Please write at least 10 sentences in your response, and don't forget to go back and edit your response (check for things likes grammar, spelling, punctuation, and spacing errors).
Here is the question:
What issues or problems in your country do other countries also have? How do they affect you personally? Would cooperating with other countries help solve these problems? Why or why not?
Happy writing!
The most important problem that Spain has right now is the economical crisis; as many countries in the world and specially in Europe. This affect me because is almost impossible to find a job in Spain.My opinion is that all the countries shoud be join and work together in issues so important as tax havens, where rich people have their money and they do not pay taxes. Taxes benefit all the society because taxes serve to do hospitals, schools, roads, etc. Moreover, Europe should do the same that USA, I mean, instead to cut the expenses, which is bringing more poverty to citizens; The UE should invest money in creating jobs as USA is doing. if all the European countries worked together instead each country in its own benefit, the economical crisis would not be so huge.
ReplyDeleteHi Salva,
DeleteI think that you are right. Europeans should make money by crating more job services. Also, Europeans should increase taxes on the rich people and use them to create more jobs for poor people and I think they can do it. In this way, the rich will start to think about the poor and help them to have a better future. As a result, they will be proud because they changed someone's life and everyone will be happy.
Hi Salva,
DeleteI agree with your opinion. Europe should invest money to save poverty problem. Japanese also have difficulty in finding our jobs, so your problem was really familiar with me. By cooperating with each other and learning the way in other countries, we can get new idea and get success in the same way. I think the economy will be better if we cut the tax which we can reduce.
Hi Salva,
DeleteI agree with your opinion that we have economic crisis in the world. And it is really hard to find a job because some company are reducing their manpower that leads to increasing of unemployment rate.
Hi Salva,
DeleteYou have obviously expressed quite clearly and thoroughly a common sentiment that is shared by your classmates. Now that we are here, four years after the economic crash of 2008, it is interesting to see how the U.S. and EU reactions have resulted in different consequences. In general, it does look like the U.S. is better off as a result of high government spending, while many European countries, especially those that followed or were forced into measures of austerity (reduction in spending), are struggling now. Thanks for sharing.
On Grammar:
1. I can see improvement in your grammar overall compared to your first blog post!
2. Here are a couple of errors to look at:
a. ...because is almost impossible..... (missing subject)
b. ...important as tax havens (use like here--it's followed by a noun phrase).
The problem that my country have is the global warming as many countries and it is really affect me because we have experienced floods since 2009 and our infrastructure is not prepared to such an issue specifically in Riyadh and Jeddah. As a result, many people lost their lives and belongs. This shocked the government as well as the citizens. Indeed, the king stated that he felt ashamed that this happened in a transitional or nearly developed country as Saudi Arabia. The king felt bad because the poor countries which have this natural disaster deal better with it although they don't have enough tools to confront it. After that events, many Saudi students invented machines that detected the possibility of floods and earthquicks. The government have Aramco which is Saudi-American company to fix the infrastructure in Riyadh and Jeddah by its American specialists. What makes me sad is that Saudi Arabia is not prepared for the impacts of Global Warming. There is no plans to confront possible natural disaster such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and sand storms. I am very curious about the future global warming impacts on my country and the whole middle east. Will that increase the global corporation to curb the effects of the global warming. This year, we have snow on the Saudi mountains for the first time and heavy rains in my country in the winter season. Will that increase to the cities and cover the whole desert?
ReplyDeleteHi Hussah,
DeleteGlobal warming is also a big problem in my country. Right now, many Filipinos are suffering in a hot weather because it is summer season in the Philippines. I heard on the news report that the water level of important lake in my country are below sea level, and this means that the lake is in critical condition that may causes of many problems; such as, power failure and lack of supply of clean water. So the problem in your country is almost same in my country.
Global warming affects to my country either. Each year is hotter than the previous, as a result Spain is more dry and there is more sterile land, in some regions there is not enough water. One of the solutions have been to put desalination factories at the sea, as other countries, but I´m worry because what happend with the salt, is it throw to the sea? then the sea could get more salty and how is going to affect to the marine vegetation and species? or is the salt bury? the salt is not good for the land.
DeleteHi Hussah,
DeleteThis is a huge issue, and it may be that we are only just beginning to see the consequences of global warming. Maybe global warming will be an issue that ends up uniting countries that have been enemies or on unfriendly terms until now. If these countries have a common problem, cooperating and finding solutions together could unite them, as you suggest. Thanks for sharing!
On Grammar:
1. Check your paragraph for subject-verb agreement.
2. Review your use of "as" in line 5. Remember, the general rule is that we use "like" before noun phrases.
I considered that natural disaster is the major problem of my country and some other countries. Like for example, earthquake and typhoon, these are the two major disaster that we always encountered in the Philippines. In 2009, my town was centered of the typhoon, and it really affects me because that time was the day of my flight to Las Vegas. I experienced to stranded on the street for about eight hours due to flood. If there is a disaster like typhoon, many people can not go to work, so it affects our economy. In addition, typhoon is very common in the Philippines. On the other hand, during summer season, we also have a problem with the weather, if the temperature is so hot and no rain for a month the water level of the important lakes in the Philippines is decreasing, so it causes water shortage, and we encountered power failure because we are using hydro power plant that needs flow of water from the lake. I think it is important to protect our natural resources.Because we can avoid or reduce the possible bad effects of natural disaster. Like for example, if we take care of all the trees on the mountain and no one do illegal logging, it will help to avoid or reduce flood and the typhoon will become weak because the trees will help to block the wind that the typhoon has. However, this solution needs the cooperation of other countries especially the country who suffered in this kind of problem. They need to protect their natural resources because it will help to reduce natural disaster and it will protect us from the effects of climate change.Natural disaster is a serious problem of many countries that needs to prioritized by the global community and the government
ReplyDeleteHi Alejandro,
DeleteHuman is helpless in front to a natural disaster. And natural disasters have been serious impediment to economic progress in many countries. South Korea also suffers from several typhoon every year. I think that it's possible to minimize damage by establishing many preventative measures before facing natural disasters. Planting trees on the mountain also is a good method for flooding. And all countries should cooperate to restore from natural disasters.
Hi Anjo,
DeleteI can't believe that you were supposed to fly to Vegas the day the typhoon hit! What an unfortunately coincidence. I can tell that the Philippines is affected by global warming in a number of ways. Protecting natural resources like tress as both you and Kyeong A suggest is a simple but effective way to reduce the effects of flooding. In the end, it will take the cooperation of many countries to deal with this problem.
Thank you for your interesting thoughts!
On Grammar:
1. "like for example" is an informal way of saying "for example." When you are writing, it is better to just say "For example,"
2. I've noticed quite a few errors in your use of the passive recently. There is a passive error in your final sentence: ..needs to prioritized by the global.....
**Don't forget the 'be' verb!
I think global warming and the environment problems is serious and we are solving these common problems by helping with each other in the world. For example, in Japan, there is particulate matter in my area and it is causing many serious health problems such as asthma and bronchitis. There is a possibility to effect on us and we may have cough and headache so I was wearing a mask when I go to the outside in Japan. This is called PM and it affects East Asia, Australia and so on. It is also said this is partly caused by China. This means one country caused the problems to the other country so this is global problem. Moreover, the carbon dioxide in the world caused the global warming and the glacier in the arctic is melting. The temperature in the world is also rising and there is the problem about the destruction of the ozone layer in many countries. To solve these situations, the global cooperation is needed. For example, the government decided the restriction by setting the treaty such as Kyoto Protocol in 1997. Furthermore, every people’s attention to protect the environment is important. We can also have some campaign for the global warming by caring for the problems with each other. Now we are trying to solve the problem by cooperating all over the world.
ReplyDeleteGood Afternoon Rina,
DeleteI agree with you. Global warming is serious and rapid. I think we can't fix the natural disasters damages such as Ozon layer. We can't fix iceberg melting in the Arctic because we are too late. There are more than 7 billion inhabitancies on this planet and some of them are uneducated. I am thinking how can we help them and warn them about the global warming. I am thinking about the greedy people who only think about money. How will we stop all of these from harming the planet?
Hi Rina,
DeleteI agree with you that Global warming is a serious problem of the world. And this problem is very difficult to solve because this issue needs the cooperation of all countries.As an individual the only thing that I can contribute is to support the "green environment" campaign.
Hi Rina, I agree with you, people that live in cities have more health problems that people that leave in the countryside; for example, allergies and asthma. The Global warming is not only a proble to be solved by Gobernments, people can do many things as use public transport, or turn off the light when it is not necessary, for me it is a surprise to see how many bulbs are on in the University, students don´t turn off the lights of restrooms and at night all the corridors of the residences have all lights on when it is not necesary. I ask many times if bulbs are the ones who spend less energy, I don´t think so.
DeleteHi Rina,
DeleteEnvironmental problem is a serious problem in South Korea, too. We are suffering from yellow sand phenomenon every spring. Yellow dust comes from the Gobi Desert, China. On a day with lots of yellow dust, we have to wear a surgical mask. Korean government has been establishing several policies, but there is no fundamental solution. Yellow dust probably affects to Japan, too. I think that Korea, Japan and China should cooperate to solve this problem.
Hi Rina,
DeleteI can relate to your comment on experiencing "particulate matter" in the air. When I was in South Korea, at a certain time each year we would experience the "yellow dust" phenomenon that Kyeong A described above. It was terrible! I can see that Masaya is a little pessimistic about finding global solutions to these problems. Do you think individual actions can make a difference? That is, can one person changing his/her behavior do anything help solve some of the bigger problems (e.g. global warming)? Maybe what we need is a combination of individual and global action.
One Grammar:
Let's look at this sentence, since it has a few things we could revise.
There is a possibility to effect on us and we may have cough and headache so I was wearing a mask when I go to the outside in Japan.
1. There is a possibility to affect--> There is a possibility THAT it will affect.......
2. In this sentence, you have three independent clauses one dependent clause. I would separate the into two sentences. Where should we separate the two sentences (where should we put a period)?
3. Don't forget commas! Where should you add commas?
I think that climate change is a hot topic in the world. Today, South Korea is the world's tenth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) of the main cause of the climate change. The Kyoto Protocol of an international agreement for emission reduction targets was adopted on 11 December 1997. South Korea should do a performance of a duty. The reducing GHG is a very important problem. Our government established many policies for solving this problem, and citizen also have to follow the policies. There are probably many restrictions in daily life. On the other hand, we are efforting to develop the alternative energy technology for the future. We have to cooperate with other countries in developing technology. It's not only the problem of South Korea. It's the saving the globe and us all.
ReplyDeleteHi Kyeong A,
DeleteI agree with your opinion. I think Kyoto Protocol is the good example of global cooperation because many countries gathered to one place and discussed one problem. By setting restriction such as law or rule, we can reduce the amount of GHG and make situation which has serious climate change problem better.
Hi Kyeong A,
DeleteSouth Korea has developed so quickly that the emission of greenhouse gases has become a major issue for South Koreans. What I find interesting is how quickly the government has responded. In this country, our government has been a part of the problem for a long time, but the government response has been very very slow. At this point, the U.S. government still has not signed the Kyoto Protocol even though we are the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world!
On Grammar:
1. Our government established many policies for solving this problem--> Our government established many policies TO SOLVE this problem (you are showing purpose here).
2. We are efforting to develop--> We are MAKING AN EFFORT to develop....(effort is not a verb).
Good Afternoon Massaya,
ReplyDeleteYou have a very interesting topic here. I think the best way to solve this problem is that young Japanese can get training in these companies even if they are 18 years old. They can get experience and skill that help them to improve their future. The companies should encourage youths to get training by give them small salary. For global corporation, I think Japan could encourage other countries such as China to send their workers.What do you think?
Hi Masaya,
ReplyDeleteI think your idea is good. The reason of increasing older people is that the government is not supporting the married men and women. To solve that situation, global cooperation can be useful because we can get new solutions and have a goal for it. Japan has to care for such people and think about children who will work in the future.
Hi Masaya, in Spain happens the same, but also in USA, it is so expensive to rise children that people cannot afford that, then the population is becoming older. One solution is the inmigration, because if there are not enough workers in the future, there won´t money to paid the allowance.
ReplyDeleteHi Masaya,
ReplyDeleteI also heard about "Aged Society" or "Elderly Society." Like Japan, Korea also is moving toward an aged society fastly. Increasing of aging population leads to many economical and social problems. Many countries also are facing with similar problems. Each governments is establishing many policies for solving the problems of aged society. I think we can more effectively solve problems by sharing information for policies.
Hi Masaya,
ReplyDeleteI understand why you are a little pessimistic about finding a solution to the problem of an aging society in your country since Japan, a developed/educated society, has dealt with this issue for a long time now and still does not have a solution. As you, Rina, and Kyeong A all suggest, perhaps engaging in dialogue with other countries can help. If other countries are dealing with the same issue, brainstorming ideas from a variety of perspectives might lead to a solution. Perhaps the government should provide support for families who want to have more than one child. In your opinion, what is the first thing that has to change in Japan in order to reverse the aging population trend?
On grammar/style:
1. "This is also in many other countries." The idea in this sentence is incomplete. You could say "This is also the situation in..." or "This situation is common in other..."
2. "This is also in many other countries. This is a very big problem, for this leads to several problems." In this sentence, you use "this" three times to refer to "aging population trend/problem." To improve your style, it would be better to use a combination of "this" and synonyms. Ex: "this problem" or "this trend" or "this issue."