Level I

Chapter 10
Writing

English | Vietnamese Section

English | Vietnamese
IC3, IT, TOEFL, Best Answer
Self- and Teacher Evaluation

Topic: Globalization: Americanization or Cultural Diversity?

Toàn cầu hoá

Guiding Question

What is the more likely effect of globalization on your community and culture: a threat or a benefit?

Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Ảnh hưởng có thể của toàn cầu hóa đối với văn hóa và cộng đồng của bạn là gì: có hại hay có lợi?

 

Skills:
In this chapter you will do these things:

English Language Skills: Writing Process Review

Vietnamese Language Skills: Write a story

English Language Lesson

Back to Top

What is the meaning of this logo?

A logo is a symbol or trademark that identifies a product. In Vietnam, perhaps, people are familiar with logos for Coca Cola and horses sewn onto a polo shirt. Though these logos may be a sign of globalization, they may also take on new meanings for the local communities in which they are found. One example is the logo for Laughing Cow cheese. The author of this chapter who is an American whom has lived in Vietnam, realizes that this red cow means far more than cheese. Seeing it on Ph ở restaurant signs gave the logo a different, more local meaning: beef is served here.

In the box below, see the history of the Laughing Cow logo. The logo was created with French and Western consumers in mind. What does this logo mean to Vietnamese? Think about other symbols and logos that have been incorporated into your home community and how meanings have been transformed. How has globalization affected your life? Your community? Has globalization been “Vietnamized” and been made a part of the community? Have the effects of globalization on your community been good or bad?

Freewrite to answer these questions.

La Vache qui rit / The Laughing Cow History of an Advertising Celebrity On the 16th of April 1921, Leon Bel registered the trade name La Vache Qui Rit (the Laughing Cow), and the full length drawing of a cow "with a hilarious grin on its face", which he himself based on Benjamin Rabier's drawing, emblem for the "bus supplying fresh meat for the troops" during the Great War. This emblem was nicknamed "La Wachkyrie". In 1922, after consulting a number of illustrators, Leon Bel chose Benjamin Rabier's (1864-1939) project. Bel then commissioned Vercasson, the printer, to "dress up" the drawing : the cow became red, and acquired two earrings in the shape of "Vache qui rit" boxes. In 1923; Vercasson copy-righted this drawing himself, under the heading "red cow". A court case followed, with the result that Bel had to pay Vercasson's successor damages for the right to use red for his Laughing Cow. In 1923; Vercasson copy-righted this drawing himself, under the heading "red cow". A court case followed, with the result that Bel had to pay Vercasson's successor damages for the right to use red for his Laughing Cow. The Laughing Cow's portrait continued to change imperceptibly over the years, up into the 70's (blunter horns etc.). http://www.museedelapub.org/pubgb/virt/mp/vachequirit/

Introduction to Skill(s): Review

This writing curriculum for Level 1 has focused on these nine steps to the Writing Process. Hopefully, you are feeling comfortable with the writing process now.

Nine steps to the Writing Process:

• Exploring and Discovering Ideas: ideas for writing need to come from somewhere.

  explore what you already know

  create and generate new ideas

  read and research for ideas

  get the ideas down on paper

  build vocabulary

• Organizing ideas: now that you have your ideas, how do you put them together?

  develop organizational skills

  identify the main idea and make topic sentences

  select and limit the information in a paragraph

  different types of paragraphs serve different purposes:

  select the type of paragraph

• Developing cohesion and style: develop grammatical and lexical skills that serve to unify paragraphs.

  find the right words

  connect and transition the ideas

• Using correct form:

  practice with the mechanics of writing

  spelling

  punctuation and capitalization

• Writing the First Draft
• Editing your writing: analyze your first draft

  Analyze the organization of your ideas and sentences

  check the cohesion and style

  correct the form and grammar

  correct the mechanics

• Writing a Second Draft for teacher evaluation
• Using feedback: Taking responsibility for improving writing
• Developing fluency: Journal writing (Freewriting)

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Passage(s) in English:  

In America, one of the most financially successful businesses is Wal-Mart. Wal-Marts are superstores. They sell everything from food to tires for your car. They sell clothes, sporting goods, hardware, appliances, electronics, gasoline and toys. They can check your eyesight and sell you glasses. They develop your photographs. They have mechanics to repair your car.

Globalization & Culture: Americanization or Cultural Diversity?
by Radley Balko. This is only the introduction to the article. The entire article can be found at
http://www.aworldconnected.org/article.php?id=486&print=1

Anyone from a small town knows about the Wal-Mart effect. The superstore moves into a community and, within a few years, mom-and-pop hardware stores, toy stores and other main street retailers are put out of business. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate.

Some argue that the smaller stores go under because Wal-Mart offers a bigger selection of goods at low prices. Consumers benefit because they can do all of their shopping at one place, and save money in the process. Opponents say consumers get less choice, and that because stores like Wal-Mart are national chains, they buy goods at a national level, and so local producers of goods suffer too, and soon entire communities lose their identity to mega corporations.

Opponents of globalization fear that the Wal-Mart effect is taking place on a global level, too. They cringe when a McDonalds franchise opens up in the historic heart of Prague, or when public spaces in Latin America, China or Africa become littered with billboards and advertisements for Coca-Cola, Nike and Calvin Klein.

Globalization advocates say that free trade and free markets don’t dilute or pollute other cultures, they enhance them. Trade creates wealth, they say. Wealth frees the world’s poorest people from the daily struggle for survival, and allows them to embrace, celebrate and share the art, music, crafts and literature that might otherwise have been sacrificed to poverty.

So who’s right? Is globalization killing non-western cultures, or is it augmenting and enhancing them?

Vocabulary:

Throughout this Level 1 curriculum, we have given you strategies for identifying words that you need to know their meanings. We have given you different strategies for finding the meanings of words ranging from finding meaning in context to using dictionaries and other resources. There may be words in the passage above that you do not know the meanings of. Some of the words may be easier to understand by understanding the context. For example, “mom-and-pop hardware stores” would not be found in a dictionary. But can you guess the meaning? If you guess “hardware stores owned by local families,” you are correct.

Identify other words and phrases that you may not know. Are they words to look up in a dictionary or would it be better to guess the meanings?

In small groups, share your lists of words with each other. Discuss the meaning of the words. Use dictionaries when needed.

Writing Assignment:

In a five-paragraph essay, identify yourself as either an advocate for (in favor of) globalization or an opponent for (against) globalization. You may also identify yourself as neutral (no feeling either way) on the topic. Select three reasons why you are an advocate, opponent or neutral.

Brainstorm your ideas in ways that are most productive for you. Use organizational skills that have been introduced to you through this curriculum. Your essay should have a well-organized introductory paragraph and well-structured paragraph for your conclusion. The body of the essay should support three ideas or reasons that support your main thesis.

Exercises and Activities for Comprehension and Analyzing Content:

Analyze the descriptions of a globalization advocate and globalization opponent shown in the reading passage.

How does an advocate for globalization see globalization?

How does an opponent for globalization see globalization?

Exercises and Activities for Developing Content of Student Writing:

Some positive outcomes of globalization in my community are:

Some negative outcomes of globalization in community are:

Look at the Freewriting Exercise at the beginning of the chapter. Are there some ideas from that writing that is applicable now? Perhaps giving yourself time to freewrite some more will help your writing process.

When you have composed your ideas on the topic, outline your essay. You may want to use the outline below:

Five –Paragraph Outline For Your Essay

Essay Title: __________________________________________________________

I. Introduction

A. Introductory statement­ __________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

B. Thesis statement _____________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

II. Body

A. First Supporting Idea: (Topic Sentence): ___________________________

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

B. Second Supporting Idea: (Topic Sentence): _________________________

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

C. Third Supporting Idea: (Topic Sentence): __________________________

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

III. Conclusion

A. Closing statement ________________________________________________

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Writing First Draft:

Write your first draft. Add the finishing touches and go through the proofreading guidelines below. Ask a classmate to read it and give you their opinion of it. Turn it in to your teacher.

Editing Process and Exercises:

Add the Finishing Touches

You have now completed all of the paragraphs of your essay. Before you can consider this a finished product, however, you must give some thought to the formatting of your paper.

Check the order of your paragraphs.

Look at your paragraphs. Which one is the strongest? You might want to start with the strongest paragraph, end with the second strongest, and put the weakest in the middle. Whatever order you decide on, be sure it makes sense. If your paper is describing a process, you will probably need to stick to the order in which the steps must be completed.

Check your writing.

Nothing can substitute for revision of your work. By reviewing what you have done, you can improve weak points that otherwise would be missed. Read and reread your paper.

• Does it make logical sense?
  Leave it for a few hours and then read it again. Does it still make logical sense?
• Do the sentences flow smoothly from one another?
  If not, try to add some words and phrases to help connect them. Transition words, such as "therefore" or "however," sometimes help. Also, you might refer in one sentence to a thought in the previous sentence. This is especially useful when you move from one paragraph to another.
• Have you run a spell checker or a grammar checker?
  These aids cannot catch every error, but they might catch errors that you have missed.

http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/finish.html

Writing Second/Final Draft:

Proofreading Guidelines
(source: http://www.license2write.com/inner/proofreading_skills.htm)

1. Always proofread from a hard copy. Do not try to proof a document from your computer screen; you will miss many errors this way.
2. Write out the changes you want to make. Be clear and specific about your corrections, Do not simply circle the errors because when re-writing your composition, you may forget what error you are circling.
3. When possible, do not proofread your own work. You know what you mean to say, so you are more likely to skim over errors. If you are able, get more than one person to proofread your work. Everyone has different strengths and they will find different errors.
4. Break down your tasks. When you are doing a content proofing, the number of things you need to look out for may overwhelm you. It is best to break it down into quicker, more specific proofreads rather than one big proofread. For example, do one proofing for spelling and punctuation, next proof the document for grammatical errors, then do a third content proofing for factuality and consistency.
5. When you are doing a comparison proofread, use a straight edge (such as a ruler or piece of paper) as a guide. If you carefully move the straight edge from line to line on the original document, you are less likely to miss omitted text in the new document.
6. During a proofing for spelling, try reading the document backwards. When each individual word is looked at, outside the context of a sentence, you are less likely to miss spelling errors.
7. After corrections have been made, don't forget to proof the revised document. First check to see that all the corrections were made, then read over the document one more time to make sure you didn't miss something the first time around!

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