S. Müller 2013 14
Englisch
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Written exam: May 8, 2019 Colloquium: May 20- May 31, 2019
PLEASE have the book by January 23, 2019 Mohsin Hamid "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (CORNELSEN) Price 8.99 €
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Political System USA
MEDIATION on using voting machines
Hi Harry,
How are you doing? I guess you must be a bit concerned right about know. With all the news we hear about what is going on in your country, I would be worried, too. it seems that you cannot really rely on your government or even the devices that elected them into office as these voting machines aren't doing a very good job apperently. In fact, I've read that most of them lack a common safety standard or are very old, so they can indeed not be relied upon anymore.
Even if they are newer though, there is a high risk of them being hacked as some hackers have proven when getting access to the system in under two minutes. The machines don't even need to be hooked up to the internet because hackers can infect the memory cards which are used in the machines beforehand. These cards are usually programmed by small contractors outside the government, so it is easy to send a virus to their publicly accessible e-mail address and this way hack the machines. The consequence of the hack can be manyfold. In some states they reported that the machines had given votes to candidate A even though people had voted for candidate B. Of course, this can be the result of a malfunctioning machine or human error and doesn't necessarily mean that the device was hacked, but it isn't good either way.
To prevent that from happening machines should print physical records of the votes given, so people can check if there have been any manipulations and launch an investigation, according to experts. Otherwise, it would be hard to prove any wrongdoing which would be a threat to your democracy, especially if a hostile state tried to gain influence by hacking your elections. I say only: Russia and the presidential elections in 2016.
That might be the reason why a court in your home state has ruled voting machines without paper records unconstitutional. A good start, if you ask me. Having found out so much about the risks of using voting machines, I guess, I am quite happy with ballot papers, which we use in our elections. Maybe you can talk to your representative and find out even more. I would be interested in getting more information as I consider this an important issue. Looking forward to hearing from you, pal!
CU S.
Useful Phrases
Useful Vocabulary (Book or Film Review)
Environment
Shakespeare
Elizabethan Age
Elizabethan playhouses: e.g. THE GLOBE
Abitur
Langauage Analysis
- TONE: formal, informal, serious, humorous, exaggerated, sarcastic, ironical
- DICTION: choice of words
- STYLISTIC DEVICES: metaphor, alliteration, personification, simile Explanation and examples of stylistic devices
- SYNTAX/NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Composition
INTRODUCTION-MAIN PART- CONCLUSION
MAIN PART
- Discuss. = PROS and CONS (one argument EACH)
- Do you agree? = PROS or CONS. (two arguments on EITHER one)
- Comment on.
- Articles: title+ introduction to topic+explanation+examples/expert opinion
- Letter to the editor: To whom it may concern, in reference to the article…, Yours sincerely,
- Use work of fiction/review: Form of text (novel, short story), author, title (Publishing house/production company, year) summary (setting, characters, plot)
INTRODUCTION (should lead to the main part- TRANSITION !!!!!! NO "And now I will discuss.... :-( )
- Current event
- Historical background
- Provocation
- Definition/
- Explanation
- Quotation
- Statistics
- Personal experience
CONCLUSION
- Summary
- Personal Opinion
- Future developments
Mediation
- Read task carefully
- Read the text
- Find the relevant information in the text (different colour for different aspects) German AND English
- Structure the information in a logical order (e.g. general specific)
- Mediate the information
- Write the text
- Proofread YOUR text
Exercises
Literature
Videos of important pieces of literature, e.g. Shakespeare's plays,Fitzgerald, Hawthorne etc. Sparksnotes
Performances of Shakespeare's sonnets [1]
NEWS presentation
Februray 6, 2019: Maximilian S.
February 11, 2019: Alexandra T.
February 18, 2019: Lucas R.
February 25, 2019: David B.
March 11, 2019: Leonie G.
March 18, 2019: Noelle M.
News presentation gives information on THREE important news items from the English speaking world. If the news of global relevance you may
include it in your presentation. The presentation should be no longer than 5-8 minutes and include pictures.
You might find these websites useful for your research.
USA
Great Britain
Australia
Canada
Useful Stuff
NEW (March 15, 2018)
Here you can find some useful information on writing a comment [2]
You can find additional information in your book on pages 268/269
Useful transitions between the different parts of your comments [3]
The website ego4u [4] provides ample possibilities for you to practise your English (grammar, vocabulary etc.)
Useful phrases for different occasions English conversation phrases
Voice opinions Agreeing and disagreeing
Sentence Cohesion Linking ideas and arguments
Sentence Cohesion Conjunctions and fill words