Final (End of ESP Course) Self-Assessment

  

Writing: Writing summaries was quite interesting to me. My performance was quite good in this task this semester. I learned all the rules of summaries writing. However, I made some efforts during practicing. But, I think, that I know, how to do it.

Speaking:

• Short talks. I have never done this, actually. I was thinking: "I am prepared, but not good enough. Maybe next time". So, that is main reason. 
• Impromptu.  An impromptu speech is easily the most difficult task of  speaking assignment. It is a type of speech that will not give enough time to prepare. I prefer to think before speaking.
• PPP (Power Point Presentation). This was one of the most interesting tasks. If you want to make a good presentation, you have to put there the main ideas.

Listening: Listening online was easier than listening to the cassettes. The audio quality was better and it was easier to understand the meaning. Actually, I like online interactive materials. It gives a great opportunity to improve my English listening skills.

ESP Vocabulary: 

• Formal tests in class. This task was very useful to me, because I learned a lot of new words.  Now I have a wide range of vocabulary. 
• Class tests online. It was effective to use and to increase my knowledge. 
• Moodle tests. It was easy to do it. So, I do not find difficult to do these tests. There was no time limit, there was no pressure. You can do it, when you want. Even at night! 

To sum up, I could say that we have to practice our English in our day life. Common topics could be: introductions, current events, food, books, movies, sports, hobbies, art, music, education, family, holidays, travel, and the weather. Let it gives the opportunity to practice English skills.
   

Scared to Death: The Link Between Stress and Coronary Heart Disease

Summary

After the powerful earthquake which struck close to Los Angeles in January morning, in 1994, it was found out that much more people died, supposedly, from coronary disease than even before. Surprisingly, they were not the victims of the earthquake who were trapped in the rubble or in need of rescue. The scientists claim that besides all the known psychological risk factors for heart disease as smoking, high blood pressure, etc. such factor as stress is highly dangerous, as well.

There was a research made on patients' having heart diseases possible traumatic experiences in childhood, the overall results of which showed people having troublesome childhood are in great risk of having serious heart issues later in their lives. Another study taken across 52 countries on the patients who experienced the first heart attack, has revealed that the strongest provocative are smoking, obesity, as well as, depression, work or financial stress.

Stress leads to heart attack both directly affecting it and using smoking, poor eating habits as a tool. Thus, the results of one more research suggest that activities, such as laughing or even thinking about supportive friend, help to reduce stress.

In conclusion, the coronary heart disease may be caused not only by traumatic childhood experiences but also, by stress and habits that are caused by stress. Nevertheless, simple, joys may successfully reduce the damage. 

The Happiest Countries

Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. States associated with happiness include well-being, delight, health, safety, contentment and love.

 I would like to compare happiness in three countries - Switzerland, Australia and Guatemala.

Switzerland on top in global quality of life survey. It, also known as heaven on earth. Switzerland is a country that offers a high quality of life. Prosperity is widely distributed. Postal services, air, road and public transportation, are safe and reliable. Energy supply is ensured at all times.  In terms of safety and health, residents have no need for concern. Switzerland is considered to be a particularly safe country with a public health care system that is among the best in the world. High quality homes and apartments satisfy the most demanding quality requirements at reasonable price, and the country’s scenic beauty and cultural diversity offer all forms of leisure activities. 

Their life expectancy is  81.07 years. 

One finding was that, despite the huge changes wrought by the modern world, the Swiss are still concerned about exactly the same things as their parents were, and their grandparents: health, wealth, companionship and children. 

With one of the highest standards of living in the world, Australia offers a superb climate, a unique and beautiful environment, and quality social and cultural infrastructure. Australia’s prosperity has been built on it being a great trading nation and an attractive and welcoming destination for foreign investment.

Australian's life expectancy is 81.81 years. 

Guatemala suffers from the regional legacy of the "banana republic": the inequitable distribution of land and wealth, uneven development, and the dependence on a few export crops for its economy mainstay. The poor distribution of land is the single most important factor to explain the poverty and quality of life in Guatemala. Life expectancy: 70.29 years.

References:
http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/
http://www.financialjesus.com/how-to-get-rich/top-10-happiest-countries/

Stress Busters

Summary

       There are six different people sharing their ways of unwinding when they are need to get rid of the daily stresses.

      The first person on the list who is a chairman of an advertising agency says the best way of relaxation is writing, which, he agrees, most people do not find relaxing at all. A member of parliament loves returning to his “constituency on the 8 am train on Friday morning”, and enjoying both view and the sounds that the sea provides, whereas, as represented, a business executive “immerses” to the matters of his family and never mixes work and his personal life.

      While a bank executive enjoys the domestic work, a television editor-in-chief prefers a workout at a gym. Finally, a specialist of marriage matters cooks, whenever possible, and claims that “there is nothing more relaxing than to be outside in the fresh air”.

       To sum up, every single person has one’s own way of unwinding and, not surprisingly, it does not depend on his or her daily occupation. 

  

My Performance on ESP Test and Biorhythms

Biorhythms are the daily rhythms inherent in every living creature from one-celled life to humans. Each day more and more researchers are proving that biorhythms affect us in crucial areas of work, sleep, stress and are an important part of contemporary life.

The expression most commonly associated with this phase of the biorhythmic cycles are that "he or she got up on the wrong side of the bed".
 

Biorhythms begin on the day of one's birth, manifesting themselves in life's ups and downs.

There are three primary rhythms: physical lasts 23 days, emotional - 28 days, and intellectual - 33 days.

So, I took two biorhythms calculator tests. My primary rhythms on 5^th of April was:  physical -52%,  emotional -90%,  intellectual -10%.  Then goes secondary rhythms: spiritual -23%, awareness -99%, aesthetic 61%, intuition 0%. I compared the results between these two tests and they were similar, some scores were the same.

Thus, there is a link between my performance and biorhythms. The results show that this was not the best day for me. However, we have to be flexible and to look rational with this.

References:
http://biorhythms.perbang.dk/
http://daily-biorhythms.com/

Stress Test

          First of all, I want to start from the definition of stress.  However, it is difficult to find agreement on what the definition of stress should be, because the much larger concept was so quickly reduced to a popular buzzword to describe feelings of tension and pressure.

In fact there is unlikely to be a definition of stress that everyone agrees on, for what is stressful for one person may be pleasurable or have little effect on others, and each of us individually reacts to stress in countless different ways.

Thus, stress is the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response.

So, I took a stress test on the internet. I had to answer to 27 questions for a short self-evaluation, which helped me to compare my stress level to that of other people. Test gave me a report of my results. There was 3 sections of scoring:

·         Quality of Life Score - 4.5

This is a measure of how happy person is with his life, including overall self-esteem, 
health, friends and family, and work or school.

·         Symptom Distress Score - 5

 This score measures person's symptoms of depression, anxiety, and holistility.

·         Level of Functioning Score - 4.5

This is a measure of how well person is able to get along in the community.

I got a high score of each of them. The Overall Score is 4.67. A high score indicates that I am well-adjusted. I do not need any kind of psychological services.

I was happy about my results, because it shows that I am not in stress and I am completely satisfied with my life. 

I recommend You to try this test on the page www.stresstest.net

Personality Test

 

         A personality test aims to describe aspects of a person's character that remain stable throughout that person's lifetime, the individual's character pattern of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. 

So, I took two personality tests. The first was according to Carl’s Jung and Myers-Briggs Personality typology. Both of them shows that I am truly extrovert and that is true!

Test gave the results. The first type was ESFJ (Extroverted Sensing Feeling Judging). The second type was ESTJ. (Extroverted Sensing Thinking Judging). Differ is in only one letter.

Most people, who prefer extroversion, just like me, prefer action over reflection. Sometimes I may act quickly without thinking. I like to communicate by talking. These people, who have this type are the most communicative people of all types. Yes, I am sociable and expressive. 

People with this personality type are always willing to help. They strive for harmony and positive interactions. I truly agree with this, because I spend my time to create harmony around myself. I appreciate sensibility and warmth. It is very important in relationships.

I use my "sixth sense" and I trust my inspiration. I start many projects, but sometimes it is difficult to finish them. 

This test shows, that I can work in management, administration, law enforcement, and the other shows that I am good at education, health care, religion. So I prefer to choose the second option, because it is more reflective of me. I am not really interested in law or management. It looks boring to me. I want to add that I do not like to judge the others.

 To sum up, both tests showed similar results. Personality test is a good way to know yourself better.

Giving Entire Cultures a Personality Test

Summary

The author of the article says that every individual is different. It was stated that all people can be divided into extroverts and introverts, and it is also usual for people to follow the stereotype of judging others’ personalities according to their nationality or origin. 

In order to learn whether the stereotypes reflect the actual cultural differences, there was a research done. The results of the survey showed that the participants are able to give a summary of their characters. However, the “actual personality profiles” did not match “the national character”. Thus, individuals should not be evaluated as the face of a nation and the stereotypes usually reflect the image that people create about themselves not what they really are like. 

In conclusion, a single person cannot represent the whole nation and deciding about the face of a nation by judging a separate individual is more the matter of historical than a current image.

Cloning

Cloning is producing a genetic twin of another organism. There are 3 kinds of cloning:  

·    Recombinant - the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element.  Scientists call it a bacterial plasmid. 

Meaning that is taking one thing of something and putting it in something else.

·    Reproductive cloning is used to make an animal that has the same DNA as an animal that is living or extinct. This is how Dolly was made.

·    Therapeutic also called "embryo cloning". Therapeutic uses human embryos for research.

The goal of Therapeutic is not to create humans but to make stem cells. 
Scientists think that therapeutic cloning can be used to make tissues and organs for transplants. For example, liver, spleen, gallbladder, kidney, small and large intestines. 

In 1952, a tadpole was cloned.

The sheep Dolly was the first mammal cloned from the cell of an adult animal.

After Dolly, scientists have cloned some sheep, goats, cows, mice, pigs, cats, fishes and rabbits.

Some species such as monkeys, chickens, horses, and dogs, have been unsuccessful. They do not know why, but they think that some species are resistant to it.

• Cloning is good, because it allows to select the best and healthier donors. This is the way to remedy the problem of endangered species. Improving food supply. With cloning, infertile couples could have children, transplant patients could also have a benefit from cloning. Cloning, at long last, may be the key to understanding cancer, limbs for amputees may be able to be regenerated.
• On the other hand, cloning gives a false sense of security for animals (no habitat preservation), it could hamper efforts to conserve biodiversity habitats, problem of extinction is not reduced. One more disadvantages of cloning is losing gene diversity and loss of human identity. Cloning is “playing God”– it means that human cloning is out of the God’s permission and it transgresses nature.

         However, there are some risks of cloning. For example, reproductive cloning is expensive and does not work well. More than 90% of cloning attempts do not work. More than 100 nuclear transfer tries could be required to make one clone. So, in addition to low success rates, cloned animals have a higher rates of infection, tumour growth, and other disorders.



Self-esteem

    

        Self esteem is the acceptance of, respect for, confidence and satisfaction that you have in yourself as a person. Self esteem is based upon an internal image of ourselves that we carry around , consciously and subconsciously.

We begin to create our internal image in very early childhood based on our interactions with others and our environment. Especially the signals and messages we receive from our parents at first. Then, from things like our performance in school and sports and how likable our childhood peers and friends and perhaps our siblings make use feel.

During these formative times, if we receive negative signals and messages we may later on suffer from low self esteem in adulthood. This is not good at all. A person with low self esteem starts resisting being self-critical in confusion this can lead to tremendous social interaction problems for them. These people should try building self esteem feel good, be more confident and have a positive attitude.

However, there is high self esteem. High self-esteem means comparing your value to others' and finding yourself superior. It makes us arrogant, selfish, and difficult to be with.

All in all, how we feel about ourselves can influence how we live our lives. People who feel that they are likable and lovable (in other words people with good self-esteem) have better relationships. They're more likely to ask for help and support from friends and family when they need it. People who believe they can accomplish goals and solve problems are more likely to do well in school. Having good self-esteem allows you to accept yourself and live life to the fullest.

English Language Invasion

Summary


Chinese language 'damaged by invasion of English words'
English invasion 'threatens French language more than Nazis did'

        In such countries as China and France English language has become a serious issue. Representatives of both countries complain that English takes up a great amount of the everyday vocabulary of Chinese or French people, especially, youth. 
 

       While in France business people change or give English titles to their companies, in China English has become a language of everyday use. However, a great deal of English media production the most popular worldwide websites are prohibited in China. Nevertheless, the linguists of both countries are helpless as some superior personages are not against and even for the “reign” of English language in their own, French or Chinese languages. 

       To sum up, after the desired lingua franca intertwines with the national language and start overtaking its place there appear a few people who get worried about the current situation and the future of the native language. However, the influence and the position of the language dictate its own rules and it is difficult to change things that quickly anchor.

References:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7441934/Chinese-language-damaged-by-invasion-of-English-words.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6952462/English-invasion-threatens-French-language-more-than-Nazis-did.html

Multiple Intelligence Test

I took multiple intelligence test. And here are the results.
 

1.      The highest score is Musical. I agree with it, because i enjoy making music, I get restless when i am listening to the music, I remember melodies of songs. Music let me to express myself, my feelings, my moods.

2.      The second result is Visual in chart. I also agree with this, because it is not easy for me to remember things. I can take things apart and put them back together easily. I get more out of pictures than words while reading. I am a daydreamer.

3.      The third result is Linguistic (Word Smart). That is the truth. I enjoy reading books, enjoy listening to the spoken word, for example on the radio. I think I have a good memory for places, dates.

4.      Then goes Interpersonal result. I like to give advice to friends who have problems, I have a good sense of empathy, I enjoy socializing with peers.

5.      The next are Kinaesthetic and Naturalistic. They are more or less equally. It shows that I like physical awareness and relaxation exercises, enjoy running, jumping, wrestling, and the like or good fine-motor coordination in other ways, that I have has a dramatic way of expressing myself. I easily learn characteristics, names and data about objects or species found in the natural world, I like to be outside, I am interested in and cares about animals or plants.

6.     One of the last is Intrapersonal. Here is one of the lowest score. Sometimes I do not like working alone, I prefer working other.  It means that, for example, I have an interest or hobby that I don not talk much about. I disagree with it, because that is not me.

7.      And the last one is Logical. I was not very good at Mathematic. I am not enjoying working on logic puzzles or brain teasers, but I like to ask a lot of questions about how things work.
  
Click on this link below and take a test. Enjoy!
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm