Topic 1_equal numbers of male and female students_ngocphan

Recently, there has appeared a hot controversy over numbers of male and female students in universities. Many people think that the gender ratio should be set 1:1 by universities in every subject. However, as far as I am concerned, I totally dissent from this idea because it can cause inequality for students, inconvenience for the university and labor waste for society.
First and foremost, accepting equal numbers of students according to their sexes in all subjects is so unfair for them. It cannot be denied that males and females have their own characteristics, likings and abilities. For example, males are often stronger than females. They tend to like science and technology while women prefer lighter work like needlework or cooking, so each gender knows more about that field than the other does. As the result, there are some jobs that are more suitable to this gender than the other. Therefore, if the policy is administered, many skillful male students can be ruled out by worse female ones and vice versa, causing inequity between students.
In addition, this policy may cause a lot of troubles for the university itself. Needless to say, no one feel comfortable if he or she has to suffer disparity. Students, especially female ones, may oppose the policy and use some ways like complaining about that university through media to struggle for their interest. It eventually has bad effect on its reputation. Another obstacle is that the number of females and males applying for a subject is not equal. So if very few of one of the two sides want to take a subject, the university will encounter some problems finding enough students for a subject. More seriously, because man and women have different background on one certain field; for instance, men have more skills in computer programming than women do. Then teachers will also find it more difficult to instruct all students due to their differences of ability to acquire.
Finally, labor waste is likely to happen if the numbers of school-boys or school-girls are limited. The fact is that the policy will weed out many competent candidates while accepting less proficient ones. The outcome will be that the value of society’s labors will be less than it would be. The problem can become more serious if those competent candidates have to join other fields in which they do not have motivation to be willing to devote and they work very badly. Thus, it will be such a waste if universities indirectly impede what they want to pursue by that way.
In short, universities should not require equal numbers of genders because it may trigger injustice, troubles and labor waste. Instead, they should focus more on students’ quality.

Writing topic

Writing topic:Do you agree or disagree with the statement: Universities should accept equal numbers of male and female students in every subject.
Deadline: Thu, 25th, 2011 (today)

Should or shouldn't do things you do not enjoy doing_ Dung Leo

It is undeniable that anyone in this world sometimes encouter a situation in which he or she has to perform some unwanted tasks. In my opinion, it is for his or her own goods, as such tasks help them to learn more skills as well as experiencing new level of perception.

First and foremost, the tasks which someone does not want to do are often difficult to deal with. It requires a huge amount of time and effort to investigate, analize, and then resolve them. Hence, in the process of fulfilling these tasks, one would like to find a more efficient and proficient way to deal with those obstacles laying in their way rather than being stuck with traditional solution. There are more often the cases when someone has to deal with difficult problem, he becomes trailblazer in his field by finding a new efficient method to solve several alike problems. For example, my colleague, who struggled with transportation law, as he had a hard time to learn and remember all the tedious rules in a handbook before the exam to get his driver license. After that, he wrote a computer program which help others to learn these rules with visual images. Other people in the same situation use his program and find it very helpful for them.

Secondly, when a person do not want to do a thing, this task is oftern a difficult one or in more popular case, they find themselves incapable of performing it. Their imagination become the first and tremendous obstacle in their way to accomplish their task. In order to complete it, first they must have sufficient courage to disillusion their impression. With a illusion being removed, they can commence on solving real problem, and step by step, they can finish it undoubtedly. What important is, after finishing their task, they will find their problems are not as big as it seemed, and they have more confidence in themselves. If they are capable of doing this difficult task, why not the others?

To conclude, I strongly believe that one should challenge themselves by perform the task he or she does not want to do. By doing this, he or she not only learn more potential skills as well as possess a whole new level of perception.

Reminder

Hi guys!
This is to remind you to learn by heart all the new words in the readings of Mini Test 9, Lingual Forum.
And to inform you of the next class' schedule (on Friday):
- Listening (6:30 to 7:45): Mini Test 12 (including Daguerreotypes and Telescopes)
- Vocabulary (7:45 to 8:15): New words in 2 reading passages of Mini test 9
- Speaking (8:15 to 9:00): Integrated speaking, Practice Questions 1+2, page 76 and 77. Preparation in advance is recommended.
See ya.

Today's schedule (Aug, 9, 2011)

Nhung is gonna be absent today so Ngoc will be in charge of preparing laptop and My will bring speakers.
The class' schedule:
- Reading (6:30 pm to 7: 45 pm): Mini test 9, Lingual Forum (including Corals and Mount St. Helens)
- Vocabulary ( 7:45 pm to 8: 15 pm)
- Speaking (8:15 pm to 9: 00 pm): Lingual Forum, Independent speaking, Task 2 Page 132 to 146 (including 8 topics). You MUST prepare all these 8 topics in advance and when in class, you will draw lots to deal with one topic.
Plz be present at class on time. See ya.

Practice test 9_Ngocphan

Both the reading and the listening passage deal with the same topic: the body temperature of dinosaurs. However, their perspective is different. While the writer argues that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, the lecture casts doubt on the writer’s argument at three points as follows.

Above all, the writer says that dinosaurs and mammals have some similarities such as being active and having erect posture. So because mammals are warm-blooded; dinosaurs were, too. Conversely, the speaker claims that many creatures like komodo dragons which can run quickly to catch large prey like deer are active but still cold-blooded. Moreover, no one knows exactly how dinosaurs’ posture actually looked like and there is no evidence that warm-blooded metabolism is closely related to erect posture.

Second, according to the reading passage, the dinosaurs had some behaviors similar to that of some other warm-blooded animals. For example, they kept their offspring warm and fed them because their young had no teeth. On the contrary, the speaker contends that their young did not depend much on their parents because they could hunt food near their nests from a very early age. Furthermore, nurturing behavior can be observed in almost all mothers including snakes and lizards that lay eggs. Therefore, caring for their children is not persuasive evidence that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.

 Finally, the lecturer refutes the notion presented in the reading that the dinosaurs have feathers, hairs on their skin. And like in birds and reptiles, the main functions of feathers and fur of dinosaurs is to keep their body warm. Instead, she argues that such feathers serve many other purposes ranging from attracting mates to threatening enemies and even camouflaging.  Thus, saying that dinosaurs use their feathers for warmth is sheer speculation.

IT - practice test 8 - Bui Nhung

In the sets of material, both the reading and the listening focus on the reasons for the extinction of the dodo birds. The listening gives 3 main arguments to cast doubt on the reading.

At the first point, the writer states that the disappearance of dodo was mainly due to the overhunting and occupying land of the Dutch. However, the speaker presents a totally different point. He states that little remaining of the bird like bone or feather was found in Dutch settlement. Furthermore, to the Dutch, dodo’s meat had a terrible taste. There was a obvious evidence that in the Dutch language, dodo means “disgusting birds”.

Secondly, in the reading, the Dutch came and exploited the precious wood in the forest that destroyed the balance environment of animals there, especially the dodo. In contract to this point, the listening shows different evidences. The expansion of the Dutch has not succeeded at all due to some reasons. One of them is that they may be prohibited to do that. Moreover, there was a proof that in 18^th and 19^th centuries, the French and the Europe rulers played a main role in this extinction.

Last but not least, the writer claims that the introduction of some new predators that hunted and ate the birds was the most important reason. Nevertheless, the professor do not agree with that argument. There are a lot of evidences in many studies supporting his reasoning. It was the calamities in the 15^th century that made the mass deaths of not only  the dodo but also numerous other animals. It means that the enormous disasters like huge floods and cyclones mainly caused the disappearance of the dodo.