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EOI INGLS
TEMAS: 65
MATERIAL ELABORADO POR: M ngeles Martn Gavilanes

CLAVE DE RESPUESTAS

TEXT ANALYSIS

The Examined Life, Age 8

A few times each month, second graders at a charter school in Springfield, Mass., take time from math and
reading to engage in philosophical debate. There is no mention of Hegel or Descartes, no study of syllogism
or solipsism. Instead, Prof. Thomas E. Wartenberg and his undergraduate students from nearby Mount
Holyoke Collegeuse classic childrens books to raise philosophical questions, which the young students then
dissect with the vigor of the ancient Greeks.

A lot of people try to make philosophy into an elitist discipline, says Professor Wartenberg, who has been
visiting the school, the Martin Luther King Charter School of Excellence, since 2007. But everyone is
interested in basic philosophical ideas; theyre the most basic questions we have about the world.

One afternoon this winter, the students in Christina Runquists classroom read Shel Silversteins Giving
Tree, about a tree that surrenders its shade, fruit, branches and finally its trunk to a boy it has befriended.
The college students led the discussion that followed on environmental ethics, or how we should treat
natural objects, as Professor Wartenberg puts it with a series of questions, starting with whether the boy
was wrong to take so much from the tree.

We dont actually try to convince them that trees deserve respect, he says, but ask them, What do you
think? Were trying to get them engaged in the practice of doing philosophy, versus trying to teach them,
say, what Descartes thought about something.

He is not the first philosopher to work with children. In the 1970s, Matthew Lipman, then a professor at
Columbia University, argued that children could think abstractly at an early age and that philosophical
questioning could help them develop reasoning skills. It was the Vietnam era, and Professor Lipman believed
that many Americans were too accepting of authoritative answers and slow to reason for themselves by
college, he feared, it would be too late.

Professor Lipmans view opposed that of the child-development theorist Jean Piaget, who asserted that
children under 12 were not capable of abstract reasoning. He and others, including Gareth Matthews, a
professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Massachussetts, concluded that their curiosity and
sense of wonder make children ripe for philosophic inquiry.

The world is new to them and they want to figure things out, says Professor Matthews, who has written
extensively about children and philosophy. Young children very often engage in reasoning that professional
philosophers can recognize as philosophical, but typically their parents or teachers dont react in a way that
encourages them. They might say, Thats cute, but they dont engage the children in thinking further about
whatever the issue is.

In 1974, Professor Lipman, now 87, started the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children at
Montclair State University, which has since developed curriculum materials that have been translated into
more than 40 languages and used in more than 60 countries. But American public schools have been slow
to embrace philosophy for children; while outreach programs are offered by a handful of universities
among them the University of Washington and California State University, Long Beach many school
officials either find the subject too intimidating or believe it does not fit with the test-driven culture of public
education these days.

Our current educational system is about standards and efficiency, says Joe Oyler, programs coordinator for
the institute at Montclair State. Its not fast and its not clean. We help children become comfortable with
ambiguity and responding to it, so its tough to fit in.

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Ms. Runquist's students managed to fit philosophy in between writing and science. This was their sixth
lesson of the year, and by now they knew the drill: deciding whether or not they agreed with each question;
thinking about why or why not; explaining why or why not; and respecting what their classmates said.

Most of the young philosophers had no problem with the boy using the trees shade. But they were divided
on the apples, which the boy sold, the branches, which he used to build a house, and the trunk, which he
carved into a boat.

Its only a tree, Justin said with a shrug. The tree has feelings! Keyshawn replied.

Some reasoned that even if the tree wanted the boy to have its apples and branches, there might be
unforeseen consequences. If they take the trees trunk, um, the trees not going to live, said Nyasia.

Isaiah was among only a few pupils who said they would treat an inanimate object differently from a human
friend. Say me and a rock was a friend, he said. It would be different, because a rock cant move. And it
cant look around. This gave his classmates pause.

Professor Wartenberg and students use eight picture books to introduce children to the major fields of
philosophy, including aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics, social and political philosophy and philosophy of the
mind.

With Arnold Lobels Frog and Toad Together, in which Frog and Toad try to determine whether they can be
brave and scared at the same time, the pupils examine the nature of courage one of Aristotles central
virtues. With Bernard Wisemans Morris the Moose, about a moose who mistakenly assumes all his friends
are also moose, they consider how someone can maintain a belief in the face of contrary evidence. And with
Peter Catalanottos Emilys Art, about a talented young artist who loses a contest, they debate whether
there can be objective standards for evaluating works of art.

The world is a puzzling place and when youre young it doesnt make sense,
Professor Wartenberg says. What youre giving them is the sort of skills to learn
how to think about these things.
Professor Wartenberg has written a book, Big Ideas for Little Kids: Teaching Philosophy Through Childrens
Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), to spread his experiment to more elementary schools. His focus is
on teaching undergraduate philosophy students how to work with children, and his decade-old course at
Mount Holyoke, Teaching Children Philosophy, has led many of his students to pursue careers in early-
childhood education. A lot of them dont know what to do after college, he says. If they want to do
something with philosophy, this opens up an avenue.

Professor Wartenberg also says that philosophy lessons can improve reading comprehension and other
skills that children need to meet state-imposed curriculum standards and excel on standardized tests. With a
grant from the Squire Family Foundation, which promotes the teaching of ethics and philosophy, he is
assessing whether his program helps in the development of argument and other skills. Its giving kids a way
to figure out what they think, support their own views and reason with one another, he says. So I cant
imagine this isnt helping them on standardized tests.

But the pupils in Ms. Runquists class said they liked philosophy because it involved reading good books and
expressing themselves.We can say things about what we believe and stuff, a girl named Autumn said. Its
what we feel and what we think.

From: http://www.nytimes.com Published: April 8, 2010.

I. Anlisis de texto: tipo de texto, funciones primarias y secundarias, recursos estilsticos.

POSSIBLE ANSWER ALONG THESE LINES

This is an expository text, more specifically a newspaper article taken from The New York Times. The

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main functions are to inform and persuade the reader that getting children to read classic childrens
books will help them learn how to think, raising philosophical awareness and even benefiting other
areas such as reading comprehension and their performance on standardized tests.

The theme of the text evolves around the idea that the curiosity and sense of wonder of children
make them ideal candidates for a type of philosophic reflection based on giving them means to
figure out what they think, support their own views, and reason with one another,

The text variant is AmE due to the many references to places and institutions in the US, as well as
the spellings of words such as vigor, programs, and standardized.

The text is written in a neutral though educated journalistic style, in keeping with the theme and the
intended audience of the piece. It is practically devold of linking devices at paragraph level though
discourse markers are more frequently used at sentence level: i.e. instead, but, while, etc.

Regarding stylistic devices, nothing special can be mentioned, as is typically the case with
expository texts of this kind. However, special mention should be made of the generous use of
reported speech and quotes sprinkled thorughout the text. Some are attributed to educators
expressing themselves informally, i.e. thats cute, but they dont engage the children in
thinking. ,. Its not fast and its not clean, its tough to fit in. Those attributed to the children
have the effect of conveying their thoughts and feelings in a nave way. Here we also find certain
colloquial expressions and interjections that belong to the sphere of oral language. Examples: Say
me and a rock was a friend, um, the trees not going to live, we can say things about what we
believe and stuff, etc.

Lexis/Vocabulary: The main semantic field is education and schooling; secondarily, a more more
specific field - philosophy. Examples of the former: second graders, charter school, math, reading,
students, classroom, subject, curriculum materials, picture books, etc. Examples of the latter:
solipsism, syllogism, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, philosophical questioning, reasoning skills,
etc. Collocations tend to fall into the same categories: i.e. raise philosophical questions, engage in
philosophical debate, elitist discipline, meet state-imposed curriculum standards, excel on
standardized tests, etc.

As the text is describing an educational endeavour taking place in present time, present tenses are
constantly used throughout the text, interspersed with references to past time. There are many
instances of relative clauses (GIVE EXAMPLES). This has the effect of giving complexity and gravitas
to the text. There are few adjectives, which is typical of informative, expository texts that tend to
concentrate mainly on facts.

This text is suitable for Intermediate 2 or Advanced 1 Level students. This is how I would exploit the
text in the classroom.

II. Answer the following questions.

1. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions in this context:

- charter school (paragraph 1). See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/charter+school

- befriended (paragraph 3). See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/befriend

- engaged (paragraph 4). See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/engage

2. Give the phonetic and morphological description of the following words:

- philosophy. See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/philosophy

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- views. See: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/view

3. Comment on the use and functions of the ing forms that appear in the text.

See: Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION Facing the (Free) Music. (Pending from Week 27).

I. Write a summary of the recording you have just heard.

The recording is about the music industry today and how easy it is to get online music practically for free.
Napster was the first service to make this possible. The service didnt reach an agreement with the main
record companies that objected to its activity, and so eventually got shut down. Currently, another company
called Rhapsody offers customers unlimited online music for a very small fee. However, for such a venture to
be successful, it is necessary for record companies, music publishers, songwriters, and of course the artists
themselves to ok their rights with these new businesses. To discourage people from music theft, other
ventures such as the European Spotify have sprung up, This service offers free streamed music plus
downloadable music for a fee of 10 euros a month. For fans and end-users, the present situation is good
because there is access to almost any kind of music, and its also good for the artists, who can go direct to
the fans bypassing certain agents in the distribution chain.

II. Answer the following questions:

1. What is Napster?

A peer-to-peer file sharing service.//A program that lets people copy one anothers music collections without
paying.

2. Why did Napster pose a problem for the major record labels?

Because it had all the music/songs from the record labels and it was making it available to the public for free.

3. Why did Napster ultimately get shut down?

The record companies didnt or couldnt sign a deal/reach and agreement with Napster. Consequently, they
ended up filing a lawsuit against Napster.

4. According to Jonathan Lamy, what are the prerequisites if you want to develop a new business
model in the music industry today?

There are many agents involved in the industry and all have to ok their rights. This includes record
companies, music publishers, songwriters and artists.

5. What does Eliot van Buskirk say about the price of using Spotifys services?

Its free in Europe. The hope is that end-users will get hooked and pay to upgrade for 10 euros a month.

6. According to Tim Quirk, of the music subscription service Rhapsody, are fans and musicians
better off today than they were 10 years ago? Why/Why not?

Yes, they are far better off. Listeners have access to almost anything they want to hear. For artists, labels
are now an option, not a necessity, because they can go direct to fans if they want to. Also, even with a
label, artists can get much better terms than before because nobodys got a lock on distribution anymore.

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TRANSLATION 2 (English to Spanish). (Pending from Week 27)

Translate the underlined text into Spanish.

Doctor and Patient

When Is the Worst Time to Go to the Hospital?

(1) During staff cutbacks, hiring freezes and every July when a new class of interns hits the wards,
hospital workers everywhere ask themselves one question: When is the worst time to be a patient in
the hospital?

(1)Cuando hay reduccin de personal, parones en la contratacin, y en julio, cuando las nuevas
promociones de mdicos en prcticas aterrizan en las salas, en los hospitales el personal se hace la
siguiente pregunta: Cul es el peor momento para ser paciente de un hospital?

(2) That question crossed my mind one morning during my training when an emergency department
nurse warned me about a pileup on a nearby interstate involving a school bus. Youd better mobilize
all the help you can, she said. There may be dozens of injured kids coming in, and were stretched
to the limit here.

(2)Me hice esta pregunta una maana de mi periodo de prcticas cuando una enfermera de urgencias me
inform de una colisin mltiple en una autopista cercana, en la que estaba involucrado un autobs escolar.
Moviliza toda la ayuda que encuentres, me dijo. Pueden ingresar decenas de nios heridos y nosotros
estamos al lmite.

She was not exaggerating. It wasnt even noon yet, and the emergency room already had gurneys crammed
into every available space. (3)Supply carts, usually full of gauze, syringes, basins and bedpans, looked
as if they had been hastily looted, and the din typical of the department was louder than usual,
punctuated by shrieks from inebriated patients or cries for help from elderly ones. While some
patients were lucky enough to have secured a modicum of privacy behind the curtains of makeshift rooms,
most waited in the hallways for their beds to come open up upstairs.

(3) Los carritos siempre cargados de gasas, jeringuillas, palanganas y cuas, parecan haber sido
saqueados, y el ruido normal de la sala era ms fuerte de lo habitual, matizado con gritos de pacientes
ebrios y los de los ancianos pidiendo ayuda.

Scanning the scene, I couldnt help but believe that when a hospital was bursting at the seams and about to
receive multiple, severely injured trauma patients, it had to be the worst possible time to be a patient there.
But I also had to ask myself why we couldnt have done anything to prevent this predicament.

(4)The inn is full, the nurse said, shrugging her shoulders. And its not like we can just turn
patients away.

(4) Estamos hasta arriba dijo la enfermera, encogindose de hombros. Y no podemos decirles que se
vayan.

I remember agreeing with her that morning; people could not plan their illnesses or accidents. But in the
years since, every time Ive asked myself about the best time to be a patient in the hospital, Ive also
wondered if some cut-off point existed for hospitals. Was there a known threshold of occupancy, staffing or
whatever, above which patient safety was compromised?
There is. Or rather, there are.

Analyzing the records of almost 40 hospitals and nearly 175,000 patients, researchers at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor found that four factors high hospital occupancy, weekend admissions, nurse

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staffing levels and the seasonal flu can affect a patients risk of dying in the hospital. (5) But while these
factors universally influence in-hospital mortality, they can also interact with one another in such a
way that each hospital ends up with its own particular threshold of risk.

(5) Pero adems de influir en/determinar la ratio de mortalidad en los hospitales, estos factores tambin
interactan unos con otros de tal modo que cada hospital acaba teniendo su propio umbral de riesgo.

The key is identifying not some universal cutoff point, but an individual hospitals limits.
These patterns are as individualized as fingerprints, said Dr. Matthew Davis, an associate professor of
pediatrics, internal medicine and public policy at the University of Michigan and senior author of the study,
published in the journal Medical Care. There is an optimal balance that is different for each hospital. Ideal
nurse-to-patient ratios, for example, can vary depending on the patient populations served. Similarly, a
hazardous level of occupancy might be 70 percent for one hospital and 90 percent for another.

From : http://www.nytimes.com

USEFUL WEB RESOURCES FOR TEXT ANALYSIS

1- Cohesion through reference words: anaphoric, cataphoric, and exophoric reference with examples.
http://www.rit.edu/ntid/rate/sea/referencewords/refw01intro.html
2- A useful classification of text types (open to discussion).
http://englischlehrer.de/texts/texttypes.php
3- Checklist: Elements of literary style (simple but still ok.)
http://teachers.lakesideschool.org/us/english/ErikChristensen/WRITING%20STRATEGIES/LiteraryStyles
.htm
4- Stylistic devices (applicable mostly to literary texts)
http://abiturerfolg.de/howtowriteatextanalysis_stylisticdevices.html
5- Stylistic devices and figurative language (wikipedia).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylistic_device
6- Different types of texts Factsheets.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/reading/typesoftext/factsheet.shtml

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