Candidate No.: 001112-010 Colegio Los Campitos. Subject: English B High Level.

Dossier # 2

Caracas, Venezuela, February 2012 Angela Mara Pecsi Araujo

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

Theme # 1 The Americans parents influence on their children behavior

The subject of unstable behavior of children in the American society can be considered a prior. The education that parents give to their kids is the main factor that influences in the way they behave, as well as the stability of marriage. The reason why I was motivated to touch this subject is because we nowadays see, and even hear too much about it, for example in resources such as the T.V. This is an interesting theme to investigate because every time is more frequent in America family problems that often lead to divorce and breakups among family members, due to the poor good parental relationship and bad behavior of the children. Another important fact here is that parents do not exercise their authority how they ought to do.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I chose this source because it precisely describes an Americans family trip which didnt result as enjoyable as they had expected. Here is shown how the non-exercised control and permissive character of the parents provokes their children of small ages to behave annoyingly, which at the same time disturbs the environment with their running and screaming, and the parents, finally, turned angry at each other. On the other hand, the article describes a family of Asian origin: a woman with the same amount of children of the same ages who were properly educated and showed a peaceful attitude, in other words, an stable conduct, so she didnt have to give them orders; their trip was enviable for the other family. Another key point that captivated my attention is the question that this man from Milwaukee asks: Whats her secret?, and here is when I consider essential to answer: Authority. Next to this, John Rosemond writes that recently arrived Asian families in the United States have a general negative impression respecting to Americans children behavior, and they are convinced that this could bring them bad influences. However, it is concluded that not every American children and parents have lost their way, and besides, its not too late to take action to improve the situation in the present. In addition to the previous material, I also took exercise 9 from the book as a reference because it illustrates the comparison between the American family and the Asian family, concreting the point of view of the article in exercise 8.

This source was taken from: Maurer, Jay. Focus on Grammar 5A, third edition. United States of America: Pearson Longman, 2006. Print. Part II, Unit 4, Exercises 8 and 9.

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Source # 2
September 18, 2011

Parenting Solo
Whether you decided to have a child on your own, are divorced and your former partner isnt co-parenting, or you became a temporary single parent because your partner is away, at war, or in prison, theres no question that single-parenting has its challenges. Its all on your shoulders, and you dont have support living under the same roof. I dont want to dwell on the negatives, because Ive known many a successful single parent, and I see a lot of people embrace the responsibility beautifully. In fact, because you are on your own, you soon realise the importance of routines and prioritising, and getting into the swing of things more quickly, because you have no one else to rely on. Similarly, the fact that there is no one around to give you a break can also encourage you to reach out and make friends with people who can take on a bit of the childcare when you need some time off. Youll need some help, and youll most definitely appreciate it when you get it. Solo parenting does mean playing both bad and good cop, which can be exhausting at times; however, you wont spend any precious time and energy arguing about whos going to do what or how! Most single parents develop wonderfully close relationships with their children, and while the toddler years can present a challenge to anyparent, single or not, it is possible to establish an understanding early on and use your closeness to encourage the behaviour you want to see. The bottom line is that you should embrace your role as a parent, get as much help as you and, and know its time for a break. Find ways to take up offers of help whenever you can; theres no reason to be proud when a little time off can ease the stress and help you to feel more relaxed in your parenting role. You can do it! And, dont forget to take some time for yourself. Even if its sending your child over to a neighbors house for short play date with their child whilst you take a break, take a walk, grab coffee, a hot shower, or a quick shopping trip. Going on a date night or just need a night out? Heres a tip: I once worked in a neighbourhood where eight families set up a system of trading babysitting tokens with each other. What a great idea! If youre worried about the expense of a babysitter, see if you can trade nights with other single parent friends in your area.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I was motivated to pick this source because, primarily, it comes from the website of an expert in child rearing, Jo Frost, also known as the Supernanny, a British television personality also, who began her work experience in 1989 and had helped many families in the United States. She created this site as a resource for the latest tips, suggestions, etc. on child care. In this good article Jo describes the solo parenting experience, a single parent who has the responsibility of taking care of all of his children by him or herself; giving handful tips to apply when the situation turns exhausting, as she says. When a parent is exhausted or stressed, he cannot take care of his children appropriately, because of his lack of energy hes not able to discipline in a successful way , so thats why she suggests seeking help from acquaintances such as friends and neighbors available to look after their children while they take a break to recover. It is mentioned in the article that many single parents have got the hang of taking care of their children well and responsibly by getting used to daily routines, in other words, becoming the organizers, and inputting authority in the adequate way. It is a fact that solo parentings discipline can create tight bonds between the father and the child as couples discipline could also make; the key relies in the closeness that causes the relationship to prosper and therefore, to expect good behavior.

This source was taken from: www.jofrost.com (February 2012)

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I picked this article from a health care report because it gives nine specific tasks that should be followed in order to maintain a couples marriage and make it prosper. It is based on a psychological study applied to 50 married couples in San Francisco Bay, who had raised children and had considered themselves happy. It is important that the couple maintains a good relationship because this would not create tensions in the family sphere. This kind of tensions tend to bring up consequences such as divorce, which has a great influence in children and consequently change their form of behavior, turning depressive or aggressive, for example. Focusing on analyzing these nine tasks: 1) The first one is indispensable for the children of the marriage if we have in mind that its good for them to relate with the relatives of both spouses, because this makes them to be more sociable and open, also developing their abilities to communicate with others. 4) The fourth task is significant because the arrival of a new member to the family may tend to generate jealousy between the brothers; this because great part of attention is required by the baby. It could be expected that kids seek ways to draw attention, bad behavior included. 5,6,7) Tasks five, six, and seven are basically related to the parents attitude. Here is important to consider the common fact that children learn from their parents. Thats why is essential that both, mom and dad, know how to handle crisis situations without showing any type of inappropriate conduct in front of their children, this could be yelling to each other, acting aggressively, etc., things that not only the kids could start doing but that also create tension and stress in the family atmosphere. Logical conclusion is, learn to control conflictive situations without losing temper to the extreme. 2,3,8,9) Tasks two, three, eight, and nine emphasize mostly on how to establish the efficient relationship of the couple, satisfying their needs, in short terms. This source was taken from: Tackle Nine Psycological Tasks To Maintain A Good Marriage. Good Health Report 32, 2. Nov. 1995. Print. Note: This source is a page of a copy in black and white of the original report which didnt contain all the pages.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

Theme # 2 The impact of superheroes in American children minds

I was very interested to choose this theme because there are many kind ways of viewing the figures of superheroes in the society today. Some people could have a positive perspective while others could see them as a fact that makes children act violently. But the thing here is to see either points of view and thats why I decided to investigate on it.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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Superheroes and children - Kids News interview
What is the psychological impact of superheroes on kids? What we need to remember here is that the media is providing standard for what is becoming normal and acceptable behaviour, therefore children are choosing superheroes as their role models when there are often more appropriate and real-life role models that they could be choosing but these are then ignored. As children spend more and more time in front of the television they have more opportunity to see violent images. To put this into perspective, the average child spends more than 50% of their time out of school in front of the television and your average superhero programme contains 32 acts of violence in a onehour show, so when you start doing the maths, that's a lot of violence being seen on a regular basis for many of our children. In addition to this, the media is affecting children's perception of reality and fiction and therefore violence and superpowers are often seen to be an effective solution to problems. It is important to remember however, that family and social factors a re always going to affect the childs response to what they see and hear, so letting your child watch superhero programmes on TV is not necessarily all negative providing you are aware of what they are watching and you discuss it with them.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I picked this article because it describes, from the psychological point of view, the way in which the figure of superheroes impacts on kids. It is mostly on media as the T.V. that these fictitious characters penetrate in their minds. T he average child spends more than 50% of their time out of school in front of the television , say psychologists, watching their idols and wanting to imitate them, which is a common thing to see in children; it is during this period of their lives when fantasies are intensified. In the mean time, the article shows a negative perspective toward superheroes because it leans in the fact that nowadays, action heroes shows reflect violence, and its because of this reason that children watching too much T.V. could provoke them to behave aggressively when trying to interpret their characters, making use of their fantasies. In spite of this, it should be noted that not everything said here is quite true, if aspects such as the environment and social sphere in which the kids unfold are considered. These experts recommend to give children good orientation about what is adequate and what is not in this T.V. shows, something suggestible.

This source was taken from: www.kidzworld.co.za (February 2012)

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I decided to use this images from the movie Captain America, The First Avenger (2011), directed by Joe Johnston, to demonstrate how amazing and att ractive they are specially to a young audience. The technology used in the present is a really useful resource to make films more shocking to spectators, and this, without doubt, makes children to be more attached and excited with the movie, their characters and plot. Counter to, I consider something relevant to have in mind that war content is exposed in this movie, to be more precise, the plot is situated in the period of World War II. This aspect contributes to make kids have a vision of war as something heroic and important, which can have its good and bad consequences. In one hand, this teaches them to defend their nation and also be proud of it; on the contrary, this could lead them to take war as something that could change their lives and consequently, start thinking from a more mature perspective when they really should be enjoying their childhood.

This source was taken from: www.imdb.com http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?q=captain+america+the+avenger&um=1&hl=es &sa=N&rlz=1T4ACAW_enVE406VE407&biw=1024&bih=377&tbm=isch&tbnid=3 kGy8_zA37dOxM:&imgrefurl=http://screenrant.com/captain-america-firstavenger-reviews-kofi124654/&docid=WmCijlzRJL6BgM&imgurl=http://cdn.screenrant.com/wpcontent/uploads/Captain-America-The-First-AvengerReviews.jpg&w=568&h=300&ei=WvVFT8_LA4u4twfM9sWmDg&zoom=1&iact=rc &dur=1360&sig=100564009406721261628&page=3&tbnh=82&tbnw=156&start= 33&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:33&tx=26&ty=55 http://www.google.co.ve/imgres?imgurl=http://www.watchmoviedb.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/02/captain-america-the-first-avenger2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://cine3.com/2011/07/29/critica-captain-america-the-firstavenger-el-debil-conoce-el-valor-de-lafuerza/&h=1510&w=2048&sz=1573&tbnid=D2rsz439NfRarM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=12 2&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcaptain%2Bamerica%2Bthe%2Bfirst%2Bavenger%26t bm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=captain+america+the+first+avenger&doci d=8BSIaU36w0P3xM&sa=X&ei=IglDT4KcGcPKgQeSz8TrBA&ved=0CHkQ9QE wCQ&dur=5735 www.artofthetitle.com

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I selected the classic American DC hero Batman, created by Bob Kane, in this scene of the comic book The Joker, written by Bill Finger, because it illustrates the hero in action with his partner Robin chasing the villain The Joker, the thing that is most wanted to see and is expected in these superhero comics. Kids who are interested in reading superheroes comics may find this type exciting, and in the reading, they would be influenced by the stuff such as the mafia and kind of things that maybe mature people understand better. Still, Batman is adapted to all ages, and I dont consider it to be a harmful superhero figure for children minds because it is just a fictitious character created for entertainment.

This source was taken from: Kane, Bob. The Joker. BATMAN #1. 1942: 29. Print

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

Theme # 3 Hoarding in the United States

The reason why I chose this topic is because of the great impact that causes, and the devastating consequences that this obsessive-compulsive disorder could bring. Its symptoms can appear in any person, but, if a limit is not established, these could lead the individual to live a life buried in his own accumulated rubbish. I have also decided to talk about this theme because there have been a great amount of cases discovered in the United States, and due to this fact, there exist organizations in charge of providing help to these people and rescue them, renovating their homes and their lifes.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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5 Famous Hoarding Cases

by Jessika Toothman

4: Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale

Also known as "Big Edie" to prevent confusion in an extended family that recycled names at a stunning rate, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") lived for many years in an East Hampton, N.Y., manse known as Grey Gardens. A documentary concerning their unique situation was later made with the same name. Considered incredibly eccentric and exceedingly reclusive (starting to sense a theme here?), the two women lived amid luxurious squalor, and over the decades, they reportedly harbored some 300 cats all told. Occasionally other animals, such as raccoons, also entered the home after falling through holes in the roof. When sanitation workers eventually gained access to the residence, they found mounds of empty tin cans littering the floor, and fecal matter strewn everywhere. Fiercely protective of their dwindling collection of heirlooms, the mother-daughter pair made national headlines when local officials subsequently struggled to evict them. The reason for this 15 minutes of fame? They were Jackie Kennedy Onassis' aunt and first cousin. It's hard to say whether the Bouvier Beales were hoarders, or if something else was going on, but let's put it this way: That was an awful lot of cats.

1: Homer Lusk Collyer and Langley Collyer

The extremely reclusive Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley, are perhaps two of the most famous hoarders of all time, but it took their deaths in 1947 to really shoot them into the spotlight. Langley, the younger of the two brothers, looked after his eventually blind and paralyzed sibling, while roaming town at night to collect more items. To protect the approximate 100 tons of stuff piled high in the brothers' Manhattan brownstone, Langley would set booby traps. Langley was killed when he accidentally triggered one of these traps, but when the smell finally caused overwhelmed neighbors to call the police, it was Homer whose body was found first. He had starved to death much too recently to make such an odor, so the search for Langley was still on. It would be weeks before he was found -- after a citywide search -- just 10 feet from his deceased sibling, unearthed from the debris he had spent so many years diligently amassing.
No Item Unworthy: Few items were missing from Langley's hoard. Among the tons of stuff to emerge from the packed brownstone were mountains of newspapers and stacks of books, broken children's toys, dressmakers dummies, dirty photographs, car parts, suitcases, breadboxes, broken furniture, multiple chandeliers and more than a dozen pianos.

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

I chose this article redacted by Jessika Toothman that consists of the five most shocking hoarding cases discovered, but I took only the ones that I thought more interesting in relation to the subject. I picked the case # 4, which discusses about a woman and her daughter living in N.Y., and both of them suffered this behavior but with animals. An amazing amount of 300 cats was found, all of them stucked in the house. There were also found raccoons that invaded through holes made on the roof. Along with, the conditions of insanity were evident inside their home. And the most curious thing, these people were actually Jackie Kennedy Onassis' aunt and first cousin. Next, I picked the case of the two brothers because until today it has been the most striking in the hoarders history. This suggests that if a person gets too obsessive with treasuring unworthy items, such as the ones mentioned in the box, he can reach the point of making such crazy scenes in order to protect his things, that this could lead him to his own extraordinary death.

This source was taken from: tlc.howstuffworks.com (February 2012)

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The reason why I chose this source is because it shows the existence of organizations that want to support help as soon as possible to these people whose homes are stacked with useless stuff. In my opinion, they represent a symbol of hope for them because they provide, as indicated at the beginning, the tools and skills they need to live a life free of clutter. The associations encourage these civilians to not to feel ashamed for keeping and saving so many items during their lives and not being able to get rid of them. Along with, thousands of people in the United States are considered hoarders. Their great aim is to restore the normal lives of their customers in need.

This source was taken from: www.steri-clean.com (February 2012)

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

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Candidate No.: 001112-010

These pictures reflect both the hoarding of material things and animals, and I decided to choose them for the purpose of showing how striking is the change when a total clean up is made and stuff that really is needed is organized and put into place. In the first cases, stunning images of a kitchen and a bedroom before and after the renovation are illustrated. My attention was mostly directed to the bathroom, totally disgusting and filled up with things that can be actually thrown away or be recycled. The picture of a hoarders house full of cats is also found in deteriorating conditions. These aspects of insanity and no room for anything are, no doubt, symptoms of an uncomfortable living. It is also an enormous responsibility to take care of these many animals and feed them properly, which could be very expensive at the same time, if considered. To conclude, these people live almost buried in their belongings, thanks to their compulsive disorder, which affects their sociability with other people; and not only that, but also the horrible conditions of their homes can cause illness and in the worst cases, disease.

This source was taken from: www.steri-clean.com (February 2012) www.si-restoration.com (February 2012) www.animal.discovery.com (February 2012)

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