The American dream I never had

As is it getting colder and colder, I know have to face the truth: summer is over. However, I try to somehow put myself off until the next warm period will arrive. There is one memory that very often comes to my mind: my travel to the United States in July. My best friend is working in Pennsylvania for one year as an au-pair and I have been allowed to stay with her host family for three weeks. This was my first time to ever travel to America and even the first time to travel all on my own. I had found a very attractive offer: I started in Klagenfurt, changed the plane in Vienna to Frankfurt where I finally had a direct flight to Philadelphia. On my very first day in the USA I went to a Taylor Swift concert with Ed Sheeran as opening act. There were 50.000 people in one huge stadium!!!

My friend’s host family lives in a mansion in a very rich area. I kind of felt like I was in the Wisteria Lane: Mexicans as gardeners, skinny mothers who dress like their daughters and hardworking businessman. One thing I really struggled with was the Americans madness with air conditioners. It is FREEZING COLD in all houses and public buildings like shopping malls and restaurants.

During my time in the USA I visited all the important tourist attractions in Philadelphia and its environs (Liberty Bell, Rocky stairs, I ate the famous Philadelphia cheese stake, Love park …). My highlight during that time was definitely the weekend in New York. My friend and I slept in a hotel near Wall Street with a fantastic sight at the Brooklyn Bridge. Over the course of the two days in “the city that never sleeps” we scurried from one sight to another. Madame Tussauds, Top of the Rock, Statue of Liberty, Hard Rock Café, China Town, Little Italy, MoMA, Guggenheim – just to name a few!

Pennsylvania has the second largest population of Amish people and therefore, I visited Lancaster County where we booked a tour. This was undoubtedly the most interesting afternoon of my time abroad.

 If you ask people in which country they would like to travel to most of them name the United States. I have never dreamt do visit this country one day. It never has really radiated a magic attraction to me. However, if I have the chance to travel, I don’t refuse it – no matter where the journey is heading! I must confess, that a lot of the clichés I had of America have been confirmed. Nevertheless, I don’t regret flying to America, as I now know what’s all the fuss about. 

2014 European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life

Brainstorming

·         campaign: supported by the European Commission

·         increasing conflict between family and work life

o   ≠ a work-life balance (lack of…)

o   to bring in line family and work life

·         ideal life balanced between family time, personal time and productivity

·         aims:

o   family well-being

-->  find out problems families have to face

o   solutions for demographic challenges (inequality, social exclusion) and gender equality

-->  women still hold prime responsibility for education of children

o   company policy

-->  modification

Original paragraph
The European Union initiates European Years which are projects involving socio-cultural areas. As these days families have to face serious social problems often linked with the working area, 2014 is going to be the “European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life”. Detailed analyses of the labour market, numerous events as well as panel discussions are intended to draw the public attention to this issue. The aim of this European Year is an improvement of family well-being, finding solutions for demographic challenges like inequality and social exclusion, and finally a modification of company policies. Particular emphasis is going to be placed on gender equality. Women still hold the prime responsibility for education of children. The European Year of 2014 is aimed to enable women to easier return to their job after pregnancy and to promote more flexible working hours. There will also be a focus on the discovery of conflicts between family and work life. The key term is work-life balance. It indicates a life balanced between personal time, family and work. This European establishment is a sustainable investment and contributes significantly to family-oriented policies.

[185 words]

Feedback summary 1 (topic sentence, register)
Today we got together in groups of three and discussed our individual paragraphs on an EU-related topic. We checked our texts concerning the topic sentence and the register. I have received some very constructive feedback that I would like to sum up in a few sentences. In terms of register, my paragraph really needs improvement. My group members have found a lot of words that cannot be used in this context. They also pointed out some verbal repetitions. When reading the text they also noticed that sometimes the register was inappropriate. All in all I got a lot of helpful proposals that would definitely improve my paragraph.

Version 2:
The European Union initiates annual European Years which are projects with a focus on socio-cultural topics. As nowadays families have to face serious social problems often linked to the field of working, 2014 is going to be the “European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life”. Detailed analyses of the labour market, numerous events as well as panel discussions intend to draw the public attention to this issue. The goal of this European Year is an improvement of family well-being, finding solutions for demographic challenges like inequality and social exclusion, and finally a modification of company policies. Particular emphasis is going to be placed on gender equality, as women still hold the prime responsibility for education of children. The European Year of 2014 is aimed to enable women to return more easily to their job after pregnancy and to promote more flexible working hours. Another core theme is clarifying conflicts between family and work life. The key term is work-life balance which indicates a life balanced between personal time, family and work. This establishment sponsored by the European Commission is a sustainable investment and contributes significantly to family-oriented policies.

[189 words]

 

Feedback summary 2 (linking words and cohesion, vocabulary, Major No-Nos):
All in all, I received a positive feedback this time. The members of my group mentioned that the theme-rheme structure is working well and that I linked the sentences in clear way. Concerning vocabulary I received very constructive suggestions. I was told some strong collocations that definitely improve my paragraph. I am very glad that my group members did not find any major no-nos.

 

Final version

The European Union initiates annual European Years which are projects with a focus on socio-cultural topics. As nowadays families have to face serious social problems often linked to the field of working, 2014 is going to be the “European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life”. Detailed analyses of the labour market, numerous events as well as panel discussions intend to draw the public attention to this issue. The goal of this European Year is an improvement of family well-being, finding solutions for demographic challenges like inequality and social exclusion, and finally a modification of company policies. Particular emphasis is going to be placed on gender equality, as women still hold the primary responsibility for education of children. The European Year of 2014 is dedicated to enabling women to return more easily to their job after pregnancy and to promoting more flexible working hours. Another core theme will be to clarify conflicts between family and work life. The key term is work-life balance which indicates a life balanced between personal time, family and work. This campaign sponsored by the European Commission is a sustainable investment and contributes significantly to family-oriented policies.

[191 words]

 

Final Version 2

The European Union initiates annual European Years, which are projects with a focus on socio-cultural topics. As families today sometimes face serious social problems often linked to the field of working, 2014 has been named the “European Year of Reconciling Work and Family Life”. Detailed analyses of the labour market, numerous events as well as panel discussions intend to draw public attention to this issue. The goal of this European Year is improving the family well-being, finding solutions for demographic challenges, such as inequality and social exclusion, and modifying company policies. Particular emphasis is placed on gender equality, as women still hold the primary responsibility for raising children. The European Year of 2014 is dedicated to enabling women to return more easily to their job after maternity leave and to promoting more flexible working hours for them. Another core theme will be to clarify conflicts between family and work life. The key term is work-life balance, which implies a life balanced between personal time, family and work. This campaign by the European Commission is a sustainable investment and contributes significantly to family-oriented policies.

[183 words]

Possible topics for my EU academic paper

Welcome back to university! This is my first post for SUK3 and because we are discussing the European Union during this term, my first post concerns this topic. As we have to write an academic paper for part 2, I now present you my five possible topics:

1) Loss of cultural identity

By this time, every one of us has heard the motto of the EU at least once: “United in diversity”. It indicates that European citizens have come together, in the form of the EU, to work for peace and prosperity, while at the same time maintain a member state’s many different cultures, traditions and languages. In my opinion, however, there is one problem: In terms of open boarders within the European Union migration is playing an increasingly important role. People from different member countries are in a close contact to each other. Therefore more and more cultures are going to meld together. So the first question that came to my mind is if there will be only one European culture one day?

2) Multilingualism in the EU

I have always envied people who were grown up bilingual. It takes you a long time to master a foreign language and sometimes you only see the effort you put into your language learning. Whereas someone who was raised bilingual has advantages without really work on it. As I mentioned above migration is a crucial topic for the EU and therefore is worth writing a paper about it.

3) YELL2 Young Europeans Love Languages

“YELL2 promotes the improvement of language learning and encourages creative teaching to inspire and motivate language learning.” (source: European Commission) YELL 2 stands for Young European Love Languages 2 and it is a network of European organizations which consists of three partners from Germany, UK and Turkey. The institution also gives individuals the chance to actively participate in the project by signing up in a network and educators have the opportunity to share their own best practices with others. I really like the idea of this establishment, because the ability of speaking foreign languages is more than just a boost to your CV or handy for travelling. It also improves the functionality of your brain!

4) Lifelong Learning Programme

I am convinced that everyone has heard about Erasmus but do you know that this is just a sub-programme of an European initiative called “Lifelong Learning Programme”? Not only students have the chance to spend some time abroad, but also pupils, people who are participating in vocational and adult education. The reason why this is a topic worth writing about is the fact, that it enables people at all stages of their lives to take part in significant learning experiences, as well as helping to develop the education and training sector across Europe.

5) Unemployment rate

As a future worker I am often concerned about the increasing unemployment rate in the EU. Will I find a job as a translator when I have finished university? What should I do not get a job? The average unemployment rate of the EU amounts to 10 % which is very high. Although the number of unemployed people has also risen in Austria, it is an outstanding fact that our country has the lowest rate compared to all other member states. So how are our job prospects going to be in the future? What does the EU do to combat this problem? These are just a few question that I would try to answer with this paper.