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writing test 1

The recent years families have been changing in many ways across the world. From where I stand, as far as Greece is concerned, there have been crucial changes regarding the structure of a basic family lifestyle, which have negatively affected the society.


With more and more parents working and living far from grandparents, young children are not always raised in a healthy and loving environment. That is mainly because of their parents,are trying to put up with work, family and personal matters and obligations which are ultimately holding them back from their children who should be their main concern. As a result, instead of focusing on their offspring's bringing up, they simply neglect this one time opportunity by replacing themselves with someone else. In many cases the person raising the children is their grandma but since most of the families live away from grandparents, it is more likely for the parents to hire a nanny or someone who is capable of taking care of their children while they are gone. Nonetheless, being raised with a stranger and without any supervision and limits, youngsters end up having adopted aggressive and spoiled behaviors. Pupils with these kind of behaviors cause detrimental impacts on the society because of their lack of a cooperational and calm spirit needed in any system in order to develop as a whole.


Another more common family life alteration in Greece is the fact that a lot of young pupils are moving away from their families annually to go study abroad. Although this may be beneficial for them, their families which are left behind are severely affected as well as the society. Firstly, with one of its members gone for such a long period of time, the family will possibly disconnect and the strong relationships made with the person gone will eventually fade and loose their intimacy. Secondly, with so many young individuals leaving their country, the remain ones will only get older. As time passes by, only a small proportion of the people will have returned back to their homeland. In addition society might will not be able to recover due to economic loses from less employment and more retirement expenses .


In a nutshell, not only has family life changed in a great deal but it has also affected society. Particularly in Greece, the effects on society far more serious and solutions must be found so as to look forward to a better future.


Writing test 2

For quite a long time now, technology and globalization have been developing in a really fast pace seriously influencing the modern forms of transportation means worldwide. From my perspective such rapid transportation growth may be both beneficial and detrimental for various reasons.

Modern forms of transport such as airplanes have helped not only individuals but also the global economy. On the one hand, they have lessened the amount of time it takes to travel long distances. People can travel around the world in less than one day for work or their entertainment. This affect them either economically because these means facilitate them and provide them an opportunity of working abroad, or personally by creating new experiences, explore other countries' cultures and therefore evolve spiritually. Moreover, new jobs are created because of the need of employees such as pilots, ship stuff, air hostesses to name but a few. On the other hand, from an economic viewpoint, worldwide transportation is considered to be quite the saviour of global economy.Were transportation means not capable of traveling globally, it would not be possible for exports and imports to be transferred between countries up to a certain distance. Consequently, every economy would not develop their trade system and ultimately loose financial power.

Although the growth of transport has inferred a valuable contribution to almost everyone around the globe,there still are some immensely crucial repercussions whish should be taken into consideration. Most alarming of all ramifications of transport means is the effect that they have on the environment. Overused, the transport means and their production will emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide and methane and eventually cause air or water pollution. Their contribution to the harm of the environment would might result in either short term causes like acid rain or drinking water contamination or long term ones like global warming. Last but not least, with regard to the political aspect of such development as transportation, there is a chance for political conflicts between firms and the government to occur. More specifically by creating such an essential part of a countries economy as transport means, producers are usually taking advantage of their power to the countries finances and additionally use it to control them.

In a nutshell, from my perspective, the drawbacks of modern transportation outweigh the benefits. That is because as i see it the climate conservation is of a greater importance than the personal or economic growth.Only by taking the drawbacks seriously into account and try to reduce them will the world be able to look forward to a brighter future.

Writing test 3

Everyone has their own perception of beauty. Men and women around the world think of beautifulness differently. For instance some men like blonde women as for other men aho like brunettes. However, whether one consider someone pretty or ugly does not only depend on someone's their taste but also their culture.

Cultures differentiate the idea of beauty for quite a few reasons. One of them is their country's level of development. People who live in a less developed country where the proportions of poverty and famine  high, are thin. Moreover they may have correlated an under weight person with negative feelings and ugliness. Therefore, if they see a shabby one they would most likely consider them good looking based on their experience. From a historical standpoint, from ancient times where social media were not even invented, people used to define beauty by connecting it with wealth. To be more precise, in Europe where the average person is white, a woman would not even consider marrying a more brunette man because his skin colour showed that he was probably working in the fields where he was exposed to the sun for several hours a day. What's more, a man also would have denied marrying a thin woman because her body count meant she did not have the money to buy food. The more fat someone was the more money they had.

Another way some cultures may define beauty is by  the characteristics of individuals living in different places on earth. In Africa for instance, most of the residents of the continent are black and have distinctive face characteristics therefore, the idea of a pretty person has been build around that. Furthermore, even though some might difine prettiness based on their nation characteristics, they also build a bad perspective by it. In other words, Greeks are shorter than the average so they, who have lived their lives surrounded by short people, may support the view that a pretty person is someone higher than them. Last but not least, a culture's definition of beauty could be based on their customs and traditions of past generations. For example, some races in Africa maintain that their beauty comes from their tattoos, their piercings or even the length of their neck. While in Japan, only if a woman has short feet will she be treated as a pretty one. As a result, Japanese girls from a young age tie their feet and wear small sized shoes in order to keep their feet short and be "pretty".

In a nutshell, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that culture affects beauty standards a lot more than one realizes. It is not always noticeable at first glance, but it implicitly affects everyone. Nevertheless,in no account should cultures determine our preferences and tastes but what they can do is make us unique and special.

Essay unit 6 ( ECPE challenge)

 Opinions are sharply divided over weather the governments' decision of introducing the idea of microchip implants to people would be wise or not. From my point of view, such a scheme could be either useful or hazardous for the people.

 Ideally, the world would be a better place if we all had an implanted chip ID. This would be the perfect solution so that people never have to worry about losing their ID card or stop and check that they have it in their purse or wallet. Unfortunately, the world is an imperfect place with bad people living in it and the introduction of a microchip implanted on everybody would be detrimental whatsoever. That is because the chip has no power source but it contains digital data which can be accessed when the chip is in close proximity to a scanner. In addition, it would not be difficult for criminals to use concealed scanners on a crowded subway train, for instance, to retrieve information on people's chips. Consequently, it would be quite straightforward for them to write their own chip and begin pretending to be you which could possibly result in a disastrous confusion.

 Moreover, these ID card substitutes might seam like a good idea in the present, but the future is unknown. In particular, even though we live in a democratic government now, there is no guarantee that it will last forever. If democracy gives way to dictatorship, the dictator will be delighted that everyone has a chip and all the details are kept on a central computer allowing him/her to manipulate everyone.Furthermore, from an ethical standpoint, monitoring people with RFIDs means treating people as livestock or industrial goods, thereby breaching the right to dignity and privacy they have as human beings. Last but not least, as far as the society is concerned, it would be vulnerable to a great extent. Meaning that, right after the chip implant idea is suggested to the people they are going to be divided into two groups, the supporters and the opponents of the scheme. Ultimately, not only will there be a conflict between them but it will also lead to a disturbance of the societal balance.

 In a nutshell, as I see it, there could be plenty of argumentations regarding the effectiveness of microchip implants in every societyb at the end of the day the drawbacks are always going to outweigh the benefits.

Climate change/ writing unit 8 ECPE Challenge

   The world is certainly getting warmer and no one disputes that. The global warming does not refer to a far-flung future and its impacts are appearing right now. Personally speaking, I maintain that this is such an urgent issue that immediate action should be taken to restore the balance.
   Startling evidence has shown recently that the impact of industrialization on environment over the last decades has been profoundly harmful. It is a fact that greenhouse gases' levels were never so high as today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from combustion of fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants, to name but a few and methane emitted from landfills have increased at an alarming rate. The greenhouse effect results in trapping heat in earth' s atmosphere which affects the world 's ice caps and glaciers making them melt. Low-lying areas are bound to face floodings and population may need to be displaced. Furthermore, although the average precipitation/ rainfalls has increased over the last years, the overheated globe has to deal with fiercer storms and certain areas have already been hit by extensive drought. Thus, farmers will reap smaller harvests, meaning that the prices of foods may spiral upwards.
   Each and every one of us must contribute to protecting the environment. Simple steps, such as purchasing energy efficient devices, recycling properly and turning off the lights when they are not needed, can make the difference. Parents should raise eco-conscious children and foster certain values (you said the same thing with eco-conscious-> such as environmental consciousness) to make youngsters protect the environment which surrounds us. Last, but the most important one is for the state which carries the main burden, not only to take conservationist measures and impose hefty taxes on polluting power plants, but also to launch campaigns to raise people 's awareness and organize talks at schools. The young generation is often said to lack interest in enviromental issues, but as far as I am concerned, I argue that all they need is to be given the chance and the right encouragement from their social environment/ circles/ adults (to avoid the repetition of the word environment).
   To all intents and purposes, it should be reiterated that the climate change affects our lives and something must be done to tackle this challenge. It is a matter of life and death and we must succeed if we want to live a healthy and peaceful life.

Great work Vassilis, as always! 13/15! :-)

FOR BEN: Talk is cheap

Practice test Book 2 , prompt 1/ p.42 

 A great deal of controversy surrounds is actions have a tremendous impact on humanity instead of words. There are quite a few different options on this matter if issue whereas it should be considered as guarantee.  There is no doubt in my mind that talk is cheap and it is impossible to be thought as a foundation in order to be built any type of human relationship. 

 There are several reasons why actions are the evidence that relationships should come true. To begin with,  it is popularly believed that upon actions can be the cause of other significant values such as trust , reliability and by extension the so-called love between people. In other words , doing meaningful contributions have a immensely effect in people's temperament on the grounds that they feel that there is an interest of them. Moreover, it is a common belief that a part of majority find it difficult to accept a new person in their life . Apart from they cannot initially believe them they wait to see their actions. A typical example of this is that politicians are always promising to boost the realm of health but when elections finish almost nothing can be true. 

 Advocates of meaningful actions claim that these fully depict a character of a person. As a consequence, it is easy to recognize who has the right qualifications to be accepted in your life . To say something and to do something has completely different meaning - it is not similar . Furthermore, some people maintain that talking can be proved as a useful tool so as to make a friendship easily by introducing each other in a better way. What these people forget is that talking should be considered as a primary means of communication. Under no circumstances is talking powerful weapon to build a real relationship. It is simply a communication. Real relationships can be cast-iron by other values but the main way to can true are actions. 

 Taking everything into account, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that this matter of issue still cause a debate among people.  There are so many aspects and nobody will reach an agreement.  From my perspective,  I firmly believe that actions play a vital role in human nature. Should we based on this , human relationships will totally have a duration at time. 

Tolerance

"Nowadays, societies worldwide are not homogeneous. In what ways do you think people differ from one another? How can we co-exist and accept difference? Elaborate on your opinion by adding reasons and examples"

     It is an undeniable fact that over the last decades globalization has led people with different cultures , religious or skin color to co-exist in the same place. Thus, it is becoming more and more vital for them to accept diversity and boost tolerance.

     Being tolerant refers to the state which one understands and respects the others' point of view. So grave an issue is this that we do not make unfair judgements without being informed about other people's opinion. Tolerance refers to practices which disapprove of/ are contrary to all kinds of discriminatory behaviour that is to say based on different race, skin color, sexual orientation, age, looks/ appearance or sexism, (comma) to name but a few. People have a social and cultural background, (comma) which is many times profoundly responsible for their behavior/ which this kind of behaviour can be commonly attributed to. These factors (which are these factors?) help them analyze diversity (uncountable) and treat others in a certain politically correct way.

     There are certain steps which should be taken in order to alleviate discriminatory behaviors. To begin with, family, as a pillar of society, plays a main role in shaping children's character. By supporting open-mindedness and acceptance of the different may help the new generation develop skills to fight narrow-mindedness and discriminatory behaviors. In addition, schools and teachers should organise talks and overall foster certain values, (comma) such as equality and tolerance, in their lessons by incorporating special activities. Teachers and school peers exert a great influence on other pupils, meaning that the school environment should employ a distinctive approach in order for children to develop necessary skills. Last but not least, the state carries the main burden of organizing social events and campaigns to promote open-mindedness and condemn discriminatory practices.

     Taking everything into condideration, it is disturbing to think that we fall victims to the different types of discrimination and we stereotype people into categories. We should learn, once and for all, how to be tolerant (refer to the topic) and not to judge books by their cover. 


Well done Vassilis, you did it once again! My comments and additions are only in italics or parentheses this time so that your readers can focus on reading your text with its brilliant explanations as a whole. Some problematic parts in paragraph 2. Gr 3/5, Voc 4/5, Rhet 4/5 --> 11/15 Keep it up! Christina ;-)

Blogging mission and reflection on the current situation

Step 1: Watch this informative video. You can also activate the English subtitles. Notice the vocabulary which is used. 

Coronavirus: How did it really start and how do we stop it from happening again?

Step 2: Read these articles and/or other related ones on the web, concerning the recently imposed lockdown and quarantine due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The causes and effects of our current situation could easily be topics of discussion in all the official oral exams in June. 

Suggested reading:

Social Distancing? You Might Be Fighting Climate Change, Too

Social distancing accidentally did the hard part for the climate crisis – now it’s up to us to keep going

How to Keep Mentally Healthy During a Quarantine (with a quiz for learners of English at the end)

How to Deal with Coronavirus (Mis)Information Overload 

Additional Measures to Stop Virus Weigh on Economy

A look at cities under lockdown due to the spread of coronavirus

New Reality of Working From Home

Pros and Cons of Teaching Online

I'm a teacher in Italian quarantine, and e-learning is no substitute for the real thing

Reflect on this quote, too.

Step 3: Now answer at least two of the following questions in the comment section below or in your own post on this blog. Click on the image to read the questions.

Typo in question number 5: Have your eating habits...?

Unit 7 writing by Andromahi

In recent years, geneticists have found ways to produce new crops by modifying them in order to eliminate starvation. On the other hand, there are some concerns whether or not the results of promoting these genetically modified (GM) crops is more beneficial than harmful.--> you can put it more clearly and grammatically correctly: there are concerns whether the effects of these genetically modified (GM) crops will be beneficial or not.

On the one hand, COMMA the percentage of famine have has increased dramatically worldwide. Unfortunately, COMMA 795 million people in the world do not have enough/ sufficient/ adequate food to lead a healthy active life. Consequently, COMMA it is crucial to be found for alternative ways to generate food to be found. The achievement of genetic modifications have has succeeded to raise the yield of Argentina, for instance,  to approximately 17 billion kilos only in 10 years. Needless to say that those statistics indicate successfully that GM crops can definitely contribute to win beating the enemy that is called hunger. The main thing priority/ consideration (we need more formal equivalents) is that only if a country has an abundance of products, will poor people have the ability to purchase food in lower prices. A number of them may even manage to be absorbed into the agricultural sector and have/ receive a salary.

Detractors, on the other hand, claim that due to the fact that genetically modified crops is a new practice, (there is nothing accurate) there is little certain data about these seeds' long-term effects and safety of use. It should can be argued that transgenic crops can cause allergic reactions. This is because their genome may contain genes an allergen, thus prompting an allergy to the person who consumes them (a food that prompts an allergy). In addition, COMMA it is believed by some people that GM crops can trigger the development of cancer. It is worth noting that there is no evidence for this. However, the government should ensure safety and set the guidelines.

In the light of the above, COMMA genetically modified crops is a controversial issue. Pros and cons should be undoubtedly taken into account. In practice, COMMA before promoting this scheme globally, COMMA IT is appropriate to conduct more studies/ more research about the effects. Only by in this way can people anticipate a brighter future.

------------------

Andromahi, you dealt with a new topic well, but your text could be even better if there were more formal expressions at certain points and fewer grammatical or even spelling errors (look at the corrections in bold). 

Argentina should be mentioned as an example with all the proper linking phrases and explanations. 

The end of paragraph 1 was a little confusing for the reader, too. 

Overall, if certain things are improved, we will reach the desired goal! You are close, Andromahi! Keep trying! Christina 👌👏💝

GM Crops

  Lately there has been much debate about the use of genetic engineering so as to generate genetically modified crops.  It is a truism that (NO COMMA HERE) the intervention (=ανάμειξη?) of technology (or even better: technological advances) has provided tremendous opportunities to *enable our life less though/ for people to lead a more comfortable life on this planet. From my perspective, I think that genetically modified crops can make a decisive contribution to *come up against adverse realm facing adversity, several of which becomes evident in malnutrition and economy.

 There are several reasons why genetic engineering can chip in the rising of the economy/ boost or enhance economy. To begin with, it is known that farmers , who are in the bottom of social ladder**,are using this method (subject+verb+object) more and more this method in order for their yields fields to produce oodles of yield. The more the farmers produce ,the more they receive financially. Furthermore,  what production companies really prefer is a great amount of yields in order to *have the highest brands' generation generate/produce large quantities in very low prices . Not only does IS all this process of production be on the rise, but also consumption should occur three times more than usual. Last but not least, genetically modified foods are much more resistant through time. As a consequence, they should be used as materials in stock in case of an emergency.

  Another beneficial advance of genetic engineering is the alleviation of malnutrition***.  It is known that in some non developing nations, there is a huge part of the population who cannot merely make for a living , staying malnourished. Genetically modified foods may be deemed as an ally ti this issue of the poorer families due to the mass production of fundamental goods/ basic necessities. Some people, however, may claim that these methods of production are going to spawn detrimental effects into on the human body causing fatal ailments, COMMA such as cancer. So/ therefore/ consequently (=more formal equivalents of so), it is clear that mortality rates will absolutely increase. However,  in reality what these people forget is that GM (no dash in-between) foods provide the chance of a self- sufficient life. Not only does do GM foods not aim at elevated mortality rates,  but they also endorse people's complete adequacy/ self-sufficiency/ independence.

 Taking everything into account ,the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that the advance of genetic engineering has been crucial to humanity. But for it, percentages of shortages would be high and wounds' of whole world remain at the bottom (UNCLEAR HERE- don't think in Greek!) . To my mind , if we let technology interfere completely in some fields/ if technology is put into good use, then the future will probably/ definitely/certainly seem brighter.

-----------------
*If you translate these parts of the sentence in Greek, will they make sense? 
** Please avoid statements such as this one- they are unnecessary and politically incorrect. 
*** This should be your first argument in paragraph two, in my opinion, as it is the most important one.

Charalambos, I totally appreciate your attempt at elaborating on a very difficult topic we have not discussed in class yet. There are certainly areas that need more improvement (vocabulary used incorrectly, some grammatical errors, some unclear sentences), but I can see you are trying, which makes all the difference! If you have written this essay on your notebook too, you can copy my corrections and let me know which parts you found confusing. You are very close to passing! We can do this, adults' team! Christina 💟😎💪

Genetically modified crops

     It is a truism that over the past decades the earth' s population has increased dramatically. There has been heated controversy between proponents of genetically modified crops and detractors of transgenic foods (or: detractors of them- save the useful paraphrase for later) about whether it is reprehensible to adopt such a method. Personally speaking, I think that it is a moot point and we should shed some light on it/ some light should be shed on it- use the passive preferably.
     A sound argument in favor of genetically modified crops is that it is a significant means to tackle the world hunger. It is evident that many  people the world over suffer from malnutrition. By developing transgenic foods may lead to alleviate these problems. Furthermore, advocates of transgenic foods claim that crops are bound to give better yields resulting in low prices which will be beneficial for the consumers globally/the world over. Another point that they adduce is that genetically modified plants enable farmers to use powerful pesticides in order to protect their fields from unwanted weeds, meaning that their workload and expenses will diminish.
     On the other hand, opponents of transgenic foods argue that this phenomenon may result in many thorny issues which should be taken into account. First off, some people are profoundly convinced that consuming genetically modified foods may trigger health issues. Not only is the scientific research about these plants poor, but also there are already concerns from scientists who suggest that there are more to it than meets the eye. Moreover, there are those who believe that tampering with the DNA of organisms is not in the right direction. In other words, it is maintained that such a practise goes beyond the ethical boundaries and humankind is surpassing limits beyond their nature. Another point (unnecessary: of others) is that the root of the problem is not the amount of the yields but the fact that the majority of people who starve cannot afford to buy foods. That is to say, COMMA they urge the state to find different ways to address the world hunger, as giving incentives to young people to cultivate land and support them financially.
     By a way of conclusion, it should be reiterated that adopting genetically modified crops is a profoundly debatable issue and all aspects should be taken into consideration. It is a matter of life and death and we must be tentative in our judgements. I am totally  convinced that the state should fund scientists to conduct experiments and provide scientific results. Thus, they will enable us to choose wisely the best solution wisely. (verb+object+ adverb of manner)


Vassilis, wow! That is an amazing piece of writing on a topic we hardly had  any time to discuss! Also, the way you handled the issue was very clever and at no point did it confuse the reader, which is a feat in its own right.

Well done and keep up the effort! 

Grammar 4/5
Vocabulary 4/5-- possibly 5/5
Rhetoric 5/5

Total score: 13/15 at the very least! Christina 👍💪😊