Hello, everyone!
Welcome to our class.
Today we'll come to Unit One
Your College Years.
Before we go to this article,
I want to know your understanding
of your college life.
Do you think
that college life is an exciting
yet frustrating experience?
What does college life mean to you?
Does it mean that
we have to go to a new place
far away from home and live among strangers?
Does it mean that
we are on our own, independent?
Does it mean that
instead of being taken care of,
we now have to take care of ourselves
and even to learn to take care of others?
Does it mean that
from now on
we have to handle our own finances,
choose our own wardrobes
and determine our own agenda?
Ok. In brief, my question is:
what does college life really mean
to college students?
Let's watch a video
to see what college life is really like.
First of all,
we'll see how sophomores
look at their college life.
In their eyes,
the general impression of college
is mainly like this:
many opportunities for one
to explore the unknown;
experiencing a lot;
making lifelong friends;
enjoying various kinds of activities;
developing one's personal interests;
meeting outstanding scholars;
and so on.
In brief,
it is the golden time in one's life.
Ok. This is what college life is.
Another question
that is closely related to college students
is their purpose of receiving
such a higher education.
It seems that college education means
to get and keep a good job,
to earn more money,
to get a good start in one's life,
to fully develop oneself;
and so on.
It seems that
it is a sound investment
that is worth every penny.
Ok. The third question I want to ask is:
Have college students
had any psychological problems
ever since they entered college?
After they stay in university a year or two,
psychological problems
will certainly cross their mind.
Since they entered university,
they have had such psychological problems
such as loneliness, confusion, frustration,
jealousy, a sense of inferiority, and so on.
It seems
that they are always feeling pressure
and psychological problems abound
on campus.
Actually college life is much more colorful.
As part of our life,
college life is full of changes
and challenges.
College students have to make many
important adjustments and decisions
that will concern their education and career,
values and social responsibilities.
All these questions
are closely related to text 1
Your College Years.
In this article,
the author Bob Harter
talks quite a bit about the key changes
happening to college students.
Now let's analyze
what the author mainly tells us
in this article.
That is,
we'll discuss the theme of the article.
This article is an argumentative essay
about what changes
students will experience in college years,
and more important,
what ways they should adopt
to "change" changes.
In this article,
it is known that College is designed
to be a time of changes for students.
Threatening the changes may be,
they contribute to young
adults' growth and maturity.
College students are experiencing a lot.
Not only are they being introduced
to new people and new knowledge,
but they are also acquiring new ways
of assembling and processing information.
They are also proudly growing
in their understanding of themselves,
others and the world.
Next let's analyze the organization
of this article,
that is, the structure of this article.
This article is a very typical example
of argumentation.
The organization of this article is clear-cut.
The article begins
with three impressing questions,
which are
The first question:
"Have you ever considered the changes
that are taking place
and will take place in your life
as a college student?
The second question:
Has it ever occurred to you
that your professors
and other school personnel
have certain goals
for your growth and maturity
during your college years?
The third question:
Has it ever dawned on you
that certain developmental changes
will occur in your life
as you move from adolescence
to young adulthood?"
By asking questions,
the author naturally put forward the thesis,
which is
"Though college students
seldom think about them,
key changes will probably happen to them
during college years.
Then the author goes on
explaining the key changes
happening to college students
which include "identity crisis,
the independence/dependence struggle,
establishment of sexual identity,
affection giving and receiving,
internalization of religious faith,
values and morals,
development of new ways to organize
and use knowledge,
a new understanding of the world
and himself/herself."
All the changes are analyzed through
supportive ideas by definition, explanation,
citation, antithesis, example and so on.
In the conclusion,
the author restates the thesis,
emphasizing that college
is designed to be a time of personal growth
and expansion.
From the analysis of the organization
of this article, we can see that
this is a good piece of argumentation
including the clear-cut introduction
which states the thesis:
that is key changes will probably happen
to college students,
body part which is about the key changes
and the conclusion which states the thesis.
Now, after we have a general
impression of the article,
let us analyze the writing device
that the author uses to make it
so persuasive and powerful.
In this article,
the author uses antithesis
to make college life exciting yet frustrating.
Antithesis as a figure of speech exploits
the existence of many "natural" opposites
in the vocabularies of all languages,
in which contrasting ideas are intentionally
put in balanced phrases or clauses.
For example,
Give me liberty or give me death.
The two words "liberty" and "death"
are in antithesis,
which makes the statement very impressive.
In para. 5,
"These are exciting times
yet frustrating times. ",
the author uses antithesis
to give a focus to how
college students are stressful
in establishing their sexual identity.
Besides antithesis,
the author relies too much on examples
to give a vivid description
of the key changes occurring in college.
A statement which is very general is seldom
impressive or convincing.
It is usually necessary to give examples
to prove, illustrate,
or clarify a general statement.
We may be too used to saying
"for instance" or "for example"
to realize that we are using
a certain method of developing a topic.
Paragraphs 6,7,8,9
are developed by examples.
Giving example is a powerful way
to develop a paragraph.
Ok.
The above is a general analysis
of the article.
Through general analysis,
I hope we will have a general understanding
of the article.
Thank you for your attention.
You can refer to the attached materials
for reference.
Next time we'll go to the detailed analysis
of the article.
See you the next time.