Advanced Category- Winner

Advanced Category Winner: Mariya Vanchugova
School: NYLC - Upper West Side
Teacher: Melinda Hummel

     





   I want to share my story when technology helped me to conquer a barrier in my life. It was a very stressful situation and I am so thankful to the smart people who created it, because it was impossible to overcome this problem so fast five years ago.

        I live in Kazakhstan, in Almaty. Kazakhstan is a big country with a low population density. In general, there are large areas which are not very suitable for life, because there are steppes everywhere and not enough water. My city is located around mountains, that is why we have a very bumpy and sandy terrain. This is a paradise for people like me who are crazy about off road sports. I dreamed about owning a good car and I had been saving money for one year and half before I had saved enough money to buy the car of my dreams.

        I read about a new alarm. It was a new unique kind of technology which could control the car from my cellphone. I could open and close all doors and windows of my car, also it gave me an opportunity to stop and to start the engine or just to check the temperature in the engine or inside the car. All these options I could do from a distance. This alarm had a lot of sensors as tilt a sensor which protected the wheels and it made it impossible to steal them, because an alarm would have gone off and alerted me of any theft.

        One evening I went to a big premiere at the theater. I switched off my cellphone because it was not allowed in the theatre, but after the performance I turned it on and I was in shock, because I got about 25 different notifications from alarm. It was written that one window was broken, engine worked... I couldn't believe it. The theatre is in the center of the the city. There are hundreds of cameras. Nobody would taken a risk to steal it! But, in fact, my car was stolen! I called the police and when they arrived I panicked, but 40 minutes later the car was found and the thief was put in jail. The police found my car on "Google maps" by a GPS signal. When they began to pursue him, he was trying to escape, but the policeman’s partner shut off the engine by using my smartphone.


         Nowadays technology is everywhere. Gadgets count our heart beats, amount of steps we take every day or help us to control of our weight. People are developing cutting-edge technology help us investigate space and find breakthroughs. It helps us to save millions of people on Earth. At the same time, we use technology for the production of weapons, which also kills millions of people. I strongly believe it depends on who uses for good or bad purposes. However, the main point is what yesterday seemed impossible, now has become a reality.

Post Advanced Category- Second Place

 

Second Place: Oleksandr Trokoz

School: NYLC - Jackson Heights

Teacher: Sarah Hesler

Throughout mankind's development, people use various features that make our life easier and more efficient. Today we call it modern technologies. As with everything, they have positive and negative sides.

Although it is hard to argue that new technologies have significantly improved our life, there are people who hold the opinion that it brought danger in our life as well. Some individuals use it in inappropriate way. For instance, cyber thieves are able to steal more money through electronic devices than ever because almost all people use electronic money. Real money have digital equivalent, such as banks accounts, credit and debit cards etc. To put it in another way, today thieves don't need to steal real funds. It is enough to adjust some bank's papers or send transactions to other accounts. Moreover, once Internet was invented they can do this crime wherever around the world sitting in one place. Another example of drawbacks of new technology may be natural discrimination. All people are unique. They have different learning ability in certain fields. Even today a lot of them don't know how to use a computer, a tablet and some of them have a difficulties with using smartphones. In this way people will get worse job due to their inability to gain new skills quickly. Finally, the price for progressive technologies and devices we use for communication and other purposes are incomparably higher than the older one. In this case those who have more money will stay in better position than other people.

On the other side, high tech features have totally enhanced our life. Society has created more possibilities for public and business communication, scientific and home calculation, exploring undiscovered worlds. Ample things that were sophisticated, incomprehensible and inaccessible became so easy and routine today. To clarify, we spend less time than ever on information exchange. A letter from opposite side of the world is delivered in a few seconds. Moreover, we are able to see our relatives on other continents in real-time by using some apps on a smartphone. It makes people closer to each other. Due to new technology people have more free time for their families. It fortifies families which is an incredible part of upbringing of new generations.

Furthermore, the world economy and manufacturers started work faster and more efficiently. Thanks to computers we create new type of food, clothes, housing faster than before because all people involved in this process are connected by one network and make up their minds in a few clicks of mouse. Using new communication technologies give us opportunities to respond on time to difficulties we are faced with in different fields of our life. We can say that high tech  innovations have increased quality of people's lives.

In conclusion, new technologies were and always will be essential wealth for human beings. Without using them and constantly improving, we were further behind than we are now. As all new and prospective modern technologies require from us a sacrifice, some parts of our past must be let go in the name of progress and development.

Post Advanced Category- Winner

Post Advanced Category Winner: Yuki Hirasaki

School:  NYLC- Jackson Heights

Teacher: Sarah Hesler

 

In the modern society, some people can not live without technology for communication such as computer, mobile phone, and other kinds of technology. On the other hand, other people have a question to believe these technology make our communication easier. From my point of view, I agree with the idea that technology can help us, but I believe that people should have responsibility to use them property. I feel it because using technology can be stressful and immoral.

First of all, since people have started to use technology, especially mobile phone, they tend to lose the border between work and private time. Because people can reach someone whom they need to talk easier than before. For instance, I used to work for a company as a sales person. I had a big customer at the time, and they wanted to talk anytime they wanted. So I had to keep my mobile phone on and had to answer them even though it was my off day. Sometimes it was needed to go to their store, or I had to prepare to solve the issue at home. It was really stressful for me. I guess it is not only me but many people have the same problem. At that time, it used to be important for me to use mobile phone for work, but now I think it would be wrong. I should have drawn a line between ON and OFF. Otherwise I might have been sick by overworking.

Furthermore, I think the manner of using them is obviously crucial. for example, I saw some couples were sitting at cafe without any words. Instead of talking each other, they focused on their own mobile phone. And only sometime they talked each other about the other conversation on the phone or game on line. I feel it is ridiculous and sort of side effect of using telecommunications. I suppose that people tend to become to neglectful of the communication in person. It is kind of immoral. Formerly most people had less option to communicate and attempted seriously to be in touch. From my experience, I had a ex-boyfriend who always checked his mobile phone even though I was next to him. I told him to face to me instead of checking SNS on his phone. Unfortunately we broke up later by the other reason. However I thought less communication between us might be a hidden reason for it.

To sum up, I suppose the communication technology such as mobile phone is a quite useful tool, but people should treat them carefully. We should not neglect to face to others in person. And we should to keep our private life out when it needed. Using device for communication is essential in this modern society, but I strongly believe that we should set a clear standard for it. Especially for our children, we would need to tell them how is the real communication as intended

Johnny's reflection on life in New York

Our latest student writing posted at our main blog is from Johnny, who is from China and who has been in New York for six months now. He writes about his goals, his observations about New York, and his determination to succeed and pursue his passions. Head over to our main blog to read about it.

Thanks for the contribution, Johnny!

A student essay on urban sprawl

Read an essay written by Iris Lin, who is working on building her TOEFL-taking skills at New York Language Center. This essay is an integrated writing task where students read a short passage, listen to a short lecture on the topic, and respond to a question.

You'll find the first two paragraphs of her essay below; the full essay and Iris's background are at our main blog.

           Urban sprawl is the growth of cities in an unplanned manner. U.S. cities and towns are experiencing urban sprawl, leading to the rise of anti-sprawl movements such as New Urbanism. Urban sprawl has some negative and positive effects. In the passage, we learn about how New Urbanism principles can help solve the problems of urban sprawl.

            Urban sprawl problems include four parts. First, suburban cities grow outward and use land that should be left to nature. Second, single-family homes cause sprawl. Third, there are traffic jams between suburbs and cities. Fourth, there is lack of social interaction. For instance, in the 1990s,L.A., Atlanta, and Houston experienced urban sprawl. It is very harmful, and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club call sprawl “irresponsible,” a “cancer,” a “virus,” and misuse of the land.

For the full essay, please head over to our main blog. 

A quick note: To streamline our messages to our visitors, NYLC will now post all articles and student writings at our main blog. Please stop by for a visit and spread the word! :-)

Haiku by Felipe

I am a good person
the book is very nice
I work slowly.


That is a nice car
I love the flowers
you're a good footballer.

Living in the city is a bit difficult
I need a good job
summer is a very nice station.


Felipe Ramirez Bautista is from Mexico. He was born in Ometepee, Guerrero, near Acapulco, and moved to the United States at the age of 21.  He started working in the fields as a child to help his parents, and he has worked very hard to give a better life for his family. He is studying at New York Language Center, and he is very disciplined.  He thinks that New York Language Center teachers teach very well. He invites you to study at this school.

Accessories & Body Art in Early Civilization

Jin Feng at the American Museum of Natural History with classmates from NYLC. 

by Jin Feng

Although nowadays we have totally different cultures from each other, our ancestors had unbelievably common interests in accessories and body arts. We can discover that from the exhibition about human origins and cultures. Not matter where they were from, Africa or Asia, America or the Pacific, before they wore clothes and wrote history, they already started to make holes in their nose, earlobes, cheeks, under lips, and any place else on their body. They wore masks, necklaces, earrings, rings, bangles, belts, headgear, etc. made of bird’s feathers, animal’s bones, shells, seeds, stones and wood.