Group 6:

  • Camilla Zulian
  • Letizia Malacarne
  • Lisa Belluco
  • Veronica Bozzato

 

 

we should avoid long winded sentences

we should improve the use of punctuation in formal style (it will be difficult, but we're brave :-)

we'd like to increase our vocabulary, especially the number of phrasal verbs

As far as writing concerns we should avoid repetitions, pay attention to connectors and to our verb choice.

 

 

 

Discussion on YOGA form

 

1. What did you find most difficult about completing the YOGA form? 

We found it difficult to judge ourselves properly. Levels III and IV were too complicated to answer and follow, whereas levels I and II were pretty easy but they lacked some practical examples. The contents of the questions were not specifically designed for our studies and therefore it was quite complicated to understand what we were being asked.

 

2. Which parts were you unable to complete?

Some of us couldn't answer questions related to levels III and IV, some others couldn't answer only to level IV questions. It depended on the cultures we were referring to. 

 

3. Did any question/part in particular make you reflect on things you had not previously considered? If so, what?

Some of us never thought about using strategies to interact with people living in countries we are travelling to. We had not previously considered how foreign people judge our attitude towards them. Moreover, we never really considered the consequences of our choices which make us either more or less acceptable to our hosts: when abroad, we simply behave the way we think is polite and acceptable - with reference to our own culture - unless we have a high knowledge of the cultural habits of the country we're visiting. 

 

4. Compare your answers. Did you provide similar answers or are they different? Either way, what are they and why are they similar or different?

Our answers are different because each one of us have had different experiences abroad; therefore, we have a different attitude, awareness and different skills with reference to our intercultural competence. For instance, some of us were able to answer to Level IV because they spent a long period abroad, whereas some of us couldn't because they didn't have had such an experience.

 

5. Considering that most of you, at least for now, are not planning on going to stay abroad for an extended period of time, what can you do from Italy to try and improve your intercultural competence. Make a list of goals and ways to achieve them.

 

We think that it is obviously quite difficult to improve our intercultural competence from Italy without going abroad for a period of time, which can be more or less extended. By the way, something can be done, most of all thanks to the great amount of tools provided by the Web and by the new technologies. Apart from the improvement we can achieve by following our university classes, which, however, have almost come to an end, we can do many things on our own too.

 

  • We can watch foreign TV programmes and news to improve our intercultural competence but also our listening skills.
  • We can read foreing newspapers on the web.
  • We can surf the net and get access to all the audio/video materials available, to get in touch with many aspects of the foreign culture we want to dip into.
  • We can use tools such as podcasts, YouTube, Skype and many others to improve our skills.
  • We can try to get in contact with people belonging to the culture we would like to improve our knowledge of.  

 

6. Please provide a group-consensus definition of intercultural competence using your own words and based on what you have considered in your discussion.

The intercultural competence is the ability of interacting with people belonging to other cultures, without being influenced by their differences in traditions, language and customs. Intercultural competence enables you to interact effectively and in a way that is acceptable to others when you are dealing with people belonging to different cultural backgrounds. 

 

 

 

 

Padova-Poznan task 2: elections

 

 

I will follow the candidates on the right (McCain and PDL). Let me know which are your decisions. If you want to see what I'll write on my blog, the url is: letiziasblog.blogspot.com

Letizia

 

I will follow the candidates on the left (Obama/Clinton and PD). Ok? If you want to see what I will post on my blog, the url is: veronicasplanetblog.blogspot.com.

Veronica

 

I will follow the candidates on the left (Obama and Clinton). If you want to see what I think about it, please visit my blog at the url: camillola.blogspot.com.

Camilla

 

Hi everybody, I'll follow McCain for US and PDL for italian elections. I'll soon post my comments on my blog: cappuccinoforbreakfast.blogspot.com.

Lisa

 

Table of contents

 

  1. Table of contents
  2. introduction on Italian and US elections 08
  3. the candidates
    1. differences between Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton and McCain in US elections
    2. Candidates' style and strategies of communication
    3. Comparing videos (Obama girl, meno male che Silvio c'è, I'm PD)
      1. The % of young adults who decide to go to university. The % of people that graduate.
      2. What criteria do young adults use to choose university? (es: distance from home)
      3. Leaving home: at what age? And why? Before or after university?
      4. Working during university or just after it?
      5. Buying a house or renting it?
      6. Marriage or living together?

  • introduction on Italian and US elections 08

  • the candidates

  • differences between Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton and McCain in US elections

  • differences between Walter Veltroni and Silvio Berlusconi in Italian elections
  • differences between the left wing in Us and Italy
  • differences between the right wing in Us and Italy

 

 

 

 

Candidates' style and strategies of communication

 

 

US LEFT WING: BARACK OBAMA vs HILLARY CLINTON

First of all there are no great differences between the political programs of Obama and Hillary; they both focus on almost the same points, which can be summarized as follows: health care, the problem of those who are homeless, the need of ending the wars and the economic recession. 

However, there are some differences in their interaction with the audience and in their style. In his speeches, Obama always stresses the importance of family: in his homepage, for example, there is a photo of his family taken from his photobook. Hillary, on the other hand, is seen alone in her homepage. Moreover, there are some other differences concerning their websites: Obama's is more clear, he uses few colours and the layout is simple and effective. On the other side, in Hillary's website there are more icons, more colours, and it may look a bit confusing.

As for their style and gestures, Hillary is always smiling and charming, while Obama is more serious and resolute. Obama's keywords are: "change", "believe", "can", "new"; in Hillary's speeches there aren't many recurrent words, unless some patriotic references or allusions to her past experience as First Lady. Obama's keywords are stressed even in his website, whereas Hillary's recurrent expressions are less underlined and repeated.

 

US RIGHT WING: McCAIN

The US right wing candidate McCain stresses a lot the importance of the war and the need of fighting against Islamic extremism, because of the fact that he himself is a veteran, was a war prisoner and fought for his country. Even if he also deals with issues such as health care, economics and alternative sources of energy, the strong point of his campaign is the need of participating actively against Al Qaeda and the Talibans in Afghanistan.  

In his website there are a lot of photos of his past and present life; at the top of the page there is a big photo of him with his wife, while in the centre of the page there are many pictures taken during his campaign throughout America.  In his homepage the words "service" and "serving" are repeated many times, because he wants to stress the importance of serving and defending the country. This idea is strengthened by the presence of some old photos regarding his past experience during the war in Vietnam.

 

ITALIAN CENTRE-LEFT WING: VELTRONI

Veltroni's speeches are very dry and sometimes it's difficult to follow him. His word range belongs to "politichese"; there are similarities with Obama's program: their slogans are the same (si può fare=yes we can). Veltroni and Obama use more or less the same keywords; while Obama often uses the adjective "new" combined with many different topics, Veltroni combines it with almost the same nouns: for example "new force", "new language in politics". Moreover, the two of them stress the idea of being the new ones in the politics scene. Other Veltroni's buzzwords are: cambiamento (Obama's "change"), credere (Obama's "believe") and fiducia (Obama's "confidence"); he also conveys the idea of simplifing the situation in the Italian political system. 

As for the website, Veltroni's homepage (which is actually the Partito Democratico's one) is quite effective: there's the slogan "Si può fare" right at the top of the page, and then there are a number of links, buttons and windows (which actually may look a bit confusing). Moreover, in the website the main colours are white, green and red, which are the colours of the Partito Democratico (and of the Italian flag, of course), and which make the overall layout of the homepage quite eye-catching.

 

ITALIAN RIGHT WING: BERLUSCONI

In all his speeches Berlusconi always appears smiling and optimistic; his way of addressing to the public is very persuasive and he reinforces his position by criticising what the left wing had done in the past government. The slogan of his campaign is "Italia rialzati!"("Italy get back up!") and in order to improve Italy's situation he suggests a kind of formula: "less taxes on families, on work, on companies= more consumptions, more productions, more work= more revenues in the state coffers to help who is in need, to realize infrastructures, to reduce the public debt." (Retrived from...... translated by.... ) 

Moreover, in his website, Berlusconi uses effective slogans, photos and ads to catch the attention of the audience; he's obviously trying to give his campaign a pleasant look, which is clearly a way of pleasing people too. However, his website may look a bit confusing, because it's so full of buttons, links, colours and, most important, his slogan does not appear in the homepage, which is actually a bit strange, given the fact that it is everywhere in Italy.

 

DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE ITALIAN AND THE AMERICAN LEFT WING

At the moment of analysing American and Italian left wing differences and similarities, it is much easier to make a comparison between Obama and Veltroni, rather than Hillary and Veltroni, because it's a given fact that the two male left wing candidates have a lot of things in common, from keywords to their style and slogans.

In fact, as concerns the similarities, Veltroni and Obama use more or less the same keywords; while Obama often uses the adjective "new" with many different topics, Veltroni combines it with almost the same nouns. Veltroni's cambiamento corresponds to Obama's "change", Veltroni's credere corresponds to Obama's "believe" and Veltroni's fiducia corresponds to Obama's "confidence". In addition, Veltroni's slogan "Si può fare" corresponds quite perfectly to the idea of Obama's "Change, we can believe in". Moreover, Obama and Veltroni have quite the same style, serious and resolute, whereas Hillary's style is very different.

As concerns the differences, Veltroni never appears with his wife and children, while for Obama the presence of his family is very important.

 

DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE ITALIAN AND THE AMERICAN RIGHT WING

Both McCain and Berlusconi speak to the audience in a very calm and relaxed way. They sometimes become a bit angry when they speak about what the opponent party want to realize in a possible nominee as President. Generally speaking, they seem very optimistic as regards their chances to become the next President and hopeful for the mission they want to realize.

Moreover, in their campaign both McCain and Berlusconi speak about the importance of fighting against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan (even if it is obviously a topic which is more relevant ic McCain's campaign). As Berlusconi does, also McCain deals with issues such as health care, economic growth, taxes and social services, but he stresses a lot the importance of combating the Islamic extremism, and this may be due to the fact that he was a war prisoner and fought for his country. 

 

 

Barack Obama videos http://www.youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom April, 02, 2008

Walter Veltroni  http://www.partitodemocratico.it/  April, 02, 2008

Hillary Clinton  http://www.hillaryclinton.com/home/ April, 02, 2008

Silvio Berlusconi  http://forzaitalia.it April, 05, 2008 

John McCain  http://johnmccain.com April, 05, 2008

 

 

 

GLOSSARY

Caucus: according to Wordreference online vocabulary, it means "a closed political meeting". As a verb, it means "to meet to select a candidate or promote a policy". (from www.wordreference.com,  last visited March 12, 2008)

Super-delegates: according to Wikipedia, it is "an informal term for some of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which is the presidential nominating convention of the United States Democratic Party". They aren't directly voted, but they "are seated automatically, based solely on their status as current or former elected office holders and party officials. They are free to support any candidate for the nomination".  (wikipedia, page superdelegate last visited March12, 2008) 

Delegates: according to Dictionary.com, it means "a person designated to act for or represent another or others; deputy; representative, as in a political convention"; "(formerly) the representative of a Territory in the U.S. House of Representatives"; "a member of the lower house of the state legislature of Maryland, Virginia, or West Virginia". As a verb it means "to send or appoint (a person) as deputy or representative"; "to commit (powers, functions, etc.) to another as agent or deputy". (from Dictionary.com, last visited March 12 2008).

Primaries:according to Dictionary.com it means" the preliminary elections in which voters of each party nominate candidates for office, party officers, etc"

convention: according to Dictionary. com it means "a meeting or formal assembly, as of representatives or delegates, for discussion of and action on particular matters of common concern; U.S. Politics. a representative party assembly to nominate candidates and adopt platforms and party rules; an agreement, compact, or contract; an international agreement, esp. one dealing with a specific matter, as postal service or copyright; a rule, method, or practice established by usage; custom: the convention of showing north at the top of a map; general agreement or consent; accepted usage, esp. as a standard of procedure".

 

 

 

Comparing videos (Obama girl, meno male che Silvio c'è, I'm PD)

 

Music: we think that Obama girl's songs are pop songs, they have a pleasant melody that stay longer into your head than Pdl's and Pd's songs. Obama girl's songs are probably brand new songs, while Pd's and Pdl's sound more like a hymn and are very similar to popular songs (Berlusconi's song is similar to Ligabue's Certe Notti and Pd's hymn is a Village People's cover).

Characters: in Obama girl's video the attention is focused more on the girl than on the campaign; on the other hand in the Italian videos the characters are common people in their everyday life, there are no scenes in which the two candidates appear.

Our opinion: Berlusconi's video is probably thought for people who do not usually vote for his party. In his video people represent different work categories, while in Veltroni's video there's no reference to the characters' professions. In Berlusconi's video the attention is focused on himself as a very charismatic person, rather than on his party in general (as in Obama's and Veltroni's videos). We are particularly struck by the last scene of Berlusconi's video, where there are many young white people in front of a white builduing, which was actually built during the Fascism.

 

 

 

PROS AND CONS OF USING A WIKI

One of the main advatages of using a wiki is that you can publish your ideas and opinion about several topics on a public page, so that everyone can read them. One of the main disadvantages is that anyone can edit your page and delete or modify what you've written... However, you can reintroduce what  has been deleted by reading through the 'history' menu... Here you can find all the changes that have been done in chronological order. 

Veronica

 

In my opinion one of the main advantage of using a wiki is that you don't have to pay for publishing your own work. The only thing you have to do is to register and it's free.

A disadvantage of wiki is that often people don't pay much attention to stuff published in it because they think they're unreliable. I don't know if there's some kind of control of the pages that are published, I still don't have much confidence with wikis. I sometimes read wikipedia, but I've never contributed to it.

 

Lisa

 

I think that wiki pages are very useful means through which you can work together with other people to create a good and effective work. The main advantage of using a wiki is that your work, even though it is always a work in progress, is continually growing by the contribution of other people, and at the end you can see how, putting everyone's efforts together, there comes an overall paper, or presentation, which includes the ideas, efforts and contents of very different people, everyone of them adding something good.

As for the disadvantages, I think that using a wiki involves being aware of the fact that everyone can change or add something to your work, even though you don't agree with it; moreover, each of the members have to bear with the other ones, because of the fact that every member or participant has his/her way of working. However, it is necessary that each of the member participate actively to have a successful wiki page, not only adding his/her own work, but also having a look to the others' , correcting it, if necessary; this process, actually, can be quite time-demanding.

 

Camilla

 

 

 

Our final project

YOUNG ADULTS IN US AND ITALY

 


Page Information

  • 6 months ago [history]
  • View page source
  • You're not logged in
  • Recent comments:
    monica:As we chose the same topic to develop do you agree if we focus on key words and speeches of right wing candidates?
  • No tags yet learn more

Wiki Information
Update to PBwiki 2.0

An entirely new PBwiki experience, including folders and easier editing.

Convert Now for Free | Learn more