Bac Oral d'Anglais

Sujet du devoir

Bonjour, 

Je voudrais avoir votre opinion sur mon travail pour mon bac oral d'anglais. Une correction serait grandement aussi apprécié.

Je vous remercie d'avance!

Notion of the idea of progress:

Hello, today I will present to you the notion of progress. Firstly, I will define the notion of progress: the idea of progress can be defined as an improvement, an advancement, a developmenttoward a better, more complete, or more modern condition or state. This progress can be found in many domains such as technological, scientifically, societal…etc. And they happen to be all linked to each other, meaning that they all impact each other: if for example there is a scientifically progress, this will consequentially also help push society towards modern conditions, therefore progress too. Indeed, we can clearly see the evolution of our world progressively, especially in these last couple of years with the creation of cellphones, TV, means of transport… It is undeniable that it has changed the world and our way of life, therefore we have to keep up with it and the pace in which it is advancing, forcing us to adapt ourselves to the many new and quick changes. We can now ask ourselves how we could explain the contradictory aspect of the idea of progress? First, we will talk about how progress has allowed us to have a better quality of life, and then we will talk about the drawbacks that it might imply.

One the one hand, there has been noticeable progress when it comes to technology and it’s spreading around the world. Indeed, more and more people have access to it now. For instance, in India there have been many breakthroughs like the fact that everything has been digitalized into data allowing everybody to be in the digital identity system no matter their financial situation, giving them the opportunity to open a bank account and get governmental aid sent to them because many poor people lacked any form of identification. So, progress here has allowed everybody to be equal on a certain scale. Or to illustrate the progress of societal views and customs that might not be ethically correct, we can look at a woman leader, Chief Kachindamoto in Malawi, who has broken up 850 child marriages in three years, as well as banned the sexual initiations of young girls, which has been a ritual for centuries there.

On the other hand, progress has generated consumerism which has its negative impacts, because the number of consumers only augments every day and end polluting the world. In addition, in the text untouchable we can see that the cast system in India that is normally banned now is still found in their culture: it is believed that people form a lower class should not be in contact of the hire classes no matter the situation, therefore it creates social segregation and deep injustice. This means that even if there is has been a progress made, it doesn’t necessary mean that the results that we are waiting from it will happen. Finally, regarding technology, in what’s next for the web, we understand that its progress opens the door too illegal things such as hacking, criminal behaviour, harassment, and bad system design that induces clickbait and the spread of misinformation.

In conclusion, progress is something that man has sought for centuries, always looking to improve one’s self or state of living. Thanks to progress, we were able to connect all humans on the planet to one another. However, even if there is undeniably progress everywhere on the planet, it is still unequal depending on where you go. Indeed, it takes a lot of money and information that not everyone has access too to be able to advance. This leads to social-segregation between countries. Personally, I think that humanity has to strive for progress to better the quality of living, but to a certain degree, because some new technologies can be questionable when it comes to their ethics and morality. And that’s the hard part, where do we draw that line.

Notion of spaces and exchanges:

    Hello, today I will present to you the notion of spaces and exchanges. Firstly, this notion talks about the interaction that happen between different spaces such as societies, countries, continents, with exchanges referring to money, cultures, ideas, people and information, which have shaped our modern world. This means there is an act of giving or receiving something in substitution for something else, which helps us shape the world and the relations that take place. Knowing that one of the biggest exchanges are related to a travel aspect of generally a flow of people, we can ask ourselves what drives people to leave their country to go and live in another one? First, we will look at the reasons people immigrate, and then we will look at the difficulties and drawbacks in doing so, and finally we will look at the opinions people might have on immigration.

    Indeed, it is fairly common nowadays for people to immigrate to a new more developed country in hopes of attaining a better quality of life with more opportunities in order to improve one’s living conditions. To further their education, to find refuge and in search of safety and freedom. The embodiment of these goals that are so sought for is the American dream, it is why America has one of the largest immigrants population in the world. We can also find this dream inside a same country, for example in how to get filthy rich in rising Asia, we can see the main character’s family migrating from the slums to the city which offers more opportunities. We also can see that it wasn’t an easy transition, it required a fair amount of sacrifices.

       In fact, immigrating can be quite difficult. First, moving to a new space might mean that the person has to leave friends and family behind. In addition, starting over can be challenging because of different reasons: your diploma might not be valid, cultural shock, language barrier… As we can see in the document Tongues which deals with the issue of the integration of Hispanics within the American culture without alienation, immigrants are shunned by Americans when they hear an accent in their speech which can make integration and finding a job hard, to the point where even the parents of the narrator didn’t support her as they were mortified she spoke English with a Mexican accent. We can also witness the difficulty of immigrants in the extract of Babel where the immigration officer gives the people in the car a hard time because they are coming from Mexico even though they already live in the US. Lastly, this is illustrated in a cartoon depicting a caricature of the American Gothic painting showing that consumers are scared of low wage immigrant farm workers which is ironic because they depend on them. The original painting showed white people who were farmers,  sothis shows that the face of America is changing.

    Inevitably, some people are unhappy with this transition, therefore new immigration reforms have been made. It is evident that everyone has their fair share of opinions about the ladder. For example, there have been a lot being said about Trump supporting the plan to cut legal immigration by half. This might affect negatively the economy, for example since it puts at risks farm owners because there will be a shortage in low wage labor. However, there is also reforms that benefit immigrants with the DREAM act allowing certain undocumented immigrants to stay in America if they meet certain requirements, however it is surrounded with controversy.

In conclusion, people will generally immigrate in order to have a better quality of life. Immigration creates an exchange of multiple things such as cultures, information, languages from on space to another shapes today’s world. However, people have different opinions on immigration whether its positive or negative. I personally think as an immigrant myself, that immigration is to be viewed in a positive light, because most immigrants are people who are greatly motivated want to be integrated in this new space.

Notion of places and forms of power: 

Hello, today I am going to talk about the notion of places and forms of power. First, I will define the terms of the notion. The term places refer to a particular position in space which can be available. Power is the ability to control or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events. Indeed, power is generally found in the hands of the elites of society, who have a higher rank in the ladder. In fact, there is a relation between different places and different forms of power which sometimes pushes people to change places or go to a new place in order to achieve power, since people are generally power hungry. However, this can be a source of conflict. We can ask ourselves now in what aspects of power can we find a certain change in its distribution in today’s world? First, we will look at through what means can power be achieved, then we will see how power is distributed throughout time, situation and places.

    It is undeniable that most people will look for any opportunity to seize power in order to eliminate obstacles from their lives which will make obtaining control easier. In order to do so, the most common way is immigrating to a new country to find more opportunities among others in the field of labor as we can see in an extract of it’s a free world. Or in How to get rich in rising Asia we can see that this immigration can happen within a country between two cities since the contrast is so visible, as we can see in a picture of a high-rise building looming behind slum residents outside their home in India. In conclusion, financial ease and money are a sign of power, and to do so it is needed to leave the place you are at if it’s not developed enough or poor.

   Indeed, different places hold different forms of power. In addition, often this ends up creating a segregation between different demographic income classes. For example, in an extract of Slumdog millionaire we can see that there is a clear contrast between the slums and the city showing that different places hold different degrees of power, it is why people form small villages want to move to the city in hopes of a better life, bit for most it remains a dream: there is a discrepancy between different spaces in addition to few exchanges between those places.

    Moreover, over time power has also shifted from certain people to others, which we can see through the evolution of the emancipation of women. For instance, in the movie Made in Dagenham, we can see this shift in power when women started to claim more rights, they had more power over their wage, politics and even in their familial house hold.

     Lastly, globalization is a big factor when it comes to the distribution of power since it’s an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and trade. Indeed, this implies that companies (especially American) outsource and install themselves all over the world, erasing physical borders as we can see in a picture of every content territorially demarcated my name brands instead of borders, which gives them an influence over consumers and induce a consumer society in which they have the monopole.

   In conclusion, the distribution of power whether it’s spatial or demographic has changed over the course of time. Big cities have manifested in being the places that hold most control and money of the country, and women have achieved a certain degree of power throughout their emancipation. One thing is certain, obtaining or achieving power is very difficult, and a sacrifice is needed in order to do so. The shift in mentalities and roles have induced a change in distribution of the ladder.

Notion of myth and heroes:

Hello, today I will present to you the notion of myth and heroes. First, let’s define the terms to have a better understanding of the notion. First of, a myth can be qualified as a widely held but false belief or idea, or it can be considered as legend or a story that has been passed through generation and became somewhat integrated to a tradition. Where as a hero is someone who is admired or idealized for courage and noble qualities, or in literature the hero is the main character in a story who is typically identified with good qualities. In order to illustrate this notion, I have chosen to talk about the conception of a hero. We can ask ourselves now what makes society consider someone as a hero? First, we will look at what makes someone qualify as a hero, and then we will talk about their link to society. 

    First, certain actions from a normal person can transform them into a hero in the public eye. Indeed, in made in Dagenham, the women who take part in the feminist movement by asking to be payed more, have more recognition and independence are considered heroes because they were able to make a big change and pave the way for the next generation of women. Indeed, it wasn’t easy doing so, they had to fight hard for everything, because society at that time was very traditional and didn’t allow women to have as much freedom as today. 

Secondly, there are instances where a someone can be a hero of his own life. We can see this in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia where it proves that anyone can become the hero of his own life, even though in this example the hero of this story has a lot of dark sides: he isn’t always a moral person. However, his perseverance, determination and courage impact the reader who feels empathy toward him and rewards him with the qualification of a hero. We can also add that this realistic portrayal of a him creates a bond with the reader because he can relate and that the moral of the story can be considered a myth because it teaches us a lesson. Another example would be in Secret Daughter, where the mother who is giving birth to a girl in India. It is considered a nuisance because poor families cannot afford a girl, therefore it could be considered a myth. Nevertheless, the husband would have killed the baby girl if the mother didn’t flee to protect her. She can be considered a hero for gathering up courage in order to do so. Finally, we can see how a hero can still contradict the norms in the society he lives in and yet still be one. For instance, in the Untouchables, there is a cast system that still prevails even though it had been banned that implies that lower casts can’t be in interaction with a higher cast or they will rub the “misfortune” and “malediction” on them, which is in this case a myth. When the lower cast bumps into higher cast individual, he was humiliated and yelled at. However, the lower cast individual demonstrated a lot of patience and courage throughout this unfortunate event, which makes him a hero in his own way.

In conclusion, there is two ways to be qualified as a hero: the first way is becoming a hero in the public eye by fighting for something that has an impact in society and helps future generations as well as the current one. The other way of becoming a hero, is becoming on their own; through their own eyes. Sometimes perseverance, braveness, and patience is all someone needs to be qualified as one because these three qualities are very hard to achieve. 

Où j'en suis dans mon devoir

Bonjour, 

Je voudrais avoir votre opinion sur mon travail pour mon bac oral d'anglais. Une correction serait grandement aussi apprécié.

Je vous remercie d'avance!