All My Sons - Bridging

Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born in New York. Miller's father had owned a garment factory, so Miller had a very comfortable life, up until the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Since then, Miller had to work every morning before school in order to help the family out. Miller's plays deal with social and political issues such as one's response to the pressures exerted by his family. A recurring theme of his works is the conflict between one's personal interests and needs versus the responsibility for the society and moral corruption, which is caused by materialism and greed.

In Miller's play, "All My Sons", we can see the difference between the values of the main character, Joe Keller, and his son Chris. Joe is a self-made man, who started from nothing and built his own successful plant. The only thing Joe values is his family. He believes there's nothing that is "bigger than the family" and anything should be excused within the family. However, his son, Chris, is an idealist and a former soldier, who believes the responsibility for the society is above all. During World War II, Joe decided to ship defected cylinder parts to the army, which eventually caused the deaths of 21 pilots. Joe excused his war crimes by saying it was for the family and that wanted them to have a comfortable life. Also, he said that if he didn't ship the parts, the army was ready to cancel his contract and his company, which was his biggest achievement in life, would've been ruined. Chris' idealism is phony. Despite the fact that he suspected what his father has done, he still used the tainted money of the factory and kept working with his father after the war. When Chris found out that his father was guilty, he wanted to lock him up in prison. However, he caved under his family's pressure and became a "practical" and down to earth man. He wanted to leave and start a new life.

 The information helped me understand better the themes of "All My Sons". I can see that Joe chose to follow his interests and greedy needs over his responsibility to the society. By doing so, he killed 21 men and got away from punishment by lying at court whilst his partner was sent to jail. The materialism had affected his moral judgment, and corrupted his mind. Chris represents the responsibility to the society – he wanted to hand over his own father to the police in order to make his father pay for his mistakes. We can see how the pressure of his family changes his character, and surrenders his moral mind by making him more "practical" and giving up for his values.

To sum up, we can see how Miller's themes are reflected in his play "All My Sons". It all comes down to one instructive lesson – be a better person, take responsibility for your actions and don’t let anyone undermine your values. Always be true to yourself.

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Daphna

Letter of Complaint

10th Urim St'
Holon, Israel
85664
November 3rd, 2013

Mr. Tim Cook
C.E.O
Apple Computer, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop st.
Cupertino, California
95014

Dear Mr. Cook,
Your company has recently raised its' products prices by 35%. I am writing this letter to express my dissatisfaction with this move.

First, I would like to mention I have been buying your products constantly ever since the first "iPod" went out. Your products have a quality that I can't find anywhere else in the market, and your prices fit the quality. I get it. Quality costs money. Considering your current prices, increasing the prices by 35% is just a daylight robbery and it might scare off some of your customers, like me.

In addition, I would like to offer you some suggestions to improve your service and products. In my opinion, you should make a whole new design for the next iPhone generation, since all of its' prior generations all look alike. The customer wants to feel he really buys a whole other new phone, and not the same old thing with a different name. People want a renovation, and I believe Apple, which is a well-known company, has the resources to do so. Another thing is, considering the prices you charge, I think you should extend from 1 year to 2 years your warranty for your products. I currently posess an iPhone 4th generation which I bought 18 months ago, and it has a lot of problems such as very low volume in the speakers, the "home" button does not respond etc. Those are very common and well-known problems with this generation. I think it would be appropriate that with the price you charge for your premium devices, I won't have to send my iPhone to a private lab in order to fix these problems.

Would you consider my suggestions and think at least on some of them? Please note that I am a fan of your devices, and my suggestions are for your company's good. My suggestions are based on my experience, together with my family's, friends' and a lot of people on the internet experience with your products. I had felt the need to express our feelings especially now, when you have decided to suddenly raise your prices.
I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely yours,
Adam Levi.

Good work

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Daphna

Volunteering

Being involved in your community is a very important experience that more people should experience, especially students and teenagers, since they have so much free time. Today, there are students that volunteer and some teenagers are very involved in their community, but its not enough. Volunteering is a very rewarding experience in which you can actually feel how it benefits you after your activity in the community. "You get what you give" is definitely one sentence to describe this activity, meaning if you give yourself to the community, it will benefit you in a way you never thought of before and can literally change people's lives. So how can we encourage students to be more involved in their community ?

In my opinion, schools have a very important role in the students' education and values, therefore they should promote the value of volunteering in their students. For starters, the schools can contact some community centers, asking some of their representatives to come and lecture to the students about being involved in their community, and then take them out to see what it actually means and let them experience it for 1 day with their teachers. In that way, the students can understand closely the meaning of "volunteering" and see that there are many ways to contribute their society and how fun it is. The best part is that you get to choose your own group that you like in the community center, and take one or two close friends with you in order to feel more comfortable in your first time of volunteering.

For example, when I was in the 9th grade I had the opportunity to volunteer for the first time. I sat with some of my friends and a community center's guide and talked to mentally-disabled people about the recent news of our small country. I can't describe in words the look in their eyes when they talked to us, and I must say some of them are very intelligent people too. It was so fun, we didn't even notice it was late. On my way home with my friends, we decided to do this "thing" on a regular basis - once in a week. That's all you need to change people's lives dramatically. The disabled people were so happy and excited to see us again. I swear one of them almost cried with joy.

To sum up, volunteering is a big word, yet too small to describe all of the emotions and spiritually fulfilment in its' experience. So students, teenagers, or any other person that reads this right now, my suggestion to you is this - Get off your sofa and start getting involved in your community in any way you can, from the smallest thing, like helping an old lady to cross the road, to volunteering in your community center. You don't know how much power you have and how much lives you can change. This world is ours to take care of, and we're the only ones that can make it a better place to live in.
I love it! Great work.(It's a but too long through....)
(100)
Daphna

To Be Caught Red-Handed

To be caught red-handed is one of the most stressful things there is. You just freeze on the spot, having nothing to say to defend yourself. I got caught red-handed once, while I was working last year.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been working at "Cinema City" as a seller(ww.) in the popcorn stand. I was on a night shift when my friends came to see a movie. I saw them in the line(ww.) and told them to come to my cashbox stand. I gave them free popcorn, drinks and chocolate, which I was not allowed to do. Without knowing, my supervisor was watching. I smiled as they went away. 10 minutes after they were gone, along with all the other people who needed to buy snacks for the movie, my supervisor called me to the manager's office. The manager asked if there is(gr.) something I want(gr.) to confess about. Although I knew what he was talking about, I replied innocently "No". My supervisor told(ww.) he saw me giving away free popcorn. I had nothing to say. I felt a pinch in my heart, and my stomach flipped. I got fired.

On my way home, feeling ashamed of myself, I started thinking of what I had done and what it had cost me. I learned 2 important lessons that day. The first one is – never break your work place's rules. It was a stupid thing to do and I lost my job because of it. The second lesson is – don't lie after you get caught. Chances are your boss already knows what you have done and wants to give you a chance to confess about it. Who knows, maybe if I wouldn't have lied(gr.) I could have just got a warning. Well, at least my friends had fun that night.

Very good story and nicely written. Your grade remains the same.
(94)
Daphna

All the Years Of Her Life - Ex. 5: Our Teenage Son

He always watches T.V,
or playes the computer,
along with a shirt or pair of pants
that is just throwned on his unmade bed.
Never washed a dish in his life,
yet hopes to find the perfect wife.
Maybe someday along the road,
He'll grow up and be an adult.

A Letter To The Editor

10th Urim St'
Holon, Israel
85664
September 8th, 2013 

The Editor
Haarez'
54th Shenkin St'
Tel Aviv, Israel
55746

Dear Editor,

I was browsing the web when I came across your article, and since I'm a student I was very curious about the title I read. Many, if not all, of the schools in Israel use tests to evaluate their students' academic achievements.

In my opinion, tests aren't  and shouldn't be the way to evaluate the students' achievements. Tests rely on memory and put pressure on the student, so his achievements in the test can't really reflect his full capabilities and control of the knowledge he is tested on. If tests are meant to meassure our effort and knowledge, then how come some students get higher grades without opening a book, while others put their heart in the studies and get lower grades. We are all different individuals, and have different abilities and thinking processes, so why then are we tested by the same means?

In addition, tests have become the only reason students come to school and learn. Some of them don't even show up in school, and just learn from the summarizes the teacher gives them. They memorize it for the tests and then forget it a month later. Is that what intellegence is? Is this what schools were meant for? The students miss the important thing in the whole process: expanding their knowledge and developing a creative mind. Students should want to wake up every morning and go to school, and not only because they have to.

To sum up, tests should be cancelled, in order to make students really want to learn. Look at Finland, I think they did a pretty good job with their education system, that is proved to be the most effective one in the world! There are a lot of other ways to evaluate the students' academic achievements such as projects, make the students lecture etc. As our Finance Minister Yair Lapid (who by the way, didn't finish high school) said, "education isn't about measurement, but about learning. Because knowledge and intellect shouldn't be graded".

Sincerely yours.
Doron Levy.

Excellent letter!

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Daphna.

As I Grew Older - Bridging

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an African-American writer and poet who grew up in America and tried to change his reality with his writing. He captured the feelings and emotions of his people in his writing and was proud to in his african american herritage. He was a leading figure in the african-american artistic movement called the Harlem Renaissance.

The poem "As I Grew Older" was written by him in 1926, as part of the African-American artistic movement, called the Harlem renaissance, protest. The speaker in the poem describes his life and his hopes and dreams, which are very similar to the writer's dreams, so we can assume he wrote this poem about himself. As he grows older, we can see the changes in his point of view, since he realizes life isn’t as easy as he thought and a "wall" has risen between him and his dreams. He realizes that he's different since he's black. He accepts the fact of being black and is proud of it and tries to break through this wall of stereotypes with his very hands. It's a metaphor of what he does in the real life – tries to achieve the racial equality and freedom his people deserve with his writing, and of course you have to use your hands to write.

To sum up, the Harlem Renaissance members believed that through art, literature and music, African-American could achieve their goal – achieve racial equality and integration in the American society. Langston dedicated his life to that goal, and tried to "break through the wall".

Good work.
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Daphna

Inroduction To Poetry - Post Reading

Poetry can be taught in many different ways. Teachers can read a poem along with a slideshow that matches the words, or outside in a park on the grass, or ask the students to listen to the poem with their eyes closed and imagine it. After the students listen to it, they interpret it from their point of view. Those are only the tip of the iceberg. You can find better ways with just a little creativity and thinking outside the box.

However, in most of the schools, poetry is taught in a very banal and boring way. Teachers read the poem in the classroom and begin to analyze it and try to find its' meaning by force. Students get homework to deal with the poem, and in a short time are tested on it. They want to succeed and get a good grade, so they learn from their teachers' summary of the poem, and once they get their grade they forget the poem. This way is meant to teach the students how to use different thinking skills and analyze a poem, and has nothing to do with poetry and its' beauty.

I, personally as a student, would like teachers to teach us students poetry in a creative and fun way, like listen to it outside in a park with my eyes closed, so that we could actually enjoy it and won't see it as something we have to do for our grade. Students should experience the poem in order to understand its' meaning in their own. Once they do that, they will be able to get a good grade without learning from the teachers' summary and will remember the poem since they understood it in their own.

To sum up, there are many ways to teach poetry, but only the creative and liberated ones are the ones that can make the students enjoy and understand it in their own.

Excellent! Very interesting.
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Daphna

A Summer's Reading - Post Reading Task 2

                                                                                                                        July 21^st, 1957
Dear Mr. Cattanzara,

It's been a long time since the last time we talked. How are you? And how is your wife? Hope you're both fine.
I'm writing to tell you what happened in my life since that fateful night when I met you on the street. I don’t know how much you remember from that mentioned night, but I still remember your words "George, don’t do what I did". It took me a while, but I got on the right track. I went to the library, picked up the 100 books and started reading eagerly. Guess how much time it took me to finish them all? That's right, two months! Then I went back to school in order to graduate and I aced the final exam.

After I finished school, I went to a College in New York. I met there two important people in my life – John and Kelly. John and I became friends and we had an idea to start a company of our own (as you probably remember, I don’t like the idea of people telling me what to do), and Kelly is now my girlfriend.

Even though our company idea didn’t really succeed, I finally found my real passion, writing.It  turns out I'm talented. I'm writing a book about motivation and success. Currently, I work at a restaurant as a waiter in order to afford publishing my book. Be sure you'll be the first to get a copy when it is done. Kelly believes in me and we are very happy together. I think you would like her.

Well, all of these things couldn’t have happened without your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate you. You were there for me when no one else was. You motivated me to pick up my education and pursue my dreams instead of being lazy and wish for a better life. I have no words to thank you, and I'll cherish you forever.

                                                                           Yours,
                                                                  George Stoyonovich.

Very good work.
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Daphna

Summer's Reading - Bridging

Bernard Malamud was an American writer who wrote about ordinary people, often immigrants, trying to attain the American middle-class dream. His characters are often awkward and isolated from society.

You can see in the information above the connections between the writer's writing style and the characters in his story "A Summer's Reading". In the story, George is an immigrant, who sets goals to get a good job by picking up his education, since he has dropped out of high school. At that time (the beginning of the 20^th century) , the immigrants' point of view was if you had a good education you could get a good job and be a successful man. George's goals and dreams are typical of an immigrant. Immigrants want to succeed in a place which is not their homeland, and have many difficulties on the way they have to overcome to achieve that dream.

Another characterization of Malamud's writing is the isolation of his characters. George is very lonely and has no friends. He wanders at night to the park, dreaming of having a girlfriend and money to afford her. He doesn't have a connection with his father or with anyone in the neighborhood, except for Mr. Cattanzara and his sister Sophie. They are the only ones who care about him and try to motivate him to read books and pick up his education. 

The information adds to my understanding of the story by revealing the writer's writing style and his characters qualities. Also, according to his name, the writer is probably an immigrant himself and when he writes about the characters searching for hope and meaning within poor and lonely life, he actually shares his own feelings and experiences as an immigrant.

Now it's excellent! I enjoyed reading that.
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Daphna