TASK 1 - THEMATIC CONTENT 1

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MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD OUR WORLD, OUR VISION
 THEMATIC UNIT: MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD
THEMATIC CONTENT ONE: LEADERS

TASK: You will apply to a graduate program in a foreign university. One

of the requirements of the application process is to write a statement of
purpose, so you will write one. It should include the following: a) a description
of your educational background and the reasons why you chose the
graduate program; b) a summary of your undergraduate achievements so
far that stimulated your desire for graduate studies and c) the contribution
you will make to the program and why they should choose you.

GOALS:
• To learn about salient people in the different academic disciplines and their
contributions to their fields.
• To learn about the creation, format and writing of a well-elaborated Statement of
Purpose.

LANGUAGE FOCUS
2
Sentence connectors (conclusion, result, exemplifying) Buying organic fruit and
vegetables is a better choice.   In the first place, they are less contaminated by
chemical pesticides.   For another reason, they are not genetically modified. In
addition, they are allowed to mature or ripen fully.   Finally, they have a shorter
“shelf life” so they are sold when fresh or best.  Taken from: http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/
connectsum.html for educational purposes.

Past modals (should have, could have, would have) Pyramids could have been built, even before
the Egyptians themselves / The study would have been reported before the deadline.

Review of simple and continuous tenses (present and past): She is writing her thesis while
having a part time job in the same academic and professional field / They were conducting a
survey when their boss arrived and asked them to leave the office.

Relative clauses with who-that-which: Her curriculum, which she writes to apply for a new job
in the US bank, has to be finished by June / Jane, whose mother is a physician, is very good at
biology / Do you know the reason why so many people in the world learn English?

Reporting verbs (invite, remind, agree, advise, deny, suggest, apologise) The teacher reminded us
that the lesson started at six in the evening / The journalist agreed that Einstein had received
the award the previous night

Collocations. Many students at the university have recently been calling for the abolition of
bullfightings as they are seen as cruel to animals /

The boss and the workers struck a bargain which led to the strike ending peacefully

Review of perfect tenses: simple and continuous. She has been preparing her Statement of
Purpose for more than a year / The fair has been a total success / They had interviewed many
people for the position.

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 Reported speech: questions and commands. “Please, get in touch with them today.” - The thesis
advisor asked me / “Have you set your alarm clock?” - The professor asked me previously the test.

Verb Pairs She got married before she graduated from her Master´s degree / I got engaged in a new
project at the University / I have been in love with my career from the very first semester.

Most common idioms and expressions related to your academic field. leap of faith / turning point / in
common.

Mixed Tenses: Well, I have been following them for more than a month now, but so far I  have
not been able to catch them in the act. Sometimes I   worry that by the time they’re caught, I’ll
have  my law degree and I’ll be defending them! Taken from: http://www.grammarbank.com/verb-tenses-exercises.
html for educational purposes.

Review of Passive Voice. I don’t understand why you don’t have the report. It was sent to you over
a week ago / The Amazon rainforest is extremely important to the ecology of the earth. 40% of the
world’s oxygen is produced there.

Pronunciation:

Musical aspects of pronunciation: stress, intonation and rhythm (reading aloud)

HOW TO WRITE A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

Visit the following websites and pdf files to check the structure, elements,
format and organization of a Statement of Purpose. Take notes from them in
your portfolio: 3

Taken from: https://goo.gl/jmwCnX for educational purpose

Taken from: https://goo.gl/mXEncx for educational purpose

Taken from: https://goo.gl/rXmelv for educational purpose

Then, discuss the information you found on the previous websites with two of your classmates;
do not forget to mention the tips, syntax and lexicon you learnt to write your own statement
of purpose.

Afterwards, read the following example of Statement of Purpose silently and use it as the model
of the one you have to write.

INPUT: READING:
COUNSELING MASTERS, MENTAL HEALTH, HISPANIC MOM

As a Hispanic woman who is very cosmopolitan in her outlook, my greatest strengths

include my open mind, receptiveness, and especially my profound respect for multi-cultural
experiences and diversity. I was born and raised in Mexico until I turned 18 and moved to the
USA. My experiences have come together since that time to keep me very engaged with the
subject of mental health and the value of counseling. As with many Latinas, we have suffered
in special ways as a result of the stridently machista character of our sub-cultures; thus, we

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MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD OUR WORLD, OUR VISION
 have special needs to be met by the mental health community.
And I hope to contribute to greater awareness of Latina issues as a
graduate student in your program.

I made my way into community college only to be forced to

drop out mid semester because we (my husband, 2 children
and I) moved and my going to school was causing too much
friction in my marriage. I was forced to compromise with a trade
school and I became a hairstylist. In this position, I was able to
extensively interview dozens of women from a variety of cultural
backgrounds who were to greater or lesser degrees clearly trapped
in a traditional context.

I became the unofficial counselor and adviser, not only for many of my customers, but for
fellow hairstylists mostly forced into the trade as I was by a lack of better options. The fact
that so many other women out there felt like I did, reassured me that I was not alone, and
I was certainly not the exception; I was right! The clarity that came to me concerning my
need to make a success of myself the next time that I tried to get an education, and I focused
my sights on a degree in Business Administration.

By the time that I finished my business degree, I had realized that my real calling in life was
psychology.
The children are now gone and have had sufficient time to develop a profound passion for
social justice issues insofar as they related to Latinas. I see social justice issues as an important
facet of graduate education and I look forward to learning so many things concerning
culture and economic issues. I want very much to devote the rest of my life to the defense
of the human rights of Latina women and children, both here and in Latin America. I have
4
begun networking in this regard and look forward to making enormous investments of my
time in this area as a graduate student and beyond on creative development. Having the
privilege of earning my Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology will undoubtedly also
be of service to me as a business woman, learning how to make my own business endeavors
more enjoyable for everyone concerned.

I want to study for an advanced degree in Counseling Psychology because I am convinced

that your program is in the optimal area for preparing me for a lifetime of fulfilling service,
especially for women and minorities. I see special business initiatives that are targeted to
inner city women, and especially mothers who are especially hopeful to shield the next
generation as much as possible from the abysmal social problems and injustices in this one.
I am enthusiastic about new forms of community that are emerging that are dedicated to
counseling, especially in the work environment. I am convinced that the XXXX University’s
Master of Counseling Program is best tailored to my interests and long term aspirations in
Counseling Psychology.

XXU’s MC Program will provide me with the optimal tools for helping suppressed women
overcome barriers and liberate themselves from old beliefs and perceived limitations that
prevent them from defining their true personalities, making the right decisions and choices
for themselves and their children. I want to contribute to the way that greater awareness
of the big picture helps conflicted women to overcome obstacles and empowers them to
greater levels of education.
I am a firm believer in lifelong education and I want to constantly grow professionally,
emotionally, and spiritually in celebration of our multicultural work environment. I want
to help people learn to choose how to live their lives. This is why I want to become a
professional counseling psychologist, working at hospitals as well as women’s centers, or
in the private sector.

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My research interests intersect at the overlap of minority concerns and gender issues in the
workplace. I hope to develop training programs that empower workers and supervisors to
develop heightened understandings of and appreciation and respect for each other. At the
same time that I assist women with long term histories of low self esteem and mistreatment—I
also want to help companies develop more humane faces, with more satisfied and more loyal
employees. I want to assist in the creation of more healthy work environments that are
conducive to higher productivity and higher employee self esteem. I am convinced that the
XXXX MC Program is the key to the realization of my professional aspirations.
Taken from: https://goo.gl/Sk0xku For educational Purposes. Adapted and modified by: Julian Esteban Zapata Gomez

ACTION ONE: Read about salient people and their role in the different academic field.

PRE:

Discuss the life of salient people in our context (university, city, country,
continent and world). You can make a list of the characteristics and features
a salient person should have. Then, organize that information through the
following mind map.

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MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD OUR WORLD, OUR VISION
 Talk about professors and academics in your faculty who have influenced your professional
and academic life. You can mention their personality, knowledge, expertise, why you admire
them, what they taught you and how they have influenced you.

A. WHILE:
Watch the following video about Albert Einstein.

Taken from: https://goo.gl/d0WpD4 For educational purposes.

Answer the following questions:

a) Why is Albert Einstein a cultural icon?

b) What inventions did Albert come up with?

c) Where did he graduate from?

d) What happened in 1905?

6 e) What is Einstein´s masterpiece?

f) What year did Albert receive the Nobel Prize?

g) What theory did Albert receive the Nobel Prize in Physics for?

h) In addition to his research, Albert is also known for his:

B. Read the article about the life of Albert Einstein, searching for
information related to the contributions he made to the academic
world.

Physicist, Scientist (1879–1955): Albert Einstein was a German-born

physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, among
other feats. He is considered the most influential physicist of the 20th
century.

Background and Early Life: Born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm,

Württemberg, Germany, Albert Einstein grew up in a secular Jewish
family. His father, Hermann Einstein, was a salesman and engineer
who, along with his brother, founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J.
Einstein & Cie, a Munich-based company that manufactured electrical
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equipment. His mother, the former Pauline Koch, ran the family
household. Einstein had one sister, Maja, born two years after him.
Towards the end of the 1880s, Max Talmud, a Polish medical student,
who sometimes dined with the Einstein family, became an informal
tutor to young Albert. Talmud had introduced his pupil to a children’s
science text that inspired Einstein to dream about the nature of light.
Thus, during his teens, Einstein penned what would be seen as his first
major paper, “The Investigation of the State of Aether in Magnetic Fields.”

Marriage and Family: After graduating from Polytechnic, Einstein

faced major challenges in terms of finding academic positions, having
alienated some professors over not attending class more regularly in
lieu of studying independently. Meanwhile, Einstein continued to grow
closer to Maric, but his parents were strongly against the relationship due her ethnic background.
Nonetheless, Einstein continued to see her, with the two developing correspondence via letters in
which he expressed many of his scientific ideas. In 1902, the couple had a daughter, Lieserl, who
might have been later raised by Maric’s relatives or given up for adoption. Her ultimate fate and
whereabouts remain a mystery. The marriage would not be a happy one, however, with the two
divorcing in 1919 and Maric having an emotional breakdown in connection to the split. Einstein,
as part of a settlement, agreed to give Maric any funds he might receive from possibly winning the
Nobel Prize in the future. He had also begun an affair some time earlier with a cousin, Elsa Löwenthal,
whom Einstein wed during the same year of his divorce. He would continue to see other women
throughout his second marriage, which ended with Löwenthals death in 1936.

Miracle Year: While working at the patent office, Einstein had the time to further his ideas that
had taken hold during his studies at Polytechnic and, thus, cemented his theorems on what would
be known as the principle of relativity. In 1905—seen by many as a “miracle year” for the theorist—
Einstein had four papers published in the Annalen der Physik, one of the best known physics 7
journals of the era. The four papers focused on the photoelectric effect, Brownian motion, the special
theory of relativity (the most widely circulated of the write-ups) and the matter/energy relationship,
thus taking physics in an electrifying new direction. In his fourth paper, Einstein came up with the
equation E=mc2, suggesting that tiny particles of matter could be converted into huge amounts of
energy, foreshadowing the development of atomic power. Famed quantum theorist Max Planck
backed up the assertions of Einstein, who thus became a star of the lecture circuit and academia,
taking on various positions before becoming director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics
from 1913 to 1933.

Relativity and Nobel Prize: In November, 1915, Einstein completed the general theory of
relativity, which he considered the culmination of his life research. He was convinced of the merits
of general relativity because it allowed for a more accurate prediction of planetary orbits around the
sun, which fell short in Isaac Newton’s theory, and for a more expansive, nuanced explanation of how
gravitational forces worked. Einstein’s assertions were affirmed via observations and measurements
by British astronomers Sir Frank Dyson and Sir Arthur Eddington during the 1919 solar eclipse, and
thus a global science icon was born. In 1921, Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics though he
wasn’t actually given the award until the following year due to a bureaucratic ruling. Because his
ideas on relativity were still considered questionable, he received the prize for his explanation of
the photoelectric effect though Einstein still opted to speak about relativity during his acceptance
speech.

Move to U.S. and Atomic Energy: In 1933, Einstein took on a position at the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey and never went back to his native land. It was here that
he would spend the rest of his life working on a unified field theory—an all-embracing paradigm
meant to unify the varied laws of physics. Other European scientists also left regions threatened by
Germany and immigrated to the states, with there being concern over Nazi strategies to create an
atomic weapon.

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MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD OUR WORLD, OUR VISION
 Final Years and Legacy: On April 17, 1955, while working on a speech to honor Israel’s
seventh anniversary, Einstein suffered an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was taken to the
University Medical Center at Princeton for treatment but refused surgery, believing that he
had lived his life and was content to accept his fate. “I want to go when I want,” he stated at
the time. “It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to go. I will do
it elegantly.” Einstein died at the university medical center early the next morning—April 18,
1955—at the age of 76.

During the autopsy, Thomas Stoltz Harvey removed Einstein’s brain, reportedly without the
permission of his family, for preservation and future study by doctors of neuroscience. Einstein’s
remains were cremated and his ashes were scattered in an undisclosed location, following his
wishes. After decades of study, Einstein’s brain is now located at the Princeton University
Medical Center. A veritable mountain of books have been written on the iconic thinker’s life,
including Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and Einstein: A Biography by
Jürgen Neffe, both from 2007. Einstein’s own words are presented in the collection The World
as I See It. Taken from: http://www.biography.com/people/albert-einstein-9285408
For educational Purposes. Adapted and modified by: Julian Esteban Zapata Gomez

From the previous reading: Identify connectors, modals, simple and continuous tenses and
relative clauses used in the text, and then extract 5 of each category to your portfolio.

POST:

Solve the exercises using the information learnt on the previous video and reading.
8 Read the same article aloud to practice pronunciation, intonation and rhythm,
pausing at each punctuation mark and observing the tempo in each sentence or
statement.

LANGUAGE FOCUS:

I. Complete the sentences with one Modal in Past:

1. Nobody answered the phone at the clinic. It ___________ closed early.

2. Einstein ______________________ revised more for his exams. He thinks he’ll fail!

3. I don’t know where they (Einstein and Maric) went on holiday, but they bought Euros before
they left so they ______________________ gone to France or Germany.

II. Make the correct past modal form.

1) Einstein ______________________ (buy) Radium, but he didn’t know he needed it. (past
possibility).

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2) Maric ______________________ (start) saving money years ago! (past advice / regret).

3) The weather in Germany ___________ ___________ (be) any worse! (past negative possibility).

4) Albert´s wife ______________________ (finish) the work, but she felt ill and had to go home.
(past willingness).

5) Maric ______________________ (leave) earlier. She missed her flight. (past advice / regret).
Taken from: http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/could-have-should-have-would-have-exercise-1.html For
educational Purposes. Adapted and modified by: Julian Esteban Zapata Gomez

ACTION TWO: Write a short text explaining the reasons why you chose your career.

PRE:
Based on the previous activities and using some of the vocabulary, information,
features, characteristics and structures you learnt both in the input and in the
previous action, write the following text:

Brainstorm, in your portfolio, and you write words and ideas connected to your academic life
and experience, and the achievements you have obtained so far.

WHILE:
9
ACTIVITY:
Write the section of your Statement of Purpose where you mention a
summary of your undergraduate achievements so far that stimulated your
desire for graduate studies, pointing out the role you think you have had
and will have as an academician, and the way some salient people have
influenced your academic and professional life.

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MY PROFESSIONAL ROLE IN THE WORLD OUR WORLD, OUR VISION
 POST:
LANGUAGE FOCUS:
With the information, vocabulary, structures and punctuation used in the
previous reading and written activities, answer the following exercises related
to reasons you had to choose your career:
10

I. Review of simple and continuous tenses

• Using the words in parentheses, complete the text below with the appropriate tenses, either
simple or continuous.

1. In the 19th century, it _________________ (take) two or three months to cross North
America by covered wagon. The trip_________________ (be) very rough and often dangerous.
Things_________________ (change) a great deal in the last hundred and fifty years. Now you
can fly from New York to Los Angeles in a matter of hours.
2. This mountain _________________ (be, never) climbed by anyone. Several
mountaineers___________ (try) to reach the top, but nobody_________________ (succeed, ever)
the climb is extremely difficult and many people_________________ (die) trying to reach the
summit.
3. I_________________ (visit, never) Africa, but I _________________ (travel) to South America
several times. The last time I_________________ (go) to South America, I _________________ (visit)
Brazil and Peru. I _________________ (spend) two weeks in the Amazon, _________________
(hike) for a week near Machu Picchu, and_________________ (fly) over the Nazca Lines.

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