FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH

Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

Assignment 1 – Informative, analytical and/or argumentative

Should the sale and consumption of alcohol – the world’s favorite drug – be
further restricted, or even banned?

Alcohol is the most common drug accepted by society. People always

have excuses to drink alcohol: if you are glad about something, you celebrate
and you drink. On the other hand, if you had a horrible moment and you want
to forget, you also drink. However, we know perfectly the risks that we face if
we drink more than what we have to. Although these reasons to stop us from
exceeding the limits are known, they are not taken into account. Society
cannot justify any more its lack of awareness about the risks alcohol cause
due to the fact that the media in this globalized world has taken the job to
warn us with advertisements and extra information. But the community
prefers to think nothing would happen or that the problem is not going to
happen to them. That is the reason why if someone is at the bar, having some
fun, he would drink without thinking of the negative side of this: men usually
drink pretending they are cool if they do so in front of women and the number
of women drunkards is increasing more and more. The consequences are
catastrophic and that is the best sign to interpret that alcohol should be
banned.
First of all, from the biological point of view, although this substance
reduces the risk of coronary heart disease if consumed in moderate
proportions, it causes the brain to shrink, irritates the stomach and intestines,
encouraging the development of ulcers and disturbing the uptake of minerals
and vitamins causing vitamin deficiency. It also contributes to cardiovascular
and liver disease like cirrhosis (which cannot be cured). Effects of alcohol
always depend on the amount taken as on the individual. For instance, the
person gets dizzy, feelings of fatigue reduce, but also good judgment, self-
control, and concentration. Reaction times and muscle coordination are
impaired.
What is more, alcohol is just as potentially addictive as many illegal
drugs. Those who become addicted to alcohol often lose their marriages,
families, jobs or even their lives. Any drug which is addictive and destructive
should be illegal in every government.
Another important fact is that alcohol is a contributory factor to an
enormous amount of crimes. In many countries alcohol provokes 60-70 % of
violent crime, including child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault or rape
and murder. Teens under 15 who have consumed alcohol are twice as likely to
have sex as those who have not, which leads to disorder. It also leads to
public disorder, street fights and vandalism. In other words, this drink is one

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FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH
Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

of the prime causes of violence and crime in modern society, and its banning
would reduce the occurrence of these crimes.
Moreover, we need consistency in the drug laws. If cannabis, the other
psychoactive drug, which is not very addictive and which results in virtually
no violent crime or public disorder, needs to be banned because of its mind-
altering effects, then how much more do we have to wait to find out that
alcohol has finally been banned?
An additional disadvantage, apart from the others mentioned before, is
that people, especially young inhabitants, drive after having a drink. More
than the 90 % of traffic accidents are caused by alcohol. This is because the
driver cannot differ distances. He might underestimate speed while driving,
not only having euphoria but also motor upheavals; without mentioning loss of
the visual sharpness and tiredness. Neither the driver nor the co-driver should
have had any drink. It is illegal to drive with more than 80mg of alcohol per
100mg of blood. But even at the legal limit, the driver could be five times
more likely to have an accident than if he had drunk nothing at all. The legal
limit is currently being reviewed; however, governments should not waste
their time doing that if they forbid alcohol.
Taking everything into consideration, I am inclined to believe that
alcohol should be banned as every harmful drug and citizens should raise
awareness and stop evading facts that they know are harmful consequences.
In other words, they should think that alcohol can affect everybody as every
addictive drug does so everyone has to be careful with it.

There is frequent merit in the manner of writing and the choice of

content. The candidate uses appropriate and varied vocabulary. There are
some minor language errors, but most of the work is fluent and, mainly,
very convincing. I think this work deserves 33 out of 40 points.

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

Assignment 2 – Imaginative, descriptive and/or narrative

Loneliness and desperation

I feel such kind of pain inside

I just want to run and hide,
Get away from this tide
Hide from everything, everybody
Because every little thing hurts me
time after time

I have so many problems,

I don’t know how to solve
Such a lonely day here,
I’m just a kid
trying to survive
in this world,
Days of desperation and disgrace
Coming, staying still…

If only this dull sky turned into a sunny one,

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

If only I could figure out this life,

If only I could find a place to fix and ease my soul,
If only I could find somebody to sacrifice for me and dry my eyes,
If only I could find somebody to protect me from those ones
who think people have no feelings at all,
If only I could find open arms to give me strength and support,
If only I could find a hand to hold and lead me
If only I could escape from those ones who are fake.

Nobody hears me screaming,

Nobody wants to understand,
Careless from everything I say…
I’m just forgotten in this long path
Of problems and loneliness called life
I just want to go away.

I’m so young and so destroyed

Torn into pieces by this stronger force…
This feeling of gloominess that has taken over me…
This emotion of confusion
Mixed with smoke and illusions…
Broken dreams left and just gone…
That’s why nobody cares if I’m hurt or lost

I don’t have any way to describe it

I’m afraid of people
I also feel unsafe…
for all their mistakes…

I feel unwanted,
I feel rejected,
I feel like going nowhere,
I feel I have no place…
I feel like dying,
I just feel tired…
I feel there’s no destiny, no way to continue…
I feel like losing my faith
I feel these cold thoughts running through my veins
And even though I can’t help it,
I wonder if there’s anybody outside
That wants to come and take me…
Away…
Forever and ever…
Away from this…
Broken world

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

POEM- Loneliness and desperation

To start with, when I decided to write this poem I was going through an awful
moment in which I felt at a loss and depressed, without identity and place to
go and feel comfortable. I am an only child. That is the reason why I
sometimes feel that I carry the world on my shoulders without any company.
In other words, I’m under constant pressure. That was the first sign that
motivated me to express my feelings in this poem.
Secondly, my English teacher found a moving picture of a little boy left alone
in such a weird and dreadful place, that I decided to use it as an inspiration
for these lines referring also to the image.
While writing the poem, I always compared the picture with my emotions, a
detail which gave me a sensation of freedom.
When I looked at the photograph, many ideas and interpretations appeared in
mind like this boy was just there, lost and hurt, after a tremendous and
chaotic war or something related to the end of the world.
However, I was determined to continue with the first idea.
To make use of a variety of words, I made a list and a clustering of all of them
as they were coming to my mind:

Desperation
Pain
Gloom
Sadness
Loneliness
Blue, gray days
Days of desperation and disgrace are coming soon
Forgotten
Dry eyes
Tears
Search for help
Motionless
Mistakes
Problems
Broken inside
Lost inside
Without a place to go to fix your soul
And dry your eyes,
Protect you from those ones who think people have no feelings at all
Without open arms to give you support and strength
Careless
Broken dreams
Nothing remains from those feeling of happiness I used to have
Lost my personality forever
And everybody tries to bit me with their super ego

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

Runaway
Getaway From everything
I can’t find myself
I can’t see myself
I always look for a charm glance and a faithful smile to recover from that kind
of
Lack of confidence
Homeless
Blind
Rejected
Unwanted
Can’t find myself
To be strong
To have strength
Without place to belong to
Nobody understands me
Hide feelings
Can’t find dreams
Loosing my mind
Falling behind
Falling from grace
Loosing my faith
Shameless people
Everybody wants to hurt me and take advantage of
Giving everything up
Just to getaway
Messed up my mind
Confusion
Never listen to me
Won’t forget your mistakes
Stand up and be strong
Be the difference
No point in thinking about yesterday
I’m so different now
Want to run away
If only I could…
I was forgotten
Do you get it now?
Cannot find a way to describe
Broken heart
Can’t handle this confusion
I’m unable
All by myself
Cold words that hurt
No one understands
I’m going nowhere

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FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH
Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

Somebody has to take me away

Trying to figure out this life
Unsafe
Afraid of people
Weak
Get tired
Get lost
Can’t sleep
People discriminates me
Dull
There’s no destiny, no way to continue

The ones that I liked most where “open arms to give me strength and
support” because it shows the child’s necessity of someone by his side, giving
him care and attention. On the other hand, “rejected” is a perfect word to
portray the other side of this necessity. This is very important in this piece
because it instills the reader to wonder why this infant is in that place alone
and also to ask and imagine which were the mistakes mentioned that people
committed and why he is so afraid of them.
I believe this is a poem for ambivalent and open minds which are able to
create an imaginary story from different points of view about why this kid
uses such a strong word like “rejected” or “unwanted” for this early age.
The tone of the poem is of course charged with desperation, wretchedness
and sorrow, and the most significant phrases for me were “If only this sky
could turn into a sunny one…” and “I’m just forgotten in this long path…”
In the stanza (if only) and another one (I feel), I used repetition to emphasize
in the reader’s mind the idea of necessity and feelings.
Finally, I coped with many challenges before finishing the whole poem due to
the fact that I had to have always in mind I was describing the feelings of a
poor little child, not the ones of a sixteen-year-old teenager. Fortunately, I
could deal with that fact by mixing the situations, I ended up with a more
detailed and memorable piece.

This is a very good attempt to write a moving poem, though too gloomy at
times. Explanations are sound and give a clear picture of intention and
development of the work. However, the poem itself loses unity at certain
moments and the choice of words tends to be too simple. That is why this
piece gets 30 out of 40 points.

Assignment 3 – Reading and Writing

‘Love letter to the earth’

“Love Letter to the Earth” was supposedly written by an Indian chief in the
19th century, on the occasion when the colonizers wanted to expand their

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

empire taking possession of this “new continent” although it had already had
people with a very different way of life. The wise Indian made a plea to take
care of the earth in response to the Great Chief in Washington, who offered
him to buy the Indian lands.
In the first place, from the very beginning, the speaker uses the words “white
man” referring to the conquerors and “red man” to give reference to himself
and his community as Indians.
In addition to this, he compares his words with the stars “My words are like
stars, they don’t set” to express that his words do not disappear like the sun
when it goes down, but they stand firmly like the stars that always shine day
and night…and show us the way…
Secondly, the persona also wonders with amazement “how can you buy or sell
the sky? The warmth of the land?” to ask how could the white man buy
something that was created for all the living organisms in this world. Indians
“do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water” because
they are simple, humble and nature has no owner for them. Indians cannot
take the fields for everybody to give them to the white man, due to the fact
that these are for everyone, every single organism of this universe.
Furthermore, the Indian uses repetition using the word “sacred” to put more
emphasis on the fact that Indians are thankful for the land that gives them
everything. White people can offer and promise comfortable and modern
places or more; but it won’t be easy for the ones who respect the earth, on
the grounds that they care about nature that was and is considered as their
mother. “The shinning water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just
water, but blood of our ancestors” means that their fathers used to fight for
nature as a precious treasure and taught their descendants how to value it.
That is the reason why, by this metaphor, the speaker shows how this
philosophy of appreciating nature is very important to them, because they
keep it in mind by appreciating “every single part of this earth”. There are
also personifications in the passage to give the idea of ancestral and cultural
presence like, “The water’s murmur is the voice of the father of my father”.
What is more, another personification expresses that white men do not
appreciate land, but destroy it without caring about it, due to the fact that it
is painful, “the sights of your cities pains the eyes of the red man”. What is
left to love in your life if you do not protect the beauty of the earth?, asks the
voice in other words, used as a literary technique, “What is there to life if a
man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill…” Needless to say, the
repetition of “the earth is our mother” and the metaphor “…as a place where
even the white man can go and taste the wind…” reinforce the idea that as
the red man preserves every single corner of nature, the others should take it
as an example of lifestyle and also do it. Finally, all these techniques are used
by the author to fulfill his attempt of conveying the idea that there is only
one condition to “sell their lands”, the white men should take care of them.
But even though I consider the red man has a correct point of view about this
and his meaningful words are charged with significance, white men would not
agree because of their avarice. That is the reason why, these days, we are

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Coursework portfolio
Martoccia Filippetti, Fiorela
AR512
0011

lamenting problems and calamities such as tsunamis, earthquakes, nuclear

contamination, global warming, melting of ice and more. If we had taken into
account the philosophy that this red man tried to convey to us almost two
centuries ago, nowadays we would not be regretting natural disasters and
catastrophes we have to suffer.
To conclude, we should stop contaminating the soil, water and air, cutting
trees to obtain wood, and we should avoid hunting; we must also try to stop
the hole in the ozone layer by avoiding the use of sprays and toxic substances
or contribute in some way to impede global warming and ice melting. We have
to make a move to urge governments to finish harmful scientific experiments
like the one which caused last year’s Tsunami, which took thousands of
innocent lives.
We should learn how to take care of this world, because whatever we do to
nature we do to ourselves.

This candidate has analyzed the reading passage in detail, looking into the
way the author’s picturesque language is used to convey ideas successfully.
She has also provided good insight regarding the subject matter and has
contributed with convincing arguments of her own. So, I allot this piece 9
out of 10 points.