In 180 words, provide your point of view by introducing/revising the topic, criticizing it, counterarguing, and proposing salient alternatives.

Talk about your personal, academic, and professional growth in the future by making deductions.

What do you think will be happening to you?

What have been those remarkable changes as well as challenges that you have gone through in your personal, professional, and academic life?

What has triggered you to be who you are now?

In a bookstore

Because it was too small for her

Red

Because he didn't like brushing and washing it so often

After 7 p.m.

He's had it cut shorter

Three years

What are those things, events, and actions, among others, that you used to do when you were a child? What were your habits? What did you use to do? How did you use to be? What are you getting used to doing?

You are expected to write approximately 250 words based on ONE of the following topics:

• The Refugee Crisis and Humanitarian Response

• The Media and Misinformation

• The Impact of Technology on Privacy

  
  

You can write your ideas, your thoughts, the advantages/disadvantages, the pros and cons, among others.

For this activity, you are expected to synthesize the article that was sent following a simple criterion: stand out for the majority of the ideas of the text without summarizing it.

• At home with parents or other family members

• In nurseries/infirmaries or pre-school

• With a professional nanny

  
  

Write an essay in 220-260 words. You should discuss two of the ways of looking after young children in your notes. You should explain which way is more beneficial and provide reasons to support your opinion.

USE ONLY TECHNICAL AND ACADEMIC LANGUAGE. NO CONTRACTION.

1 HOUR

In the midst of student protests, Colombia’s interior minister said Friday she is preparing a bill that would restrict citizens’ rights to protest, using violent incidents as justifications.

The proposal of Interior Minister Nancy Patricia Gutierrez came on the fifth day of student protests and hours before hooded men attacked a government building near the peaceful student protests.

According to Gutierrez, the government has been working on a statutory law that would be a further restriction of the constitutional law.

The minister referred to a constitutional court ruling that sank an article in the 2016 police code that allowed protests only if they are held with the permission of the authorities.

Defense Minister Guillermo Botero previously coined the idea that protests should only be allowed if they “represent the interests of all Colombians and not just a small group” like students or ethnic minorities.

Convenient incidents

According to Gutierrez, “the country has found out that promoting this initiative is important” after initially peaceful protests turned violent on Wednesday.

This week’s protests began in one university over an alleged case of corruption on Monday but expanded to three universities on Wednesday in protest at the violent repression of legitimate protests by the controversial riot police unit ESMAD.

By Friday, students of 12 universities took part in protests that demanded the dismantling of the controversial police unit and were entirely peaceful until a group of hooded men attacked the building of the student loan office Icetex.

Curiously, the attack triggered the ESMAD to attack the protesters while, according to an Icetex official, it took police two hours to respond to their call that hooded men were arriving at their office.

Videos of the violence at Icetex confirmed that no police were present while men threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the building.

Who are the infiltrators?

Student leaders and the minister agree that the student protests were infiltrated. Who these infiltrators are, however, is being disputed.

Police said that 35 people were arrested on Friday for the attack on the Icetex building. Curiously, 32 were released and only three, including one of the organizers of the peaceful protests, were charged.

Like in previous protests, participants said that infiltrated police officers who took part in the violence were apprehended by protesters. In the past, far-left students aligned with illegal armed groups like the ELN,  or far-right activists trying to end the protests have been blamed.

In the end, student leader Jose Cardenas told W Radio that “we don’t know who is behind these acts of vandalism. In our case, it is very difficult to identify whether or not they are with any university. The authorities don’t even know.”

Whether the statutory law proposed by the government will be passed through Congress and the constitutional court is far from certain. President Ivan Duque can only count on a minority coalition in Congress and previous attempts to restrict the right to protest were declared unconstitutional by the court

Colombian unions and student groups have held their second national strike in less than a week, in honor of a dead demonstrator and to protest against rumored government economic plans, corruption, and police violence.

The series of protests began last week with a 250,000-person march and a nationwide strike.

Demonstrators are rallying against economic plans – such as a rise in the pension age and a cut to the minimum wage for young people – that the president, Iván Duque, denies supporting, as well as what they say is a lack of government action to stop corruption and the murder of hundreds of human rights activists.

Marches have attracted thousands of peaceful demonstrators, but Thursday and Friday were also marked by the destruction of mass transit stations, curfews in Cali and Bogotá, and the deaths of three people in connection with alleged looting.

Thousands massed in Bogota’s central Plaza de Bolivar in front of Congress and a block from the presidential palace on Wednesday afternoon. Additional marchers were on their way to join them.

“We’re heading to the Plaza de Bolivar to shout to this government that we have many needs, that we are demanding our rights, that we are tired of them not listening,” said accountant Oliverio Zambrano, 33, as he headed to the plaza in a group of about 40 others.

Saturday’s marches took a dark turn when 18-year-old protester Dilan Cruz was fatally injured by a teargas canister fired by the ESMAD riot police.

Cruz died on Monday and has become a symbol for protesters, who allege the ESMAD is using excessive force in its crowd dispersion efforts. His private memorial service was held on Wednesday morning, and his family has called for nonviolence.

The National Strike Committee, composed of major unions and student organizations, is demanding the government dissolve the force and “purify” the police.

Talks between the committee and the government have stalled amid union demands Duque meet with them without the presence of business leaders or other groups.

The committee has also demanded a rejection of the government’s tax reform proposal, which includes a cut in business duties.

Duque announced several changes to the proposal this week at the cost of about $930m – including the return of value-added tax to the poorest 20% of Colombians and lower contributions to healthcare by minimum wage pensioners.

But his promise to hold a social issues-focused national dialogue through March has sparked derision among marchers and opposition politicians, who see it as a tepid response to growing discontent.

Duque’s administration has been plagued by problems during his nearly 16 months in office, including a combative congress, low approval ratings, and unsuccessful legislative efforts.

2-What do you think About corruption and conflict of interests that lead to national strikes?

3- What do you think About Colombia's policy-making?

4- What do you think About the aftermath of these strikes?

5- What is your opinion on reclaiming for social benefits to national governments?

2) You decide the topic - complex topics

• 3)

• Agenda

• Intro

• Experiences

• Positive/negative aspects

• Advantages/disadvantages

• Justification - importance

• Implications - implies

• Conclusions

Many of the projects controlled by Chinese corporations were obtained with the help of regional elites and the administration of former President Ivan Duque after a visit to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in July 2019. Since this visit, foreign direct investment from the Asian giant skyrocketed and thousands of Chinese workers traveled to Colombia allegedly to work on Chinese projects.

Bogota and Beijing have been secretive about the extent to which Chinese state companies gained control over Colombia’s critical infrastructure.

The port project proposals

China’s Small and Medium Business Corporation (CVCC) wants to “turn Colombia into the first Chinese warehouse in America” with its Sol de Oriente project.

The project, which has yet to be approved, includes a tax-free trade zone with 25,000 warehouses, a seaport, and an airport on the Caribbean coast. The seaport would be the sixth in the world with the capacity to receive 400-meter-long container, according to the CVCC.

The Sol de Oriente project even wants to facilitate “international education” that teaches locals to speak Mandarin.

The project proposal is the latest of four port construction proposals in Uraba, which has access to both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Three of these Chinese-backed projects have yet to be approved.

The Pacific connection

The elites from Antioquia and Choco have also been promoting the construction of a port in the Gulf of Tribuga, which would create a direct naval route between Uraba and China. The government of former President Alvaro Uribe began constructing a road to Tribuga in 2007, but this project was abandoned.

Uribe’s successor, former President Juan Manuel Santos, told the BBC in 2011 that the Chinese government was “very advanced” in the development of a project to connect Uraba’s two coasts by train.

No project proposal about a railroad through the Pacific jungles was ever made public. Santos’ successor, former President Ivan Duque, vowed to revive the Tribuga project while campaigning in 2018, but abandoned the plans almost immediately after taking office.

The Chinese embassy in Bogota has always shown more interest in expanding the existing Pacific port of Buenaventura.

During a November 2016 visit to the port city, the embassy’s top trade official, Donn Wei, said that “Buenaventura is an idea site because of its strategic geographical location.”

Local authorities and the embassy reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding about a $16 million investment in the port.

The Chinese apparently lost interest in Buenaventura until September last year when Ambassador Lan Hu led a delegation of more than 30 representatives of 21 corporations to the port city.

Many of the projects controlled by Chinese corporations were obtained with the help of regional elites and the administration of former President Ivan Duque after a visit to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in July 2019. Since this visit, foreign direct investment from the Asian giant skyrocketed and thousands of Chinese workers traveled to Colombia allegedly to work on Chinese projects. Bogota and Beijing have been secretive about the extent to which Chinese state companies gained control over Colombia’s critical infrastructure.

The port project proposals

China’s Small and Medium Business Corporation (CVCC) wants to “turn Colombia into the first Chinese warehouse in America” with its Sol de Oriente project. The project, which has yet to be approved, includes a tax-free trade zone with 25,000 warehouses, a seaport, and an airport on the Caribbean coast. The seaport would be the sixth in the world with the capacity to receive 400-meter-long container, according to the CVCC.

The Sol de Oriente project even wants to facilitate “international education” that teaches locals to speak Mandarin. The project proposal is the latest of four port construction proposals in Uraba, which has access to both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Three of these Chinese-backed projects have yet to be approved.

The Pacific connection

The elites from Antioquia and Choco have also been promoting the construction of a port in the Gulf of Tribuga, which would create a direct naval route between Uraba and China. The government of former President Alvaro Uribe began constructing a road to Tribuga in 2007, but this project was abandoned.

Uribe’s successor, former President Juan Manuel Santos, told the BBC in 2011 that the Chinese government was “very advanced” in the development of a project to connect Uraba’s two coasts by train. No project proposal about a railroad through the Pacific jungles was ever made public. Santos’ successor, former President Ivan Duque, vowed to revive the Tribuga project while campaigning in 2018 but abandoned the plans almost immediately after taking office.

The Chinese embassy in Bogota has always shown more interest in expanding the existing Pacific port of Buenaventura. During a November 2016 visit to the port city, the embassy’s top trade official, Donn Wei, said “Buenaventura is an ideal site because of its strategic geographical location.”

Many of the projects controlled by Chinese corporations were obtained with the help of regional elites and the administration of former President Ivan Duque after a visit to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in July 2019. Since this visit, foreign direct investment from the Asian giant skyrocketed and thousands of Chinese workers traveled to Colombia allegedly to work on Chinese projects.

Bogota and Beijing have been secretive about the extent to which Chinese state companies gained control over Colombia’s critical infrastructure.

The port project proposals

China’s Small and Medium Business Corporation (CVCC) wants to “turn Colombia into the first Chinese warehouse in America” with its Sol de Oriente project. The project, which has yet to be approved, includes a tax-free trade zone with 25,000 warehouses, a seaport, and an airport on the Caribbean coast. The seaport would be the sixth in the world with the capacity to receive a 400-meter-long container, according to the CVCC.

The Sol de Oriente project even wants to facilitate “international education” that teaches locals to speak Mandarin. The project proposal is the latest of four port construction proposals in Uraba, which has access to both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Three of these Chinese-backed projects have yet to be approved.

The Pacific connection

The elites from Antioquia and Choco have also been promoting the construction of a port in the Gulf of Tribuga, which would create a direct naval route between Uraba and China. The government of former President Alvaro Uribe began constructing a road to Tribuga in 2007, but this project was abandoned.

Uribe’s successor, former President Juan Manuel Santos, told the BBC in 2011 that the Chinese government was “very advanced” in the development of a project to connect Uraba’s two coasts by train. No project proposal about a railroad through the Pacific jungles was ever made public. Santos’ successor, former President Ivan Duque, vowed to revive the Tribuga project while campaigning in 2018 but abandoned the plans almost immediately after taking office.

The Chinese embassy in Bogota has always shown more interest in expanding the existing Pacific port of Buenaventura. During a November 2016 visit to the port city, the embassy’s top trade official, Donn Wei, said “Buenaventura is an ideal site because of its strategic geographical location.”

Local authorities and the embassy reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding about a $16 million investment in the port. The Chinese apparently lost interest in Buenaventura until September last year when Ambassador Lan Hu led a delegation of more than 30 representatives of 21 corporations to the port city.