FOA Reflection

The main focus of my Oral Activity, was analyzing a speech, while identifying rhetorical figures and persuasive techniques involved throughout the speech, which is what we have been studying on the course. While analyzing the speech, we first explained the context and the we proceeded with analysis, so the audience could have an idea of what the speech is about.
While preparing this presentation, I learned to pay more attention to little details in texts, given that in the speech almost every word represents something important, and every phrase is said for a reason, being a metaphor or just a simple emotional phrase. In our performance we were somewhat nervous because we were the first ones to present, but we knew that we would be taking this pressure off of us, so we wanted to present inmediately. Our structure was solid, the audience got interersted in our speech, and they also seemed to be interested in our presentation about it so I believe we accoplished our objective. I personally think that I could work on my pronunciation and I should really try using certain props to make the presentation more interesting. While on the Analysis I will work more on the little details that I've been talking about, because they are the reason why the speech gets to the audience and the heart of our presentation.

Reading comprehension

1.- Pan African is a term that relates to people form all African countries and is usually used as a reference to the Pan Africanism, which is an ideology that tries to conceal the unity of the African country. This concept is important because it reaches to all people so they feel identified with this term, which unifies them.
2.-  idk

3.- Thao Mbeki was deputy president when Mandela was the president of South Africa. He was the first chairperson-in-office of the Commonwealth of Nations. Mbeki reduced the unemployment of the population and raised the country's economy by 4.5% per year during his term.
4.-
Repetition: I have seen the corruption(...). I have seen concrete expression(...).  This repetition contrasts the idea he is trying to conceal. He is trying to show people hat he knows what is really going on.
Allusion: "(...) to remind ourselves of the Latin saying: Gloria est consequenda- Glory must be sought after. ". He not only advocates a phrase that makes him sound smart, but the phrase has the purpose to create a feeling on the people, by alluding a concrete famous phrase.
Metaphor (figurative speech): "My body has frozen in our frosts(...)". He is alluding to having lived through the weather of Africa.

This rethorical devices really complements the speech, giving it more authority and giving it the ability to reach the audience, appealing to Ethos and Pathos, as well as Logos.

A Deconstructed Ad

 

This is a Name Calling ad, targeting the McDonald´s brand. As an image is worth a thousand words, the massive space that this fat Ronald McDonald is using atracts the customer´s view in a matter of seconds, which is crucial to contrast the point that the picture is trying to achieve. The slogan is the traditional one from McDonalds, "I´m loving it", which in this case is not used because of it´s catchiness, but because it uses a phrase said by the brand, which is now being used to tell people the fact that "they are loving the unhealthy food". This ad has no copy, given that the only and central text is te one we just mentioned. As this is not an ad directly from McDonalds but a name calling ad, the brand signature  wouldn´t exist. However everyone can refer to McDonalds given the classic clown and the colors, as well as the slogan. A rethorical device used is the allusion, given that they are referring to McDonalds famous "I´m loving it", using it against them.

Procrastination refers to the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, posponing tasks. This is another good example for name calling ads, given that it targets the famous social media Facebook. The image is simple and concrete, so people could relate it inmediately to Facebook, creating a more direct message to the viewer. The slogan is not taken in count, but the text says "procrastination" instead of "Facebook", which stands for people who probably uses too much Facebook, being characterized by being apathetic and laid-back, there the term procrastination. Copy is again inexistent, as well as the signature, because it obviously isn´t an ad directly from the brand, but an ad that represents a critic to the social network.