上智大学国際教養学部公募推薦入試 傾向と対策 - revised -

☆傾向   身近な話題や時事問題に関連する普遍的テーマ、特に国際的な課題と大学の役割

 

出題年   　　　出題内容                                             

2025年　社会改革法案の具体的なアイディア

2024年　リベラルアーツの存在価値と今世紀に果たすべき役割

2023年　歴史的転換期における価値観の見直し          

2022年　格差社会と実力主義の問題点　       

2021年  グレタの様に情熱を持って取り組みたい課題

2020年　大学で作りたい学部                                     

2019年  過去4年間に行った重大な選択とその影響    

2018年　リベラルアーツと現代社会の課題                 

2017年　政府開発援助額17年ぶりに増加                   

2016年　OECD加盟国先進国中日本の留学率最下位   

2015年　大学改革                                                      

2014年　東京オリンピック招致      

 

☆対策   ○志望理由書に書いた目標と関連事項関連の記事を毎日読んでまとめる ○補助問題集および英検1級筆記試験エッセイとTOEFL iBT Writing のトピックを使用して実際に書く練習をする。（知識が足りない場合、英検1級エッセイの模範解答を読んで要約することと準1級エッセイを書くことを並行して行う）

 

 

☆Day 1 Homework 

The world has been experiencing a downturn in many aspects. What do you want to do during your college years to contribute to rebuilding the world or Japanese society? How would you do it?

Hints for Points

1.       Join Fridays for Future Japan and work to soften the impact of the climate crisis.

2.       Work to rebuild economy by reducing inequality by taxing the superrich and increasing public services.

3.       Run for a local public office or support female politicians or candidates.

4.       Start a study group on the coexistence of AI and humanity

5.       Work on international communication, mutual understanding, and cooperation to eliminate hate, protectionism, and fascism.

 

☆Day 2 Homework

Sub Textbook 2022年度 Questions: 1. How do you understand Dr. Sandel’s idea of the common good?  2. Is there anything problematic with the Mahood Rab “success story”?  3. Is there any problem with just emphasizing the ethos of individualistic merit, hard work, and competition in society?

Hints for Points

1.        We need to build a mature society of compassion, where the winner acknowledges their luck and pay respect to those who are less advantaged.

2.        The story attributes Mahood Rab’s success only to his hard work and misses the insight into his fortune such as his talent to make money or taking up a right job at a right time. This makes a false image that only people who make money deserve respect and losers can be left abandoned.

3.        It will dehumanize everyone and degrade the humanity.

 

☆Day 3 Homework

Read the following excerpt from the foreword, The Pain of Those Who Remember, written by a former war-correspondent Chris Hedges, from “Don’t Look Left: A Diary of Genocide” by Atef Abu Saif, and answer the following question. The first edition of this book was published in December, 2023.

 

The story of Christmas is the story of a poor woman, nine months pregnant, and her husband forced to leave their home in Nazareth in northern Galilee. The occupying Roman power has demanded they register for the census 90 miles away in Bethlehem. When they arrive, there are no rooms. She gives birth in a stable. King Herod – who learned from the Magi of the birth of the messiah – orders his soldiers to hunt down every child two years old and under in Bethlehem and the vicinity and murder them. An angel warns Joeseph in a dream to flee. The couple and infant escape under the cover of darkness and make the 40-ile journey to Egypt.

  I was in a refugee camp in the early 1980s for Guatemalans who had fled the war into Honduras. The peasant framers and their families, living in filth and mud, their villages and homes burned or abandoned, were decorating their tents with strips of colored paper to celebrate the Massacre of the Innocents.

  ‘Why is this such and important day?’ I asked.

  ‘It was on this day that Christ became a refugee,’ a farmer answered.

  The Christmas story was not written for the oppressors. It was written for the oppressed. We are called to protect the innocents. We are called to defy the occupying power. Atef, Refaat and those like them, who speak to us at the risk of death, echo this Biblical injunction. They speak so we will not be silent. They speak so we will take these words and images and hold them up to the principalities of the world ― the media, politicians, diplomats, universities, the wealthy and privileges, the weapons manufacturers, the Pentagon and the Israel lobby groups ― who are orchestrating the genocide in Gaza. The infant Christ is not lying today in straw, but a pile of broken concrete.

  Evil has not changed down the millennia.

  Neither has goodness.

Question: The writer says, “The infant Christ is not lying today in straw, but a pile of broken concrete”. Also, on December 25, 2023, Pope Francis said that children dying in Gaza are the “little Jesuses of today”. What exactly are they talking about?

 

 

For reference:

Both analogies refer to Palestinian refugee children in Gaza being killed in the Israeli genocide, which is the last phase of the 76-year-old ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the ongoing colonization by Israel, which was built and has been led by Zionists. Israel has been periodically and methodically killing Palestinian children as they call it, “lawn-mowing”, to reduce the Palestinian population, ignoring the two-state solution and keeping invasion into the Palestinian territories.

 

Even before the Hamas attack on the Israeli civilians on October 7, IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) had insulted, arrested, attacked, and killed innocent Palestinians, including women, children, elderlies, and the disabled, on a daily basis. They help Israeli citizens usurp houses and land of Palestinians, backed by the Israeli government. They also pour cement into wells and break water facilities in Palestinian territories. After Hamas was elected in Gaza, Israel built walls around Gaza and controlled food and materials that go in and out of this small strip of land, keeping 2.5 million Gazans even poorer than before. Israel had killed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians daily and in wars. It had even killed peaceful marchers. It shot and killed a couple of thousand and injured thousands of Gazans, including children and a nurse, who marched, in the Martin Luther King Jr. style, towards the wall to show the world the brutality of Israel in 2018 - 2019. IDF targeted legs of the marchers so that they will be crippled for the rest of their lives, which is their routine.

 

Right after October 7, Israel stopped all the necessities from going into Gaza and started indiscriminate attacks, calling the people “human animals”. Since then, Israel has flattened almost all the buildings in Gaza, displacing 100% of Gazans and killed over 40,000 civilians, including 16,000 children, by bombs, bullets, and torture. IDF have bulldozed people alive with garbage, whose arms ziplocked, and burned those in tents alive. They target writers, medics, and doctors. They have destroyed all the universities in Gaza. Their latest powerful weapons tear the victims apart into small pieces, which are collected in plastic bags. After a recent bombing of a school used as a refugee camp that was done during morning prayer, people had to put unidentified pieces of victims together in bags and share them by weight to the families of victims, going 70 kg for an adult and 25-35 kg for a child. IDF also use internationally-prohibited white phosphorus bombs, which melt flesh and bones, producing corpses of children the contents of whose skulls are lost. If those who died of hunger or disease due to lack of nutrition and sanitation caused by the Israeli blockade, over 160,000 Gazans have been killed in this genocide. IDF also arrest innocent Palestinians, including children, in the West Bank more than before. They keep thousands of them in prison in horrendous conditions, torturing and raping them.

 

When they started the attack on Gaza, they ordered the people to evacuate to the southern area in Gaza and attacked them on the way and in the area. There is no place to flee in Gaza now. Like baby Jesus, children in Gaza are homeless, sleeping in camps or on the ground, or on the concrete of ruins, in the never-ending noise of killer drones above their head. They go to sleep fearing their oppressor’s attack at night, when bombing becomes more frequent than the day time, thinking this can be the last night of their short lives. Jesus, or rebels under Roman occupation who collectively became a legend as Jesus Christ, was a Jew, and Jews and Palestinians are of the same race, Semites. Jesus had wooly hair and dark skin, as the Bible describes him. In other words, Jesus could have looked like anyone in Gaza or vice versa. Ironically, now those who claim themselves as his descendants are relentlessly killing people who could be identical to Jesus.

(Written in 2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOEFL iBT A large company or a small company? (Revised)

Which do you prefer to work for, a large company or a small company? (Sociology)

 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What are the disadvantages of a large company? What about those of a small company?

2.        Why do you work? Do you work only for money? What do you want in life and how your job relates to it?

 

Note: Purposes of working are as follows: escape from precarious life, social contribution, independence, full-filling family life, hobbies, personal growth, experience, health, stability, excitement, etc.

 

                                                                                                                 

☆Hints for Points

The following ideas about the advantages and disadvantages of a large company and a small company are taken from the website of Lifehacker.

 

The Advantages of a Big Company

You Have More Obvious Structure

When you enter a large company, you're taking part in a machine that's been around for a long time. As such, there is typically an established way of doing things. As soon as you walk in, you will know what your job is, how you fit into your department and over time you'll even learn the obvious pathways for promotions.

 

The Benefits Packages Are Better

Larger companies, in general, are better about providing benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. The smaller a corporation's revenue is, the less likely it can afford to pay for benefits.

 

You Can Switch Job Without Leaving

Large companies need a lot of people working a wide variety of jobs to operate. While your specific role may be specialized, it's possible to change positions and explore a new area without leaving the company.

 

The Problems at a Big Company

Changes Happen Slowly

Shaking things up at a big company can take a lot of time. Even if your company is open to new ideas, getting your department to move to a new model or create a product can take a lot of time.

 

You Won't Know Some Coworkers

No matter how social or friendly you are, if you work in a company with hundreds or even thousands of employees, it will be impossible to know everyone. Inevitably, some aspect of your job will be affected by someone you've never met. It may be the CEO, the head of payroll, or the legal department, but someone will make a decision that determines how you work and it may be difficult or even impossible to speak to that person directly.

 

Your Fulfillment Can Be Determined by Your Surroundings

A related problem is that your success and happiness can be determined by where you are placed within the company. Working with a dysfunctional group can bring down the quality of your work, despite your best efforts. It may even affect your ability to move up in the company.

 

The Advantages of a Small Company

Your Success is Visible

Unless you work near the top, accomplishing something significant at a large company will probably never reach the ears of the CEO. At a small company, however, great work can be seen by everyone. This makes it easier to distinguish yourself with certain skills. Your actions are also more significant.

 

Your Company is More Agile

Being able to work closely with all of your coworkers doesn't just mean they can see you. You also have access to a lot more of the company's moving parts. Being able to speak directly to your upper management and voice concerns or pitch ideas can result in much faster movement. What may take days or weeks of submission and approval processes at a big company may take knocking on your boss's door at a small one.

 

Your Responsibilities May be More Varied

In a smaller company, you may be required to exercise a different skill set without leaving your desk. Especially in a startup environment, you may be called on to fulfill more roles outside a narrowly-defined job description. One day you're working in Photoshop, the next you're diagnosing PC problems, and by Friday you're updating the company website. If you like using a variety of skills without changing jobs, a smaller company may be more suited to you.

 

The Problems at a Small Company

Your Failure is Visible When You Make a Mistake.

Obviously, a good employee would want to minimize failure regardless of who can see, but it never feels good when the majority of your coworkers all know when you've made a mistake.

 

The Benefits Package Are Smaller

As stated earlier, smaller companies typically don't have as extensive of a benefits package as larger companies. (Note: A small company owner can reward good workers with a huge bonus to keep them.)

 

There May Be No Legal or HR Departments

Small companies often don't get around to setting up things like legal or human resources departments until they've been established for a while.

 

 

 ☆Sample Answers for Ideas and Expressions

Sample A

【Main Idea】My morale will be higher if I work for a small company.

【Supporting Details】By working in a small company, I can see the whole operation of the company. I can hear the president making a phone call to a client or talking with the vice president. Then I can learn how the business is going or what will happen to a particular project. In a big company, I work in a small team, which is divided into individual cubicles. My boss may explain how our job is related to the whole operation of the company, but it is difficult to feel that I am part of it. Compared to that isolating environment, sense of belonging is stronger in a small company, and this will be a great incentive for me to work hard.

【Counterargument-treatment】As Alex says, stability of a large company is attractive as small businesses are vulnerable to competitions and economic downturns. However, there are many established small businesses that offer good salary and benefits. I would like to look carefully and find such a company to enjoy working in an intimate and motivating environment.

【Counterargument-treatment】I consider that the quality of life depends largely on health and relationships and I believe that a small company provides me with both. (209)

 

Sample B

【Main Idea】While the dynamics of small companies is attractive, I would like to work for a large company not only for stability but also for career advancement.

【Supporting Details】A sole proprietorship is a family business. Even if the president is great, the company culture is built on the president’s philosophy, which is usually a variant or and an anomaly from the standard. It could be wonderful, but it could have problems. In the worst-case scenario, the company may have some odd rules based on the president’s personal value. For example, there are small companies that assign bathroom-cleaning only to female workers or immigrant workers. A large established company follows the international business culture, and thus it is freer from such discrimination. Although I don’t mind cleaning bathrooms, I would rather learn the universal business protocols and ethics by working in a big company.

【Counterargument-treatment】It is true that a small company allows you to gain experience in different areas of the business as Emma says, and this makes you resourceful. However, when it comes to changing jobs or becoming independent, career at a small firm can be disadvantageous, because the business is in such a niche that it would be difficult to find another company where you can use your skills or found a company in the same area and compete with your former employer. On the other hand, a large company has many affiliates and subsidiaries in various industries, and thus you will experience various areas of the industry unless you stay in the same department for decades, and it makes it easier to find a new job later.

【Conclusion】All in all, I expect a large company will make me more well-rounded than a small company.

(283 words)

 

Write your draft. Then read each other’s draft, asking questions and making counterarguments.

 

                                                   DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

TOEFL iBT Writing for an Academic Discussion Should dancing be valued more than now? (Revised)

Which room of a house do you consider the most important? (Sociology)

 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What are the differences between the following sentences?

A.     Which room of your house do you think is the most important?

B.     Which room of a house do you think is the most important?

Note: Sentence A is about your house, while Sentence B is about a house in general.

 

2.        What functions do the following rooms have?

The living room:

 

The bedroom:

 

The kitchen/dining room:

 

3.        Why do you go home after school or work? You could eat, take a bath, sleep, communicate, and watch TV without going home. What is the purpose of going home? Even single people like to go home. What are the good things about going home other than rejoining your family?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

The living room

1.     Man is a social animal, and the living room is used for communication, bonding and socializing with family members and neighbors.

2.     It is used for important occasions like celebrations or meetings. Memories of a family are made there.

3.     Simple houses like pit houses look like a living room. This shows that the living room is the essence of a house.

4.     This room is located in the best area in a house.

5.     The most important things of the family are in the living room. (The last two are ideas of a former TOFL student.)

 

The bedroom

1.     The main function of a house is rest and relaxation.

2.     Everyone needs to be alone sometimes to release stress and get refreshed.

3.     Personal things are in the bedroom. Privacy is protected only in the bedroom.

4.     The bedroom is for deep mental activities, such as reflection, mediation, and creative activities.

 

The kitchen/dining room

1.      A house is for food storage. It is also for cooking and eating fresh and healthy food.

2.      A house is for family dinner.

 

 

☆Sample Answer for ideas and expressions

【Main Idea】Although both Grace and Daniel make good points, I think the living room is the most important in a house, because I think the main function of the living room, the role it plays as the symbol of bonding, is more important than those of the other rooms.

【Supporting Details】The living room is for activities of significance for the family. Parties, marriage celebrations, and wake and funeral gatherings are held in the living room. Visitors are invited into the living room, and family photos are usually taken in the living room.

【Follow-up】The kitchen also plays this social function as Grace describes, but the basic function of the kitchen is to provide food, and bonding is its secondary function. As for the bed room, although privacy and rest are essential in life, I think most people would choose bonding rather than solitude if they had to choose. Also, rest can be taken in the living room. Some would say that more profound events in life like emotional interactions happen in the kitchen or the bedroom. However, the living room always exists in your mind as a special place for official presentation of your attitude toward other members of your family and community. For instance, it is almost always the living room that is chosen for a serious announcement or confession.

【Conclusion】We see the living room as a sacred place in family life, and this makes it the most important room of a house.  (241 words)

Write your draft. Then read each other’s draft, asking questions and making counterarguments.

 

                                                   DRAFT