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Kielende Isungu,Treacy
Professor Altman
English 101
14 December 2015

Dear Professor Altman,

In this portfolio, I included a variety of work I did in class. The class consists of three
progressions of different exercises and essays during an eight weeks period. Doing these
exercises and essays allowed me to demonstrate my abilities to comprehend and execute these
tasks. First, in progression 1, I had to read four articles, do two exercises, and write an essay
about two of the four articles I read. The essay elaborates on commons ideas, subjects/ topics in
relation to the articles. In regards to the two exercises, I had to summarize and reflect on the first
one and do an argumentative proposal on the second one. Second, progression 2 was made up of
four narratives to compare and contrast as well as shitty First Drafts which means to try and
write a rough version of your essay. Lastly, progression 3 had to do with reading five articles,
doing two exercises that included presenting an argument and analysis as well as an
argumentative proposal. The last part of progression 3 was a research paper on any topic except
Religion, Abortion, and Gun-control.
After doing all these progressions, I feel extremely confident when it comes to write
college level essays and reading any type of documents. I also feel that my logical thinking and
reasoning skills about the subject or topic has increases tremendously. However, I have to work
on improving my sentences structure, punctuation, grammar, spelling, capitalization and how to
write proper citation according to MLA format. In order to improve my writing, I will make an
effort to read some books during the winter break. I also want to learn new vocabulary, which I

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think will help me to improve my writing. The main reason might be insufficient English
vocabulary as well as my lack of reading. To improve my writing, I will need to read more, write
more essays, and proof read my work.
The two writing assignments that reflect my best work were my essay on the Identity
and my research paper on The Blue Whales: Endangered and current threats. They reflect my
best work because I understood the topics, put a lot of effort into them, and did my best to avoid
making the same mistakes as I did in the first essay. The mistakes I made in the first essay were:
run up sentences, punctuation, grammar, spelling, capitalization, not analyzing the subject or
topic, and proper citation according to MLA format.
In my essay on Identity, I discussed how people can be stereotyped in a good or bad
way because of their skin color, ethnic groups, and languages by the society we live in. As a
foreign student, English is my fourth language. During my first year in U.S.A, I had trouble
communicating with people due to my accent. I thought it will be best to lose it. Later on, I
realized that instead of trying to lose my accent, I should keep it because it differentiated me
from African -Americans. My teachers, co-workers, and classmates also started to identify me
because my accent. They became fascinated and Intrigued by it. Even some of them wanted to
know more about me and my culture. It is one of the main reasons I decided to keep my accent
because it is part of my identity.
My research paper on the Blue Whales Endangered and current threats was one of my
best works because as an animal lover, I was shocked to see pictures of Blue Whales slaughtered
by human for their oil and meat. In 1931, ninety nine percent of Blue Whales worldwide were
killed during the whaling, and in 1966 the International Whaling Commission banned the
whaling of Blue Whales. It was outraging to read that even though the International Whaling

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Commission banned the whaling in order to help the Blue Whales to reproduce and increased
their population, some countries continue to practice illegal whaling or do not enforce the law
that banned the whaling of Blue Whales.
My essays are different and unique because unlike other students, I have a very diverse
background. Belonging to a family that consists of a father being from two ethnic groups in
Congo, Africa, and a mother being half Congolese and Belgian, exposes me to multiple customs
and cultures that give me an advantage in comparison to my classmates. For example, when
evaluating and analyzing articles, narratives, and research papers I take into consideration all the
multiple customs and cultures I have been exposed to. I make sure to give each culture respect
and follow their rules or customs. For instance, calling your mother in law by her first name is
very inappropriate and disrespectful in Congo or handing an item to someone older than you
with your left hand is also unacceptable and a sign of disrespect.
To end this, I would like to thank you for a great semester. I appreciate all the feedback
you provided and I would also like thank you for taking the time to respond to all my questions
and concerns that I had in class or via e-mail.
Sincerely,
Kielende Isungu, Treacy