Juan Delgado, 880520884 English 1311 Discourse Community Living in the United States has provided me with many

wonderful opportunities to life. Undoubtedly, the world today has changed drastically in a short amount of time. Due to this change, everyone living in the United States has been forced to adapt to the new changes in order to accommodate themselves better. I am not the exception to this. Every day there are new challenges, new goals, and hence something to adapt to once again. In my personal life, I have had to adapt various times, whether it be getting a job, changing from email to MySpace to Facebook, or watching a team win and lose their respective games. Life always provides opportunities to be part of great communities in which to make a difference or simply have a nice relaxing time. The four most basic communities I am a part of include Facebook, School organizations, being a group of a fan club, and of course work. These are the four communities that I am involved in every week if not every day. Definitely the community I am most involved in is Facebook. This is an online community to which many other people are a part of. Facebook involves mostly informal and indirect language. This is mainly because it is online, and people never speak to each other face to face. The closest a person gets to speaking face to face is through video chat. The language use is informal since most people use abbreviations such as lol and jk in place of fragments such as laugh out loud and just kidding. What makes Facebook so appealing to everyone is the many different genres inside that community. There are photos, apps, games, calendar

events, and even advertisement. All of these distinct genres provide a source for entertainment to the Facebook users. These genres are extremely important for the success of Facebook. The photos for example provide a great amount of help to everyone by allowing them to see who their new friends are, or how they look at least. The goals in Facebook are to make new friends and keep in touch with the old ones. The only way to make new friends safely on Facebook would be only to be able to see a visual representation of the specific person being added into your online community. But Facebook not only allows me to make friends, it also allows me to plan events such as a cook out or a meeting. This community is important not only to me but to everybody in it, which is why it is an almost every day thing. The most important community I belong to however, is the school organization MPO (Medical Professions Organization). Although this is not an everyday meeting community, it provides me with the most opportunity and assistance towards my future goal of being accepted into a medical school. This organization is composed primarily of pre-medical students looking for advice and volunteer opportunities provided by precisely the MPO. The goals of this organization are to advise the college students and help them accomplish their dream of being Doctors. The roles I have in this community are basically to learn as much of the information provided as possible, and also help the community of El Paso in any volunteer event possible. As a member of the MPO, it is a responsibility to help not only by volunteering within the group but also to help others who arent in the group by providing them with the information I have learned.

The most entertaining and informal community I belong to is the fan club. In this community the main goal is to cheer for our team, in this case the New England Patriots, and watch their games while supporting them. The other members involved with me in this community are my friends, my family, and other people who also cheer for the same team. It is easy to make new friends while watching a game involving the Patriots. The discourses involved in this community are non-verbal and verbal. Non-verbal communication involves high-fives or hugs when the patriots score. Verbal communication occurs throughout the game by simply having discussion. The verbal communication is informal however. This occurs naturally since the environment is not a professional or work environment. Instead this is a relaxing environment in which to joke around and have fun. The goals are simply to cheer for the patriots and avoid any possible conflicts with members of the opposing team. After all, it is only a game and it should always be a good time. The fourth community I belong to is my working place, Probaditas. This is a place where we sell Mexican food and snacks. Although it is a working environment, it is a more relaxed and joyous place instead of dull and tense. Therefore the vocabulary used between the members of the community, the employees, is informal. Some slang is used while communicating with each other. There are special words used specifically for this place such as fryer, churro, storage room, and flautas amongst others. The formal usage of language is from employee to customers. This brings up the goals of this community. The goals are basically the same as they would be in every other job; satisfy the customer and always be clean.

These four communities are part of my life, and basically form my life. Facebook is the one I am most involved in, (MPO) is the most important, my fan club is the most entertaining and the most tiring is probaditas. All of them make me who I am and help me through every day.