Monday, March 30, 2009
Wow.... today is the most drowsy day in this semester. I almost fell asleep in every class, and right now, I really want to go to bed. Come on, Mariah! You have lots of work to have done by today!!! You have finished neither review for the test nor the homework for any class!!! none of them! Please stay awake!!! Do not fall asleep!!!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Two Bad Habits
Recently, I have read many blogs of my classmates and other students in our school. I found that many of them really want to get a high mark on their provincial exams, but they say that it is really hard to get a good mark, because their English is very poor.
Well, I also tried the provincial sample exams during this weekend. By now, I have taken all the three of English exams, and my marks were 80%, 75%, and 86%. It was not as high as I hoped, but some students ask me how I got these marks. Thus, I am writing something that might be helpful for the students who are worried about their English.
Many students have two bad habits in their way of learning English.
First, I found that many students are using internet language on their blog. Students use lots of slang or abbreviated words in their writing. Maybe they think it looks cool, right? It is okay to use those sometimes, since it is also a part of internet culture. However, if you always use the informal language, perhaps you will get used to write in that way, even when you are writing a formal exam! Also, since this blog is a part of our English class, I think we should try to write in formal language here.
Secondly, if you want to improve your English, you should try to get rid of the habit of using dictionary too often. I see students looking up in their dictionary all the time. It does not really help you improve your English.
As the old saying goes, "Easy come, easy go." Looking for the meaning in the dictionary may help you understand the story more easily at that time. However, it will soon escape your brain, and next time you see the words, you will not understand most of them again. Perhaps you will become a slave of the dictionary, who cannot leave it forever. If you try to find what the word means during you read the story, you will be able to remember them more clearly.
Plus, even if you do not understand some of the words in the story, it does not really affect your reading. Do not waste your time on every single word. Instead, you should try to understand the story as groups of words. Try to understand the overall story, by reading between the lines, instead of translating all the words. Then, you will develop not only your vocabulary, but also your reading skill!
For some students whose English is extremely poor, this process would be a bit more difficult. Well,,, then, you should try to improve your vocabulary as much as you can before the test!
I really hope all of the students in our school can remarkably improve in their ability of English and get superb marks on their test, and I believe that they will definitely attain this hope.
I think all of us are doing great. Let's keep it up until the exam in June!
Well, I also tried the provincial sample exams during this weekend. By now, I have taken all the three of English exams, and my marks were 80%, 75%, and 86%. It was not as high as I hoped, but some students ask me how I got these marks. Thus, I am writing something that might be helpful for the students who are worried about their English.
Many students have two bad habits in their way of learning English.
First, I found that many students are using internet language on their blog. Students use lots of slang or abbreviated words in their writing. Maybe they think it looks cool, right? It is okay to use those sometimes, since it is also a part of internet culture. However, if you always use the informal language, perhaps you will get used to write in that way, even when you are writing a formal exam! Also, since this blog is a part of our English class, I think we should try to write in formal language here.
Secondly, if you want to improve your English, you should try to get rid of the habit of using dictionary too often. I see students looking up in their dictionary all the time. It does not really help you improve your English.
As the old saying goes, "Easy come, easy go." Looking for the meaning in the dictionary may help you understand the story more easily at that time. However, it will soon escape your brain, and next time you see the words, you will not understand most of them again. Perhaps you will become a slave of the dictionary, who cannot leave it forever. If you try to find what the word means during you read the story, you will be able to remember them more clearly.
Plus, even if you do not understand some of the words in the story, it does not really affect your reading. Do not waste your time on every single word. Instead, you should try to understand the story as groups of words. Try to understand the overall story, by reading between the lines, instead of translating all the words. Then, you will develop not only your vocabulary, but also your reading skill!
For some students whose English is extremely poor, this process would be a bit more difficult. Well,,, then, you should try to improve your vocabulary as much as you can before the test!
I really hope all of the students in our school can remarkably improve in their ability of English and get superb marks on their test, and I believe that they will definitely attain this hope.
I think all of us are doing great. Let's keep it up until the exam in June!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Mar.28th.2009
I owe too much to the exertions of all those people around me and giving me courage.
It's true that I am busy and tired, and it gets even worse because I was used to live a lazy life before. However, if I always think back to the past and keep thinking negatively, I will not improve any more, and it will get much harder for me to study in the future. I should seek for the way to learn more things and the way to develop myself, instead of murmuring about the things around me.
Today, I tried the other two of the provincial sample exams. Adding the last one that I took in the English class, my average mark by now is above 80%. When I took the similar exam in the English 10 class last year, my mark just past but was quite lower than now. The result of the exam shows tha my English has been improved a lot, and I am still trying very hard to be better.
Recently I really feel tired and oversensitive about all the things around me. I have become very brittle that it is very hard for me to control my anger. Still, I believe that I can overcome this hardship. Perhaps this is a turning point of my life. I hope that I can pass this crisis, and become more mature in the future. Then, I will be able to grin and bear all the things even if I get much busier or face any tough hardships in my life.
It's true that I am busy and tired, and it gets even worse because I was used to live a lazy life before. However, if I always think back to the past and keep thinking negatively, I will not improve any more, and it will get much harder for me to study in the future. I should seek for the way to learn more things and the way to develop myself, instead of murmuring about the things around me.
Today, I tried the other two of the provincial sample exams. Adding the last one that I took in the English class, my average mark by now is above 80%. When I took the similar exam in the English 10 class last year, my mark just past but was quite lower than now. The result of the exam shows tha my English has been improved a lot, and I am still trying very hard to be better.
Recently I really feel tired and oversensitive about all the things around me. I have become very brittle that it is very hard for me to control my anger. Still, I believe that I can overcome this hardship. Perhaps this is a turning point of my life. I hope that I can pass this crisis, and become more mature in the future. Then, I will be able to grin and bear all the things even if I get much busier or face any tough hardships in my life.
Friday, March 27, 2009
As far as this but no further...
I had a really hard time during this week... I had many exams and tons of homework to do. It has been only a short time since I started to study hard. (I really hated to study even until the middle of last semester...) Although I started to take interests in study, I have not been used to study yet, and it is still very hard for me to resist all the temptations. The stress and fatigue that have beem accumulated since the beginning of this semester started to press me further more than before. There are lots of students who study harder than me. I know that I need to go further. However, I am now too tired to keep going.
My dream is to contribute to the charitable businesses, and I really want to be a kind and positive person. However recently, I easily get angry with those people who hurt my feelings. I did not like to speak critically of other people before, but now, it seems that I have grievances against lots of people... Perhaps it is because I am too tired, as I said yesterday. I want to fix my mind, but it is really difficult.
Yea, I know that it is my fault. It is because I had wasted my precious time and got used to the lazy life. I always regret it, but it is useless. I will try to renew everything and be a diligent and vital student. I hope I can return my feeling before next week and go back to school with positive Mariah.
My dream is to contribute to the charitable businesses, and I really want to be a kind and positive person. However recently, I easily get angry with those people who hurt my feelings. I did not like to speak critically of other people before, but now, it seems that I have grievances against lots of people... Perhaps it is because I am too tired, as I said yesterday. I want to fix my mind, but it is really difficult.
Yea, I know that it is my fault. It is because I had wasted my precious time and got used to the lazy life. I always regret it, but it is useless. I will try to renew everything and be a diligent and vital student. I hope I can return my feeling before next week and go back to school with positive Mariah.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
....?????
It seems that I am recently getting more and more negative. I cannot stand even a small problem and easily get angry with all those things around me. Perhaps this is because I am too tired............ I need more energy to keep positive and active Mariah!!!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Mar.24th.2009
Why don't you do your best first, before bragging that you are smart????
I don't know why there are so many people who are so proud of themselves. They say that the reason why they get low mark is because they don't study, and they also say that they are so smart that they can be the best only if they study. However, if you don't study, you should not expect others to believe or respect you. There is no proof that can support what you say, unless you study really hard and show us good result.
When I was young, I didn't really like to study. Since my mark ranked a bit higher than others even though I didn't study very hard, I became lazier and didn't make a great effort on my study. But, you know what though? Even if you are very smart and can do more things than others in the same time, it is useless if you don't use your talent effectively. Those who you thought foolish will learn lots of things while you are being so delinquent, then, the gap between you and them will get greater as days go by, and you will be the loser at last!
I really want the people to take this problem seriously, especially those who have talent. If you don't do this and just keep the haughty attitude, you will really regret it somedays.
I don't know why there are so many people who are so proud of themselves. They say that the reason why they get low mark is because they don't study, and they also say that they are so smart that they can be the best only if they study. However, if you don't study, you should not expect others to believe or respect you. There is no proof that can support what you say, unless you study really hard and show us good result.
When I was young, I didn't really like to study. Since my mark ranked a bit higher than others even though I didn't study very hard, I became lazier and didn't make a great effort on my study. But, you know what though? Even if you are very smart and can do more things than others in the same time, it is useless if you don't use your talent effectively. Those who you thought foolish will learn lots of things while you are being so delinquent, then, the gap between you and them will get greater as days go by, and you will be the loser at last!
I really want the people to take this problem seriously, especially those who have talent. If you don't do this and just keep the haughty attitude, you will really regret it somedays.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Mar.16th.2009
Today, we checked the math test from last week. Before the class, I was still little bit depressed. I realized that my mind was wrong and decided not to compare with others, but I still could not be completely satisfied with it.... (It's really hard to change my mistake immediately!!) Everytime we check the test, Mr.Pfiefer calls the 4th to the 1st grade and conguratulate them. And,,,,, I was still the first. (And because the students' grades were very low, Mr.Pfeifer added 3 points to everyone's mark, so I got more than one hundred points.) I know that I should not compare my marks with others, but it's still a very happy thing to get a perfect score.
Of course, I will not be selfish and press me with those foolish thoughts again. I will just do my best. The best way is that everyone gets a full mark, isn't it??
Of course, I will not be selfish and press me with those foolish thoughts again. I will just do my best. The best way is that everyone gets a full mark, isn't it??
Friday, March 13, 2009
Happy Life House ("The Veldt" Reflection 2)
As the society develops, we are living much busier days than the past. The developed society brought many advantages to people, but unfortunately, people have less opportunity to communicate with their family. Since there is no communication, it has become much more difficult for the family members to understand each other, and lack of understanding is leading them away from unity, causing many domestic troubles. In Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt”, the author describes this domestic trouble in allegories, and the readers can realize how serious the problem is through this story.
In this story, George Hadley is the patriarch of one family. He has an automatic house called “Happy Life House”, and in the house, there is a very special nursery for his children, which offers everything that the children want. However, there have been some strange things about the nursery, “but, being busy, Hadley had it no attention.” (Para. 72) And it’s exactly the same as the aspect of the parents now. Nowadays, parents are very busy, even though the advanced technology has reduced their burden of household chores. They always have so much work to do but no time to play with their children. Since there is no communication between the parents and the children, it gets much more difficult for them to find what’s going wrong. Even when they find the problems, it’s also very hard for the family to fix those, because the family members are not used to talk to each other. Then, the relations between the parents and the children get more variant as days go by.
However, the domestic trouble is not only the parents’ fault. Children are also responsible for it. Even though their parents are doing wrong, the children should know it is wrong and try to change their attitude. Sadly, most of the children are not realizing it, and are led away by the parents’ wrong behavior. When their parents are busy and have no time to listen to them, the children should control their mind well try not to fall into bad ways, but they don’t. When they don’t try to calm themselves, the children easily get addicted to the things that only can bring more problems, such as computer games, bad friends, or even drugs. Children can never be released from stress by those ways, and the relationship in their family gets worse and worse. Then, there could be really a serious problem such as violence or abscondence happens. In this story, Peter and Wendy value their nursery more than their own parents because the nursery has replaced the parents in the children’s mind. When the parents notice the problem and try to remove the nursery, they can’t stand it and finally kill their own parents using lions in the magic nursery.
This story is also telling the readers that the gifts that the parents gave to their children can destroy the children, or even the whole family. Instead of trying to understand their children, the parents now are giving their children material gifts, as Mr. Hadley bought the magic nursery for his children, Peter and Wendy. He thinks that he gave his children everything that they wanted and it was all what he had to do. Therefore when the children disobey the father’s order, he gets very angry and says, “We’ve given the children everything they ever wanted. Is this our reward— secrecy, disobedience?”(Para.134). Now, many parents think they are doing well. They think they have to earn money and say that it is all for their children. However, money can’t replace the parents. Even if they offer everything, it’s far less valuable than the parents’ true love. When the children get some present from parents, it can please the children, but only for a short time. Later, the children will not value the little gifts anymore and may consider the gifts that their parents gave to them as if they must be there necessarily. When the parents don’t satisfy the children’s demands, the children may think that the parents don’t love them and become crooked, just as Peter and Wendy did in “the Veldt.”
A family where the members do not communicate and do not even try to understand each other, it has become the aspect of many families in the world where we are now living in. Nevertheless, as the old saying goes, “blood is thicker than water.” family is the more important thing than any other treasures. Every family member loves each other, and tries to be good to their family. It’s the ideal of family and it has been like this for so long time. No matter how busy we are, we should notice what the priority is and try to keep our precious family. When we try to listen to our families and care about them, our families will be the most comfortable place for us to rest and to shelter against all the stress that press down on us.
In this story, George Hadley is the patriarch of one family. He has an automatic house called “Happy Life House”, and in the house, there is a very special nursery for his children, which offers everything that the children want. However, there have been some strange things about the nursery, “but, being busy, Hadley had it no attention.” (Para. 72) And it’s exactly the same as the aspect of the parents now. Nowadays, parents are very busy, even though the advanced technology has reduced their burden of household chores. They always have so much work to do but no time to play with their children. Since there is no communication between the parents and the children, it gets much more difficult for them to find what’s going wrong. Even when they find the problems, it’s also very hard for the family to fix those, because the family members are not used to talk to each other. Then, the relations between the parents and the children get more variant as days go by.
However, the domestic trouble is not only the parents’ fault. Children are also responsible for it. Even though their parents are doing wrong, the children should know it is wrong and try to change their attitude. Sadly, most of the children are not realizing it, and are led away by the parents’ wrong behavior. When their parents are busy and have no time to listen to them, the children should control their mind well try not to fall into bad ways, but they don’t. When they don’t try to calm themselves, the children easily get addicted to the things that only can bring more problems, such as computer games, bad friends, or even drugs. Children can never be released from stress by those ways, and the relationship in their family gets worse and worse. Then, there could be really a serious problem such as violence or abscondence happens. In this story, Peter and Wendy value their nursery more than their own parents because the nursery has replaced the parents in the children’s mind. When the parents notice the problem and try to remove the nursery, they can’t stand it and finally kill their own parents using lions in the magic nursery.
This story is also telling the readers that the gifts that the parents gave to their children can destroy the children, or even the whole family. Instead of trying to understand their children, the parents now are giving their children material gifts, as Mr. Hadley bought the magic nursery for his children, Peter and Wendy. He thinks that he gave his children everything that they wanted and it was all what he had to do. Therefore when the children disobey the father’s order, he gets very angry and says, “We’ve given the children everything they ever wanted. Is this our reward— secrecy, disobedience?”(Para.134). Now, many parents think they are doing well. They think they have to earn money and say that it is all for their children. However, money can’t replace the parents. Even if they offer everything, it’s far less valuable than the parents’ true love. When the children get some present from parents, it can please the children, but only for a short time. Later, the children will not value the little gifts anymore and may consider the gifts that their parents gave to them as if they must be there necessarily. When the parents don’t satisfy the children’s demands, the children may think that the parents don’t love them and become crooked, just as Peter and Wendy did in “the Veldt.”
A family where the members do not communicate and do not even try to understand each other, it has become the aspect of many families in the world where we are now living in. Nevertheless, as the old saying goes, “blood is thicker than water.” family is the more important thing than any other treasures. Every family member loves each other, and tries to be good to their family. It’s the ideal of family and it has been like this for so long time. No matter how busy we are, we should notice what the priority is and try to keep our precious family. When we try to listen to our families and care about them, our families will be the most comfortable place for us to rest and to shelter against all the stress that press down on us.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"The Veldt" Performance -Tableau
Today, we finally did our performance about "the Veldt". Actually, it was supposed to be done by Monday... but since some students had problems with their reading, it was delayed until today. Anyway, they also finished their reading, and we could finally start this project!
In my opinion, tableau is a very good way to review stories. It can help us understand the stories better. I felt this during our project!
First, during this project, we could understand the story of "the Veldt" more clearly than before. We were assigned to choose 5 the most important scenes in this story, and to do this, we had to know the plot of this story very well! We talked about the story of "The Veldt", and discussed each other to find the essential parts!
Secondly, we could understand the mood of the story. To make our tableaux more effective, we tried to show feelings of the characters on our face! This needed us to read the story more carefully, to find how the characters felt in each different situation.
Next, the performances also helped us to grasp entire the story. We were divided into two groups, and each group tried their best on this project. Watching the other group's performance, we could know what we missed and gained more information.
These were all good for us, but most importantly, we could also have fun! For some students, perhaps reading a story could be a little boring, especially when they can't understand it easily. However, when we were preparing for the performance, nobody seemed bored! They looked very excited and joined in it very diligently!
Hence, tableau is a very good way to learn about a story!!
I was very excited today, and hope we can do this again on the next time~
In my opinion, tableau is a very good way to review stories. It can help us understand the stories better. I felt this during our project!
First, during this project, we could understand the story of "the Veldt" more clearly than before. We were assigned to choose 5 the most important scenes in this story, and to do this, we had to know the plot of this story very well! We talked about the story of "The Veldt", and discussed each other to find the essential parts!
Secondly, we could understand the mood of the story. To make our tableaux more effective, we tried to show feelings of the characters on our face! This needed us to read the story more carefully, to find how the characters felt in each different situation.
Next, the performances also helped us to grasp entire the story. We were divided into two groups, and each group tried their best on this project. Watching the other group's performance, we could know what we missed and gained more information.
These were all good for us, but most importantly, we could also have fun! For some students, perhaps reading a story could be a little boring, especially when they can't understand it easily. However, when we were preparing for the performance, nobody seemed bored! They looked very excited and joined in it very diligently!
Hence, tableau is a very good way to learn about a story!!
I was very excited today, and hope we can do this again on the next time~
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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