Vivian's Blog

Clear-up after Afghanistan quakes

2009-04-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

There was a very huge clear-up after two earthquakes at Afghanistan on Friday. There were at least 21 people were killed and 4 villages damaged and about 200 houses were destroyed. The workers arrived to the area as soon as they can, but they were too late for some of the people, many have died from this tragic disaster.

Saturday April 18 2009
from BBC
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8000000/newsid_8005200/8005202.stm

A River Runs Through It - Reflection

2009-03-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

1) The last sentence of the novel, the author says “ I am haunted by waters.”
What do you think he means by this quote?

I think this quote means that the main character has already merged with the water because he had been fishing since he was a little boy, so water is something that has been in his life since he can remember. He used to fish with his younger brother, but he died. The author must be very sad because whenever he went fishing, it will remind him of his little brother. They both like fishing very much, and they have a very close relationship. Since they grew up in Montana, fishing is also an important leisure activity for them, so their relationship with the river; Montana; and the nature is something that will be with them for the rest of their life.

2) Of the characters found in the book, which character do you like the most? Why? Which characters do you like the least? Why? 

The character that I found in the book that I like the most is Paul; he is a very special person. In my opinion, I think that he was a bit moody and always do things out of impulse, but deep down, he is actually a very smart boy. Even though his family was very concerned about him, but he can always managed to make things right and let his family members be proud of him. He always made his own decision, and very determined; that’s way I like him the most because he will do whatever it takes to reach his goal and get things done.

3) What do you think is the major lesson we can take from this novel/movie? 

In the novel and the movie, the major lesson that I think we can all learn about is the nature rules and the relationship between the father and the sons. The father taught them many things through the time they were spending doing their fishing trips. The nature got it’s own rhythm and rules, and they are there and sure not be broken. The boys also matured through the years, and learned the facts of life through fly fishing.

image source:
http://www.sportsmoviesfanatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/a-river-runs-though.jpg
http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Photo/2008/03/27/1206653937_3018.jpg
 

Children killed in US plane crash

2009-03-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

There were fourteen people killed by a plane crash in Montana. The plane was flying fourteen people from California to Montana for a ski trip; seven of them were children. This horrible accident took the life of seven young children. The accident is still under investigation, the official claimed that they didn’t have much information at this moment and not really sure what caused the terrible accident.

Monday, March 23 2009
By BBC
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7950000/newsid_7958500/7958563.stm

School meals rules "too strict"

2009-03-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

The schools in England are having a plan of making healthy food for the students. There are some special rules need to be followed and it is really interesting. There's also a group called The Local Authority Caterers Association which provide the school meals which says that the best way to help those students have a healthy body is to have a balanced healthy diet.

Wednesday, March 25 2009
By BBC
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7960000/newsid_7962700/7962738.stm

Bizarre food in Taiwan

2009-03-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

In the video that we watched during Taiwan Social Study class, there was a foreigner that came to Taiwan to travel. The first place that he visited was Shilin night market, which is a very famous night market in Taipei. There are lots of young couples or even families will have their meals there. The foods in the night market are very special and it also represents the Taiwanese food culture of. The first dish that he tasted was called "fried shrimp". The foreigner really liked it, I think it was very special because I had never had anything like that. Another dish was called "coffin bread". They cut up a thick toast, and put stuffing inside. I was so impressed by this simple food; it was so different. I might want to try it someday in the future. The strangest food that I think I will not forget was called the "goose tongue, goose head and the goose brain". I can't believe that someone really loves that stuff. The man also went to a store that sells many different and valuable medicine. They sell mushroom which is very special, dry fruits, shark fin that can strengthen people's health. He also went to the most famous building in Taiwan which is the Taipei 101. There is a big food court in the 101 basement. Lots of people go there for meal because there are varieties of food you can choose from, range from local Taiwanese cuisine to exotic cuisine from all over the world. These were the things that I found in the video that we watched. Actually, not all the food that they introduced was very nice, some of the dishes were not as delightful as the other, but they are still very special and represent our culture.

image source : http://www.andrewzimmern.com/files/images/IMG_1041.JPG

Scotland

2009-03-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

The people that lived in Scotland around 1200s were in a dark age. They were very poor and most of the people had never taken a bath in their whole life. In the movie that we were watching during our humanities class was called "The Brave Heart", the British had controlled the people in Scotland. At that time, there were no laws to protect the people in Scotland, so the solders from England can do whatever they want. For instance, the solders can take someone else’s wife. They can kill whomever that they wanted to kill. It was very unfair to the Scottish people. 1200s was a very dark age; there were a lot of people who lives in Scotland were killed. They were poor; they wore very dirty and simple clothes. For my opinion, it was a very terrible time.

image source: http://api.ning.com/files/SxxQ-bTcXOnPFSIiTjABsfdwDip75uJ8-TYWHBY72Vd*wQKrqw1TBJoPhgIw0jmVuT5L-J2ILqpSQT3x-Akeswb6LfhlbjUJ/scotland.jpg

My Facorite Place

2009-03-15T05:23:00.000-07:00

My favorite place is my auntie's house in America. I have been there for vacation once when I was in the fifth grade. I went there for my summer vacation with my family, my parents, two twins sisters and my grandmother. My auntie's house was a white color villa. The villa has a very big and green lawn with beautiful flowers all over and also big trees. My aunt drove us to a small hotel that they built, we stayed there for several weeks and visited some famous sightseeing near there, and sometimes we will go visit our auntie. Our auntie lives in a small town, there weren't a lot of cars and people live there. In that town, there were also a very big market where we bought a lot of food and clothes there. Once was my uncle's birthday, they had a party that lasted for the whole day and they invited a lot of their friends included my family. We went there and I made a lot of friends. They are very talented, some of them know how to play the piano, violin, cello, etc. There were kind and nice, we chatted, went swimming and played the mini golf, which was wonderful. I love my aunt's house; there were a lot of fun and interesting thing that we can play. I hope I will visit there in the future.

image source: http://www.commquest.at/comenius/images/language_books.gif

After the fall of the Roman Empire

2009-03-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

After the fall of the Roman Empire, there were no strong army that can protect the people and the land. Many wars broke out, the society of that time was also not in order, that was the time we called “Dark Ages”. The Roman Empire had little ability to control those lost lands. Without the protection from the government and constant wars going on, people’s life changed a lot, during that time, the rulers was not able to keep the libraries, public baths areas, and major educational institutions. Any new building that was much smaller than before. Cities and businessman lost the economic benefits and there were no safe conditions to trade things or make things. Culture development and education were fall behind. It became unsafe to travel or carry goods to other places, many arts and crafts disappeared overnight.

image source: http://knowinglyundersold.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/13602_fall_of_the_roman_empire_screen_5.jpg

Nitrogen Passport Reflection

2009-03-15T02:44:00.000-07:00

1. Why didn’t everybody go to the same stations in the same order?

Everyone couldn’t go to the same stations in the same order because everyone started from the different stations, so in that way, people can go through all the stations and not waste time.

2. Did you go to the same station twice? If so, what does this tell us about cycles?

Yes, I did go to the some station twice, it tells me that everything can cycle around the world, even the atmosphere.

3. Was there one station that seemed to have a lot of people at it? Why or why not?

Yes, there was one station that seemed to have a lot of people standing there and tried to get the stamp. I think there were a lot of people in a same station because they got the same number, so they went to the same direction.

4. What do you think the point of this activity was?

For me, I think that this activity was about teaching us that how the different things in the world cycle around, where are the places that they might go, etc. This is part of the lesson that we are studying now during the science class. We used stamp to remind us which stations that we have been through and we also provide evidence, so we can learn something, and also know why we are going to other station, which matches the cycle lesson that we are studying now.

Article - Feudalism

2009-03-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

After reading about the feudalism information from the about.com, I learned that the scholars created the word “feudalism” in the 16th and 17th century to describe a political system at that time. Feudalism was not the only form of political organization back in the medieval Europe. The peasants work on a land for a lord so they can get protection, known as manorialism or seignorialism, they are not the same as “feudal system”. Still others since the 1970s have re-examined the evidence and concluded that feudalism is an unworkable term and should be removed entirely from the educational discussion, or at least used only with severe qualification and warning. Therefore, I think fedualism is just a general term to describe the polictical system at that time, can’t be fully represent the political system in the medieval time.

image source: http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/feudalism.jpg

The Science of Benjamin Button!

2009-03-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

Benjamin Button TED Talk

About the TED talk that I had watched during science class today, it was about how the people used the scientific method to create Benjamin Button. They talk about what is going on in the movie, a person called Benjamin Button was born as a very old man, and as he grew older, he looks younger which was very weird. People use the scientific technology to create him. Before the completion of Benjamin Button, they need to think of the color of the skin for Benjamin Button, and also his hairstyle. It was very difficult for the workers and actors because the scientific process wasn't very easy. They tried different ways to present Benjamin Button, there are steps that can clearly help them prove, and they have to be realistic as they can. I think this kind of scientific method that can present Benjamin Button is a very creative and special. Including to the TED talk, the most part that interested me was how they created Benjamin Button. They have actor to portrait Benjamin, and makeup artist and special effect team to make different faces and get through the computer so that they will have a new Benjamin Button. I think this is a very advanced invention, it really clearly shows how good we are in technology. After this TED talk, it interested me to get to know more about this. I think this kind of special invention will be very common in the future.

image source: http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/11/17/benjamin-button-poster-1.jpg

Blood Red Horse

2009-03-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

William has a horse that has a small chestnut. And Ellie is a very fair person. She has agreed to marry William's older brother Gavin. And because the king Crusade had already sign for a war and all the knights of England must go to the Holy Land to fight for their king. And of course Will and Gavin must go to the war too. Their lives will be in danger, but the girl Ellie and the red house Hosanna will stay and wait for their return.

image source: http://www.inlyschool.net/summer_reading/BookImages6-10/proficient/BloodRedHorse.jpg

The Crusades Video

2009-03-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

In the video that we had watched during humanities class was about the Christian of Europe in the 11th-13th centuries that wanted to take back the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusaders were against everyone who did not follow their religion and did not look like them. This included Muslims, Jews, and even dark-skinned Christians, all of whom were attacked and murdered by them. It was really terrible because all the different groups had been killed by the Christians. I really think that Crusaders were heartless and cruel. People should have their freedom to choose their own religion, and the Crusaders really caused the hate between the Christianity and Muslims.

image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Gustave_dore_crusades_entry_of_the_crusaders_into_constantinople.jpg

Simulation Blog Post

2009-02-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

The simulation that we've done today was to write down all the workers' job and use the note to explain these info about the jobs in the Medieval time in Rachel's kingdom. Everyone tried hard on doing his or her own work. We drew the castle, which the pope, queen, and the noble lived. Outside the castle on top of the little small mountain, there was a very long and wide road that was built by stones, which people and horses can get through. Besides the road, the stores, shops, etc, and it was a very bustling town. Down to the mountain, there was a very big farm, a bit far from the mountain, which farmers lived in the downtown. People there work for the queen, we haven't finish our final decision and queen Rachel will still find a better way to compete the draft about her kingdom design.

image source: http://images.google.com.tw/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/33149539_426bae23ff.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/thisfrenchlife/33149539/&usg=__PSMU3Xe9XieYKIVzY9MylM3bnBU=&h=500&w=392&sz=48&hl=zh-TW&start=15&um=1&tbnid=8NSj9GL2OGkIrM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmedieval%2Bartisans%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG

Blood Red Horse

2009-02-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

The book Blood Red Horse, which was written by K.M. Grant. The story is well written and has a definite sense of period in the 1100’s but no old English dialogue. There are three main characters; will, Gavin and Ellie, are well drawn and have real depth. In the story, I think William and Ellie had a vivid characteristic. William is a young boy who lives in the city of Hartslove, governed by his father, Sir Thomas de Granville. Gavin, his brother, is a knight with a black stallion warhorse called Montlouis. William and his brother Gavin didn’t get along well; Gavin is a bully, and mistreated William. Ellie is a young girl, adopted by the de Granvilles and brought up with Gavin and William. Ellie is a little girl who is very clever and smart. I liked her the most. She was supposed to marry Gavin, but she was in love with William. In the 1100's in England most of the marriages were pre-arranged, especially in a big wealthy family. Through the book, you can follows their growth from children to young adults. As they age it becomes ever clearer that there is a romantic triangle of sorts here - Ellie is clearly attached to Will, yet must marry Gavin the oldest. How their emotional stories progress really holds the story together.

The 1100's was during the Medieval time, it was a custom that peasants live together in villages, and farm the land in strips, each peasant owning his own strip of land. The villages were mainly self-governing, run by the manor court, which was made up of officials chosen from among the villagers themselves. As people needed protection, they empowered kings and lords through knights to protect them, or those kings empowered themselves to make that transaction on their behalf.
As people developed crafts and began moving their lives more around larger villages and cities to ply their trades, a middle class and upper middle class developed, and standing armies began coming into favor as power centered around the royals - kings, princes, dukes - while knights and extended nobles became less and less relevant.

image source: http://www.inlyschool.net/summer_reading/BookImages6-10/proficient/BloodRedHorse.jpg

Bull fighting in Spain

2009-02-16T19:11:00.001-08:00

Do you think Bull fighting is a humane or an inhumane sport? Why do you feel that way? Please explain....

For me, I think that the bull fighting in Spain is an inhumane sport. Watching the video on YouTube, there were many people around the bullring. It was very dangerous for neither the bull nor the bullfighter, and sometimes the bullfighter might be killed by the bulls’ horn and loses his life. People in the ancient time didn’t have much entertainment, so they treated bull fighting as a form of entertainment, not many people think this is inhumane. It was a tradition, for people to gather together and watch the bullfight, usually after the bullfight; there will be a celebration. As today, we are very advanced, there are many entertainments we can do today, I really think that we don’t need to have bull fighting anymore. I think some of the traditions are really inhumane that we should stop. Bull fighting is really cruel to the bulls; some people might be crazy about the bull fighting, but I found bullfighting is not interesting at all. In conclusion, I think that the bull fighting in Spain is really inhumane and the government should ban the bull fighting.

image sources: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1143/808223504_001ed822ac_o.jpg

The Quote

2009-02-15T02:00:00.000-08:00

"The clock of life is wound but once, and no man as the power to tell just when the hands will stop, at a late or early hour. Now is the only time you own. Live, love, toil with a will. For the clock may soon be still."

by Robert.H.Smith

This quote by Robert was very interesting to me. There is a very deep meaning inside the words upon. Life is very important to every living organism in this world. Time goes quickly, we need to be brave and try new things because while the time passes, it will never come back. We need to treasure the things, people that are around you now; we won't know when you will lose these important things in your life. Time is important to everyone; no matter you are rich or poor, you still have 24 hours a day, you can’t make time wait, you can’t buy time, and you can prolong the wonderful moment in your life. I have learned the clock of life is very short but important, no matter you had a long or short life, enjoy every moment you had, live till the fullest, the quality in life is more important than the time.

The Play

2009-02-12T15:54:00.000-08:00

There were many different opinions about the play that the students performed during the all school gathering on Wednesday morning. Some of the people think that Peter should pay back Jacob’s computer with his own new Mac, other people disagreed, and suggested that he can just fix the computer instead. For me, I think that Peter should give his new Mac to Jacob to keep his promise. I think Peter made that promise because he though that he wouldn’t break Jacob’s computer, buy since he already made a deal with Jacob first, he should keep his promise. Plus, there were people witnessed the agreement.
Very few people realize, or wish to accept, that one of the worst experiences in life to an individual is a broken promise. We all have moments when we make a promise to someone and cannot keep it, for a variety of reasons. That is understandable. However, when there is a definite pattern in breaking promises is really not a good thing. Keeping promises is very important, promises mean a lot to people because they suggest appreciation, value and empathy and carry some pleasure in fulfillment.

This is a very good play which converted from Shakespeare’s play, I really enjoy the play and also the discussion during the all school gathering, it was very interesting and I heard many different opinions from many people, and they all have their reason which was very interesting. Hope that we have more fantastic activities like this, so everyone can give their opinions and learn to listen to other people’s thoughts.

image source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/book/2005-09/13/xinsrc_142090213092814004951.jpg

Submarine SMASH Day Reflection

2009-02-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

1. Summarize --
-- What did we do for SMASH Day?
On the SMASH Day, Ms.Smith had divided all our class into four groups with three people. The title was "we all live in a yellow submarine", which is very exciting. All the groups got some supplies that Ms.Smith had provided for us. Our mission was to make a telescope, which can help us to check what is inside the box. The rule is you can't go above the table because you live in the submarine, which means under the table is the ocean, and above the table is the island.

-- What was your mission?
Our mission was to make a telescope together as a group and try to use the supplies to make a tall and big telescope to find out what was inside teacher's box.

-- What supplies were you given?
We had got several pieces of paper and a small box, two pairs of scissors and four small mirrors which two of them are zoom in magnifier mirrors and two normal mirrors, we have a roll of tape to use to bind all the supplies together.

2. Reflect -- Scientists often make a hypothesis, test it, and then change (or modify) their design to make it work.
-- How many times did you have to modify your design?
Actually, we came out with our design in a very short time and it actually works. To place the mirrors in the right angle were the most difficult part in making the telescope. We tried about five to six times to find the best angle for our telescope.

-- How did you know that you should modify your design?
I know that we should modify our design because it didn't work and so we tried to find another way, for instance, the angle of the four mirrors didn't work successfully and we couldn’t see anything, so we adjust our mirrors until we found the right angle.

-- How did you know what to do when you modified it?
We thought about many ideas to solve the problem such as the angle of the mirrors, while we were making the telescope, you are not a hundred percent sure what will really work, in the process of try and errors, you just adjust the angle little by little until it works.

-- How did your team communicate to decide how to modify your design?
Our team members had good relationship, we communicated and made the group decision together. If any members had any new ideas, we will bring it up, then discussed about it with other members and worked together and concentrated on the problems until it works.

3. Tips and Suggestions
-- If you could give a list of tips and suggestions to someone who is doing this for the first time, what would it be? What would you tell them to help them out?
If there is someone who is doing this for the first time, I would suggest the person not to think about the angle too much because you will end it up thinking about the problem but not actually doing it. The best way is to try every possibility and learn from errors. The more you try, the faster you will figure out the problems.

Climate change "makes hurricanes"

2009-02-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

The number of the extreme big storms in the Atlantic Ocean has been rising, it was because the climate has changed and effected by the major problem –“ the global warming”. The hurricanes over the Atlantic Ocean have been doubled compared in the past hundred years. The ocean has been warmer and warmer, the sea temperature has been affected and changed the climate and increased the number of the hurricanes in the ocean. The experts estimated that in 2007 it will be a hurricane active year and about nine hurricanes were forecast. In this article, I have learned that the climate changing had affected the nature and created many problems. The hurricane is a terrible thing to most of the farmers because it will damage the crops and make them lose their money, all the hard work will go down in the drain. The prices in vegetables will go up to the public. The hurricane not just created a horrible situation to the human being, but also to the animals as well.

Monday July 30 2007
By BBC
source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6920000/newsid_6922700/6922763.stm

Calls for more deer to be culled

2009-02-08T01:45:00.001-08:00

In Britain, there are calls for the number of deer were too many, and need to be controlled and try to cut down some on the road accidents. In the past, there were many creatures on the road and caused 200 car crashes per day. Some of the experts said that the deer should be killed; therefore some of the deer had been shot to control the population of the deer. But there were also some experts disagreed of culling the deer, they think that there will should other ways to control the numbers of the deer. People think that too much creatures will have many problems and they will be over populated in numbers, so some of the creatures still have to be killed for controlling the balance of the population. They have tried to make signs and special markings on the roads to stop the crashes but accidents still occurs.
For the deer article, I think the caused of the accident was that the deer population was out of control, and there is no effective way to protect and keep the population in the right numbers. I think if I worked in the city council, I will set up a hunting season, which will allow people to hunt deer during the hunting season, which can keep the deer population in the right number. Or I will have a reserved area for the deer, so they can get protected, and during the hunting season, the reserved area can also open to public for hunting.

Thursday January 29 2009
By BBC
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7850000/newsid_7859000/7859019.stm

Effective Communicator

2009-02-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

People use different kinds of languages and dialects to communicate with each other, every culture has their own way in communicating, yet many people have “poor communication skills”. For me, an effective communicator is a person that have very good relationships with others, knows how to communicate with each individual with their understanding, for example if you are going to give a speech in public, you need to study your audience first, so they will be able to understand you better.

They are many ways you can become a more effective communicator, is trainable, and with some practice, you can become a pro. Every communication has a purpose; no matter you are talking to your friends, teachers or even parents, what are the purposes here? You need to get your ideas through by using different techniques, maybe body language, facial expression or tone of voice to help.
Enable to become an effective communicator, you must change your communicating style to match that of the person you are communicating with, it is no use expecting them to change for you.
There are some tips you can use and learn enable to improve your communication skill. Firstly, you need to be able to listen and observe, people can listen more words then they speak. When you listen with a purpose such as to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, show support, etc. By defining your purpose in listening you can moderate your responses to accomplish your purpose.
Secondly, you need to listen actively, you need to concentrate on someone for a length of time, which might be difficulty, so if you can take notes while the person is talking, maybe that will help you focus more.
Thirdly, know how to respond. The first thing to learn in this part is that you will find communication much easier if you are speaking in the same way (tone, tempo and rhythm) as your correspondent: If you usually speak fast, find someone who speaks slowly (or vice versa) and match their tempo when you are talking with them, and then measure how successful that conversation was in comparison to a conversation with them which was entirely on your natural tempo. Also when you respond, try to use positive directions, I don’t mean being nice to people, but people’s brain response better with positive answers.
The last important thing to learn about communication skills is the goal of the communication. You must keep this in mind when entering into any communication for you to be able to measure its success and thus moderate your future attempts to achieve your goals through communication. If your goal is to cheer up a friend, you will be able to tell if you have been successful by comparing the tone of the friend at the beginning and at the end of the conversation. Or if your goal is to build a relationship more solidly, then you can compare your correspondent mood before and after each communication. You need to know in each communication process, did you achieve your goals through the communication or not. If you didn’t achieve your goals in the end that means you still have room to work on your communication skill.

image source: http://www.spokemasters.org/_borders/MCj03355720000%5B1%5D.gif

Humanities - Learning Outcomes

2009-02-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

What of the Learning Outcomes did I use in my learning?

In the Learning Outcomes, i used the community contributor in my learning. I did some community service to help the people and the community, I help the community to clean the streets and I never litter. I have also used the critical thinker and problem solver in my learning. I helped my classmates to solve some computer problems before and also give some suggestions to help them to solve their problems. Sometimes help with their homework or even some personal matter.

How did I use each of those learning outcomes? How can I describe each one?( i.e, how could someone see me being an active learning, a community contributor?

As for the active learner, it means that the person want to learn more. I did some research for my projects, also for my extra readings. I sometimes ask for help from teachers, classmates or my parents, and it was very helpful.

The effective communicator means that the person has a very good relationship with other people; and they can communicate with others very well. I had helped my friends to ask for some information and also had communicated with people from other countries. I learned a lot of different cultures from them and I had also introduced my country to them and it was a good conversation.

The problem solver, the person solves the problem when they meets one and also help the other to get over their problem. I had once that helped my classmate to solve her computer problem, it took a while but it works after I fixed it and I solved her problem.

The person of high characters is with honest and loyalty. For me, I had always been loyal and honest to my classmates, friends, teachers, my parents and family.

Finally, the community contributor is a person that cares about the community and help it to make it better. I had done the community service before for about four hours during school hours. We took care of the dogs; I tried to feed them, took them for a walk and it was really great.

What content, skills and big ideas did I learn from doing the project?

The book report of the Language Arts class, i learned how to find out the plots, what are introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. These were very important tips to help you understand the book very well. We had also need to write down the characters from the book that you were interested in and described their characteristics with strong adjectives and give examples. It was a very big project and we also need to have a presentation in front of the whole class and give comments or suggestions to others and learn from each others.

Investigation into NY plane crash

2009-01-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

There was a plane crash into a river in New York on Thursday. Due to the experienced pilot, everyone on the board made out safely. Investigators were already talked to the pilot about what really happened. The officials wanted to pull out the plane in one piece, a giant crane and a huge boat have already been brought to do the job. According to the Captain, he thinks that the crash was caused by birds flying into the engines.

Saturday January 17 2009
By BBC
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7830000/newsid_7835000/7835037.stm

Bafta award nominations revealed

2009-01-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

The film Wall-E had just won a Golden Globe, and after a few days, it has been nominated again for another three awards. The rubbish collecting robot is the best film and the best sound at the Bafta awards. Wall-E is going head to head with the musical movie Mamma Mia. Kate Winslet, winner of the Golden Globes was also nominated as the best actress at the Bafta awards, so does Heath Ledger for best supporting actor for his role as Joker in the Dark Knight.

Thursday January 15 2009
By BBC
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7830000/newsid_7830200/7830201.stm

Wall-E wins at the Golden Globes

2009-01-13T16:06:00.000-08:00

Wall-E has wan the prize of the best film which was the Golden Globes in Los Angeles. The story was about the human produce too much garbage and Wall-E was the rubbish - picking robot. This movie has beat off another two films Kung Fu Panda and Bolt and won the award. Blot is the film that features the voice of Miley Cyrus. Golden Globes are considered the prediction of future Oscars winners.
Kate was also a big winner of that night, she had won2 Golden Globes, and Kate was very shocked when she won her prize because she had been nominated for many times, but never won anything.

Monday January 12 2009
By BBC
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7820000/newsid_7823500/7823522.stm

Zavvi to close 22 shops

2009-01-10T01:06:00.000-08:00

The retailer music store Zavvi had been badly affected by the closure of Woolworths and 22 stores were closed down because of that. Zavvi still has 92 stores remaining and are struggling to survive under the recession. They hope that some parts of their business could be sold out to new owners so the rest of the stores can still operate normally. There will be 178 people losing their jobs resulted from this world-wide recession.

Thursday January 08 2009
By BBC
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7810000/newsid_7817700/7817781.stm

MOVIE BEN-HUR part 2 / part 3

2009-01-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

Judah Ben-Hur is a 17 year old Jew at the time of the roman occupation of Judea. His boyhood friend, Messala, comes back from Rome to help to govern the province of Judea. But he is no longer the Messala Judah once knew. He is a Roman now. Judah realizes that they can no longer be friends, and he leaves him.   Later that day he stands on the roof of his house to watch the new govenor parade in. He accidentily knocks a tile from the roof and hits the govenor on the head. The govener, being slightly furious at Judah, sends him to the galleys and his mother and sister are sent to a rather unpleasent prison. All of their possessions, including their house are taken by the romans. Judah is furious at Messala for doing this and vows to kill him.  Three years later Quintis Arrius takes over the ship that Ben-Hur is rowing in. They are attacked by pirates and Ben-hur saves Arrius' life. Arrius is very grateful to Ben-Hur and adopts him, making him the heir to all his property.  Five years later Judah arrives in Antioch. There he meets a wealthy merchant named Simonides and his daughter, Esther. Ben-Hur thinks she is very pretty, but he has more important things to think about. He finds out that Simonides is his fathers servant and he asks him where is mother and sister are. Simonides does not know where they are and sorrowfully tells Ben-Hur that he does not know. Simonides does not say that he believes Ben-Hur or not. Ben-Hur goes away and meets Shiek Ilderim. Shiek Ilderim owns a very fine team of horses and Ben-Hur is an expert charioteer. He asks if he can be Ilderim's charioteer. He knows that Messala will also be in the race and he wishes to humiliate him by winning.   There he meets an Egyptian named Balthazar and his beautiful daughter, Iras. Balthazar was one of the three wise men and he tells Judah that he should forgive Messala. Judah is not ready to do that. He is quite taken with the beautiful Iras and spends as much time as he can with her.  Simonides has Judah come to him and he tells him that he is indeed his fathers servant and gives his fortune to him. Ben-Hur gives most of it back to him. Simonides than says that the king whom Balthazar had seen long ago, would have need of an army to conquer the romans. He suggests that that is what Ben-Hur should do with his fortune. Ben-Hur agrees.  When the day of the chariot race arrives people from all over the world are there. For a long time Messala has the lead. But he was to close to the wall. His chariot hit the wall and he fell out. Ben-Hur won the race and Messala is without use of his legs, and has lost his fortune from a bet he made that he would win.  In Jerusalem the tribune in charge of the prison finds a cell that has been almost completely blocked up. The only opening was a small one left for feeding the prisoners. I must say that must have been very unpleasent conditions to live in. He opens it up and finds two women who have leprosy. He gives them clothes and they are brought out of the city. Unknown to him they are Ben-Hur's mother and his sister, Tirzah.  After the chariot race Judah continues his search for His mother and sister. He finds out that they are lepers and believes they have been stoned. So he follows Jesus and begins to gather followers for his army. Amrah, an old servant belonging to the Hurs know where Tirzah and her mother are and she brings food to them every day. She heard Judah talking about how Jesus cured lepers and she brings Tirzah and her mother to a road which Jesus will use to get to Jerusalem. Jesus cures them and Ben-Hur was in the following of Jesus sees them and is reunited with his family.  That friday he follows Jesus up to where he will be crucified. While he was watching along with thousands of other people he finally understands that Jesus will not have his kingdom on earth but in heaven.  Five years later, he is married to Esther and they decide what to do with there fortune. They built the catacomb of San Calixto.

MOVIE BEN-HUR part 1

2009-01-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

The movie that i watched today during class was about ancient Rome . The people in the movie dressed very normal and nothing special , everyone wore very somilar clothes . The buildings were also very empty . The Romans treated their slaves very rude , but they did not kill them , instead the Romans use them to work on the big ships . Jesus also applearsed in the movie . He was a kind-hearted ans generous man . In the beginning of the movie , there was a brief introduction of him . In the ancient Rome , the soldiers wore shorts because it was very hot during summer time , and they also wore red cape on their back and carried sword on their waist .

Britain gripped by big freeze

2009-01-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

It has been freezing in some of the parts in UK , and it is as cold as the Arctic . The south east of England has dropped to eleven degrees below zero . The bad weather is going to stay until this weekend . The temperature in Scotland is rising during the day , but at night it is still very cold. The weather in UK now might get worse overnight .

Tuesday January 06 2009
by bbc
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7810000/newsid_7813000/7813060.stm

Search on for escaped beaver

2009-01-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

The beaver has been hunted for their fur back in the 16th century in Britain . There were three beavers from the southern of England had escaped from their home . It occured in October, but two of them had been found in no time. Unfortunately, the third beaver has been abducted to a farther place and it was never been found. Beavers live near rivers, streams, ponds, small lakes and marshes. They build lodges of sticks and mud on islands, on pond banks or on lake shores. Beavers have to keep chewing on the woods so that their teeth wouldn't grow too long.

Tuesday December 30 2008
by bbc
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7800000/newsid_7805100/7805199.stm

Big idea to help wild tigers

2008-12-28T06:39:00.000-08:00

There is a news about a long-term project on helping the wild tigers in Malaysia. The conservation groups and the government in Malaysia are still trying to pick up the numbers of tigers from 500 to about 1,000 to 2020 . Hopefully the numbers of tigers in Malaysia will be doubled over the next twelve years . Many tigers were killed by the hunters illegally over the years, and now they are trying to ban the killing of tigers in Malaysia. The hunters usually hunt down the tigers because of their valuable body parts and many body parts are use in Chinese medicine. Tigers were been protected in Malaysia by the laws since 1970 . But the numbers of wild tigers has dropped from 3,000 to only about 500 over these past 50 years.

Tuesday December 23 2008
by bbc
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7790000/newsid_7797400/7797416.stm

Panda gift helps China friendship

2008-12-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

There are two giant pandas coming to Taiwan , it was a gift from China . The two pandas were a girl and a boy , they are named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan . In Chinese , tuanyuan means reunion . Taiwan and China has been countries . There is also a team of animal expert that is coming to Taiwan with them , enable to make sure everything is all right . The pair of panda will be living in the Taipei Zoo after they arrive in Taiwan .

Tuesday December 23 2008
by bbc
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7790000/newsid_7796900/7796999.stm

Fresh rioting hits Greek cities

2008-12-15T21:46:00.000-08:00

There was a riot in three different cities in Greek . The story was between the police and the protesters. There was a fifteen - year - old boy that was shot by the police and died during this riot . There were hundreds of students battling with the police officers , two officers have already arrested because of the death of the fifteen-year old boy . The Greek government wanted to put this riot into an end , but a BBC journalist claimed that many people think that the Greek government should be blamed for the caused of this violence riot.

Monday December 08 2008
by bbc
source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7770000/newsid_7771500/7771511.stm

4 Children Are Killed in Indiana Bus Crash

2008-12-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

There were four children who were killed from this bus crash accident. The accident took place in northern Indianapolis of America . The bus driver was airlifted to Indiana hospital for treatment . The bus driver has already prepared to meet with the four children's family. On a Friday afternoon, the school bus driver were taking the children home. The accident occured while a truck was swerved to avoid the another bus, even though all four children were wearing seat belts at the time, the children were still tragically killed.