Thursday, May 7, 2009

Tableaux

We successfully gave our tableaux to the class today. I can say that we did a really amazing job and our situation were extremely hard, because Anthony was not at school the day before yesterday, and I was not at school yesterday. Which means we lost two chances to practice. We were even working it out together on the phone at 11 o'clock at night yesterday. We decided who was going to be the narrator and every single part. It was not easy when you had 10 senses to work on. We came to school at 7,30 this morning and we started our first practice. Paul was late for the practice, so we needed to started over and over again to help Paul knew his part.

After 30 minutes' practice and an other 40 minutes which Miss Yu gave to the class, we prepared. The show eventually came, we felt a lot of pressure because we were going to act after Lucy's group. Her group did a really good job, the music was really fit the senses, also all the pictures. However, I was so gratified that every one did an amazing job when we were acting. The acting was better than any practice we did before. Anthony put all of his emotion into the show, he made the acting so real. Jessie did not forget her words which she always did when we practiced. Paul's British accent made the show more colorful. Mattew also did an amazing job, I was really appreciated that he could put some time out from his IELTS Test which is going to be on this Saturday. Briefly, I think we were the best.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

People Can Create Their Own Reality

People Can Create Their Own Reality


A lot of people became succeed by created their own reality. At first their might be a ignored people in the society, they did not have a high social position, they were the vulnerable group in the society. However, they showed their reality through hard working. Yao Ming was one of them.


Yao was chosen by the Rocket 8 years ago. As a Chinese, an Asian basketball player, he showed his reality by all the efforts he had done. “Playing in NBA is very hard for a yellow player even he is 2.26 meter’s tall,” a famous sports commentator said. Yao was not fit in the environment when he first came to NBA. He did not even have so many chances to get on court. It was so hard to show his reality in the limited time. “If Yao get 19 points tonight I am going to kiss the donkey’s ass, Charles Bakley said (a famous NBA player but retired).” Indeed, Yao played not good at his first three matches. He even felt down when he was facing the dribbling of Nash. However, the result was Bakley did kissed the donkey and Yao got 26 points on that match which was the highest point on that night. Yao used a beautiful match to show his reality and that was only the started. Yao started to fit in the NBA, he went to the training every time, he was always the last who left the gym because he was forcing himself to shoot more. Gradually, he became the most important person in the team. As the center of Rocket, he shouldered most of the offences. When Tracy Mcgrady was injured he leaded the Rocket to the seven consecutive win which was the most consecutive record in the history of the team. “I want to be Yao’s backup for the rest of my career, Dikembe Mutombo said.” With his efforts he leaded the Rockets went to the playoff every year. Because of he was lack of useful helpers the Rockets never been to so far in the playoff. Even so, he used his efforts to prove his reality.


To sum up, Every one has his own reality, no matter what people’s position is in the environment, they all have chances to create their reality. However, only 20% people is holding the 80% of the world fortune. To be succeed and 100% show the reality need hard working and the ability of holding chances.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Shi Du!!!!


Oh, on Thursday, we went to Shi Du which was located in the South west of Beijing. It was soooooo fun, I was totally wet because of the water guns. Now, We are organizing a big party on next Saturday, a lot of people who just came back from Canada were involved!
Come on party animals!!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Reading Notes of Jade Peony

Stan Chien

April 25, 09


Reading Notes of Jade Peony



The short story which is written by Wayson Choy is a story about a Chinese family lived in chinatown Vancouver and how did the author was influenced by his grandma. The author used a couple of figurative language within the story which made suspense and attracted the readers.


Symbolism is used in this story. The cat mentions at the end of the story is the clue of the whole story. It is the symbol of grandma’s old lover. Grandma said that the cat’s eyes were pink, and the pink was also the color of her spirit. She thought the cat was sent by her old lover to take her back. The cat was also the symbol of death. After grandma saw the cat, she was already prepared to die and refused to go to the hospital, because she was a very traditional person, the cat was to bring her back, so there was no way to stop her from dying. The symbolism also shows that the tradition of grandma. For example, before grandma died, she and the author made a wind chime and grandma told the author that hang it on the window, so the family will know that when she is coming back and visit the family.


Conflict also introduced in this story. External conflict was mainly introduced in this story. When the other family members saw their grandma went to pickup garbages, they felt embarrassing. “what will other white people in Vancouver think about us?”, this sentence shows the felling about the family members. Another external conflict in this story is the conflict between the author which was the youngest child in the family and his sisters and brothers. The author was following grandma all the time and he was on her side. It can also be seen as a foreshowing that tells reader that the author was influenced by grandma’s tradition. Internal conflict was also introduced in this story. Father knew that it was not good for grandma to pick up garbage, but he did not stop her and his youngest son(author). Because grandma was the oldest person in the family and he wanted his son to protect the grandma.


To sum up, this was a very attractive story and I have been attracted. The story was very close to my life, as a person who is going to study in Canada, I can totally understand the situation of this family. They showed the realistic side of the early Chinese-Canadian’s life in the Chinatown of Vancouver. The author used a different way to talk about the tradition. He showed tradition through death and how the tradition influenced him.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

People Can Be Influenced By Their Environment

People Can Be Influenced By Their Environment



People are living in the different environment. We are from different country, different city, we go to different school and we live in the different family. As a result, someone did very successful while someone didn’t. That was because they were from different environment.


A good environment can influences people in a positive way, it make them improve. I still remember that when I first stepped in to a international school in Beijing which I was going to study in for 3 years. I was naive, very poor in English and did not play any musical instruments. The first day in school I thought this school was very different from traditional Chinese high school, because people here were all speaking English, even Korean and Russian sometimes. I was extremely nervous that I could not even understand a word from the teacher and some foreigner students. I felt so helpless that I had to start using English everyday instead of Chinese which I had been spoken for 15 years. During that time I was suffering by not understandable English and learning it. This school was like a big machine which forced you to speak English everyday. Till now, I can speak a perfect English which is three years later and my english level so far is already be able to understand and communicate in a Northern American University. A good environment is like a big tool which you can learn and improve from. It is also like a big tool which is pushing you forward.


The influence of environment can also be negative. When people are not moving forward but even moving backward or corrupted, environment is the main reason for that. Now, in China some students who went to colleges can not find a job in China when they came back. Normally, people who went to western University and graduated can easily find a job back in China. The reason is not the companies do not want people who took a better education, but it is the students themselves and their environment. According to a passage from the Beijing Evening Newspaper that half of the students who came back from western university are speaking very low English, even poorer than the local high school students. That is because they did not need to speak English when they were abroad. They lived in the China Town, go to the Chinese Supermarket, go to the university which Chinese students account for 30%. They met only Chinese friends and watched Chinese TV program. They did not even use English there which makes them loss their advantages when they come back. Thus, if we do not use our environment correctly the environment is going to have a some dad influences.


To conclude, the environment in the present day society is so complicated and the point is how can we choose a better environment, because people can be influenced by their environment.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Identities can be shaped through actions & behaviors

Identities can be shaped through actions & behaviors


In the present day society, each person is acting different kind of identities. Their identity can be changed when at home, at school, or in the society. In another word, usually the changing of people’s identities is connecting to their actions and behaviors.


“To be succeeding is 1% of intelligent and 99% of effort” Edison was one of the famous scientists who invented lamps. However, I his childhood he was not the top student. He hated to study and almost failed on every science courses. His teacher told Edison’s father that Edison could not be success in the future, he is a bad student. He quit from school and went back home. After he started to invent something his intelligent of invention showed up and this made Edison to continue inventing. What made him to become a famous scientist? The answer is after he successfully invented lamp. He tried over different 100 materials to make the lamp. During this time, he was suffering from failures. However, in the front of failures Edison choice to keep up and continue to find materials which could fin in the lamp. After many years and many failures he finally found the best material, finished his invention of lamp. He brought bright to the world. His action, his good spirit and many times' efforts made him finally became famous and made him became a scientist from a bad student who were kicked out of school and have nothing to do.


Actions and behaviors not only can shape people to a better identity, but also can destroy a person's identity. The ex-president of Taiwan, Chen Shui Bian was under arrested by receiving illegal money. He had created a lot of bank account all over the world to save money, and to make these money legally. Before the election Taiwan people loved him and over 50% of Taiwan resident voted for him. He was cool, and respected by the Taiwan people. He was in the highest level in the society, he could get whatever he want. In another word, he had everything he need even he stepped down from the political stage. However, his behavior and actions of receiving black money made his to be a prisoner and his family could not get rid of it.


To sum up, everyone's identity is changing by what they are doing or what they have done. Which is more important is it depends on what kind of actions and behaviors are we taking, if we make a very positive move, we will able to change our identity to a better one, but if we are making it in a very negative way, the identity will become lower even be a prisoner.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Role models can influence our lives

Role models can influence our lives

In the present-day society, a lot of successful people were seen as other’s model. These people learned a lot of knowledge by studying their models. Some of these people got the same achievement or even more than their model by studying them. It is wildly acknowledged that, role models can influence our lives.

“I am going to create my own band one day.” I said when I was only 6 years old. I was always watched the TV show called Much Music at that time and I was attracted by the band called Eagles. Till now, I made this dream come true. I created a rock band 5 month ago and I play the guitar. The band is working smoothly and we are going to give a performance on the graduation ceremony. The Eagles gave me the passion to learn guitar, and the Eagles gave me a chance to study guitar. I started learning guitar by watching their performance everyday and learned the way they played it. Even now, I still learn their poses on the stage to make me look better on the performance day. I do not know how long is Eagles going to influence me yet, but what I am sure is as my model, Eagles influence my daily life and make me know another important skill.

Not only the Rock Stars can be people’s model and influence our lives, normal people can also do that. In China 90 century, a person who always helped others when they had troubles and never left his name was wildly studied by the Chinese people. His name was LeiFeng. At that time every Chinese people learned to help people and the society maintain a harmonious situation. LeiFeng died in a car accident but this did not stop people from learning him. Oppositely, more and more people started to learn his behaviors. As we can see, LeiFeng not only influenced a person but also influenced the whole entire society, and the influence did not even disappear after his death.

Although people have their models, that does not mean they can get influenced by his model for their entire life. They also need to work hard to study their models. Just like what Lenovo’s CEO said: “find a model and try your best to study the model’s everything, if you work hard enough you will get succeed and that is going to influence your entire life.”