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Finally, the Year Has Come to An End

Jun 5

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Middle School, Reading, Reflection, Writing | Comments off

Sabrina Lin

Humanities 8

Year End Reflection

June 6, 2012

Finally, the Year Has Come to An End

Remember the time when I used to joke around with my friends, poke each other around in class and giggle with them while the teachers were talking. Now that I’ve grown older and more mature, I’ve also improved my studying skills. In the following paragraphs, I’m going to explain what I’ve achieved this year on reading, writing, communication skills and learning habits. Last year, I’ve been really lazy about reading, I tried to get away with it as much as possible. However, this year, I’ve grown a lot as a reader. A big support of reading this year is SSR time, stands for Sustained Silent Reading. Students are given with 30 minutes everyday to read at school. With this great opportunity, I started to read more often and I actually enjoy it. On the other hand, not only that I’ve begin to ‘read’, I’ve selected books on different topics, such as books about wars, history, romance, problem solving, and more. A book that I really enjoy reading is Burn My Heart by Beverley Naidoo. It’s set in one of the war in Africa, which I’ve never expect it to be entertaining. However, I was amazed by the story, the author express the character as if she’s the one who’ve been through the event. Consequently, I’ve read several books about historical events and I start to have interest in the subject. In the future years, I wish to spare more time to read and relax everyday, since, I’ve improved my writing skills over a year of reading continuously. Also, I’ve increased my reading speed which is really helpful when it comes to reading in other subjects and outside of school.

In the past few years, I’ve been thinking of the word ‘writing’ as ‘troubles’. The reason was because my writing was boring, didn’t have enough details to support my text and I tended to repeat phrases and words. However, after ten months of practicing, I’ve become better at including thoughts and information. Since the beginning of the year, our Humanities class have been practicing our writing skills on various assignments, like Articles of the Week, reflection of activities (SAL reflection), and more. From these work, I’ve become more skillful on containing ideas. The main tip is to brainstorm thoroughly so that you don’t miss any details, and also talk to another person about their ideas and opinions on a certain topic. Therefore, you’ll have less chance of running out of thoughts. Also, I’ve improved on ‘phrasing’. A major assist of this is from reading various types of books, which I learn how the authors express their thought using different phrases and words. My favorite piece of writing is the latest essay on Human Trafficking. My topic was the abduction part of human trafficking and I have plenty of ideas and information to include in my essay. Also, the phrases and sentences flow smoothly without much repetitions. Yet, I still need a little work on my word choice and vocabulary usage, so that I use strong, descriptive words in my writing.

Communication is a big part of my social life. Before the eighth grade year started, I was really quiet and afraid to speak aloud because I might be ‘incorrect’. However, I was wrong about that. In order to let the others know about what you are thinking, you have to tell them. This year, with the help from the article of the week discussions along with some other presentations, I’ve improved my speaking skills. When it’s my turn to share my thoughts, I talk loudly with a confident, strong voice. The struggle that I have now is that sometimes it’s difficult to express my thoughts with words. I’m likely to speak out something that doesn’t support my opinions. Therefore, I need to work on using the correct words that fits my feelings.

I used to be shy to talk to teachers and afraid to ask questions to friends, and those habits isn’t beneficial for learning. So what are good learning habits? A year has passed by, and I’m starting to learn about habits that will help me to be successful in the future. I tried to be organized by finishing my assignments on time, accomplishing tasks that I need to do, and keeping a clean, tidy working space for myself. Also, I try to listen carefully in class to what the teachers are saying and make sure I understand the concept, thus, I don’t need hours and hours to study at home because I’ve already learn the material in class. Last but not least, when I have questions from class, I try to ask a friend or teacher and make sure that I understand every bits of information. With all the learning habits I learned this year, I still need to achieve my time management skills because sometimes I chat with my friends on the Internet for a long time and ends up that I didn’t have time for other assignments. Therefore, I need to improve on spending my time wisely.

This year has been an amazing year. I’ve learned a lot from my friends, teachers, family, and others. After all the learning, I believe that I am ready for High School, and so is every other eighth grade friends. In the future years, I wish to spare some time for pleasure reading, improve my word choice, work on expressing my thoughts and spend my time wisely in order to become successful.

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What to Do to Help Those Animals

May 31

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Middle School, Reading, Writing | Comments off

Image by: Ennuipoet * FreeVerse Photography

Many people know about the polluted environment surrounding us, but what is actually happening? This week’s article, Zoos’ Bitter Choice by Leslie Kaufman, is about saving the endangered animals. Zoos are planning to save the endangered species by creating living environment for those animals. However, there are also some issues along the way.

Zoos are planning to save endangered animals by creating specific living environment for species so they can reproduce naturally. In order to achieve this project, the zoos will need huge amount of money and space for the natural environment for the animals. However, it’s impossible for the zoos to take care of all hundreds of endangered species, therefore, they have to eliminate some animals. The decision is based on, “uniqueness, level of endangerment in the wild, importance of the animal’s ecological role, and whether there is an adequate population in captivity for effecting breeding.” In my opinion, it’s really unfair that some animals that is low-populated are being left out of the saving list just because they aren’t a big issue, but thinking back, it really is impossible to save all the species and the zoos are also trying their best to save all kinds of animals.

According to the article, one of the examples of saving the endangered species is the American burying beetles. They were endangered since 1989, but after a few years of caring and natural reproduction, the population had increased and they were sent back to the wild again. However, not all the species are lucky enough to survive. Some animals are too low-populated and reproduce really slowly, it’s hardly possible to increase the population. Although many animals are facing the problems of extinction, scientists and researchers are still trying their best to help save those species.

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I am from…

May 28

Posted by Yu Pin in Grade 8, Middle School, Writing | Comments off

A chilly swimming pool,
laughter and loved ones,
chocolate ice cream and banana,
and from sleeping to music.

I am from
teddy bears
my father gave me,
Brownie the puppy
as part of the family.

From missing the coldness in winter time
to the sunshine on a summer beach.
and from trying my best
at everything.

Persuasive Essay–After School Activities

May 28

Posted by Yu Pin in Grade 8, Middle School, Writing | Comments off

“You cannot stay after school today. It’s Wednesday,” called one of the teachers. In Saigon South International School, students are forced to leave campus right after school every Wednesday due to the teachers’ meetings. However, I believe that it’ll be more beneficial to the students if Wednesdays are available for after school activities. The reasons are that the activities will be spread out and the students can achieve the core value of balance in life.

First of all, the activities throughout the week will be more spread out and not all crammed at the same time. If Wednesday afternoons are available, there will be five days to arrange activities instead of only four days. If so, different clubs won’t overlap with each other. For example, on Tuesday, both volleyball and swim team have practice from 3 to 4:30. In this case, the students who are in both teams can only attend one of the practices. Therefore, one of the teams can be moved to Wednesday afternoon, and the students won’t be forced to give up one of the team practice because of the overlapping time.

Furthermore, students are more likely to achieve the core value of balance in life. A student might join different of clubs each throughout the week, such as, art club on Monday, sports on Tuesday and Thursday, orchestra every Friday, and maybe homework club can be inserted on Wednesday afternoons. In this case, students are able to balance sports, art, and studying. Also, if the students go home right away every Wednesday, they might be social-networking or watching TV for three to four hours straight because they have nothing else to do. After awhile, they will start to get in the habit of being lazy and relaxing for hours where they could’ve used the time more wisely, like reading or reviewing notes from class. Therefore, instead of getting students used to being lazy and relaxing for hours, why shouldn’t the school arrange after school activities every school day so that the students won’t be bored?

In conclusion, I believe that the after school activities should be spread, and the most effective way is to insert activities on Wednesday afternoon. This will not only be helpful for the students’ variety choices of clubs, but also helping them to have the habit of spending their time wisely.

Money or Environment?

May 10

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Middle School, Reading, Writing | Comments off

Image by: IITA Image Library

Will you chose to save the environment over countless amount of money? This week’s article is A Cause and Questions in Cambodia by Matt Mccann, and it’s about a journalist being killed for researching about illegal logging that is done by private companies.

In the article, Mr. Chut Wutty, the head of Natural Resource Protection Group, was trying to gather information about the logging in the forest. Unfortunately he was shot while researching and the killer is still undefined. However, I predict that the man was sent from the government because of a several reasons. “Various private companies worked in concert with…the government…illicit logging operations” According to this quote, the government is assisting the companies by letting them cut down trees and hide this event from the citizens. Also, the government told the local people that the forest is a protected land. However, in reality, the companies are damaging the environment by cutting down trees and clearing lands. I believe the only reason why this is happening is because of money. If the government helped the companies without receiving money, this will not only cause trouble to the environment, but also a great protest from the people in the country.

I connect this article to the government in Vietnam. Recently, the country doesn’t accept the high-ranking movie “The Hunger Games” to be shown in theatres due to the protest in the storyline. What I’ve heard from many other people is that the government doesn’t want the citizens to follow the movie and protest, which, people started to think that the government is selfish. Similar to this situation in Cambodia, the government is hiding the illegal logging from the companies. Now a lot of people have realized the truth, and many started to believe that all the government want is money.

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From Oil Spill to No Seafood

May 1

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Middle School, Reading, Writing | 3 Comments

Image by: Green Fire Productions

People are causing great damage to our environment and the issues are all over the news, yet hardly anybody had taken action to protect the Earth. This week’s article is the BP Oil Spill by Casey Chan. One of the boats from the BP company had an oil spill in the sea, causing the sea creatures to be deformed due to the oil pollution.

BP is a fuel company. They send ships to the ocean and use devices to detect whether or not there’s fuel under the sea. “2010 BP oil disaster… solvents used to clean up the spill… great for cleaning up an oil disaster, but terrible for the environment.” According to this quote, the company had an oil disaster a few years ago, and the pollution had not only came from the oil but also the chemicals in the cleaner. I was really surprised that BP had caused such great damage to the environment, and I think the government should examine the devices and the boats to make sure that the company won’t release any more harmful pollution.

The recent oil spill was a great damage to the surroundings. More than half of the sea creatures are deformed or injured. Also, many fishermen and scientists reported that they’ve never seen the massive mutant seafood. Furthermore, because of the deformities, the fishermen couldn’t capture fish and sell it to other people, therefore they won’t be able to make enough money to support their families. This tragic event has not only cause problems for the environment and human health, but also the economics of seafood that those mutations are not edible.

I connect this event to poverty around the world. Nowadays, people know that poverty is very common. Children were forced to work to earn money and support the family (child labor), people dying of hunger, factory workers working for long hours everyday just to earn some money for food. Everyone knows about these poor people, but nobody had taken any action to support them. Similar to that, pollution and environmental issues are all over the news. However, nobody really tried to spread the words and tell others to stop releasing pollution to the Earth.

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Pair of Glasses = iPhone

Apr 11

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Reading, Writing | 1 Comment

Image by: Google

Can you imagine chatting with your friend on a pair of glasses? Well, you should believe it even if you think this is impossible. This week’s article is about the Project Glass that is going to be released hopefully by the end of the year. It is a pair of glasses that has as much abilities as a smartphone: view the weather, send text messages, chat online, and a lot more.

The Project Glass is a pair of glasses with small displays at the top right corner. The pair of glasses seemed ordinary, but it can do as much as your iPhone can do. “…Operating system that appears to be both voice-controlled and, less familiarly, view-controlled.” Nowadays, there isn’t much products that are capable of voice or view-controlled ability, and I was surprised when I realized that the Project Glass have both abilities. For example, if I say take a picture of what I’m viewing, the Glasses will turn into a camera and take the photo. Therefore, I was really amazed by its ability, and I’m sure this technology will be a big hit all over the world.

Talking about how amazing the new invented product is, there’s always some negative parts of the glasses. I think Google haven’t tell us specifically about the future product. I believe that the cost will be high due to its high-level operating system and abilities on the glasses. Also, the video in the article displayed that people can chat with others using the Project Glass. I wonder if they both need the glasses, or are they sharing apps? I believe that many people are really curious about the upcoming product, and I hope that Google can explain more in detail about the product.

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How can people live peacefully while the others Are suffering?

Mar 15

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Humanities 8, Reading, Writing | 2 Comments

Image by: k-ideas

People are suffering on the other side of the world, but hardly anybody knows, and nobody is willing to take action to support them. This week’s article is about Joseph Kony and his crime, and I’m sure that many people know about him already.

Joseph Kony is the leader of the LRA, which stands for Lord’s Resistance Army, and it’s an organization that is against the government. He abducts children and gave them guns to kill other citizens, and some girls were sold as sex slaves. One of the children, Jacob, is mentioned in the video. He had suffered for the past few years, trying to escape from the army. It struck me because I thought that nobody should be living a painful life while many others are living peacefully with family and friends. Therefore, if possible, I would like to donate some money to support the children and hope that they can soon live a happy and comfortable life.

I connect this event of abducting the children to the poverty around the world. At first, hardly anyone knows about Joseph Kony and his crime of kidnapping children, rape, and murdering other citizens. Therefore, nobody is willing to help the victims or stop Kony from his violence. Similar to that, even though a lot of people know about the poverty around the world, hardly anybody is willing to give support for the poor people because there are such huge amount of people to take care of.

On the other hand, I learn that if you have an opinion, speak up and tell the others about your idea, and if you are willing to do something, do it now because it might be too late after awhile Jason Russel, the movie editor, tried to persuade people to stop Kony’s action and help the children, and soon, they started to know what is happening in the world, and they are willing to give support for those who are in need.

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Why Kill?

Mar 6

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Middle School, Reading, Writing | Comments off

Image by: RishiB

Why do people murder others? Because of hatred? Regret? Or because they felt like killing people? I always wonder why people can’t live peacefully. This week’s article (page 1, page 2) is about a high school student shooting at other classmates, and the police are still searching for the cause of his behavior.

According to the article, T.J. Lane, the alleged shooter, shot five students at school. Three of the five students died not long after the shot, and the other two people are hospitalized and still heavily injured. I feel really sorry for those who were affected from the murder. Not only the victims and their families, but also the killer’s friends. I believed that it must be hard for those families, since the tragic event is unexpected to happen, that their beloved ones were murdered. In addition, if I was one of the killer’s friends, I would be really disappointed because I would never expect my friend to kill other people, and that I had made the wrong choice of being friend with a crime.

On the other hand, the article stated, “Lane’s family life had been disrupted by divorce and violence….His parents divorced in 2002, and his father later served time in jail on assault and other charges.” From this quote, I assume that his family might be the motivation of him killing other students. According to the court documents, Lane’s parents divorced because his father beat up his ex-wife and that he was imprisoned for his violation. Therefore, I believed that Lane must be feeling upset because he had a destroyed family which can never be healed again. Consequently, he might do something harmful that can cause great damage because of his emotional feelings.

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Facebook Is Using YOU!

Feb 16

Posted by Yu Pin in Appino, Grade 8, Middle School, Reading, Writing | 4 Comments

Image by: Mikleman

What will you feel if someone uses your online information to earn huge amount of money? I guess not so positive. After reading this article (page 1, page 2), I realized that Facebook and other companies are using people’s privacy online to “earn” money.

This week’s article is about Facebook using people’s personal information online, and selling the information to advertising companies. The advertisers uses keywords and details on a user’s account, and Facebook will run the ad. Furthermore, when Facebook users click on the ads on their side bars, the website will then have access to your personal information.

“Google took in more than 10 times as much, with an estimated $36.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2011, by analyzing what people sent over Gmail and what they searched on the Web, and then using that data to sell ads.” I was kind of shocked after reading this quote. Does it mean that Google knows what we are searching on and our private emails online? At first I felt like being stalk on the Internet. However, afterwards, I realized that it’s doing the same thing as Facebook, having access to every bits of what we are doing online.

“93 percent thought Internet companies should always ask for permission before using personal information, and 72 percent wanted the right to opt out of online tracking.” From this quote, I realized people are trying to protest against Websites having access to users’ information, but in my opinion, the best way to resist websites having our personal information is to stop using it.

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