English this year

This year has helped me improve my English skills, and I have learnt a lot about English speaking countries and global issues. I like how we have varied our ways of learning, like for instance all the movies we have watched and the books we have read. Through blogging I think I have improved my writing, and by reading other students' blogs I have been able to see things from several different perspectives. If I have to choose one thing I will remember, it has to be when Moliehi visited us from Lesotho.

Standard written English - a few tasks

Rewrite these sentences from non-standard grammar to standard written English:

1. You didn't see him, is it?
- You didn't see him, did you?

2. When you would like to go?
- When would you like to go?

3. That man he is tall
 - That man is tall

4. Her jewelleries were stolen
- Her jewellery were stolen.

5. I am understanding it now
- I understand it now

6. They two very good friends
- The two of them are very good friends

7. Sushila is extremely a lazy girl
- Sushila is an extremely lazy girl

8. When you leaving?
- When are you leaving?


Pick any four of these sentences and explain how the structure of each differs from the norms of standard written English.

- They two very good friends. This sentence is missing a verb, and is therefore not gramatically correct. The verb is "are".

- When you leaving? In this sentence as well, we need to add a verb. The sentence is not complete until we add the verb "are".

- Her jewelleries were stolen. This sentence is  not correct because jewellery can not be put in a "plural form" like jewelleries.

- Sushila is extremely a lazy girl. This sentence have wrong structure. The "a" should be placed before "extremely".

Two paragraphs from "The Catcher in the Rye"

This spring I am reading "The Catcher in the Rye", a novel by J. D. Salinger. The book was first published in 1951, and has been very popular since."The Catcher in the Rye" is a story about a 17-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield. Holden has a lot on his mind, among other things he has failed four schools, his brother died of leukemia and he has trouble with girls. The story is really about how Holden thinks that most adults are "phony". The Catcher in the Rye is really a boy who is trying to save children from entering the adult and phony world.  In this blog entry I will include two paragraphs from the book that I think represents one of the most important themes of the book.

So, as I mentioned before, I think the main theme of this book is how Holden thinks that almost all the people around him are phonies. I think this upcoming paragraph from early in the story gives us a pretty good idea about how Holden is as a person, and what he thinks of phonies. The paragraph is from when Holden visits his old history teacher, who tries to teach him a lesson about life:

 ““Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” “Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.” Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game."

It is obvious that Holden gets very annoyed when the teacher tells him this, because Holden feels that the teacher is phony. I think that Holden feels that the teacher does not know what he is talking about, because the teacher probably hasn't experienced the hard side of life, where there aren't any hot-shots.

Another paragraph from the book that I think represents the theme is when Holden is listening to a speech from a man called Ossenburger, who used to go to the same school as Holden when he was young.

"He started telling us how he was never ashamed, when he was in some kind of trouble or something, to get right down on his knees and pray to God. He told us we should always pray to God - talk to Him and all - whenever we were. He told us we ought to think of Jesus as our buddy and all. He said he talked to Jesus all the time. Even when he was driving in his car. That killed me. I can just see the big phony bastard shifting into first gear and asking Jesus to send him a few more stiffs".

In both of these paragraphs we clearly see how Holden is annoyed when grown-ups say phony things. If adults are bragging, exaggerating or simply not telling the entire truth, Holden sees them as phony.

Moliehi Sekese

Today, Moliehi Sekese visited our school. She is a teacher from Lesotho, a little country in southern Africa. She is the Educator's Choice award winner 2009 for the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum. She won this award for her school project about indigenous plants. The impressing part is that her school in Lesotho, Mamoeketsi Government Primary School, had no electricity while they did this project.

She began the school project by having her students borrow cell phones from family. The students were supposed to go home and ask their parents about indigenous plants, and then they would write their findings in a text message and send them to Moliehi. She told us that the students were very excited about using cell phones for the first time, and that she received text messages until midnight. Since their school had no internet access, they went to an internet cafe in town to blog about what they had found out. Moliehi told us that her school has only two computers, and with no electricity at school she had to charge them at home every day. They continued their project by going to the biggest botanical garden in Lesotho. They filmed how to grow plants and then they made their own botanical garden near their school.

Moliehi's school has over 700 students, and only two laptops to share. Despite the fact that they have only two laptops and no internet access, Moliehi does the best she can. Her country is one of the poorest countries in the world, and she believes that education will make a difference. Most of the children in her school are very poor; they come to school with no shoes, torn clothes and even hungry. And even when the classrooms are very cold in the wintertime, the students show up. They show up because they know that education is almost necessary. Education is how Lesotho can develop.

The last thing Moliehi said when she was talking to our class was that we should feel lucky. We are lucky because we have so much technology available, and we have no excuse not to get educated. We have no other worries than getting up in the morning and go to school. The children in Lesotho, on the other hand, have a lot of worries every day. Moliehi's strength and guts are very admirable and I think she is doing a wonderful job. The inspiring teacher is trying to make the best out of their situation, by using the little technology they have access to for all it's worth.

Gran Torino

Today we watched the movie "Gran Torino" in English class. The movie is a drama from 2008 directed by Clint Eastwood, who is also playing the main character, Walt Kowalski. Walt is a widow and a Korean War veteran, who is old and grumpy and has little contact with his family. His neighbors are Hmong people, which is an Asian ethnic group from China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

A young boy in the Hmong family, Thao, tries to steal Walt´s car, a 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Walt catches Thao in action, and the car is saved. But Thao is really a very nice boy who struggles to fit in with the other teenagers. His cousin, on the other hand, is a real gangster. The cousin and his gang are always bullying Thao, and saying that he needs to be a real man. It was this gang that pressured Thao into stealing the car. Walt feels sorry for Thao because the gang is always bothering him, and the two of them become good friends.

Even though Walt first comes across as an old, grumpy and even racist man, he still appears to be a really good man inside. It´s almost like Walt feels that his final mission in life is to save Thao and his family. When Thao´s sister, Sue, is bullied by some guys, Walt shows up with a gun to scare them. And when Thao is beaten up by the gang, Walt tracks down one of the members of the gang and threatens him with a gun to his face. But this turned out to get bigger than what Walt probably expected. Next thing he knew, Sue was beaten up real bad by the gang, while the Hmong family´s house was sprayed with shotgun blasts by the gang. This made Walt very angry and sad, and he decided that he had to act. Thao wanted to kill the gang who had raped and beaten up his sister, but Walt wouldn't let him so he locked him up in his basement. I think Walt kept Thao away because he couldn't risk that Thao would end up spending his life in prison. Therefore, Walt had to deal with it himself. He wanted to put the gang members away for good, and he ended up sacrificing his own life. I think Walt did this both because he felt sorry for the Hmong family, and also because he wanted to make amends for all the things he regretted from his own life. Walt died as a hero, while he was trying to light a match.

I think the main theme of this movie is friendship. We see the friendship between Walt and Thao, an older man and a young boy. Despite the big difference in age and culture, they manage to develop a strong relationship. When someone sacrifices their life for a friend, it means that the friendship is very deep. I though the movie was very good and interesting, and I really recommend it!

I found the picture here

The Catcher in the Rye

The book I'm reading in English class this spring is called "The Catcher in the Rye". It's a pretty famous book and I'm sure many of you have heard of it. "The Catcher in the Rye" is a novel by J. D. Salinger and was written in 1951. The book has been translated into almost all of the world´s major languages, and over 65 million copies are sold in total. The book was originally written for adults, but since the main character of the story is 16 year old Holden Caulfield, the novel has been popular for younger people too. Holden is a student at a boarding school who really just wants to run away from everything in this world that thinks is “phony”. Holden gets expelled from Pencey Prep for failing, even though he appears to be a pretty smart boy. All we get to know about his past is that he has failed four schools, he has been visited by a psychoanalyst and that his brother died of leukemia three years before we enter the story. So far I think the book is very interesting and different from other things I have read. The language is good, and the fact that it’s written in first person with Holden as the narrator makes it very exciting to read, because it makes me as a reader feel like I understand what Holden thinks and feels. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this book.

I took the picture here

Megacities

Today we are learning about Megacities in English class. A megacity is a city with a population of at least 10 million. In our English book "Worldwide" there is a text called "Megacities", where it says that the urban population is increasing a lot, while the rural population is decreasing. This means that people all over the world are moving from the country and into the cities. This is a global challenge that we have to deal with in the future.

In our English book there are also some statistics. The first one tells us about growth of the urban population. It says that in year 1800 there were only 2 % that moved to cities. But this number rose quickly. Already in 1950 there were 30% moving to the cities. The number still kept increasing, and in 2000 there were 47% moving from the country and into the cities. The statistics also predicts that in 2030 there will be 60% moving into urban areas.

The next diagram tells us about population in regions of the world in millions. It says that Asia is the region with the largest population in the world. In 1995 there were 2249 million living in rural areas and 1180 million living in urban areas in Asia. Africa is the other region in the world where the rural population is larger than the urban population. Europe, South America and North America all have a larger urban population than the rural population.

Finally, there is a list which tells us how many people lives in different megacities all over the world. On top is Tokyo (Japan) with 33,4 million. Number two is New York (USA) with 24,1 million and then comes Mexico City (Mexico) with 21,7 million. The next megacities on the list are Seoul (South Korea) Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Los Angeles (USA). All these statistics are from 2006.
I made a diagram of the list, which you can see here:

The picture is of New York and I got it here

Multicultural societies

During the time I have studied International English this year, I have read about both multicultural USA and multicultural Britain, and in this text I will write a little about them both.

The USA has looked upon multiculturalism more as a source of strength and renewal than of conflict. This is contrary to many other countries. Through much of the American history, immigrants accepted that when they came to the country they had to pledge allegiance. But today, many hyphenated Americans, especially Mexican-Americans, are not assimilating. Many put their own traditions, values and languages above integration into the US society. Hispanics can, for instance, vote in Spanish and take their driver's license exam in Spanish.

The US Census Bureau estimates for 2005 show that about 33 percent of the total US population is part of a racial or ethnic minority group.

In Britain, the immigrants have historically come from Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. This is no longer the case. Today, the immigrants are often younger and come from countries outside the Commonwealth, like for instance Eastern Europe. New figures also show that immigration is increasingly motivated by economic factors, more so than by family grounds which used to be more common in the past. Britain has a policy of multiculturalism: they're allowing people of different cultures to settle without expecting them to integrate into society. Britain is now one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world.

 

I took the picture here 

Narnia

Today, we watched Narnia during English class. Narnia was written by C.S. Lewis between 1949 and 1954. The movie is about four siblings who are sent away from their mother because there is a war where they live. They are going to live in a big house with a professor and a woman. In the house, Lucy, the youngest of them, finds a big closet. She hides in there while playing hide and seek, and she experiences something strange. Inside the closet there is a whole world, Narnia. Then she brings her brothers and sister to Narnia where they fight the witch and finally they become kings and queens of Narnia.

C.S. Lewis was an Irish-born British novelist, academic and essayist, among others. Lewis was good friends with J.R.R. Tolkien. They both taught at Oxford and they were both interested in literature and wrote fictional books. But Tolkien didn't think highly of Narnia. He didn't like the obvious Christian symbols, like the king being a lion - because this was a symbol for Christ who sacrificed his life but then he came back for a final battle against the evil. He also thought there were too many conflicting elements like for instance witches and talking animals that would confuse and overwhelm the children.
But despite this, they were good friends. And even though Tolkien didn't like the Narnia books, a lot of other people did and the books got very popular.  

I took the picture here 

December

Here in Norway, December is a cold month. We usually have a lot of snow during the winter in Norway, and this year we have a lot of snow already. To be honest, I really don’t like when it’s very cold outside and I don’t like a lot of snow either. But there is one thing that I like doing in the winter, when the cold doesn’t matter and the snow is needed: downhill skiing.

You see, my favorite thing to do in December is downhill skiing. I love to go to the mountains with my family and friends and go skiing. I am also very lucky because there is a downhill slope only 5 minutes from where I live. When the first snow falls after fall I have waited a whole year and I can’t wait to put my skis on. Even though I have to admit that it can be a little cold to go downhill skiing some times, especially in the lift. But that is the only time I think it is OK that it's a little cold outside, because I have so much fun that I almost don't notice.

I think downhill skiing is very social, because I never go skiing alone. For me, downhill skiing is about spending time with family and friends and having a good time.

I took the pictures from here and here 

English in South-East Asia

Today, we read three texts in our book “Worldwide”. I worked with Nooshin, and we chose to read the texts and then do the tasks.  The texts were called: “English in South-East Asia”, “The triumpf of Japanese English” and “Manga and anime”. They were all texts about English in South-East Asia and the last text was about Japanese comics and animated TV-shows.

From the first text I learned that after World War 2, some westerners looked upon Japan as a "boy of twelve", because they saw them as immature, childlike and dependent on America. They thought that the Japanese would easily accept Western systems and concepts, and become America's junior partner in Asia. But it didn't turn out like that: the Japanese have developed a lot and they have had a huge economic growth since World War 2. Japan have also become big on manga and anime. Manga are Japanese comics and anime are Japanese animated series, and they have both become very popular around the world.

I also read that Japanese people often understand English better than native English speakers, because they study English grammar very thoroughly. This is good, because it is very important for people in South-East Asia to know English. A lot of technology and things on the internet is in English, so mastery of English is becoming a key to success in South-East Asia, and especially India. In India, it is also much easier to get a job if you are good at English. Working at call centres is for example a common job for English speakers in India. Call centres are customer’s service for international companies. A criterion to get hired at a call centre is that one must have good English skills. The employers are required to have a neutral English accent, so the customers cannot guess that they are from India.

I think this was a very good way to spend the English-day. It is easy to learn when you can decide for yourself what you want to do and how you learn best. By reading all the texts and answering the tasks I learned a lot and hopefully I will remember some of it for a while.

Kite Runner - the movie

Last Friday we watched the kite runner at school. It was really nice to see the movie after we had read the book. We didn't see the entire movie, but I enjoyed the part we saw. As it usually is, the book and the movie were a little different from each other. In the movie, you don't see the characters minds and their thoughts, but in the book we could read Amir’s thoughts almost all the time.
One of the tasks we had regarding the book was to write about five specific paragraphs from it, and link them to different topics, like for instance conflict or relationship. Then, we were supposed to explain why we chose them. While we watched the movie we were asked to try to see how one of these paragraphs was interpreted in the movie. The paragraph I chose to look for in the movie was linked to conflict, and here it is:

“Sometimes I look out this window and I see him playing around on the street with the neighborhood boys. I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whack there. And, you know, he never fights back. Never.. he just … drops his head and… “So he’s not violent,” Rahim Khan said.” “That’s not what I mean, Rahim, and you know it,” Baba shot back. “There is something missing in that boy”.

In this paragraph Amir is listening to a conversation about him between his father and a friend, Rahim Khan. This paragraph from the book is very similar in the movie. The conversation and what they say is almost identical to what it says in the book. We see Amir outside the room, listening, and everything is actually almost like I pictured it while reading the book! I often experience that when I am reading a book, I picture everything I read in my mind. And then, if I watch the movie after reading, everything is so very different from what I pictured. But in this case, with this paragraph, it was very close.

So far I really liked the movie, and I'm looking forward to see the rest!

I took the picture here

Advice to fellow students!

At school, our teacher gave us a link to this article, and I thought I would write a very short entry about it here! The text is about use of facebook while studying. "Students who use facebook while studying for exams score significantly lower grades than those who do not," according to this study. It also says that three quarters of the students who used facebook while studying didn't believe it had a negative impact on their studies. I think a lot of students all over the world can identify with this. Many are probably convinced that using facebook while studying is not a negative thing, but after reading this article it may change a few views... So, no more facebook people! :)

I got the picture here

The Kite Runner

As i mentioned earlier, we are reading The Kite Runner in class. I really like the book so far, and I am glad we're reading it. The story is very touching and well written. It is also very credible, and I actually thought it was based on a true story at first. I think my favorite paragraph of the book so far is the very first one. When I read it for the first time, I didn't quite understand what it meant or what he was talking about. But when I read it again after reading the rest of the book, it all made sense. I think that it is a very well written paragraph; it is revealing something, but not at all too much! Here it comes:

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years."

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a famous book by Khaled Hosseini. We started reading it last Friday.

The book is about a boy named Amir, and his best friend Hassan. They live in Kabul. Amir lives with his father, who is a wealthy business man. His mother died while giving birht to Amir.

Amir and his father, Baba, do not have the best relationship. Baba is concerned, because he feels that "something is missing in that boy". While other kids are outside playing soccer, Amir rhather stays inside to read. He really loves this, and sometimes he also reads for Hassan. And whenever Amir is outside and some bullies startes to mess around with him, it is always Hassan who comes to back him up, according to Baba.

Tomorrow I will keep reading the book. I got a good first impression of it, and I've also heard other peaople who have read it saying that it is a really good book and that it makes and impression on you.

I got the picture here

Making a difference

Today we watched the rest of "Erin Brockovich", the movie we started watching last week.
Erin's life is filled up with work as she is trying really hard to win the case against PG&E. With all the work, she is having a hard time trying to spend time with her kids and boyfriend as well. Her boyfriend then gives her an ultimatum: get a different job or he leaves. Erin does not want to leave her job, because it has become very important to her that she will finish what she has started. PG&E are going to pay for what they have caused!
But it is not only at home that Erin is having some problems.. At work it turns out that some evidence is lacking in their case, and the families who have become sick are starting to wonder whether they can trust the law firm. But despite the problems, Erin keeps working and she believes that they can make this happen. She is a strong woman who's working really hard. I'm not going to reveal the whole ending, but let's just say there is a happy one.

I got the picture here

Erin Brockovich

Last week we started to watch a movie called "Erin Brockovich" in class. Julia Roberts plays Erin, the main character in this movie. Erin is a single mother of three small kids, and on top of that she is unemployed. Then se was in a car accident. She fought in court, but lost her case. After some time she ended up getting a job at a lawyer's office - which happened to be the same lawyer she used regarding the car accident. During work she discovers a case she finds interesting, and she decides to look closer into it. As she is digging for more information she begins to find out that PG&E (a big company) might have something to do with all the people who have gotten sick in one specific area. Erin clearly wants to make a difference, and she believes that if she fights hard enough she can make PG&E pay for what they have done. It is not always so easy to make a big difference on your own, but if you work hard enough you may achieve something.

We will hopefully watch the rest of the movie on Friday, so then I will continue this entry after that!

I took the picture here

The Butterfly Circus

In our first International English class we watched a short movie called "The Butterfly Circus". This movie was about a showman who was travelling around with his circus. During their tour they discovered a man who had no arms or legs. The man without limbs was not being treated well, and people were looking down at him. After a while, himself and the circus troop started believing in him, and he got hope and dreams.

The movie was touching, and I thought the title was really good. At first the butterfly is just a butterfly larva, but then it starts changing into this beautiful creature. The man without limbs is like a butterfly; if you look

closer and don't judge by the first impression, there is a person with feelings

and thoughts underneath what you see.

I took the butterfly picture from

http://fohn.net/monarch-butterfly-pictures/monarch-butterfly_large.jpg

Hi! My name is Cathrine, and I am 17 years old. In my spare time I like to listen to music, play the guitar and sing. This is going to be my "International English" blog. International English is a new subject for me, so I'm looking forward to finding out what it is really about. I hope that during this class I will get better at talking and understanding English as a language, and I also hope that I will learn about other things as well. I will use this blog to answer tasks that my teacher gives me, as well as writing about things we have done in class, texts we have read or movies we have seen.
I'm looking forward to this year and I hope I will learn a lot!