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!