j00kiE's Blog

English Final

jook — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 07:05:16 +0000

My dad always said, “Learning is a never ending experience”. Day by day, I blatantly ignored this quote until one-day light shined unto my eyes. That was the day that I experienced 8th grade. This year has been a horror movie with much of ups and downs, accomplishments and failures. This essay would showcase much of what I experienced during this auspicious year and my thoughts upon some further topics.
On the beginning of the year, we were supposed to write goals that we would try to accomplish during the duration of the school year. One of my major goals was to improve on my English, sentence fluency and enhance my limited vocabulary. Throughout the year we read some challenging books like Lord of the Flies, Tempest and the diary of Anne Frank. From reading these books, I have managed to understand and improve my vocabulary as reflected in my pass journals. Another great example of my growth could be reflected on the Anne Frank Project. Video editing was premature to me and I have only done once before in my life, but for the specific project we were supposed to showcase Anne’s message to the whole world. I worked on Windows Movie Maker and tried out each of features to create a message that would touch the lives of many people. The combination of music, text and images helped convey my message. My long hours of working and editing had paid off in a incredibly successful in the final product. I have also vastly improved my communicating skills with people around the world in the Teen Life project. Since we lived in different parts of the world, communication was a trouble. We sent emails back and forth, which took much time to get replied, but we still managed to work great collaboratively and created a illustrious final product. It was much of a achievement because we had many communication crisis but still managed to move forward and completed our assignment. Subsequently, drama was an overwhelming experience. I was dreadfully lucky because I have had some previous experience in drama but I have never really gave a 100% and show my true heart for acting. As quoted, ” practice makes perfect” and that was precisely true in Drama. I took my time and overcame many of my fears of performance in front of an audience. It was nervous at first but managed to pull myself out of my box so that I could express my true talents and gifts. Last but not least, my writing. Writing for different audiences was a tricky matter but we practiced different forms of writing, for instance, reflective journals, poetry and some other writing activities. Right now I am able to use different voices or different forms of writing, which greatly improves my forms of speech later on in life.

Moving on, the significance of reading and writing poetry. When I first entered the poetry unit, all was fresh to me. I knew absolutely nothing and was terrified even at the sound of the word. I started out slow, always nervous when writing poetry in class. Slowly and steadily I began progressing and felt comfortable writing poetry. I think that writing poetry helps express your inner emotions unto paper, whenever you angry, sad happy, poetry gives you the freedom of speech and to just take control of your vocabulary and write up whatever that’s on your mind. It’s amazing to see what just a mixture of words can create such an image into the readers mind. Writing poetry helps release a lot of stress and it makes you feel comforted after you fully expressed your emotions. Reading poetry on the other hand also contributes much to your English. You can explore freely the work of others and relate them to yourself. You would also learn from other accomplished poets that learn from their writing
The ESLR were something new to me and I found myself trapped in my own world learning about them. I barely understood them after reading the descriptions but the one that was most relevant to me was being Critical Thinker. I think that a Critical Thinker would be able to solve problems by using whatever resources they have. I started realizing what these mean and found out that they relate much to my work, more so on my Anne Frank Project. We were split up into groups to work together on a Final Product that consists of a reflective journal and a video. One of our members gave a lackluster effort into helping the team finish the required work, so my remaining groupie and me had to become Critical Thinkers and also work effectively together to finish the remainder of the project. We had much trouble but in the end we endured and came out on top. Another example would be when preparing for the Lord of the Flies project. We had many choices into what type of project we would want to do and each of them has a specific major. I chose to do a writing project since the others were mainly focused on Visual, art and creativity that were not my strong points. In the end, I have fully progressed much on my Critical Thinking skills. These abilities would help me much in the future and in the work life where there would be bigger dilemmas and even higher stakes.
In conclusion, the 8th grade has brought trials and tribulations that one could not miss out on. A time of learning and failing that could be the building blocks of your life.

Looking Through A Different Lens

jook — Sun, 06 May 2007 06:26:10 +0000

(Various forms of avatar which attracts gamers attention)

For this specific experiment, we were supposed to practice how to view situations and media from different aspects such as class, sex, race and an environmentalist. I will use a 3D game called AuditionSEA for this test since I play it frequently as a hobby and I know much about it. AuditionSEA is basically an online multiplayer dancing game where people compete on different songs and speeds and try to achieve the highest score. A great sense of rhythm and fast fingers would lead you to great success in this game.

Viewpoints of gender vary a great deal in this game. Males most likely play Audition for the sense of challenge they receive from every game played. Even though you may be the ultimate best in this game in the entire world, there would still be room for improvement. There would always be extra obstacles, challenges and increased difficulty to keep you hooked unto this game. Females on the other hand, view Audition from a totally different spectrum. They somehow have an immense interest on how the Audition character looks. The stylish dance moves and the cute and cuddly avatars of their in-game characters seem to suck their brains into this game. Women enjoy dressing up their characters from thousands of different clothing’s and accessories, which keep them playing this game for ages. There are always better, attractive and more expensive clothes which females eye for. This seems to be a virtual Barbie dress-up game for all the ladies with an extra twist of music and challenge.

Since most of the Audition players are mostly Chinese or people who live in Singapore and Malaysia who live similar lifestyles, there aren’t many differences in races. There are only a few exceptions like the small population of Japanese and Vietnamese players. The Japanese players who play in the SEA (South East Asia) version of Audition are mostly exceptionally professional at this game. Their level of playing skill is well above the normal AuditionSEA players. Most of them play here because their own version of the game may be too crowded or for a change of environment. The Vietnamese, in contrast think that they are god. No offence to them, but from my own experience, they seem to be their own self- proclaimed god. They are only slightly better than average AuditionSEA players, but they boast about their level of skill and about their country.

Looking through the eyes of an environmentalist, I would despise the game because the use of the game wastes electricity that would contribute to global warming which harms the earth.

A viewpoint from a higher or lower class does not really matter in Audition. Since you could not really tell the difference between them except for their looks. The lower class would most likely idolize the more eye-catching avatars that the higher classes possess. Usually ending in jealousy. “Class” could also be expressed by the level of experience one has. An experienced Audition gamer would mostly probably avoid the fairly new players for they do not provide the challenge as needed. The newer players would look up to the professionals because of their large amount of skill.

Translations and Questions

jook — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:01:16 +0000

Two sentences that I did not understand

Line 109 to Line 111

“I pray thee, mark me.

I thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated

To closeness and the bettering of my mind

With that which, but by being to retired,”

Line 145 to 147

“This King of Naples, being an enemy

To me inveterate, hearkens my brothers suit,

Which was that he , in lieu o ” th’ premises”

Two sentences that I understood with my modern English translation

Line 190 to 195:

“Some food we had, and some fresh water that

A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo

Out of his charity, who being then appointed

Master of this design, did give us, with

Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries”

A gracious Neapolitan, Gonzalo gave us some food and fresh water out of his own pocket and work. He also chipped in Rich garments, linens, stuffs and other necessities.

Line 359 to 361

“Go make thyself like a nymph o’ th’ sea. Be subject

To no sight but thine and mine, invisible

To every eyeball else”

Turn yourself to a little fairy. Make sure nobody can see you Ariel, except for yourself and I. Unseen by everybody else.

Two Questions about the plot:

Despite Prospero’s magical powers, why is he not trying to save himself from the island?

Why did Antonio steal Prospero’s dukedom when Prospero did not even do any harm to him?

Reflective Journal for Poetry Unit

jook — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:57:29 +0000

Academic Achiever, Effective Communicator, Self- Directed Learner, Critical Thinker and Involved Citizen are all part of MKIS’s ESLRS (Expected Schoolwide Learning Results) These ESLR’s help students achieve their desired goals throughout their school life and also in life. In this journal, I would be talking about how these ESLR’s relate to the preceding poetry unit. This poetry unit has been an overwhelming experience for me. I came into this quarter knowing completely nothing about poetry, only to be bombarded by series of surprises.

The first ELSR that I will discuss is Academic Achiever. An Academic Achiever is someone who can demonstrate technological literacy and the use of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project. I used this ESLR by using Adobe Photoshop to edit my images needed for the poetry book. For example, in my Seize the Day picture, I had to darken the ground and brighten the sky, so that my main purpose of my picture would be easier to understand. My intention of the picture was that even though life right now may be dark (ground) but we still have the bright sky to look up to. Furthermore, this ESLR (Academic Achiever) would be useless without the supporting ESLR of a Critical Thinker. After I took the picture for my Seize the Day poem, I realized that it was too dark; therefore I had to be a Critical Thinker and figure out how to solve this problem. I had to download a free picture-editing software from the internet to increase the brightness and solve my crisis. If I had done things differently next time, I would be more of an Academic Achiever and try to access information from different types of sources. I should have researched and discovered more ways and tactics to improve the creativity of the book. I must not just stick to my normal ideas. Summing up, I believe that I have performed this ESLR fairly well, but they are still some holes in my work.

Another important ESLR is being an Effective Communicator. Someone that demonstrates their creative talent to convey ideas are known to be an Effective Communicator. They also collaborate with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals. I performed this ESLR sufficiently during the Teen Life project by doing all the necessary work given to me in this project. I have collaborated with my group all around the world and got my part of the work done. In order to perform well in this ESLR, I would also need to be a Self-Directed Learner. Without accepting responsibility for your own learning, you would not be able to work well with others too. Therefore, these ESLR’s have to be combined to achieve the most, leaving just one out would not produce the same results. One thing that I would have changed was my participation in the Teen Life Project. Even tough I did what I was told and executed it to my utter best, I still believe that I could have participated more in the discussions and the production of the final product. I should have been in more contact with them and at least try to contribute some ideas. Overall, I believe that I still need much improvement in this ESLR. I have only showed minimal progress and much development is needed.

The next ESLR I will discuss about is being a Self-Directed Learner. A Self-Directed Learner is basically someone that accepts responsibility for his or her own learning. They are very independent and are able to work well without any help from teachers or peers. I achieved this ESLR by demonstrating competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. I was very organized and finished my poetry book about half a week before the due date. I have showed great time management skills in doing so. This ESLR must be used with a supporting ESLR of a Critical Thinker. Without being able to solve problems and crisis during projects, you cannot be a successful Self-Directed Learner. You must be self-directed and apply your critical thinking skills to solve the major dilemma. If I had the chance to go back and do things differently, I would have tried to be more creative and try to take risks to develop untried ideas. I must be able to think out of the box and make an effort to be as original as possible. To conclude, I suppose that I have performed this ESLR very well because of my time management and self-motivation. I believe that this was one of my strongest ESLRs.

Next, we have an Involved Citizen. An Involved Citizen always tries to improve the lives of others in their community. They also interact respectfully with people of different cultures. I was an Involved Citizen by contributing ideas to my classmates on how to improve the creativity of their book. I have also advised them to manage their time well in order to finish the book on time. Furthermore, This ESLR works well with being an Effective Communicator, because in order to help others and improve their lives, you would need to learn how to collaborate with them in order to seek their attention. If I could have done things differently, I would definitely try to be more active as an Involved Citizen. In this poetry unit, I was fairly busy with my own work that I never really bothered to be an Involved Citizen. Next time, I should take others into consideration and not only care about myself. In conclusion, I believe that I performed this ESLR very poorly. I have not shown any interest thus far in helping others. I was mainly only concerned in my own work.

Last but not least, Critical Thinker. Being able to evaluate and use resources effectively for the purpose of problem solving, applying problem-solving skills to facilitate learning, and being able to gather, analyze and process information from a variety of sources are all traits of a Critical Thinker. I performed this ESLR when I was planning to create a unique cover for my poetry book. I had to think critically and figure out the best possible cover I could think of. In the end, I decided to go classic and just use simple black and white writings. This ESLR must be combined with the supporting ESLR of a Self-Directed Learner. Before you can solve problems, you would first need to be a Self-Directed Learner and accept responsibility for your own learning then you would consider resolving your problems. Next time, I would certainly try to improve in this ESLR. I would try to participate more in the Teen Life Project. I should have been a Critical Thinker and contribute ideas to my partners in order to achieve a spectacular final product. In the end, I believe that this was my strongest ESLR because I have used my skills to find a way to resolve my problems

Overall, this poetry unit has been a great experience for me. Without the help of every one of these ESLRs, this process would be much harder to endure. I believe in general that I have performed each of these ESLRs fairly well. I have improved much since the first quarter, and I plan to continue improving steadily throughout my life.

Current Event: Youths still using the “N” word

jook — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:09:54 +0000

Youths still using the “N” word

Summary:

Recently, The NYC (New York City Council) has imposed a ban of using the n-word. This council set up this resolution in order to warn youths the significant impact this n-word has on the African Americans. The n-word, according to www.dictionary.com is currently the most offensive word in the English language and should not be practiced. But so far, this resolution isn’t working too well and people and still frequently using the n-word. The hip-hop cultured has particular been blamed for the spreading of the word. Some youths say that they grew up saying the word, and this resolution would not stop them for doing so.

This misuse of the word can cause great impact around the world. Through hip-hop, youths would assume that the n-word would be okay to use but truely, they dont know how this n-word has an ugly history of humiliating and demoralizing blacks.

Click HERE to read the full article

Map of New York

Edgar Allan Poe

jook — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 06:45:19 +0000

Alone
by Edgar Allan Poe

From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were–I have not seen As others saw–I could not bring My passions from a common spring- From the same source I have not taken My sorrow–I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone– And all I lov’d–I lov’d alone– Then–in my childhood–in the dawn Of a most stormy life–was drawn From ev’ry depth of good and ill The mystery which binds me still– From the torrent, or the fountain– From the red cliff of the mountain– From the sun that ’round me roll’d In its autumn tint of gold– From the lightning in the sky As it pass’d me flying by– From the thunder, and the storm– And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view–

I like this poem a lot because sometimes I can also relate to what he is going through as said in this poem. It is also short and simple and reveals the main point. This is also one of the few poems I’ve read that I actually understand fully, unlike other poems by other poets, which are like 5 pages long.

This poem has a lot of figurative language, such as rhyming at the end syllables every two lines. This poem also has rhythm with 8 syllables per line, sometimes 9 syllables.

Teen Life Project Introduction

jook — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:14:29 +0000

Hi my name is Joo Keng and I am thirteen years old this year. I was born in Malaysia and I lived there most of my life. Both my mum and dad are Chinese so I am a full blooded Chinese. I come from a large family of 4 siblings, 3 older sisters and 1 older brother. That leaves me to the youngest of my family. One interesting fact about me is that my oldest sister is actually 20 years older than me .Yes, 20 years. Most of my siblings are married and are settled well in Canada except for me and my youngest sister. As I grew up I was sent to a local government school during my primary years. Life was saddening back then, recalling those days where the teachers would actually brutally whack you when you make a mistake or simply forgot to hand in your homework. When I was in Grade 5, my parents decided to move to Canada since our whole family was there, but that did not become so successful because I only stayed there for only 1 and a half years and then my parents changed their mind and wanted to move back to Malaysia. Though I did not spend a tad lot of time in Canada, I had one of the best times of my life there. I made a lot of great friends and everything was just really relaxing. I took a hard blow when forced to move back to Malaysia. When I was back I had to join a home schooling centre for 2 years. Those 2 years were by far the most boring 2 years of my life. The system was so repetitive and I felt really empty. The teachers were also downright terrible, they dint even have a degree in teaching or a certificate and yet they still are allowed to teach. After my long journey, here I am now settling well in an international community.

One of my biggest hobbies is using the computer. There is an infinite amount of things to do on it and I spent an outrageous amount of time on it. Mostly I would just chat on Msn and go and post on my favorite forums. Another thing I love to do on the computer is to play an online game called AuditionSEA. It’s actually an online dance battle music game that was originated from
Korea and now I am playing the SEA version. (South East Asia) It takes a combination of fast fingers and a good beat to be good at this game. One really unusual hobby of mine is that I like to watch the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) this may be unknown to you because it’s mostly only prominent in the US. The UFC was originally a tournament to find the world’s best fighter. Soon the sport evolved and it marketed itself as a legitimate sporting event. Unlike the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) the UFC is actually made out of real fighters where the fighting is real. This makes it so much more entertaining to watch. Even though the UFC doesn’t televise their shows here, I still get to watch some of them online on YouTube. Another unusual hobby I have is that I like to c-walk. C walking was actually a dance that originated early in the 1990s in a poor suburb in Los Angeles. It was performed in gangs normally to celebrate a new member or to write out their rivals name and then cross it out. I don’t really know the history of the walk but one thing I know is that it’s cool to watch and learn from them. I have just gotten in to it and I am still quite bad at it.

One issue that I’m concerned about in the world today is the lack of technology in some third world countries. Everyday we use an abusive amount of technology that is a part of our lives. For example, in the morning while we are walking to school, we would listen to our mp3 player or our iPod. During class, we would go to the computer lab to do research for information. After school, we would lay back and watch TV. Later, we would use the computer again to write our essays and post them in our blogs. We are so lucky to be able to live in this generation with these resources but still in some countries people don’t even have a TV.

I hope you have enjoyed my ranting about my life and a small issue that I’m concerned about in the world today.

Anne Frank Write Up

jook — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:03:25 +0000

This quarter we read “Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl” in English class. When we finished reading the book we had to do a project. We could choose between 2 options. The first one was that you had to design a memorial, and the second one was to make a movie that would illustrate a lesson that Anne Frank taught us through her diary. My group chose the second option.
In this project every one had to illustrate the lesson using 3 things, which were symbols, images and sounds, and if we wanted to, a fourth one, text. We used lots of pictures, each representing an idea. For example we had a picture of barbed wire which represented being excluded from the outside world. Pictures of the 2^nd World War, the Holocaust and the soldiers involved in it were also used to show that the war wasn’t something that happened just because of the Nazis. Everybody was involved and underwent a complex change following the Pyramid of Hate, which eventually led to the war, and the Holocaust.
We incorporated sound into the movie by having the song It Ends Tonight by The All-American Rejects play throughout the movie to help with the emotion and messages trying to be implicated to the audience. Another tool that we used to improve on the aspect of sound was the sound recorder of the computer, and by having Emma read out quotes from the diary, it sounds as if Anne herself was in the room telling you her ideals.

These sounds, images and symbols expressed a meaning that when combined, made perfect sense together! The pictures, sounds and symbols put together described the story of how, through the battles, the wars, the deaths and unpleasantness, Anne Frank kept to her ideals and most of all, tried to keep optimistic during the times of despair, which dominated the experiences that she went through.
We think that however rock-like the song is, it fits the theme of Anne Frank because the song starts off with a slow, soft beat, whereas when the message of optimism is portrayed at the end, the whole song is in full-swing with all the guitars strumming, drums clashing and vocal chords working themselves. The lyrics also have a meaning of their own, which will be mentioned later on. One important ESLR that we used was Effective Communicator because we demonstrated our creative talents to convey ideas and because we utilized technology as a tool for communication! In our own words this means that we used the computer and its programs to help us communicate and reach other people in a different way. Some proof of this is that we made sure that our movie contained a message: the lesson from Anne, which is that it is good to keep having hope in all kinds of situations just like she did.

The most vibrant trait of our movie was definitely images, since we can’t successfully make a movie without images or videos. In our movie, we showed many different images from WWII, each with its own significance. There were parts about The Holocaust, the Hiroshima Bombing, and The Final Solution etc. Watching these old pictures will make the viewers think back towards the war and all the sufferings that all the people back then had to endure. It would give them time to contemplate upon how lucky they are to be living decades after the war and also to pay respect to the lost souls. Also in the latter parts of the movie, we showed images of Anne Frank with her family, her diary, and the seven other people living in the same house. It gave a very brief story about Anne’s life so that the audience would understand what she had to go through at such a delicate age.
A picture can speak a thousand words, but music can whisper a million. A movie isn’t completed without supporting music that adds to the emotion. For this particular project, we chose a song from The All American Rejects- It Ends Tonight. Though it may be a little too rocky at some parts, it has a nice slow start accompanied with a steady uprising. This would help build up the intensity in some parts as needed. This song also had a few vivid lyrics that really represented the pain of the war. During the song, these words “It Ends Tonight” were being repeated over and over again. The song could be wanting for something bad to stop, such as the war. It could also represent that the damage has already been done, and the only hope is to end the war. A major challenge of exploring sound was taken into consideration in our project. We took a creative risk and tried to use our voices to read out Anne’s quote to add the extra effect of involvement to the audience. It was an extremely risky task, but with the help of technology it was successful. This act increased the creativity of our project and therefore will make a bigger impact on our audience.
Though text may not seem too important in this visual display, it was in ours. We communicated most our thoughts through text and images, without this essential element, our main purpose of hope could not be communicated.
Last but not least, the astounding element of symbols. Symbols play an immense part in this project, because each different symbol represents something different, which needs their own time to be thought about and analyzed. In our project, we had symbols of the Star of David, barbed wires and the concentration camp tattoos. These symbols would help the audience understand the inequality towards the Jews, as they were not considered human to the Nazis. Other important symbols were Anne Frank’s inspiring quotes, which will help to enlighten the audience of her high hopes and positive outlook on nature during these tough times.

The first thing from the movie that comes up is text saying World War II, which is quite an ambiguous topic. Along the movie, the topics get more and more specific from, World War II, The Holocaust, Anne Frank and finally to her message of optimism. In the beginning, we think that the pictures of the war will slowly, but surely put the viewers into a somber, sensitive mood, calming their emotions and preparing them for the rest of the slideshow. The pictures of the Holocaust, tattoos and dead bodies will ultimately create an aura of sadness around the audience. That is what we are hoping to do for the first part of the movie.
Without music or some form of sound, just having the pictures shown to you would be bland, so we chose a song that we thought fit the right mood we were trying to convey. The song that we used is called It Ends Tonight performed by The All-American Rejects. The song starts off with soft piano chords, chords and notes that subtly repel each other and sound slightly unnatural when played in unison so we thought that those notes could represent how the Nazis and the Jews didn’t really get along, how they never could. The crescendo in the song could represent how the neglected hate built up and resulted in World War II.
When the subject of Anne Frank comes up, pictures and quotes from her diary are brought into the movie. We think that the quotes will really bring out her optimism towards the world. The fact that we have Emma voicing Anne’s thoughts is complete genius compared to having the quotes flash past the screen unnoticed, because Emma’s sound clips take it up to a whole new level where people are actually forced to take note of the quote and think about it. At this part, the song’s volume and intensity also rises where the voice, electric guitars, drums and all the other instruments are joined together on a much louder scale, which we hope will subconsciously bring people to a more energetic and hopeful mood, if combined with the quotes.
Another great aspect of the whole movie brought together is how the different parts also blend into one to finally also exit as one. The movie fades out as the last chord of the guitar fades out.

At the end of the project, we were proud of what we had accomplished, the movie and the write-up put together was one project that did not disappoint us. Although, at times we did not have very good co-ordination and organization because we missed some meetings, we still did well due to the fact that we all wanted to receive a good grade for this project. All the members of the group obviously put time and effort into the project, which is reflected upon on the movie and in this write-up. We wouldn’t give ourselves a very good mark for our organization, but we still did well because we planned out the movie, the write-up and who was doing which part of the project. For the rest of the project, the movie and the write-up, we would give ourselves a good grade that we thought we really did deserve. This movie will make people think twice about their own attitude and will leave them in a very hopeful kind of daze.

The ESLR that we used the most in this project would most probably be the Effective Communicator. Just by doing this project, we have already achieved most of the major points of this ESLR. One major bullet point that we have accomplished was demonstrating our creative talents to convey ideas. We performed this by taking a risk and trying out new methods to make our movie more effective on our audience. We used Emma’s voice to read out some of Anne Franks quotes while the text is being shown on screen. We believe that the combination of text and voice will impact the audience more than just text itself. This example could also show that we are Self- Directed Learners, because we tried to take a creative risk to develop an untried idea. Another bullet point that we achieved from being Effective Communicators was that we collaborated with each other in an appropriate learning situation to achieve a group goal. Since all of us were Extroverts, we each had different ideas and ways that we wanted the final project to turn out. We had a few long discussions on certain decisions to make, but in the end we worked together and came up with a solution that accompanied each of our opinions.
We were also Academic Achievers in this project; each of us demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. Every single one of us worked tremendously well independently because we all got our assigned tasks completed with excellence. We also worked fairly well collaboratively. As I have said before, we each had different ideas and conspiracies but we managed to intertwine each other’s ideas evident in the final product.
Another ESLR that we used a great deal was Critical Thinking. During the production of the movie, we had some difficulties in adding Emma’s voice into the movie because Windows Movie Maker would only allow one audio clip to be played at a time. Therefore we had to try different strategies in order to solve this problem. We had many different possible solutions, but most of them were not that satisfying. At last, our brains started progressing and we came up with a great solution. We actually had to publish the movie first without the quote clips, and then start a new project and insert the movie into the timeline. Since the movie already has the music in it, there were still free spaces to put the extra audio clips. We added the clips with the quotes coordinated it with the music. Also, we had to adjust the volume in order to do so. Although it was a tedious process, we finally got the problem solved.

I believe, in this group project that each member contributed in areas that we are strong at. For example, Gino in my opinion is the strongest writer in our team; therefore we sent our writings of the Bloom’s Taxonomy to him for editing and further improvement. As for Emma, she is a great researcher. She gathered some pictures in the movie and provided us with powerful quotes from Anne. Last but not the least; Joo Keng was the one, which put all the information and pictures together into a movie. In my opinion, the three of us really worked well during this project. Everybody held their responsibilities and did their jobs assigned to them.

Notes on project

jook — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:41:55 +0000

Anthropologist – Someone who studies and encrypts the roots and behavior of a human being Archeologist- Someone who studies ancient humans and their living

Economist- Someone who is an expert in fields of science

Historian- Someone who writes about events the past

Linguist-Someone that is skilled and studies language

Theologian- Someone who studies and analyzes God towards the universe

Notes and Guiding Questions: Use the following questions to help guide you to write relevant notes and to make an appropriate choice for an artifact. You should copy and paste these questions to form a word document on which you may write the answers. You will be required to post the questions and answers on your blog by a designated date so that your classmates may compare and use your answers to clarify uncertainties and make good choices about which artifacts to include in their exhibits.

Step 1:Where did the Aztecs originally live? What prompted them to relocate? Where did they end up and why? Chose an artifact, which you feel best, represents this event. Support your choice

The Aztecs originally lived in
Anahuac, Northern West Mexico, and then moved because their chieftain Tenoch had a vision from Huitzilopochtli, a god. They were supposed to build their city where an eagle, perched on a cactus, would be seen eating a snake. The Aztecs ended up in a swampy, shallow lake because that was where the god Huitzilopochtli led them. They made this land into a Chinampas.

Step 2:The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital
Tenochtitlan. What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake? Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.

One major con of settling in the middle of a lake was that the Aztec had little land to build their city
Tenochtitlan. There were also a lot of snakes there. But despite of that, the city of
Tenochtitlan still flourished. One pro was that The Aztec used the land to its full potential.

Step 3:Which gods were worshiped? The pyramids were built for what purpose?

The Aztecs worshiped many gods, each for its own purpose. The gods they worshipped were Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue and Xipe. Their main god was Huitzilopochtli, which was also the god of war. As for the pyramids, they were actually sacrificial temples. The Aztec believed in sacrificing humans to please the gods, each year they would sacrifice about 200,000 people. Therefore these so called “pyramids” were actually built for sacrifices to please the gods.

Step 4:Who are the different members of Aztec society? What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.

There are 3 different members in the Aztec society, the slaves, commoners and nobility. The slaves were very poor, but they could buy back their freedom. If they escaped the royal palace without getting caught, they were given instant freedom. Also, the children of poor families were sold for a certain amount of time to gain money. The commoners were mostly the people who engaged in agriculture and common trade. They did not own the land, which hey worked, but they still get to keep what that earned.

Step 5:The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called? Did they use any other forms of communication? Include an example of either written or visual language of the Aztecs.

The Aztec spoke a language called Nahuatl. Unlike us in the modern days, The Aztecs used pictures and glyphs as a form of communication. Sometimes it is possible to tell a whole story in one complicated picture. The Aztec also spoke Uto-Aztecan, which was a variation of Nahuatl. This language is still spoken in the indigenous areas of
Mexico.

Step 6:How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop? Did they trade and with whom? Did they have a currency (money)? Find an image for your exhibit about making a living Aztec style.

The Aztecs main crop was corn; the men would usually use a “digging stick” to dig out the soil. When the corn was ripe, they would put them in a corn bin and later will be sold in the market. The Aztecs was also famous for their tlaxcalli, which was something like a modern day pancake. They would hunt meat like deer, rabbits, ducks and geese and put the meat into the tlaxcalli and eat it like a taco. The Aztec did not exactly have a currency, but they used cacao beans and corn to trade for various items.

Step 7:Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view. Find an image depicting this event.

From the Spanish point of view:

The Spanish really like
Tenochtitlan when they arrived. This was because the Aztec thought that Cortes was their god coming to take the thrown of the Aztec. After awhile, Moctezuma the Aztec emperor was getting suspicious of Cortes’ behavior, since he wasn’t acting like a god. Therefore he wanted to get rid of him by giving riches and gold. Despite of that, Cortes wanted more. He captured Moctezuma and asked for more gold and jewels. This was led to a war between the Aztec and the Spanish called the night of tears, which was led by Diego Velásquez the Spanish governor. They were losing badly in this war that Cortes had to surrender Moctezuma to the up rise. Cortes retreated from this war, but few years later he regrouped his army and came back to take over the Aztec.

From the Aztec point of view:

The Aztec was greatly happy when they thought their god Quetzalcoatl, come down in human form to help the Aztec. They thought this god was Cortes, and therefore treated him like so. Cortes was not acting like a god therefore Mectezuma gave him money and riches and was hoping that he would leave, but instead Cortes found out about The Aztec’s wealth and wanted more. He captured Mectezuma to ask for his ransome amount. This led to a war which the Spanish lost severely. After a few years Cortes come back with his army and finally wiped out the whole Aztec empire leaving 40,000 Aztec dead bodies.

Step 8:Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on
Mexico past and present. What does the term Mestizo refer to? What influences remain today from Aztec culture of the past?

La Malinche or better known as Dona Marina to the Europeans was actually a translator. She could translate the Aztec language of Nihuatl into Mayan, and then Jeronimo de Aguilar would translate it to Spanish for Cortes. Despite how much she helped
Mexico, many people thought that she was a traitor. One major positive influence of her was that she was able to convince Cortes to negotiate instead of the brutal way of killing. This helped saved a lot of lives. One major negative influence was that she helped Cortes negotiate with the Tlascalans. This helped Cortes gain more Indian soldiers to help overcome the Aztec Empire. The term Mestizo refers to someone who is mixed of European and Latin American Ancestry.

Anne’s Quote

jook — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:06:57 +0000

In this particular writing, Mr. R asked us to step up in our writing and pay more attention to the six traits. We would have to write our thoughts on some of Anne Frank’s quotes. I read all of the quotes and this particular one really stood out.

“I don’t think my opinions are stupid and others do; so it is better to keep them to myself.”

I would like to start by saying opinions are definitely important. Whenever I’m with a group, I would certainly love to hear my peer’s opinion. I believe that everyone has a different type of thinking and they will have to know that it’s completely normal. Though most of us overlook other’s opinion because we simply think that ours is the best, but if we really took some time to consider their opinions, they might be trying to prove an exotic point. That is the problem with the so-called “excessively educated adults”. They believe that they hold all of eternities knowledge and wouldn’t want to be bothered by some young little spoiled teenager and their “ baby talk”.

The truth is, most of us, in fact all of us, have little helpful opinions hidden inside our outer shell that is waiting to be unleashed. You should really take into consideration of your opinions; they are they for a reason, to be told unto the world. I’m not saying that you would have to blabber to the whole universe when you stumble upon an unrealistic thought. It’s just that if you have constructive opinions, you should really express them towards others. Don’t be afraid of being laughed at by those ignorant people, because “… he who laughs last, laughs best”. The point which that I am trying to convey is that: If you have an opinion that is meaningful and constructive to others, share it; it would really benefit the group if they take it seriously.

Another whole new topic is the act of sharing opinions. One can talk until the sun goes down, but is he able to listen to others? Sometimes, listening is more of an important skill than actually talking. I know some people who cant just stop talking, they would just sit there and blabber as much as possible. For me to be polite I would just sit there nodding my head unknowingly, waiting for it to stop. No matter how smart and intelligent you are, you still must be able to also listen to others. Though their opinions may not seem so bright at first, but after awhile when they are no more their shy-selves, they would slowly express their thoughts to you without hesitation.

Most people are mostly scared of revealing their opinions mainly because of their lack of confidence. They always think to himself or herself:“Why would anyone want to take note of my opinions? I will most probably cause a distraction towards others, I should keep my opinions to myself so that I wont cause any problems.” Well all I can say to you is that try to give it a shot, who knows? You might be heavily thanked for your contribution. Also try to ignore those who offend you, most of them are just being a nuisance.

So, sharing you thoughts and opinions are beneficial for you, just make sure you keep them at a controllable level.