fredag 3. desember 2010

Dear Santa

This Christmas I want you to bring the world together.

This Christmas my wish for you is cheap.
It is not something you can touch or eat,
but something you can feel and give away.

This Christmas I want you to give the homeless warmth,
the hopeless hope and the thankless gratefulness.
Please send ghosts to the greedy at and angels to the giving.
Give the Christmas a new main goal, or should I say “new-old”.
Make Christmas the way it once was
where family and friends joined together to cross,
the routines of the days before.

This chistmas can you show us that Christmas is in our hearts, not under a tree?
And that giving away our abundance, is a gift for ourselves indeed.
Show us that there is a whole other world outside our windows.
Let no one be alone this Christmas, let no one cry without homes.

Santa, this Christmas I want you to bring the world together.

onsdag 13. oktober 2010

The kite runner - last part

Now there are three days since I read the last page of Khaled Hosseini’s “The kite runner”. It has been stuck to my mind since. You know that feeling when you read the last page of a book you really enjoyed, when you delay the last sentences because you don’t want it to be over. And when you realize it is, it is somehow sad. The kite runner was that kind of book. The perfect balance between superstition and pure human feelings made me long for the same experiences and emotions. I think that has a quite odd irony considering the fact that it is the carefree and peaceful existence we live in, most people want. I can’t explain those feelings further than that, but I sense them as good feelings, which is why I would rate the book with 6 out of 6 possible if I were to.
What I liked most about the book is that it ends with hope. In some parts it could seem like it would turn out tragically. This would, in my opinion, ruin some of the book’s purpose. I like to think that the author meant to give this hope not only to Amir, the main character, but also to us readers, so that we can make our own ending, or beginning if you like.



The picture is taken from this site.

- Tuva

The kite runner – beginning

(This post is written 30.09.2010)
About two weeks ago, I started reading a book called “The Kite Runner”, by Khaled Hosseini. After one week I had read about 50 pages, and the fact that I was not captured, and thrown into the story’s troubled world caught my attention. After reading dozens of laudatory reviews, I was expecting a greater fascination than what occurred to be my reality. But still, there was something about it that grabbed my mind and stirred it around. I experienced putting the book away, and then later thate day, I actually thought of the way I acted compared to how Amir, the rich Afghan boy in the book, would have done it. It was more similarity between my acts and Amirs, than between Amir and his underprivileged servants son Hassan. That shocked me. Due to my small amount of spare time between homework and school, I did not get to read more until three days later. At that time I had actually started to feel a hunger to know the story, Amir’s story. So I sat down to continue. And as the pages turned, so did my first impression. Now I have started reading chapter fourteen and I am both caught and bound. It is something about the relationship between Amir, and Hassan that amazes and shocks me at the same time. How can something that appears to be that strong and deep, be perceived that differently? How can Amir not call Hassan his friend? Still, it is Hassan’s commitment and love that strikes me as the strangest. Why does he continue to idolize and value Amir that much, when Amir is not acting like the friend he is supposed to be? I hope to get some answers to my questions further in the book, and I am very excited to see how the story develops!


The picture is taken from this site.

- Tuva

fredag 1. oktober 2010

Advice to fellow students!

I read an article about statistics on the usage of Facebook compared to the results of the final exam. The consequences of using Facebook while working shows quite obvious in the surveys. It is consistently a larger amount of low grades among the students who used Facebook and other social networks than those who did not. That means that there is a connection between bad results and the usage of social networks. But still I feel that there are some holes in the statistics. In the article it said that the “participants” was in the age of 19-54, and then I thought: isn’t there a large difference between 19 year olds and 54 year olds? Well, at least I think so, and there is probably not as many 54 year olds as there are 19 year olds on Facebook.

All in all I still believe that most of what the article said was true. Facebook is a giant disturbance when it comes to concentrating -I have experienced than myself. I think everyone should use some time to work on their restraint, and become better on stay away from sites like facebook when doing homework!

-Tuva

torsdag 2. september 2010

Alan November - Myths and opportunities

The American educator and educational consultant, Alan November, Is famous for his thoughts about learning, and use of modern technology in the learning process. He has written a book called “Empowering Students with Technology”, was one of five Christa McAuliffe Educators, and co-founded the Institute for education leadership and technology at Stanford.
Alan November feels that it is important to use all the possible methods in the world of teaching and learning. He is especially interested in modern technology. But he also says that it is the way we us technology that is important, not the technology it self. We should use the internet to communicate, not just to collect information. One of the learning methods he mentions in several of his presentations, is global communication through the internet. This is a theory that I find very interesting. Personally, I love to use the internet to communicate with friends and family that live far away from me. For example, I have a friend in the Netherlands, and one in Ireland that I often talk to via e-mail, facebook and skype. This makes me use English in my daily life, witch helps me improve my language skills. If we use these forums in class to connect with other learners from different parts of the world, I believe that will inspire students to help one another to learn internationally.



Alan November also think that we need to globalize the curriculum. Then everyone, regardless of where they live in the world, can go through a required education that covers the same subjects and syllabus. I agree with this. When I was in the Netherlands with a school class, we lived together with Dutch exchange mates. We were all the same age, but our curriculums were very different. It would have been easier to schedule the classes we had there if we all had learned the same things.
Alan November believes that modern technology will make learning easier. Programs like Google docs and OneNote, where the students can write in the same documents, is examples on ways to do that. I think that this is very true. If students work together, they will learn how to solve different types of problems by themselves, and to become more independent. At least that is what I think.
If we slowly change the concept of learning, by using technology in the right way, we can make the curriculum global, and give every student in the world the same opportunities.

onsdag 25. august 2010

No legs, no arms, no worries?

In English class today, we saw a short movie called "The butterfly circus". It is a beautiful story about a man called Will, who was born with no limbs. The movie shows how he manages to go from being in a state of mind where everything is hopeless, to hoping for a better life witch he in the end accomplishes.



The film takes place in America during the great depression. In the beginning, we meet Will, the man with no limbs, and a very small amount of hope. But this changes when one day he meets a circus director who gives him hope for his future. Through the movie, we do not only follow the men, women, and their progress, but also a caterpillar. I think that this little ant, symbolizes the change Will goes through. He is a beautiful butterfly, captured in a caterpillar’s body, waiting for his time to shine.


Nick Vujicic, who play will, was born with no limbs.

I loved this movie, everything about it; the setting, the plot, and of course the moral of not giving up the hope. I would defiantly recommend this short film!

The pictures are taken from: here, and here.

søndag 22. august 2010

This is me

Hi!

My name is Tuva, and this is my very first English blog. I am a student at "Sandvika VGS" in Norway. In English class we were given an assignment, it said: "make your own blog". So this is it. I will try to update it regularly, but it will mostly consist of tasks given to us at school.

I recently started my second year at high school. In Norway it is optional to continue teaching English further than first grade. What I said earlier in this post probably states what I chose. I decided to keep learning English in the class called "International English" both because I love the language and really want to improve, and because I am planning to go to the USA to study when I get older. Therefore I can say that I have high expectations to the upcoming year with International English.

Besides that, I can tell you that I love music and I play some guitar. I am working on getting my drivers license on a motorcycle, so that is taking most of my spear time at the moment.

My favourite thing to eat is strawberries, and I could not live without my Ipod.



Currently, my worst habit is talking too loudly in public, and that I always bounce my knee when sitting and being very time poor!

I am really looking forward to enhance my English this year, and to get to know all my new classmates!

Have a nice day!

Tuva