During Humanities, we have to write a reflction on a presentation we have done which was about the place you call home. For me, its K.L, since I have been living there my whole life. You had to present about the environmental factors, statistical information, and historical factors about KL.

After I presented my powerpoint, I thought I did not do very well at all. But a few days later, I looked at my grade on power school, and I was so relieved. I actually got quite a decent grade on it. The reasons I thought that I would get a bad grade, was because of a few things. I got the statistical information wrong instead of doing KL, I did the whole of Malaysia. But throughout my powerpoint, I stuttered and I didn't really speak very loudly. Now that I think about it, I think I did pretty well on my environmental factors, there aren't many environmental factors in KL though.

What I think I would really help me improve for my future presentations is that I should be a lot more organized and less distracted. I get distracted very very easily. Most of the time during class I was chatting with friends which is really bad. Because it not only doesn't help me but it also doesn't help my friends. I really should get more organiza and plan when I should do things like I could do the environmental factors on one day and the statistical information and graphics for the maps on another and so on and so on. I mostly got my work done at home because I had less distractions around me.

From my presentation, and all others, I believe I have a few things to learn from them. One is, of course, is being prepared, as I said before. Most people like me read off the slides. I think that I should have prepared a script like many others did. Because reading off the slide not only takes your attention away from looking at the audience and making it more interesting for them I just stared at the screen most of the time. From me, I think I should have practiced before-hand more. Also, sometimes it seemed like people were whispering while presenting. So the things I have learned were, being prepared, not reading off of the slides, and maybe to speak a bit LOUDER. But I learned plenty about K.L too, like it's history, rainfall and resources, and the population and average age group.

New Year Resolutions!!! / CHRISTMAS VACATION!!!

      On the 1st of January 2011 at midnight I was up on my balcony watching the fireworks with my family and my mums friends and their children. Like billions of people they all made new year resolutions but me unlike them did not. Well at the time anyway. So I 've finally decided that my new year resolutions are to work harder in my studies and get fitter.

     My first new year resolution is to work harder in my studies. I think I need to get a better grades is because my parents are really proud of me when I get good grades. This is very important to me because I feel happy when my parents are proud of me. The other reason to getting good grades is because getting good grades and studying hard can help me achieve my dream and my goal. When I grow older, I want to get into a good university which is one of the main reasons my parents send me to tis school. The school fees here is rather expensive and my parents work very hard to be able to afford this school. And I really hope that I can repay them by working hard to get good grades and then go to a good university and then get a good job. So when I grow up I can repay them by spending time with them or taking them out to a nice place sometimes. These are the two reasons why my new year resolution is to get better grade. And to achieve this new year resolution, I need to work hard and study hard not only for my parents but for me! Hope I can achieve this new year resolution in 2011.

       My second new year resolution is to get fitter. Not only does getting fitter help you lose weight but it also helps you stay healthy. I'm sure a lot of you readers have heard the saying "A healthy body equals a healthy mind". So I want to get fitter and by doing that I can also spend a little more time with my parents outdoors where your mind is nice and you feel cheerful, because my parents like going outdoors and playing soccer or badminton or go jogging and so on. So those are the reasons to why I chose these new year resolutions. 

My cousin, my brother, my dad and me

My cousin, my brother and me by a bear.

Most of my family on the slopes.

My cousin, my brother and me

Some of my family skiing when I took a day off skiing.

My cousin, my brother and me in out ski and snowboard gear.

My cousin, my brother and me somewhere in Whistler Village.

My family opening Secret Santa presents.

My family

Me skiing

L is me!!!

MY PROFILE IS L!!!

On the 30th of November, we had a look on ourselves. We learned which side was our dominant side and what our Learner's Profile was.  There are 2 sides of the brain. The Gestalt (right) and The Logic (left).There are all types of Learner's profiles, but mine is L, and my dominant side is my right. My brain is right, my eye is right, my ear is right, my hand is right and my leg is right, I'm basically the right side all the way. My profile is L.

I learn best when I'm not sitting down for a long time. Like if I'm doing my homework I won't sit at a desk for a long time, I'll sit there for about 30 minutes then lie on the sofa to do my homework. And I can't really concentrate sometimes in classes because of the whiteboard and the sunlight which causes a reflection on the whiteboard. Like in my old school the whiteboard was right next to a window, so I would always be asking the person beside me or the person in front of me about what was on the whiteboard. And if the teacher saw me talking she would start yelling at me.

  

I need to listen better in class like when a teacher is talking I will listen and remember almost everything the teacher said for the first half-hour or so but then I'm clueless. And I also need to keep focus like sometimes when I'm doing my homework I get distracted like I'll start chatting or I would go on youtube to listen to music and then do my homework. Sometimes I don't a 100% in everything but I do try hard. 

The strategies that would help me in my learning should be things to do with my listening and focusing in class. I think a strategy that would help me is putting notes on the computer or little reminders in my house telling me not to get distracted. I think that now since I'm sitting very near to the front that I am listening better and trying to remember more by sometimes jotting down notes about what happened during my classes.

 I would like my teachers to know this about me I am very very easily distracted. While working on homework assignments I do a majority of things at the same time.  I work better in groups than I do solo like on the collaborative lit. circle my grades really improved. And I work even better with people that I get along with though sometimes it wouldn't be the best idea to put me in a group with very close friends for I will tend to chit-chat instead of getting the work done.

Callaborate Literature Circles

           During Humanities class, we did a collaborative Lit. Circle. The partner I had chosen was Zarafsha. The book we are reading is called "Julie of the Wolves". I personally think we have done quite a good job with it. 

     The benefits of working with a classmate is that first, we can all relax and focus less on it because we don't have as much work to do on it. The reason that we don't have to do much work on it is because the other person will be working on some of the lit. circle so you can have more free time. The second thing that's good about this Lit. Circle is that we can get the other partner to check your work so if they think you can improve on it then you can and it will also help by getting a better and improved grade than what you could have gotten.

    The challenges/obstacles I have overcame is first, the questions and responses. I thought that the questions and responses were quite hard because not only do you have to find a good question and a good response to answer it and worse we had to do 2 questions and responses. But ever since we started the collaborative lit. circles I have more time to think up a fantastic question and response. Those are the obstacles I have overcame this time.

     This time, the new things I have understood about this novel is that when Julie makes the decision to leave Daniel and go to San Francisco to Amy. Amy has told her so much about San Francisco , and asked her when she would come to live with her. Julie would stay in the pink bedroom. "Mom says you can have the pink bedroom that looks over the garden and down on the bay and Golden Gate Bridge." (page 70) Julie takes a few survival items from Pearl, a friend in the Barrow. She took food, a sleeping bag, needles, and other stuff. "Pearl  glanced at the shelves above the stove and pushed a box under them; she took down bread, cheese, dried fruits, meats, and a bag of oats and sugar. 'That's fine,' Julie said. 'I only need enough for a week or so. But I need to borrow a sleeping skin and ground cloth. I'll mail them back when I get where I'm going. Pearl slipped out to the shed and came back with the sleeping skin and hide." (page 103 - 104) Julie from now is Miyax. Julie has gone, as Miyax said. For Miyax this is the ride to freedom. She was going away from her terrifying husband, Daniel. He had abused her against her will, that night she ran away. "He pulled her to her feet and pressed his lips against her mouth. She pulled away." (page 102) This is important to Miyax because she will soon find the wolves, they will become a family she never had. That is the passage I wrote for my lit. circle and that is what I have understood about this novel.

          After reading a book it is always good to write out the important passages of the book. So our class are working on literature circles and I really wanted to read the book "Julie of the Wolves" because it sounded very interesting and it sounded like a book that is filled with adventure, normally I don't usually like adventure books but it was different in this case. I felt very happy when I was placed in the group that was doing "Julie of the Wolves" The group discussion of our literature circle helped me understand the novel better because I was able to hear lots of different opinions of the important passages that my other group members had thought, most of our passages were similar though, and it gave me a better understanding of the novel. It was good to know some of the connections that my group members had made, and the important passages from my other group members gave me an idea of why they chose that passage. Also listening to some of the questions that my group had added was interesting because most questions were different from each other and all of them were very good questions that I did not think of and was glad that they brought up some of them.

          There were lots of connections I made while the discussion was going on. One of the connections I made was that my grandmother has a dog called "Bing", and yes I know that is a weird name. He seems to always ignore me when I walk into my grandmothers house but the moment my father walks in he starts barking and jumping up and and down excitedly. So one day my grandmother moved house because she wanted to do renovations on her current house. "Bing" was very upset because he would be moving away from all his friends and to get to the new house you have to drive there and dogs aren't very good in cars. So my grandmother made it clear that it was my responsibility to bring "Bing" there safely. And I did manage to through much difficulty. And then finally "Bing" actually started to pay attention to me and ever since then every time I go to my grandmother's house I would give "Bing" a pat on the head and play with him for a while.

          I was wondering what would happen for the next part of, "Julie of the wolves," and I thought that maybe at the next part the wolves might be friends with and start to understand Miyax who is also known as Julie. The reason to why I thought this way was because of the title of the book and also because the wolves brought her food and maybe then realised that Miyax was a good-hearted girl and not a bad person or a hunter. I also think Miyax found a way to communicate with the wolves by watching the other wolves and their actions towards the leader of the pack, Amaroq, because she knew if Amaroq expected her the rest of the pack will. In the beginning part of the story Miyax wanted the wolves to look at her. I actually thought that talking to them was kind of a silly idea so I think that the strategy that she used which was observing their actions was very smart. The other thing that I thought that it might happen next was Miyax going to take an adventure to survive by not getting a lot of help from the wolves. She might try to be a little more brave. I think that thinking of her dad and how he managed to survive by somehow communicating with the wolves gave her hope but one day the wolves will have to go away and I think that that is yet to come . These are my predictions of what I think it's going to happen next.

This is the book "Julie of the Wolves".

Why is Australia and New Zealand wealthier than Papua New Guinea?

          Even though Papua New Guinea is located in the same region as Australia and New Zealand, why is it that Australia and New Zealand became technologically advanced and wealthier? Well, I believe that is because they had more people coming from Europe to sell with them. And at that time Europe was actually technologically advanced, and they brought their things with them. I also believe that Australia and New Zealand were also located nearer the sea and therefore it was easier for them to trade things when ships came by. Another reason I think technologically advanced and wealthier than Papua New Guinea is because Papua New Guinea was located in jungle and not as open as Australia and New Zealand. And the people that lived in Papua New Guinea actually hunted for food and gathered plants and didn't really have much time to learn about technology. Whilst the people in Australia and New Zealand started to grow plants and harvest crops.


          Why is it that Australia and New Zealand had settlers and traders coming from Europe and not Papua New Guinea? One of the reasons is because the British had been occupying many other countries and decided to make Australia a"Prison Island"where all the criminals were to be sent to. Another reason is because the first settlers that came to New Zealand were the Dutch in the year 1642. And the first settlers that came to Australia were also the Dutch but they had failed in settling so the British came and took over in the year 1688.


          One of my last reasons is because Papua New Guinea only had hunters and gatherers and they lived in a jungle and they were always busy most of the time making sure they had food so they never had time to discover new technology like the people in Australia and New Zealand who started planting plants and harvesting crops. In Papua New Guinea it is only jungle, so there are no cows or goats that can survive in the jungle and that means that they didn't have animals that could give more then just one thing because cows and goats can give milk and meat but in the jungle there are bores instead which can only give out meat. When the people in Australia and New Zealand started farming then they started living a healthier live since they could domesticate animals and get milk and so on


         Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand are three very very different countries. New Zealand and Australia have more tourists sites and attractions for foreigners and on the other hand Papua New Guinea is more of a jungle,tribal type of place. And if you like bird watching or an adventure then I think you will enjoy Papua New Guinea. Even though Australia and New Zealand are technologically advanced doesn't mean people should treat the people in Papua New Guinea any differently than you should treat the people in Australia or New Zealand.

My point of view as a Mud Skipper

          It was a nice hot and a very sunny day, I was skipping around enjoying some family time. Now you see I have a very big family, I have a wife and 4 children and children tend to get hungry very quickly and on a hot and sunny day like that they were really very hungry.So being the father It is my responsibility to find them some food. My family and I live deep inside the humongous mangrove forest of Kuala Selangor. So the really delicious are far away by the mangrove planting areas. Those are the the very dangerous areas where big giants stomp their feet around and help save the environment by planting mangrove plants. So we always have to be careful and make sure none of them stomp on us! But the giants do not come often. But when they do come it is very funny because they always get stuck in mud or fall down. Sometimes their boots even get stuck in the mud and when they pull out their legs only some thing with 5 other little things come sticking out of it. But sometimes those things that come out from their boot like to squish us so we have to be very careful. So basically I did what I do each day that is to go out and get some food for my family and I to eat. The skip from my house to the mangrove planting area is a very long skip. Which means I have to work very very hard. 

          As I was on my way to the mangrove planting area when I stopped for a rest and started hearing strange voices. Then I realized that is was not my language it was the giants language. I heard some shrieks and screams. As I got closer to the area there were more and more giants coming. they wouldn't stop. I was very close now and I really wanted to know a little more about these giants. Then a few of my friends wanted to join me because they have never ever seen giants before I told them that you have to be very careful when you see these giants because they will use that thing that comes out from their boot and squish you. One of my friends was very very curios, in fact he was actually curios enough the go skip along till he was in front of one giant. Now this giant wasn't as big as the other giants in fact it was the smallest giant there. That giant saw my friend and started to talk to it, I thought that that giant was actually very friendly. Maybe giants aren't that bad.

          After some time, I decided to take a risk and cross to the other side I was almost there, when a big black boot stepped right in front of me. And I heard a scream come from the boot. The giant wearing the boot was pointing at me. I turned around and started skipping very quickly to the right. Then another boot stopped me. I panicked and started running in circles. My ears were bursting. Screams were coming from everywhere. Finally I had the guts to stop and look up, and there I saw was a bunch of king faces of giants. But these giants were actually friendly like the other small giant I saw earlier they didn't try to squish or destroy me. I just looked up at them speechless. There were about 43 of them! These giants were all covered in mud and they smelled really bad but then again didn't I. But they weren't that small, except for maybe three or four of them. I was thinking what I should do next but then my thinking got interrupted by my friend telling me that these giants were a class from a school named ISKL which were planting young mangrove plants to help the environment. Now I was beginning to understand everything clearly. While the giants were staring and pointing at me, I peacefully and carefully skipped out of the area and on the way got some food and went home. When I reached home I told my family about my big exiting adventure today and about the big group of giants, and they were all speechless. After a while, my children started cheering for me and I felt extremely proud.

This is what a mud-skipper looks like

That is me!!!!!