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Chelsey
Jan 28, 2015 15:09:59 GMT 9
Post by Admin on Jan 28, 2015 15:09:59 GMT 9
Please introduce yourself.
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Post by Chelsey on Jan 31, 2015 1:41:50 GMT 9
Hey everyone! I'm Chelsey and I'm from Malaysia. It's summer here all year round, so I can't wait to experience the change of seasons in Japan.
I used to take part in activities like photography, yoga, drama and volleyball during high school. I also like reading, listening to music and watching movies, shows and dramas too.
I'm currently self studying Japanese but my Japanese is still very limited so I am little bit nervous. But despite that, I'm really excited about attending Soka University and meeting everybody.
Till then, take care everyone!
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Post by Admin on Feb 2, 2015 14:11:20 GMT 9
Hi Chelsey, Welcome to the FILA message board and good job making your first post. Please read your classmate's posts and comment on them.
Sincerely,
Miyagi H
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Post by Cheri on Feb 3, 2015 23:48:55 GMT 9
Hi Chelsey, I am Cheri and I am from Malaysia too. Which part of Malaysia are you from? Hope to see you soon!
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 4, 2015 17:25:21 GMT 9
Hey Cheri! I'm so glad to find out that I have a classmate who's from the same country as I am! I'm from KL, what about you?
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 7, 2015 3:55:20 GMT 9
Hi everyone, this is my assignment for the week. Vocabulary: I've learnt 40 new words this week, most of them were not from the academic word list that was given but were from the books and videos that I've come across throughout the week, I'm not sure if those count. I will focus more on the words in the given list for my following assignments. Reading: I've recently read "Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks which it was also adapted into a movie. It's about this young woman called Erin who ran away to a little town with a new look and identity to have a new start from her demanding and manipulative alcoholic husband who had abused her for many years. But even after successfully running away, she was still living in fear of her husband finding her as he was working as a detective in the police force, so she always kept a low profile. But things started to change for her after meeting Alex a widowed father who was really caring and devoted to his children. In the end when her husband did manage to find her, she was brave enough to fight against him and fight for her own happiness. I enjoyed reading it. Listening: One of the videos that i found most interesting was "Your body language shapes who you are" by Amy Cuddy from Tedtalks. I've always known that our body language can let others tell what kind of person we are or how we're feeling but it had never occurred to me that it can actually change how we feel about ourselves too. It's fascinating to know that this fact was actually scientifically proven to be true and people can actually be more confident about themselves by changing their posture and how they present themselves. I should start making little changes in my body language starting today. Writing: My word count ranged between 110-200. I find it hard writing about topics that I've never thought about before and I seldom managed to finish my quick writes with a closing sentence, it often stops in the middle of nowhere without an ending. I will try planning and organising my thoughts more before writing for my homework next week. Thanks
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Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2015 8:31:06 GMT 9
Dear Chelsey, Thank you for posting your first weekly report and great job!
Vocabulary: 40 new words is great! Please be sure to actively use them so you don't forget them. Yes, if there are words in the academic word list you are not familiar with please make vocabulary cards and learn them. If you are confident you know all of the words on the academic word list please go ahead and find new vocabulary from other resources (i.e. newspapers, magazines, videos, etc.).
Reading: You did a great job summarizing the story of Safe Haven. Wow! what a great story. As you read great books like this I hope you learn and think about what you want in life. Alex sounds like a great man who loves his family and children. Kevin Erin's ex-husband on the other hand sounds like a nightmare. I don't know how Alex or Kevin looked on the outside but on the inside Alex is the better looking one.
Listening: Yes, is there something you want to change in life. Can changing your body language help you make that change? Or something small like a smile. Do you think people who force themselves to smile are happier?
Writing: Yes, the quick writes are designed to help you process and think quickly as well as practice writing speed. 200 words is a great start. What's your goal for next week?
What a great start! Please keep up the great work.
Sincerely,
Miyagi H
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 14, 2015 2:07:16 GMT 9
Dear Mr. Miyagi, Thank you for the feedbacks on my previous assignment! This is my assignment for this week. Vocabulary: I learned 34 new words from the list this week. I try going through the words I've learnt in my mind sometimes so I wouldn't forget it. Reading: For this week, the book I'm reading is called "The Secret" by Rhonda Bryne. This book was recommended by my father and the title really sparked my curiosity because I wanted to know what the secret was. I haven't finish reading it yet, but from what I've read so far, it's about the secret to achieving whatever we want in life. It talks about how what we think in our mind actually affects what we get in real life and by changing our thoughts, we can change what we get in reality. It also talks about the law of attraction, where if we have positive thoughts, they can actually attract a positive outcome. For example, if we wanted something to happen, we should be thinking about it happening instead of thinking about reasons as to why it wouldn't, and this constant thought of thinking it would happen would actually attract factors to help in the realisation of what we want. Listening: I want to be able to be more confident when talking in front people, yes I do think my body language can help me make that change, in the talk, the speaker mentioned that posing a confident pose for a period of time actually helps boost up our confidence, so I would like to try that out one day. I think forcing yourself to smile wouldn't make you instantly happy, like if you force a smile on your face when you're actually really sad on the inside wouldn't make you happy right after you smile but it would make the people around you happy, and emotions actually are contagious and it works in a cycle, so I think if you make the people around you happy, being surrounded in a joyful environment, after an amount of time that would affect you to be happy too. Being sad and depressed would just give out negative energy to others and back to ourselves. So I think trying to smile more would make us happier in a way. This week I've watched "My Mother's Strange Definition of Empowerment" by Khadija Gbla. It's about a woman who was circumcised when she was young and is now aiding in organisations helping to prevent this. Even though this is a cultural practice, I don't think it's a right thing to do because everyone has the rights to their own body and doing the circumcision violates that, moreover it doesn't have any known health benefits. Writing: The highest word count I could get was 248, but for the topics that I seldom think about they are still slightly lower. I'm looking forward to improving next week. Thank you
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Chelsey
Feb 18, 2015 11:24:45 GMT 9
Post by malcolm on Feb 18, 2015 11:24:45 GMT 9
Hi Chelsey!
This is Malcolm, one of the FILA English teachers.
Thirty-four words is great! Use them as you speak and write in your daily life, even if you have to create the situation to use them. Try to use your new words so that they become automatic. That is when you can say that you have truly learned them. What was the most interesting word you studied this week?
Sounds like a thought-provoking book! Why did your father recommend this book to you? I believe that we draw things, situations, and people to us for a reason.Can you think of any example from your life?
Practice makes permanent!
Scientific research has found that the body and brain cannot tell the difference between genuine laughter and fake laughter, so laugh everyday whether you feel like it or not. It is healthy. Laugh!
What country is Khadija Gbla from? Are there any cultural practices in your country that you might consider an infringement of human or civil rights?
Good work on the Quick Writes! Are you hand-writing or typing? If you are hand-writing, try typing. This will give you some variety. Little by little!
Keep up the good work!
Malcolm
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Chelsey
Feb 18, 2015 11:34:34 GMT 9
Post by Admin on Feb 18, 2015 11:34:34 GMT 9
Hi Chelsey, Vocabulary: Great! Yes, please try to repeat the words and use them every day. Reading: This sounds like a great book. Thank you for sharing and describing the main points about the book. I'm going to find this book in the library. Have you found another book for your next report? Listening: Thank you for your answer. I hope you receive smiles everyday. I'm smiling right now . Yes, just because its a cultural practice does not make it a good practice. In Jordan there is a cultural practice to murder women who are raped in order to save the family honor. Civilizations need to advance beyond cultural limitations. Cultures are changing and hopefully as the world becomes smaller we can become a more understanding culture, a culture of enlightened people. Thank you for sharing about this program. Writing: Good job getting to 248 words. Great job Chelsey! Please keep up the good work. Sincerely, Miyagi H
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 21, 2015 3:00:54 GMT 9
Hi Mr. Malcolm! Thank you for your reply The most interesting word I've learnt this week is thumb. I've always thought thumb only meant the finger "thumb", I never knew it was also a verb that meant press, to flip through pages and to request a lift. I was quite surprised. My father recommended the book to me because he wanted to let me know that thoughts actually do have an effect on what will happen. I am someone who always tries to predict the outcome of things from the best till the worst so that I am prepared for whatever the results might be, and whenever this happens my dad would tell me to think about the things that I want and not the things that I don't and if I don't want something to happen, don't think about it. I never understood what he meant by that because I used to think that we had to predict the worst to be able to come up with a backup plan. So, he recommended me this book and after reading it I understood what he said before. I was taught since young that everything we come across no matter good or bad, happens for a reason too, we just have to find out what it is and be able to make value out of it. For example, I've come across unpleasant people throughout my life, I'm sure everyone does and I've always been bothered by these situations until I learnt that we should thank them instead of feeling negative towards them because they show us the exact the examples of what we shouldn't be or how we shouldn't treat others and that's the reason of their existence. We should always find the reason of every existence of the things or people we come across because we could always learn and get something good out of it even if the thing or the person isn't necessarily good. Khadija Gbla is from Sierra Leone which is a country in west Africa. I haven't heard about this country before and I had to google it. In my country, muslim males get circumcised when they're young, I am not sure if this is still implemented by most people nowadays though. I usually type the quick writes because it's faster that way and I could always add points in between sentences without making the passage look messy. Thank you
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 21, 2015 3:03:57 GMT 9
Hi everyone, this is my report for the week. Vocabulary: I've learnt 30 words this week from the list. Reading: This week I read this book that was given to me by my aunt when I was still in junior year in secondary school. It's called Horrible Geography: Violent Volcanoes by Anita Ganeri. This book is about volcanoes facts, in the book it explains how a volcano was given its name, it also states lava facts and also the effects of a volcano eruption and so much more. The book is also illustrated with really entertaining pictures with a few jokes here and there and is also accompanied by a few experiments that we could do at home. Even though it's a children's book, it was really fun to read and it was an enjoyable way to know more about volcanoes. I haven't found another book for my next report yet, I'm still in search for one now. Listening: This week I've listened to How I held my breath for 17minutes by David Blaine, The best gift I ever survived by Stacey Kramer, The danger of silence by Clint Smith, and A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter by Mark Bezos. All of these talks were pretty interesting and inspiring, the first one is about a magician who constantly challenges himself to do the impossible, and through determination, research and training, without giving up after countless tries, he was able to accomplish what he wanted in the end. The second one is about this woman who had a brain tumour that shared that there are things in life that would happen to us that may not always be what we expect or want but we can always consider it as gift by seeing the good changes that it brought us to make in our lives. The third one is about the importance of speaking up the truth and also not being afraid of expressing what we really think, a lot of people keep words to themselves to blend in or just so things would go certain way that would benefit them without realising how much speaking up the truth would affect someone's life or the outcome of a situation. The last one is about a volunteer firefighter who talked about how even the littlest things we do count and matter but people often think that we have to accomplish something huge for it to mean something or for people to acknowledge it. Writing: I've written four quick writes this week, and my word counts were 272, 218, 262 and 246. Thank you
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Post by malcolm on Feb 23, 2015 3:11:58 GMT 9
Hi Chelsey.
Malcolm here. Looks like you had a productive week.
Vocabulary: Thirty new words, great!
It is very important to review the vocabulary you are learning. How many words have you learned so far? Can you remember them all? Keep using the words from past weeks as often as you can and in as many different situations as possible. Don't forget to study related words, or other meanings for the words. Using the words consistently will help you remember them, so they will become automatic and you won't have to think about them when you are using them. This is the final goal.
Reading: Good choice! I think that students often forget about non-fiction for reading. Learning more about the world around us is very important. (Also, on tests like IELTS and TOEFL, they use a lot of science readings and listening materials.) I would suggest as part of your listening/watching activities watch documentary TV such as: Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel, Biography Channel, and others. These are quite good for developing listening skills, but also introduce basic, general information that my help you on a test or change your life.
What is one thing that you learned about volcanoes?
Listening: Sound like some interesting topics!
What was the best gift that you have survived?
Should we always tell the truth? This is a highly debated topic.
I totally agree that the little things count. What have you done or made that counted?
Writing: Good consistency with the writing. I agree that typing is probably the most useful in this technological world. However, if you want to take the IELTS at some point, they still make you write by hand.
Keep up the great work!
Malcolm
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Post by Chelsey on Feb 28, 2015 3:46:23 GMT 9
Hi, this is my report for this week. Vocabulary: I've managed to learn 10 words this week. Reading: I've chosen "Marley and Me" by John Grogan this week. I had watched the movie a few years back and bought the book after that because I wanted to read the original story. The story starts off with a married couple named John and Jenny, both dog lovers, who decided to get a dog before having children, as a practice of nurturing a being and maintaining it's well being, and the story goes on showing the the growth of their family accompanied by their Labrador Retriever, Marley, and the funny and frustrating incidents that happened along the way while bringing up Marley. I haven't actually finish reading it yet, only read a few chapters this week. Listening: I've listened to a commencement speech given by Steve Jobs in a Stanford University commencement in 2005. He shared with us how important it is to trust our passion and instincts. A lot of people give up on what they really want and love because they don't see what it will bring them in the future. In the speech, Steve Jobs mentioned that we can never tell what the things we do now will do in the future but we will realise it the day we look back at all of it, so we must believe that what we do now and in the past will somehow connect to the future, and this trust will give us confidence and support us in continuing what we love doing. He also said to live each day as though it's our last and we would find ourselves making choices with our truest intentions because there's nothing holding us back anymore. I think it's a pretty good and inspiring speech to listen to when we feel lost or when we feel like we're struggling in pursuing our dreams Writing: The words for my quick writes varied from 250-283 this week. Thank you.
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Post by Admin on Mar 5, 2015 12:24:23 GMT 9
Great work Chelsey!
Miyagi H
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