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Cheri
Jan 29, 2015 10:27:53 GMT 9
Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2015 10:27:53 GMT 9
Please introduce yourself.
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Cheri
Jan 29, 2015 12:14:30 GMT 9
Post by Cheri on Jan 29, 2015 12:14:30 GMT 9
Hi I am Cheri from Malaysia. Malaysia is a nice country with mostly sunny and rainy days. I like animals especially dogs! I have a dog named Momo and she is lovely companion. I love to read and I am always bringing a book with me where ever I go. I occupy myself with reading when I have the time. Besides reading books, I also like to read interesting articles and news online to widen my knowledge. It makes me happy whenever I get to learn new things! Getting to learn different languages is also my hobby. I learned Japanese language for a few months and I am currently learning Spanish as a beginner. I am not good in speech and this is something I wish I can improve along with my studies. I am really looking forward to study in Soka University! Thank you for reading!
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Cheri
Jan 29, 2015 16:15:59 GMT 9
Post by Admin on Jan 29, 2015 16:15:59 GMT 9
Dear Cheri, Fantastic! Welcome to the FILA message board and thank you for making your first post. I love reading books too. If you are studying Spanish you may have a chance to use it in the near future. I hope you get a chance to read your classmates posts, comment on them and make new friends in FILA. I'm looking forward to reading your weekly reports.
Sincerely,
Miyagi H
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Cheri
Jan 30, 2015 6:10:35 GMT 9
via mobile
Post by Erin on Jan 30, 2015 6:10:35 GMT 9
Hi Cheri! I'm Erin. It's funny that you said that you have a dog named Momo, because I also have a dog named Momo! She is a mix of Austrialian Cattle and Kelpie.
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Cheri
Jan 30, 2015 12:18:06 GMT 9
Post by Cheri on Jan 30, 2015 12:18:06 GMT 9
Hi Erin! My dog is a toy poodle. I named her Momo because it means "furry" in the mandarin language while in Japanese it happened to be "peach". Haha! Do you have any reasons for naming it Momo?
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Cheri
Jan 31, 2015 4:47:46 GMT 9
via mobile
Post by Erin on Jan 31, 2015 4:47:46 GMT 9
Cheri, that is so cool that Momo means furry! We named our dog that because originally her name was Molly (we adopted her). My family and I wanted a name simialr to Molly so she wouldn't get confused. We like Momo because it sounds cuter. Erin
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Cheri
Feb 7, 2015 0:35:55 GMT 9
Post by Cheri on Feb 7, 2015 0:35:55 GMT 9
Hi, this will be my first weekly report.
Vocabulary: I studied 40 words this week.
Reading: The book I'm reading is "Denial" by Ajit Varki and Danny Brower. It is a non-fiction book written by two scientists on human evolution. I was always thinking how did we, humans, turn out to be what we are today. This book talks about human evolution in another concept. The authors stated that besides evolving biologically, humans are set apart from other living things by our psychological changes. I've finished the first chapter where I had a grasp of the basics of human origin and I'm still reading to get more of the book.
Listening: I've been listening to BBC Learning English everyday. They have really interesting topics and I enjoyed listening to their 6 Minutes English. A recent title I listened to is "Deleting Memories". Apparently, scientists have found a way to delete a certain memory of a person. However, the therapy found can only be used on people with stress disorders caused by a frightening experience such as war.
Writing: I did a few quick writes during the week and the number of words I wrote for each quick write is around 150-160 words. I have trouble writing within a given time and my contents are not organized. I reviewed my own writings and searched the internet on the topic I wrote to check what did I miss out for my writing.
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Cheri
Feb 9, 2015 10:35:49 GMT 9
Post by Admin on Feb 9, 2015 10:35:49 GMT 9
Hi Cheri, Thank you for posting your weekly report.
Vocabulary: OK, so you studied 40 words did you learn them? Can you use these 40 words? Please try to use them every day.
Reading: What are some psychological difference between human beings and other living things? Does the book mention anything about dream states?
Listening: Yes, so many people want to remember everything but many of us who have experienced war want to forget it. Memories can be deleted nightmares continiue to exist for veterans. Writing: This exercise is to help you improve writing and thinking speed. Don't worry about accuracy. 160 words is a good start. Please try to think as fast as you can and type as fast as you can. Push yourself to improve.
Great job on your first weekly report. Please share with us what you do next week.
Sincerely,
Miyagi H
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Cheri
Feb 14, 2015 2:43:29 GMT 9
Post by Cheri on Feb 14, 2015 2:43:29 GMT 9
Hello everyone!
Vocabulary:
I studied 25 words this week. Yes, I was able to learn the new words and I tried my best to form sentences from my words. Trying to form sentences is a really good way to understand new words!
Reading:
I’m still reading ‘Denial’ this week. The main psychological difference between humans and animals is humans are constantly in a state of denying the fact that we are mortal. It can be seen through our lifestyles when we keep eating unhealthy food or doing unhealthy activities like smoking that harm us. The second chapter of the book tells about how do we become smarter through evolution.
Listening:
I listened to Ted Talks this week. One of the videos I watched was "How to speak so that people want to listen" by Julian Treasure. In the video, he mentioned 7 habits that we need to correct in our daily speeches. The 7 habits are gossip, judging, negativity, complaining, excuses, lying, dogmatism. These are the things that people do not want to listen. On the other hand, the speaker should keep 4 things in mind when making his speech which are honesty, authenticity, integrity and love. It is important for us to learn how to speak so that people listen, but listening to what people say is also a skill to learn. It involves both speaking and listening to understand others better.
Writing:
This week my writings had slightly improved. I can write up to 267 words in 10 minutes now! Hope I can do better next week.
Thank you for reading!
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Cheri
Feb 18, 2015 10:25:26 GMT 9
Post by malcolm on Feb 18, 2015 10:25:26 GMT 9
Hi Cheri!
This is Malcolm, one of the FILA English teachers.
Twenty-five words is great. 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. What was the most interesting word that you studied?
Interesting reading material! What do you do in your life that shows you are denying your mortality? Can't wait to hear about the next chapter.
Sounds like an interesting TEDTalk. Which of the seven habits is most troublesome for you? I will watch this too.
Good work with the Quick Writes! Little by little you will write more.
Keep it up!
Malcolm
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Cheri
Mar 2, 2015 14:33:39 GMT 9
Post by Cheri on Mar 2, 2015 14:33:39 GMT 9
Hi, sorry I was not able to report last week because I was busy with Chinese New Year! I will post my progress now. Vocabulary: I studied 35 words. I know many of the words in the list as I came across them before but was not familiar with the meaning so I studied them again. I think this helps me to understand easily. Reading: I’m reading "The First Phone Call From Heaven" by Mitch Albom. It is another interesting book from Mitch Albom. It is a story about people in a small town receiving phone calls from heaven. The calls were from their friends and family who passed away. Different people reacted differently when they received a phone call from heaven. Some of them were surprised, some happy and some were sad and afraid. The book tells the stories of a few different families and how the phone calls from their deceased family members and friends bring changes in their lives. The story is full of mystery and it is easy to read. Listening: I watched TedTalks. There is one from Lisa Bu, "How Books Can Open Your Mind". I was inspired by how she started reading books when she did not get support in achieving her dreams as an opera singer. She read books from different authors on a particular event so to understand better. They call this comparative reading. I think this is a good way to read because it widens our perspective on certain issues. The speaker also shared that reading books helped her up from not being able to achieve her dream. I can't agree more on what Lisa Bu said in her talk, "I have come to believe that coming true is not the only purpose of a dream. Its most important purpose is to get us in touch with where dreams come from, where passion comes from, where happiness comes from." People often got lost on the way to their dreams and usually give up. But we need to get back to the very beginning to rediscover why we started and to move on in life. Writing: I did only a few quick writes last week and the words ranged from 191 to 205. I usually take some time thinking of what to write before I start but sometimes I run out of ideas while writing and was not able to complete it in time. Thank you for reading.
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