9/11

Hey!

In class today we watched a documentary called "9/11", which is about the terrible happening that shocked and changed the whole world on September 11th 2001. The Twin Towers placed in New York City were attacked by two airplanes hijacked by terrorists. Another hijacked airplane hit Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. None of the passengers or hijackers of the four planes survived the crashes.

Two filmmakers from France, brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet, and cameraman James Hanlon were in New York the day of the terrorist act, because they were making a film about a firefighter rookie. This man was Tony Benatatos, and though out the movie we get to see him develop from a boy to a man. The moviemakers were filming Tony at a regular day at work, but this day turned into a day made history. September 11th had arrived. The small group of filmmakers also made their way into history that day, because they were one of not many who actually caught the two planes crashing into the Twin Towers on camera. What makes the movie even more real for us who are watching it, is that whole movie is filmed with handheld camera, so you almost feel like you are present.

The documentary was extremely moving and sad, because when the towers collapsed you could really feel the frustration and the shock that hit people of New York, and the rest of the world. Chaos was everywhere, and it was almost too hard to watch sometimes.

Citizens of 77 countries died as a result of the attacks on 9/11. Including my own country, Norway. Many lives were lost that day. Most of them were civilians. But also policemen and firefighters were taken away. Most of them trying to help other people out of the buildings. For some it was too late, when the buildings collapsed - it left not much, but dust. But there were also many lives saved that day. And in all this grief, I believe that this is something we all should focus on, so we don't drown in the sorrow.

September 11th. I believe that this day has definitely strengthened the Americans patriotism. The way I see it, the Americans has always been a people with strong feelings about their country and background, but this day has a special place in every citizen of America's heart. So if you're in the States, you will definitely notice that there is always an American flag waving proudly in the wind.

A symbol of friendship

Every year there is one special tree that is transported from Norway to England, and placed in Trafalgar Square in London. The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a central part of the Christmas celebration in London and it also is a symbol of the friendship between Norway and England. It is a tradition, which has been around since 1947. The first tree brought over was a token of the Norwegian gratefulness for the British friendship during the Second World War. The close relationship between the two countries gave the Norwegians hope throughout the occupation years 1940-1945. London, where the Norwegian King Haakon VII and his family stayed during the war, became a represent of freedom during the hard years.

On November 23rd Fabian Stang, the Mayor of Oslo, Councilor Judith Warner, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, and lots of media from England cut down the tree in the forest outside of Oslo. It was a mighty tree chosen carefully and the Norwegian foresters who looked after it describes it as "the Queen of the Forest". Yesterday, Thursday December 2nd, the tree was lit in the customary place in Trafalgar Square and a traditional ceremony was held. Music, caroling, speeches and poems read by school children was on the program for the evening. Both national anthems were sung beautifully by Alfie Boe. This year it is the 64th tree that gets to bring joy to thousands of people who will pass it and admire it and perhaps take time to pause in a hectic December time and think about how important it is to have good neighbors! I certainly will!

You can read about the story here:
















Anna

English in South-East Asia

Today we learned about the use of English in South-East Asia, and about anime and manga in Japan. I worked with Tuva, Rikke and Martha. We read the three texts a couple of times, and then we took notes from them. Afterwards we talked about what we had read and discussed the facts.

For instance, we learned that Japan is the forefront of developing technical products - automobile to computer chips and in Japan it is considered virtuous to exhaust yourself, and effort is being favored over results.
We also read that Manga is fastest growing category in American publishing and that the export of Anime are making the world are becoming Japanized. We can see shows and comics like Pokémon and Digimon on television all over the world.The Call Centers in India was also mentioned in the text "English in South-East Asia" and that English words are added to their daily tounge in China.



I think it was a good use of time, because we could choose the way we wanted to learn and work the way we learn best. If I could have done something differently I would have read the text a few more times, to really understand them. And all four of us took notes from different pages, so maybe next time we all should take notes from every page we have to read.

But after all, it was an effective and good way to work.


Anna

The Kite Runner - movie and book!

Hey!

In English class we watched the movie Kite Runner, and we were supposed to see if they used the quotes we had written about in the movie.

I choose this paragraph, and listened closely to hear if they used it in the movie:

Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.

But they did not use this quote in the movie. I think this is a important paragraph that should have been in the film, but I guess the film used another paragraph to describe these relationships (between Amir and Baba, and between Amir and Hassan) and showed it in another way.

Anyways, I liked the movie and thought it was a touching and good movie! Definitely a movie you should watch :)



Here is the trailer:



Anna

The Kite Runner - Continuation

Hey!

I'm finished with reading the Kite Runner now, and I think it was a good book and very touching. It had a slow start, but when I read further in the book, it became very interesting and made me want to read more. In this post I will try use some quotes from the book to describe different elements in the book.

Relationships

From the book, page 10:
 
Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.
Mine was Baba.
His was Amir. My name.

I think this quote from the book describes two relationships.
 
The first one is the one between Amir and Baba, at least the way Amir sees it. Amir always looks up to Baba and wants everyone to know that this is his father. As a kid he was always longing for Baba's approval and wanted to make him proud, so that he would show him off to others as his son. All he ever wanted was for his father to approve of him, and forgive him for killing his mother. But his father was very ignorant to him a lot of times, so this was a long struggle for Amir.
 
The second one is the one between Amir and Hassan. This quote shows that Hassan was always looking up to Amir and wanted to be by his side and protect him, maybe in the way that Amir looked up to his father, Baba. In this relationship, Amir was the boss of the two of them, and Hassan was always the one who followed him.


Conflict

When Amir sees Hassan being captured by the mean boys (Assef, Kamal and Wali), page 64:
 
Assef yelped as he flung himself at Hassan, knocking him to the ground. Wali and Kamal followed.
I bit on my fist. Shut my eyes.

This is describing a conflict between Amir and Hassan. When they get bullied by the mean boys, Hassan stands up for Amir. But when Hassan ends up trapped by the mean boys after the kite flying competition, and ends up being raped by the three boys, Amir doesn't interfere even though he sees it happening. This is definitely a conflict in the book. This episode changes the friendship between Amir and Hassan, and even though Amir has let his friend down, Hassan continues to stand up for Amir. Amir is feeling guilty for what he did, but doesn't make the relationship between them any better by ignoring and being sort of mean to Hassan. This conflict is ongoing from when the conflict started, which is the rape-situation and until Hassan and his father leaves Baba and Amir.


Theme

About the friendship between Hassan and Amir (in the early days), page 24:
 
After school, Hassan and I climbed its branches and snatched its bloodred pomegranates. After we'd eaten the fruit and wiped our hands on the grass, I would read to Hassan.

There are many themes in this book. But one strong theme is friendship, and especially the friendship between Amir and Hassan, and how it develops throughout the story. Another theme is identity, because many of the characters struggle to find their identity. Amir wants to form his identity throughout his actions in his life. But his actions aren't always as noble as he would like them to be, for instance the time when he hides his watch and money that he got from his birthday under Hassan's bed, so Hassan looks like a thief.



That's all I had to say about the content of the film, but I deeply recommend everyone to read The Kite Runner, it is definitely a book you should have read before you die ;) So go get yourself a cup of warm tea and lay down in your couch - then start reading The Kite Runner!


Anna

The Kite Runner

Hello :)


We are reading a book called "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini in class this semester.

The book was published in 2003, and it's Hosseini's first novel. The novel is set in Afghanistan, in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, and it is about a boy named Amir and his friend Hassan who is the son of his father's Hazara servant. The period of time where the story is set includes important settings, for example from the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy though the Soviet invasion, the mass emigration of refugees to the United States and Pakistan, and the rise of the Taliban regime. Hassan is guilty for abandoning his friend in his country and returns to Afghanistan and to his childhood home to correct his past. A movie based on the novel was made in 2007, directed by Marc Foster.

I've read three chapters and my first impression of the book is not so good. This is probably because it has a slow start and I don't find it very interesting yet. But I hope, and think, that this will change when I read some more of the novel. Because most of the people I have talked to, says that the book is a great book, extremely interesting and when you start reading it, it's really hard to put it away. I hope this is true!



One thing I like about the book is that it is written in an easy language, so it is understandable for those of us who are not native speakers of English. I really liked this quote from "The Kite Runner":
"I looked up at those twin kites. I though about Hassan. Though about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I though of the life I had until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made me who I am today". (page 2). I like this quote because it tells me that he thinks that his childhood has formed him and made him who he is. When he is thinking this he is sitting on a bench in San Francisco, and he is thinking about how different his life was back in Afghanistan.


I haven't read as far yet, so this post will be longer soon! I just have to read some more in the book :)

Anna

Advice to fellow students!

Hey readers!

This time in International English we got a task to discuss an article called "Facebook hits exam results by 20 per cent" and then write about it in our blog.
Here is a link to the article

Basically the article says that the students who used Facebook (or any other social networking site) during their study-time, scored lower on their exam results than the students who did not use the website while studying. The test shows that the students who did not use Facebook while studying scored on average 3,82 out of four, meanwhile the student who used the website scored a grad point average of 3,06. This was based on 219 students aged from 19 to 54.

The study was made by Professor Kirschner from the Open University in The Netherlands, and it also showed that non-users of Facebook also spend 88 per cent more time studying outside of the lessons. I think this is because you get a lot more done if you aren't doing anything also besides studying, and then you will have more free-time. When you are doing many things at the same time, it's easier to make mistakes and you need more time to get your work done.

I think that the reason people who have Facebook score lower on their exams is that you get so easily distracted and if you start chatting with someone for instance, you won't be able to stop. When I was writing this blog post, I caught myself logging on to Facebook a couple of times, just automatically. This shows how addicted the youth and any Facebook-user has become of the website, and this has a bad impact on our studying.

The moral of the article is definitely that when you are studying you should stick to that, and not log on to different social networks, because then it's hard to log off again and continue with the studying. We should all limit our time spent on Facebook, or at least put off special time for that activity, and not mix that time with study-time.

- Anna