Evaluation of the year

This year with English has been a great year, and I think I've improved my writing skills, because we have written a lot of blog posts and a major in-depth project. But we should have learned a little more grammar, because we almost didn't have any grammar at all. Another thing is that we should have talked more English, and discussed more. But I liked the fact that we always did different things in class, and used different learning techniques, so the classes were never boring. We read inspiring books, watched great movies, had interesting Skype conversations and fun projects.

I think the red thread throughout the year as been the theme "an individual making a difference ". We've seen it in many of the things we have worked with; Erin Brockovich, The Kite Runner, Gran Torino, The Other Hand and Moliehi Sekese from Lesotho. It is an incredibly inspiring theme and I think everyone in class has learned a lot while working with these projects.

I will continue with English next year, and be in a class called Social Science English. I look forward to this, and hope that I will learn many interesting things!

A visitor from Lesotho

A few weeks ago we had a visitor in English class, Moliehi Sekese from the African country Lesotho. In 2009 she won the Educator Choice-award in Microsoft's Worldwide Innovative Teacher Award for her project on indigenous plants that she had with her class at her school. She teaches her students that education is the way out of poverty, and sets a good example for everyone in Lesotho.

In her school they only have two computers, and the number of students is 700! At my school, and many other schools in Norway, every student own their own laptop. And many students also have another personal laptop at home for non-school work. The contrasts between the two countries are huge! In Norway we wake up and go to school to learn, with a full stomach and clean clothes, and nothing worries us. In Lesotho many children go to school with an empty stomach, without warm clothes and even shoes, but they still come to school to learn. They have to worry about everything before they can educate themselves, but they still have the motivation to learn because they know it is important.

She was a real inspiration and the visit was really eye-opening. We take everything for granted in Norway and we don't think about how privileged we are, so it is really healthy for us to see how other people struggle in other countries, so we can learn that everybody doesn't live the good way we do and we can help them to a better life!

My group and I interviewed her, and we also filmed when she held a presentation for the class. We made a video, and you can watch it bellow:

(THE VIDEO IS COMING)


If you want to learn more about Lesotho you can visit this link

The Life of Nelson Mandela

Here is a video Shirin, Susanna and I made in English class about the life of Nelson Mandela, the former South African president and activist againt apartheid. I hope you enjoy it!

Varities of English

English is a language widely spoken around the world, and many countries have their own variety of the language. But even though it may seem like English is the number one native language spoken in the world - because we are faced with it every day - it is in fact the third most spoken language by native speakers. Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are number one and two. But English is also the leading language in international discourse and has become the lingua franca in many regions. It is also one of the six official languages of the European Union, and a official language in NATO and United Nations.

It is hard to find exact numbers of how many

English speakers there are in the world, but there are supposed to be about 500 million to 1.8 billion people who has English as their native, first or second language.

To us in Norway, the most familiar varieties of English is American-English, British-English and Australian-English. These three are languages we meet everyday, whether we watch TV or surf the internet. I will now write about two other varieties of English that we aren't as used to; Hinglish and Singlish.

In Singapore there has been developed two versions of the English language with influence from Chinese and Malay, and they are Colloquial Singaporean English and Standard Singapore English. The first one is also known as Singlish. It is an English-based Creole language. There are about 5 000 000 people who speak this language. The use of Singlish is low prestige in Singapore, and the language is heavily discouraged in school and in the mass media. Singlish is most commonly used by Singaporeans who are not fluent in English. Most of the educated people in Singapore speak Standard Singaporean English.

Read more about Singlish here

Here is a funny video about Singlish


Hinglish is the combination of Hindi and English, and is spoken mostly in the urban and semi-urban centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India. But via television, mobile phones and word of mouth, it is also slowly spreading into rural and remote areas. Hinglish is effecting the English which is spoken in England, with the adaption of words and expressions used by Indian immigrants and their offspring into colloquial English in England. This is similar to what is going on in Norway, where our language is influenced by the immigrants in our country. We use words from, for instance, "Kebab Norwegian", which is slang spoken by immigrants in parts of Oslo and other places.

Read more about Hinglish here

When I listen to both of the languages, Hinglish and Singlish, they both sound a bit funny to me. But I guess this is just because I'm used to hearing regular English being spoken, and not a mixture of languages. Sometimes it is really hard to understand what they are saying, because they speak unclearly and they add words like "lah" in the end of a sentence. But I guess with a little training, you can understand it easily! I would really like to learn to speak Hinglish or Singlish one day :)

Exam tasks

A)

1: You didn't see him, is it? -> You didn't see him, did you?
2: When you would like to go? -> When would you like to go?
3: That man he is tall -> That man is tall
4: Her jewelleries were stolen -> Her jewelries were stolen
5: I am understanding it now -> Now I understand (or I understand now)
6: They two very good friends -> Those two are very good friends
7: Sushila is extremely lazy girl -> Sushila is an extremely lazy girl
8: When you leaving? -> When are you leaving?


B)

1: In the tag question they have changed the subject from "you" to it". They have also changed the verb tense from did (past tense) to it (present tense). This is not normal in standard English.

The Other Hand - second blogpost

Hey :)

I have now read the whole book, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, and I thought it was fantastic! It was funny, well written, interesting and very sad sometimes. I will definitely check out some of the other books that Chris Cleave has written, because he is an amazing author. You can read more about the book in my other post about it. In this entry I will try to describe a conflict in the book by using quotes from the book.

First of all, I think that the themes in the book are many, and one example is hope for a good future and friendship. The two women, Little Bee and Sarah, are from to different cultures and different in so many ways. Sarah is a editor of a magazine that focuses on superficial stuff, while Little Bee is the asylum seeker from Nigeria with a terrible background. But in the end they bond of the fact that they both have lost someone close to them, and wants to move on and they find comfort in each other. They learn that they have to appreciate what they have at the moment, because they see how life can change so fast by things they don't have control over. They both have a hope for a better future, because of the things they have experienced in their past. Little Bee wants to finally be free, and not live a life on the run from the soldiers in her home country.

One conflict that you maybe don’t think a lot about when you are reading the book is the conflict that Little Bee struggles with herself. In the book there are a lot of conflicts between people, but everyone also has their own personal conflicts. And the struggle Little Bee has is mostly hidden behind the use of humor and stories that she tells. One of the things she deals with is her past in Nigeria, and she is haunted by the thought of some men coming for her. Throughout the book she describes ways she could kill herself in different ways everywhere she goes if the men would come. One example of this is this quote:

If the men came suddenly, I will be ready to kill myself. Do you feel sorry for me, for thinking always in this way? If the men come and they find you not ready, then it will be me who is feeling sorry for you.

When she talks about suicide in the book, it really difficult to take her seriously, because it seems as such an easy think for her to do.

I worked out how to kill myself in every single one of the situations a girl like me might get into in a detention centre. In the medical wing, morphine. In the cleaner’s room, bleach. In the kitchen, boiling fat.

I think this quote describes the way she always had irony when she spoke, but deep down she was actually serious.

Another conflict she struggles with is that she finds it irritating that everyone always says that she is not selfish at all, and she goes around carrying a image of herself as very selfish because of what she did to Sarah’s husband (she thinks she caused him to take his own life). This quote is from a conversation with her and Lawrence, Sarah’s lover, where she tries to explain to him that she is in fact selfish too like everyone else.

I shook my head. “I am selfish too, you know”
“No, you’re really not”
“Now you think I’m a sweet little girl, do you? In your mind you still don’t think I really exist. It does not occur to you that I can be clever, like a white person. That I can be selfish, like a white person”

She is regretting leaving Sarah’s husband “hanging in the air” and therefore she wants to help Sarah as much as she can to make up for what she did. Throughout the book Little Bee is afraid of meeting police and that they would find her and send her back to her country, but in the end she does something that is very unselfish and puts another person’s needs before her own. I won’t tell you what this is, because that would ruin the book for you, so I will just leave you with this quote:

[Lawrence]”(…) And Bee, you take my phone and you go to where you can get reception and you call the
police. Then you wait at the plantation gate for the police, so you can show them where we are when they arrive”
(…) [Sarah] She just stood there. I couldn’t work out what the problem was.
“The police, Sarah,” she said.
I stared at her. Her eyes were pleading. She looked terrified. And then, very slowly, her face changed. It became firm, resolved. She took a deep breath, and she nodded at me.”

I really though that this was a great book, and I recommend it to everyone! You will laugh, cry and smile when you read it, and you could actually learn something from the book.

Anna

Gran Torino

Today in English class we watched a movie called Gran Torino. It is a drama film from 2008 directed by Clint Eastwood, and was named one of the ten best movies of 2008. Eastwood also plays the main character in the movie, a grumpy old man called Walt Kowalski, who just lost his wife and is dealing with his own problems from his past. As a young man he was in the Korean war, and memories of his killings and this time seems to haunt him deeply. Living in a neighborhood with Hmong people (a people from parts of Thailand, China and Laos), he is constantly annoyed with these people.

A gang in the Hmong society one day tries to get Walt's neighbor Thao Lor (a young and mannered boy) to join their gang, and though he refuses at first, they make him steel Walt's car, a perfect Gran Torino from the 1970's and the most possessed thing in Walt's life. Walt almost caught him in the action, and Thao is more afraid of his angry neighbor than ever. But one day the gang comes back to get Thao, and they start a fight with the Lor family. The leader of the gang is also Thao's cousin. When someone in the fight accidently steps on the lawn that belongs to Walt, he threatens to kill everyone of them if they ever set a foot on his property again. This scares the gang and they run. The next day, the Hmong people of the neighborhood treats Walt like a hero, because he saves the life of Thao. He also rescues the daughter in the Lor family, Sue, from some other gang bangers, and after a while he starts hanging out with both Sue and Thao - and he starts feeling joyful again. But the trouble with the gang continues and the struggle for the Lor family is almost to much to handle - so Walt decides to end the fight one in for all.

I got a task to answer this question: How do Hollywood films portray people of different races and ethnicities?

And I will try answering this as best as I can.

I think Hollywood movies portray people of different races and ethnicities very stereotypically. The image of the people are almost exactly how you expected it to be. But movies like this, challenges the stereotypes, as we can see for instance the character in Thao. They say in the movie that it is normal for the Hmong girls to og to college, while the Hmong boys end up in jail. But Thao is a good kid, who isn't looking for any trouble, and wants to stay away from the gangs and the crimes they commit. He'd rather do a woman's job, as they say in the movie, and do gardening and clean dishes. He is a hard working boy, who wants to do good in life.

Gran Torino is a great movie, and I recommend it strongly. Absolutely a movie you should see before you die. It's interesting, moving, funny and a movie you really learn something about. It brings up different problems, like gang violence, communication between different races and ethnicities, family issues and the fight for justice.

Anna

The Other Hand

We got a new assignment in English class a few weeks ago, and this was to choose a novel and read it. I choose the book "The Other Hand" (2008) by the British author Chris Cleave. This was the book of my choice because I have heard great things about it from people I know who have read it, and it has also gotten great reviews. It was for instance shortlisted for the 2008 COSTA Novel Award and nominated for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2009.

The novel is about a Nigerian girl who is an asylum-seeker in England and a British magazine editor. They both are the narratives. The girl is called Little Bee, and in the immigration detention centre she learns fluent English, or as she calls it: Queens English. The woman is Sarah, and she is married to Andrew, and they have a son together, known as Batman. When Little Bee is released from the centre she goes straight to find the couple, and calls Andrew up. He commits suicide right after the call, so Sarah is left alone with her child when Little Bee comes knocking on their door on the day of Andrews funeral.

I haven't read a lot in the book yet, but I like it so far, and it is actually quite funny sometimes! I even caught myself laughing out loud several times. So I'm looking forward to reading further in it, and I hope that it will be as good as I expect it to be!

I'll post another update when I have read more, or when I'm finished.

Anna

Megacities

The term "megacity" is used for a city with more than 10 million inhabitants. These cities are developing all over the world, and in 10 years time there will be about 26 megacities in the world. Not many years ago there where more people living in rural areas, but in 2006, for the first time ever in human history, more people were living in urban areas.

All of the megacities that are now building up around the world, are all in developing countries. Of the 26 megacities that are supposed to be in the world in 2006, 22 of them will be in developing countries.

One of the graphs in the book shows that the biggest megacity in the world is Tokyo, Japan with 33.4 million inhabitants, followed by New York City, U.S.A. with 24.1. million and Mexico City, Mexico with 21.7 million. The source of these statistics are Population.Data.net, and they are from 2006. But new statistics from 2011 shows that the list of the 10 biggest megacities has changed drastically. Tokyo is the still the biggest of them all, but the number of inhabitants are now 36.7 million, which is 6.3 million more people living in the same area as when it was less people. New York City is no longer number two; New Dehli, India has taken over the position with 22.2 million people. This means that New York City has less inhabitants now in 2011 than in 2006, and has dropped to number six on the list. Now the number of inhabitants in New York City is 19.4 million.


This is the list over the 10 largest megacities in the world in 2011:

1. Toyko, Japan: 36.7 million
2. Dehli, India: 22.2 million
3. Sao Paolo, Brazil: 20.3 million
4. Mumbai, India: 20.0 million
5. Mexico City, Mexico: 19.7 million
6. New York City, U.S.A.: 19.4 million
7. Shanghai, China: 16.6 million
8. Calcutta, India: 15.6 million
9. Dhaka, Bangladesh: 14.6 million
10. Karachi, Pakistan: 13,1 million

(Source)


The fastest growing megacity in the world is in fact Dhaka in Bangladesh. In 2006 it wasn't on the list over the 10 largest megacities in the world, but in 2011 it is in the ninth place. In 2025 it is supposed to have as many inhabitants as 20.9 million, which is an 6.3 million increase in 14 years. Other fast growing megacities are Mumbai with a supposed 25.8 million inhabitants in 2025, Shanghai with 20 million in 2025 and Calcutta with 20.1 million.
India is definitely a country where many megacities are developing. Dehli is a megacity, an d Mumbai and Calcutta are two other cities becoming megacities.

The urban population is continuing to grow, as the rural population is sinking. Take Europe for instance, in 1995 there were 209 millions who were a part of the rural population and 518 millions of the urban population. In 2015 statistics estimate the number to be 188 millions of the rural population and 532 millions of the urban population. The other parts of the world shows the same thing, urban population will grow increasingly in the years to come. In 1800, only 2% of the world were called an urban population. In 2000, 47% of the world were an urban population and the number in 2030 are estimated to be 60 %. That's a 6/10 of the earth.


Basically, the world will in the future be dominated by megacities and urban populations. The grow of them both continuous fast, and maybe someday 100% of the world will be what we call urban population?

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

Erin Brockovich - the movie

Hey!

In International English last week, we watched the movie "Erin Brockovich", which is a drama film from 2000 based on the true story about the female lawyer called Erin.

Erin is a twice-divorced mom, with three kids, who gets a job at a lawyer firm after a trial with the same lawyer who runs the firm that helped her with her case. Since she lost her case, and had no money left, she refuses to leave the office until she gets a job there. After almost begging, her lawyer agrees to offer her a job. She starts to sort different documents, and after a while she comes over some very interesting papers. Erin starts digging and soon she finds out that something is up with the case in Hinkley, California. She discovers that the company PG&E is responsible for the sickness of all the people in this small-town, and she wants to make it good again by getting the recidents of Hinkley the money they deserve and need from the big company. Erin, without education and money, becomes the spokeswoman for many sick people against a billion-dollar-company.

I thought the movie was great, and really interesting, because it's based on a true story. It was inspiring to see one person making her way thought the crowd and making so much different. It shows that if you fight hard enough for what you want, you'll get it. You should never give up, like Erin never did, no matter how hard things get and how many people who are against you. She definitely sacrificed a lot when she worked on her case, for example spending time with her kids and new boyfriend. But in the end, it was all worth it because she won her case and got enough money to support her kids. Erin Brockovich is definitely a role model for everyone in this world. She shows us that you don't have to be well educated and brought up in a nice home to make a difference in the world! If you really want it, you can do it!

Trailer:



Anna :)

The Butterfly Circus

In the first International English class we had, we watched a short movie called “The Butterfly Circus”. It was about a man, Will, who was born without limbs, and he was a performer at a circus, where people laughed at him. One day, a circus director from another circus came to see him and the man without legs or armed decided to join his circus instead. There he devolved and became a strong man who managed to swim without legs and arms, because he was so driven and gave all he had.

The topic was hope, and this is a perfect topic for the movie, because it illustrates that you need to have hope and believe in yourself, in order to success. You should never give up, no matter how hard things get, because in the end, you will make it if you only try hard enough. :)

Every performer in the circus had struggled with an ugly past, but now they lived a great life among friends and happiness, because they joined the circus and could develop into something brighter. They were all like caterpillars, which turned in to beautiful butterflies, therefore the name “The Butterfly Circus”.

I think it was a great movie, really well made and it had a very important message!
You should definitely watch it, and here is your chance:





//Anna

International English

Hey readers!

My name is Anna, and I study at Sandvika VGS in Baerum, Norway. My hobbies are music and friends, and most of the usual things that teenagers care about! I love to travel, so English is very necessary for me! I’ve been to many countries, and in 3 out of five continents (Africa, America and Europe). This summer I was in Scotland, Italy and Sweden. I guess this is all you need to know for now!

This is my second year at Sandvika VGS. I’ve had English as a subject since first grade in elementary school, but this year we got to choose if we wanted to continue with the subject. English has always been one of my favorite subjects, because I love languages and communication. My choice was obviously to continue with English, since I’m running this blog now! You see, this blog is a task we got in my new subject, called International English. We use it to post homework and other tasks we get in class, and I think this is a great way of learning, because we learn to write English better and others can read what we write, so it’s a way of communicating with the world. My expectations of the subject, is that I think I will learn a lot and it will also be fun at the same time. I now I will have great use of it in the future. It sounds really cool that we are going to Skype with other people in English-speaking countries, and get to use the Internet to get to know the English world. I hope (and think) that this year will be exciting and that I will get better in English, both writing and talking.



Have fun reading my blog!

Anna