What did I learn from this class?

Well, I think the most important thing I learned from this class is that writing is not simply to write something about something, but is about how to create, interpret and understand something that we really like. As we continued writing blog entries and doing assignments about literacy, we gradually found what we really like and began to understand and improve it in the way we have never done by ourselves, such as using a map, making a video, and drawing a comic. Those interested things I’ve never expected to learn in a regular writing class.

Take me as an example. Before taking this class, I have never got a chance to explore what is my own literary. Finally, I have realized that photography is where my passion is. Through some of the assignments about literacy, I had re-evaluated some of my photographic works in my album. I found out there were lots new meanings of those pictures that I have never thought about had been explored by this time. Also, during some of the workshops we had in this semester, the skills of how to make videos and draw comics using computer software really helped me a lot with my assignments.

Anyway, this writing class is one of my favorite classes since I came to America. And, our teacher Franny is also the best teacher who taught us a lot of meaningful and useful things that I think are much more precious than others.

After I went through the whole article, one of the Elizabeth Hill’s main points I think is that the way of recording and expressing information is not just alphabetic writing. There are tons of other ways can do that, such as pictures, maps, music, etc. I strongly agree with her idea and I believe the rest of the methods play a very important role in the literacy of people, which is far more significant than alphabetic writing.

Obviously, new technology has pushed the improvement of extending the range of literacy. If we didn’t have such a broad field of expressing information, we’ll never reach the high standard of living nowadays. That’s because we can use those methods to learn something and to share with others more efficiently. Here’s a concrete example:



There are two different signs on the road. The one on the left shows a clear white right turn sign with blue background, and the one on the right indicates several alphabetic words. If I never learned English, I’ll probably ignore the right one but turn right when I see the left one. Let’s suppose the right sign contains very important information. The audiences of that must be less than the left one, and the efficiency of expressing information is also lower than the other one.

In fact, using “visual signs” in modern society is becoming more and more common all over the world. People are also glad to accept this kind of method because it contains the most natural sense that almost everyone can understand and share with others. With this method, people would also create new things without having any specific knowledge of that, which made the transmission of information easy to achieve.

In my point of view, the higher writing system is not necessarily the best way of recording and expressing information. It may be more efficient to record but not always a good way to express. Like the example I have mentioned above, no matter how important information has been indicated on the sign, if no one can understand that, the consequence is zero. Therefore, alphabetic writing is not the only way to record and express information and not the best way to do that as well.

Technology Shift

After reading “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology” written by Dennis Baron, there are so many technologic methods have been created by people in order to extend the range of literacy. All those improved technology not only provide us a better environment to interpret, creative and understand the things related to our life, but also give us more opportunities to know the world and ourselves.

With today’s high speed Internet, we would find the most recent news in the world and also added comments that everyone could share their ideas with it. With today’s GPS and satellite system, people could observe any interested places on the earth without travelling. In addition, with today’s photography and video technology, we could also record and save every precious moment in our life. Take me as an example. If camera had not been created by people, I’ll never find out what my passion is in my life. I used camera to record the world in my eyes. I took a lot of pictures and shared my thoughts with my friends. But more importantly, through using my camera to create works, I learned a lot of things that I had never touched before. It gives people another eye to see through the world, which I think is one of the positive results of today’s technology shift.

Visual Performance

In modern society, there are numerous kinds of media and technology that contain a large amount of information can be spared into a huge scale. Among those methods, I think the most impressive way must be visual performance, like videos, movies, dramas, etc. I always like something that’s moving instead of staying. I’d like to track the movement of objects or predict the ending of the story. However, the things on the screen are always changing, and you’ll never know what the next scene is going to be. That’s the part really makes me excited and forces me to watch until it ends. Also, it’s the easiest the way to persuade me. It’s because the sound, music, images, scenes, and all kinds of effective methods composed together in order to lead audiences’ mind into the place where the author or director wants them to be.

In ancient time, the nature of human is to seek movement. We hunted moving animals. And, the faster they were, the more valuable they were. Just like the moving objects on the screen, our nature doesn’t change. Therefore, if someone had to make a project for me, I’d like to have a video performance.

Independence

I took this picture in Central Park, New York. It was a cold winter. Only a few people in the park. When I was walking around with my friends, there were a father and his little son playing in the field. Then, I found out that the father never got close to his son. He was just walking behind and sometimes leaded the way for him. The little guy fell down several times, but his father never jumped out to help him. Instead, he just squatted there and encouraged him to get up. I was really interested about these two lovely guys and took the picture above to record that moment.

I could understand the purpose of why could the father be so cruel with his son. He wanted his son to be independent. That is quite different from the parents in China. Take my parent as an example. When I was young, my parent never left me alone. They hold me in their arms while walking in the street. When I fell down, they always rushed on me and checked whether I was injured. I also had a baby-sitter when they were busy. Besides, my baby-sitter lived with us all the time expected holidays. This well-cared situation was mostly like some other parents at that time. Therefore, most children in China I think are less independent than the children in the US because our parents rarely give their children the opportunity to practice independence, which leads to that many of them hardly adapted to the new environment and sometimes narrow-minded. Compared to the children in the US, they tend to be more independent as a result of the different education received from the parents. On the whole, I strongly support the way what the father in the picture did to his son. Also, I believe the earlier the children become independent; the higher goal in their life will be achieved. This is the idea that I want to represent through this picture.

The City

The city where I once lived is called Jinan in China, and it is the capital of Shandong province. In 2008, the population of the city reached approximately 5.5 million. It is not only a huge number on a statistical table, but also some actual feelings that permeate our daily life such as the crowded street, traffic jam, dirty air and so on.

The picture above was taken in my apartment when I was living in Jinan. At that day, it was a quite fine day and we hadn’t seen such a good weather for a very long time. Then, I thought about it. Why does city make us so hard to see a good weather in our daily life? Can it be changed? Therefore, I transferred this picture into my computer and edited it by Photo Shop. It should be a very nice picture, but I adjusted the contrast and added some filters in order to make this picture more sharp and dirty. In my point of view, a city should be squalid and cowered. People living in the city would feel depressive and anxious, so that I made this picture like contractible eyeshot. When people see this picture, they will feel hopeless and worry about the situation about our environment, which is the purpose of making this picture.

Sometimes, I wondered about why so many people from the countryside wanted to get involved into a life like this. Is this because here we can get more opportunities for jobs or just want to change our living conditions? Then I doubted who should be responsible for our environment, and how can we prevent this from happening instead of dealing with the aftereffects of damaging the environment. While I think those questions should be answered by our government and the whole society, and the solution will be much more complicated than we think.

Scenery with Wind

I took this picture in my bedroom when I was in high school in China. This is one of my photographic works won the third prize in the “I Love My Family” national digital photography competition. At that time, I was also preparing for the Chinese university entrance examination which might be the biggest challenge for every student in China. When I felt tired of my study, the only thing could set me free is photography. I’d love to use my digital camera as my third eye to see the world in a different position. I could always understand or interpret something while I was seeing the picture I just made, even if I didn’t mean to represent any specific ideas before I was actually taking the picture.

I shot this picture in a completely dark room. The light coming from the right corner is actually set by a flashlight. I used very slow shutter speed in order to make the objects clearly in the dark environment. Then the light records the movement of the fan and also makes the painting on the wall more concrete. A comparison between the moving fan and the quiet painting turns out to be the theme of the picture. When I saw the picture in the display screen of my camera, a strange feeling suddenly came through my mind. At that moment, I quickly decided to name it as “Scenery with Wind” because I believed this picture had reflected my life during that time. As I was thinking, every teenager at that age should be care-free, just like the moving fan in its free space and the wild wind which could blow to anywhere. However, the fact told us that we had to bear the heavy load of study and also the pressure from our families. This tough situation forced us to become the concrete painting on the wall. We couldn’t move; we couldn’t focus on other things beside study; we even couldn’t do what we like. We were just a painting waiting for being sold. I hope this situation will be improved in the future, so that teenagers in our country will live a happy life.

My Picture of Literacy

As you can see the picture I made during the class. It explains my own thought of literacy. There are five elements on this picture and each of them represents different points. The image of three kids on the bottom shows the importance of being able to read, and the two arrows of different colors point out two opposite consequences which are failure and success in people’s life. Also, the earth in the background represents that literacy gives people a complete world, and also the world connects each person’s literacy.

In my point of view, literacy is far more important than anything else since we were born. People don’t have to know how to drive, play a song or fix a computer, but they should have the ability to learn them. Therefore, literacy plays a really important role in leading people to interpret, understand, and create things related to their life. It’s more than just being able to read and write. It’s about using the ability to live a better life, which I think it’s the purpose of people’s life and the reason why we came to this world.

Take younger children as an example, the children who have trouble reading or writing often see themselves as inferiority. People always tell them they are stupid, and they are more likely to misbehave in school. As a consequence, they are willing to take more risks with drugs, alcohol, or crime. As a consequence, some of them are dead before they have reached their goals in life or finally lose their track and head for bad ending. On the contrary, the children who have the ability to read can easily distinguish virtue and vice. They know the world’s principle, and they may use that to obtain their benefits in appropriate ways.

Now, my picture seems to be easy to read. The importance of literacy is obvious. If I don't have literacy, it’s hard to imagine where my life will take me. I wouldn’t write those words above, or even understood the requirement of this assignment without literacy. Sometimes, I think my whole life is literacy and so are others. Therefore, the world is actually a connection of billions of literacy. We share our ideas, look for other’s opinions and make new stories based on what we know. They are all about literacy and keep the world running all the time. I think this is the main idea of my picture and my thought of literacy.

What is literacy?

In my point of view, literacy is more than just being able to read and write. It’s more about using the ability to live a better life. Take younger children as an example, the children who have trouble reading or writing often see themselves as inferiority. People always tell them they are stupid, and they are more likely to misbehave in school. As a consequence, they are willing to take more risks with drugs, alcohol, or crime. On the contrary, the children who have the ability to read can easily distinguish virtue and vice. They know the world’s principle, then they may use that to obtain their benefits in appropriate ways. Therefore, the literacy I think might be a tool for us to live a better life.

Assignment 2 Genre (Friends)

Friends

Do you still remember the Friends? There are six best friends who are struggling to survive in the real world. Maybe you don’t know. These six guys could become such popular not only in America, but also in the rest of the world. As for us, the English learners, Friends is one of the most efficient ways to study English and also a symbol of American culture. I was one of the Friends fans when I was in high school. I had seen all 10 seasons for that and even memorized some of the famous quotes.

As I said, there are six major characters in the show, and each of them has completely different background and personality. Rachel might be the most popular one of the six. She has the most beautiful appearance and a rich family, but she is a typical “material girl” and doesn’t even how to take out the trash. Opposite to Rachel’s spoiled, Ross is a fusty but studious guy who is an archaeologist. And, his sister, Monica, enjoys keeping everything well organized and always complains tiny little things with others. Then it comes Joey and Chandler, they are the funniest guys in the entire show. They always make jokes to each other and also make troubles in the same time. Last but not least, Phoebe is the most mysterious character among the six, and no one knows the meaning of her incredible wisdom and even where she comes from.

So to speak, those differences and conflicts have brought audiences a complicated and interested story which I think has successfully attracted people to watch the show and be willing to wait for the next part. Even if those characters have so many weaknesses and always fight, their friendship has never been broken. It’s all about understanding, forgiveness, trust and love. I think this is how their friendship can last.

Another thing I get from the show is that the differences between American culture and our culture. From Friends, people are laughing, dating, playing games and making jokes when they don’t have to work. It feels like the most important thing for them to play. This is quite different from our TV shows. You’ll find out every good guy in our show is absolutely perfect. They are honest and righteous, and never hang out with bad guys. They are trying to be the moral example of the society, and even if they do bad things, the punishment for them will show the audiences the right thing to do. Therefore, the main reason for making the TV shows in our culture is to educate people and teach us how to improve ourselves. Whereas, the purpose of the TV shows in American culture is to entertainment and relax. I think it is one of the biggest differences between the two cultures.

Furthermore, the topic about sex appears more frequently in American TV shows. It’s very common in the show that people are talking about sex and sharing their sexual experience with each other without being embarrassed. However, the thing is quite different in our TV shows. The characters are refused to talk about sex and some sex parts in the script have been removed by the direct in order to pass the verification.

Back to Friends, although, there are so many differences between cultures, we can still understand the true meaning of friends that the show is trying to convince us. When I finished watching it, I always find myself suddenly miss the six guys like they are my old friends. I feel like I should thank to them who have made the most successful TV show in my mind.

Assignment 2 Genre (Nuclear Power Plants)

Link to the text:

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080831/NEWS/808290239/1132/OPINION&title=Nuclear_power_can_t_live_up_to_proponents__hype

Nuclear Power Plants

The title of the article is “Nuclear Power Can't Live Up to Proponents' Hype.” It is written by Tom Clements. He says “building new reactors will face increased risks due to the size and complexity of reactor projects, length of construction time and uncertainty about final costs”.

Recently, the use of nuclear power to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world. Some people believe nuclear power plants are safe and inexpensive. However, other people are wondering whether the plant will cause nuclear pollution in the future. This is really a controversial topic nowadays.

Before I came to the United States, three nuclear power projects were declared by the government of my hometown. At that time, the government’s media began to give wide publicity to the benefits of building those nuclear power plants. They asserted that nuclear power is reliable and inexpensive energy, and it has the lowest risk if we monitor it carefully. This argument contradicts the idea of Clements in his article. Even if the operating cost is inexpensive as the government said during that time, the building cost is still a huge expense. Maybe our government ignored the future cost and only focused on the benefits that the plants will bring to us. Anyway, I believe our government has already considered all the factors about whether or not to build those “giant monsters,” because the facts have proved that many big projects that had been opposed by most of the people at the beginning, which turned out to be absolutely beneficial to the society, such as water projects, tour projects and free ways. Those significant works show that our government is very foresight and sagacity. As for this reason, I’ll support them to continuously benefit the society.

The necessity of a great quantity of water is also a big challenge that influences a nuclear power plant. A nuclear power plant requires a large amount of water during its operation. As for our hometown, the number of lakes and rivers is not as abundant as the other areas in China, and neither is the rainfall. No one can predict that the water capacity in our province will be sucked dry by those big power plants someday.

In contrast, trying to convince my grandparents is not as easy as convincing myself. They are really worried about the future radiation from those nuclear plants. I did my best to tell them that the process of obtaining electric power in those reactors is harmless and the possibility of nuclear accidents is also very low, but they still don’t believe me and keep arguing against the projects. Maybe, they have been much influenced by some major nuclear accidents in history or they just too old to change their mind. I hope they’ll understand that someday.

The “nuclear issue” is still a big challenge in modern society. Many researchers and scientists are doing their best to let people know the fact. Some people believe that, and some people contradict that. Anyway, every coin has two faces. Maybe, we still need to wait for the most accurate answer for this question in the future.

Assignment 2 Genre (Why Asian Guys Can't Get White Girls)

Why Asian Guys Can't Get White Girls

There has always been a question that why asian guys can’t get white girls among almost every universities in America. Many asian students are trying to figure this out, and one of the good answers for this question is in this video I post above. It is a very funny video made by some Chinese students who had a hard struggle to find the truly answer. They made several hypotheses at the beginning and composed the funny music and odd sound into it to make this video more humorous, then the real reason came out at the very end, which really impressed the audiences.

When I first thought about this question, the difference on the appearance is going to be the biggest problem related to this fact. The two Chinese guys in the video have discussed this difference. Because the white gays got longer hairs and nicer buns on their body, girls really like that! But one of their friends also had those appearances, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Therefore, the good appearances can’t be the reason for that. As for some of my white friends, they don’t have long hairs and nice buns, and some are very sloppy and annoying sometimes. But the truth is that some pretty nice girls always fall in love with them eventually. Accordingly, there must be another way to explain this unfair ending.

Another hypothesis they have made in the video is that the white gays always give girls an overwhelmed impression at the first time, but asian gays can not. When the Chinese gay’s white friend is trying to attract an asian girl, everything seems unforced and natural. He uses his eye contact and language, like magic, the girl runs to him and asks his number. On the contrary, the Chinese gay doesn’t get any favor from the girls. He shrinks his body like a shy little boy and covers his eyes by his hand. Apparently, he is afraid to interact with girls and afraid of the other people’s bad opinion about him. As a consequence, no one is interested about him and he gets the girl’s “angry juice” in the end. According to my experience, girls are more willing to talk with my white friends. Maybe it’s because they have more interested topic; they’d like to share their personal opinion; or they just have a different culture background. Anyway, those could be the reason why they don’t like to talk to us, but if we become the way they are, will the girl like us?

At the end of the video, an Indian gay tells the real answer for the question, which is confidence! That’s true! If we really become talkative and sensitive to girls and willing to share our interested thoughts and opinions with them, girls will never ignore us. But all of those positive behaviors must be with our confidence. Take me as an example. I’m often afraid of talking with white girls when first came to America. I knew I lacked of confidence and acted like the shy man in the video when I’m talking to white girls. After I realized that it isn’t good for my practice of language and my social contact, I began to change the way I’m interacting with people.

Another important reason that I would like to add to this video is that the culture differences. Sometimes, we don’t have a common topic in our conversion, which will lead to a very embarrassed situation. Maybe it’s because we are not living in the same culture background and the things we have met are completely different. Also, we may have different opinions about one topic. This is probably because we have quite different sense of value in our mind which is hard to be changed.

I really like this video. The answer it gives to the audiences is reasonable and convictive, and I also like the humors that the different race of people is acting it in the different ways. The most important thing I learned from this video is to be confident whenever in my life, but not how to get a white girl.

A Day in my Life

The day that is very memorable to me is the day I got into the flight to America, because I know after that day, my whole life was going to change.

When I entered the security check in the Shanghai Airport, I hadn’t say goodbye to my parents for a long time. After a short hug, I walked into the gate without looking back, because I know this is the saddest time for them. They knew that I would go to another unfamiliar country all by myself and they would not be able to take care of their only child in this family during that time. I was afraid to look back. I was afraid to see their tears. I was also afraid to bear that invisible sadness that came from my deep heart. So, I went straight to my boarding gate with nothing in my head.

During the 13 hours on the flight to Chicago, my mind began to be calm. I was thinking about my home and my parents already, but after a while, I realized those thoughts were useless. Since I had decided my life path which is to seek higher education in the US, everything I did before I go abroad was to prepare for today. Therefore, I should have 100% confidence for the days are coming to me, instead of home sick and depression.

After a series of struggles in my head, I fell asleep eventually. Until now, the moment I left my parents and went straight to the gate in that longest way in my life is still in my mind clearly. That day is my most memorable day in my life.

Patrolman

This picture was taken in the Downtown Crossing area on an extremely cold afternoon. The serious man who is standing on the street is a Boston Police officer on patrol. He looked very cold and zipped his firm coat to keep warm. From the bags under his eyes he looked exhausted, but he appeared to remain vigilant. According to the background of the picture, he was engaging several city teenagers in conversation, and making them laugh. This small area is a popular spot for Boston public school students after school, and has seen its share of gang violence, so the police department places officers in the area everyday after school.

Police officers are always playing a very important role in every corner in the world. They keep the peace through the enforcement of the law; protect our public and property; and investigate crimes. Try to imagine that, if there are no traffic cops in a traffic jam, or no one will catch the thief who just stole your handbag on the street, they just become a part of our life.

Sometimes, they are still doing their job when they are off their duty. After they take off their uniform, they never have a rest. To keep people safe has become their sacred duty or bounden duty. Therefore, we should show our best respect to them and appreciate all they have done to the society.

25 things about me

1. I love photography.
2. I really want go to Iceland.
3. I’d like to spend my whole summer break with my girlfriend.
4. I’m going to go to New York with my friends this spring break.
5. A boiled egg is required in my breakfast.
6. The shirt is my favorite clothes.
7. I like black and white.
8. My born day is a black friend.
9. My favorite movie is “The Day After Tomorrow.”
10. I’d like to watch movies in my leisure time.
11. Sometime, I don’t feel like to eat during my lunch.
12. My nails are always short.
13. Actually, there is no such a movie that is my favorite; because there’s always better movies are coming out.
14. I like all kinds of music, also, there is no such a person who is my favorite singer.
15. I like driving cars very much!
16. I like driving a car in a quite crowed street.
17. I also like swimming.
18. I always go to bed at 11:30.
19. I don’t have any icons in my computer’s desktop.
20. I always start doing my homework in the very last time.
21. I’d like to PS my photographic works.
22. I feel like being disturbed when I’m doing my homework while listen to the music.
23. It’s easy to forgive other people for me.
24. I never figure out how much money I have in my wallet or my bank account.
25. I don’t think I can write more than these.

Where Will Life Take You?

What is a journey? A man opens his arms facing to the endless edge of a lake. A woman thinks about her past in front of a blotchy window. A black man in a white suit walks on the desert. A journey is not a trip. It’s not a vacation. With tasteful and soft music, it brings us to the place where mist is around ancient architectures and constant mountains. Then it comes to the city, countryside, river, field and so on. People are walking, traveling and wondering in their life. To the end, the music ceases, where will life take you?

Where will life take you?

Even if this commercial looks dainty and pointless. It indeed gave me much inspiration at one point in my life. Before I came to America, I was wondering whether I should go to another country to seek the higher education. Therefore, I had to make a decision about which road of two I would take. Then this commercial showed. It made me have faith that whatever road I decided to travel would be excellent, I would make the journey what it was.

The journey is life itself.

A journey is not a trip or vacation. It’s a process which you discover yourself. It isn't just travelling from A to B, it is the learning experience, the emotions expression, and the knowledge that you learned during your journey. Everyone has their own journey. They would have to create and draw their individual path for the beautiful life.

Louis Vuitton designed their products. It’s more like an art or history. They are not only making their works, but also publicize their core values for people. This commercial was wonderfully filmed, and I really like the well composed background music.

BE YOURSELF

My slogan is "BE YOURSELF"

The reason why I choose this slogan is because I think this is the spirit I really need. Sometimes, I'm afraid talking to other people, esspecially some foreign guys. Also, I'll be quite nervous and diffident during some big exams and interviews. Therefore, I really need to get rid of those bid behaviours in order to achieve remarkable success in my study and work.

In my point of view, no matter where you are; what kind of person you are trying to be; what tough situation you are going through. you always want to be yourself; always focus on yorself; always remember being yourself.

In every cultures in the world, human rights always play a very important role. But in some countries, human rights can't be seen in some levels of the society. People are suffering under the cruel dominion over the government. Therefore, it's the time to be yourself, because only to be yourself, you may get the chance to fight your fate. If everyone is trying to be themselves and willing to contribute their power to the society, the world wil become better than ever before.

Peters’ Five Methods

Link to the text: http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080831/NEWS/808290239/1132/OPINION&title=Nuclear_power_can_t_live_up_to_proponents__hype

Peters’ five methods: I choose THE SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE.

The title of the article is “Nuclear Power Can't Live Up to Proponents' Hype.” It is written by Tom Clements. He says “building new reactors will face increased risks due to the size and complexity of reactor projects, length of construction time and uncertainty about final costs”.

Recently, the use of nuclear power to generate electricity continues to increase all over the world. Some people believe nuclear power plants are safe and inexpensive. However, other people are wondering whether the plant will cause nuclear pollution in the future. This is really a controversial topic nowadays.

Before I came to the United States, three nuclear power projects were declared by the government of my hometown. At that time, the government’s media began to give wide publicity to the benefits of building those nuclear power plants. They asserted that nuclear power is reliable and inexpensive energy, and it has the lowest risk if we monitor it carefully. This argument contradicts the idea of Clements in his article. Even if the operating cost is inexpensive as the government said during that time, the building cost is still a huge expense.

The necessity of a great quantity of water is also a big challenge that influences a nuclear power plant. A nuclear power plant requires a large amount of water during its operation. As for our hometown, the number of lakes and rivers is not as abundant as the other areas in China, and neither is the rainfall. No one can predict that the water capacity in the Shandong Province will be sucked dry by those big power plants someday.

It is a big challenge in modern society. Many researchers and scientists are doing their best to let people know the fact. Some people believe that, and some people contradict that. Maybe, we still need to wait for the most accurate answer for this question in the future.

Response to “Mother Tongue”

The reason why I selected this article to write a response is because the article is indeed “so easy to read,” just like the author’s mother said about her book. Also, the description of her mother’s experience is some sort of related to our present life or the future.

She says, because of her mother’s “broken” or “fractured” English, she always be ignored, disrespected or even discriminated by people when she is talking imperfect English to them. When I had come here for the first few months, my English sounded really bad and awkward. Sometimes, I couldn’t speak a complete sentence to some native people or I was so nervous to say something clearly. Lots of native people just can’t stand for it and pretend not to listen to me. They make me feel like being disrespected from them and eventually they make me not willing to talk.

By the way, as for us, if a foreign guy speaks awkward Chinese to us, we may also act like them. Is it because we all have a superiority feeling about our mother language or just because we don’t like foreign people who are speaking our language even if they are really good at it? Maybe the answer for this question will be solved by people when we all become generous and honest to each other.

a capacity inventory survey

Learning
Ability to use a variety of learning strategies
Flexible learning principles
Flexible learning procedures
Ability to develop learning styles
Ability to come up with new ideas depending on what you have learned
Ability to solve problems depending on what you have learned

Art
Ceramics
Graphic design
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture
History of art
Dance
Musical instrument
Compose music

Sports
Football
Soccer
Basketball
Bowling
Tennis
Golf
Swimming
Hiking
Driving
Boxing

Leadership
Basic overview of big pictures
Management skills
People skills

Computer
Ability to use a variety of software
Ability to use internet
Ability to learn new software
Ability to solve computer problems
Ability to design new software

Communication
Languages skills
Willing to talk
Sharing ideas
Working with others in a team

Finance
Always have financial plans for your own budget
Always know how much money you have
Only buy things when they are the cheapest
Willing to make money

Games
Console
Handheld
Arcade
Computer game

Pet

Living skills
Keeping safe
Keeping health
Cooking
Surviving
Needle work
Cleaning

My response to “Challenging Theories of Knowing”

The author of “Challenging Theories of Knowing” mainly talks about that language reflects and influences our thought. I strongly agree with his idea. In fact, I can feel more about this influence as an international student.

The difference between languages creates different traditions and principles. This difference appears every single aspect of people’s life. For instance, Chinese language is a tonal language that one word with different tones can represent very diverse meanings. Also, there are nearly 50,000 characters in Chinese, and they can be used into tons of complicated sentences. Therefore, it turns out that most Chinese people are intelligent and hard-working because we have to memorize those characters and use them right. On the contrary, English is not as complicated as Chinese, and sometimes one word can stand for many things. I think English is a more creative language than the other languages in the word. So, most people who speak English are imaginative and outgoing. They don’t have complicated principles but a free life.

Anyway, language is nearly the first thing we have learned since we were born. As we become older, our language competence is also becoming stronger. Consequently, does our personality or characteristic change over time? If the answer is yes, then we can say that language does reflect and influence our thought.

New Start

My name is Fan Ju from China. I'm majoring accounting in MSU.

This is my new blog and I'll use it to post my homeworks in WRA 1004 and WRA 0102.

Good luck to me!