Feedback January 19-23- Tyranny, Injustice and Self-determination

The word 'tyranny' means the abusive way of being ruled by one autocrat. Tyranny was shown in the book called Animal Farm by George Orwell when Farmer Jones ruled over the farm animals in his own abusive way that none of the animals liked. Therefore, the animals decided to overthrow the tyrant, Farmer Jones, as none of them wanted tyranny in the farm.
'Injustice' is used when something is not fair or does not seem right. In Animal Farm, the injustice was shown when Farmer Jones did not treat the animals fairly; he took all the things that animals produced and used for his own good, not for the animals. Also, he did not give the animals enough food for them to eat and used them to earn money for himself.
The definition for the word 'self-determination' is determining for themselves without any outside influences. It was shown in Animal Farm when the animals could decide what to do with the products they produce after overthrowing Farmer Jones. For example, when the animals decided to divide the food they harvested equally, it was self-determination.

The Young Boy who Wanted to be a Soldier

The Young Boy who Wanted to be a Soldier

War, war, war, war
That's what everybody thought about-
Defeating the enemies, bringing them to their knees,
Coming home to glory and reward,
Eyes beaming, blood warming,
That's what the boys looked upward to.
And then, there was only a boy.





































Excited, he joined, too.
His family proud and elated.
Shining boots, stunning uniform, and splendid thrill
Were his when he marched to the war.
With cheers and loud trumpets,
The boy marched like a full-grown man into the war.
Yet, he was only a boy.












Dark and dingy the trench was,
Blood dripped from the wounds as he lay,
Begging God for his return home.
Then the mustard gas held on to him, not letting him away,
Choking him slowly.
He was only a boy.

















War, war, war, war,
That's what killed the boy.
He lies all alone,
Cold like a rock,
In a graveyard with no marked stone
That no one in his family knows.
Now, he is a boy forever.











Image Sources:
http://www.battlefieldtours.org.uk/somme1.jpg
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dms/past/ww1/trenches/ww1b-013b2.jpg
http://www.rwilt.com/troops2.jpg
http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Warfare-Trench.jpg
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/images/contal/contchatmich.jpg

Feedback January 12-16 - Is the military in your future?

In Korea, my home country, joining the military is mandatory for men and optional for women. Men need to serve in military for 24-28 months, but the amount of time will be reduced to 18 months beginning in 2016. I think this is good because first of all, I'm a girl and I like the fact that I don't have to serve in military. Second of all, the country would be protected all the time. Last of all, men from Korea only have to spend about 2 years to protect their country.

Feedback January 5-9 - Great Powers Game

The picture on the left shows many people in different clothes are shaking hands, except a woman standing on the far left, crying alone. There are some kind of paper, representing agreements, passing between people. Also, some countries have more arms than other countries. I think this picture is about different countries trying to be the most powerful country of the world. I think the picture shows how different countries make treaties with one another, how some countries are the most powerful and how some poor countries are left out. According to my thoughts, the cartoonist's opinion of the issue is that the more alliances you have, the more powerful you are. The evidence of this is in the cartoon; Germany and Austro-Hungary seems to be more powerful than the other countries as they are in the middle of the picture and they more alliances than the other countries. The cartoonist could have drawn more countries and show how much money each countries have. I think that would show the cartoonist's opinion on this issue more clearly as you can then see who is the most powerful country of all. The political cartoon relates to the Great Powers Game as the Great Powers Game showed making alliances with other countries and how conflicts break the alliances so easily or make the alliances stronger and the political cartoon shows kind of the same thing about alliances and conflicts. Trying to get to the top of everyone else by making alliances with other countries just makes it hard to choose one side during conflicts.

Great Powers Game Debrief

1. Which country were you? How did it feel to build your empire? Which countries had the advantage at the start of the game? Why? How did you empire compare to other empires?

We were Italy, and it was fun to build my own empire. I think the countries which had income of 4 at the start of the game had the advantages because they had wider range of choice of things to buy and could buy more things than the countries with income of 2.

2. In the long run was it more important to buy armies, navies, industries or colonies? Why?

I think it was more important to buy colonies as there were limited amount of colonies and it means I have more power. Also, it's similar to industries; it increases the income, which we could use to buy more armies later on to attack other countries.

3. What did you do well? What would you have done differently?

I think we did well on increasing our income and protecting our country. Although I would have bought more colonies or industries at the beginning and increased the income faster as no countries wanted to attack us.

4. How successful were your alliances? Did they help or hurt you? Could they be trusted?

We were alliances with all countries, therefore, we couldn't really help either sides when there was a war. No country hurt us, but France helped us to increase our income by giving us their colonies before the war that they had lost against four other countries. I think the countries couldn't be trusted as I saw other countries breaking their alliances so easily with other countries.

5. What are three specific things you learned about conflict from this simulation?

First, I learned that even if you are alliances with someone, he/she still can't be trusted as he/she can break the alliance anytime they want to. Second, I learned that many things are needed to build a strong empire that can defend itself if anyone attacks it. Last, I learned that you always have to be prepared to fight against someone if they decalre a war against you as you don't know when they are going to attack you.

End of Quarter 2 Feedback

One of my goals for Quarter 2 was speaking more in discussions and classes but I can see that I didn't reach that goal as I didn't get good grade for oral communication. Another goal was to improve my use of vocabularies, and I think I met this goal but not completely. I did well on vocabulary quizzes and learned new words and used them on my Africa research paper. My last goal for Quarter 2 was to get a better grade on writing assignments. I think I reached the goal because I got A's on my writing assignments.
Firstly, one of my goals for Quarter 3 is to speak more in class. I'm trying to meet this goal for third time as I haven't met it till now and I'm not earning really good grades on my presentations and discussions. Secondly, another goal is to improve my reading skills such as the speed because I'm quite slow in reading that I'm always the last one to finish reading handouts. Lastly, my very last goal is to improve my vocabulary skills. I sometimes use some words in a wrong way and I usually use same boring words over and over again as I don't know any synonyms for those words.