Reflecting on the first 3 weeks

After 3 weeks learning in ESOL class, I develop my vocabulary by doing some activities as reading comprehensive box and on Read Theory website, learning how to discuss the main ideas throughout some texts of the slideshow and studying at Spelling City site.

This year I want to focus on my writing. I'm still afraid of making mistakes when I write in English. One of the differences between my language and English is the structure of sentences. Some sentences in Vietnamese is not in order as English sentences. Therefore, it's hard for me to think two languages and translate to each other at the same time.

Then, I want to improve my speaking which is one of my worries too. Pronunciation in speaking English is really important to communicate with everybody so I need to focus on it. Otherwise, I hope that I can express my thought easily. As I have conversation with everyone, I have something in my mind but I can't tell them directly. This makes me quiet and feel pressure when I attend the talk with my friends and other people.

Reading Response 1

Title of book : Kapa Haka Diary
Author : Shirley Cormack
Genre : Narrative

Date Read : 19 February 2020

This text is about a diary of a group called Kapa Haka. It talks about how the author and the members in the group practised for a school competition at the end of October. They got a successful competition. I chose to read this text because I want to know more about Maori culture, especially about the performing art. I also like how the members in Kapa Haka took care of each other and tried to get a great time of their performance.

One language feature I learned from the text is "Ke mau te wehi". A evidence that shows this is Someone called out, "Ke mau te wehi". When we heard that, we didn't want to stop. This means the audience wants to say "That's great" to their performance. It gave energy to the Kapa Haka members to do the show better. This interests me because after the members heard that, they didn't feel pressure even if they had a music competition. They were happy together because they knew they practised really hard to have a good performance.

I can relate to the main character's viewer when he cares about everyone and he wrote a book to talk about them . The character reminds me of another narrator, Malala on "I Am Malala" book. She describes her family and friends in details and express what she thinks about them.

What is my kaupapa ?

My Visual Arts course this year will be focused on painting. I enjoyed painting because I felt like I could do it easily and it would be a useful tool to help me express my ideas and my passion. My kaupapa for the year will be based on environmental protection. This is something that interests me as I see the news about coronavirus spreading out around the world and some people cutting trees, causes floods in some places, for their purposes. Also, people are throwing many plastic bags and bottles after using them. I want to show to everyone that protect the environment is really important. Not only because it's where you staying but also you can save people's lives from bad happens.

I have gone through the artists in my theme from the matrix on Ako and created my mood board here :

From here, I have decided on Jacob Yikes , Max Ernst , Colin McCahon as my artist models for 2.1. These artists will also help me get started with 2.2 which is going to be the start of my folio.

My kaupapa based on this theme is looking like this :

My English Learning Goals

This year I have some goals that I want to do before going to university :

First of all, I want to improve my speaking and writing skills which are important in the university. ( Such as writing essays, doing presentations and be confident to have a conversation with everyone. )

Secondly, I will read many books with different topics to develop my vocabulary for my writing.

Finally, I want to achieve 60 credits so that I can pass my level 2 NCEA. Also, I will try to get Excellence in Maths, Chemistry and Physics.

A News Item That Interests Me

Coronavirus is the type of virus that makes people have the symptoms as the flu. It originated in Wuhan, a city in China. It is affecting everyone around the world. There isn't any solution to avoid the virus yet. Coronavirus spreads very fast, mostly in low temperature.

The virus was happening at the same time I was travelling to Vietnam for a summer vacation. I'd heard that the people in the country found out 2 Chinese people had the condition. One of them was a boy working in Vietnam for a long time. Another was his father, who had come to the country to visit his son. They were tested to have the coronavirus. Therefore, they had to move to a hospital to treat it.

Coronavirus impacts everyone strongly. For example, in China, 361 people died and the people infected was up to 17,205. The virus was spreading out all over the world: France had 6 people obtained diseases, Thailand had 19 people, Vietnam had 8, the US with 11 people and so on other countries including UK, Sweden, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Singapore, Russia, The Philippines, Nepal,...etc. (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/countries-confirmed-cases-coronavirus-200125070959786.html )

The virus is terrible. We could decrease them by washing our hands every day with soap or warm water, avoiding close contact with some people infected. Wearing a face mask if necessary. Whether we have a cough or fever, we should see a doctor and use medicines properly.