Week10 Text skill - An article about my country

‘Hwang Jin-YI’ brings to life famous Joseon entertainer.

This article is talking about a new movie. This movie title ‘Hwang Jin-Yi’ is quite familiar for Korean because it is a name of famous a female entertainer in the 16th century in Korea. In fact, historical facts about her life are not clear at best, but one thing for sure is that Hwan Jin-Yi was a great beauty in Gaeseong, which is in North Korea, and throughout the country. Everybody knew about her intelligence and artistic talent.

‘Hwang Jin-Yi’ is one of biggest movie projects in 2007 which costed approximately 10.7 billion Korea Won. It was also played by one of Korea’s most famous stars, like Song Hey-kyo and Yoo Ji-tea for its main characters.

In the film, Hwan Jin-Yi has a hard time during her childhood. She had a crush on a servant, and the death of her father. She was also forced to an arrange marriage to one of the high class families in Seoul without her decision. That is why she decided to become a courtesan and she became very popular in Gaeseong.

One reason why I chose this article is that because I am a big fan of Song Hye-kyo who plays Hwan Jin-Yi. She is really beautiful. Although Hwang Jin-Yi was a Joeson Dynasty courtesan, I believe she had her reasons to become a courtesan. Moreover, in the movie, the Han-bouk (Korean traditional dress) was fantastic. Magazine Vogue decided to use Song Hye-Kyo who played ‘Hwang Jin-Yi’ for its magazine cover model. This is the first time for the Vogue to have Asian for its cover model.

movie imformation is here

Week10 / Oral skill - Diploma Lecture 2

As people know different countries have different accents in English, as American English, British English.

Where does New Zealand style of English accent come from? It is conjectured that there are some reasons why New Zealand has some special accent is that the climate with dust or flies, nasal infections, false teeth and laziness, also New Zealand is a multicultural country.

There are some examples. First is vowels, Kiwis are saying with ‘pig’ to ‘pug’, second is diphthongs, they are saying to ‘milk’ to ‘mork’ and there are extra syllables, disappearing differences.

Sometimes, Kiwis are not able to understand someone’s speaking by speaking or make some joke with them about pronunciation but they are trying to understand each other.

Moreover, if you want to find some more information, then go to the web site www.listener.co.nz or www.nzspeechbd.com.

Week9 / Text skill - Diploma Trip

(From Cindy's picture - Thank you Cindy !)

I had a good time on the 1st of May.

Early in the morning I went to Titirangi Village with Uncle James (he took me there).

When we arrived, it was around 9:15. Nobody was there except Jan Patterson (EAP). James and I went to a coffee shop, called La Vinci. It was about 9:40 when my other classmates arrived. We had some breakfast and tea at the coffee shop, and started to go to a point of mountain in Titirangi which I forget the name but it might be Huia Point? The view was fantastic. We started to take some pictures with classmates.

After we arrived at Cornwallis Beach, we settled down under a shelter. I was quite surprised that Titirangi area had this beach. And I started to think about my mother, who likes to hike on the mountains and regional parks, and thought one day I’ll come back with my family and my friends to Cornwallis beach.

Unfortunately, I had to get to go to home early, it has been a really good time for me.

Week9 / Oral skill - Picture Comparison 2

There are two different pictures which are related with study methods in a class.

The first picture shows a class room which is might primary school or middle school students who is sitting separated as a group with a computer. The second picture show a class room with preschoolers are painting, with sitting on the floor disorderedly.

There are several numbers of advantages in study methods, Such as, the first picture’s students can pay attention and learn group activities in their study more easily. For example, sitting orderly with their group, it would help their ability of concentrations.

The second picture’s students are painting freely. It would be help their development of creativity, because it is believed that creativity comes from unrestrained.

Therefore, it is explained that both of the different study methods has advantages.

Week5 / Oral skill - Movie Reviews

A lot of things have been said about "Good Will Hunting" is a quite good movie. The fact that it was acted by Robin Williams and Matt Damon, also was written by Matt Damon gave strong effect to me. The movie lasts for 2 hours, and every minute of it I couldn’t even focus on anything beside the incredible world of Will Hunting.

Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, who is a brilliant young man who denies his unreal intellect. Will Hunting has had a very cruelty of childhood, which mentally hurt him. After that he could no longer let anyone close to him, but only his best friend who is played by Ben. One day a professor at one of the top colleges finds Will’s ability and helps him out of the trouble with the law. The professor introduce a therapist, Sean McGuire, who is Robin Williams to Will Hunting. Sean McGuire is the only one who can really stand up to Will’s intellect and the two develop a bond beyond friendship.

If you are looking for a typical Hollywood movie, then don’t bother spending two hours on this movie

I chose a good speech in this movie is “It is not your fault” from Sean McGuire. If you are wandering what is the speech meaning about, then go and watch it!

Week8 / Text skill - Domestic News Headlines

Here is the article

Since 2002 in New Zealand, 41% of truancy rates have grown, and there were 30,000 children wagging school every day last year. It is believed that the truancy problem is a national one from the breakdown of social values and a lack of adequate resources to do the job. Hence, Christchurch principals said schools need more resources. The government declared $2 million worth of extra investment in resourcing schools to deal with truancy over the next four years. They said that truancy is an issue of prime importance to the community, because children who are playing truant commit huge numbers of crimes, so although schools are trying their best, the more support they get the better. Also they need to think about this problem again and why there are so many problems with students being truant.

There are number of active and passive verb forms in the article nine passive verb forms and 69 active verb forms. Inside the article, there are several different kinds of forms. In the active forms, there are 38 cases of present simple, 25 cases of past simple, 2 cases of present perfect, 3 cases of present continuous, 1 future simple and 1 present prefect continuous. In the passive forms, there are 7 cases of present simple passives, 1 past simple passive and 1 present perfect simple passive.

Week8 / Oral skill - Domestic News Headlines

1. How many front page stories are mentioned for each newspaper: there are 6 stories. "the Herald"

: 2 stories, "Dominion Post" : 2 stories, "the Press" : 1 stories and "Otago Daily times" : 1 story.

2. Transcribe your chosen story

: Main story in the press is, the government in looking at a way to tackle truancy numbers. The story is, last year, an average of 30,000 thousands children, a day, skipped classes.

3. Identify Three Pronunciation Features

: There are many different pronunciations. There are three examples, one is schwa, second is consonant to vowel linking, last one is sounds disappear.
The first on “away to/∂ / tackle” is schwa, it is often found in grammar words like as prepositions and articles and also in many words with more than one syllable. It is never stressed.
The second one “/∂ /an average” is consonant to vowel linking, it is when one word ends with a consonant sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound there is a smooth like between the two.
The last one is “skipped the classes”, it is when the sound /t/ or /d/ occur between two consonant sounds, they will often disappear completely from the pronunciation.

Week7 / Text skill - My break

I went to Rotorua and Taupo with 5 of my friends around the 10th of April in 2007.

I have never forgotten Rotorua. On the first day, the weather was quite good.When we arrived at our accommodation in Rotorua, we started to unpack and then went straight out for skydiving, because all of my friends wanted to try skydiving. However, until I arrived at the skydiving center, I hesitated about whether I should skydive or not. I was really afraid of it, like you! (or not).

Unfortunately, all of my friends started pushing me to try it. They told me not to worry that it quite safe and it had to be really cool. I found out that it was really true. I wore a safety suit and a safety device which made me look like an astronaut. After that I got into a helicopter with a professional skydiver, because I had never used a parachute before and as you can see, I was a beginner. The professional skydiver used some equipment fasten to the back of my safety suit really closely. So soon, I was high in the sky and I could hear “one, two, three” First when I had just fallen out of the helicopter, it was quite scary, but after that, I am sure, you can not imagine how wonderful it was if you don’t have any experience in skydiving. Especially at that time was nearly sunset and there ware not too many clouds so I can say it was really gorgeous. I remember one thing which is at that time I could see that the earth is really round.

This is my holiday story. If you have any chance to try skydiving, do not hesitate, just try. It gives you really good memories.

Week4 / Text skill - Effects of globalisation on my life

If someone asks me what the effects of globalisation on my life are, I would say, everything in my New Zealand life. I believe that globalisation gives me many advantage.

Firstly, I have got lots of information about New Zealand from the internet. For example, it helped me to decide to come New Zealand from my country, gave me the advantage of studying in New Zealand and the opportunity to try the New Zealand lifestyle. What is more, globalisation makes me study English.

Nowadays, as everyone knows, people should study English, because we need it for communication with foreigners. It might be quite a strong advantage for someone who is working in other countries, or who wants to study more, like me.

On the other hand, globalisation gives me lots of tasks. I believe, globalisation is equal to more information. I need to connect with lots of information, as news, foreign friends etc, and then I need to understand and remember it that work makes me interested in life, but it also makes me tired or stressed, unnecessarily. A part from this problem though, there are lots of advantages, so I am happy to be affected by globalisation on my life.

Week7 / Oral skill - Picture Comparison 1

There are two pictures, on show onside of a supermarket, another picture shows a local market. Become, more and more people prefer to go supermarkets more than local markets.

The reason why people prefer to go to supermarket is supermarkets are more convenient. As you know, they are one of a big business, so they should think about good ways of marketing. As the result, inside of buildings are quite good surrounding. For example, enough space of passageway, similar kinds of commodities are put things together. However, local markets are different from supermarkets, for example, customers need to carry all of their stuff, not like supermarkets (and supermarket has carts). What is more, local markets are messier than supermarkets.

On the other hand, the local market is favourable. For example, they can do a bargain with owner, face to face. Sometimes the owner might give them free things, if customers buy lots of stuff or customers have good talking skills.

Therefore, it is explained that the supermarket can be better to some extent.

Week6 / Text skill - News report summary

An accident happened on, the 1st of May in 2007 near Rotorua. It was between two motorcycles and a car. Here is a link to an article about the accident caused by the driver and riders’ carelessness. Most of the content of the report is interviews with their families or friends.

There are lots of verb forms. Most of the verb forms are the past simple form, which explain what happened. There are two examples, one is present perfect and the other is past passive. The first one, “has really gone” is a present perfect form and it is used for an action that happened in the past but it still current in the speaker’s mind. The second one “was killed” is used when someone wants a style that is impersonal and objective.

Week5 / Text skill - Book review

"I LIKE MY PERSONALITY "

Author : Tea Ick yun

The main point of this book is "get to know your personality it is helpful for your life”. Everybody wants to be successful in their career. However, even when everyone is trying their best, only some people can be successful, because at first they are trying to copy another person who is already successful. When you understand your personality well, then you are able to know what the differences are between you and others, so that you can make your own strategy for a successful career (and we are all living in a unique time with our own individual personalities).

There are three kinds of personality, brain-centred type, hear-centred type and body-centred. The brain-centred type of person is the one who makes a clear plan before starting to do something. In their mind, when they know about something clearly, they can make a good decision. The heart-centred type of person is the one who thinks the best way is through relationships. They usually think that two minds are better than one, so when they get stuck in a problem, they ask a relative or friend and get advice or help. Finally, to a body, centred type of person, the most important thing is having a passionate mind and a challenge.

Thus, the book is talking about three different kinds of personality, but it cannot always be right because in the world, there are a huge number of people. I do not believe that everyone can be classified into only three kinds of people, but it does talk about general personality. Actually, this book was really helpful for me for understanding people’s differences when I had trouble with a friend. That is why I wrote about this book. (Maybe I am a heart -type person)

Week6 / Oral skill - lecture summary

What is a Union? The Union is a workers’ organization. It is a voluntary association and union to further employees’ mutual interests with respect to wages, working hours and working conditions.

Approximately 330,000 numbers of people have belonged to a union in New Zealand and 51.5% of those are women. The employees can select their union leader, or vote for their leader from candidates. If they are not happy with their boss, they can’t just go on a strike. The better way is gives a reasonable notice to their boss through Union.

Why do we need a Union? There are several reasons. First, for a fair pay second, for fair working conditions, as well as to have a voice for working people and their entitlement. The Union can provide equal opportunity for both men and women. Most of all, the Union can provides much stronger voice for all those who join the Union.

Week3 / Text skill - About Me

Hi, everybody. How are you ??
I am Emma, Korean name is Areum Yeo. It’s hard to pronounce, isn’t it?
That is why I make a new name.
Actually, I really love my Korean name because it’s from my mother :)

I have been here almost 1 year. To be exact, I came to New Zealand April 14th 2006.
Already 11 months have passed .. Time is flying by .. isn’t it ?

Now, I am living in my aunt’s house, where is in Waterwiew.

It is quite near, so I go to school on foot.
It is sometimes quite annoying me, reason is raining ..um .. whatever … -_-;

I studied at university in Korea.
My major was interior design but I want to study architecture
because I think interior design is part of architecture.
I love design .. I love building .. :)
I am planning to go to university in New Zealand. I hope I can ..

I hope to have a good time in this class :D
Have a good day. See you guys !!


ps : Emma like taking picture :)

Week2 / Text skill - nice to see u guys :)

• hello.. HOW ARE YOU ??

• I'm find thank you, and you ??

• it is a sentence which i learn in English at first :)

• but now i can speak LITTLE MORE than that time, haha-.

• What a funny life =_) ~3 ..

Week2 / Text skill - Test

How to create links in your posts using google maps, wikipedia and flickr.
Here is a link to Unitec in google maps
Here is a link in wikipedia to Unitec
Here is a photo of unitec from flickr

i don't know why we need to do this -_-; haha-