Sunday, 21 November 2010
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Answering Questions (nov.2nd)
1. Companies spends billions of dollars on advertisments each year, and they usually have big impacts on people's choices about buying products. It influences consumption because advertisments attract people into buying the products of whatever the advertisments are about. It also usually increases the number of customers buying the products, which means more natural resources are also being used.
2. Personally, I don't think that consumers all over the world are well-informed about the sustainability of our consumption habits because most people just spend without thinking about how it was made, where it came from, how much resources did it take to make that product, etc. Like the rich people, they usually think about spending a minimal ammount of money for the things that they need to survive on, then they go on and spend on the luxuries and whatever that they want without knowing if it's made from who, or what. Because of that, consumers need to be better informed about these sustainability issues so that they can think through everything before purchasing products. They aren't well-informed about whether the product is good or bad, so they just spend their money on it. They can do this by advertising about sustainability so that they can think more about the origin of the products, like both the good and bad sides. By doing this, they can purchase what they really need, instead of launching into the big stuff like a trip to Hawaii, which they don't really need.
3. I think these advertisment techniques influence the way that either me or my friends' choices because in our lives, we see a lot of advertisments, at least about 40 or 50 advertisments per day. That effects our choices because for example, I see an advertisment about this phone and I was about to go out and buy it, but on the way to the shop, I see another interesting and appealing advertisment about another phone. I would change my mind about buying the first phone right away, because of the advertisment. The more attractive the advertisment is, especially with celebrities or people with the same age group, the more the advertisment will effect the choices that we make in order to consume products in our lives.
2. Personally, I don't think that consumers all over the world are well-informed about the sustainability of our consumption habits because most people just spend without thinking about how it was made, where it came from, how much resources did it take to make that product, etc. Like the rich people, they usually think about spending a minimal ammount of money for the things that they need to survive on, then they go on and spend on the luxuries and whatever that they want without knowing if it's made from who, or what. Because of that, consumers need to be better informed about these sustainability issues so that they can think through everything before purchasing products. They aren't well-informed about whether the product is good or bad, so they just spend their money on it. They can do this by advertising about sustainability so that they can think more about the origin of the products, like both the good and bad sides. By doing this, they can purchase what they really need, instead of launching into the big stuff like a trip to Hawaii, which they don't really need.
3. I think these advertisment techniques influence the way that either me or my friends' choices because in our lives, we see a lot of advertisments, at least about 40 or 50 advertisments per day. That effects our choices because for example, I see an advertisment about this phone and I was about to go out and buy it, but on the way to the shop, I see another interesting and appealing advertisment about another phone. I would change my mind about buying the first phone right away, because of the advertisment. The more attractive the advertisment is, especially with celebrities or people with the same age group, the more the advertisment will effect the choices that we make in order to consume products in our lives.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Examples for "Sustainable Development"
- Vitoria - Gasteiz in Spain: major transport routes, more residents, help of the green belts (open land; green lands) to help humans and wildlife.
- Eco-industrial park in Kalunborg, Denmark: create less waste, improve efficiency by sharing resources (co-operately manage the use of resources).
- America, Interface Inc. : major carpet tile produces use more recycled stuff to reduce water, waste and energy.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
The West Coast
Antonia Nguyen
Period 2
October 6th, 2010
The West Coast
Drake Cowell, a bright and responsible 19-year-old young adult was accepted into Stanford, one of the biggest schools in the world. Drake was a boy who lived in a small town of a state named Tennessee. His family was Jewish, middle class type; they could only afford to send their three children to public schools, where there were a lot of bullying that went out of controlled. With Drake, the eldest son, he figured that the only way he was going to survive throughout middle school and high school was that to study and be the best he could be. Therefore, after a few years of hard work and dedication, Stanford recognized him as an excellent student. Drake accepted Stanford and Stanford accepted him, with all the beautiful climates and great opportunities, Drake could not just say no. Before he left, he actually hesitated about Stanford’s offer because he wondered if studying abroad would be better than to stay within the country’s walls. After days of straining himself with this tough decision, he finally decided that since America was the easiest for him to interact with other people and to work there. He then sent his final decision to Stanford.
Before he left for Stanford, he wrote a letter to his religious grandmother in Germany. In his thoughtful letter, he wrote that he was going to Brown because he liked it there, but Stanford had so many more things to offer for him that he changed his mind right away after he was accepted into the university. Stanford was located a beautiful state, California. With all the beautifully humid weather and all the great courses with doors of opportunities opened, he could not resist. He was also sucked into the writing of how he was going to study hard to try not being as miserable as when he was little. He was also going to try to spend more time with his father’s side of the family in the outskirts of San Palo, and the state of California and Stanford University was going to have to accept another genius to their state. He had determined to make his Tennessee state to be proud of him when he graduated and make the state even more famous than before. Drake was afraid of all the problems he might have faced there, so he jotted them down for his dear grandmother to understand. Since he was Jewish, there might also be persecution between him and other students. Ever since he was little, some of his friends teased him about being an outsider in the classroom, or being Jewish. Now, he was confident enough to stand straight up for himself to say that he was proud to be Jewish, not embarrassed. Security threats were also a problem because Stanford University and California were accepting too many people. With many people, stealing things and other performances of breaking the laws definitely happened. Also, Tennessee was losing an intelligent person and the country was not going to develop as fast as California, since all of the people with great intelligence will move to these big states. However, as a responsible young adult, he promised himself to never forget where he came from and closed the letter that he was writing with lots of thoughts and love.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
A Message from Mother Nature?
1. The main point of this article was all the things that's been happening to countries like Russia and Pakistan is an example of climate change or global warming.
2. Perception - understanding or appreciation of something
When I went to a book camp, I got a perception of how the kids and their talents were.
Monsoon - Seasonal wind blowing from southwest in the summer and northeast in the winter.
The monsoon rain destroyed many people in Pakistan during the summer.
Torrential - Stream of water falling violently
The rain on Sunday was torrential so the people had to find a shelter until the rain stopped
Dispute - to argue, debate or discuss about.
During the questions we had to answer in class, some of us dispute a lot of good ideas for the entire class to talk.
3. Weather is something that happens over a short period of time, like rain. Climate is a long term period, like Vietnam has a wet and hot climate. So Vietnam's always hot and wet.
4. The torrential monsoon rain in Pakistan
Heat wave in Russia, which destroyed a lot of wheat and sparked wildfires that killed dozens.
5. I've had many experiences with extreme weather, but the time when I was in America was probably the worst. It was the day before we left for Vietnam. We were all packed up and tried to get some sleep for the long flight but a huge storm hit. The winds were blowing so hard that I could almost hear sounds. Not long after when the lights went out and everything turned black. My brother and I were so scared, so we decided to go to eat Pho once the weather got better. We actually did our crazy plan and I didn't mind the howling storm again.
6. Perception - understand or appreciation of something.
7. My perception of global climate change is that the earth will be even hotter in about a century. Because people kept burning fossil fuels, more hurricanes and other disasters will form, which is an example of global climate change. My perception about it is that people should start caring more if they want their decendants to live a normal life on earth, not in space or something.
2. Perception - understanding or appreciation of something
When I went to a book camp, I got a perception of how the kids and their talents were.
Monsoon - Seasonal wind blowing from southwest in the summer and northeast in the winter.
The monsoon rain destroyed many people in Pakistan during the summer.
Torrential - Stream of water falling violently
The rain on Sunday was torrential so the people had to find a shelter until the rain stopped
Dispute - to argue, debate or discuss about.
During the questions we had to answer in class, some of us dispute a lot of good ideas for the entire class to talk.
3. Weather is something that happens over a short period of time, like rain. Climate is a long term period, like Vietnam has a wet and hot climate. So Vietnam's always hot and wet.
4. The torrential monsoon rain in Pakistan
Heat wave in Russia, which destroyed a lot of wheat and sparked wildfires that killed dozens.
5. I've had many experiences with extreme weather, but the time when I was in America was probably the worst. It was the day before we left for Vietnam. We were all packed up and tried to get some sleep for the long flight but a huge storm hit. The winds were blowing so hard that I could almost hear sounds. Not long after when the lights went out and everything turned black. My brother and I were so scared, so we decided to go to eat Pho once the weather got better. We actually did our crazy plan and I didn't mind the howling storm again.
6. Perception - understand or appreciation of something.
7. My perception of global climate change is that the earth will be even hotter in about a century. Because people kept burning fossil fuels, more hurricanes and other disasters will form, which is an example of global climate change. My perception about it is that people should start caring more if they want their decendants to live a normal life on earth, not in space or something.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
My Narrative Story
For my country, I've named it Lolly Kingdom. Lolly Kingdom's one of the places that any kid could ask for because there, everybody survives on candy. Everywhere in the country, people sells any type of candy that you know, even more. Here's one type of candy that lots of people love, Pina Colada style. Yeah, that's right, if you love Pina Colada flavor, then you'd love to visit Pina Colada Town (the capital). The town's skyscrapers and houses are mainly made from big-metal like candy wrappers. They also built highways like Coconut Highway or Cherry Blvd, which all lead to the capital. The Pina Colada Town has its own traditions, which is give any candy that has the flavor of Pina Colada on a holiday or spacial occassion. The capital's built near the Treats River. The citizens there also survive on other sweets, too, and its all because of Treats River.
There are different regions in the kingdom name Lolly. There are three main regions: mountains, rivers/lakes/streams, cities. The water (rivers/lakes/streams) region people are usually very friendly. They walk around and say hi to each other a lot. Sometimes just to show their friendliness, they hug, shake hands or talk. The mountainous region people are very different. They don't even notice each other, they just walk around and pretend like other people doesn't really exist. They do that because in the mountains, it's a little bit harder to make a living. So they're really busy, since they're busy, they just ignore each other in a rushing kind of way. The cities region people are a little bit both of water and moutains. There are a lot of people in the cities region, so they rarely say hi to each other. It's kind of like how we are in a lot of countries. In the Lolly Kingdom, there's also another type of people who lives in the Gummy Islands. They're not exactly in another region but their personalities is very different from the people who lives inside Chokomania and Donutsville. These people are violent and they kick every tourist out of their "land". This is because they had a war between the Australians who were sided with some natives. The Gummy Islanders uprised and feared that the Australians will take over, but they didn't. Until now, they would never forget the biggest war that happened in Lolly Kingdom.
As you've know, the Australians came and they actually immigrated here after the big war. There were also Asians, who brought Buddhism with them and influenced the people there. After a few years, they made Buddhism their official religion and built pagodas all over the island.
There were a lot of environmental things around them, like Milk n' Cookies Stream, or the Marshmallow lake, or even the Treats River. They all built their villages near these resources of life ever since John, the biggest storm in history happened. These resources were farther up north, and the storm happened in the southern part so now, most people are living in the northern side. They all got along to the environment except for the one place that everybody talks about. It's called the Forest of Mints. If the people there eat the Mints, then they'll hallucinate and slowly die. Scientists and construction workers tried to get rid of the Forest of Mints, but so far, no one made a success.
The Lolly Kingdom has the highest point and the lowest point on earth, but it's not recorded in the "world book" yet. Hershey's Mountain is about 8,900 meters tall. A lot of people live there, but the chocolate on the Hershey's Mountain is uneatable, unless it gets too hot and the chocolate melts, then they can eat it. The lowest point is the Strawberry Sea. It's approximately 400 meters deep and the whole sea can fit about 400-500 planes in there. In 1998, the country got themselves a proud place just downwards about 90 degrees north of Australia. The location is very good and the people there's living happily ever after.
There are different regions in the kingdom name Lolly. There are three main regions: mountains, rivers/lakes/streams, cities. The water (rivers/lakes/streams) region people are usually very friendly. They walk around and say hi to each other a lot. Sometimes just to show their friendliness, they hug, shake hands or talk. The mountainous region people are very different. They don't even notice each other, they just walk around and pretend like other people doesn't really exist. They do that because in the mountains, it's a little bit harder to make a living. So they're really busy, since they're busy, they just ignore each other in a rushing kind of way. The cities region people are a little bit both of water and moutains. There are a lot of people in the cities region, so they rarely say hi to each other. It's kind of like how we are in a lot of countries. In the Lolly Kingdom, there's also another type of people who lives in the Gummy Islands. They're not exactly in another region but their personalities is very different from the people who lives inside Chokomania and Donutsville. These people are violent and they kick every tourist out of their "land". This is because they had a war between the Australians who were sided with some natives. The Gummy Islanders uprised and feared that the Australians will take over, but they didn't. Until now, they would never forget the biggest war that happened in Lolly Kingdom.
As you've know, the Australians came and they actually immigrated here after the big war. There were also Asians, who brought Buddhism with them and influenced the people there. After a few years, they made Buddhism their official religion and built pagodas all over the island.
There were a lot of environmental things around them, like Milk n' Cookies Stream, or the Marshmallow lake, or even the Treats River. They all built their villages near these resources of life ever since John, the biggest storm in history happened. These resources were farther up north, and the storm happened in the southern part so now, most people are living in the northern side. They all got along to the environment except for the one place that everybody talks about. It's called the Forest of Mints. If the people there eat the Mints, then they'll hallucinate and slowly die. Scientists and construction workers tried to get rid of the Forest of Mints, but so far, no one made a success.
The Lolly Kingdom has the highest point and the lowest point on earth, but it's not recorded in the "world book" yet. Hershey's Mountain is about 8,900 meters tall. A lot of people live there, but the chocolate on the Hershey's Mountain is uneatable, unless it gets too hot and the chocolate melts, then they can eat it. The lowest point is the Strawberry Sea. It's approximately 400 meters deep and the whole sea can fit about 400-500 planes in there. In 1998, the country got themselves a proud place just downwards about 90 degrees north of Australia. The location is very good and the people there's living happily ever after.
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
My Study Guide (:
Here are some of the things that I want to include in my Social Studies/Geography study guide:
- Maps:
- Political: shows the border for each state/countries.
- Physical: shows the mountains and rivers and mountains.
- Thematic: shows the color of the climates for each area.
- The 5 themes: Location, place, human/environment, movement, region
- The 6 essential elements:
- Geography: The study of people and places
- Environment: The physical surrounding
- Spatial: Space between each other, in distance
- Location: An exact position due to longitude and latitude
- Place: A location which describes the human and physical characteristics
- Region: An area where human and physical characteristics are the same
- Active reader/Passive reader
- Geography jobs:
- Land surveyor: collect data on the ground, map land.
- Location analyst: find the best location for building
- Urban planner: work with cartographers for drawing maps
- Climatologist: research about the weather in the area.
- Culture
- Tools:
- Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
What I've learnt...
About myself: Before I had to present my project, I asked my mom about the cultures and family. When she told me a short story that I've never heard before, I was sort of shocked about it. It was about a sibling. I didn't know if that sibling was a boy or a girl because I've never met the person. It was still in my mother's stomach, but she wasn't ready for having another baby so she didn't want it. At last, I ended up with having only one little brother, but somehow in my entire life, I've always wanted another sibling. I didn't share this story with the class because it was sort of personal but now I feel confident enough to share it on the blog.
About others: I learnt many things about the projects that my classmates had presented. Firstly, I learnt that almost of of the class is half Chinese-Vietnamese and they still follow the Chinese traditions and holidays, even though they're living in another country. At home, they still decorate the house with chinese decorations and speak to each other with their mother language, Chinese. Secondly, I just know that Lucky's hair wasn't that curly when he was young and that how his father was so lucky in the Cambodian War. Thirdly, a classmate of mine was a descendant from a very famous king (I don't know much about him). She had this very ancient book about the past, like about the king and her family tree. She said she ended her family tree because she was a girl. It was sort of sad but her family and herself accepted her anyway, since she's family.
Lastly, I was surprised to hear that many people's parents or grandparents or even great great great grandparents were either in the Cambodian-Vietnamese war, the Civil War, the Chinese-Vietnamese War, the French-Vietnamese War, or even the American-Vietnamese war. It was really fascinating to hear all about those brave people who fought for freedom towards Vietnam because they love this country so much. It was just a really interesting thing to know about some of my classmates.
About others: I learnt many things about the projects that my classmates had presented. Firstly, I learnt that almost of of the class is half Chinese-Vietnamese and they still follow the Chinese traditions and holidays, even though they're living in another country. At home, they still decorate the house with chinese decorations and speak to each other with their mother language, Chinese. Secondly, I just know that Lucky's hair wasn't that curly when he was young and that how his father was so lucky in the Cambodian War. Thirdly, a classmate of mine was a descendant from a very famous king (I don't know much about him). She had this very ancient book about the past, like about the king and her family tree. She said she ended her family tree because she was a girl. It was sort of sad but her family and herself accepted her anyway, since she's family.
Lastly, I was surprised to hear that many people's parents or grandparents or even great great great grandparents were either in the Cambodian-Vietnamese war, the Civil War, the Chinese-Vietnamese War, the French-Vietnamese War, or even the American-Vietnamese war. It was really fascinating to hear all about those brave people who fought for freedom towards Vietnam because they love this country so much. It was just a really interesting thing to know about some of my classmates.
Thursday, 26 August 2010
About me
Hi, my name is Antonia, and I'm going to introdce myself. I'm thirteen years old, and I'm currently studying at American International School (AIS). Some of my favorite hobbies are playing sports and read lots of books. I also listen to music a lot, too, that's why whenever I come to school, I usually have my ipod on. I've lived in America for 2 years. I know that's not very long but I've grown my love for the state I live in, Texas. It's really awesome, but it's really just too hot in the summer. When winter comes, sometimes in one or two years (but now it's almost every year), it would snow, not a lot though because Texas is a super hot state. I've been at this school for four years now so I know almost every 8th graders (except for some new students). I'm afraid of ghosts and sometimes the darkness, since ghosts usually appear in the dark, right? So that's all I have to tell about myself. I hope you enjoy reading my blog! (:
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
The One Place
I've lived in Houston, Texas for 2 years and I'm going to describe that place. Houston is near Galveston, which is a beach. The sky's clear and beautiful most of the time. During summer, lots of people rush to Galveston for a warm dip in the beach. Sometimes, Houston gets lots of big thunderstorms since it's near the ocean, for example, hurricane Ike.
Houston doesn't have any mountains, it's a city place, but if you go north-ward, like in Dallas, then you'll find lots of farms and countryside. Houston has lots of cars at any hours, even at 3 in the morning, I could still hear noises outside in the streets. Houston's also very big, you could get lost real easily, and I know that from experience.
I've just describe to you the one place that I've been to. I love that place and I'm hoping after reading my blog, you might want to visit Houston, too!
Houston doesn't have any mountains, it's a city place, but if you go north-ward, like in Dallas, then you'll find lots of farms and countryside. Houston has lots of cars at any hours, even at 3 in the morning, I could still hear noises outside in the streets. Houston's also very big, you could get lost real easily, and I know that from experience.
I've just describe to you the one place that I've been to. I love that place and I'm hoping after reading my blog, you might want to visit Houston, too!
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