This blog was begun being written at 23:56 12/13/2014. It should be counted as finishing in time.

This Friday was the last day to review for the test. In class, we reviewed the test we took two weeks ago. Here are what I corrected:

Bashar al-Assad is the General Secretary of the Ba'ath Party.

Israel came into existence in 1948.

Bundestag and Bundesrat are two impeachment systems in Germany, which can impeach leaders.

For 16 years this leader was an officer in the KGB, and has been accused of stealing a Super Bowl ring from the owner of the New England Patriots. He is Vladimir Putin.

Barack Obama is most likely to leave office first.

Today, we reviewed the test we took. And I corrected all the question I got wrong. I know these questions will be on the midterm exam, so I must review hard. And I don't want my human geo grade to be B. Here are I what I corrected.

  The religion in which central figure can be found in New Testament is Christianity. 

  Islam is founded in seventh century.

  Most people in Indianicia practice Islam, not Hinduism.

  NATO is a military-alliance including many countries around Atlantic Ocean.

  And, read the question carefully next time.

   

Today, we took the test about cultural geography. After I handed in the paper, I was confident that I can get above 90. But actually I got 85 only, which is so unsatisfactory. My score is coming down to B now. It;s so dangerous. I seriously need to rethink myself carefully and review hard for midterm. I don't have too much to say. I am so unhappy with this. I have to get A.

The additional information to Five major religions

Buddhism: Founder: Siddhartha Cautama

                   Denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist

                   Four Noble Truths: There is suffering

                                                   Attachment to desire is the oringin of suffering

                                                   There is cessation of suffering

                                                   The Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of suffering.

Judaism: 14 - 18 million (ninth)

               Call them: Jews

               Geo location: Israel

               Founder: Abraham

               Holy book: Talmud

                                  Torah( the first five books of the Old Testament)

               Beliefs: ethical monotheism- God is one, concerned with the actions of humankind.

               Ten commandment

               13 Principles of Faith

Five major religion:

  

Christianity: 2.2 billion (largest)

                    Geo location: Europe, Americas, southern Africa.

                    Denominations: Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Church, Protestants.

                    Founder: Jesus

                    Holy book: The Bible.

                    Beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine. He led virtuous life. Crucifixion. Resurrection.

                    Clergy: the Pope is head of the church, priest are local authorities.

Islan: 1.5 billion (second largest)

          Call them: Muslims

          Geo location: Indonesia, Middle East, north Africa.

          Denominations: Sunnis(75%-90%), Shiites(10%-20%)

          Founder: Muhammad

          Holy book: Qur'an

          Beliefs: monotheistic, Abrahamic

Hinduism: 1.1 billion (third largest)

                  Call them: Hindus

                  Geo location: India, Nepal

                  Holy book: the Vedas - eternal truths revealed to ancient sages; written in verse form.

                  Founder: no distinct founder: a series of intellectual or philosophical point of view.

Buddhism: 500 million to 1.5 billion

                   Call them: Buddhist

                   Geo location: Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan, 1.2 million in US.

                    

Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their religions holy site. They are constantly fighting over the land.

Spatial division: are how we divide the livable space found on the earth by establishing social, economic and political control. You can be a member of more than one spatial group. Spatial divisions can also cause conflicts or cooperation.

Example: 1.Countries.              
                 2. Economic alliances: European Union
                                                      Organization Petroleum Exporting Countries.
                 3. Political alliances: North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO)

Religion: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the major religions around world.

Religion: could be unifying force and dividing force. Hindus and Muslims fight in India and Pakistan. There are conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

We also talked about is it good or bad to have a belief. For me, I don't think we can just use good or bad to answer it. Religion for some people is like a low to tell them what is right and help them find themselves in the world. For me, I don't have any religion. People could also believe nothing just like me. My brain is controlling my body. We are making our own decisions. It's perfect that we believe something we want to believe. People like me are the gods of themselves.

Language: Arabic unites the Arab world. Spanish unites the Hispanic.
                  Brazil is the only South American nation which does not speak Spanish. It speaks Portuguese.
                  Canada is bilingual nation. French and English.
                  Switzerland - multiple languages - little conflict between the groups.
                  English is now world language which is used for most business transactions around the                       world.

Ethnic Heritage: In Yugoslavia, many ethnic groups were made into one country(Serbs, Croats,                                      Bosnians, Albanians). When strong leadership died out, different groups fought civil                            war and separate into countries.

                           In Rwanda and Barandi in Africa, two ethnic groups are dominant, the Tutsis and the                            Hutus. They have own power, persecute each other.

                           US and Switzerland have peacefully merged multiple ethnic groups.
                           Korea and Japan have primarily one ethnic group.
                           On the island of  Cyprus, the Greeks and the Turks try to gain control.

In Friday's class, we continued watching the movie that we watched last class. The plots are connected by the scenes on the gameshow parts, where Jamal answer the questions. From where we stopped, Jamal and Salim were sent to orphans camp to learn how to sing. But they found people there injured kids. They decided to run away with a little girl who they knew in the orphans camp. Two boys got on the train but the girl couldn't. They were carried to a big city where they learned how to live. They sole the stuffs, helped people get shoes repaired and volunteered to be tourist guide. A few years later, they decided to found the girl, Lakita. They asked everyone about her and they finally found her in a dancing room, but the guys in orphans in those years also came. Salim gunned him down and took his money. All above are what I watched in class. It's really a good movie. It makes people rethink the problems of the society which seems to be perfect.

Today, we watched a part of movie which shows us how Indian people live and how their culture is like. Their community is dirty. A huge group of people live in a narrow and untidy district. Police is corrupted and teachers are not respectful to students. People wash their clothes in polluted and toxic water. No one cleans up the latrine. Those all are the symbols of their culture. It doesn't mean those people are stupid or they are worse than us. Because cultures are different. Fortunately, my favorite Chinese TV drama program cited the plot in this movie, so I can understand what's going on without subtitle. The movie talked about a uneducated person who answered the questions which can not be answered by Doctor in a TV program. But he was seized because someone thought he was cheating. Actually, he can answer those questions because he had experienced.

Home - Westlife.

I couldn't find other songs that reflect people's desires to move away from someplace, or love where they live, because I don't listen to too many English. The only song I can get from my memory, which shows desire to move away from someplace, is Home.

This song is about how much he desires to go home from where he is now, because there are people who he misses and he is tired with endless traveling.

Today, we started a new chapter which is about culture. Cultural characteristics are parts of a groups everyday life. They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region. The examples of that would be language, religion and ethnic heritage. In the class, there are lots of kids whose grandparents are from other countries. But they don't speak their original language at all. Culturally, US is more diverse than China. In the beginning of class, we saw a statistic map of most famous soft drinks in different region of US. The middle of US prefer coke and east of US prefer soda. But there is a group of people in Florida prefer soda where most people prefer coke. The reason for that is people moving can make an effect on culture.

Arise! All those who refuse to be slaves! Let our flesh and blood forge our new Great Wall! The Chinese nation has arrived at its most perilous time. Every person is forced to expel his very last roar. Arise! Arise! Arise! One million hearts beating as one, Brave the enemy's fire, March on! Brave the enemy's fire, March on! March on! March on! On!

The name of China National anthem is March of the Volunteers. It was written by Nie Er during WWII who is a famous musician. The whole song symbolizes that all Chinese citizens will defend the honor of  the country and people.

Today, we took the test in the class. Yesterday, I studied for the test until 11 pm. Those questions were sort of hard and there are some I'm not sure, such as what is authoritarian junta. Alex, John and me went to see Mr. Schick for the answer. John and me got it right. There is another one question which I'm not sure still, because we had only one chance to ask one question. My essay was not that long but I included all the three points in which I think they are all good statement. I hope I can get pleasure grades.

Today, we focused on studying for the test tomorrow. The test is 100 points totally, which is very important for me. We reviewed in class but I thought that's not enough. I was going to study more at home. The test will be on the type of government each country has and their president or prime minister. I study very hard tonight and I hope I can do a good job on the test.

Today, we welcomed four more excellent presentations. Syria is a republic under an Authoritarian regime. Lack human right and free election. Bashar Al-Assad is the president. Farouk Al-Shara is the vice president. President appoint vice president and prime minister. President's term will ends in 2021. Someone may try to run for president to change his leadership, or to kill him.

Israel is a parliamentary democracy since 1948. Binyamin Netanyhu is the prime minister. Shimon Pere is the president. Their term is 7 years. One term is maximum. Knesset elected presidents.

Mexico is a federal government since 1823. Enrique Pena Nieto is the president. One term is maximum. One term is 6 years. He has 2 children with two women. Because he changed education system, all teachers are trying to shut down the government. Now, Mexico is facing to lots of problem like poverty, inefficient education.

Brazil is a federal government. One term is 4 years. Two times re-elected. Dilma Rouseff is the first female president. Leadership can be changed by impeachment and electing another president. People like her very much.

Canada: Prime Minister has much more power than others. No fixed term for prime minister. Parliament may revoke its confidence. Cabinet and caucus can also change leadership.

Today, I presented my PPT of China to class and we saw the presentation of Russia as well. Russia is a federal semi-presidential constitutional republic with fixed term for president. Vladimir Putin is the president. He is so powerful and popular among his people, so PPT maker didn't find any reasons that can throw him away. He even changed the constitution due to his huge power. China is a communist state which has only one government and dominated-party rule. Xi Jinping is the president, who is in his first term on second year. One term is 5 years. Li Keqiang is the prime minister who is in his first term on second year. For both president and prime minister, two terms are maximum. There is no impeachment in Chinese mainland because of the Socialism. But they have supervise system in the party. Hung Kong has Taiwan have impeachment system because they are capitalist governments.

Today, we had two more presentations which are perfect. These two presentations are focusing on Germany and Japan. Germany is a federal republic. During 1949-1990, Germany was divided into West Germany and East Germany. In 1990, Germany was reunified. Joachim Goack is the president and Angela Merkel is the chancellor. The second term is eligible. Japan is a hereditary monarchy. After 1890, it is a constitutional monarchy. Akihito is the emperor who has limited power and unlimited term. Abe is the prime minister who has strong power. His term is four years.

Today, we had two presentations which are very good. They are of France and UK. I took some notes about each one. France is a unitary state, semi-presidential system, constitution republic. Manuel Valls is the Prime Minister. There is no defined length for the term of Prime Minister in France.
United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch is legally restricted within the boundaries of a constitution. Elizabeth II had been in charge of UK for 63 years. David Cameron is the Prime Minister. No limited term for Prime Minister.

Today is our last day to work on our PPT on 12 presidents. Tomorrow, we will present our PPT to class. Today, my partner, Megan, was not in class, so I worked by myself the whole class. I revised the question that how long has China existed under communism. And Mr. Schick said we need to explain our information and to teach classes something about the government, rather than read. I hope we can do a good job tomorrow.

Today in the class, we reviewed the pop quiz in which I did very bad. Here are what I got. Angela Merkel is named the "Most Powerful Woman in the World" by Forbes Magazine. Syria is a republic under an authoritarian regime. Dilma Rousseff was a left-wing political activist, arrested and tortured for opposing the military dictatorship. Angela Merkel is a trained physicist, with PhD in quantum chemistry. Francois Hollande was raised Catholic but is now an atheist. Besides, Megan and I finished our PPT.

Today, we continued to make our power point of 12 presidents. In today's class, Megan and me were trying to solve the last question, which is some ways their people can effect a change on leadership. But because China's president, Xi Jinping, really did a good job since he became president. He is expected to be president for a long term. He is one of the most welcomed president in Chinese history. So Chinese people are so glad that he is our leader. He found the main problem of China, which is corruption of officers. And he began to be serious with this problem which badly influences social atmosphere. Even though there is only one year that he being president, he is still loved so much by people and makes Chinese economy go up and up.

Today, we worked in pairs to make a powerpoint about an analysis of one of twelve countries, which is our first assignment in this new quarter. My partner is Megan and our country we analysed is China. This power point should include "the type of government of the country" "how long they have existed under their present form of government" " how long they are expected to stay in power" and "some of the ways their people can effect a change in leadership." This will help us better understand the country. After we finish, we have to do a presentation. We can share the information about different countries through this presentation.

Today, without being told, we took a pop quiz, which is very surprised that I didn't study for it at all. The quiz included the facts which are what classmates shared in class few days ago. Because of my terrible listening, I didn't understood too much about what they were talking about. As a result, I just got 20 of 30. It's not a good news for me. If I can understand what they are talking about, my grades would be higher. I think this class is so hard for international students whose English are not so good.

Canada: Stephen Harper: He has a quite strong relationship with universities. When he was young, he studied in Richview Collegiate Institute. After graduating, he went to Calgary and get Master's degree in economics. He was a busy lecturer. Someday, his consultant was a professor in college.

      China: Xi Jinping: When he was a teenager, he worked as an agricultural labor.

      France: François Hollande: His mother was a social worker, so his political enlightenment was influenced more by his mother than any other persons.

      Germany: Joachim Gauck: He didn't join communist youth organization because his family was poor. So he chose to learn theology, then he became a protestant.

      India:Pranab Mukherjee: His father was a member in Indian Congress Party, and was imprisoned for 10 years. Many people think he is a rough-working man, so his relationship with his voters isn't very good.

      Japan: Shinzō Abe: Abe was a member of a prominent political family. His uncle Sato Eisaku held the same post from 1964-1972 as his grandfather Kishi Nobusuke who served as Japan's prime minister from 1957-1960.

      Israel: Reuven Rivlin: He spent most of his teen years living in the Philadelphia area, where hhis father, noted Jewish historian Benzion Netanyahu, worked as a professor.

      Mexico: Enrique Peña Nieto: HHe had two children from two different woman, while he married his first wife. Because he looks handsome, he is popular with his female voters.

      Russia: Vladimir Putin: He is all-around president of Russia. He is master of judo. He drove plane to put out fire. He killed a big whale with darts. He is the stunner among Russian people.

      Syria: Bashar al-Assad: Bashar al-Assad initially showed little interest in politics. He graduated from medical school and moving to London to study ophthalmology in his twenties.

      UK: David Cameron: when he was in private school, he was found drug and he admit. But he didn't sell drug, that's why he was not dismissed by school.

      Brazil: Dilma Rousseff: Rousseff 1967 met reporters Claudio Galeno Lini Alice, married the following year with him. Encouraged by her husband, Dilma joined the guerrillas.

Canada

Stephen Harper 

A parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy 

      

China

Xi Jinping

Communist state

                                    

France
François Hollande
Republic

Germany
Joachim Gauck
Federal republic

India
Pranab Mukherjee
Federal republic

Japan
Shinzō Abe
A parliamentary government with a constitutional monarchy

Israel
Reuven Rivlin
Parliamentary democracy

Mexico
Enrique Peña Nieto
Federal republic

Russia
Vladimir Putin
Federation

Syria
Bashar al-Assad
Republic under an authoritarian regime

The United Kingdom
David Cameron
Constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth realm

Brazil
Dilma Rousseff
Federal republic

Today, we focused on reviewing the test we took last Friday. I knew how to search how many percentages of people in the world speaking English and Spanish. For push and pull forces part, we should be more specific, like we should mention the name of a single country as an example instead of "some country". Today, Mr. Schick got angry because someone was talking while he was leading the review. We are so sorry about that. Thank you all the same for helping us reviewing the test. I'm sure I will keep working hard.

Today, the students who didn't take the test Friday made up in class this morning. I had a good sleep in class. I dreamed that I made some mistakes in that test. But at that time, Mr. Schick waked me up and show me my score. I got 98! I was so happy because I got more scores than last time. My hard working since last test ended up with a good result. I will keep working hard. Thank you, Mr. Schick.

This class, we took the test about unit 2. Everything went well but I forgot how to use CIA factbook to find how many percentages of people in world speaking English/Spanish, which is so disappointing. Think I need to spend more time on being more familiar with CIA factbook. I was eating the candy given by Mr. Schick as I was writing. The candy is sweet and comforts me. I will keep studying hard in future. Because I am never good enough.

Today, we continued to review and prepare for test on Friday. Total fertility rate: The average number of children born per woman in a country. Replacement rate: 2.1 children per woman for population to stay constant. We also reviewed how to read population pyramid. If the shape of the pyramid really looks like a pyramid, it means this country's population will grow fast and is hard to stop, just like many African countries. We will identify the population pyramid of different countries, so I have to study hard on it. And Mr. Schick told us we can only use CIA factbook for 10 minutes for first 12 question. I should be familiar with CIA factbook. Finally, I hope I will get a good grade on my test.

Today, we studied for the test on Friday, which is about population and migration. Here are what we reviewed today. Life expectancy: a average of number of years to be lived by a group of people who was born in particular area and particular year. Crude birth rate: number of births per 1000 people in a given country in a year. Crude death rate: number of births per 1000 people in a given country in a year. Developed country: a country that gas a highly developed economy and advanced technological infrastructure relative to other less industrialized nations. Developing country: a country with a lower living standard, underdeveloped industrial base, and low Human Development Index relative to other countries. Rate of natural increase:the difference between crude birth rate and crude death rate. Immigration: a number of people coming into the country. Emigration: a number of people leaving the country. Net migration rate: a number of people leaving or coming into a country per 1000 people in a year. Push force: the factors that make people leaving the country. Pull force: the factors that make people coming into the country.

Today, we focused on searching reasons that prove if America still is the greatest country in the world or not in CIA factsbook. We found that American total GDP is the 1st. China, which has 1.3 billion people, has only the third highest total GDP. How amazing is that. So we can see how strong the American economy is. Another fact, America has a great amount of oil production, which ranks the second greatest in the world. In spite of this, American still has the greatest amount of oil imports in the world. This information proves America is the country which uses the most oil. From this, we can know that America has great transportation system, great factory and great production system. Because all of these are relevant to oil using. American economy really depends on the connection with other country. That is the same point which most great countries have. Because a country is much smaller than world.

I think I have to improve my English listening to enhance the efficiency in class.

In the beginning of the class, we watched a video about why America is not the greatest country in the world any more. It's a impressive video, even if I didn't understand too much. For me, I still think America is the greatest country in the world. Because it has great education system, strong economy, free policy and strong military. Many American kids hold opposite opinions. Steven said American pay too much attention to issues of other countries. They should solve their own first.

What I came up with from the video is that when someone think he is the greatest, he is not the greatest any more. That thought will blur disadvantages of oneself, so he or she can not recognize what needs improving. Same as a country, we should always pay attention to our weakness and try to fix it, rather than being too proud of our achievement. When a country gets stronger and stronger, the country should be more careful and more clear with that they are not really strong and they still have lots of problems.

Today, we spent our time on researching countries in CIA world factbook. One of the interesting fact I found is that population pyramid of Qatar looks really strange. From 15-24 years, males are 2.75 times as many as females. From 25-54, males even are 4.8 times as many as females. That's because a lot of people especially males coming from all over the world to Qatar for business. Qatar is a country in Middle East which is rich for adequate oil resource. It caused that Qatar has second biggest net immigration rate which is 27.35. China has second highest total GDP in the world. Because China has the 1.3 billion people in the world, personal GDP is not relatively high.That's why China is still developing country with high total GDP. But we have to admit that China develop a lot these year. As Chinese, I'm very proud of my country.

Today, Mr. Schick recommended us a strong software which is Spotify. Spotify is a strong music software used to listen music, on which we can listen the music all over the world. Mr. Schick's idea is to let us share what we listened to, because sometimes music play a important role in purifying one's mind. I like listening to the music, so I really like this idea. Thanks Mr. Schick for Spotify.

Today, we learned population pyramid which can reveal a lot of information. If the population pyramid of a country really looks like a pyramid, that means the country has high-percent people who are young, just like lots of African countries. So population of those countries will grow fast and never decrease. Compare with those countries, Russia has lower-percent pre-reproduction people whose age is 0-14, higher-percent reproduction people and old age people. So the population pyramid of Russia looks more like a rectangular. That's the main difference between advanced country and developing country.

We can know birth rate, death rate and actual population of a country from pyramid. There are certain ways that can influence population pyramid, like industrialization, natural disaster and educated woman. Industrialization can provide people with good living condition, medical care and long expectancy. Educated woman results that woman will spend more energy on working instead of boring kids. That's why population pyramid of advanced country looks more like a rectangular.

Today, we focused on sharing interesting facts we found in CIA World Factbook. My classmates found a lot of interesting facts. Pitcairn Island is the country which has the fewest population in the world, which is 48. They don't have military. They were provided with protect by UK. Their main economic source is selling the stamps. Syria is the country which has the lowest net migration rate which is -113. That means 11.3% of total population are leaving. However, Lebanon has highest net migration rate which is 83. Actually, most the immigrants come from Syria. Mr. Schick also mentioned how bad the situation is in Africa. Top 10 countries which has most infants who can not survive longer than 1 year are African countries. Besides, lots of countries in Africa have problem on drinking. There are some countries in which most people don't have pure water to drink. They have to travel far away to get polluted water, which will cause so many deceases. That's why there are so many infants died before their first birthday. That's a very sad news. The interesting fact I found is that population of India is just 12 million fewer than China. But India has 19.89 birth rate which is 7 greater than China. And death rate for countries is almost same, which means India will soon become the first country that has greater population than China.

Today, we reviewed our test last Wednesday. My grade is not bad but I think I can do better. So I will study harder for higher grade. Today, we focused on two questions. One is about the death of Socrates, which told us he was so democratic that he refused to escape from Greek, instead he chose to die in Greek. The other question we focused on is about globalization. Cody said three international students in class are the symbols of globalization. He said back in 1940, there are no international students in America, but now they have lots of students who come from different countries bringing American culture back their countries. An example given by Mr. schick is that Mr.Miller took some students to Russian school as exchange students. So they can know about Russian culture and share it with people after they came back.

Today, I went to the freshman retreat with about 40 freshman, 5 junior leaders and Mr. Meyerl. The main purpose of the retreat is to meet a lot of new people and make friends. I did have fun today. I knew many new friends as along we played the group activities together. The most meaningful thing to me today is that at the end of the retreat, we all wrote a letter to ourselves in the future. One of the sentences I wrote is " Never think you are the best and never think you are not good enough to do something" I think that's the key to success for me. I really like today.

Today, we focused on measuring population.

Crude birth rate: number of births per 1000 of the population.

Crude death rate: number of deaths per 1000 of the population

Rate of natural increase (RNI)

• produced by subtracting the death rate from birth rate
• this gives us the annual natural growth rate- in percentage form-for a country or region.

An excess of persons entering the country is net immigration

An excess of persons leaving the country is net emigration

The difference between immigration and emigration during a year is net migration rate.

The net migration rate of US is 2.45 this year. The net migration of Mexico is -1.64 this year.

The most interesting fact I found in CIA is that Pitcairn Island has least population which is 48 people. That is even smaller than one Chinese class. People there make money by selling stamps.

Another interesting fact is that population of India is just 12 million fewer than China. But India has 19.89 birth rate which is 7 greater than China. And death rate for both countries is almost same, which means India will soon become the first country that has greater population than China.

Today, we talked about the population and settlement in the world. There are more than 7 billion people on the earth. That's too large to image what kind of sight is it when 7 billion people stay together. There are 73 million people born per year and 201,000 per day. That's really an amazing amount. I heard that the earth can stand 8 billion people at most. So these years, China contributed a lot for controlling the growth of population. In China, each family can only have one kid. And that makes the trend of growth in the world slow. Now, it will be cost 12 years to increase one billion people. We also talked about the life expectancy which means the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. Depend on the area, different people in different areas have different life expectancy. But what the same is that woman has longer life expectancy than man. The reason for that is man always do the dangerous jobs which can not be done by woman.

Today, I took my first human geo task and another four task for different four classes. I'm so tired. I think the task today is not hard, but it is not easy, either. The task in American is very different from Chinese task. The task in American always makes me feel that I'm not sure, especially in short answer questions. Sometimes I am not sure with what to write in short answer questions. I need to improve. I always pay much attention in class, but if my English is good enough to understand every words that Mr. Schick said, I will do better in task.

Today, we studied for the test tomorrow through the whole class. Mr. shick was not in class today, so Mr. Merule was the submit teacher, who is also my religion teacher. All the students studied quietly. I also created a quilet account which is a study tool to help us study. I created a new set and type the words in, which can help me better memorize the ancient Greek words. I reviewed the message to Gorcia, Did you know, globalization and ancient Greece words. I believed I will get a high grade tomorrow.

Last class, we focused on the discussion about globalization. Globalization is the connection of different parts of the world. Globalization results in the expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. As internet develops, the world becomes smaller and smaller. There are less and less differences in the world. McDonald is a good example. McDonald now exists all over the world, no matter in Asian, Europe or America. Besides this, that if we want to taste food from another country, we even don't have to leave the city, is the most common example. In fact, globalization happens throughout the history. In China, I learned that in early 2000 years ago, a Chinese whose name is Qian Zhang developed the silk road between China and Europe which contributed a lot for the economy of both. They communicated culture and exchanged goods they produced in their country. That's a good beginning of globalization even if their goal is not to share culture, is to make money. From that, I think globalization is a result of development of internet. Because internet make communications convenient. Globalization happens continuously and silently. Same as globalization, we also have Americanization, just like we can see McDonald everywhere. I think that is like subspecies of globalization. Import and export are also influenced by globalization. The products of a company can be sent to all over the world. So in the classroom, we can see the same products which were made in different countries.

Globalization is amazing!

First, celebrate that I finally get my new computer for which I have waited for 2 weeks.

Today is a very important day  for all Americans. Thirteen years ago a terrorist attack happened in New York, so many people died. That brought fear and chaotic to American people. I cherish those who died in that event. Then, we reviewed the video we watched yesterday. Again, it reminds me that the world we live in is changing rapidly. Many years ago, cell phones were so big that they are like brick. If someone mess up with you, you can use your big phone to crack his head. But the cell phones now almost can do anything except cracking head! Before i phone was created, who knows someday we will check email on the phone instead of computers. i watch is on coming now. I predict someday after i watch  becomes popular in the world, watch will replace cell phones. Maybe in the future, if you want to contact with your new friend, you will ask: hey, what's your watch number? As Internet develops rapidly, the world become smaller and smaller. Mr.shick predicted in ten years, our cell phone will become a chip which is planted in our body. We will just pass the message by brains. That thought is crazy! But the world is a crazy world, isn't it?

In the class today, we watched a short video about amazing facts in the world today. The main idea of the video is that the world is changing rapidly everyday. "China will soon become the biggest country which has the most English speaker". That's not really strange for me, as Chinese. English is international language and Chinese kids start learning English when they are in primary school. The main reason for that is China has the biggest population in the world,1400000000 people in China. "25% of Indian population has highest IQ which is greater than total population of US" is the same thing. Because both China and India are the oldest country in the world. China has more than 5000 years history. "There are 845 million monthly active user of Facebook." Yes, internet is dominating the world and guiding so many technologies going foreword. The technology like Facebook provide people with convenient talk and message exchanging. For me, I use QQ, which is the same technology as Facebook, to talk with my parents in China. Nowadays, internet becomes most important and necessary thing besides sunshine, water and oxygen. And we have to admit that if Facebook can be popular in China and India, the users can be 100 times of the user now.

In the class, we reviewed the words we talk about last class. And then, we focused on the discussion about “ The unexamined life is not worth living”.We all showed our own opinions about that.Mr.schick showed that this sentence meant as a human, we should do something for the world, not just work, go home over and over again.That's not different from pigs' life. As a human,we have responsibility to try our best  to make the world better.Do something crazy, do something unique, and make our life colorful.As for me, I think the life without challenge is not worth living. Challenge can make us know what is success and what is failure.It's a good way to recognize ourselves,to help us know who are we. No matter success or fail,because we have done,it's always worth.

Today,we reviewed the words about ancient Greek.I have already revised the blog post last night.Like agora,a place where people speak out their own opinions about the city and a place where people select.Arete, the act living up to one's potential,which means everyone can do what they are good at to their best.Polis,a word which literally means city in Greek.It can also mean citizenship and body of citizens.508 BC, it's a time when people leaded by Cleisthenes launched a revolution against their leader.Socrates,he was a classical Greek philosopher and also was the founder of Western philosophy,the teacher of Plato.The death of Socrates:He was sentenced to death because the government said he vitiated teenagers'thinking.Although he had a chance to get away from Greek,he still drank poison.Socratic method:The main idea of this method is to use a question to answer a question and finally raise a new question up.Finally,the word "idiot" means adults who are not involved in politics. Your class is interesting, although sometimes that's a little hard for me, I still love your class. Thank you.

agora: In ancient Greek, agora is a place where free-born male and land-owner gather together and for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council.

arete: The act of living up to one's potential.

polis: It is a word which literally means city in Greek. It can also mean citizenship and body of citizens. Now, this word is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states.
the year 508 BC: In this year, Greek politician Cleisthenes reform politically and socially.

Socrates: He was a classical Greek philosopher and also was the founder of Western philosophy, the teacher of Plato.

the death of socrates: He was sentenced to death as the crime by introducing a new god and eroding teenagers' thinking. Although he got a chance to get away from Greek, he still drank poison.

socratic method: The main idea of this method is to use a question to answer a question and finally raise a new question up.

what the ancient Greek meant if they called you an idiot: The word idiot comes from Greek.It's a word for a private person, an individual not involved in politics.

about "a message to Garcia"

Today, in the class, we talked about a message to Garcia, which praises the good responsibility and persistence of Rowen.During the Cuban War, American president needed to contact with Garcia who was a general of military. But then, he was in a secret rain forest, so no one knew where he was. President gave this important mission to Rowen. Rowen didn't complained or asked where was he. He just took the letter from president and went away. After three weeks, Rowen crossed the dangerous ground and ultimately passed the letter to Garcia. The result of the War is not important. The point is that we can see the bright spot of Rowen as strong sense of responsibility to his work. In the real life,we can see so many people who are lazy with his or her job. From the story, I learned that the people who are not serious to his work or don't be responsible can do nothing.

five ways to be a successful freshman

Five ways to be a successful freshman

1. To join a sport club. The most disadvantaged thing for freshman is no friends. Joining a club not only can train our body, but also can make friends who can help me when I get into trouble.

2. Try hard to learning English. For me, as a Chinese international student, English is very important  to me. That's the only way to talk with American. And speaking English well can make it easier to make friends.

3. Try hard to be familiar with the environment. We don't have too much homework in freshman year. So we have better chances to be familiar with the environment. As a result, we can save time between the classes when we are in 10 11 12 grade.

4. Alter my  mentality in class. Chinese students are always shy in class. I have to be active, which can help me learn better when I am 10 11 12 grade.

5. Finish my homework diligently. It can help me get credits as many as possible in freshmen year. Also, finishing homework diligently can help me better review the knowledge that the teacher teaches in class.

First day in JC

This is my first day in JohnCaroll school. Everything is so different from China that I’m so excited, nervous,and a little fear. I think I just need a little bit time to adept the totally new environment. As I walked into the campus, I was shocked by so many differences compared with Chinese high school. The campus is so big, there are so many fields and parking places in it. The most color is green, because of countless trees and grass. So I feel that JohnCaroll is more like a park rather than school. Compared with Chinese teachers, I like the teachers in Johncaroll much more. Because they like all the students no matter who is he or she. They can be patient when students don’t unterstand something. And when students have any trouble, teachers are happy with helping them. That’s the kind of teacher what I want.