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.