Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Sam’s Story



This is from Sam’s Blog
http://samsam009.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-story-about-me.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009

True Story About Me


I read an article in magazine which talk about " how the live lose its’ value if there is no dream". The article explained how people dreams' are relate to their background and surrounding or are affected by someone. So, i know I’m one of these people who dreams were affected by their background and surrounding.


When i was a kid, I dream to be an artist. I have been a great interesting in drawings and painting. and my father has believed, i have a talent, So he always encourage me and provided any tools which progress my hobby. I liked that and i started to contribute in art classes and competitions. I Can't image my life without that encourage is given by my father who worked as a civil engineer in the construction company.

In summer holiday, I went with my father to his work and there i found some architects had drown in sheets and with my Curiosity i looked at them and indivadually i began to simulate it. at that time i changed my dream to be an architect. I thought i would be like my father, but later i know that is a different field. After that, i began to interest in design of historical buildings and sketches were made by architects, my new hoppy continued Till i went to school of architecture for to be what i dream. I was exciting trough my study. But when i graduated from school, my dream grow up to search for my own style and Uniquely in field. So i came to USA for fellow that image. and even my way is hard, I ll' keep on.

I had not any idea or understands of these strange changes in my dreams until read that article in magazine. And I know how surrounding conditions are affected in life and dreams. Another thing i learnt from my experiment is some moments can play major role in change of our dreams.




CONTENT
I think that you had the stuff in your essay that you needed. Take a look at the highly edited essay below. If most of that essay accurately describes you (or, ideally, if most of it says what you wanted to say), then I was able to pull it out of what you wrote. And if I was able to pull it out of what you wrote, the “raw material” must have been there.

COHESIVENESS
Your essay has the “skeleton”: an introduction with a thesis statement, a body that develops the thesis statement, and a conclusion. However, you need more practice “fleshing the out the ‘skeleton.’”

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

How I Became Who I Am
How I Became Me

I read an article in a magazine that talked about how life loses its value if there is no dream. The article explained how people’s dreams are shaped by the environment they grew up in. I know that my dad and a trip to his job shaped mine.

When I was a kid, I liked drawing and painting, and my father encouraged me. I took lessons, and he provided all the supplies that I needed. I can't imagine what my life would be like now if Dad hadn’t stood beside me.

My father was a civil engineer at a construction company, and one summer vacation, he took me to work. I found some work that architects had drawn, and I was fascinated by it. I looked at each one. I began copying them. That’s when I first thought about being an architect. After that, I started studying the design of historical buildings and sketches by famous architects. I dreamed of studying architecture in college, and that came true in _____ when I entered ________________________ . And since I graduated in _____ , my dream has grown: I want to find my own unique style, so I came to the USA to follow that dream. And even if things get hard, I won’t give up.

Of course I can never know what my life would be like now if I’d grown up in a different environment, and I know I could have made different choices, but I can see the fingerprints my environment left on my life. I know how the people and events in my environment affected my life and my dreams. I see how my father, my art classes, my trip to my father’s job, and my college studies have all played a major role in my dreams.


Monday, January 26, 2009

Pirata’s Mother in Law, the Ninja?



Stills from Granny's Day Out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsdaBB1RQI)

From Pirata's blog:
http://pirata333.blogspot.com/2009/01/grannys-day-out.html

Friday, January 23, 2009
GRANNY'S DAY OUT
GRANNY'S DAY OUT, is a short action film of a kidnaping. It takes place at the same time that an old and sweet lady ( my mother in law), was out with her nurse at the park. She isn't like other old ladies, she is special, because she is a ninja.

The principal actor, is this sweet old lady, she is a heroine of the film. She saved a couple from the kidnapers, with her ability and her power. It was set in a luxury house in a fine neighborhood. There are many good action scenes.

The film was made in a very short time. The soundtrack is similar to James Bond music, it is not possible that you don't remember those films. The movie has killers, but not blood, it could have better special effects. I recommend this film, only if you don't have any thing to do.

3.21 minutes
Youtube
ninadiamante321



CONTENT
The content’s pretty good, but you should not have included the very last part (“… only if you don't have [anything] to do”) — see “COHESIVENESS.” You tell us how the film ends (That’s usually a no no.), but that’s probably OK because I don’t think that anyone who watches this film will think, “Oh, my God! Is she going to save them?!” Instead, I think that the average viewer is interested in “how” she’ll do it — not “if.”

COHESIVENESS
Most of this review “holds together” well. However, you shouldn’t have included the very last part (“… only if you don't have [anything] to do”) because it doesn’t fit in well with the rest of what you wrote: i.e., almost everything else is positive, so this negative comment seems out of place.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Please pay close attention to the punctuation — especially the commas (,). Also, look at the verb tenses; you usually want to use the same tense throughout the essay.

Granny's Day Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsdaBB1RQI

Granny's Day Out is a short action comedy about a couple that gets kidnapped and their rescue. The kidnapping takes place at the same time that a sweet old lady (my mother in law) is out with her nurse at the park. She isn't like other old ladies; she’s a ninja. The sweet old lady is a “super heroine.” She saves the couple from the kidnappers with her special abilities and her power.

It is set in a luxury house in a fine neighborhood, but it was made in a very short time. The soundtrack is similar to the music from a James Bond film. (You have to remember those films!) There are many good action scenes. It has killers, but there isn’t any blood. It could have better special effects, but it’s a low budget film. I recommend this movie if you enjoy silly comedies.

Mihoko’s Fridge



Two stills from ふりっじす Fridges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxhMtnc6t0


http://mihokopasadena102.blogspot.com/2009/01/fridges.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009
My review of Fridges
This is a short animation movie. In this movie, a refrigerator is personified. One night, a refrigerator is thrown away. But he believes that he still can work, and try to show it. But he realizes that the real society is harder than he thinks. The refrigerator represents the people who are dismissed from their company. At first, they try to find other job, but when they see it’s difficult, some of them try to kill themselves with despair. Even if they could find a new job and become happy, there appears other person who is dismissed. It seems continue eternally. Through this movie, we are confronted with the problem which is happening in this society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxhMtnc6t0

time 6:55
from You Tube

CONTENT
The content’s fine. I was worried that you told the reader so much that it would spoil the movie, but because you discussed the analogy instead of refrigerators (“The refrigerator represents the people who are dismissed from their company.”), I think that it works.

COHESIVENESS
The cohesiveness was quite good. However, some small grammatical and vocabulary errors meant that it didn’t flow as well as it could have.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

My Review of Fridges

“Fridges” is a short animated movie. In this movie, a refrigerator is personified. One night, a refrigerator is thrown away, but he believes that he still can work, and tries to show it. However, he soon realizes that society is harder than he thought. The refrigerator represents people who are dismissed from their job. At first, they try to find another job, but when they see it’s difficult, some of them try to kill themselves out of despair. Even if they could find a new job and become happy, another person might lose theirs. It seems to continue eternally. Through this movie, we are confronted with a problem which is happening in society.





I Believe You’ll Like This


A “Book Autopsy” by Brian Dettmer (SOURCE: http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/)

NPR (National Public Radio) has a neat little collection of “non-academic essays by various people. The essays all have the same topic (I believe), but each writer provides their own object/controlling idea. You can both read the essays and hear them read by the authors:
http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_Top25EssaysTW.php

Sunday, January 25, 2009

How to Improve Your English Skills


English Language poster by Michael Ciancio (SOURCE: http://inspirimint.com/)

A Post by Hello Everybody
http://linli-linli.blogspot.com/2009/01/studying-english-experience.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009
HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SKILLS
English as an international language is becoming more and more important in the world. When you are in forign country which English is not the native language because of trip or business, even though you can't speak local language, you can feel at home if you can speak English, so Many countries teach English as a second language. I have been studying English in the middle school in my country. I think that there are three necesery steps for us to improve my English: making up your fundmatal English skills including vocabulary, grammar and writing; correcting your pronunciation and paticipating the social foundmatal.

This first important step is to make up your foundmatal skill. Leaning English is alike building a house which includes base, body and roof. How many vocabulary you understand, how your base is storg, so abundant vocabulary is the key to success. Grammar is important as same as vocabulary because you can's express your opinion clearly if you are lack of your grammer skill.for example, "Rose liked cats" and "Rose likes cats" is the different meaning because of tense. The first sentense shows that Rose liked cats before, and the other sentense shows that Rose liked cats in the past. When you didn't see you friends for a long time, you reply business letters and you will plan to do a speech in pulic, writing skill is very useful to help you solve this problems.

Correcting your pronunciation is antother important for us to improve our English skills. When we study English, we always are influened by our mother language. To avoid the influence, we must be farway away from mother language tone. Let's study standard pronuntiation from stapes, TV and radios, just like a baby who how to learn speaking from your mother.

After you finish these steps, you should attend the social practice. Many people speak English just at a specialic time, on a giving occasion and with particular person. They perfer to speak their own country language with their famlily, their friends, and their workmates. These actions can't improve their English, otherwise these will become obstcal on their leaning English way.

All in all, There are no short cuts for us to improve your English skills.You must keep going on making up your fundmatal English skills, correcting your pronunciation and paticipating the social pratice. If you follow these steps, you will be succeed.
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CONTENT
It looks like you have most of what you need for a good essay.

Use the spell check: forign, fundmatal, paticipating, paticipating, foundmatal, foundmatal, storg, grammer, sentense, pulic, antother, influened, pronuntiation, specialic, perfer, famlily, obstcal, fundmatal, paticipating, pratice. (In both Word and a Blogspot blog, the misspelled words are underlined with a wavy red line.)

COHESIVENESS
Your overall organization looks quite good. You included a thesis statement in the introduction, a topic sentence in each paragraph in the body, and a restatement of the thesis statement in the conclusion. So it looks like you have a good understanding of some of the basics. However, the mistakes in grammar and vocabulary make some of it hard to follow.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

How to Improve Your English Skills

English is an international language, and it is becoming more and more important in the world. When you are in a country where English is not the native language, even though you can't speak the local language, you can often get by if you can speak English. Many countries teach English as a Foreign Language. I am from _______, and I have been studying English since middle school. I think that there are three necessary steps to improving your English: improving fundamental skills (including vocabulary, grammar and writing), correcting pronunciation, and speaking English (instead of your native language).

The first important step is working on the fundamentals. Learning English is like building a house, and vocabulary is the foundation. The more vocabulary you understand, the stronger your
foundation is, so an abundant vocabulary is the key to success. Grammar is also important because you can't express your opinion clearly without it. For example, "Rose liked cats" and "Rose likes cats" have different meanings because of tense. The first sentence shows that Rose liked cats before, and the other sentence shows that Rose likes cats now. [YOU NEED TO WRITE ANOTHER SENTENCE, OR SENTENCES, ABOUT THE VALUE OF WRITING.]

Pronunciation is also an important English skill. When you study English, you are always influenced by your mother language. To avoid the influence, you must spend some time away from it. You need to spend some time surrounded by English, like a baby who is learning how to speak. You can study Standard English pronunciation from tapes, TV, and radio.

In addition to these steps, you need to use it as often as you can. Many people only speak English when they have to. They prefer to speak their native language with their family, their friends, and their workmates. This doesn't improve their English, and it can become an obstacle to their learning English.

All in all, there are no short cuts to improving your English skills. You must keep working on your fundamental English skills, correcting your pronunciation, and using it to communicate with. If you follow these steps, you will be successful.



微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile




Two stills from the movie 微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile:
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

Wendy’s Movie Review: 微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile


Saturday, January 24, 2009
A fish with a smile
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

This is a animation movie. A man usually goes through an aquarium and he sees a fish that it always smiles at him whatever how is he. One day, the man decides to buy the smile fish and he likes it very much. Whenever the fish always keeps with him and smiles at him. At that evening, he chases his fish, dives water, swims in sea, and he enjoys it. Suddenly, he discover to be surround. The movie is great and it give us a good example. I hope you would like it.
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You chose a wonderful movie, and I really like your link — you just click on it and go there. I have copied the addresses from sites and pasted them in my blog, but I really wanted to do what you did. If I can’t figure out how to do it this weekend, please show me how to do it on Monday.

CONTENT
I think that most of your content is fine — however you have major grammar and vocabulary problems. You do not have a topic sentence, but I think that it might still work out to be OK. However, the following sentence needs to be clarified: “The movie is great and it give us a good example.” Why is the movie great? What do you mean by, “it give[s] us a good example”? Please see “COHESIVENESS” for more specific advice.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
I have corrected all of your grammar and vocabulary, but the following paragraph is not a good paragraph yet. However, if you fill in the blanks with grammatically correct sentences that do not spoil the movie by telling the reader too much, you will probably have a good paragraph.

A Fish with a Smile
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

“A Fish with a Smile” is an animated movie. A man usually goes to an aquarium, and he sees a fish that always smiles at him. One day, the man decides to buy the smiling fish because he likes it very much. He takes the fish with him as he goes about his nightly routine (e.g., eating, watching TV, and showering), and the fish always smiles at him. That evening, he has a dream about the fish, and he discovers what it’s like to be alone. The movie is great because __________________ , and it has a nice message: __________________. I hope you will like it.

COHESIVENESS
The grammar and vocabulary problems made this quite difficult to follow. You don’t have an introduction, and you do not have a topic sentence:

  • http://www.eslbee.com/topic_sentences.htm
  • http://eslbee.com/topic_sentences2.htm


  • http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html

But that might be OK. It might work without an introduction or topic sentence because you start with a chronological narrative, and that’s easy to follow. I tried to structure my revision of your paragraph so that one event clearly follows another event, until it just hints at what comes last — generally speaking, do not tell the reader how the movie ends. If you fill in the blanks above with stuff that is relevant, easy for the reader to understand, and does not spoil the movie by telling the reader how the movie ends, you will probably be OK.

Homework:
  1. Fill in the blanks with something that is relevant, easy to understand, and does not spoil the movie for your audience.
  2. Choose another movie, and write another review. This time, I want you to have a clear introduction that has a topic sentence, a body that is easy for the reader to follow, and a definite conclusion. Do not tell the reader too much about the movie because that will spoil it for them. (See the sites included in “COHESIVENESS” for an explanation of a topic sentence.)
  3. After you finish your movie review, save a copy. Then read it and make corrections. Reread it and make corrections. Reread it again and make corrections. Reread it and make corrections until you think that you have corrected everything.
  4. Finally, I want you to post two versions of your paragraph on your blog: 1.) The First Draft; 2.) The Final Draft.