My resolutions

It is finally a new year, 2011, and I have decided to make some resolutions and set some goals that I want to accomplish. Before this I had never made any resolutions or even knew what the word meant! I know some people say that people who make resolutions don't keep them, but this is going to be different! This is my first time and I'm not going to start off on the wrong foot.My first resolution is to work harder at my studies. I need to do this because right now my grades are quite bad. I know I can do better. I want to make my parents and teachers proud. By doing well in my studies, I will have more time to do other stuff, which brings me to my second resolution ...
My second resolution is to get really fit. I am getting flabby and I know it's bad for my health. The problem is that I love food and most of my free time is spent doing passive things like reading, watching TV or playing video games. I don't spend enough time doing healthy activities like sports. I like to play tennis and football but sometimes I find that there's no time for that since I have a lot of afternoon classes. I do play tennis once a week but I really should play more often. 
My third resolution is that I want to become more organized because I am not as you all call it, a "neat freak". Probably my messiness runs in the family. My dad is really messy! His study has piles and piles of books and newspapers and electronic equipment and other stuff. Walking into it is like going on an obstacle course. I am trying to change my destiny by being organized!
My first goal has been to learn more about Greek mythology. Ever since I started reading Percy Jackson and re-reading the Lord of the Rings, I have become fascinated with tales of men and gods. I think it is very interesting. 
My second goal is that I want to be better at football. I love watching and playing football. I support Manchester United and I love to see how well the players pass the ball and work together as a team. Right now I think I am not great at it because my fitness levels are not as good as some of my friends. I want to get chosen for the school football team and to achieve that I have to become much better. 
During the Christmas holidays last year, my family and I went to Penang for a week. We went with my my grandmother, my aunt (who came back from New York City for the holidays), my uncle and his kids. All of us stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. It was very exciting and fun because there was a great big swimming pool, water slides, and a kids' club where you could play video games, foosball or pool. I spent most of the day playing in the pool and on the water slides. For dinner, all of us kids had pizzas and burgers from room service. The adults preferred to go out for dinner. So it was really fun because we could do anything we wanted in the hotel suite while they were away. I think it's the best hotel in Penang. We returned to KL the day after Christmas so that part wasn't quite fun. But I guess I must have had too much fun during the holiday because I just slept all the way home. But it wasn't too bad because after the Penang holiday I had a few days to play with the Xbox 360 Kinect hands-free video game system which my sister and I got for Christmas. Here are some pictures of my holiday and the Kinect I got for Christmas:

Our Stylised X'mas tree.

My Kinect all set up and ready to go!

My" Ultimate" favourite game!!

The Hard Rock Hotel!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weee! Sliding down was awesome!!!

The Biggest smiles from my cousin Matt and my sis Allegra ; )

So I think I had a really great Christmas holiday. But now that the holidays are over, I am focused on achieving my resolutions and goals. 2011, here I come!

My zeitgeist

Here is my grade 6 Zeitgeist. Enjoy!

My learning preference

No, that's not a drawing of me! It shows my learning profile!


We recently did an experiment in class to see the different ways that students learn. Some prefer to learn by touching things while others may prefer to hear about things. After we did a self-assessment, we matched the results to a profile. My learning profile was. It says that I am Gestalt dominant and I prefer to learn by visualizing things.

I was shocked to see that my profile was spot on. It quite accurately describes what I am like in real life. For example I have problems communicating, remembering and listening to people when I am under stress. Sometimes even though I am able to see the whole picture, I have problems in finding the words or language to express the idea. For me, language is not an initial response.

The profile says I am a visual learner that needs to see the whole three dimensional perspective and emotional elements to learn. I learn best when I can understand the whole picture and why the subject is relevant or important to me. I usually only become interested and motivated when I can understand why I should be learning the subject. Unlike other people, I prefer not to follow step-by-step instructions. I tend to do something by imagining the end results and then intuitively doing what seems right. I think that this is because I am Gestalt dominant. I am more creative than logical. This shows in the way I study. I don't like to be glued to the chair the whole class. I'm always itching to move around. I would like to lie down, sit on the floor or of course walk around. I always like surprises. I like it when the teacher asks us students what we want to do and then vote on what we should do next. I have no doubt that I learn best when I have some input in deciding how or what to learn.

The stuff I need to work on is controlling my stress level because if I get stressed out I would have a hard time communicating, remembering and listening to people. When I am stressed, I feel clumsy and stuck. I find it even more difficult to find the words to express myself even if I know the answer. I also need to concentrate harder when I am studying because I get distracted really easily. The way to do that is to remove things that can become distractions.

The strategies that would help me in learning would be to try and concentrate and to follow the assignment step by step. I think that maybe I should stop talking to my friends when the teacher is teaching because I would not know what the teacher is teaching. I need to read a lot more when I have free time to improve my vocabulary because it is pretty weak right now. I need to concentrate harder and stop looking at people around me because I get distracted so easily. So I must become more focused and disciplined.

I would like my teachers to make studying interesting and exciting. I like it better than just learning in a routine way. In my previous school, teachers usually stood in front of the class and lectured the students. I found it hard to learn. Here at ISKL, the way subjects are taught is quite different and I find it much more interesting. I know my teachers here make a lot of effort to guide me and I appreciate it. But I hope they understand that maybe my weaknesses are due to the fact that I prefer to learn in a different way from other students. I hope they will sometimes ask me for my opinion on what to study or how to study. I would like my teachers to explain the importance or relevance of a subject to me. But now that I know my learning preferences, I will try to improve myself and take advantage of my own way of learning.

Collaborate literature circle (Thunder Cave)

         In humanities, we had a collaborative literature circle and my partner
was Harry Park. The book that we are reading for our literature circle
is "Thunder Cave" written by Roland Smith. I have blogged about this
book before.

1.The benefits of working with a classmate

Working with a classmate was a good experience. It is quite different
from class group discussions. Apart from sharing our ideas and
opinions with each other, we help each other choose passages to read
and how to write about the passages. We also work more closely
together and even edit each other's work. It makes doing a literature
circle assignment a lot easier.

Working with a classmate means I can concentrate better on my part of
the assignment. I have more time to think about my part of the
question because I only need to focus on one part while my partner
does the other part. Sharing an assignment lessens a lot of burden.

Having a partner also makes it possible for me to have a deeper
understanding of the passage I picked because I can spend more time
reading and understanding the passage. Having someone to discuss the
passage with makes it easier to get on with the work. Sometimes my
classmate has a different opinion on the passage and it gives me more
ideas to think about. For example it was interesting to see how Harry
did his assignment. We work very differently. Harry puts a lot of his
opinions into his writing. I usually refer a lot to the passage and
put a lot of quotations in my writing. In future I will put more of my
opinions in my writing.

Another benefit is that we check and edit each other's work before we
submit the work because if the classmate's work has grammatical errors
or if it doesn't make sense, it could affect my grades too.

So I think there are many benefits of working with a classmate.


2.Challenges / obstacles which you overcame (tried to overcome)

The challenges / obstacles I overcame was with the connection. I had
trouble thinking about a connection because the passage that I wrote
was where Jacob was learning how to camouflage himself to blend in
with the surroundings. Harry said that I should make it up, so I
thought to make one up like I camouflage myself to get out of survival
school because I hated it. Then when I was playing one of my games I
figured out that I could write about one of my games.

Another obstacle was that sometimes we couldn't agree on stuff like
the connection, questions and answers and sometimes he would change my
work and I would get upset about it. After working together for a
while, I came up with the idea of generating a few options and we
would choose one that we both agreed on. Even then we still sometimes
ended up with different opinions or ideas on how to write the answer.
I know that people sharing a lit circle don't always see things eye to
eye. But it is natural that we have our different opinions and the
important thing is to voice it out whether we agree with each other or
not is another issue. In the real world sometimes we may have to work
with people that have different communication skills. This can be hard sometimes but
somehow we have to work things out to accomplish our goals.


3.New understandings that you gained about the novel.

For the passage that Harry chose, at first I agreed with Harry's
opinion that the relationship between Supeet and Jacob was important
because Supeet taught Jacob how to survive in the savanna. Supeet was
like a teacher to Jacob and that was a very important point in the
passage. But when I read and re-read the passage that Harry had
chosen, I realized that what was more important was that Supeet had
saved Jacob from death and after that they formed a strong friendship.

Another new understanding I gained is that after meeting Supeet, Jacob
decides to not rush to find his father and instead take more time to
learn how to survive in the savanna from Supeet. As a Masai, Supeet
knows a lot about how to survive in the savanna like having a
different water purification method, how to borrow food from animals
and how to approach animals. Jacob asked Supeet to help him find his
father's camp. Why would Supeet agree to help Jacob, a stranger that
he had just met? I think it's because Supeet realized that he and
Jacob were alike and that they shared the same goals. At first their
relationship is like a teacher and student but later they become good
friends. I think that Jacob's friendship with Supeet gets stronger as
they keep traveling together and i think with this strong friendship,
they can accomplish anything together.

I enjoyed doing my assignment with a partner because having someone to
discuss things with makes the work easier and a lot more interesting.
Sharing a common burden of completing a task where we are graded
perhaps bonds us in a special way just like Jacob and Supeet. We are
dependent on each other to work towards a good grade. It's good to
know that ... I am not alone ...

Lit circle discussion for Thunder Cave

              Discussing the literature circle with my friends allowed me to understand the character Jacob and the story better. In our group dicussions, I am able to share my ideas and listen to my group's ideas too. Sharing ideas in a group gives me a better understanding of the story. The different opinions give me more and more ideas on how to write my literature circle. I think it's cool and interesting that different people can have different opinions and explanations about the same passage. I guess it's because we are from different parts of the world. We also shared our connections and see if they are connected to the passage that we picked. Hearing personal connections helps me to understand not only the story but my friends too. Having group dicussions like this is fun and at the same time we are able to learn from each other. It is also interesting that the same story has so many interpretations and I really enjoyed hearing my friends telling their version of the story.
              I thought our group connected very well. Some of us chose the same passage .Obviously we connected in the choice of passage but some of us chose it for the same reasons but others chose it for different reasons. We may not have had the same opinion all the time,but we were interested to hear what the others had to say. Through sharing I was sometimes influenced by some of my group's opinion. So some of us were connected in opinions after the discussions. I also found that some of our personal experiences that we shared were quite similar and so we were able to relate to each others' feelings and thoughts during the discussions. I think I might get a better understanding about my group with more of these discussions.
          
              I predict that Jacob will find his bicycle and probably blend in with a herd of zebras.I predict that the pendant Jacob found in his mother's room will help him one day. I also predict that Jacob will go back with his dad to get his mom's jewelery back. But I think it won't be easy or simple. There will be surprises for Jacob, like how his bike was stolen. I predict that Jacob will use his survival skills well. Therefore I think that this story will have a  happy ending!
                 

Guns, Germs and Steel

What role did geographic location and natural resources play in the the development of Malaysia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Srivijaya_Empire.svg

Malaysia is strategically sited just north of the Equator (2 30' North, 112 30' East). This beautiful country with an area of 329,750km is made up of two separate parts, East Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysia's climate has high humidity, hot temperatures and two seasons wet and dry. Rainfall in Malaysia is plentiful and its soil is fertile. Malaysia is protected from natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Malaysia is situated midpoint of trade routes making the Straits of Malacca possibly the leading shipping lane on the planet! The Straits of Malacca is the main shipping channel between The Indian Ocean and The Pacific Ocean, linking Europe and Asia. Over 50,000 vessels pass through The Straits per year, carrying about a quarter of the world's traded goods including oil, rubber, palm oil, tin, spices such as pepper and other commodities.



blog.tourismthailand.org

 

kew.org

sim1.se



potatopro.com

Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources in areas such as agriculture, minerals and forestry. Malaysia's climate and its fertile soil enable many different types of plants to be grown all year round. Plants like rubber trees and oil palm trees were originally found in other places like Brazil and Africa. The British introduced them to Malaysia and we ended up becoming the biggest growers in the world. Malaysia also has a lot of tin and oil. We were also once the biggest exporter of tin in the world. Our oil is mainly found under the sea near Sabah and Terengganu. Today we no longer produce a lot of tin or rubber or oil compared to other countries but we are still one of the biggest exporters of palm oil. You can see how huge the oil palm plantations are when you drive on the highways.


virtualtourist.com



hyatto.wordpress.com

With its great geographic location and abundant natural resources, Malaysia was very attractive to countries and peoples from all over the world. Ships and traders from Europe and Asia stopped over in Malaysia and introduced new things, cultures, food and ways of thinking and doing things. People from other countries who came to Malaysia didn't have to worry about natural disasters like what is happening in Indonesia now. They didn't have to struggle to get food or to live in a land with bad weather. We have benefited from learning the best of Western and Asian cultures. Today, most Malaysians can speak three or more languages like English, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia. We have a good education system that was taken from England. The natural resources like oil, tin, rubber, palm oil and timber that Malaysia exported to other countries generated a lot of wealth for Malaysia. The wealth was used to develop Malaysia and improve our standard of living. Our roads, airports, buildings, schools and hospitals are today among the best in the world. So in conclusion, we can say that Malaysia's geographic location and natural resources played a very important role in the development of Malaysia.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KL-Skyline_Night_HDR.JPG

 

REFERENCES.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia

http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcmalaysia.htm

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/drabble.malaysia

http://travel.110mb.com/natural_resources.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Malaysia

A strange day for little Finn, the mudskipper.

One day, Little Finn woke up from his muddy bed with a funny feeling that he was going to see something exciting that day. He went to say morning to his parents and to eat his breakfast. After that, he asked his parents for permission to go out and play with his friends. His parents gave him permission since it wasn’t a school day.When Little Finn and his friends were playing mud ball, he told his friend: "Hey Tom, today when I woke up I had a funny feeling that we were going to have an adventure ."  " Gee, I hope you are right. It would be fun to have an adventure" said Tom. Little Finn was feeling very cheerful and was having a nice time playing with his friends in the mud when his mother called him to return home for lunch.

When he was eating his usual delicious meal of mud pie made out of insects, he heard noises from outside his house. Little Finn and his parents went out of their house and saw some VERY large creatures. He knew these creatures were humans. His parents and the older folk in his village constantly reminded him and the other young mudskippers to stay as far away from them as possible. He had been told since he first learnt to walk on his fins that the humans were dangerous. He had seen only a few humans in his life. Usually they were smaller and did not venture very far into the mudskippers’ territory.

The humans he now saw were different. They were bigger in size and there was a lot of them. The noise they were making was thunderous. They were falling about and sinking into the mud. One of the giant creatures even sank into the mud up to about his head. The other creatures pointed at him and made thunderous “Ho Ho Ho” sounds. He did not know what it meant but he was very scared.

Soon everyone from his village were out of their homes. The giant human creatures almost squashed Tom's house. Tom and his family began to panic. They just skipped round and round in circles."Tom, get into the mangroves, quick!" little Finn shouted. Tom and some other neighbours then skipped deeper into the mangroves and stared at the humans.Soon all the mudskippers were skipping away in terror. Little Finn and his parents too went deeper into the mangroves to watch what was happening.

The humans continued to stomp around the mudskippers’ village. The ground shook every time the humans’ gigantic limbs pounded the mud. Bits of mud flew into the air and towards the mudskippers like meteors or missiles. There were mini explosions when these bits of mud hit the ground.

What happened next was very surprising. The humans began to plant small mangrove trees! The mangrove trees were like guardians of the territory.  LittleFin had heard the old stories about how the trees had protected the mudskippers for hundreds of years. They blocked the giant waves from destroying everything in the territory. But over the years, the old mangrove trees had begun dying. Some parts of the mudskippers’ territory didn’t even have mangrove trees anymore.

The humans made huge holes in the ground and with their huge hands, planted the trees and then covered the holes again. Was this how the mangrove trees first appeared in the mudskippers’ world? Little Finn and his parents had always thought that the humans were bad because they had seen humans cut down the forest and the trees. But here they were doing the opposite! He thought that maybe the humans were not as bad or dangerous as the older mudskippers said.

Soon, all of the humans departed, creating earth-shaking vibrations. But some of them left behind strange artifacts – big black structures shaped like an “L” but with an entrance at one end. Were they spaceships or vehicles? After all, the humans moved around in them.  Some of Little Finn’s neighbors explored them and when nothing bad happened, used them as their homes.

It had been a really exciting but also a frightening experience for Little Finn. He had woken up that morning expecting an adventure. But he hadn’t expected to see something as strange as the humans started stomping and falling around causing much chaos just because they wanted to plant the mangrove trees.Even though the humans were nice enough to plant the mangrove trees, their clumsiness created havoc in little Finn's village. Little Finn hoped that there wouldn't be any more humans tomorrow to cause more chaos........



                                         The End



Here are some pictures of a mudskipper:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/mudskipper.html

http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/12/mudskippers-leaping-at-chek-jawa.html