This year

This past year has been quite an experience. We've done a lot of different things, and learn about various topics. Thought, I wish we had gone deeper into each topic, and spent more time on each. We could have been more effective perhaps. But I've enjoyed this year, with all the different learning technics, and watching movies.
Next year there should be more oral presentations, but in groups. This year, we have had the chance to perform some; but only single. I think that with more oral presentations we would have developed our language more. As well as it would be easier when we're not presenting alone.That way we would maybe have had the chance to get to know eachother better as well :)
Anyway, this have been a great year!

Standard written English

Translate these sentences from "new english" to standard written english.

1. You didn't see him, it is? 
You didn't see him, did you?

2. When you would like to go?
When would you like to go?

3. That man he is tall.
That man is tall.


4. Her jewelleries were stolen.
Her jewelry were stolen.


5. I am understanding it now.
I do understand it now.


6. They two very good friends.
The two of them are very good friends.
They are very good friends.


7. Sushila is extremely a lazy girl.
Sushila is an extremely lazy girl.


8. When you leaving?
When would you be leaving?
When are you leaving?


Pick four of the sentences and explain how it is different from standard written English.
They two very good friends - Here we can see that it is missing a verb, "are". As well as it sounds odd to say "they two".

When you leaving? - Again we can see that a verb is missing "are", or as I also have translated it "would + be".


Sushila is extremely a lazy girl. - Here the sentence structure is wrong: "a" should be in front of "extremely" so that it says: "is an extremely".


Her jewelleries were stolen. - In this sentence, the word "jewelry" is written in a plural tense, which does not exist.

Losotho visit

Today, we were so lucky to have a visitor from Lesotho in our class. Moliehi Sekese, who is a teacher in Lesotho told us about the circumstances in Lesotho and compared them to ours. Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the children in her school are far from as lucky as we are; they only have two computers to use for 700 students, and one teacher to teach a group of 100 students. Their classrooms are only three quarters the size of the classrooms we got, and we're only about 25-30 students in one classroom at the time. Sekese told us that they're in a lack of tables, chairs and books. When she teaches a class she has to write down everything for her, as well as their assignments. There is no possibility for the students to do work by them selves; they're dependent of their teacher. 
Many of the children have to worry about things as if they got enough food, if they have anything to wear ect. There is few places with electricity and running water. They have to walk very far to get their water. I wrote a little poem about my associations to this.

Far far away

Too far to really understand

Just imagine 

A crying child

An empty stomach

A closed door

The sun is heating 

The throat is dry

The people walk far far


Far far in the heat
To the nearest waterhole
Carrying buckets on their heads


Small children 
Only hope for a better life
Is to get an education


Schools without electricity 
Without pencils and books
Depending on their teacher


Children going home
Don't knowing if there will be dinner

 Will mom survive today?


Diseases fighting the population
But there is a hope in medication
A hope in plants


So they plant
They make their own botanic gardens
Where hope will grow


Poem by me

Double entry: The Devil and Miss Prym

The Devil and Miss Prym is written by Paulo Coelho and is about Chantal, a village orphan in Viscos and a Stranger that visits with a task and a reward.

Conflict.

"What?"

Her question came out like a yell.

"Exactly what I said. I want them to commit a murder."

I chose just a few lines for the theme "conflict" because I think these three lines are all that's needed to illustrate the story's conflict. The Stranger is telling Chantal about his plan; if the people of Viscos commit a murder within seven days they will me rewarded with ten golden bars that would make the village a wealthy village. None of the inhabitants will need to work for the next thirteen years. And the Stranger will get the conclusion: we are all evil. But if a murder is now committed he will conclude that we are all good, and if Chantal's steals the one gold bar he has shown her where is buried, he will conclude there are both evil and good. Chantal is given the task to either tell the inhabitants of Viscos about the offer, or he will in the end of the week and then, if they decide to kill someone, he says; "it would probably be you". She could also run away with the one gold bar.

These lines illustrate the paragraph because it tells us about the main conflict of the story: "will the inhabitants kill someone?" And that's why these lines were chosen.

Self-realization and Relationship.

She smiled to herself, glanced to her left and blew a discreet kiss. She was not a useless woman; she had something important to do: to save the place where she has been born, even though she had no idea as yet what steps she should take.

The "she" person in this paragraph is Berta, the old widow living in Viscons. She can "see" people, and she can se the evil by the Stranger's side, and the good and evil fighting in Chantal after she have met the Stranger. This paragraph goes under both relationship and self-realization. Relationship because it illustrates Berta's love for the village and that she is very bonded to Viscos. Also, in this chapter we get to know more about Berta's husband.

But it goes under self-realization because of two reasons. One: In this chapter, we also get to learn about why Berta can see people and how she realized her purpose in life after her husband died and why she is the woman she is today.

Reason two is that Berta helps Chantal realize something important: who her enemy really is and who she is "hunting". This realization sets the story off in new direction.

Picture link

The Devil and Miss Prym

So, after a lot of back and forth I had to chose another book to read in English class. Of course, I am going to read Emma, but not now. Emma is a book that deserves more attention than I got time to use on reading right now. Besides my "job" as a book critic/reviewer (I am not sure which word would be right to use..) I don't get much time for other reading. After all, I have other school work besides my job and social life ;-) So I had to find a shorter book this time, and ended up with "The Devil and Miss Prym" by Paulo Coelho. I wanted to read "The Alchemist", also by Coelho, but it was sold out everywhere.

I started reading the book today and it caught my attention after just a few pages. Which is a good sign! Soon there will be a post with "double entry journal" about this book. ;) Stay tuned!

The Varieties of English

There are many varies of English in the world today which might sound odd, but considering English is a global language this is not that weird at all. With all these countries all over the world; in Asia, Australia, America and Europe and in Africa, and all with their different languages, dialects and accents there's no wonder how their ways of speaking English turned out differently.

The most known English varieties that we know well are, perhaps, American English, British English and Australian English. But in this entry, I am going to write about three more kinds of english; Singapore English, Caribbean English and Hinglish.

Where Singapore English and Caribbean English descend from are quite obvious, but Hinglish might be a little bit trickier for some to figure out? Hinglish is a blending of the two words "Hindi" and "English". Hindi is the official language in India, besides English. Hinglish is most common in the Urban and semi-urban centers of the states in India where Hindi is spoken, and the Hinglish speakers are assumed by some to soon outnumber the native English speakers.

The columnist Devyani Chaubal was the first author to use Hinglish, and after her Shobhaa De who used Hinglish elements in her books and columns in the Indian magazine Stardust.  And through the years, Hindlish has been used in advertising, for example in slogans. An example is the Pepsi commercials; "Yehi hai right choice, Baby" which means "this is the right choice, Baby".  There is also written a book called "The Queen's Hinglish: How to speak Pukka".

Hinglish is also affecting the English spoken in England because people adapts words and expressions used by the Indian immigrants. Kind of like the "Kebab Norwegian" language in Norway which is Norwegian influenced with words and expressions from other languages.

But back to the Singapore English. This is a dialect of the English language used in Singapore, influenced by both Chinese and Malay (Malaysia). The Singapore English is emerging and the the difference between the English of the various ethnic groups in Singapore is mainly the intonation.

David Deterding claims that it is fully possible to sound Singaporean and still be easily understood in the rest of the world. Considering this I would guess that the Singaporean language havn't influenced the Singapore English much.

The Caribbean English is a broad term for the various dialects of the English language spoken in the Caribbean. The daily use of English in the Caribbean includes a different set of pronouns, for example; me/meh/mi, you/yuh, we/wi/alawe and dem/den/deh for "them". They often skip the "th" in words

The Caribbean English is also influenced by other languages, as Irish and Scottish. For example the Jamaican English: "Whierr iz dath bwoy?"  Also from Bahamas their tongue is similar to the accents of south western England and Wales: "Wey iz dat boy?".

I think it's curious that there are so many languages, so many varieties of English with influences and accents, and still, most of them are understandable. Don't you? Letting the English language getting influenced by other languages makes us richer.

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

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

http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/SingaporeEnglishterm.htm

Gran Torino

 Today we saw Gran Torino in our english class. Gran Torino is a movie directed by Clint Eastwood from 2008. The movie is about Walt Kowalski who fought in the Korean war and is played by the director, Clint Eastwood. Walt is a grumpy old man who dislikes(as it seems) everyone, especially Asians, and is not exactly happy when a Hmong family moves in next door. The Hmong people are from Laos, China and Thailand. Two of the family members that moves in are a tough girl called Sue and her brother Thao. While Sue is tough, Thao is quite the coward. He is quiet and insecure.
Because of various incidents, Walt and Thao and Walt and Sue gets to know one and each other and relationships are built.

The movie consists a lot of racism between ethnic groups, especially between "white" and Asians. From my opinion Hollywood often portray people of different races as enemies and there is often a lot of violence, guns and swearing. Kind of mafia like with threatening of families ect. I think Hollywood often overdo it when making movies.. At least so I hope.

It can be really hard to be an immigrant, because you need to be able to become a part of the new society and you're also dependent to be accepted by the new society. It is also very important that you do an effort yourself; to learn the new language for example. Also you have to accept the new society and their traditions and morals.