December

Its finally here, its the time of year
31 days,

December
A month such warm and tender
Inside all the loving minds something lies,
Waiting
Its Christmas

The smell reach my nose of gingerbread
in the stove,
By the fireplace hangs the stockings filled and ready
Its Christmas

All around the world
Lights are shining for those who're poor
Who stays alone at night,
For them the lights are shining bright
Its Christmas

Its the time to show your devotion,
To cross an ocean, if necessarily
Love is all that matters when we celebrate the birth of
Jesus Christ

The joy of Christmas all lays in mind
Of those willing and kind,
To make a difference, to give away a smile and a hand to hold,
Its Christmas

The mistletoe hanging from above
Gives those who loves each other an excuse to kiss
To fulfill the dreams of those tender lips
The dreams and wishes of love awaked by the holiday,
Its Christmas

The image used is requirement of creative commons.

Japanese English

Today in class, we read texts about Japanese English.
How Japan from the world war II has developed from a country with a culture and society compared to a twelve years old boy, to a country with a huge growth within comics and technology. Japan has now actually gone by the western society when it comes to technology within computers and cars.

Our generation has grown up with Japanese animation movies, called animes. Everybody remember Pokemon and Digimon, both Japanese cartoons. Before Manga and Anime ( comics and animated films) the Japanese brought western comedies and cartoons to Japan that started a revolution of their own. The Japanese have not only made cartoons, but they have created a whole concept around their cartoon figures. Cards, toys and television programs gets children hooked.

The popular figures from the Mangas are often copied and used in videogames and advertisements, not just in Japan, but in America and other western countries. American advertisement agencies have actually hired Japanese Manga experts to draw figures for their campains and advertisements. The culture of Manga and Anime is mixed and combined with the traditional western comics and cartoons.

Peoples fascination within the Manga and Anime lies in the thought of the future development of science and technology. Scientists that have grown up with these cartoons are bringing the looks of the Animes in to their science. Some for instance make robots with the looks of a typical Anime figure. In the Japanese culture a superhero is not the same as we think of. Their picture of a superhero is a friendly robot, alien or an android with the intention of creating harmony between mankind and machines. So their superhero is no Clark Kent or Spiderman as in the western world. Very often, the cartoons have a underling meaning that you often can associate with something going on in the real world.

I also read about how the Japanese focus their English studies on grammar, and they often are better in grammar and understands it better than English native speakers. In one of the texts I read about a girl named Keiko, who was going to New York to speak for an assembly. She got an American boy to write her speech, but she corrected the text and made it more formal and actually perfect concerning grammar. This I find quite impressing. She emphasizes that writing English should be clear, direct and simple.

I also learned about English in South-Asia. For example India where one third of the population can carry a conversation in English. India is the country that has been exposed to English the most where it is a second language. India was a British colony for a very long time, but it is also one of the countries in the world with the highest population and poverty rates. On the other side India is one of the most highly developed countries within technology. They also use English as a national language in politics and commercials. English is on its way to becoming the key to success in India.

Also China that has shunned English for many years how now taken the global language in to their education again. Now the Chinese see English as a connection to facilitate access to modern scientific and technological advances. They have realized that they have to be a part of the international society to be able to develop their knowledge. Today the number of people that study English in China is much larger than the combined population of all countries where English is the mother tongue.


Working as we did with these texts is a study technique that I like. And writing about it afterwards gives me the opportunity to drift around the subject and make it my own. I think Japanese English and the other things I read about today is something I will be able to use in a future exam.

The Kite Runner - The Movie

Last week we watched The Kite Runner in class. Regarding to that the movie is based on a book, I liked it very much. Often the director doesn't manage to catch the sence of the book making the movie, but the director of The Kite Runner really did.

When I wrote my double entry journal, one of the paragraphs I chose was when Hassan and Amir met Assef and his gang in the alley. This is one of the moments in the movie that I really related to from the book.

This is the paragraph and what I wrote about it.

Page 35 and 36.

His blue eyes flicked to Hassan. “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. … We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.” … he reached for something from the back pocket of his jeans. “I’ll ask the president to do what the king didn’t have the quwat to do. To rid Afghanistan of all the dirt, kasseef Hazaras.”
“Just let us go, Assef,” I said, hating the way my voice trembled. “we’re not bothering you.” Oh, you’re bothering me,” Assef said. …” You are bothering me very much, more than this Hazara here. How can you talk to him, play with him, let him touch you?” he said, his voice dripping with disgust.
… Assef slipped on the brass knuckles. Gave me an icy look. “You’re a part of the problem, Amir. If idiots like you and your father didn’t take these people in, we’d be rid of them by now.”…Assef raised his fist and came for me. There was a flurry of rapid moment behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hassan bend down and stand up quickly. Assef’s eyes same look of astonishment on Kamal and Wali’s faces as they too saw what had happened behind me. I turned and came face to face with Hassan’s slingshot.

Through Hassan and Amir’s childhood, their worst fear has always been Assef and his friends.

Here they meet the three boys when they are out playing. Assef lectures Amir about how he is a bad Afghan, housing Hazaras. Amir is scared to death, he know he’s not able to stand up for himself in front of Assef. It is when Assef is just about to hit him that Hassan steps in, saves his friend.

He threatens Assef, say he will blind him on one of his eyes if he tries to hit Amir. Assef and his gang disappear, but Hassan is going to pay for this later, and then nothing will ever be the same again.

The Kite Runner

We are reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini in class. The story is very capturing and real right from the beggining. The first page introduce one of the main characters in away that gets you curious and makes you want to read more.
Just a short quote from the top of the first page in the book:
"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975."
So far I have read a few chapters, and I am looking forwards to see how the story ends.

Amir struggles through the whole book, just to get his father’s recognition. Until the moment where Amir wins the Kite tournament. Amir has never felt worthy of being his son. As he says in the book, all he ever wanted is to to be approved by Baba. Amir believes that it is his fault that his mother died giving birth to him, and that Baba hates him for taking his wife away. Baba loved Amir’s mother very much.

For a couple of weeks after the tournament, Amir feels like his father's son. It is a bitter sweet feeling for Amir. He do have his father's recognition, but he has lost his best friend, Hassan.

One of the very strong realtionships that shines through Khaled Hosseini's writing, is friendship. There is a very strong linkning between Amir and Hassan. They grew up together and have played with eachother sience they where babies. Hassan is the one of them that would do anything for his friend, and he does. He always stand up for Amir, protect him against Assef and his gang. "For you a thounsand times over!" that's what Hassan repeatedly says to Amir. After they are separated as children, Amir returns to Afghanistan from America many years later, looking for redemption.

Photo from this site and Photo from this site.

Advice to fellow students

In class we read an article about how students who use facebook while studying don't get the same results as those who don't use facebook. I don't think facebook in particular is the problem. If it isn't facebook, it's always something else. So to say that facebook is the reason why some students don't preform that well, is wrong in my opinion. The problem is that we can't control ourselves. It is too easy to just drift away on the internet, stop focusing on what's going on in class, and just play a game, read some news, or what might be in your interest.

What do you think? I believe it is a individual question. But I do also think there is some truth in that multitasking in class isn't the best way to learn. You can't focus on what the teacher is saying, take notes and at the same time play a game. But to make facebook the bad guy is not right.

Photo from this site.

Erin B - how to make a difference

Title: Erin Brockovich

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Written by: Susannah Grant

The movie Erin Brockovich is a about a young single mother, without any work, three young children, and no education. Erin struggles with getting ends to meet, and it doesn't get any better when no one wants to hire her. When her lawyer doesn't give her the help that she needs after a case gone bad, she shows up at his office, demanding him to hire her when no one else will.

That is the kick off for Erins new career. Erin works really hard at the office, and gets into a big case, actually the biggest lawsuit through American history so far. From being a unemployed single mother, she gets to work with some of the greatest lawyers in the state of California. After working on an 18 months long case, sacrificing her familiy for success, they win the case. Keeping your mind at that this film is based on reality, it shows us that everything is possible if you just set your mind at it and work really hard, just like Erin did. She had no law school education, just willingness and determination.

Photo from this site

The Butterfly Circus

The Butterfly Circus I believe is about being different and still making the most out of your life. In the movie we see a man with out lems. In the first circus he is in, he just sits at a chair and get laughed at.

When the manager of The Buttfly Circus see his preformance, the man without lems decides to join his circus instead. He have to work really hard to be in the show. They don't give him any advantage due to his disabilaty, they make him learn something on his own.

On day the circus hangs out by the riverside in the nice summer weather, the man falls into the water. To prevent himself from drowing, he learns how to swim.

This was the start of a new life for the little man. It is a very touching short movie, and I think it shows us that we can do mostly what ever we want to if we just set our minds at it.
Photo from this site.

Me, myself and English

Hi, I'm Erle and this is my blog.

I have chosen International English because language is always something you will need. It makes you capable to communicate with people like yourself from other countries that doesn't have English as their native language. I love traveling, meeting new people and see new places, therefore I believe this class is something I will enjoy.

I hope I will learn about other english speaking cultures. I also want to become a better writer and emprove my English as much as possible.

I think watching movies, reading books and discussing different subjects will help me learn more English and expand my vocabulary.
Photo from this site.