Living in Norway

Most people haven’t even heard of Norway, so I don’t know what you think about when I say Norway. Maybe you have heard of the terrorist attack this summer or maybe the butter-crisis?

Norway is a country in Northern Europe, it is not a small country, but we only have about 4,9 million habitants. We have a very long cost line, and snow in the winter. I could not imagine a better place to grow up in than Norway. The country has an excellent education system, free hospitals, beautiful nature and a more than great economy. Norway has actually been elected the best country to liv in several years in a row. (read here)

In Norway we have something called the welfare state. The Norwegian welfare state assures that no one falls on the outside of the society. For example: If you are handicapped or are not capable of working, the government pays a contribution so that you can afford things like food and clothes. The public school system is free, and you don’t have to pay for your education before you start studying at a university. The perks of living in Norway are many. But for me it is the traditions, nature and culture that make Norway the best place to live. We might not have huge malls or endless high skyscrapers, but we go on ski hikes in the winter, beautiful fjords and the russ celebration. Also Norway is a safe country to live in with a low crime rate compared to other countries.  

I think that the difference between living in China and Norway is big. The countries have two completely different societies, cultures, governments and traditions. It is like to different worlds, with different values and priorities. I can’t compare the two countries, because I don’t know where to begin. They have a communistic regime, are the most populated state in the world and the majority of the population is Buddhist. It seems like the two countries have nothing in common, at least I can’t think of anything. Can you?

Project Lesotho

The other day we started a project, Project Lesotho. The purpose with Project Lesotho is to raise money which we will send to Mamoeketsi Primary School in Lesotho. Our goal is to collect 14 000 NOK (around 2400 USD), the money will primary be used to set up an internetwork for Mamoeketsi Primary School. They will also use the money to buy the most basic things like paper, pencils, food and clothes.

The reason for our cooperation with Mamoeketsi Primary School is that our English teacher became friends with one of the teachers from the Primary School at a conference. The teacher from Lesotho informed about the poor economic situation and their everyday struggles at her school.  She even came to Norway to tell about her country and a project the she has set in process. As Lesotho is a very poor country and have a bad health condition, most people can’t afford going to the doctor. The population use indigenous plants as medicine instead, the only problem is that they rip up the hole root when collect plants. Therefore the indigenous plants are now endangered. The concept for the project started by teacher from Lesotho is to preserve these indigenous plants.

My English teacher though it would be nice if we could help out this Primary school in Lesotho that her friend works at. We, the students, though that was a good idea and have already arranged a collection. For now we have collected about 3500 NOK (about 600 USD), let’s just hope that we can manage to collect 14 000 NOK by March. You see, Akershus County have granted our English teacher and three students permission to fly down to Lesotho and visit Memoeketsi Primary School.

The 2011 Edublog Awards – My nomonations:

Best student blog: http://andreaismrsenglish.blogspot.com/

Mrs English’s blog is a fun and inspiring blog! She is good at keeping her readers posted, and her blog posts are interesting. The blog also has many cool features like Political jokes and cheeky quotes. Check out Mrs English’s blog!

Best teacher blog: https://annmic.wordpress.com/

Ann Michaelsen has an excellent blog! Ann is my English teacher, and therefore we use her blog in the teaching. I find the blog very helpful and inspiring. No doubt that Ann Michaelsen has the best teacher blog, you should visit it!

Best group blog: http://plpnetwork.com/category/voices/page/2/

Voices from the Learning Revolution blog – a PLP Network project – is a group blog of teachers writing with great detail about their instructional practices – with many examples from the classroom.

Have you nominated your favourites yet?

To blog or not to blog – That is the question

In our English class we have our own blog, and we also have our own twitter now. Using social media in teaching gives us a bit of variation, and personally I think it is a good way to learn. By having a blog, and having to write blog posts almost every week is a nice way for me to maintain my writing skills in English. It is something different. But sometimes I miss the old fashion teaching, when the teacher talked and wrote down thing on the blackboard and the students took notes. I don’t understand all the fuzz about the schools having to modernize the school system. Of course we have to keep up with technology and vary the teaching, but too much variation can be confusing. I like having a blog, and twitter, but sometimes I wish we could do something else than just writing blog posts. But blogging have been a positive experience, today I found out that just this last month almost 200 people have been on my blog. The thing that I found especially cool is that I have readers from many different countries; USA, Russia, Brazil, Malaysia, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands and South – Korea. So, all in all, I enjoy having a blog, and now also Twitter, but I hope that we won’t focus too much on social media and this whole new way of teaching. 

What do you think about using blog in teaching?

News of the World

We have heard about journalists, paparazzies and tabloids that are willing to cross moral borders just to get their hands on a juicy story that will sell. The consequences have many times been serious, for example princess Diana’s death. The British newspaper “News of the World” has once more shown the world how dirty the digging for stories can become.

News of the World used to be the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, selling almost 3 million copies every week.  The newspaper was founded in 1843, but had to shut down after 168 years of publishing when the police revealed that the paper had hacked more than 4000 phones and bribed police officers.

It was the kidnapping and murder of thirteen year old Milly Dowler in 2002 that started it all. Milly’s family sued News of the World several years later, when it was revealed that the newspaper had hacked Milly’s phone, read and deleted messages after her disappearance. The paper had let the family believe that Milly was still alive by deleting messages to make place for new ones, their action was described as evil and inhumane. After this scandalous exposure the accusations against the paper became many. News of the World had not only hacked into celebrities’ and the British royal family’s phones, but also the phones belonging to families of soldiers who had died in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They had bugged the phones of the ones who were left behind after the terror bombing in London 7^th of July 2005. News of the World made up their own news.

On the 7^th of July this year James Murdoch, the owner of the tabloid, made public that the edition about to be published some days later would be their last one. - News of the World’s mission was to make people responsible for their actions, but failed to do so for themselves, says James Murdoch. The staff at News of the World will be brought to court. It is still unknown what the tabloid will be punished for and how, but as the list of crimes and violations of individual rights is long, they probably won’t get away easy.

Sources:

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/verden/1.7708451

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

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10080023

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_of_the_World#Phone_hacking_scandal

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10080222

Gran Torino

«Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have fucked with?» Clint Eastwood’s character says to some hooligans who are about to beat up a girl. “Well that’s me”, he adds before he pulls up his gun.

Gran Torino is a movie about redemption and helping others. It tells the story about a man named Walt Kowalski, a cranky old retired Korean War veteran, who recently lost his wife. The movie focuses on the relationship Walt develops with his Hmong neighbours. Walt literary and figuratively saves the life of the boy next door, Thao.

The centre piece of the film is Walt’s Gran Torino, which symbolizes his greatness. To Thao, the boy Walt lends a helping hand to, the car is the very turning point of his life because trough failing to steal the car Thao gets to know Walt. Walt’s turning point in the movie is hard to decide, but the scene where he lends his car to Thao for his date, is a great example of Walt’s change. This shows that Walt truly cares about Thao, since he is willing to let Thao use something that he nearly looks upon as holy. It is also Thao who inherits the car in the end, and not a family member. Some may think of it as strange, but really it just shows the significance Thao had to Walt. It was Thao and his family who showed Walt the joys in life after his wife’s death.

As Walt gets to know Thao and his family, especially Thao’s sister Sue, he realises that he has more in common with his neighbours than his own family. This is probably because Walt relates more to their tradition and values than to the typical American society. He can’t stand the way his grandchildren and other teenagers behave, especially towards the elderly, while the Hmong people are much more “old fashioned” that way.   

In the end Thao, Sue and their family have made a greater impact on Walt then they realise as Walt ends up sacrificing his life in order to help them. He sees this as the only solution to get the gang away from Sue and Thao so that they have the opportunity to get away and start a better life. Walt might be right as it seems like his actions made Sue and Thao reconsider the value of life.

Gran Torino is a great movie with an important message and filled with inspiration. Not only does Gran Torino illustrate the importance of helping others, but it also paints a picture of a basic culture crash and communication problems. Walt has problems at first understanding the Hmong culture, but as he gets to know his neighbours he understands that in a way they are no different than him.

I think that’s very important, that in a world which is so connected in so many levels we have to keep an open mind, because for all we know the neighbours with the funny accent and the strange clothes are no different than us.

Sources:

http://filminsight.net/2009/07/04/gran-torino-help-your-comfort-zone

http://old.studvest.no/kultur.php?seksjon=anmeldelser&art_id=10544

http://annmic.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/gran20torino.pdf

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1205489/

PS! If you want to learn more about the hmong people, read this article.

The fourth estate

This week is economic week at Sandvika High School. The students listen to lectures about everything from Facebook to stocks. Today we listened to a lecture about social media, which is very important in marketing today. We learned about how social media has changed the very principals of marketing and has introduced a whole new set of thinking when it comes to communication between seller and buyer.

Before it used to be the companies who decided what the costumers should know about them, they were the ones supplying people with information. The information was imparted through newspapers, radio and television. But as the society and technology developed the internet was invented, and a whole new world of communication and information opened for a new and more creative thinking. We have the opportunity to be active in the marketing, we can decide what information we want to read and we can impart selected data further.

For the younger generations social media is the main platform where we gather and share information. A clear example of this is how the teenagers on Utøya used networks like Facebook and Twitter to keep friends and family updated on the situation on the island during the 22^nd of July this summer.

Up to this date the internet is the most important source of information for the majority, and social media the most powerful informer. The power lies in the hand of the costumer, and corporations are challenged to find creative ways to reach out to us.  It is a reason for why we call the media the fourth estate.  

Source:

Cecilie Staude 

Dunglish

As the English language has been spread all over the world, it is only natural that dialects and variants of the language have emerged. The dialects and variants are a result of grammar and pronunciation mistakes because of the differences in languages. Dunglish is good example of this as it has been formed by a collision of Dutch and English.

Dunglish first occurred as “Coal English” early in the 20^th century as the Dutch port workers had to communicate with the crew on English coal ships that came with supplies to The Netherlands. “Coal English” is today known as the poorest variant of English. The Dutch have a tendency to translate words and sentences directly from Dutch to English, without taking order and meaning of words in consideration. This can cause misunderstandings like the former Dutch ambassador and prime minister Dries van Agt made, he supposedly once said: “I can stand my little man”, when he actually meant to say “I can stand up for myself.” The reason for this error was that Dries van Agt directly translated the Dutch proverb “Ik kan mijn mannetje staan”, a Dutch idiom meaning roughly “I can stand up for myself”.

One of the main reasons why the Dutch speak English badly is because the languages don’t follow the same word order. The English language has a SVO sentence order, while Dutch has a V2 sentence order. This makes many Dutch speakers use incorrectly syntax in English, which can create errors like “What you mean?” instead of “What do you mean?”

The Dutch are also known for having a bad pronunciation as they struggle with distinguishing between sounds in the English language. In Dutch they don’t distinguish between [æ] and [e], making it hard for Dutch speakers to pronounce words like bad. Luckily the Dutch have improved their language skills as a result of globalization. 

Sources: 

http://www.dunglish.nl/

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

The World Trade Center is no more

It is impossible to describe the fear, sorrow, confusion, brutality, helplessness, misery, violence, hate, just everything that defines the day the world, and especially The US, learned how evil evil can be. Words alone are not enough. The terror attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon demanded 2986 human lives, and all of them were somebodies husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father and friend. They were all loved by someone and unjustfully taken away for forever. 9/11 is a day that will be remembered as a tragedy that stands alone in the world history.  

Ten years have passed by since that day which even today seems unreal, but for many it feels like it was yesterday that the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on the 11^th of September 2001. For those who are reminded every day of the indescribable disaster by not being able to be with their loved ones, it’s not just a painful memory. More than 3652 days have gone by, Osama bin Laden is killed, Al Qaida is weaker than ever and life is back to normal, but the heart still bleeds. We will never forget. We can’t forget.

The 22^nd of July we were once more reminded of the cruelness the human kind is capable of. 77 people were killed, most of them children or teenagers who only got to experience a fraction of what life has to offer. Some called it Norway’s 9/11. Whether it’s right to compare the two disasters is debatable, but one thing is for sure, words alone are not enough to describe that day.  It’s a day we Norwegians will carry in our hearts until the day we die. What came next though is almost a miracle. Instead of reacting hatefully towards the unthinkable crime that was committed, we answered with love, care and solidarity. A frightening massacre didn’t provoke an increase in sale of weapons, but record sale of flowers. The 22^nd of July 2011 did not only demonstrate the malice, but it brought up the human kindness.

So in all this tragedy, violence, sorrow and misery the world has to offer, we must not forget all good the human kind is capable of. We must not forget the essential kindheartedness which we can find in every human being. We must not forget the man who won independence for a whole country by encouraging nonviolence. We must not forget the woman who helped the people of Calcutta raise from poverty and misery, and devoted her whole life to helping others. We must not forget the people who work for a better world every single day. And most important of all, we must not forget all the prosperity we can achieve together.

"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."               

                        - Mother Teresa

Source: The documentary "9/11", click here to read about the film.

Have you heard about Erin Brockovich?

Erin Brockovich is known for helping to win a court case with the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in US history. Despite her lack of formal law school education, Brockovich was a very central person in the construction of the case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California. Brockovich’s goal was and still is, to show the powerless people that they aren’t powerless, a point of view she proves in the case against PG & E.

In the town of Hinkley in southern California the company PG & E used hexavalent chromium in the water in the cooling towers used at the compressor station to avoid machinery from rusting. The cooling water was stored in palms, and as they were not correctly built the toxic water sank into the ground and blended with the groundwater used by the inhabitants of Hinkley.  Even though PG & E knew about this they chose to keep it a secret, and claimed that all the diseases the residents suffered from were due to weak genes and bad lifestyle.

You should see the movie "Erin Brockovich" which is based on the true stroy.

Together with another law company and the one she worked for, Brockovich gathered proofs and built a solid case against PG& E. Over 648 plaintiffs joined the lawsuit, and PG & E arguments started to lose credibility. Fearlessly Erin Brockovich, her coworkers and plaintiff lawyers brought a huge corporation to its knees and a small town to its feet. 

Sources:

The movie “Erin Brockovich” 
http://www.lawbuzz.com/famous_trials/erin_brockovich/erin_brockovich_ch7.htm

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

http://www.crschools.net/blog/the-true-stories-behind-8-famous-courtroom-movies

FROM NO LIMBS TO NO LIMITS

There is not one single person who will go through life without experiencing failure and pain. Life is hard sometimes, it can seem cruel, unfair and incomprehensible. But that is not all there is to life, the world has so much more to offer, we just have to remember that in our darkest times.

We can find inspiration and hope in other peoples suffers, but not by comforting ourselves with the thought of that there are others who suffer more than you, by being inspired and moved by the way they deal with their pain. How they manage to live on, and conquer the challenges they have to face. Nick Vujicic (Nicklas James Vujicic) is one of these persons, he is extraordinary.

“If I never try, I’ll never achieve anything. If I fall down, what do I do? I am gonna try again and again because the moment I give up is the moment that I’ll fail.” 


Vujicic was born with no arms and no legs, ha has been forced to face challenges that we can’t even imagine, and he has overcome them all. In an age of 28 years Vujicic has accomplished more than most of us will ever accomplish in a lifetime. Vujicic has shared his stories to over three million people in over 24 countries. He has inspired and helped millions of people only by reminding and showing us that if we want to we can do almost anything, we just have to believe in ourselves.

“Failure is not important. How you overcome it is.” - Nick Vujicic

If you want to learn more abot Nick Vujicic you can visit his homepage, you won't regret it!


Source:http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/