After reading a book 'Saving private Ryan'.....

It starts off as a scene where an elderly Ryan visits the cemetary to pay a respect to Captain Miller. During World War Π on 6th June 1944, a massive American army went ahead with landing operations on the coast of France which had been captured by German. There were Countless flying bullets and dying companions in an instant. Even though just as if it was hell, Captain Miller and the companies survived. During a brief break, the headquarters of administration in the US army found out the fact that Ryan’s brothers had been all killed. A commander received this news ordered to save Private Ryan and Captain Miller and the soldiers were selected as a ranger corps.

Miller’s companions started to look for Private Ryan but there was no specific destination or information, it was just like ‘looking for a needle in a hay stack.’ In the meantime Private Caparzo was killed by a camouflaged sharpshooter. With a bitter grief for a company’s death, they kept going to complete their mission. It was quite hard to understand for them why they had to look for Ryan at all. There were heaps of people dying and they were struggling to survive. “Does only Ryan have parents?” There were growing complaints as time went on. Captain Miller who has to lead such soldiers was helped by sergeant Hovarth. And then they finally found a soldier who knew Ryan’s whereabouts in the middle of wounded soldiers.

They kept looking for private Ryan to complete the horrible mission as well as to get home safely. On their way to look for Ryan, they came by a fortress filled with Germans and they fought furiously and even lost a medic. Even though they eventually found Ryan, he told them he would not go home because he did not want to avoid danger by betraying his companions. Miller’s team were embarrassed with Ryan’s ridiculous comments and the situation was going from bad to worse. An emotional conflict was created in their mind between Captain Miller and Sergeant Hovarth. In the end, they made up their mind to stay with Ryan in order to fight the Germans and to go home after that.

They were preparing to fight a battle despite being inferior in military power and weapons. After a brief peace, finally they fought desperately against the German army. And… After the battle, they met their death one by one. Many lost their lives to save one person…. Captain Miller died with a word to Ryan “James… earn this. Earn it.”

I guess the main point of this book is here. Miller never asks for Ryan how to live. He does not preach what kind of life is wonderful and worthy. He only left one sentence. “James… earn this. Earn it.” There is no meaningless life to live. To live is so precious for everyone. And hundreds of thousands of youth sacrificing themselves saved the rest of the people at that time. We should appreciate them sacrificing themselves to make other people and descendants live on.

Our peace is not obtained for free. It is at a cost from lots of youth’s soul and blood. As a result we are living here. Sometimes we are complaining as if life is terrible and rubbish. We do not even realize the value of real life occasionally. But we should remember that it is today we waste those who died yesterday were eager for! Maybe in the end the stars and stripes mean that.

Compare and contrast two pictures(2).....

As can be seen, there are two pictures. Those places from the pictures look like a kind of educational organization. The one is showing a place seemed like a kindergarden. The other one looks like a computer laboratory for young children who seem like elementary or primary school students. From the first photograph, we can see the atmosphere as free as a bird and they are just enjoying themselves in the middle of class.

Especially, in kindergarden the method of teaching is deeply relied on materials like storybooks, some small tangible toys, while in primary school, the organizations have used computers due to convenience, wide range of knowledge through internet and hige-speed since the mid 1990s. It must be extremely helpful and useful to help them studying. Nobody can deny the efficiency of internet and computers. It's a kind of trends in modern society.

Whereas, there is some barriers and limitation for infants and before elementary school students to be being teached by using those sort of technological stuff. The reason is simple that they -infants and before elementary school students- are too young and prematured to learn them.

So, what I am telling is that those people who teach students are the most important as well as support materials such as computers, storybooks and toys even OHP and Powerpoint etc.

Blog Post Entry Five Domestic ;According to the Radioshark....

According to the Radioshark, "Paper also reported Climate change experts and environmentalists clash every proposals to fight global warming."

From this news, I've found some specific pronunciation features. Firstly, there are two accent in the word 'environmentalists' which are ..vi.. and ..men.. The accent of second syllable is much stronger than the accent of first syllable.

Secondly, in the sentence of clash every proposals to..., the pronuciation of 'to' is so soft and close to pronunciation 'swa'.

Lastly, ...to fight... the pronunciation of 'fight' is also too weak to hear that. It sounds like 'fine'.

It could only be my hearing problem but I'll devote myself into my study at all times.

- Support material : nzherald newspaper

Oral blog post entry five - After reading a international newspaper....

According to the BBC news on 17th May, Korean trains have crossed the line of division between North Korea and South Korea for the first time in the past 56 years. The trains, one of which is from the north and the other from the south, carried 150 passengers.

South Korea believes it marks an epoch in Korean history and North Korea just agreed with it as a one-off test-run. Furthermore North Korea requested a high price for that so South Korea agreed to support North Korea with $80 Million for the development of industry. There is no doubt that there is a significent meaning in these trains because this is the first official trip between North and South Korea in the last 56 years.

The best one day trip that I have been on,....

I remember it was almost 2 months ago the best one day trip that I have been on in NZ. It was just like a sudden decision when we decided to go to a place which is called 'Goat Island'. One day, one of my flat mates who is fond of tripping quite a lot suggested we go there together. Sometimes he even enjoys traveling by himself. Before we decided to go, it was a boring normal day. There was nothing special for me to do . So, I made my mind to go there with him and then finally one girl joined our one day trip.

When we left our place, it was almost 1 pm. It took nearly 1 and half hours. The day was so nice, warm and sunny. When we arrived at that place (even though this was a first time to go there for us, there was no difficulty to find that place. We could find Goat island quite easily), it was just past 3 o'clock. It was a little bit late to do activities such as swimming, snorkeling or kayaking. So, after having a brief lunch, we just enjoyed ourselves looking at the beautiful view. The sun set, we went to the nearest pub which has also a live-band and had a couple of beers. The atmosphere was so nice and cozy. We enjoyed ourselves with beer till 3 am. As time went on, we felt a little bit tired. Unfortunately (?), we hadn’t made any reservation for staying a day. So we decided to sleep on the sand near the seashore. The sound of waves was so peaceful and soothing for us. We just lay down on the ground together but the weather was getting cold. We began to shiver so that the cold weather made us hug each other to cope with that situation. It was extremely freezing. We couldn’t bear the coldness any more and then got into the car instead of sleeping outside. Also the inside of the car was not as comfortable as we thought. Furthermore there were heaps of mosquitoes around us. We were all bitten so much by them.
When the sun rose, the beach was so beautiful and the sea was extremely transparent so that we even could see some fish like snappers. I was so impressed by that scenery. After having a brief brunch, we hired a kayak and snorkelling gear. My friend and I decided to go around the Goat Island with the kayak. It was kind of challenging because there was nobody to go around with a kayak. And then the sea behind the island was quite rough and choppy. We plowed through the waves and it took almost 40 minutes to get around the island with a kayak. We also enjoyed snorkeling.

We really had a great time and I guess that place must be worthwhile to visit and I am sure you will never regret visiting there.

Oral blog post entry four(week7) -Comparison two pictures.....

Those pictures show quite diverse aspects of market place. In the first picture, it looks like a well-organized wholesale market place like Park'n Save, while the other picture seems like ordinary market such as sunday-market. Furthermore, we can see lots of fresh vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes, red peppers, cucumbers, garlics, eggplants and beans etc from the first photograph, whilst we can see some people who are going to buy some vegetables from the second photo.

After reading an article from the newspapers.....

"Tamakis, latest Maori showcase about to open."

Known as entreprenuers in NZ, Rotorua brothers - Mike and Doug Tamaki - are about to open their new Christchurch venture. They are expecting, multi million dollor heritage villages, will hire nearly 100 staff and be visited by over 80,000 people in its first year.

They said Rotorua's Tamaki tours and Christchurch are quite different. "Rotorua is pre European and Christchurch is after their arrival." The heritage village in Christchurch has 90 minutes walk down the memory tram and train rides.

- Future forms

• Rotorua brothers are about to open .... As a form of 'be about to~', it indicates their intentions for the future. It would happen in the near future.
• Will hire nearly 100 staff .... It means their willingness or intention.
• will be visited by over 80,000 .... As a future passive infinitive form, the agent(the visitor) is not clear and unimportant.

- Past simple

• They said .... It refers to their past statements that has already finished .

- Present simple

• Tamaki tours and Christchurch are quite different .... It shows the fact that people usually believe.
• The heritage village in Christchurch has 90 minutes walk down the memory tram .... It shows the present fact.

- From the NZ herald, Thur/ April. 26th/ 2007, A8

Beyond Buzzy Bees and Kiwi Fruit - New Zealand culture

There are some representative things in New Zealand. The word kiwi has multiple meanings. Firstly it means a Kiwi fruit was known as the Chinese gooseberry. Secondly it dictates a bird which is called The kiwi which is any of several species of flightless bird native to New Zealand. At the last Kiwi defines people who have a colloquial term for the people of New Zealand. Furthermore slippers which are used in summer season for feet, Buzzy bees, Greenstone, the Beehive, the silver fern, and rugby are also representing N.Z.

Culture and language are placed in every parts of N.Z. We can encounter them by approaching ‘Liberal multiculturalism’ and ‘Critical multiculturalism’. Liberal multiculturalism which is neither a necessary nor a convincing extension of liberalism can be formed by migrant, international student and worker. It can also bring us the constructing culture. Otherwise critical multiculturalism can be caused by discrimination against outsider based on religions, sports, education, conversation and culture etc. The main point is that people do not judge people; no matter they are homeless or drug addicts. All men are created equal and culture is everywhere. Those things could be an obstruction to developing their county.

Manners in Korea…

I would like to describe briefly about common courtesy in Korea. There are some distinctive differences from western culture. Especially there are heaps of good manners to be observed during a meal. Firstly, it is considered polite to turn your torso slightly (approximately 20 degrees) when you drink alcohol with people who are older than you. Secondly when you eat a meal with older people, you should not start or finish earlier before them. Furthermore people do not talk too much in the middle of a meal. In that case they tend to think luck goes out.

Blowing your nose or burping in public are considered rude behaviors which can be a real problem in a restaurant after you have just finished a meal. One way to solve your problem is to use a restroom or another private space.

When greeting somebody important, or saying goodbye or thanks, it is polite to bow, how far down you bow depends on the status of the person. - You need not bend your knee and touch the ground with your hands . - Just a slight nod of the head. That is it.

Oral semester project blog entry two(week5) -My favourite musician is....

There are heaps of different kinds of music in the world. Among them what I am really keen to listen to is the 'hip-hop' genre. Because it makes me feel more comfortable and it makes me happy when I listen to that kind of music. The musicians who I can tell apart from that genre are Eminem, 2pac, Snoop dogg, 5o cent, Akon, Doctor Dre, Beastie boys as well as Korean hip-hop musicians such as Drunken Tiger, Bohemian X, Mc mong, MC Sniper and so on. I can not remember exactly the time, but when I was young I used to listen to Ballard and R&B, and nothing else. I mean I hardly ever listen to Ballard and R&B these days. It could be one reason that it makes me feel sad. That is why I am trying to listen to more of hip hop. I also listen to indi hip-hop because it reminds me my childhood.

Eminem, he had a really hard time when he was young unlike those people who jump to stardom in a single day with a wonderful family background and a good voice. He is white and has a great command of speedy high-tone Rap as well as a flow of Rap with originality, the critical words of a song….
The great characteristics of Eminem’s song are a unique expression and organization of a song. It is as if watching a movie, where his words act as the main features of his songs which are a concise in the development of the situation and a story-creation with transcendental imagination, wits and horror.

For example the lyrics from one of his songs "a child with a parentless family was living in a difficult way, added to his misery, when he was a victim of bullying at school, and there was no space to sleep at home so that in order to forget these agonies, he had to go out to sell some drink and drug".

Even though this sounds like a tragic drama and seems very extreme, it is described with a sense of humour, like the following lyrics "a man was chatting to his daughter with one thing and another on a car with carrying a dead wife who was killed by him".

We can see his bizarre creation of a situation described as a movie, like when he mentioned in a press release.

“The poor white trashes are as many as the black, there is no relationship with their skin and it is just realism not option”