This level-what is behind it?

This level contains very interesting units that carry very useful ideas in terms of preparing for any academic study. The first two units (skyscrapers & language learning) include useful points such as paraphrasing and definitions, and other things that I couldn’t remember right now. Anyway I have strong feeling that we miss a lot of benefits because our teachers were in New York. I really liked the unit of male and female communication, and the idea of the lecture is very useful to prepare for university lectures. Evolution unit is also important to give a light about Darwin theory that is important in the academic environment. In addition, learning about writing summary is very important and useful concept. I found the Happiness topic very interesting in terms of its ideas about the fact of happiness. Experimentation on animals is very sensible unit that gave us chance to debate an ethical dilemma even though that we disagreed with our positions. Discrimination is an important unit that lighted up my injuries. I really enjoyed the video, and re-watched it online with my husband and my brother. Looking for a job taught me how to write the CV and the application letter. I think it is very important unit in this period of time. Who is responsible trained me to be a critical thinker. At last, the blogging concept is very useful idea to connect with each other and to know the others’ style of writing and way of thinking.

In general, I have really got benefits when I received a feedback from my teachers especially for writing skills that I think it is more important than any skill to be successful in university. The units in this level were chosen very carefully to serve students as much as this level can. They contain interesting facts in terms of general information and English language.

Book project (text project - thanks Jack)

Honestly, I have found this project useless. The point of this project is to learn how to study and answer questions. I think everybody in the class has reached a stage that makes him/her knows how to study and to answer questions. For me I have sad and painful memories in terms of studying this project. Actually, I didn’t finish reading. And for the topics that I have read I really needed to reread. I have reached a stage of exhausting that made me unable to understand what I read. I kept reading one line for several times. One page took up more than one hour only to understand what is written. I forced myself to continue reading without any care for my needs to rest and to sleep. I forgot my health and my family. The chapter contains complicated ideas that have many of similarities. It needed great deal of concentration- at least for me- to distinguish between them. Honestly, I don’t like to write more than that.

After my presentation

I really worked hard –harder than you expect- to be able to present my research paper. I kept the last day before the presentation day only for practicing. The first practicing took up more than one hour. By practicing i could shrink the period time to 20 minutes.

In terms of the little small things that I distributed between my lovely class, It was a little express that came out directly from my heart to reflect your values inside me. I am really injured when somebody said:”do you think that you will get 5 more marks because of this”. Even though the speaker said “I am joking”, being have such feeling in your mind is very painful.

In fact, I enjoyed this presentation especially when I felt that I made the honey topic sensible for the listeners. Honestly, i didn’t feel with the rapture of finishing as we have had another long exam next day. Anyway, now both of them are gone.

My research project: process and writing.

My research project process has been done very well. Even though I don’t finish the final step which is representing my topic, I feel some satisfaction with what I have achieved so far. Choosing the topic was the most difficult part in this issue. As soon as I was able to start working in my research, the next steps were done very well. I agree that the past week was so hard and difficult for me as I experienced a single mother's life, but now most of work is done. Finally I have been able to finish and submit my paper.

In terms of writing, I found some obstructions for writing reference and quotations, introduction and conclusion, and some times with paraphrasing. However, although this project is not the first project that have been done, I learned a lot from it. For me, the most significant parts in this project are: putting the research plan, searching for reliable sources, having comments about grammatical mistakes, and placing the paper in its final version.

Honestly, I would like to give a great deal of thanks to my teacher Adrianne for her supporting and comments.

“Keep me from ever judging a man until I have walked in his moccasins”…

It is fair enough to judge somebody after putting ourselves in his/her position. Actually, even though most of mature people try to position themselves in the same location to others, they would have mistakable judgment. This is because it is impossible to simulate the exact position. That is why each person should appeal more than one excuse to others.

Last word,we shouldn’t be like some “philosophers” who say that they have tried to appeal any excuse to some one but they couldn’t find any one. If you have not found any excuse, please try to find excuse.

The Population Problem.

In term of the future population, I am not worried about that as I believe no one can predict exactly what will happen next day. Generally, I have been grown and thought that if every one does his responsibility toward himself and the others; we will live in a safe and wonderful place. Our future is placed in between our hands, and we have the absolute freedom to make it sweet or bitter.

In term of the industrial world, I have one massage: you have really introduced many beautiful slogans such as freedom, equality, human rights and so on. Just distribute these wonderful words between our worlds as one family, just present your extra crops and materials to the poor countries, and just introduce your desire for help. If you do that, the water will return to its normal current.

The Love Lecture

The love lecture lighted up my emotion toward my family. I really miss my parent and my siblings. My memories went back as I remembered my mother’s and father’s maternity and warm heartedness, love and support. I felt that if I spent my life to thank them, it would not be enough. They took my hand and move with me step by step. They sacrificed their comfort and happiness, just to see me grow and smile. I love them.

The love word is bigger and more pure than what the media try to show. In fact, it has been distorted by media. The real meaning of love comes when we respect ourselves and others, and when we recognize the real meaning of humanity and human right. It is a combination between sacrifice and altruism. It is the artery of our communications and lives. It is a gift from our creator. Therefore, it should stay for ever.

My mother and father, my brothers and sisters, my husband and children, you are all a big gift to me.

Honey and honeybee, from A to Z...

In my research project, I will enter the bee’s world with all of its fascination and secret. Starting from the bee’s eggs, through their entire life, to the honey as one way to the alternative medicine.

So far I have only one reference, a small book, about the life of bees. I am sure that I need one or two more books, beside the research papers.

As I read that book, I became much interested to enter that hidden world, and I hope to be able to collect and present interested information to all my classmates.

Please if you have any recommendation or advice to me, feel free to inform me…

The Concept Of Happiness

It is true that the fact of happiness is not limited on specific age or gender, and the idea of happiness has no longer ignored between general and individuals. However, as all of us seek and work hardly to be happier, achieving happiness has become our purpose in this life.

But I would like to say something, that we can be much happier if we achieve the real meaning of our humanity. That time when we have a real sense of our minds. That time when we recognize the real different between us and animals. That time when we act as human.

Therefore, the concept of happiness and its way can be easily reached if we just apply the religion in all of our life-sides. Religion that sets our values and makes our lives meaningful, so we will become much healthier, and much happier. Religion that encourages us to act as one body, and to share other’s joy and sad, pain and suffer, so we will become much supportive, and much happier. Religion that encourages us to do volunteer works and charity actions, so we will become much contented, and much happier. Religion that encourages us to avoid the upward comparison, and the high-level need, so we will become much satisfied, and much happier. Religion that encourages us to engage in the worship, and to live with more hope, so we will become much optimistic, and much happier. Religion that encourages us to live our instants and to profiteer them, so we will become much affective, and much happier. I really find Myers too honest when he said: “the two best predictors of life satisfaction are health and religion”[1].

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[1] (Okun & stock, 1987)

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The research project

The research project makes me crazy. I prefer to do things that are clear. In other word, I prefer my teacher to tell me the topic that I need to search about, not to leave me free to choose. Defining the topic makes the job much easier than let this topic opened. If this not, I should keep looking for an interesting topic that is easy to understand for all persons regardless of their education background.

First of all, the topic should be interesting to me. Second, its references should be available and easy to reach. Third, after choosing the subject, I should put a plan to follow. This plan can be cleared by determining some critical questions about my topic such as: 1) general information and definition of that topic, 2) why I am interested in this topic, 3) why this topic is significant, 4) is there any scientific explanation or support for this topic, 5) is this topic new or it is just a repeating of information.

The Novel Project

It was a new activity for me which acts to enhance my personality as it required presenting this novel in an accepted way. Reading the novel in a limited time is a big challenge for me. I spent more than three hours per day to achieve that. Present this novel also was not that easy task. For me I kept practicing more than 10 times to be able to present it in a satisfied way –at least for me-.

In fact, such this project provided me with several things: I learnt how to force my self to finish my required work in a specific time. I learnt how to organize my information and divide it between my presented group. I also learnt how to respect the required time for my part in that presentation. I made some research to get an extra information.

The panel presentation taught me how to keep my self calm, and how to be confident. Watching others presentation gave me some ideas about the good presenter and how the useful criticism works.

In the skin of a lion- preview

In the skin of a lion, by Michael Ondaatje, is a mixture between reality and fiction story. Fiction as it comes from the author’s imagination. Real as it introduces real-historical facts about Toronto in the ‘20s and ‘30s, as it introduces real places and actions, as it introduces real jobs and personalities, as it introduces real suffer and communication facts, and as it introduces real feeling and expressions.

This novel is a combination between love and mystery fiction. Love that places its seeker on the edge of the mad. Mystery that makes the reader playing his role to solve it. It is a kind of non-ended story, which leaves several question marks in the reader’s mind. It is wealthy with metaphors and analogies, so the meaning stays behind the words. The wide imagination of the author creates your wonder as you dazing while wandering around the magic of words, as you live in a real dream.

Reading this novel is like a wonderful trip for professional and reading seekers. But it is a big challenge for a second language learner-like me- who will struggle between the words looking for the real meaning. I feel that I need more time and a second chance to be able to collect all corners of this novel as will as to understand the real meaning of its title “in the skin of a lion”. That is why I recommend this novel for the reading seekers who have enough time to understand the playing with words.

In the skin of a line carries between its folds some messages: The immigrant suffering and their battles to be survived in their new home, the lives of immigrants who built the city then became ignorable after a while, the power of love as it changes its “victim” behavior and life, the lover can’t be forgotten even with her hardness and careless, this life-with all of its wide areas- is so narrow as the person can meet his seeker without any appointment, the political and wealth powerful, how much our surrounded- mates affect our lives, and how much our love for some persons are affected with their performances.

This novel reflects the author’s background, as an adult, immigrant person who doesn’t have any chance to see his dead father. The facts that he has a lot of non-solved question about his father’s personality and life gives some reasons about non-ended and non-cleared mystery in this novel.

Male and Female Communication Patterns

Well, I think the communication pattern is different between any different speakers regardless of his/her gender. Some body likes to speak a lot and to explain every single part in the story. Others prefer to be silent and to mention the important parts using as few words as they can. It depends on the personality of the speaker and his/her age as will as the circumstances of the speaking situation . It also depends on the culture and the used language in the communication place. Moreover, the mood of the speaker at the speaking time affects his/her speaking way. So if he/she has a bad mood, the normality and the used words during speaking will differ comparing with the used word during a well-mood times. Last but not least, it also depends on the relationship between the speaker and the listener. If it is strong, the speaker will speak freely, and will explain as much as he/she can.

The evolution

Evolution is an accepted concept as it describes the ability of every specific life on the surface of the earth to adapt with the surrounding environment and condition. Many evidence can prove this idea such as the adaption of the finches according to the rain seasons, adaption of some insects to immune the toxic substances, adaption of our bodies to the surrounding weather and so on. In fact, this adaption survives the life from being extincted by giving a chance for the stronger to stay and to reproduce an extended offspring.

The unbelievable point in this field is the concept that each life on this earth comes from one source or one single species. If this is true, this means that after hundreds of years we should expect our descendants to be other creations. The human body, as any animal body, can adapt to the surrounding environments. That is why our old-old ancestors were much longer than us, and they even lived longer than our average lives. Although we can increase our knowledge and education by forcing ourselves to study more, we cannot say this will produce more intelligent descendants.

Do you think that if I chose a group of Gorillas and dressed them as humans and spend all of my life to educate them, they would develop to be new creatures who can speak and act as a human. What blind idea this is!!!!

A good language learner

A good language learner is a subject for a lot of discussion between the educators. However, it is interesting to know some of the characteristics for a good language learner. First of all, beginning learning in the childhood is the most important characteristic that gives a great distinguish between the language learners. In a very young age, the learner looks like a sponge that is capable to absorb as much liquid as it can regardless to the kinds of that liquid. Moreover, a good language learner always wills to make mistakes. Making mistakes creates something like immunity against repeating these mistakes again. Furthermore, a good language learner is the one who practices as often as possible. Practicing is a very important rule to increase the rate of progress in the language learning. Indeed, the practice has no limited places or times. Therefore, the learner can practice any time every where. Finally, a good language learner always enjoys the grammar exercises. These exercises give the learner a right direction to the language proficiency. In fact, the grammar exercises are very important to be a good speaker and a good writer learner. All of the previous characteristics identify a good language learner and give some hints about what should we do to be a good language learners.

Sky Scrapers

We live in a competitive world. Every day you must hear strange news or story that makes you say" wow". The super skyscrapers are one of this news. Although there is no official definition to classify a building as a skyscraper, but it has been agreed that the skyscraper is a very tall and habitable building. However, these super huge buildings place a debate point among many of educated persons. The constructors of super skyscrapers claim that the purpose of constructing such these buildings is to solve the population explosion of the city. From my point of view, I believe that creating such these huge buildings isn't good. Economical, constructional, and logical arguments can be used to support my position.

Starting with the economical argument, it is know that the budget for creating any super skyscraper is very high. Therefore, the super skyscraper owners consume a lot of money which can’t be easily restored. Moreover, it is difficult for the super skyscrapers to meet all needs of the rental markets and the workers. In other word, the floor size should be appropriate to the required prices in the markets. In addition, the workers don’t have any desire to work at any places that are located far away from the nearest windows.

The constructional argument takes its place also in this debate. It is known that creating these huge buildings takes a long period of time. Moreover, the defects of such these buildings can’t be recognized until they have been built. Besides that, the loads of these buildings make them under the risk of collapse. In addition, the winds and earthquakes can easily place the super skyscrapers occupation persons under a high risk of dangers.

From a logical point of view, even though the owners say that the purpose of creating these buildings is to meet the population needs. It is known that the price of such these buildings is too high to let the middle class people to live in rather than the poor people. Therefore, the only rich people, who already have many places to live, are be able to face the high rental apartments of the super skyscrapers.

In the end, I personally believe that it is not necessarily to consume much more money to build the super skyscrapers. Besides the economical, constructional, and logical previous arguments I believe that the main reason to build them is the human desire to show, challenge, and involve the competition.