Globlization

With the development of globalization, our planet is getting smaller and smaller. The high technology makes the steps of globalization move even quicker and quicker. Globalization has been impacting our lives in so many different levels. For example,a few decades ago, it usually took more than one month to get to Vancouver, Canada from Hong Kong by vessels, now it takes only 13 hours by flight. The economic connections among different countries or regions which rely on each other are getting stronger than ever before. The recent fall in Chinese stock market that caused the worldwide stock makets to drop in a huge volume explained how globalization influences the different economic systems. Ten years ago, I could hardly hear European or American people speak Chinese, now, many of them have started to learn and speak Chinese. Some Chinese, such as "drink tea", have become their own oral words. "Drink tea" orginally comes from the Cantonese language "Yiung Ca", which means "take morning tea" or breakfirst. In the meantime, many Chinese people, including myself, are so much involved with English. English is widely used in my routine life. Globalization brings us so many benifits, yet we should also observe that it brings some negative effects as well. The rich are getting richer because of their hunge capital which enables them to control the resources, and the poor are getting poorer since they are unable to compete with those strong competitors.

Book Review - Great Expectation

Pip's parents died when he was a baby. He was very poor when he was young. One day he met an escaped convict who was very hungry, and he stole some foods from his sister's house and delivered the food to the convict. He forgot all of this afterwards. At that time, he had no expectation at all when he stayed together with his sister who brought him up since their parents died. Until one day he went to visit Ms. Havinsham, a rich lady in the village, where he met a pretty girl named Estella who was very proud and looked down upon him. Ms. Havinsham was so nice to him that he anxiously expected he would get some of her fortune. The lucky day finally came to him when he received a message from the lawyer, Mr. Joggers, who imformed him that somebody had sponsored him to have a good education in London. He thought it was Ms. Havinsham who supported him to have the education because he had been expecting the fortune from her. But finally he realized it was the escaped convict who Pip gave food a long time ago. He also expected to marry Estella, but unfortunitely she married another stupid and rude guy.

Text Based Skill 2- Grammar

Reported by New Zealand Herald, a mother is going to face a jail term because she assaulted her 7 years old son with a wooden spoon, and left him 4cm welts. Here is a link to this article. The case has become a political argument between the National Party and Green Party. Most of the verbs in the article are past simple forms that describe the past affairs. There is an example of present perfect simple passive form, i.e. “He has been removed from the home”, to mean something has been done over a period of time. There is an example of past perfect simple form “she had taken on too much and realized she needed help”, to mean it had happened in the past. An example of future simple passive form, “She will be sentenced in the Napier District Court on May 3”. An example of past continuous form, “he was taking too long to get ready for tee-ball”. An example of present continuous form, “the mother is trying to regain custody”.

Lecture Summary 2-Unions in New Zealand

Lecture Summary- Unions in New Zealand
Lecturer: Sarah Hardman
Date: 3 April, 2007

Ms. Sarah Harman, the Unitec lecturer and Branch Chairman of the Association of Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE), gave a lecture about unions in New Zealand on the Mt Abert campus at Unitec on 3 April, 2007. In the lecture, Sarah described the concept and functions of a union. According to her lecture, a union is an organization with some members joining in it, and workers organise into a voluntary association, or union to further their mutual benefits with respect to wages, working hours, working conditions and other matters of interest, such as equality of opportunities, etc. For instance, a union can bargain on their member’s behalf with their employers for pay, holidays or wages and so on. Unions also handle the strikes if they fail to achieve the reasonable negotiation with the employers. The research made by New Zealand government shows that there are 333,000 union members in New Zealand, and 51.50 percent among them are females. Any workers can join the unions to protect their own benefits.

Lecture Summary 1- EAP- Student Services/Funding

Lecture Summary 1- EAP- Student Services/Funding
Lecturer: Annette
Date: 27 March, 2007

Annette from the Student Services/Funding Centre(SSFC) of Unitec delivered a lecture on 27 March, 2007, regarding the issues related to student's study career on campus. It brings benefits if students learn how to use different kinds of services. There are some optional ways to choose if students need help, however, it is mainly offered by SSFC that provides a wide range of sevices connected with student loans and allowances , job research, budget, financial advice, tips to student's expenses and incomes, award scholarships and grants, etc. To succeed their targets, students should learn to use all these facilities which definitely help them to work out their problems. Contact with SSFC for advice at any time if neccessary.