Lecture Summary-Safety-Oral Based Skill 2(week 12)

Last Tuesday(22 May, 2007), Ms. Juliet Huang from ACC delivered a lecture about safety when driving a car. Many cases showed that speeding was the main reason that caused people being killed in traffic accidents. Every year, there are around 1,000 New Zealand people who die of different sort of accidents, and half of people among them, i.e. 500, die of road accidents. Among the 500 death toll, one third are directly killed due to speeding. Higher speeding leads to more crashes, becasue its hard for the drivers to keep enough distance, and it is very easy to misjudge the situation. Speeding driving is absolutely the same with drinking driving. Hence, to avoid the accidents, reducing our speed is the key to keep safe. We cannot afford to beat the Law of Physics.

Summary-Text Based Skill 2 (week 11)

The chart shows the trend how people spent winnings in charity, travel, home, cars, other transport, living expenses and luxury items between the year 1992 and 2001.

It can be seen from the chart that the largest percentage which people spent winnings were cars and luxury items. People spent almost one third (30%) of the winnings on cars in 1992. The percentage almost remained the same in 1997 and 2001, i.e. 28% and 27% respectively. Very similarly, another large percentage was luxury items, the percentage only slightly declined from 25% in 1992 to 24% in 1997, and then increased to 30% in 2001. It reflects that people had always been attracted by cars and luxury items for the past 9 years.

The charity sharply dropped two third from 15% in 1992 to a bottom of 5% in 1997, and then tripled to 13% in 2001. This reflects people had different attitude towards charity or donation in different periods.

People spent 14% of winnings on extended travel and holidays in 1992, the percentage stably increased to 20% in 1997, and then dramatically dropped to 5% in 2001. The reason was probably because people spent more winnings on second home. For more evidence to support this idea, we can see from the chart that people only spent 8% on second home in 1992, but the percentage significantly increased from 11% in 1997 to 20% in 2001. It is thought that people were more and more involved into buying houses in 1997-2001.

People only spent a low percentage on other transport. In other words, people only spend 2% on it. The percentages almost remained unchanged during the period from 1992 to 2001. It is very interesting to find that people spent 6% of their winning on living expenses in 1992, and the percentage slightly increased to 10% in 1997, and then, with a big surprise, the percentage dramatically dropped four out of five to 2% in 2001. It is considered that very probably people needed to save money for their second homes.

Over the past 9 years, people had always been interested in cars and luxury items, such as jewelry, designer clothes, TVs, etc. It reflects that people’s lifestyle kept the same. However, it is very interesting to see that people were very much involved into property investment- buying their second homes.

Movie Review- -Oral Based Skill(Week 5)

Today, I watched a wonderful movie named <<Forest Gump>> at the Unitec library. Forest Gump was an excellent guy. He was a little bit retarded, but he had a great mother who always loved him and encouraged him in her life. His mother said “life is like a box of chocolates”, which means life is hard, but if people love it, then they will feel like tasting a chocolate-it’s bitter in the beginning, then after comes sweet. He experienced the most important events between 1950’s and 1980’s. He met three presidents of the United States, and he joined the army during the period of the Vietnam War. He became a famous Ping Pang ball athlete after he quit the army. He bought a boat to catch shrimp, because his army colleague Bubbe who was killed in Vietnam had a dream to own a shrimp boat. He did very well in the shrimp business and made a lot of money. He finally married his loved girl Jenny. (166 words)

An article about my country in the international news-Text Based Skill 2(Week 10)

Wow, my pig has died....wooo........

I am very much concerned about the invisible viruses which infect people and make people sick or even die. The SARS in 2003 that was firstly found in Guangdong Province in China, and then spread over Hong Kong left people a deep impression. This is a link to an article in the Washington Post. According to the report on the 10th of May, China's Agriculture Ministry has warned that a pig disease could spread over China in hot summer. So far, the so-called "blue ear" disease has killed at least 3,000 pigs. The blue ear disease was firstly found in the United States in 1987, and spread to China in the mid-1990s. There is no statistic which shows the total number of infected pigs in China, because many pigs are raised on small farms or by individual farmers. However, according to the Hong Kong media, about 1,300 pigs were believed to be infected by the disease. Fortunately, the disease does not affect people.(163 words)

Lecture Summary-Police -Oral Based Skill 2(Week 10)

Policeman Rohan Stace delivered a lecture regarding the police on Mt Abert campus yesterday( 15 May, 2007). He outlined a wide range of things which were related to the police. He mentioned about how to communicate with the police, including people's rights, what are the police expecting from people, and how to deal with burglars. ect. For example, if people are in danger, dial "111" and the police will come. People are suggested not to be involved with the first crime situation, and they should better leave immediately from there and dial "111" to the police, or directly go to the police station to report the situation. Self-defence is legal in New Zealand, but it is not encouraged, because very probably people would be seriously injured. Domestic violence is a serious crime in New Zealand. By law, children under 14 years should not be left at home alone, and they must be fastened in a car on the road.

Gernerally, if peoplw are in an emergency, feel free to dial "111" for help. For more information, please go to visit the police website www.police.govt.nz

Diploma Trip-Text Based Skill`2 (Week Nine, Posted on 11 May)

We had a wonderful Diploma Trip on the 1st of May, 2007. I got up early in the morning that day, and went to Unitec to pick up my classmate Flint and Tarik. Around 9:30 in the morning, we arrived at Titirangi Village centre to meet the other classmates. We had our breakfasts at a coffee shop, and started to go to the Cornwallis Beach around 10:30 in the morning.

On the way to Cornwallis Beach, Cindy drove with a car and she followed my car all the time. In case we might lost somewhere in the Titirangi mountains, Flint brought two interphones, and we kept talking on the interphones while driving on the road. Anita, who was sitting in Cindy’s car, was so excited that she started to sing a lovely song, and Flint, who was sitting in my car, sang another classical song after Anita finished her singing.

As you can see from the picture above, the weather was very good when we arrived at the Cornwallis Wharf at 11 o'clock in the morning, and started to fish. Cindy and Anita brought with them so many delicious foods, including Chinese dumplings, and we shared the lunch on the wharf. We spent the whole afternoon there fishing. We talked about where and how we could catch big fish at New Zealand fishing point. Although we only caught some small fish, everybody was still very happy, because we took it as our Diploma Trip. It is really a good idea to have a break or relax after the busy study. I am hoping that we can have more activities like this Diploma Trip later.

Comparison of two pitctures-Oral Based skill 2(7th May,Week 9)

The two pictures are all related to the class. The first picture shows that students are questioning each other and giving their own ideas or comments. The teacher is only sitting there, and from time to time he/she gives some suggestions or ideas which may help the students to resovle their problems. On this way, students not only need to do brain storms, but also need to find out the answers with their own unique ways or methods.

The second piture shows a traditional way that the teacher asks the questions, and students need to answer the questions by putting up their hands. On this way, students will have to follow the teacher's way of thinking, and answer the related questions required by the teachers.

I prefer to teaching method in the first picture, becasue students possibly will be much more involved with the critical thinking, and find out reasonable answers with their own ways. (168 words)

Domestic News Headlines-Text Based Skill 2- Summary(3th May, week 8)

I have chosen “Climate Changes” from the New Zealand Herald as my BLOG assignment. Regarding how to stop global warming, the climate change experts and the enviromentalists have different ideas about the usage of more nuclear power and using the modified biofuel products. Nuclear reactors are dangerous, and land clearance and chemical pesticides and fertilisers used to grow plants could possibly cause huge environmental damage. Hence, simply replacing the old technologies with new technologies will not work. In addition, the mixes of existing policies related to energy efficiency, renewable energy, etc., are also needed to be taken into consideration. Australia has started to use nuclear power and reduced export of mineral products. However, some countries, such as India and China need to do more for our planet. Overall, to completely prevent our planet from heating up so rapidly, it is strongly suggested that our fundamental lifestyles need to be changed.

28 verb forms are in active voice, 6 are in passive voice. Details as follows:-
1. Active voice
1).to fight 2).using 3).boost 4).outline
5).to save 6).come 7).commits 8).to remove
9).insists 10).to stabilize 11).to pay 12)transforming
13).estimates 14).stabilizing 15).avoiding 16).sets
17).mixes 18).can control 19).to pay 20).said
21).had considered 22).replacing 23).wont work 24).to grow 25).could cause 26).criticized 27).said 28).should provide

2. Passive voice
5 Present simple passive as follows:-
1).Modified 2).needed 3).considered 4).envisaged
5).are prepared

1 simple past passive
Were needed

Domestic news headlines-Oral Based Skill 2 (3th May, Week 8)

There are 6 front page stories on the radio - 2 stories from the New Zealand Herald, 2 stories from the Dominion Post, 1 story from the Press, 1 story from the Otago Daily Times. I choose “Climate Changes” from the NZ Herald as my BLOG assignment. The story tells about the new methods to stop global warming - using more nuclear power and modified biofuel products.

Three pronunciations from the story:-

1. weak form-schwa------------ to/∂ / fight
2. consonant to vowel linking---------- clash /∂ /over
3. sounds disappear------------ fight/g/ global

The different manners in my country and New Zealand

Different countries or regions have different manners. Usually, most of the manners of human being are almost the same or very similar. For example, people say “Thank you” if they receive help or benefit from someone else. However, some manners are different. Some manners in your own country could offend people in another country. For instance, in New Zealand, a male could hug or even kiss a female, yet it is definitely embarrassing if he does it in China. Usually kissing a female is a “sex” signal in China, but in New Zealand, kissing on the cheeks is a common manner which means “I respect you”. In New Zealand, it is treated as rude manner if people speak loudly in public areas, such as at a restaurant, where they are enjoying the delicious food. But unfortunately, Chinese people very often speak loudly at a restaurant when they are eating. I think it is partly because Chinese people always want to make sure that the others are listening to them speaking. The other reason why Chinese people speak so loudly is probably because there are always too many people at restaurants.

comparison of two pictures

The two pictures are all related to the people’s lifestyle. The first one shows a rural village which is very quiet for a living. Usually the old or retired people like to live there. Of course, farmers who have to look after their cows and sheep usually stay there. The second picture is an urban one that shows tall buildings, streets and so many crowds. Usually, young people and business people like to stay in cities.

I have got used to the life style in the busy and crowded city. After I came to New Zealand, I noted the whole country looked like rural countryside. There are almost no tall buildings in the country. Of course, I finally found some “tall” buildings in the Auckland city centre, yet they looked really small comparing with the huge buildings in Hong Kong. Although there are almost no tall buildings in New Zealand, it does not mean I do not like the country, on the contrary, I really enjoy the rural life style in New Zealand. People are so nice to me, and I love to communicate and make friends with them.