Sandra Cisneros Presentation

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Something interesting I’ve learned

Of all the things I learned this year, I find history class a very interesting and fun class to be in. This year since I took American literature and U.S. history, sometimes when we read a story or autobiography of someone in American literature class, we would also be learning some background information on that story in U.S. history class. It might be a coincident, but I find it easier to understand the story when you can also learn the background information about the story in your history class. Another topic I learned this year I find very fun was biology. Throughout the year, biology was one of the hard subjects but I learned a lot of scientific things about life I find very cool, such as genetic variation stuff or cell formation. Of all seriousness, I would actually have to say I really like my literature class. Even though we didn't learn any fancy math equations or complicated science principles, I've always find reading and just touching language my favorite thing to do. Learning literature materials were always easygoing and fun, but also approaching the language even deeper at the same time. I’m impressed by writers and how they could spend a lot of time just to write a small but powerful and meaningful poem. I often get inspire by that. i couldn’t really think of anything that stands out to me out of everything I learned, because everything is interesting to me, except for math.

How to be a better student/ language learner

First thing first, going into high school is one of the most exciting and tiring four years in our lives. I have a few points and tips to share today.

1. DON’T SLACK OFF!!!!! 

This is an obvious point, but as a sophomore, I saw many freshmen slack off and did not care for their grade. Some of them did not understand the language and just give up. They thought it was cool to not pay attention in class and trying to be a bad student to show off. This year I joined a few classes that only consist of seniors and juniors. I learned from them that you do not want to slack off during any of your high school years, because when you look back at it, you will not think it is cool or awesome anymore, neither will the universities your trying to apply into.

     2. SPEAK WITH PEOPLE WHO SPEAK ENGLSIH

Many people slack off in school because they do not understand the material or do not know the language. Speaking with the same group of people that always speak Chinese to you might to pleasurable and easy, but it will not help you. Speak with people that speak English or whatever language you are learning. Through their conversations, you will slowly gain access to the key to good language skills.

3. DON’T BE AFRIAD TO STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD

Get out of your comfort zone! You probably think having good grades and testing scores would be enough for you to get into your dream university. Get over yourself; there are tons of people like you in the world. What makes you unique and different in those thousands of people that have good grades? Don't be a copy of everyone else around you. 

That is all the points I want to share today, I still have a long way in high school to go myself, and I wish I helped whoever is reading this.

Plans for the Summer

Summer!!! The time to sleep till noon, go to the beach, stroll around town on a mini adventure with friends! Well apparently my summer plans are not going to be that relaxing seeing as after the summer I will be officially a junior, which means the start to two worst years in high school as I would think. I’m just a sophomore now, but I know that to get into a good university, you not only need good school grades/ high GPA, you also need to at least get a decent grade on the SAT or TOFEL or whichever test your university requires you to take. So my summer plan is basically sit down and pile myself in some good studying. Aside from all the studying, I also want to do something meaningful and something great, or just something to help the society. I don’t mean the everyday helping in libraries and doing community services. I want to achieve something great before I leave high school. That’s all I could think of for now, although I would definitely want to add more plans into my summer bucket list. 

Story that I like— Winter Dreams

Out of all the stories we recently read I like the story “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I really like this story because it embodies the brutal reality of life. It is actually sad that Dexter spent a large chunk of his life trying to get away from his status is born with—a middle class boy to a rich owner of a company. He wanted Judy Jones not only because she is charming, beautiful, and daring, but she also represents wealth to Dexter. Dexter tried everything to get Judy, but he did not succeed in the end, and just like that, his dreams faded away. This story showed some everyday scenarios we might face, it also shows how things we feel have the highest value now might fade in the future, such as Judy Jones beauty. Overall I enjoyed reading this book; I find the ending quite beautiful and really pushed the theme out for the reader to understand. 

A good place to visit in Taiwan-- Jiufen Old Street

It is said that at the start of this village, there is only nine families, so when they need to go buy everyday necessities they would buy nine of the same thing. That is why this place translated in Chinese is called “九份”.In 1893 someone found gold Juifen, so this small village attracted more than 4,000 families’ .The most famous and popular tourist attraction here is the Jiufen Old Street. Among this street there are many shops, selling some famous Taiwanese snacks such as the yam balls. At the end of this street which is pretty long, you can see the sea. There are many tea shops that let you sit there and watch the sea from high up the mountain. It is a pretty cool place to visit. You will find many cultural things that represent Taiwan there. 

Good fences make good neighbors

I would say the quote “good fences make good neighbors” is true, and you don’t have to have no boundaries between your neighbors to be close to them. I remember when I was in Canada as a kid, there is tall black fences separating our backyard from our neighbor’s backyard. Our neighbor had two kids at that time and they often play those big colorful plastic bouncy balls in the summer. The balls always get over the fence and trespass to our backyard so I had to help them get the ball and give it back to them. I don’t know how it happened, but this formed a friendship between me and the neighbor’s kids, we played ball across our fences, just throwing the ball in between those black fences. Sometimes in the summer we will eat popsicles together across the fences while talking about things at school, since we go to different schools. It was fun, we never got to ride a bike or go to the playground together outside of our backyard, but that friendship to me at that time was one of a kind. Il believed that good fences make good neighbors, you don’t have to tell them your everything to be at good relationship with them. A simple act of kindness could bring you happiness and even another friend.