Log #7

  “Matilda” by Roald Dahl is a celebrated children’s novel, which was published in 1988 and won the Children’s Book Award in 1999. It was also adapted to a film in 1996. I had watched the film first, however, the novel version attracted me more. Because I could imagine more through reading “Matilda”, especially when she was punishing the evil head minister and she was playing with the lovely teacher—Miss Honey.

  This is a story about a brilliant and adorable girl Matilda who was ignored by her parents and elder brother. Matilda was too smart for her “couch-potato” parents to understand anything she said. Therefore, she was sent to a kindergarten which was operated by an fierce head minister—Miss Trunchbull. Miss Trunchbull did a lot of bad things before—she framed Miss Honey’s father to die and occupied his house, belongings and school. Not only did Miss Trunchbull treated students very mean, but also vicious to Miss Honey. Nonetheless, Matilda learned ecstatically with Miss Honey and discovered her superpower—she could control anything that she was concentrating on. At last, Matilda used her superpower to penalize Miss Trunchbull and convinced her parents to let her be adopted by Miss Honey. At the end of the story, Matilda and Miss Honey had a happy and blessed life forever.

  Although the main character are Matilda, Miss Trunchbull and Miss Honey and the most concerned plot is when Miss Trunchbull receiving the punishment, I like the plots where Matilda was staying with her family. Since I have gotten great amount of love and concern from my parents, I thought Matilda is very poor at first. The only thing in her parents’ eyes is benefits. They would rather watching television than chatting to Matilda. Compared to my parents, they always very willing to listen to me and giving me suggestions. They are the best listeners, who encourage me to have a constant communication with them since I was young, and it gradually becomes a habit. As a result, when I was confused about my life and what I am going to do in the future, I would always follow parents’ suggestions. Basically speaking, I would do anything they want me to do. That’s why I am thinking about learning Chinese Medicine after I got Chinese bachelor’s degree though what I am interested in now is being a Chinese teacher.

  Nevertheless, I don’t think too many communications would be a good thing. I consider that I rely on my parents’ opinion too much and I should determine things more by myself. I am still learning how to be independent, and my parents are also learning to let me have the right to decide. After all, this is my life. I have to take care of myself and take the responsibility of my life. I will keep trying to be a strong girl that can easily deal with every trouble I meet in the future.

Log #6

  “Peter Pan” by J.M. Barrie is a classic children’s magic fiction. Since Disney adapt the book to an animated film, Peter Pan was more well-known. I became one of Peter Pan’s fans after watching the film, and could wait to buy the book to read it.

This is a story about an elder sister Wendy and her two younger brother John and Michael, who were invited by Peter Pan to visit Neverland, and having a sequence of adventure with Peter Pan. They fly to Neverland and meet fairies, mermaids, aboriginals, and pirates. Having a great time with them and fight against those pirates. At last, although Wendy and her brothers couldn’t stay at Neverland, they become super good friends with each other.

I like “Peter Pan” because it full of imagination and courageous. These are some of the most important things for me in my life. Since I was young, reading fictions has always been my favorite leisure activities. While other kids are watching cartoons, comics, or playing toys, I am mostly reading fictions. I think that caused me have a quantity of imagination. I really enjoy the time imaging through the plots of the novels. Enjoying myself fly through the sky which is full of twinkling stars with Peter Pan. And another example is Harry Potter. I still remembered when I was 11 years old, I was really looking forward to receiving the admission notice from Hogwarts. However, not only did I expect to receive the admission notice, but I also firmly believe that I can join Gryffindor house to meet Harry Potter. In spite of the fact that now I know the plots in novels are mostly not real, I will still image the beautiful worlds in novels.

Courageous is an important thing for me. I’m a coward girl when facing challenges, unfamiliar things and environments. Nevertheless, I am always trying to be brave and fearless. I threw myself to unfamiliar environments and tried to made friends and found comfortable ways to stay at different environments. For examples, I take classes in both NTUST and NTNU, but I didn’t have any friend in these two places before and I even had to search for a map to find these two places and classrooms. Despite the fact that it was extremely uncomfortable when unfamiliar things and people surrounding me, I did my best to bear with new environments and new friends. And now I make some friends who are very taking care of me, giving me a lot of help and encouragement. Teachers treat me very good and make me feel warm, also give me many useful suggestions. I would like to keep trying to be brave, and at last become a girl full of courage.

Concept map

Log #5

  “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series which written by C.S.Lewis is one of my favorite novels that I have read. It is talking about a story of things happened in a magic and mysterious world “Narnia”. The main characters are four brothers and sisters—Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and the most important one, Aslan. I saw movie first and then read the novels, however, I felt moved and just like I am having an great adventure with the characters. I could feel their growing, their confusion, their courage and their weaknesses. This series affected me a lot, no matter on having good relationship with others or on having great courage to face any difficulties and challenges. I learned many things from the series, and I want to talk about my favorite character—Edmund.

  Being the third kids in the family, Edmund always thought that he was the one least being taken carefully. Because his elder brother Peter and elder sister Susan is very obedient, and younger sister is the youngest, their parents would often neglected Edmund’s requirements and wanted him to take good care of Lucy. Moreover, when Edmund was disobedient, he would be scolded by Peter and Susan. These unfair treatments made Edmund stand by the evil White Witch cause she made use of Edmund’s weakness—she gave him her concern.

  At the end Edmund penetrated the White Witch’s bad plan and went back to Aslan’s group. However, the process of getting sensible, thoughtful, faithful and forgiving his family’s unfair treatments are the plot which is truly touch me a lot.

  In my family, I mean the bigger one which include my aunts, uncles and cousins, I’m the third kids too. Although my parents love me very much and I know the love they give me is totally equal to my younger brother, not really like Edmund’s condition, sometimes I would still feel a little bit uncomfortable about being the third kids in the family.

  I deeply know the desire of bring the younger one and being taken care of others. Nevertheless, I always had to take care of my younger brother, and my two elder cousins often thought that my brother was cute and I was annoyed. What’s more, I felt like my brother didn’t like me than the cousins because I would discipline him when he was disobedient. The feeling of being ignored by cousins and my brother was complicated and very sad.

  Nonetheless, “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series helped me a lot, especially Edmund. From his journey of turning into a sensible child, I learned the way of showing my love and how to balance the supply and demand of my love and care. I realized that my cousins still love me but they just like Peter and Susan, who didn’t know how to express their love correctly. And my brother is just like Lucy, who is not always at the same frequency with Edmund. He loves me of course, however, he always uses some special ways to express his love to me.

  “The CHRONICLES of NARNIA” series is definitely a great novel. I am very thankful for this series of novel and one of the main character Edmund. Thank these things let me open my heart and feel the concern and love from my cousins and brother.

image source:https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%8D%E5%B0%BC%E4%BA%9E%E5%82%B3%E5%A5%87%EF%BC%9A%E7%8D%85%E5%AD%90%C2%B7%E5%A5%B3%E5%B7%AB%C2%B7%E9%AD%94%E8%A1%A3%E6%AB%A5

Log #4

    “Cyberbullying affects people from any age and walk of life, including children, teens and adults who all feel very distressed and alone when being bullied online.”

    Since cyberbullying has become a serious problem, the effects to the victims are one of the important subjects to be noticed. To be honest, no one would feel happy when being insulted or scolded no matter online or to face. However, compared with general bullying, abusing people online would be a more serious problem because Internet spread everything rapidly and widely. People, especially teens and children, who relies on cellphones and computers a lot would be affect more seriously. After reading these articles, I will try to summarize the processes of the victims’ mood change and effects.

    The most commonly and the first symptom is “Low Self-Esteem”. It is easy for the victims to feel low self-esteem when being abused.Because people will reflect on ourselves when being criticized by others, especially by many strangers online. Nonetheless, it is just the beginning.

    What’s worse is that victims would feel vulnerable and powerless. They would not search for parents’ or teachers’ help because they afraid to be hurt again and also afraid that parents and teachers would be overreactive or in contrast, careless.

    After the period of being depressed, anger and the thought of revenge would come up to their minds. If victims could not forgive the bullies at this angry period, there is a great chance for the victims to be locked in the bully-victim cycle, and probably become bullies in the future.

    If the victims turn their anger into disappointed and feel disinterested in life, this time would be very dangerous and crucial. Victims would feel that no one could understand them and feel themselves are different from others. It is not meaning that they feel they are special and distinctive. Since the victims suffer from cyberbullying, most of them would choose to shut off the computers and turn off the cellphones. Nevertheless, for people living in this modern and technology world, it is hardly to keep in touch with friends without cellphones and computers. The victims would feel more lonely and isolated. All in all, the feeling of alone would be so  painful that they no longer want to live in the world.

    If the victims could not overcome the lonely and isolated period, they would start wanting to commit suicide. “Cyberbullying increases the risk of suicide.” Once the victims get cyberbullied, they would likely to cut down the communication with others, and the trust and faith in peers and friends would disappear. The sense of belonging from Peers’ and friends’ would make victims feel hopeless and anxious. At the end, they would be possible to commit suicide. This is the most serious situation.

    The effects of cyberbullying could be slight or critical. Knowing these circumstances clearly so that we could think of the solution and try to avoid cyberbullying. Furthermore, we would not be too nervous when we or the people around us encounter cyberbullying. Instead, we could smoothly deal with cyberbullying and help more and more victims go through it!

Effects of Cyber bullying

http://www.bullying.co.uk/cyberbullying/effects-of-cyberbullying/

What are the Effects of Cyberbullying

https://www.verywell.com/what-are-the-effects-of-cyberbullying-460558

Cyberbullying Effects

https://nobullying.com/cyberbullying-and-its-effects/

Cyber-Bullying and its Effects on our youth

http://www.osteopathic.org/osteopathic-health/about-your-health/health-conditions-library/general-health/Pages/cyber-bullying.aspx

Log #3

  As the advance of technology, internet has become a boundless and been widely used in various ways. People deliver their thoughts and information through the internet, which help our human beings easier to obtain information and global issue. Nonetheless, everything has two sides. On the opposite side of the benefits of the internet is definitely online abuse, or so called, “Cyberbullying”.

  Cyberbullying is a serious problem for years since the internet been used extensively because compares with bullying others face to face, cyberbullying could be anonymous and make people become a blind follower. There are too many examples prove that cyberbullying is a serious problem, especially among teenagers and salarymen.

There is an article “11 Facts about Cyberbullying” shows many investigated facts about how cyberbullying affects human. For instance, the first fact indicates that “Nearly 43% of kids have been bullied online.”. The percentage of kids have been bullied online is quite high, not to mention the bullying among teens. Moreover, “teenage girls are about twice likely as boys to be both victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying.” indicates that different from past bullying ways (such as beating or cursing someone), online abuse happen more often to girls than boys. By my experience, I consider that it is because girls are accustomed to do things together and got used to contact with friends by communication software.

Except for personal cyberbullying, public bullying is also another serious way of cyberbullying. Since everyone’s speech could be easily spread through the internet, people receive aggressive speech from social media and the internet more and more often. People speak sarcastic and ridicule words on the internet. Although most of them are maybe just kidding, the words are mostly with racial discrimination or sexism. As I previously mentioned, people could freely and anonymously speak online. When people are getting used to speak online, they would start to be less careful of their speech. I think that’s why cyberbullying is not limited for person but also public.

When using the internet, apart from being thankful of it’s convenience, the important thing id that we should also be careful with our speech!

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/30/style/when-the-cyberbully-is-you.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FCyberbullying&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=10&pgtype=collection&_r=0

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

Log #2

 Teach girls bravery, not imperfection.

“We’re raising our girls to be perfect, and we’re raising our boys to be brave.” the founder of the tech organization Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani said. Around the world, there are many girls taught to give sweet smiles, to get As, to be perfect as we can. Nevertheless, boys are taught to be brave to do everything they want to try.

A 1980’s research shows that bright girls were quick to give up. The higher the IQ, the more likely they were to give up. On the other hand, bright boys were energizing and willing to redouble their efforts to achieve the goals. Moreover, there is another study demonstrates that men will apply for a job if they meet only 60% of the qualifications, but women will apply only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. The difference not in their ability, but in how boys and girls approach a challenge.

Honestly, before watching this TED talk, I had thought myself a brave girl for years. I went to a boarding high school when I was 14 and lived in the dormitory where without my family for two years; I went through many important exams and tried my best to go into the best school; I went to America for a two-week-exchange-student program with my classmates all by ourselves. Recalling those memories, although I experienced many different things, as the speaker said, is still not a “brave” girl but a “perfect” girl. Indeed, I urged myself to do everything well in my life. I told myself to get good grades, to perform good in contests and performances.

I am not a brave girl. When it comes to facing a challenge, the first thing comes up to my mind is how to protect myself to not get hurts or to be influenced. Similar with last TED talk I’ve watched, I learned many principles and methods to be a better and more positive person. As for being a brave person, I will start to try things that I am desiring but also scaring to do before, and also try not to avoid responsibility when I am afraid.

Finally, although the research shows that boys are braver than girls, bravery is still an enormous issue for both boys and girls. People should give themselves enough confident and courage. Therefore, no matter what challenge we face, we would always have methods and faith to solve it.

TED:https://www.ted.com/talks/reshma_saujani_teach_girls_bravery_not_perfection

Log #1

“What keeps us healthy and happy as we go through life?”

This is undeniably a tremendous and deep question which puzzled every one living on the earth. The 12 minutes TED talk was given by a director of the Harvard Study of   Adult Development, Robert Waldinger. The research that he is directing could be traced back to 75 years ago. Through 75 years' studying, the preliminary conclusion is that –good relationship makes us happier and healthier.

The talk shows that wealth and fame are not the most important things for one’s happiness and health but a good relationship with others. Being a 19-year-old college freshman, what I did the most in the past of my life was studying. My parents and all the teachers at school told me that chasing for good grades and getting into the best school would be the only chance and choice to become a successful person in the future. To get high scores on quizzes and tests is not a big problem for me since I started going to school. However, I am absolutely not a person who is able to integrate into the crowd. On the other words, I can difficultly make friends with strangers and also don’t really know how to keep a good and continuous contact with my friends. After watching this TED talk, I will start to try to be a people-smart and street-smart person instead of only being a street-smart person. What’s more, I change my mind about having ”success” and “happiness”. Although doing our best to get a good grade and to be famous is still considered to be an important thing for most people in Taiwan, I think what we can do more is to keep a good relationship every one we met. Try to pursue a happy and healthy life!

https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness