Commend Movies

   The Shawshank Redemption: In the late 1940s, a little accomplished young banker, Andy, was thrown into jail because of murdering his wife and her lover. In this movie named The Shawshank Redemption, hope seemed elusive. Punishment of life imprisonment doomed Andy`s life gloomy despair. No longer, Andy try to close to the prisoners in the prestigious, Rhett , and want him to help him get a small hammer. In this case, Andy also seemed to be in good and evil people mixed up. Life in prison of confusion made him find his own way of survival. He took advantage of its professional knowledge to help prison management for tax evasion and money laundering. At the same time Andy contacted with Rhett, who is well-received among prisoners. Surface, it seems that he took easy for the jail life, but the longing for freedom are still prompted him to advance the goals and hope in the heart. And the truth about his crimes, seems to make it all move forward one step further. In my opinion of this movie, talent and perseverance will make people reach their goals.

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   Leon: The story discribe about a 12-years-old girl, Mathilda, has a misery life. Her father is involved in handling drugs for a crooked cop named Norman Stansfield. One day, Mathilda comes across Leon, a professional hitman, the little girl is out shopping for Leon when Stansfield kills the rest of her family, and fortunately she fled to Leon's house, Mathilda demand Leon to teach her his skills. Soon she has wormed her way into every part of his unusual life. Leon does his best to rescue the little girl, and a father-daughter bond forms between the two of them. Leon however has little experience of being either a father or a friend, and is also unable to prevent Mathilda from pursuing her revenge against Stansfield. When Leon rescued Mathilda at the hazard of his own life, thus the film drew to an end because of his dead.There is real danger and drama throughout the film, yet it never becomes merely an action film - the characters are too significant for that. The relationship between Leon and Mathilda is the theme of this film.

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                                                                    - By Tobby

      Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're going to get. " is the sentence that Forrest’s mother told him.  It is just like Forrest’s life, that you never know what will happen.  Forrset Gump is a person whose IQ is under 75 which mean he has mental retardation, but he has done some things in his whole life, such as becoming an excellent football player, a hero in Vietnam War, and a millionaire, that is superior to most general people.  The reason why Forrest becomes such a successful person is that he is an honest, earnest, friendly and brave person.  In his whole life, we can see that he is always running which help him running into the football team, running into the university and saving his and his partners’ lives in Vietnam War.  After I saw this film, I learn a lot about Forrest and his spirit.  “You have to do the best with what God gave you.”  I think everyone can’t complain to their talent and need to do their best in their lives.

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                                                                  - By Stone

The Qualities of a Good Presentation

  A good presentation always includes four significant qualities which are purpose, information, persuasion and entertainment.

  First of all, a good presentation must have its own purposes, like an essay has its thesis statement. Purpose is the most important factor because everything in the presentation is supportive of the purpose.   

  Second, information is also a vital part of a good presentation.  The information must be clear and logical.  If the information is not clear or logical, it is easy for the audience to be confused about your presentation which makes the presentation worse.  Also, the information need to be relevant to the presentation at all and not be too complicated so that your audience should be able to comprehend the subject matter by listening to you speak about it.  Information is always important because it is all you show to your audience.  

  Third, the art of persuasion is also important when you do a presentation.  For example, facing to your audience is a good way to show your confidence in your presentation which means more persuasive to your audience.  Body language is also a good way to help you to make the presentation more persuasive.

  Finally, entertainment can attract audience's attention when you do a presentation.  In some situation, entertainment is a good way to make your audience focus on the presentation all the time.  It is clear that a well informative but boring presentation can't well achieve your purpose because your audience might miss some information when they feel boring.

Answers to AP5 Mondays Listening Practice

VIU AP5

JAMIE OLIVER’S TED AWARD SPEECH – ONE WISH TO CHANGE THE WORLD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY

1. Who is Jamie Oliver? Country England Occupation Chef Age 34 Mission save lives through a food revolution – better choices

2. How have life spans changed? Shorter life span than parents by 10 years

Which is more dangerous homicide (murder) or diet related disease? Diet related disease

3. Is this true only in the US? No. Global problem

4. How much does diet related disease cost America per year?150 bil$ 10% of health care budget

5. Are Stacy’s family’s problems inherited? Critical thinking: Why are they obese?

No. Never learned to cook. 3 generations of bad choices created bad habits.  Exercise? Working parents

6. Are there families like Stacey’s family with obesity problems in your country? _____ What does ‘She’s eating her liver to death’ mean? Her liver can’t deal with the work or the weight – liver failure

7. Does obesity only hurt the people that have it? No. Family and friends

8. Who is pastor Steve? Jamie’s ally in Virginia What is he fed up with (tired of)?  Burying friends and congregation members with diet related disease

9. Write the underlying problems, in point form, related to the triangle: HOME

Also, write the names of the food you see on Stacey’s table:

Used to be heart of good food culture, now no good home cooking – can’t cook

Pizza, hot dogs, corn dogs, donuts, lasagna, cake, candy…

SCHOOL MAIN STREET

Used to build skills to succeed Corporations: fast food, big 

 Didn’t evolve to deal with diet brands, supermarkets - power

180 days/yr in school   Food not local and processed

School cooks told what to do by Portion size and labeling problems

Accountants

Must buy cheap

Processed food

No veggies

No knives or forks = fast food

10.  Correct the mistakes children made guessing the vegetable’s names:

Potatoes tomatoes Broccoli cauliflower Celery beet Pear eggplant I don’t  know potato

11. Will children eat food they don’t know? No

12. What’s the problem with the two bottles of milk children get at school for five years? Flavour, colour and sugar

13. What do children need to leave school knowing?  Food names and how to cook 10 recipes

14. What is Jamie’s wish? Educate every child about food, teach cooking again, fight obesity 

15. Does your country have school meals? __________

DISCUSSION

16. Critical thinking: Jamie only had 18 minutes to talk. If he had more time, what else might he recommend children, at home or at school, do to avoid obesity and diabetes? 

17. Jamie said he thought the bad food available at school is child abuse. Do you think he’s right? Why?

18. Do you think governments should be responsible for providing money for healthy food at school, and should governments make laws to protect children from dangerous food? Why? Critical thinking: One theme to discuss would be ‘freedom’.

19. If your country has school meals, what are the problems with school meals in your country? Or, what is good about the food in schools in your country?

stone's study plan in AP5

  My goal in this AP5 semester is to finish the ESL program and learn the ability to study in academic course in September.  Before I start this semester, I know that AP5 is a very important semester to prepare for academic study and it is much more difficult than AP4 and AP3.  Therefore, I will do my best to follow the class and improve my English skills, especially speaking and listening.  To achieve my goal, I made a study plan.  First and most important, I must pay 100% attention in and after class.  In the class, I need to follow teacher’s order and know what and how I should learn in this semester.  After class, of course, I must finish the homework seriously.  Second, besides the class works, there are some ways to help me improve English skills.  Watching at least two English movies every week is good for my listening skill.  In order to prepare for the academic courses, I plan to listen one English lecture every day.  Increasing the vocabulary of business is also an essential preparation for the MBA study, so I need to read some financial newspaper or magazines every week.  Third, I need to use English as much as possible not only in school but also in home.  It is important for the second language students, like me, to practice English speaking everywhere and every time.  At last, spending more time in library or English learning center can help me focus on the study.  Moreover, studying in learning center gives me a chance to easily ask teachers the question which I found during studying.  In conclusion, if I can totally follow my plans in this semester, I will be able to learn and practice English a lot so that I can improve my English skills and achieve my semester goals.

                                                                           -stone

Tobby`s study goal in AP 5

    My goal in AP5 this semester is to pass the ESL program and prepare for my academic course in September. Fortunately , I have passed the AP3,AP4 in the past two semester. However, it’s not the end. New semester is a new start for me to adapt to academic courses. I will try my best to improve all my skills in English study.. In order to get this goal, I made a plan. First, I will read the news paper every day. By doing this, I can improve my reading skill and get to know more about how Canadian people thinking. Second, I will try to watch more english movies with out look at the Chinese subtitles. By doing this I can prove my listening skills, which is my biggest problem right now. I still remembered that last semester I almost failed the final listening test. I know that the listening skill will the most important skill for my MBA study, because if I cannot understand what the teacher is saying on the class, I will not be able to pass the class. Therefore the listening skill is the key skill that I want to prove in this semester. At last, I will go to the library and learning center every week. From the experiences of last semester, I found that study after class in the library is more efficiency than study at home. Moreover, if I get any question during the study I can simply go to ask the teachers at learning center. In this way, there will be a rapid improvement of my general english skills. In total, with these three ways of this study plan, I will become more and more likely a Canadian and be fully prepared of the MBA study at this summer.
                                                                                                                                       - Tobby