Sculpture by the sea

Sculpture by the sea is an annual spectacular international art exhibition. Last Tusday, our class(AMEP B) and AMEP A class went on an excursion to Bondi to see the sculpture by the sea.

We took a train to Bondi Juction at 9:16 in the morning, but that was something wrong, when Lucy and I got on the train, we found out that our classmates were still standing outside the train, then the door closed and we went on our journey to Bondi Junction by ourselves. But soon we saw May was on the train too. We met our classmates at the bus stop to Bondi Beach.

By the time we arrived, we started to take photos. I was busy taking photos, so I got lost most of the time. The first thing I saw was "alchemy", the artist put the steel sheet and mirror inoto the rock pools so the pools look like fulll of water after rain. "eye sea you" was quite impressive, a pair of big eyes were looking at you and said "I see you", that's my imagination. The artist was expressing people's differing perceptions of reality with special reference to technology and the changes it brings. "The shoppers" was a good one too, in a commercial world will you lost youself? Jin and I queued up to see the "firmament 5770", it was a surprise for me, it was dark indise, through the tiny hold on the plastic wall I could see the sunlight streaming in, it really looked like the firmament. It was a good experience to see something like this.

We had lunch under the trees, in front of us was "tatters", the money-covered sandstone. We went to the toilet after lunch, but we didn't hear the "privy", that was a shame. We walked toward the beach, on our way we saw the sand shoes which is my favourite one, its name is "step by step, inch by inch... to wards teh precipice". It reflect our existence, soft worn centres hidden beneath hard exteriors. At any moment we may find ourselves at a precipice. But I didn't receive that, I just found it beautiful and funny, there were many many shoes, from the top of the hill down to the road. It looked like our street, different people, different shoes, different life.

After that, I found my work, the assignment I'd got. It was named "subterfuge", I took penny of photos of it, not only because it was my work but also I like it, it was made of matel and I love matel things. Then we saw the winner's one "Where is the freedom?" and the "little boy lost" and a fantastic house "illums box". Finally we went to the beach.

At about 2:30 we catched a bus from Tamarama beach to Bondi Junction, and then changed the train to come back, we were so tired that we slept on the train, but we all had a good time.

A letter to the editor

The Editor
Dear sir
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES
But Smoker Joe, we do pay taxes to the government, maybe much more than you do, but not in cigarettes.
I don't believe that fouling the air is your right, if so, is it your right to let other people get health problems? Don't you know smoking is bad for others? Think about your family, your friends, it's harful for them too.

So give up smoking, use your millions of dollars to help others.

Yours,

Pei

By the way, I've found the link to the song "Smoke gets in your eyes".

Physical punishment

Physical punishment is a kind of abuse, in my point of view, it's really bad, both for children and parents.

According to psychologists, hitting children can be harmful for their development. Abusing children whatever their mistakes are, would make them think that they are useless and can not do things in the right way. One thing leads to another, they might lose their confidence. If you hit your children badly on the head, that might cause brain injuries, their IQ might be reduced. Furthermore, if parents are always rude and violent, children might become bullies. They might hit others when they are unhappy.

Evidence suggests that physically abusing children when parents are angry can result in serious physical damage. Parents often lose their temper when they are hitting children, if so, children may suffer from bruises, bleeding, broken limbs/ribs, brain damage, even death. It's no use when parents regret the damage they've caused.


Even physical punishment is very serious, but no evidence has been given that it really works. If parents keep hitting their children for a long time, they might get used to it, and they might get more rebellious. The relationship between parents and children may get worse.


To sum up, parents shouldn't use physical punishment without thinking the result.

Featherdale Wildlife Park

A day at Featherdale Wildlife Park

Last Tuesday AMEP A, B and C classes went on an excursion to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. We met at the bus bay outside Building A at 8:45 in the morning. The bus left TAFE at nine, about one hour later, we arrived at the park.

Susan gave each of us a passport, and we started to separate into small groups to visit the park.
We saw the red and green parrots and the long neck turtles at the first place. After crossing the small bridge we saw the Wombat, Cockatoo, small Kangaroos, and many kinds of birds. The Kangaroos were jumping around, so we could take photos with them.

Then we saw the Koalas, the baby Emus and the Tawny Frogmouths. The Koalas were so lazy, they stayed on the trees all the time without moving, but they are so cute. I touched one of them, and took some photos with him. But his fur was not as soft as I thought.
After we left the Koalas, we saw the Albino Kangaroos which is white Kangaroos. They are white because both of their parents are carriers of the albinism gene that cause a genetic disorder passed on to them. Surviving in the wild is not easy for them because they are easily seen by the predators.
Then we saw the bats, crocodile, snakes, Dingo and the impressive peacock was displaying its tail. And the escaped goat. Next to the peacock, there are big Kangaroos and big Emus.
On our way to the canteen, we saw the Devil and little penguins and some other beautiful birds. And this is my favourite picture, four little birds was sitting together, they are so lovely.
After lunch, we started to go back, we all met outside the park. We went back on the same bus, that took us an other one hour, we arrived at TAFE at about 2pm. That was a wonderful excursion, though I was tired.

Guangdong

Guangdong is one of the most prosperous provinces in China. It is situated in the southern part of China mainland, and faces the South China Sea to the south. It also has 3,368km winding coastline which is the longest in China.
Guangdong became the most populous province in China in 2005, 110 million population which includes 79 million registered permanent residents and 31 million migrants who have lived there more than six months.
Guangdong’s summer is always hot, wet and lasts for a long time; typhoons hit it frequently in summer and autumn. Because Guangdong has a humid subtropical climate, you can see green plants and blooming flowers all year round.
Guangdong is a multicultural province, Cantonese cuisine is one of the attractive factors in Guangdong, and Cantonese Opera is a traditional Chinese art form which is popular in Cantonese speaking areas. Han opera , Hakka folk songs and Teochew Opera are also very traditional art forms in this province.
Light industry is the main industry in Guangdong, icluding food processing and manufacture of textiles, which is rather common in Guangdong. Lately tourism is also booming in Guangdong.

Technology & ESOL

After fire was found, our world started to change. People started to think and invent.
Nowadays we have more technological products than ever before and our everyday life has become mostly dependent on the technologies and it has become more and more beautiful as a result. As an English learner, we can also use the technology to help us with our learning.
Computers and Internet are many learner's favourite tools. Once you have a computer and connect it with the Internet, you can do many things. You can talk with others who are learning English as well as your teachers, your classmates and some fluent speakers. Joining a forum is a very good practice for your writing and thinking. Creating your own blog just like what we are doing now, is an excellent way to exchange your ideas.

There are many websites for learning English, they have many online activities and exercises. reading, writing, listening and speaking, they have everything. "Time4English" is a free English learning website, "voicethread" is a very good website to practise your speaking. See what we did, fantastic, isn't it?

Learning all day is a bit boring. Find some games, learning while playing. If you like music more than games, you also can find some English songs, don't forget to get the lyrics. On "yappr" you can get all the subtitles of their videos, but I'm afraid you have to pay now.

You can learn even with your mobile phone or ipod, your can listen to the radio while you are walking or on a train. Put a dictionary in your phone, your can check some new words which you can find in the street.

With technology, you can do all these things and more. Try now!