Covid19 Time Capsule

Posted on June 4, 2020 by evelyn.chin

This is a time capsule that contains artifacts to show a sample of what is it like amidst the Covid19 pandemic. These artifacts have to appeal to four types of people: historians, economists, geographers, and political scientists.

“Schools have finally opened up on June 1st but it is far from the school we had before the break. We aren’t allowed to leave the classroom the whole day and we are just doing e-learning in school. Everything is still extremely restricted.”

This first artifact is a personal account of what school is like during the pandemic. As most of the teachers are still out of the country and not allowed to come in, some measures needed to be implemented. This artifact appeals to historians and people who study civics as it shows what people have come up with to still have school and be safe at the same time.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-how-it-has-spread-around-the-world-11915936

This artifact is a news article that shows how the virus spread across the world. This appeals to geographers as it has to do with where and perhaps how the climate affects the virus and how people react to it.

The third artifact is a graph that shows how the pandemic has affected stock markets. This appeals to economists and they study how certain things affect money.

Protesters gather outside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s official residence in St. Paul on Friday, calling for him to loosen stay-at-home restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus.

The next artifact is a picture that shows people protesting about quarantine measures in the United States. This picture appeals to political scientists as this protest has to do with politics.

The last artifact is a picture of a sign. This is similar to artifact 2 as it shows what measures people are taking to keep businesses alive and keep students educated. Similar to the second artifact, it appeals to historians and people who study civics as it shows how people have reacted during the pandemic.

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Humour in English 9

Posted on May 27, 2020 by evelyn.chin

From the Humour unit in English 9, I learned how writers used language and literary techniques to create a humorous effect. Some writers used irony while others used hyperbole. I also learned how the poet might also use structure to help make the poem more interesting and how to analyze a play. Something I would still like to learn more about on the topic of humor is the use of humor in other types of writing besides plays and poems. For example, I think it would be interesting to study humor in the form of prose. Throughout the unit, I achieved my SMART goal which I set in the beginning of the unit. The goal I set for myself is to meet all the deadlines I set for myself and I did. The second assignment which was analyzing poetry was challenging since it was hard choosing which poem I wanted to annotate as there were so many good ones. It was also challenging analyzing the poems itself because many poems have hidden meanings in them and I had to try to decipher them. On the other hand, I had success in meeting my deadlines and getting everything done on time. I think I met the student as a learner criterion of responsibility and attitude pretty well as I finished everything on time and tried to make my work good. To improve next time, I could probably try to spread the work out a bit more as I did most of the work on the last day. My goals for next year in English 10 is to improve on my writing skills.

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Throw a Ball

Posted on June 6, 2019 by evelyn.chin

 

From this activity, I learned how we can apply the things that we learned in class to real life like throwing a ball. This relates to linear and quadratics which we learned in algebra 1.

We did manage our time really well but some of the challenges we face is making logger pro work.

Something we could have improved on is maybe doing a voice over rather than just typing the analyzation part but we ran out of time. If we were to do this project again, I would find out how the y-intercept works in logger pro and maybe do a voice over.

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The Problem of Water Pollution

Posted on June 5, 2019 by evelyn.chin

For our Capstone project, we had to make a documentary about a UN sustainable gaol that we have chosen. I chose goal 6, clean water and sanitation and since there wasn’t much I can film about dirty water in Beijing when the water is relatively clean, I chose to do a Powtoon which was simple and carried the message across clearly.

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All About Billy

Posted on May 30, 2019 by evelyn.chin

In the Book, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, Billy is a hard-working kid and I wanted to make an about me poster about Billy. He worked hard to get something he really wanted and I think everyone should experience something similar.  I thought this type of format would fit really well because it would be easy to understand. It would also show things he was good at and things he didn’t really like.

 

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Water Pollution, China’s Biggest Challenge

Posted on May 28, 2019 by evelyn.chin

Imagine being a clean river and in the past few years, people have been dumping contaminants on you and trash turning into a toxic soup. Water pollution is a problem in China that needs to be solved. Air pollution can mix with water which would produce contaminated water. Leaks from landfills could also reach ground water. Now, China now faces a new problem, the problem of water pollution. If we can solve this, it will improve overall health, life underwater, and could help contribute to helping other SDGs. Even though China has improved dramatically in the form of industries, a lot of pollution is still produced from these industries and are often dumped into nearby rivers. Problem. That is why SDG 6, water sanitation is a very important problem in China that needs to be solved as soon as possible.

Solving the problem of water pollution will improve the overall good health and wellbeing. People can get hepatitis by eating seafood such as shellfish which has been poisoned by contaminated water and it is also stated that in poor places, there can be outbreaks of cholera and diseases due to poor drinking water which is contaminated. (eSchooltoday, 2017) In Buckley and Piao’s article (2016), “Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China’s Pollution Nightmare,” 32.9% of the water in central China is only fit for industrial use. An additional 47.3% is practically unusable. Contaminants found in these waters are commonly used in fungicides. Mr. Yamatin, someone who studies environmental issues in China, mentioned in an interview that when a landfills leak, the liquid which is most likely poisoned by plastic would flow into land water which would eventually reach the surface where people and animals will be affected. (Chin, 2019)If the water is contaminated and used by humans without proper treatment, we will be more prone to sickness and the water itself will be bad for our health since it would contain potentially poisonous contaminants.

We should work on the water contamination problem because it would improve aquatic life. An eSchooltoday article stated: aquatic life can get sick from polluted water and it would affect the ecosystem. Pollutants such as lead and, microplastics, and cadmium are eaten by tiny aquatic animals and the poisoning gets more potent as we go further up the food chain and we usually consume those organisms as food. Since 90% of living organisms that live on earth live in the water, if the aquatic ecosystem deteriorates the organisms living on land will also be affected. That is why, if we can get the water quality to be good, UN’s SDG 13, life underwater, will also improve.

China has improved dramatically in industries and half of these industries have been dumping their pollution into nearby rivers. (National Academics, 2007) So in the end, even if China becomes the biggest country in the world of industries, it will face even bigger problems such as supplying clean water to their people, making sure they have stable ecosystems and giving food that is not poisoned by these toxic waters.

Water contamination is a big problem in China and needs to be solved. It would help with having a healthier community and improve aquatic life. Additionally, it would also help with other SDGs such as life under water along with health and wellbeing.

 

Works Cited:

Buckley, Chris, and Vanessa Piao. “Rural Water, Not City Smog, May Be China’s Pollution Nightmare.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/04/12/world/asia/china-underground-water-pollution.html.

eSchooltoday. “Effects of Water Pollution.” What Are the Effects of Water Pollution, eschooltoday.com/pollution/water-pollution/effects-of-water-pollution.html.

National Academies. “Safe Drinking Water Is Essential.” Safe Drinking Water Is Essential – Agricultural and Industrial Pollution in China, National Academies, 1 Sept. 2007, www.koshland-science-museum.org/water/html/en/Treatment/Agricultural-and-Industrial-Pollution-in-China.html.

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The Trip to PingYao

Posted on May 24, 2019 by evelyn.chin

3 things I learned on the train ride is how much innovation has improved in the last few years, how convenient it is to travel by train, and smooth the ride was. 2 things I learned from the trip is about how people lived in Pingyao when it wasn’t a tourist attraction and how good the food is. Our group was not really successful in the Pingyao challenge because we didn’t really know how to navigate the city and we would get distracted a lot and we just ended up having fun and trying out the food. The funniest moment of the trip has to be when Loup rented one of those orange scooters and he just rode it around for 15 minutes. The most challenging part of this trip was definitely trying to navigate the city. We dealt with this challenged by using GPS which helped us get back to our hotel (even though it led us through some dark alleyways). The most memorable experience I had in Pingyao it spending time with friends and being able to walk around the city during free time and do whatever we wanted by ourselves. I would recommend that on the last day, rather than having dinner in the hotel, we could go a restaurant we choose and eat dinner there because I wanted to try a Pingyao meal but if I ate a meal during free time, I wouldn’t have been able to eat dinner at the hotel.

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Hard Work Pays Off

Posted on May 20, 2019 by evelyn.chin

Hard work always pays off and this is clearly shown in the book “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. A young boy called Billy has always wanted a pair of dogs. But he didn’t just want any random dog. He wanted hunting hounds. One day, when he found a magazine ad which said there were hounds for sale but the price was still a whopping 50 dollars. He told himself that he would earn those 50 dollars no matter how hard it was and he would not give up until he had those dogs. Everyday day, he would sell to the fishermen and earn money. After 2 years of hard grueling, he finally earnt his 50 dollars.

From when he was a young boy, Billy has always wanted 2 hunting hounds and when he saw that magazine ad, he knew that he would do anything to get them. “All through the summer, I worked like a beaver” (Rawls, 20). He caught wild animals will traps and sold them to fishermen. He plucked berries until his feet were cut raw to sell and get money. After 2 whole years of hard work, he finally got the 50 dollars he needed for his dogs. “Another year crawled slowly by, and then the great day came. The long grind was over. I had it— my 50 dollars.” (21). This crucial event showed how determined Billy was to get his dogs. He worked very hard and sacrificed many things but in the end, it all paid off because he got what he wanted for his whole life; his dogs.

Even after getting his dogs, Billy still worked hard with his dogs. After training his dogs as much as he could, he said that is his dogs can get the coon up a tree, he would do the rest of the work of getting the coon out of the tree. On the first day, his dogs trapped a coon in a huge tree. “I don’t care how big you are, I’m not going to let my dogs down. I told them if they put a coon in a tree I would do the rest and I’m going to cut you down. I don’t care if it takes a whole year.”(78) This shows how determined Billy is to get what he wants. If you are to ask any successful person, they will tell you that you have to work hard in order to get what you want. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian once said: “Anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put in the work and time into it”

Hard work will always pay off and Billy has shown that in many ways. He worked hard to get his dogs and even after getting his dogs, he would still work hard to be one of the best hunters. As 28-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps said, “If you want to be the best, you have to do things other people are not willing to do.” Eddie Reese, one of the best swim coaches around the world said that if you want to go faster, you gotta work harder.

 

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Divergence.

Posted on April 29, 2019 by evelyn.chin

Imagine a world where people are divided into groups. They live with these groups, eat with them, sleep with them. You either stay with your family for life or leave them. That is the setting of the book “Divergent” by Veronica Roth. Tris knew she did not belong with her family’s faction but her brother already left it. If she were to leave the faction too, her family would be alone. She left to live her life as a Dauntless. Along the way, she had to sacrifice many things but the part where she sacrifices the most is when her faction and her family’s faction are in a war.

Tris has an interesting personality which has changed over the course of the book. At the beginning of the book, she knew she was not selfless enough to be in the same group as her family, however, she still was willing to help when she could and was used to the habits in their faction. As she grew up as a dauntless, she became more selfish and became bolder. She used to be a simple girl who wears grey every single day and does not question her looks. When she became dauntless, she started dressing bolder and tried to stand out more.

Sacrifices can help us grow and Tris has shown many examples of that. One example is when her friend is being punished by a very bad leader by hanging over a chasm on a metal railing which gets wet because there is a huge waterfall in the chasm. Tris knows if she helps her, the leader will make her hang with her friend. She would be risking death. “I will help her. If she slips again, I will” (Roth, 103) This shows that she is willing to sacrifice herself for a friend and by being in this tough situation, it helped her grow so that she would not be selfish and help. Another example is when another one of her friends, Tobias, was under a simulation during the war which meant he didn’t know who was the enemy and who was a friend. He was programmed the kill everyone. Tris grabbed his gun out of his hand and wanted to shoot him to save herself but she couldn’t do it. “My father says- used to say- that there is power in self-sacrifice. I turn the gun in my hands and press it into Tobias’s palm. He pushes the barrel into my forehead.” (476) Since Tobias is Divergent, he can break out of the simulation and doesn’t shoot Tris. This helped both Tobias grow his ability to break out of simulations and helped Tris trust people. Since the setting of this book is relatively depressing and dark, it made it easy to have many opportunities to have sacrificed to grow. If it was happy and nothing bad happens, the character would not need or want to sacrifice because they are already happy with where they are and would not have a want or need to grow.

There are many connections I can make about the events that happened in the book. For example, Eric, a very bad leader that just wants power and to look good, is mean to people to make them look powerful. He has made a lot of very bad choices in the course of this book. I can connect him to the previous corrupted prime minister of Malaysia, Najib. He wanted the power to stay as prime minister and he used the government’s money for himself. He has rigged the voting system so that he would get more votes so he could stay in power. However, last year, so much people wanted a new prime minister that even though Najib rigged the system to get extra votes, Najib still had to step down. People wanted to arrest him but lucky for him because he has the money, he has paid his way out temporarily. Another connection I can make with the book is about sacrifices. Tris almost had to sacrifice her life. However, sacrifices are still commonly seen, just not always to that magnitude. The most decorated athlete Michael Phelps once said that he had to sacrifice so many things in order to be successful in swimming. He had to say no to staying up, he had to limit himself to only healthy foods, and he had to wake up very early every single morning to practice. You could ask any successful athlete and they would most likely say that they have had to make lots of sacrifices throughout their career.

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The American Revolution Through the Eyes of a British Soldier

Posted on March 20, 2019 by evelyn.chin

For our Revolutions units, we had to choose a revolution to study and I chose the American one. We had to write journals through different perspectives of the people who were living in the American Revolution and I chose to write in the perspective of the British. I chose to write through a soldier because he would have been right in the event and had a big connection to it. This book includes 3 journal entries that showcase 3 major points in the American Revolution through the eyes of the British.

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