Things you have to know about Korea

      Korea is one of the country that has our own unique culture. If you just go to Korea with no ideas, you might get a little shock of it. I will tell you things that you have to know about Korea.

      First, people will be not that friendly as you think. It will be not like Americans who really friendly to strangers. However, do not just judge on them with it. When you know them and get little bit closer with them, they will become one of your best friends. They will run to you when you are in trouble, they will always stay at your side, and consider your problems as their problems. 

     Second, do not surprise when Koreans drink a lot of alcohol. Drinking alcohol has becoming part of Korean culture. At first, you might feel little awkward but when you just get into it. You will see a world. We have tons of different games and tricks related to alcohol.

      Lastly, this came from my experience, do not think Koreans are always angry. When you go to Korea, you will see people walking down the streets with grumpy faces along with their fast walking. They are not angry, but just the little stress from their work. We always have exact place to go, and because of Koreans unique characteristic: doing things really fast, we could be always seem busy.

Talent Show Crew

      If you ask about the time that I was most frustrated and annoyed during senior year, I would say the period when my friends and me were preparing for the Talent Show. Talent Show is one the huge event in our school that students show their talents by performing. Because I have already been part of Talent show's crew last year, I decided be in again this year.
      However, everything single thing did not go smoothly as me and my friends think. We had so many things to do such as planning for the stage design, auditions, organizing the orders of performers. Because many people had to work together, it took long time decide a thing. Also, after deciding all of that, we had to get checked all of those to our principal and start to make it and decorate. I have no idea why this year's crew work felt much tired than last year, maybe because we were all in a charge, being a senior. Staying after school and discussing all those stuffs during schools days were so frustrating. I just wished that all of the talent show could be over fast.
      However, I could not describe how I felt so proud right after the Talent Show was over. I was kind of happy that I had no extra things to do anymore then my school works, but at the same time, the memories went through my mind and right now, I kinda miss the days that we all worked together and went through all the hard situations. Even though you are annoyed and frustrated by something, when the time passes or when you look at all the works you have done and when you are able to smile on that. That is it. It worth it so much.

To all the grades below Seniors.

      Look all the 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. I always use to think that I will not finish my high school education, but be successful at something before I go to Junior and Senior years. If I think about it now, how dumb I was. I was doing nothing but just going to school. In my freshman year, I always think that there will be lots of different things : fun things outside of school. Therefore, I do not know why but I did not put much effort to my school works and events. However, at the point (I really do not remember when was it) when I started to be involved and be passionate about school works and events, honestly my life has changed including little bit of exaggeration. School was not that stressful to me anymore and the days you smile in school have increased than the bad days. Do not be a stranger in the school, but just have a mind that "This is my school". Then you will have memorizes that you cannot value and cannot compare to anything in your life.

Does Class Size Matter?

      These days, many schools are increasing class sizes to reduce their budget gaps and teacher layoffs. In Los Angeles, schools increased the average of students in a class from 20 to 34 for ninth grade. In addition, 11^th and 12^th grade classes to 43 students. According to Marguerite Roza, a professor at the University of Washington, because many states are having serious budget gaps, the class size will increase. However, increasing the class size makes the teachers to struggle and it is less effective for students to learn. According to the research, having small class sizes is more effective than a large class.

      Teachers get stressed when the class size increases. For teachers, it is important for them to support students and interact with parents. When the class size gets to over 20, teachers cannot easily handle it. Rachael Maher, a math teacher in Charlotte, N.C, indicated her average class size had increased from 25 students to 31 students. She says that even though there are only about 5 students in her class, her work overwhelms because she has five more papers to grade, five more students who need to make up work, five more parents to contact, and five more emails to answer.

      What are the benefits of having small class sizes? First, it simply benefits students to get better test scores, fewer dropouts, and higher graduation rates. This is possible because the teachers can give students better, more tailored instruction in smaller classes. Smaller classes have more engagement, and more chances for teachers to interact with students. For example, subjects such as English need more connections between teachers and students. Having small classes helps teachers to focus more on students, and lead them to practice their skills.

     Additionally, students could pay more attention in class when they are in smaller groups. For example, if there are over 30 students crowded in one classroom, there will be students who will not follow along with the teacher, but do their own things, because they can hide in a crowd. If a class is smaller, students have more opportunities to participate. Therefore, a student’s potential will flourish in that kind of environment.

   Because of budget gaps and layoffs of teachers, it is hard for schools to keep classes small. However, schools should make an effort to keep classes small, so it benefits students more.

Works Cited

1.      http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/education/07classrooms.html

2.      http://www.seattletimes.com/education/does-class-size-matter-research-reveals-surprises/

A Place to visit in Taiwan

Baling 

Last year, my family and I visited Baling, Taiwan on my school's vacation. Baling, which is mostly unknown by people even to taiwanese, is located in Lala mountain in Taiwan. It is a village on 1800km upon the mountain and mostly Taiwan's natives are living there. It takes about 3 hours to reach to Baling by bus, and on the way, you can see many gorges. More, there are three thousands years old trees on the Lala mountain. As we say the village, people might think that it is just a small village, however, it actually has a church, police station, and restaurants etc. If you want a peaceful resting time, I suggest you to visit Baling!

Story that I like in American Literature class

Recently, in American Literature class, we read few short stories and poems. Among many passages, my favorite story was 'The Leader of the People'.

'The Leader of the People' is about Jody's family when his grandfather visits his home where Jody lives with his parents. Because this story is about a normal family life, I felt more comfortable with it, and I really liked how the story made the readers to think about the earlier generation and present generation. The point of the story was the conflicts between the characters. The conflicts between Jody's father and other family members had brought out the intense. Also, because those conflicts can normally happen to other family as well, I think it made people feel familiar. More, the internal conflict in Jody's mind, which Jody wanted to balance helping his grandfather and his father showed a child's point of view of a family.

Do good fences make good neighbors?

Fences - a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary.

People might think fences are the wall that reduce communication between people. However,fences as the definition above, I am sure agree withe the sentence that good fences make good neighbors. Imagine you and your neighbors try to make the fences  look nice and care about it together. Even though it is a boundary that show people's minds of being private, by the fences, it really help for people to communicate with neighbors. Fences can be path for people to communicate.