Writing Portfolio English

Creative Writing Assessment

It was a normal day for me to enjoy my own time, to clear my stress and thoughts. Brown and golden leaves started to fall, the kids ran on them as the crunchy sound ringing my ear. I watched them from afar as a smile suddenly appeared on my lips. Moving my head away from them as I take a deep breath inhaling the fresh air. I continue to take my steps and explore the beauty of the park. Scanning the park, noticing those kids with their mum having a good time. Sadness quickly filled my body as I started to remember my mum. Think back on the time that we used to entertain each other and enjoyed the time together. Deep thoughts filled my mind as I continued my steps but stopped as I realized that I bumped into someone.

Turning my gaze down as I saw a little boy staring at me with his teary eyes makes me feel bothered. Getting down on my one knee to match with his level as I pat his head and ask what is wrong. Waiting for the response but, instead, he sobbed out loud, earning the attention of some people around us. I started to panic, and I didn't know what to do. I look back at him, who is continuing to shed his tears. I tried to think of a solution to stop the little boy as I remembered the leftover lollies that I hadn't eaten earlier, pulling them out of my pocket and giving them to him. I released a sigh of relief as the boy finally stopped crying. 

I was about to speak and ask the little boy but I was interrupted by a woman taking long steps going in our direction. Observing her actions as she hugged the little boy, fear and worries are visible through her eyes. The little boy wrapped his short arms around her as I stayed there smiling at them. I was about to turn around to leave, but someone stopped me. I turned around and saw the lady holding the boy's hand as they took steps towards me. She lost her grip on the boy's hand as he ran to me and hugged my legs. A chuckle escapes my mouth as I start caressing his head.  

The lady walked towards us as she thanked me for comforting and taking care of the boy. I smiled at her as she suddenly handed me money, widening my eyes as I aggressively shook my head and refused her offer. She continued to convince me as I kept refusing her. She finally gave up and asked me what she would do in return to repay me. I just smiled at her and told her that raising her son to be good, kind, and helpful to others is enough to pay me back. She hugged me as she said her final goodbye and walked away with her son. The boy looked back at me for the last time and waved his tiny hands as I waved both of my hands to him with a wide smile on my face. 

I looked at them as they finally out of my sight. I released a long breath, my lips curved into a smile as I continued to walk and enjoyed my time by myself. I can't stop smiling because of the scene that happened earlier. It makes my mood better. Little disappointment in my body as I remember that I didn’t ask for any information or even their name.  Time passes, I still can't forget that moment. I didn't expect that it would become one of the most important things that happened in my life without knowing them. If you're wondering why that small moment is important for me, and why that thing I didn’t take the money for, instead I asked her for a very simple favor. Because my mum once told me before she left me that we should have courage and be kind.

The Treaty Of Hopewell - Native American Indian Tribes and US Government

This week in social studies, we have been doing our research about the treaties. For this task, we have our options between the treaty between Scotland and England or treaties between Native Americans and US government. As we finish our research, we need to create a presentation showing what we have found. I decided to do some research about the Native American and US government because they have a lot of treaties so it would be easier for me to find information. In our presentation we need to answer some particular questions like;

- Who was the Treaty between?

- How long was the Treaty binding for?

- What are the positives and negatives of being bound in a treaty?

- Are there any obvious similarities with people affected by the Treaty you have researched and those affected by the Treaty of Waitangi?

Population Change of Maori and Europeans in 1836 - 1901

In social studies we have been doing a line graph about the population of Maori and Europeans in 1836 to 1901. Base on the data that we've used to create our graph, we saw that the Maori population decrease every year and the Europeans population increase. I used spreadsheet to use my graph because it's easier if I do it there. 

What does the graph shows us?

The graph that we've made shows that population of Maori and European people from 1836 to 1901. It also shows us that Maori population decrease but European population  increase. 

Why do you think number of Maori's population decreased and European's population increased?  During this time, Maori's population started to decreased because of the colonization of Europeans in the country. Also, Maori people were exposed to many different diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza. Lastly, there are wars between Maori themselves which makes the population decrease. Talking about the Europeans population, there are more Europeans who discover the land and war between the Maori people and Europeans happened which makes there population increase. 

Personalized Passion Project

 Yesterday we presented our personalized passion project in our wananga class, we also bring it to the library for the other student to see. As you may know, we started doing out personalized passion project last term and spend most of our wananga class finishing it. While doing the human sized sculpture we experience some problems but got a solution eventually. Since we are making our sculpture using cardboard it's hard for them to balance and they're not standing. After lot's of tries my group finally made it and finish the project. We made a presentation about our project.

Music Reflection

Last term, we did a short performance on the last day of term in music. As group with 3 members two of us sang while I'm playing the piano. The song the performed is "Can't Help Falling In Love" by Elvis Presley. We spend some of our music lesson practicing our performance. Our performance has been recorded by our music teacher, she did this because it was unexpected and we don't have much time if we are gonna do it in front of the class. During and after this performance I noticed that my skill in piano improved a lot and my self confidence when I'm performing. Next year, I don't have any plans to take music because I think I already had a lot of time learning something about it and had fun. Also, next year I would like to focus more on my academic. 

This is our performance: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GmNIR10Rj8blWBThEM90XHpBVxYpkCeS/view?ts=6152390d

ESOL Term 3 Reflection

This term in our ESOL class, we did a lot of different activities. We did some grammar practice, reading, online tests, different types of worksheets, and writing a formal essay. We spend almost half of this term in lockdown so we didn't do much for the whole term. However, there are still some things that I enjoyed for this term in ESOL, I enjoyed doing grammar practices, reading lots of different stories and answering the question about it. I enjoyed all of this because I think it's really helpful to improve my knowledge and my ability to understand the story that I'm reading. But the thing that I enjoyed the most is writing the formal essay as an assessment, I like this because I saw how I get better at my writing and brainstorming. We did a lot of preparation for this essay and I like how my essay turned out. Also, writing this essay makes me proud of myself because I saw that I improved my ways of writing an essay and submitting it in time. Next term, I would like to learn and do something new in this class. However, I still want to do some of these things, it might be boring for some of us but I think it's really helpful. There are some things that I would like to do better next term such as blogging, getting a better score in online tests, and put more effort into my works to get an excellent result. I hope next term will be fun for all of us since it's our last term for this year. 

How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped

 Fashion from the 1850-1920 in New Zealand

Women used to wore long dresses, corset and hats. This fashions where based in London and Paris fashion. From 1850's sewing machine and paper dress making were quite popular and the most common way of making clothes. In the late 19th century they promoted practical clothes like Knickerbocker or baggy knee length trousers for women. 

For children, both boys and girls babies used to wear robes. After a couple of years, boys wore Knickerbocker suits, while the girls wore dresses. 

How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped

Who is the main characters?

-  Pearl Button - She's a little girl with blonde hair and really white teeth. She is wearing lots of layer of clothes.

-  Two Maori women - They have a dark skin, fat and dark hair. Their clothes were really different compare to Pearl's fashion. They don't wear any stockings, no footwear and completely opposite to Pearl.

What happened to Pearl?

1 - Pearl is in her front yard playing.

2 - She saw two large women walking down the street carrying a big flaw of basket of ferns. 

3 - They have a simple conversation trying to get to know each other. 

4 - They asked Pearl Button if she's going with them without knowing them. After that, they started walking with Pearl Button and went to their place. They treated Pearl with weird treatment, kissing her hair, her hands or neck. 

5 - After that, they bring Pearl to another place and went to the beach. Pearl had fun spending her time at the beach. 

Personalized Passion Project Reflection

Last week we continue our personalized passion project. We started attaching the different parts of the statue that we are making. We also started the second statue that we are doing, since we are in a large group we assigned people to do different things so it's more easier for us to finish the work. Some of us were cutting the cardboard, some of us were sticking the hair of the statue and some of us were putting the different parts of the body together. We did a lot of work last week because we don't have much time to be able ti finish the work so we need to use our time wisely. We still need to finish a lot of things and put the pieces together. We are more than half way in our work and we only have this week and 3 weeks next term o finish it. This week plan is to finish attaching the hair in the statue and start putting it together.

Personalised Passion Project

In wananga class, we have been doing our personalized passion project. For this project we need to be able to create something that we can share. Me and my friends decided to be in one group to create something, we will be creating a human size statue using sustainable things such as cardboard, newspaper, and other materials. The inspiration that we've choose to used is Japanese sculpture called "Beast King Kabuki". 

For this project we also need to create a driving question about our project. We spend most of our time creating our driving question. Our driving question is "How can we use sustainable materials such as newspaper and cardboard to create life size statue. 

The purpose of this personalized passions project is to help us to express those passions that we have and to be able to try and learn something new and share it with other students. We also need to create a presentation that we can present at the end of our personalized passion project. 

At the moment, we are done measuring the different parts of the body of our statue. We still need to focus attaching those pieces to complete the statue. We are planning to make two statues but for now we are only focusing on doing one because we don't have much time but we will do another one if we finished the first one we are currently working on. 

Music Performance

 1. What instrument are you performing on and what will you perform?

We decided to play piano and sing at the same time. We will be playing "Can't help falling in love" by Elvis Presley. For our performance we'll just going to perform the chorus only. 

 2. Are you doing a solo or a group performance? Explain!

We are doing a group performance. Skyler and Janel will be singing while I play the piano. 

 3. What do you need to work on first?

At the moment, we know what we need to do for our performance. However, we still need to practice to match my piano to their voice. There are some time when the piano sound is late and advance. 

 4. What will be challenging? 

For me it will be challenging to perform in from of the class because this is my first time playing piano and especially we are in a group. 

Yellow Brick Road

Pre - Reading Question

Who is Witi Ihimaera?

Witi Ihimaera was the first Maori author that published both book of short stories and novels. Witi was born in Gisborne, in the east of New Zealand He is also the first even Maori author that be able to published and story about being Maori and not a European. Witi wrote a lot of good stories, and make a lot of good novels. Some of the example of his stories and novels are The Whale Rider, Mahana, Dewe Gorode, and White Lies. 

The Whale Rider - This one of his story that got adapted as a film. (2002)

Mahana - (2016)

Dewe Gorode - (2015)

White Lies - (2013)

What do you predict this story will be about based on the title "Yellow Brick Road"?

In my opinion I think the story might be about someone who treasure this type of road in a particular reason or might be someone who makes a lot of memories in this type of brick road. It can be also about prosperity, wealth or success.

What does "Yellow Brick Road" mean for you?

I haven't seen this story and I don't have any idea what can this story be about so I can't use it to reflect to myself and what it means to me. 

Yellow Brick Road

The narrator believes they are moving to Wellington because he wants to be rich and made a lot of money. He said the money is in Wellington and he believes that to be able to be rich you have to go where the money can be found. 

According to the narrator, there are many difference can be found in Wellington such as those pakehas that they will meet in Wellington. Also, they starting to noticed that people is starting to be unfriendly to them not like those people that they met in Waituhi. Lastly, the life that they can make in Wellington and the life that they had in Waituhi. 

Dad said to uncle Same that we are moving in Wellington because he wants us to have everything that me and my sister deserves. He said that while growing up the don't have anything so we wants us to have everything. Dad wants to start a new life in Wellington and chase our dreams. He also said that it will be easy for us to find a job because they are plenty of factories. My dad wants us to gave us a good life in Wellington. 

The narrator's thought about moving in Wellington started to change as they experienced a lot of things on their way. As they got closer he noticed that he is the only one that is happy and he started to feel bothered about it. He keep asking himself if they will be able to start a new and good life. 

In my opinion, the narrator compare his story to The Wizard of Oz. He thought that in Wellington they will have a perfect life but in reality it was all fake and he started to realise it as they started to notice how people in Wellington treats them. 

Kiwi Fruit DNA Sample

Aim: To take DNA sample from a kiwi fruit.

Equipment: 

• Kiwi fruit
• Beaker
• Ziplock bag
• Salt
• Liquid Detergent
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Water
• Test tube

Method:

1. Cut the kiwi fruit and peel the skin off.
2. Put the kiwi fruit in the ziplock bag and mush carefully. 
3. After that, put a pinch of salt and water inside the bag with the kiwi fruit. 
4. Mix it all up carefully.
5. Put your solution in a test tube and pour your rubbing alcohol with it.
6. Wait until the DNA sample appear on the top of your solution. 

Kristallnacht - Night Of Broken Glass

1. What is meant by the term "Kristallnacht"? Kristallnacht also known as "Crystal Night" in German. These can also be called Night of broken Glass or November Pogroms. The night when Nazis attacked Jewish people. They called it Kristallnacht because of the remaining broken glass on the ground after the incident between the Nazis and Jewish. 

2. When did this even occur? The Kristallnacht happened in 9th and 10th of November. However, in some places the acts of violence continued for several more days. Kristallnacht took place in Germany and Austria. 

3. How many synagogues did the programme claim were burned? After this 2 days of horrible violence between them, there are many properties were damaged and some of them were burned. In two days, there are 1,000 synagogues were damage or otherwise burned. 

4. How many Jews were claimed to have died as a result of this event? Rioters were claimed to destroyed 7,500 Jewish businesses, killed 91 Jewish people and vandalized Jewish hospital, schools, homes and even cemeteries. 

5. How many were said to have been sent to concentration camps? There are 30,000 Jewish males age 16 - 60 were arrested. To accommodate so many new prisoners, the concentration camps were expanded.  

6. What was the reaction of the German people to this event? After the incident, German people looked differently to Jewish people. They started t believed that Nazis viewed Jewish people as a misfortune. However, some Germans were feeling ashamed and started a debate about the violence towards Jewish people and their territories. 

Wananga Reflection

 On Wednesday we had our badminton competition. Our team played against Christchurch Girls High School. We went to their school to play with them, when we reach our destination I was really shocked because their school is really big and it's really pretty. After we get there, we did some warm up first and started our game. At the end of all the game our team won and we don't have any lose game. I played 1 games in single and 1 game in doubles. It was really fun playing with them and going to their school to meet them.

The Nuremberg Laws

After learning about Hitler's opinion about Jewish people, we moved on in our next topic. We read this article that telling us about the Nuremberg laws. After reading this, there are 5 questions that we need to answer base on what we've just read. If you don't know what is Nuremberg laws, it is a antisemitic and racist laws made and enacted by the Nazi Germany.                                            

THE NUREMBERG LAWS

At their annual party rally held in Nuremberg in September 1935, the Nazi leaders announced new laws based on many of the racial theories common in Nazi beliefs. These "Nuremberg Laws" excluded German Jews from Reich citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with persons of "German or German-related blood." Additional regulations to these laws deprived them of most political rights. Jews were disenfranchised (that is, they had no right to vote) and could not hold public office. 

The Nuremberg Laws did not identify a "Jew" as someone with particular religious beliefs. Instead, the first amendment to the Nuremberg Laws defined anyone who had three or four Jewish grandparents as a Jew, regardless of whether that individual recognized  himself or herself as a Jew or belonged to the Jewish religious community. Many Germans who had not practiced Judaism (the Jewish religion) or who had not done so for years found themselves caught in the grip of Nazi terror. Even people with Jewish grandparents who had converted to Christianity could be defined as Jews. 

The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 was the start of a new wave of anti-Semitic laws that brought about immediate segregation: Jewish patients were no longer admitted to municipal hospitals in Dusseldorf, German court judges could not refer to legal commentaries or opinions written by Jewish authors, Jewish officers were expelled from the army, and Jewish university students were not allowed to sit for doctoral exams. 

Other regulations reinforced the message that Jews were outsiders in Germany; for example, in December 1935, the Reich Propaganda Ministry issued a decree forbidding Jewish soldiers to be named among the dead in World War I memorials. 

Adapted from http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005681 

1. Provide two examples of ways in which the Nuremberg laws affected the rights of German Jews.   

• The German Jews from Reich citizenship are prohibited to marry and have a sexual relations with person of “German or German related-blood”

• There are also some laws that deprived them of the most political rights. 

2. What other actions were taken that discriminated against Jews s in Germany? (Remembering)

• Jews were not allowed to vote and could not hold public office. 

• Jewish students were not allowed to  sit for any  doctoral exam in their school.

• People with Jewish grandparents that are converted to Christianity are still identified  as Jewish. 

3. Why do you think that the Nazis passed these laws? (Understanding)

In my opinion, Nazis created these laws and rules to separate the Jewish people to Christian people. These laws make them think that they are different from one another and  give them a lot of rules that are different from other people. Also, Hitler ‘s group is the one who made these laws. We know that Hitler hates Jewish people and that can be the main reason why the Nazis  passed these laws.

4. If a New Zealand government passed a law that provided for different treatment of a named racial group in New Zealand, what do you think the reaction of most New Zealand people would be? Why do you think this might be the case? (Applying)

If the New Zealand government passed this kind of laws, there would be a lot of confusion an happen in NZ. There are a lot of different racial groups in New Zealand so it would have a big impact for New Zealander and other racial groups. This can cause a lot of problem and can be unfair for other race. All of this can happen because not all of the people in New Zealand are originally born in NZ.

5. Do you think these Nuremberg laws were racist? Explain your point of view. (Evaluating)

In my point of view, I think these laws are racist. One of my reasons is the rights that they gave to Jewish people and to Christian people. There is a big difference  in the laws they need to follow. I think these laws are not fair because even if they all have limits it is still not right to make these types of laws just because Hitler hates Jews. They also take the rights from Jewish people to live a good life and freedom. 

What did Hitler actually say about Jews?

In social studies we have been learning about Hitler and why he hates Jewish people. There are two quotes that are made by Hitler. This quotes is showing Hitler's point of view to Jewish people. After reading this quotes, we need to choose some phrases and explain why do we think this shows Hitler's anti-semitism to Jewish people.

Hitler's Quotes

"The Jews were responsible for bringing Negroes into the Rhineland with the ultimate idea of bastardizing (lowering the quality of) the white race which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate.”

“The Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end...spying on the unsuspicious German girl he plans to seduce.....he wants to contaminate her blood and remove her from the bosom of her own people. The Jew hates the white race and wants to lower its cultural level so that the Jews might dominate.”

Explain how these statements represents anti-semitism?

“The Jew hates the white race and wants to lower its cultural level so that the Jews might dominate.” - This statement represents anti-semitism because the two different race are trying to fight to dominate the one another. However, these statements are only Hitler’s words. He’s reason is not acceptable and not enough for him to hate the Jewish people. 

“Lowering it’s cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate” - This part of the statement shows Hitler’s anti-semitism by having a negative opinion on the Jewish people. He always thought that Jewish people want to dominate others and could be the reason why he hates them. 

The Great Depression

At the started of term 3, we have been doing some research about the great depression and how did it affect Germany and New Zealand. We've also did some research about the Treaty of Versailles, why did Germany signed it and how does it link to the great depression. Each question that we needed to answer needs to have at 6-8 sentence or 1 paragraph.

Why was Germany hit the hardest during the depression?

In 1929 the Wall Street Crash collapsed and caused the Great Depression in different parts of the world. Germany suffered more than any other countries in Europe that have experienced this Great Depression. Because of this, it caused a lot of problems resulting in Germany’s economy starting to collapse. This problem led to a chain of events and ended in the destruction of the country’s democracy. There are a lot of challenges that Germany had experienced during the Great Depression such as, factories are shut down, export reduces, farmers are also affected and the speculators took their money back from the market. As a result of this great depression, over 33 percent of  Germans are unemployed. On the other hand, 24 percent of Americans were unemployed. In summary, this can show us why Germany hit the hardest during the depression compared to any other countries. 

Why did Germany have to agree to signing the Treaty of Versailles? 

The Treaty of Versailles is one of the most important treaties that can end the war between Germany and Allied Powers(World War l). The Treaty of Versailles was signed by the Allied Powers and by Germany on June 28, 1919. It was signed by Germany in order to end the war and to make peace between them.They signed the treaty because they didn't have any options but to sign it, however they didn’t believe that they started the war. The amount of Germany's troops decreased and some property that they own got stolen by the Allied Powers.  After signing the Treaty of Versailles, the great depression started to happen in different countries and the population of the country reduced by about 10 percent. All of this information tells us how important the treaty was for Germany and how the great depression started. 

How was New Zealand affected by the Great Depression?

The depression also affected New Zealand in many other ways. The depression started in the 1930's and ended in 1933. Exports started to decrease by 45 percent in two years and national income by 40 percent in three. Same with Germany  the percentage of unemployment increased, the price of goods and services also increased. The Great Depression has been described as a traumatic experience in New Zealand. The dairy price index continued to fall until 1934. New Zealand managed to overcome this incident of depression after facing all the problems in unemployment, prices of goods/services and income.