(1) News by Tara for Class 2 on Monday, 19 May. We won't have time for the news at the second class this week as we will be engaged in the role plays and time is of the essence. There won't be a new news item out on Monday (only from Tuesday); so, you can choose your own news item from the list which we haven't done this semester.
(2) Learning English in Brazil: We'll continue Acitivities 6 and 7 about questions and discussions regarding the video we watched during the last class. In particular am I interested about your answer to question 11 from Activity 6.
(3) Discussion: Deforestation
We'll read a passage about the topic, learn some vocab, and enter into discussion through answering questions in small groups. What is deforestation about? Why should we be concerned about it?
"To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots". - Richard Mabey
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Yes Amy, that's also impressed me that the Amanda's changed her settings on that website to English. Imagine doing that to your Chinese social website ...! But that is commitment and courage and the will to improve her language skills, no matter what the 'cost' to her (the cost in effort and trouble). And you know what, I think it worked! Just look at her excellent level of speaking; I'm sure that is the result of all her sacrifices. Which Chinese student is prepared to do that for the sake of improving her/his English level? I must still meet that student! But it's my guess that that wouldn't easily happen in China as the education system robs students from initiative, setting of personal goals and individual dreams for their future. If this wasn't so, I am sure I would have seen (more) goal-oriented students by now. ;-)
I didn't realize that girls also like and play video games; this has come as a complete surprise! It looks to me you can teach the boys a few things about video games, Wendy! Though I don't play games myself (guess I'm too old!), I can imagine that some of the international games may improve one's language skills where it is required to communicate in English. happy for you that it helps you!
Good question too, Wendy: "Why do we only consider the immediate benefits of it?!" That is so true. Governments do illegal things and allow illegal things just to stay in power. The rich and powerful control the rest with their money. They have this in common: no moral integrity, total lack of conscience and self-interest as major goal. They don't care about the future - as long as they can satisfy there greed now. How sad that humans have descended to such low levels of humanity.
As the development of society economy ,the problem of pollution is more and more serious.Deforestation is one of the facts that result in the pollution.The area of forest is decreasing year by year.Trees can be used to make of paper,furniture ,chairs ,desks,or even decorations ......So more and more sellers cut down trees as the method of earn money.We should protect our environment.Trees play an important role in our life.They can absorb in the CO2,and clean the air we breath.So we should stop to cut down the trees.
How do we stop people from felling the trees and destroying our forests, Sabrina? But maybe that is not the real problem as I believe we can use some parts of forests if the operations are properly controlled and if trees get planted again as soon as the land gets available (and not get used for building construction or agriculture). As I understand it, the biggest issue with deforestation is the illegal and uncontrolled felling and clearing of forests and then the fact that there are countries that buy those illegal shipments and allow it to get past their customs pretending they don't know about it. That is where the whole system disintegrates. Maybe Rock has the answer ... the change must happen in the human heart first ..
I think if they don't stop the destruction of the rest of the Amazon forest, our earth is not going to recover from that shock. A big problem is that governments (like China) accept the illegal shipments of timber from the Amazon pretending that they don't know it is getting past their customs and entering their countries. So, as long as their is a willing market for those thieves, the destruction would never stop. Yes, of course poverty is also a contributor as poor people need money to stay alive. I have sympathy with them; but other ways must be found to survive and not the destruction of our forests which in the end would be to everyone's disadvantage.
Us humans can't survive on our own without plants and trees, The earth was designed like that that we get our oxygen from plants and trees and they take our toxic carbon dioxide in return (so cool). Humans can't make sufficient artificial O2 to sustain all humans of the earth. And we can also not successfully prevent the CO2 to damage our atmosphere (the ozone layer), and if CO2 is allowed to attack our ozone layer and destroy it, our planet has no protection from the sun and then the end is nearing ... Sound very depressing, right?! But of course we can still do something about it (while there are opportunities) and care for our forests and our environment.
One of the biggest and most threatening issues are what you have mentioned - the disposable chopsticks. I explained in the class how many chopsticks China can use per year; it is shocking to just think of one year's figures! I believe the authorities should seriously start to educate the people about the using of disposable chopsticks. I agree that chopsticks would never disappear, but the problem is those disposable one that are made from wood. If the people want to (if they care enough), we can make a difference.
Yes, without out our forests we humans can say goodbye forever as it appears that the earth was designed like that that trees should help us to breathe by absorbing our CO2 and giving us O2 in return. So, kind of them! If we protect our forests, the trees would thank us! ;-)
Xia Zhengfeng, it is nice to hear that there are some rules (legislation) in your country banning the cutting of trees. But, question is, "do they apply those rules and laws"? My experience is that China has about rules and laws for everything, but few are applied and mostly the people are allowed to do what they want. So, what does a rule help then? But even if they are applied and let's say the people have stopped felling the trees here, that is not the biggest problem. Did you listen to what the teacher said in class yesterday about the illegal import of shipments of illegal timber (okay, your comment was before the class!)? That is where the real problem lies about deforestation. As long as those guys have countries that are prepared to buy their timber which the got from illegally cleaning out forests, it would never stop.
Yes, I love that Brazilian folk music too. It sounds so relaxed and so joyful. When one hears it, one feels like dancing in the sun and enjoying life on those golden beaches. One thing about World Cup tournaments I like very much, is that the different countries show much about the host country on their TV's (specially before the matches) and apart from seeing more of the country, one also gets introduced to their music and artists and their natural scenery. That is part of the excitement about the World Cups to me. Oh, nearly forgot about the language learning ...! Yes, they are fortunate to have such small classes as every student can get individual attention from the teacher and surely they would make faster progress. Most language schools are like that.
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