Week Nine Oral Blog Entry Six --- Picture Comparison

Both two pictures come from primary school but they show different types classroom. The first picture shows the children sitting and studying together with computer. The second picture shows the children draw pictures. They are sitting on the ground. Some children are drawing by themselves while others are sitting and drawing pictures together. I think the first picture shows the better method of study. The computer technology helps learning. Because the children learn using a computer,which enables them to access a wide rang of information and the children study as group, which helps them share ideas. They study more effectively.

Week Nine Text Blog Entry Seven --- Trip

One of my best holidays was a journey to Tawarewa with two friends of mine on Christmas 2005. It was a 3 hours drive away from Auckland. The day was really beautiful, the sky was cloudless and bright blue. We could see the lake stretching into the distance.We drove down to the lake and launched the boat and made sure that life jackets fitted everybody.Then we started the motor and cruised to the other side of the lake to the hot water beach. The water was sparkling clean. It was perfect. We changed our clothes and went to the lake to swim. In some parts of the beach the water was cold but in some parts the water was warm even hot from the rock still heat in the ground. It was amazing. This is the first time I have seen water like this. That was a wonderful holiday.

Week Eight Text Blog Entry Six--- Move To Stem Truant Growth

Here is a link to an article about truant growth. Truancy rates have grown 41 per cent in New Zealand since 2002, with 30,000 children a day wagging school last year. The truancy problem is a national problem. Truants are people who commit huge numbers of crime.New Zealand school will share ideas with other countries to deal with truancy. National party education spokeswoman Katherine Rich said truancy officers had high workloads and school needed greater resource.

There are active voice and passive voice.
(1) are contracted --- present simple passive
(2) were stretched --- past simple passive
(3) has (not yet) been set --- present perfect simple passive
(4) to be extended ---passive infinitive
(5) to be given --- passive infinitive

Week Eight Oral Skills Blog Entry Five --- Domestic News Headlines

I heard this story on the morning report on the Press on Monday 30th of April

"The main story in the Press is that the government is looking at ways to tackle truancy numbers. The story says that last year an average of 30,000 children a day skipped classes."

Here are three pronunciation features which I noticed.

Extra linking sounds --"at ways"
Weak form --"at ways", "to classes"
Consonant to vowel linking --"main","average of"

Text Blog Post Entry Five -- My Break

My School Holiday

My school holiday was a two week middle term school break. This gave me a chance to spend time with my children, Helen and Tony. Because I live in Mt. Albert I often take them to Western Springs park where they can ride their scooters around the lake, feed the ducks and also play in the children's playground. My children also like to bring bread and enjoy feeding the ducks. The park is so clean and there is so much grass for the children to run and play on. It is very good to see so many families out together enjoying the clean fresh air and having a lot of fun in the play ground.

We also went to Mission Bay and enjoyed the park with the playground right beside the beach. Helen and Tony had a lot of fun an the swings, slides and climbing frames. I was able to enjoy the beautiful view of the beach and bright blue sea. Helen and Tony enjoyed a ice cream, but it made a big mess, they like it very much. They liked playing on the beach, playing in the sand. We all had a wonderful holiday.