#8 News

The Pets are Back             BY,Karena Phan

sequel         noun

a book, film, play etc that continues the story of an earlier one, usually written or made by the same person

EX: After the unexpected success of his first film, Rodriguez is making plans for a sequel.

fearful        adj.

frightened that something bad might happen

EX: She looked red-eyed and white-faced, slightly fearful and anxious.

vicious        adj.

violent and cruel in a way that hurts someone physically

EX: Someone is conducting a vicious campaign of false rumours against the Royal Family.

MY COMMENT

In all of the recommended websites, I think the Time for Kids is the best website to me. Since I don't like to read a lot of words which are too difficult for me, I think the Time for Kids is well enough for me to see some news with short article. It also let me develop the patience by increasing the level of the article.

#7 edx

Vocal Recording Technology     (from BerkleeX)

My comments on using MOOCs as learning resources,

There are a lot of courses on this website. It's good for us to choose a variety of courses that we interested in.

However, I think there are some places need to improve. For example, it is too complex to use it to learn and the video doesn't have the subtitle.It will be a bit difficult for beginners who want to learn the new knowledge.

If they can improve these problems, I think it will be a nicer website to use.

#6 Online Comics

Episode 18 : The Encounter
This episode is talking about the scene which the two main characters encountered each other. 
Using this website to read comics let me feel novel and it is also my first time to read comics in English. Because of the interesting content, it motivated me to read it all. It is suitable for us to read it in free time. Plus, it can help me let reading English become a habit. 

#5 Sharing a story

 The Little Pianist  by Brij Kothari

Vocabulary
tick verb
If a clock or watch ticks, it makes a short repeated sound.
EX：The old clock ticked noisily.

flutter verb
If a bird or insect flutters, or if it flutters its wings, it flies by moving its wings lightly up and down.
EX：A small bird fluttered past the window.

hum  verb
to sing a tune by making a continuous sound with your lips closed
EX：Tony was humming to himself as he drove along.

Description of the story and my thoughts

There was a little boy named Azul who liked to play the piano and dreamed of becoming a pianist. One day, his teacher told him to perform in front of the audience.

 

However , his teacher said, "Your fingers move like a squirrel on the piano keys but there is something missing." Azul was told that he should play with his heart not his fingers. Azul felt nervous because he didn't know how to play with heart. 

Finally, he closed his eyes on the stage and feeling like a butterfly sat on his shoulder. His heart became to play Butterfly's song. He realized that he should put himself into the song not just play it. 

The best and most beautiful things in the world can not be seen or even touched, they must be felt with heart. Through this story, we learned that when doing anything, you must be with your full heart. On that way, you will realize the deeper meaning of the thing you did. 

#4 Sharing a song

Try Everything Shakira

Lyrics：
I messed up tonight
I lost another fight
I still mess up but I'll just start again
I keep falling down
I keep on hitting the ground
I always get up now to see what's next
Birds don't just fly
They fall down and get up
Nobody learns without getting it won
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Till I reach the end
And then I'll start again
Though I'm on the lead
I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Till I reach the end
And then I'll start again
No I won't leave
I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
Oh oh try everything
Look how far you've come
You filled your heart with love
Baby you've done enough that cut your breath
Don't beat yourself up
Don't need to run so fast
Sometimes we come last but we did our best
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Till I reach the end
And then I'll start again
Though I'm on the lead
I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I won't give up, no I won't give in
Till I reach the end
And then I'll start again
No I won't leave
I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail
I'll keep on making those new mistakes
I'll keep on making them every day
Those new mistakes
Oh oh, try everything

Link：
zootopia ver.

Singer－Shakira
Shakira who is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. Shakira entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service in 2001. Its lead single, "Whenever, Wherever", became one of the most successful singles of 2002. She has four of the twenty top-selling hits of the 2000s, more than any other artist.

Difficult words：
give in phrasal verb
to finally agree to do or accept something that you had at first opposed, especially because someone has forced or persuaded you to.

EX：Eventually I gave in and accepted the job on their terms.

beat yourself up phrasal verb

informal to blame yourself too much for something

EX：If you do your best and you lose, you can’t beat yourself up about it.

mess up phrasal verb

to spoil or ruin something, especially something important or something that has been carefully planned.

EX：Don't ask Terry to do it - she'll probably just mess it up.

Why do I like this song?

This is the movie, Zootopia's theme song, and this is also my favorite Disney movie. The main idea of this movie is about the rabbit, Judy, full of dreams, then she leaved home with an American dream to make a living away from home. However, nothing went right at the beginning. Life is cruel but Judy is brave. Because of her persistence, she overcame everything. And became the greatest police in Zootopia. 
When listening the song, it always lets me recall the movie. In the lyrics, it tells us even if there is nothing go right you still have to persist on your original intention. Tomorrow is another day. Every cloud has a silver lining.New hopes will come after disastrous period.

#3 Sharing a Ted talk

🔺Topic：A father-daughter bond, one photo at a time

Speaker：Steven Addis 
He is a father and photography buff who, by day, harnesses the power of branding for social change.
Duration：3:31

🔺The words I think difficult

1. run off with something phrasal verb
to steal something and go away
EX) She ran off with breakfast for her respectable middle-class family.

2. proxy noun
someone who you choose to represent you, especially to vote for you
EX) A proxy need not be a member of the company.

3. milestone noun
a very important event in the development of something
EX) We believe that what we have agreed today will be a milestone on the road to true peace and prosperity in our country.

🔺My thoughts of this talk

"Photos freeze time and remind us our experiences in past."
After watching this video, I appreciate the father's persistence of taking the same pictures every year. Even though he is not in many family's photos. He still has his unique way to keep memories with his daughter. And through the pictures, he sees the change of his daughter from year to year. Because while they take the same picture at the same place,their perspective change.
The most important thing this film wants to convey is, no matter what busy we are , we should take an active role in consciously creating memories. Freeze memories through photos and grow up with the photos. These photos will be the most important and precious memories of our lives.

#2 Vocaburary

1.Gadget
a small, useful, and cleverly-designed machine or tool
ex:He showed her several electronic gadgets, such as a watch that you can use as a phone.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/gadget

2.awhile
for a short time
ex:I waited awhile, then I rang again.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/awhile

3.compelling
very interesting or exciting, so that you have to pay attention
ex:He'd had the most compelling eyes she'd ever encountered.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/compelling

4.tout
to praise something or someone in order to persuade people that they are important or worth a lot
ex:Chef Foley was one of the first to tout Midwestern cuisine.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/tout

5.embed
1)to put something firmly and deeply into something else, or to be put into something in this way
ex:A piece of glass was embedded in her hand.
2) if ideas, attitudes, or feelings etc are embedded, you believe or feel them very strongly
ex:Feelings of guilt are deeply embedded in her personality.
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/embed