Olé: 2011.11

Sunday

The Best Life Experience I Have Ever Had (Second Version)

We gain knowledge in class; however, the vital experience that we have had through our life can probably take place out of classroom. We can acquire knowledge that we value or get an unforgettable experience that we treasure by taking a part-time job, participating in an extracurricular activity or being responsible for someone. The best life experience I have ever had was to participate in a speech contest when I was in junior high school. Through this valuable experience, I conquered my fear to face the crowds, learned self-trust and the importance of never giving up and; moreover, I realized the meaning of learning that knowledge can be acquired not only in class but in life.

I used to be afraid of speaking in public and since it was my first time to participate in a speech contest, I could not but feel very nervous. I noticed people practicing during the break, which made me feel more strained. Participants coming from other classes tried their best to win the contest. I felt every nerve in my body was tense so I had to keep telling myself that I can do it and trying not to be distracted by others. When it was my turn, I calmed down and took my time and tried my best to finish it.

To my great surprise, I won the first prize. As the saying goes, “Opportunities always favor those who are prepared.” I was really proud of it. I deeply appreciated my advisor’s help. She not only gave me a chance to discover my potential but also encouraged me when I wanted to give up. She always said, "Never give up easily". I keep it in mind and make it as my motto to remind myself not to shrink back but to face it bravely when encountered difficulties or something unfamiliar to me.

Also, I learn that self-trust is the first secret of success. I used to get nervous easily and have no confidence in myself when I spoke in public. I was afraid to face the crowds and often spoke so fast that people could hardly understand what I was trying to express. However, after participating in the speech contest and winning the first prize, which gave me courage and confidence to express my thoughts, I don’t feel so nervous when speaking in public anymore.

By participating in the speech contest, I learned something valuable that I couldn’t know in class and in this score-driven education. That’s the reason why I think participating in a speech contest is the best life experience I have ever had.

Saturday

The Best Life Experience I Have Ever Had (First Version)

Because it was my first time to participate in a speech contest, I could not but feel very nervous. I noticed people practicing during the break, which made me feel more nervous. Participants coming from other classes tried their best to win the contest. I kept telling myself that I can do it because I had been well-prepared and trying not to be distracted by others. When it was my turn, I calmed down and took my time and tried my best to finish it.

To my great surprise, I won the first prize. As the saying goes, “Opportunities always favor those who are prepared.” I was really proud of it. I deeply appreciated my advisor’s help. She not only gave me a chance to discover my potential but also encouraged me not to give up easily. She told me that learning how to behave and handle tasks is more important than acquiring knowledge. I always keep it in mind and make it as my motto to remind myself not to forget the meaning of learning that knowledge can be acquired not only in class but also in life.

Also, I learn that self-trust is the first secret of success. I used to get nervous easily and have no confidence in myself when I spoke in public. I was afraid to face the crowds and often spoke so fast that people could hardly understand what I was trying to express. However, after participating in the speech contest and winning the first prize, which gave me courage to express my thoughts, I don’t feel so nervous when speaking in public anymore.

Footprints on the Flag

Organization and Ideas

1. The first paragraph depicted Min’s action that gives us some ideas to know her. First, she is very patriotic. Through her words, we can see that Min’s has a deep-rooted thought that people can by no means show their unrespectable attitude or disloyal behavior to their nation and regime. This kind of idea probably has a strong connection with her education of communist in China. Also, she is careful and responsible. She wiped the flag clean with her jacket each time after a viewer steeped on it.

2. Narrative also presents other conflicts besides the one between Min and the artist, such as the conflict between Min and the artist's admirers, the conflict between the artist's admirers and China, the conflict between Min and United States, the conflict between Min and China and the conflict between United States and China.

3. I think the most important conflict is between Min and China because under Maoist regime, Min was forced to denounce her beloved teacher as an American spy in order to demonstrate her loyalty toward the Communist Party. She feels sorry for herself to be brainwashed under that kind of regime. In addition, she went to the America to run away the repressed and unfree life in China and to seek for shelter after denounced the Communist China.

4. The thesis is “We should value our hard-won freedom and never take it for granted.” From Min’s overall experience, she described her unfree and hard time in China which makes her treasure and cherish freedom now. Therefore, she felt unbelievable and infuriated that the artist claimed that he lacked freedom. To Min, the artist was too free to truly understand the value of freedom.

5. In Paragraph 4 and 5, Min’s narrative is kind of exaggerated because she felt emotional about the burning flag idea and got worked up by saying that the words were “boiling” in her head when the artist's admirers told her to get her English straight.

Time to Look and Listen

Organization and Ideas

1. Asfahani recreates her experiences as a seventh-grader by portraying her relationships with her peers and how she felt and retreated as a child in a very detailed way. First, she set out the scene by using the history event that U.S Marine barracks had been bombed in Beirut. Then she describes how this hijacking event caused discrimination against her as an Arab in school. Her classmates not only taunted her with cruel names but also attacked her heritage and religions. Therefore, she became to ignore her proud cultural history and tried to forget her heritage. She began to stop inviting friends over for dinner because she thought the Arabic food was weird and even felt her parents’ accents humiliated her.

2. In Asfahani’s essay we can find the subject about discrimination, education, American values and stereotype. Among these subjects, I think education is the most important issue because Asfahani shows her thesis by giving the sentence “Education is the key to understanding.” Those subjects of discrimination, American values and stereotype can probably be dealt with proper education.

3. She said although the world is changing, discrimination and stereotype still exist. However, through education we can better understand the differences of people, learn to take a little time to look and listen and not jump to conclusion or judgment too quickly before we truly understand the facts.

4. I think Asfahani is trying to explain her position and persuade her reder not to rush to judgement without knowing the facts. Her aim is to show how education can solve discrimination issue which she has encountered and occurs in any country that allows immigration and to tell people that we must never be ashamed of our past. It is our collective differences that unite us as a nation.

5. I think Asfahani probably want to show her gratitude to both her homeland and her country as what she said in the essay “I love my country as many who have been here for generations cannot” by publishing the essay just after Thanksgiving.

Sunday

Learning, then College

Organization and Ideas

1. The writer showed her thesis by giving the sentence “taking time off before college” to prepare her readers for what follows in the rest of the essay.

2. In paragraph 1, the writer decided to take time off before college when the she was in senior high school and was about 17 years old.
In Paragraph 2 to Paragraph 9, the writer explained what a gap year is, what young people would to during this year and what her reasons were to take the gap year. She also mentioned that it was infuriating to know others misunderstood her purpose of taking the gap year and thought it was merely an excuse for being lazy or having fun. Finally, the writer talked about how she benefited from taking the gap year and what skills she learned during the year.
In Paragraph 10 to 11, the writer went to college when she was 20, making the dean’s list every semester.

3. Gifford used her time effectively. She traveled, attended the internship, got jobs and discovered her life skills. Moreover, she found independence and a new self-esteem that might positively change her life forever.

4. Pros: Gifford wrote her essay chronologically with clear major point and many good supporting details.

Cons: There are too many paragraphs in the essay, some are too short and some are too long.

Thesis Statement：The decision I made that changed my life forever: taking time off before college.

5. After reading this easy, I find the most attractive and practical part of taking the gap year is to discover life skills and get independence and a new self-esteem. We students in Taiwan are like copy machines without having ability to think logically and make right decisions since the education in Taiwan are merely focusing on textbooks, exams and scores, that is, the “duck feeding” education. We are trained to memorize the so called correct answer but seldom think about why. The lack of practical experiences and the opportunities to discover our hobbies and skills will only lead us to get jobs we are not interested in and unable to deal with. By taking the gap year, we can all have chance to learn what we really want, develop our own skills and experience many different kind of things that might change our value forever.

A Fowl Trick to Play on a Lawn Tractor

Organization and Ideas

1. The narrator portrayed the peahen by showing how concentrated she was on watching the trash compactor and the interaction between himself and the peahen. He shaped the behavior of the peahen so vividly that we could even imagine her facial expression and feelings when she sidled over a step or two to let the narrator watch the light.

2. Dexter used a humorous and ironic way to describe what had happened. He characterized his tractor as something uncontrolled and seemed to have his own will that he had to pull the lever that strangled it rather than merely turned a key to finally kill the engine.

3. I think there are three conflicts in this essay. The first conflict is between Dexter and the peahen. The second one is between Dexter and the tractor and the third conflict is between peahen and the tractor.

4. The narrator revealed the truth in the last paragraph to make a dramatic effect to impress the reader who didn’t expect such ending. After Dexter turned off the red light of the trash compactor, the peahen started to make a terrible scream. In that very moment, Dexter realized that the noise wasn’t from his tractor, but was from the peahen. Thus, it is very clear that all he had to do was get that peahen out off his garage as a successful resolution.

5. Since the narrative is talking about the man misunderstood things by judging them with his first impression, I think the moral will be “Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly before you truly understand it.”