English - VG1

The World of Today

2009-06-03T11:32:00.006+02:00

I’m just going to share a little something about my opinion around some of the elements our globalized world of today. No, not about the basics, just some thinking I have done concerning this theme. At last the penny dropped in my case.

Well, everyone of you readers knows that the world has become a smaller place – on a daily basis we read and talk with/about people with other nationalities. We have friends and networks all over the world. Newspapers are keeping us updated on disasters taking place in this world of ours - keeping us updated 24/7.

In the country of Norway, people often read newspapers as VG and Dagbladet – some even read English and American newspaper, just to keep themselves on their toes.

As a matter of fact, I like to say that we carry the world in our pocket by using technology.

But what happens when a 16 year old girl from Norway, which have everything she needs and so much more gets tired of reading the newspaper on a daily basis about disasters and conflicts? Have the world become a place of too much information and technology, or have this girl just lost her capability to be empathetic for a short period of time? Is this a result of watching too violent movies and playing grotesque games? Or did she just get enough of the evilness that exist in this world?

The photo is taken from Google.

The duck fell out of the pond...

2009-04-29T19:27:00.003+02:00

I just logged on to it's learning, and found a message that was sent to all the people in my class. It was from our gymteacher, and she wrote something about our test tomorrow. And when I'm saying "test" and talking about gymnastics, you'll probably think that we're having a running-test or something. Sadly, you're wrong.

Because tomorrow, in our gymlessons, my class is going to get a paper and a pen, answer some stupid questions from 70 pages of our gymbook. Yes, we have a gymbook. I know that's not the right name for it, but I call it a gymbook..

My point is that I can't understand why we have to have a test like that in gym. Gym, for me, is fun, sweaty and supposed to be hard work for something other than the brain, which we get to train all week in all our other lessons in school. I hate this.

And if you haven't guessed it yet; the title has nothing to do with the text.

Paul, write about girls for me!

2009-04-29T17:26:00.002+02:00

My task was to write about something more interesting then hippos, but is there something more interesting then hippos? They are cute and they look funny! I once watched a program about two people who had a hippo as a pet, she was really cute and she behaved like a cross of a dog and a human. She could open doors and she slept in a bed (well that was until the bed broke because of her weight).
Well, what ever! Im not going to write more about hippos.I have decided to write about (well, Brit Mari had to tell me what to write about) my taste in music. Mostly i listen to rock and alternative, but other than that I like music that has a text with content. I love to just stare out in the air and forgett everything about anything and anyone. Just listen to to the music that comes out of my slightly busted ipod.

My favourite bands at the time are Three days grace, Foo fighters and The killers and of course Linkin Park. The song that is on my brain right now is Given up, by Linkin Park. My interpretation of the song is that it's about a person who feels alone and scared and that there is no one who sees him/her, that no one can see how frustrated he/she feels.

My music goes after my mood. When i just want to relaxe and don't think about anything I listen to the most noisy music i have. A bit wierd I know, but it helps. It kinda puches the thaughts away. In some periodes I listen to music all the time, and other days I don't listen to music at all. My mom hates my music, she thinks it's to loud and noisy. So when I'm home alone, the first thing I do is to set the music as high as it gets and sing out!

I think I need a new ipod. And I know why to. It had been in the washing machine! Tadaaaaa...And don't how it managet to get there. It's a mystery!

Now I callenge Gina to write about snowboarding! Good luck :)

What we can't see.

2009-04-26T19:16:00.004+02:00

I'd like to write about something important in my first blog (actually my first blog EVER). Or at least I think it's important. Even though it has no smell, no sounds or colours. It's invisible. And you might think: Well, it can't be THAT important if you can't even see it, which are the exact same words the astronaut used when he spoke to the priest. It goes without saying that they had a different approach to every question in life, but still the astronaut pronounced his question rather firmly. - How can you believe in God, he said, when you have never seen him? The priest answered quietly. - You sure have a good point there, but I believe that my God is just as real as your thoughts, dear man, and I haven't SEEN them lately...

Enough of this story. My point is this: invisible issues are essential to human beings. Especially motivation and inspiration fascinates me deeply. Most of the people I admire have an incredible drive! It's like som people have found the key, but as I study this topic further I find few similarities. What makes one person tick and burn, makes another fall a sleep. Zzzzzzzzzzz...

I mean, what REALLY inspires you? Is it a vision of your dream?Words? Or maybe a particular person? A few weeks ago I came across this on youtube. Take a look at it and see if it affects you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRAcVnyn8IM

Tweet Tweet....

2009-04-17T15:02:00.005+02:00

As you all might have heard, Twitter is the fastest growing internet application this spring. All of a sudden everybody is twittering about what they are doing. For those of you who haven't yet been swept up in the twitter stream, Twitter is basically a microblogging tool with a social networking function. Basically you follow different people, and they can choose to follow you, and then you twitter about what you are doing in 140 characters or less (kinda like the status update in facebook).

So, what do people twitter about? Well, some use it just to tell people about what's going on throughout the day. However most people use it to connect with people who share the same intrests as themselves. Through twitter they can share information about things they come across on the internet, or even update people about news as it happens. This was the case for an American student who was in Egypt to protest against their government. When he and his translator got arrested he managed to twitter the word "arrested" from his cell phone on the way to jail. This message reached everyone who followed him on twitter, and very quickly word started spreading through the bloggosphere and people were kept informed about how things were progressing. Like he said "The most important thing on my mind was to let someone know where we were so that there would be some record of it ... so we couldn't [disappear]," Buck said. "As long as someone knew where we were, I felt like they couldn't do their worst [to us] because someone, at some point, would be checking in on them."

Of course, not all twitter stories are as dramatic as this one. Ashton Kutcher, the American actor has been an eager twitterer for a while, and he actually just passed 1 000 000 followers today. For him, and a lot of the other celebreties twitter can be used instead of or in addition to press contacts, and whenever something new happens in their career they can release that information themselves. Other celebrities that are twittering at the moment include Britney Spears, Ellen Degeneres, Puff Daddy and apparently Oprah Winfrey will be twittering her first tweet live on her next show.

Closer to home, we can now actually follow or own prime mininster on twitter, and more politicians will probably start twittering the closer we get to the next election.

So, what do I twitter about? Well, if you post your twittername in TwitterSheep it will generate a wordcloud of the most used words amongst your group of twitterers. Here's my wordcloud....Look interesting?
...maybe I need more celebrities in my twitterstream to liven things up.

Anyways, a final warning. Twitter can quickly become quite addictive. Jennifer Aniston apparently just dumped her boyfriend because he spent to much time twittering. Below you can watch what happens as a young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away:-)

An animal that I really hate

2009-04-16T10:31:00.005+02:00

I really love animals, specials animals, like tarantella and turtles. But I have one animal that I really hate, and that's cow. They are so ugly with theire big eyes and theire long tongue. The truth is that I am scared of them. I'm not the tallest person in this world, so they are very huge for me. And they have big legs, which can kick me! I think cows should be small, with small kind eyes. Not big blue eyes. Cows should be pink, with purple eyes. They would been more lovely then. And they should also have theire own name only for cows. Because I wouldn't like if someone called a cow up after me! A big disguesting cow with big BIG eyes, and long ugly tongue and someone called it Wendy. I think that cow is really ugly and I really hate them. They are going around the farmer and eat. I can't tell you why I hate them, it is just that I do. And I have always hate them.

I have to tag someone and that would be Tobias, and you are gonna write about why you wanne studie in USA.

EasterEasterEaster:D

2009-04-14T16:41:00.005+02:00

My Easter Holiday
I was one of the chosen ones to write about something in our English blog this time. Sooo I'm going to write about my Easter Holiday.

Of course I had to get the flue in the beginning of the holiday and I had to visit the doctor and get some antibiotics, because I had also gotten an inflammation of the throat.
On Friday my two brothers, Ola and Jone came home from Bergen. At Saturday morning Hege, Hege’s mother and I went shopping in Haugesund. Later that day my cousins Siri, Endre, Magnus and my uncle came to visit us. On Sunday morning Siri and I went for a walking trip to Nordstøldalen. On Monday we went to visit a friend in Sauda and watched some movies.

At Tuesday Endre, Magnus and my uncle went back home. On Wednesday my other cousins from Bergen, Andreas, Johannes and their parents came to stay at my grandmother’s place.

On Maundy Thursday, Siri, Andreas, Johannes, my uncle and I went for a skiing trip in Slettedalen. When we had parked the car it started raining, so we had to sit and wait until the weather was better. After a little while it stopped raining and we started the trip. After a while we decided to find a place where we could eat, and of course it had to start raining again, so we sat for a short time before we packed our things and went back home again.
Later the same day I sang with my choir in Sauda. Afterwards we went to my grandmother’s place and ate cakes and watched the movie “Hairspray”.

At Saturday my cousins, uncle and aunt went home to Bergen. Later that day my mother and father, my brother Ola and I went to Ola’s fiancée and her parents in Aksdal. On Sunday I was just chilling out with watching TV and did some homework. On Monday Hege and I went to the cinema in Sauda and watched the movie “Menn som hater kvinner”.

I tag Wendy. Write about a animal that disqust you.

Oh my God, UPDATES!

2009-04-13T22:33:00.002+02:00

I didn't remember this blog thing. I think I am one of those who forget those important things and remembers those non-important stuff. That's kind of sad, actually.

Since this is the last day of vacation I'm going to write about the hippopotamus, just because the spelling is awesome. I was sitting for an hour waiting for inspiration to hit me but... The hippo is what I came up with at the end.

The hippopotamus is a large animal who is living in Africa. It eats a lot of plants and stuff but it can get aggressive and attack human beings as well as other disturbing animals and eat them if they feels hungry enough. I like to think of the hippo as a cute animal with a lot of fat. But it is in fact an angry thing with a lot of fat. You should've seen my face when I got to know they were dangerous...

The hippo isn't very pretty. It looks kind of like a gigantic misshaped rock or something. With some half pink spots here and there. It weighs about 1500–1800 kg and it's 1,5 meters high and 4,5 meters long. That is huge, you know that right? It is really hard to weigh the wild ones though. I can see myself walk to one of them and try not to get devoured. If I'd manage that I would have to do what? Lift the ponderous thing on a weigh? Yeah sure, no problem.

Their mouths is really disgusting. It's all wrinkly and pink and it could have looked like a gigantic pillow. But that pillow would've eaten you and wouldn't be a nice end of the vacation would it?

The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the head and that is because of the water. It allows them to look over the water with their big, fat bodies burried under it. It is to prevent sunburns and stay cool.

The hippopotamus gets too old for it's own good. The average age is between 40 and 50 years and really, what so they do in those years? They eat and sleeps. That's basically it. I don't like the hippo anymore. Do you?

I tag Elise. She has to write about something a bit more interesting than me! :D

Write a couple of words

2009-04-01T09:19:00.005+02:00

Howdy!
So, I have among others asked Anja and Hanne to post an entry on this english blog of ours. I think they most have forgotten, but Anita has been so kind posting a interesting text about the foreign students and what they have to go through.
Since the activity more or less has been ..quite bad, I just have to demand people to post an entry - just to take the activity on this blog to an higher level.
Basically, this is just an random selection of students in class 1STA - B and 1IFA.

Malene - Write about your plans for the holidays
Brede - Write about your favourite footballteam

Eli - Subject optional
Maria L - Subject optional
Ingrid - Subject optional

You do not have to write a long and serious entry where you use a couple of hours just checking for gramatical erras. And you are free to use all picture with a creative common license. Also, feel free to give each other tasks to write about, that of coure is optional.

Btw, the one that post the most entries will be "The Writer of April" and will get a special suprise from me.

Foreign student

2009-03-13T19:56:00.003+01:00

What is a foreign student? That is a student that chooses to live abroad for a year, or more, to study. Often is this when they are going to collage or the second year of the upper secondary school. I am sure that every one of us have been visiting the current foreign students’ blogs, that are abroad this year: Åshild and Lene. Next year it is our turn: our class can, if they want to, experience to go to another school in another country, meet a new culture, get to know other people and have the time of their life. There are actually six of us that are going to do this, and these are: Bård, Elise, Tobias, Anders, Anja and I.

Bård is most likely going to an international school. This is a program that lasts for two years. He still doesn’t know in which country it will be: maybe Canada, the US, Hong Kong or Swaziland.

Elise, Tobias and Anders are going to the US for one year. They travel with an organisation that is called AFS. They are today, as most of you know, having meetings with other students that are in the same organisation to talk about their year to come.

Anja and I are travelling with Explorius. This is an organisation that mainly sends students to the US for one year, like we are going to. We haven’t had any meeting yet, but in June we are going to Drammen to meet all the other students.

Follow our lives in the big foreign country on our blogs next year: anitasomething.blogg.no, andersrykke.blogg.no, tobiasusa.blogspot.com, anjaiusa.blogspot.com.

Wish us luck!

(hope you are pleased Britt Mari =))

The heart is beating again

2009-02-22T14:15:00.004+01:00

- Last Thursday I used my minitalk to talk about our English blog, since the subject was optional. As I told my class, Lisa had made me one of the administrators on the blog - which gives me the "power" to change anything from design to comments. Why? Because I want to bring this blog back to life, owing the fact that I think bloging is extremly fun.
In my minitalk, I asked my class what we could do to improve our blog, and I was impressed and pleased that so many was interested to make an effort.

Some of the students ideas was to give certain people tasks to write about. For an example, I could write a post about my holiday, and then I would tell someone else to write about their lunchbreak. Since writing and posting on this blog has become a duty, we want to remove the feeling that we have to write something long and serious that our teachers may judge our skills on. The good news is, from now on we can write about irrelevant subjects, and it doesn't need to be 2000 words. We can choose to write about something that engange us, something we care about, persons or whatever we want, and of course - something serious.

We need interesting topics, which the stundent themselves shoud engange in. The teachers are now not obligated to give us tasks to write about, but they are free to post whatever they like.

Some of the studenst in 1STA, or was it Tone (?) - I'm not quite sure. But however, they came up with the idea that we could have a monthly award for the best writer/most active writer here on the blog. What do you think about that?

I hope everyone of you are positive to bring our blog back to life, I sure am!
- Just one last question - what do you think about the design? Is it good enough?

- Britt Mari

Bookmarks 01/06/2009

2009-01-06T22:30:00.004+01:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of English VG1 group favorite links are here.

English Diigo 01/06/2009 (p.m.)

2009-01-06T22:30:00.001+01:00

Posted from Diigo. The rest of English VG1 group favorite links are here.

A change we need?

2008-11-16T20:42:00.002+01:00

The last six months we’ve heard the same lines over and over; “I’m going to change the United States”, “Together we can change the world”. Barack Obama has a simple, yet enormous slogan. Many skeptics have pointed at this constant repeating as “cheap”: “People won’t buy this, they’re to smart.”

As we all have heard recently, Obama has gotten huge attention in television, in newspaper at the internet etc. Especially young people all over the world have gotten interested. This 2008 election has been followed by the whole world. Why has this election become such a huge happening? Is the US’ position in the world the only reason? Sometimes I think; this is not the election of the US president. This is the election of the president of the world.

If Barack Obama gets the power to change the world; what causes and consequences will his presidential period have? How will the world change? What should Barack Obama do? What will Obama do? What kind of action is Obama capable of? What areas will he focus on? Which areas should he focus on? Will he focus on reducing pollution, reducing poverty or improve cooperation between the world countries? Or will the life of the US citizen be the center of his attention? What changes do you think the world needs? What’s the most important action Obama could do?

Victorian life

2008-11-11T11:11:00.001+01:00

Shakespeare

2008-11-04T18:41:00.001+01:00

Tomorrows presentation is on Shakespeare. We will be talking about his life and his writings. In addition we are going to take a closer look at one of his sonnets and an extract from Romeo and Juliet.

Predict the next president...

2008-10-30T16:32:00.000+01:00

Play the news invites you to learn more about the upcoming presidential election. You can also give your opinion on who you think should win the election, and who you think will win the election.

&amp;lt;br&amp;gt;

The Tudors

2008-10-28T20:13:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow we will be learning a bit more about the Tudors. We will take a closer look at who they were and how they lived. We will also take a closer look at some of the most famous Tudors.

Learning ICT skills in school

2008-09-30T15:35:00.002+02:00

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeOne of the changes when you started school this autumn was that you had to aquire a laptop and bring it to school every day. This laptop is to be used for educational purposes in all your subjects, and to help you build skills that you will need in your working life. below you can read what the government says about ICT skills, and why it is a big part of our new curriculum in the Knowledge Promotion.

clipped from www.regjeringen.no

Under the Knowledge Promotion, schools are to prioritize the cultivation of basic skills in all subjects. This is an important foundation for all other learning. These basic skills are as follows:
the ability to express oneself orally
the ability to read
the ability to do arithmetic
the ability to express oneself in writing
the ability to make use of information and communication technology
These basic skills have been incorporated into the subject syllabuses for all subjects. All teachers are therefore responsible for enabling pupils to develop basic skills through their work in various subjects.

However, there are both benefits and drawbacks when one has a computer available most of the time. What in your opinion are the advantages and disadvantages to using computers everyday in school.

Cyberbullying

2008-09-26T07:14:00.005+02:00

In the USA they are now cosidering how to prevent cyberbullying. The fact that people can create "fake" online identities often makes it easier to bully someone because your true identity remains anonymous. Feel free to browse through the case below, and give your opinion as to what you think should happen to Lori Drew. It is also worth checking out the discussion forum on this topic to read what others are saying about this case.

&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;fieldset class="zemanta-related"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;legend class="zemanta-related-title"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Related articles by Zemanta&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/legend&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;ul class="zemanta-article-ul"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/23/nfacebook123.xml"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Facebook accused of promoting online bullying&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/li&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/18/scitech/pcanswer/main3949028.shtml?source=RSSattr=SciTech_3949028"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Keeping Kids Safe Online: Myths &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Tips&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/li&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/ul&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/fieldset&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/40dfbb8c-b51d-46ac-bd00-300800be6f7b/" title="Zemified by Zemanta"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img style="border: medium none ; float: right;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=40dfbb8c-b51d-46ac-bd00-300800be6f7b" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Cyberbullying among teenagers

2008-09-25T16:13:00.005+02:00

I don't think cyberbullying is a very common problem, but it has happened to alot of people. I think this is very tragic and I feel sorry for the children who are exposed to cyberbullying. One of the reasons are that when you get bullyed on the internet, you can't always find the person who is doing this. And especially children, because I think they have a hard time to talk to people about this and they go around and carry on this alone. Many of these children can eventually commit suicide. I think bullying on the web is much more easier instead of doing it face to face with the victim, because then they can say anything they want and not get caught, if you know what I mean. It's very hard to catch these peoples, because they can pretend to be someone else.

To prevent this kind of bullying we can try to get to the source. Maybe if the children told their parents if they were being bullyed and the parents could contact someone to try to find the person who is doing this. I think there is a few people that can hack into the victims computer and find out were this is coming from. This can be used if the parents suspect that their children are being bullyed. Maybe that can stop the cyberbullying.

By Inger Vilde. Next to write the blogg is Therese.

Teenagers and the internet

2008-09-24T11:07:00.006+02:00

Image by ecstaticist via FlickrThe internet can be useful in many ways, but one of the challenges we face today is what to do about "cyberbullying"

A survey from 2006 shows that:

42 percent of kids have been bullied while online. One in four have had it happen more than once
35 percent of kids have been threatened online. Nearly one in five had had it happen more than once.
21 percent of kids have received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages.
58 percent of kids admit someone has said mean or hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten say it has happened more than once.

The fact that the internet often allows people anonymity often frees them from normative and social constraints on their behavior. Furthermore, cyber-bullies might be bolder when using electronic means to carry out their bullying because it takes less energy and courage to express hurtful comments on the internet than face to face with a person.

PBS frontline tell the story of Ryan, a 13 year old boy who killed himself because of cyberbullying.

Is cyberbullying a common problem, and if so, what can we do to prevent it?

2008-09-14T19:38:00.003+02:00

Rock`n`Roll
What is Rock`n`Roll? If you look it up in a dictionary you would find “Rock and roll is played with one or two electric guitar (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit”. For me is Rock and Roll a form of music, that either can be good or bad. For example do I think Rolling Stones play good Rock and Roll. Or at least some of their songs like “Gimme Shelter” and “Paint it Black”. It’s quite difficult to think of a world without Rock and Roll, since then the youth-revolution never would have started, when the kids in the 50s went against all the norms off the society and their parents way to think about things. Maybe the music would have turned in a whole other direction and people might like screaming-music, like death-metall. This is my meaning about Rock and Roll.
By Paul

Next to write blogg is inger vilde saua.

iCue

2008-09-11T23:19:00.002+02:00

Exellent resource for learning English

Norwegian artists using english lyrics

2008-09-10T23:35:00.003+02:00

English is a beautiful spoken language, in my opinion. The pronouncement of the words are more fitted to music than the Norwegian language. There are few songs with Norwegian-spoken lyrics in it that I can listen to and like. I don't know why, but that's how it is with me.
Another reason why Norwegian artists chooses to sing their songs in English may be that if they sing in our language, other people speaking other languages won't be able to understand. English is a language that people understands in most countries, and if you are an artist who wants to be big in the international network, you'd have a better chance if you sing in a language that people can understand. That way they know what you're singing about, and can relate to your lyrics.

The language of Rock n' Roll

2008-09-09T10:47:00.002+02:00

Image via Wikipedia Much of the music we listen to today comes from British or American artists. Of course all these artists perform in English. However, it is interesting to observe that we do have a few popular Norwegian artists, such as Madrugada, Lene Marlin, Kurt Nilsen, and Espen Lind, who also perform in English. Why do you think they do it?

2008-09-07T17:52:00.004+02:00

I think textmessaging is a great thing, its easy to use and you kan use it almost every were. I belive that textmessaging improves the language skills. And I think it’s because you use it so much, most of us every day, at allmost all time. On your mobile phone & your computere sending SMS, mesages on MSN and even in some games.

When you send a textmesage you often use foreshortenings to make it go faster to write. Some people are getting so used to them that they uses them instead of normal words, in Norway also. for eksample: when something is funny you say LOL or ROFLMAO instead of just saying it was funny. Words from the textmesage language is pushing word from your normal language away, and replacing them.

Next to write a blogg will be Paul.

Textmsg

2008-08-31T23:25:00.001+02:00

Image via Wikipedia

In a recent article in Newsweek Lily Huang discusses the impact of textmessaging on the English language. In the article she writes that contrary to what many teachers and concerned citizens believe, textmessaging and "textese" (a nascent dialect of English that subverts letters and numbers to produce ultra-concise words and sentiments) actually improves language skills.

clipped from www.newsweek.com

The Death of English (LOL)

In an experiment, the more adept children were at text messaging, the better they did in spelling and writing.

Those raising the alarm aren't linguists. They're teachers who have had to red-pen some ridiculous practices in high-school papers and concerned citizens who believe it their moral duty to write grammar books.

Britain's most prolific linguist finally sets a few things straight.

David Crystal's "Txtng: the Gr8 Db8" (Oxford) makes two general points: that the language of texting is hardly as deviant as people think, and that texting actually makes young people better communicators, not worse.

The article raises many interesting points, one point being that textmessaging actually improves language skills. What is your opinion? Does textmassaging improve language skils? Why/why not? How, in your opinion, does "textese" influence the Norwegian language?

The growing and dominating world language

2008-08-31T22:28:00.006+02:00

In the future, I see a much more connected and united world. I guess the English language will dominate more, and become the second language in several countries, especially in the western world. Therefore, it’ll be very important to learn to speak, write and understand English. In Norway, English is a very important subject at our schools. Germany and Spain, on the other hand, don’t put so much time and energy to learn English. But I’m certain this will change. I believe they will turn to English. The same will happen in China. Due to international events like the Olympic Games, and the growing use of internet, the Chinese people will get to know the English language better. The consequences are; English will grow and become the language that connects the world. It will, as Eli wrote in her blog, become ”the language of communication”.

My hypothesis above is the foundation of my next thoughts. I believe that we in the future, no matter what job we get, have to use English on a daily base. If you add the extreme acceleration of vacations and travelling, you are forced to talk English. However, I think this increasing use of English is healthy. If more and more countries start to have English as second language, the relationship between different lands and cultures will be better. In this connection our future jobs will include a lot of English. A professor have to write his papers in English to get bigger attention, a construction-worker will work with people who don’t know Norwegian, and therefore talk English and receptionists and other service occupations will serve people talking English. Also politician is a profession that use English, and should improve their English to an international standard!

An important part of how we meet and use English on a daily basis is through the internet. As Lisa wrote, 85 % of all internet pages are in English. Almost every Norwegian student use English web pages through school, through work and through the computer at home. Online games, network societies, video-channels and information websites are among the most popular. This makes a regular Norwegian youth read, hear and use English on daily basis.

Norwegian television is invaded by English speaking comedy-, drama-, action- and reality-series. Especially after school there are a lot of sitcoms. In the evening on weekdays there are drama-series, reality- and action-series. Personally I watch tons of English-speaking TV-series, and I expect I’m not alone. Luckily, these series aren’t dubbed, as they are in Germany and Spain. However, is this use of American and English TV-programs good to the Norwegian language? These English-speaking series are cheap to send, and get lots of viewers. Of course the television stations do what they do. But I think it’s good that we produce our own TV-series as well. Maybe the television stations should have a bigger focus on producing Norwegian programs?

Can new Norwegian TV-series like “Himmelblå” and “Hvaler” by the Norwegian television stations NRK and TV2 compete with the American TV-series like “The Wire”, “House” and “Grey’s Anatomy”?

Anyway, the English language is taking over Norway. But maybe we should limit the development? We don’t want to be a copy of America. At the same time it’s important not to build a wall around our country and hide inside metal-doors. We should be open, we should learn to speak, write and understand English, and simultaneously protect our unique Norwegian way of living, speaking, eating and thinking.

Further reading: - Read professor Svein Lies article in Aftenposten about English language in the Norwegian society. The article is in Norwegian.
http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article463506.ece

When do we use English?

2008-08-28T17:19:00.009+02:00

Every where you go, you`ll see something in English. For excemple when you buy some electronic, you will find the instructions book sometimes just in English and Germanic. And in our language we find some English words, so we use English words everyday!

In my future profession I`ll use English very often. Because I`ll be a teacher. And then I have to take some English.

In my future I`ll use English mostly everyday. And I think it would be fun, cause I like to speak English, I`m not good, but I like it, and thats more important for me.

I have to choose someone who will write on the blogg next week.. And that person will be John-Berge. Sorry, but I have to choose someone><

Exchange students

2008-08-25T21:13:00.003+02:00

Image by ! *S4N7Y* ! via Flickr

Four of our students have decided to spend a year abroad as exchange students. If you are interested in learning a little about what it is like to live abroad for a year you can check out the links listed under "our exchange students". Feel free to ask them questions or comment on their posts if you like.

When do we use English?

2008-08-25T16:54:00.002+02:00

Image by obieta via Flickr Most people come into contact with English one way or another every day. For example, at least 85% of the pages on the internet are in English. Two thirds of scientific papers are written in English, and three quarters of all mail sent is in English.

Can you think of ways that you are exposed to the English language in everyday life? What about in your future profession? In what ways do you think you will use the English language in the future?

"The language of communication"

2008-08-24T21:38:00.003+02:00

The English language is like deceases. Like a decease that is pushing it’s way through everywhere. If you don’t understand this language, you’re a step behind the rest of the world. That’s why we don’t have a choice. To follow the big English-speaking countries and their development, we must learn to communicate in English as early as possible!

We start learning English already in first grade, maybe even before that. We are watching English TV-programs all the time, listens to English music and sometimes even use English words when we’re talking. The English language has taken over our world, and there is nothing to do with it. Like I mentioned, in today’s world we don’t get to choose. We can’t just say; “Now we want Norwegian to be the international language”. I guess, some time in the history a choice was made by some stubborn Americans or maybe even Englishmen. They probably thought they were the centre of the world, which qualified their language to be the “language of the world”. And that’s how it became. Well, that might be a bit exaggeration, but I’m no expert in English history either.

What is for certain is that English has spread around the world even faster than Mc Donald’s. It has become the most widespread language in the world. Every time I think of reasons to explain exactly why it is as important as it is, I think of a well known commercial that has been shown a lot around the world. The one I am talking about is from the company “Berlitz”. Watch this:

Not only is this commercial hysterically funny, it has some very important points as well. There is a need for international language, because of the growing development in international companies. Misunderstandings like this could be dangerous.

The world has become smaller. The distances are getting shorter. We can speak to people in USA and China as if they were sitting right next to us. English is called “the language of communication”, and I think we should be very pleased we are having this way to communicate. How would the world look like today, if everyone spoke different languages, and nobody really understood each other?
That’s not easy to answer, that’s for sure.

Double click any word...

2008-08-20T21:14:00.000+02:00

Image by bella lago via Flickr If you are having trouble with the vocabulary used in this blog, you can double-click any word in the posts and will then be directed to a dictionary giving you the explanation of the word.

Why English?

2008-08-20T13:34:00.000+02:00

Most students in Norway start learning English quite early. Some as early as 1st grade, and it is a compulsory subject even in upper secondary school. Why do you think it is considered such an important subject?

English Blog

2008-08-20T10:38:00.000+02:00

Hi and welcome to our English Blog.

This blogg is meant as a supplement to our wiki and lms (it's learning). Primarily we will use this to discuss different topics and curriculum goals for our course.