As an international student, English is always the most necessary part in my life. If I cannot use English, I will get in trouble to communicate with others and learn. During the study throughout the semester, I learn many things and improve English a lot. These knowledges will help me to use English properly.

Before I came to Canada, I tried to learn English in the past, but I noticed that I always miss many details when I learn by myself, so I usually misunderstand vocabulary and grammar. Luckily, ESL courses have more specific details for me. With the help of teachers, I can learn in a good way and care for details when I am using English.

During the courses, I learnt how to use articles. I usually use wrong article in China. Although the articles will not affect conversation in the daily life so much, it will cause misconception sometimes. Also, in the past, I thought that I should use ‘an’ before words with a vowel letter in the beginning, but now I know that in fact, ‘an’ should be used before works with vowel pronunciation in the beginning.

Also, I learnt about quantifiers: ‘some’ and ‘any’. I learn which one should be used in a question sentence. I thought that I should use ‘any’ instead of  ‘some’ in questions, but now I know that I should use ‘some’ when the questions are about request.

What is more, I learn much about present perfect progressive. I seldom heard about that in China. I notice that it is not enough to only learn in China. In China, because of some mistakes, we did not learn totally correct English, so I still need to work hard in Canada.

After that, I learn some about Canadian government. I am confused that I am learn civics in English classes in the beginning, but I quickly find that learning about civics can help me to know the Canada. These are all basic knowledge is I want to live in Canada.

In the second half of the semester, I begin to learn short stories. I learn about structure of short stories and some element in a short story, such as irony, setting, and point of view. In order to practice, I read many stories with my teacher. And I get some information about 9/11 attack and Afghans. I know the reason of 9/11 attack, discrimination against Afghans, and a phenomenon that people may have a stereotyping of a group.

Semester is nearing the end, and the final exam is coming. During this time, my English improves a lot. I will come back to China in the holidays after the exams, but I will continue to learn. I am going to get a ‘7’ in IELTS in order to enter the university without obstacles, so I still need to work hard.

It is a fact that online speech is different from communicating face to face. When people are talking to each other, they have less time to think about what they should or should not say, but when people are chatting online, they can think over what they will say during typing, even can use the excuse of slow typing and bad network to get more time to make their answer perfect. That is why a number of people like to talk online and most of companies ask people to interview face to face.

With the help of the Internet. Everyone can create their own characters. They are able to put on the masks, make themselves look good, and even run away without trace as long as they did not send their real identity. It is good to communicate without leaking privacy, but some people use it in wrong ways.

Nowadays, there are a number of people attacking others online. They use fake information and wrong logic to get incorrect conclusion. You may think that it is un reasonable, but they really like to do this because it will give them high clicks and satisfy their desire. They wish to get agreement and attention. If they can send some amazing remarks online, they will be much more famous. Though the truth is exposed, not all of them will not get punishment. All they need to do is giving up this account and creating a new one. Because of its high yield and low risk, online attack still usually happens. People can feel satisfied, but the people who are attacked will suffer from paradox and despair. This is called cyber violence.

Cyber violence is a way of violence that is serious and has a bad impact. However, only education for people is not enough. One of the main reasons of serious cyber violence is that people usually have congregational psychology. They may easily lose their own opinion if there are many people have opposite opinion. This the most important problem we need to solve. If there is only one person attacking online, it is not effective, but when everyone believes that, the rumor will be considered as truth. As a result, people should pay more attention to refuting rumors

In order to stop cyber violence., we all have duty to resist cyber violence, instead of joining them. Here is some information that may help you to fight against cyber violence:

https://techwithoutviolence.ca/cyberviolence

A short story, a story with a fully developed theme but shorter and less elaborate than a novel, is similar to a novel and is also an important part of literature. It is usually used for education and daily entertainment because it is short and refined.

Basic Knowledge

A short story has less developed characters and a conflict which is introduced and resolved quickly, but it has complete plot as well. A short story always has an exposition, the beginning part about the characters, the setting and the mood; an inciting incident, a point that conflicts begin to appear; the rising action, which is where the most action happens and where tension and suspense is built; a climax, which is where the conflict reaches its highest point, and also the most exciting part; the falling action, which is where the conflict has completely resolved, and all questions are answered. However, not all short stories have resolution. Sometimes, the writer will not write the end in order to give the reader imagination.

The conflict is usually the problem between the protagonist and antagonist. There are 4 types of conflict: person vs person, person vs self, person vs environment and person vs society. 

There are 2 types of point of view: first person point of view, which means the character is involved in and is telling the story; and third person point of view, which means the character is not involved in the story. 

There are 3 types of irony: verbal irony, dramatic irony and situation irony. Verbal irony occurs when the speaker says one thing but means the opposite. For example, after you fall into a wallow, your friend says: ‘You look so special.”, which means that you look so bad. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader know something but the characters are not. It usually occurs in horror movie. Situation irony occurs when the opposite happens to what the reader has been led to expect.

What is more, tone provides the author’s feelings. Foreshadowing is when the author gives hints about what will happen. Theme is the main idea or thought of the whole story.

Some example

These are some example short story.You can try to improve your knowledge about short stories by finding their tone or theme of them.

Beyond This World:

http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/172:beyond-this-world#story

This is a story between a poor indigenous family and the society. The main characters are the narrator, a little boy in this family, and his sister, who goes to the city and is missing. Though the movement of the police and the family, we can see how people discriminate indigenous people at that time and how indigenous people are suffering from inequality.

Maternal Ties:

http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/308:maternal-ties#story

This is a story about a girl in university with different culture wear her own cultural dress instead of the uniform during the graduation. With her memories, we can see how the different cultures are harmed. However, the narrator still continue her own culture. It shows us a great responsibility of this little girl and encourages people to save other cultures.

The Métis Golden Years

http://www.our-story.ca/winners/writing/360:the-mtis-golden-years#story

This is a story of conflict between Métis people and the the Hudson’s Bay company. Métis people can make pemmican, a special material which is important for fur trading. In order to control the pemmican the Hudson’s Bay company try to stop Métis people to trade freely, but they fail because they cannot carry out those unreasonable rules, and that is when the free trade begins. This story shows us some positive aspect and tells us that indigenous people are not so bad as people think.

When every time I went to the library, I can find books that I wanted, except Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, a famous novel of Roald Dahl. Because of the encouragement of both my teacher and my peers, after a long time for waiting, I finally got one for the biggest library near my house.

In fact, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is a book for children, but if you try to read it, you will be attracted as well. It is actually a book for all ages.

What is it About?

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is a story about a poor but lucky child getting a golden ticket for visiting the Willy Wonka’s great chocolate factory, which could produce chocolate forever. There were just 5 lucky children get the ticket, but during they were visiting the factory. Four of them got in trouble because of their bad habits. Finally, there was only Charlie and his grandfather were left, and they got a super present from Willy Wonka. What is that? Well, it is time for you to find one and read now.

What is the Theme

Charlie was in a poor family. He was really a good boy while other four children had many bad habits such as laziness, desire and lack of self-control. They were spoil by their parents and they always got everything they wanted, so they tried to get something, touched the machine and used them in wrong ways although Willy Wonka told that it is dangerous. That was why they were in trouble and they had to go back home. Only Charlie stayed calm though he was also excited, followed Willy Wonka and did not cause problem all the time, and he got the reward. This story encourages children to be good, but at the same time, it also shows the dangers of excessive love of children for adults.

Why is it Good?

On the one hand, it is for all ages. Roald Dahl, the writer of this story, used simple words so that children can understand it easily, but it is also very interesting, so adults can read it as well.

On the other hand, its theme is worth pondering. While children are learning why they need to be good kids, their parents are learning why excessive love sometimes is harmful. Nowadays, excessive love of children has been a problem. Many kids in rich families do not work hard because they think that their parents will help them to afford the cost of their life and they can play forever. Now, it is time for parents to think about how they should discipline their children.

If a Canadian says that he or she does not know Canadian system, this person will be joked as a dimwit, so for international students, they need to know some basic knowledge of Canadian politics unless they want to shut off the pathway between themselves and the society. It is a fact that people from other countries are not much active and seldom join the political activities because they do not understand Canadian political systems, and that is why international students need to learn civics.

The Canadian Parliamentary System

The Canadian Parliament System is different from some other countries’ systems. Some countries have only one government or few leaders managing everything or most of things, but in Canada, different levels, or branches, manage different part of Canada in different ways depending. There are three levels of Canadian Government: the federal level, the provincial level and the municipal level. In simple word, you can consider the federal level as the level for country, the provincial level as the level for province, and the municipal level as the level for city. Besides, there are also three branches of the government: executive, which makes decision and choice to make sure the laws are followed, legislative, which makes new laws and changes old laws so that the laws are suitable for the society, judicial, which judges people, decides whether a person breaks the laws and determines the punishment for a violator.

Why the Canadian Parliamentary System is beneficial

In a country, there are always many things happening, but not all of them are important. For example, if a person steals a book, he or she will go to the police stations instead of the federal courts. Why? Because the federal government need to deal with much more important things. If there is only one government dealing with everything, the efficiency will be low. As a result, in order to avoid delaying the work and losing the confidence of the citizens, the government have to divide itself into different things with different degree of importance.

Right, Freedom and Responsibility

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was enacted in 1984, replaced the Bill of Rights, and became the most important and effective charter. It record the rights and freedoms of the citizens, such as democratic rights (rights to vote and run an office), right to vote (rights to join in an election), mobility rights (rights to move freely), legal rights (rights basing on laws), equality rights (everyone have equal rights), language rights (rights to use official language in any place) and so on. However, while a citizen is using rights, they need to follow their responsibilities, as well. If you violate others’ rights and freedoms, you will not be able to use your rights and freedoms. It is important to realize that the responsibility is a premise of the rights and freedoms because none of us can use our rights and freedoms without limiting.

People understand the political systems for not only themselves but also others. The main reason to know that is to conform the society. The politics is always one of the most necessary part in our daily life. If you want to learn more, you can check the link below for more information.

http://www.nelson.com/civicsnow/pdf/CivicsNow_Studentsampler.pdf