Laurents’ English Blog

Hey everybody, my name is Laurent. I’m 14 and I go to an International school.
I enjoy a variety of things, especially sports. I take pleasure in playing tennis, basketball, volleyball, and even jet-skiing. I also truly enjoy listening to music and I’m quite interested in anything related to aviation. Of course, I like all types of automobiles, but I prefer aircrafts of all sorts. I also play a musical instrument, the violin, for 6 years now, and Believe it or not, I’m also very interested in poetry.

Although I don’t specialize in this domain, I try my best to stay open to all topics and keep a positive attitude. Usually, I write whatever pops up in my head and don’t really respect any strict structure for my poetry. Actually, this quarter, our English class has focused on poetry. (Probably why I’m writing this)

I used to practice my violin whenever I had any spare time, but these days I’ve slacked off a little. Luckily, in return, I’m learning two other instruments, drums and guitar, (just started though). I also love playing in an orchestra. When I lived in
China, I used to play violin in a massive orchestra, including brass, percussion, woodwinds… Today, although the orchestra is not so big, it has all the necessary needs for the formidable sensation of playing in a group. Sports wise, I’ve kept up and practice wherever I can, especially that my school offers a good variety after-school sports.

Although I do not own a plane, I do have a simulation program which requires similar skills to pilot a real-life aircraft. This passion, (I assume) began where I used to go during holidays, which is
Toulouse, an area in the South of France. As this was during my childhood, I vaguely remember the sight of planes taking off into the sunrise when I woke up. (There was a small local flying school nearby).

My favorite types of music are really all types of music. I must admit I have a preference for metal oriented music or instrumental music. (Liquid Tension experiment, Dream Theater). I also spend much time searching for bands that might not be as recognized as others but still very good. Recently, I’ve tried listening to blues, and alternative music (
Bluegrass), even musicians such as the Wooten brothers.

Finally, living in an international community is definitely different from a local lifestyle. Sometimes, I almost feel isolated because our community is so artificial and small. Of course, I do enjoy living their as I still have the ability to be with friends form around the globe. I think that ability is really great, as in the future, we will be dealing with issues worldwide and be responsible to socialize, and tolerate with different people from diffrent cultures. All together, I hope this “project” between our schools goes smoothly, and I’m really excited about it as well.

These days, most of my issues revolve around of my friends. Of course, my grades are a huge priority, but I treasure my social life just as much.Today, a big topic is global warming. Since I’m moslty interested in current, or developing issues I think global warming is a very interseting topic. At start, only from reading bits from the newspaper, I was not aware of the magnitude of this issue, but now, after researching on my own, I have grown more concious of environmental problems. If any of you are intersted in this, you should see this film/documnetary by Al Gore, called An Inconvenient Truth.

Another issue I’m highly intersted in is the exponential economical growth of China. To me, the shift of power seems to be gowing towards China, and leaving the U.S. Speaking of the U.S, I love the controversial news that go on in the Middle East about the production of nuclear weapons…

Well, with all this going, I hope we’ll have things to talk about and i can’t wait to read your intros

Symbolism

We want our audience to leave this memorial with the idea that, as Ann is positioned, that she represents the humanity in all of us, and the horror and marvels humans are capable of. The contrast, from the deafening tracks to hell and the infernal moaning of pain, to Ann. Simply Ann. She represents the light, and hope struggling to shine within this dark and terrifying time. My group’s intentions are that Ann’s diary will spread the voice of so many others that suffered. A light from the dome will spotlight Ann’ desk, (diary). This represents the hope and nature as we will have birds chirping from that opening. The chimneys will also play a big role in the symbolism. On the Concentration camp side, a chimney will be located near the center, a black fearful and miserable one. On the opposite side, the chimney will be centered, (like the other), and be bursting with light and made of red warm bricks, (and bring out the family atmosphere.)  A railroad track will circle the desk, to guide the audience around. This track will symbolize the painful journey the Jews were forced to take, only to lead them to their deaths. One side of the wall will be packed with the most meaningful quotes my team and I could find, while the other side will be loaded with the ugly and true facts about the Holocaust. Simultaneously, a PowerPoint will be centered on Ann’s personal life and siblings. This will probably the only piece of technology used, but it will repeat over and over, smoothly. In the alley, one wall will be illustrated with handprints, desperate to leave, and the other, (separated by the showers), will demonstrate a happy warm family. The most powerful symbol within this memorial is most likely to be the diary. Although it is small and innocent, it is at the same time the simplicity of the diary that spreads the power. I truly hope this is the way Ann would have liked her memorial to be, as she grew from her self-centered, princes-like character, to the most supporting and meaningful figure that stood out, shined amongst all others to bring peace to the way she conceived the world. Unfortunately, terror again reins our world, but maybe, another light will shine.

Pictures of our project:

Annes desk that is in the memorial.

This is the railway tracks that people walk on in the memorial.

One of the walls in the memorial. This wall has facts about the war on it.

Another wall in the memorial. This wall has quotes from Annes diary.

This is the entrance of the memorial. It is ment to be like the gas chambers with the shower heads.

this is a top view of the memorial.

Eslrs that we achieved while doing the project on Anne Frank.

Effective communicator

Collaborate with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goal.Example:We all worked together to get all work done in school, in class, and out side of school. We did this for English but we made the model to improve our model building skills.Evaluation:Excellent

Demonstrate the skills of effective collaborationExample:We communicated after school to get more work done and reach our goal. We talked about our ideas, and got what we had to get done, done!Evaluation: Good

Self directed learner.

Demonstrate competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills.Example:We planned out a Blue print, and we organized a time to meet after school so we could get things done. We made sure t that we had a majority of the project done by Monday. We also organized who would do what when, so we new what every one had to do.Evaluation:Good

Academic achiever

Demonstrate the ability to work both independently and collaborativelyExample:We all took on our own responsibilities with the writing work, but we all worked together on the visual, and putting it together. Evaluation:Excellent

Critical thinker

Solve problems using a variety of strategiesExample:The Silver paint pen sank into the styrofoam, so then we decided to say that it was engraved like the Vietnam war memorial in
Washington D.C. Then for the other wall we changed pens. We had to do what we could!Evaluation:Good

We all worked together very well from the very beginning. We all pitched in ideas for our memorial, and we all helped assemble it in and out of school hours. Mitchell and Taylor brought all the things to make the model, and Laurent and brought the lap top and assembled the model with Taylor and Mitchell. We all put our heads together to get the model figured out. We had many ideas and great ones at that, so it was hard to know what to do. In the end we finally got some ideas down and all agreed on them. It was the little things that we all came up with, like
Taylor suggested we put down train tracks as you walk through the memorial. Laurent gave us all the idea to put in the gas chambers (showers) in as you walked in. Mitchell came up with the brilliant thing of putting in the desk, and actually making it stay up. Every one wrote something for the written part as well. We all had about 2 things to write about, so it was fair and no one person did all the work, because sometimes that does happen.We all worked really well and we all feel that as a team we were exceptionally strong.

When we first got the choice of the two different projects, our group thought almost straight away that we should do a memorial. In this spectacular memorial we have put many things all with different meanings that all just happen to have something to do with Anne Frank. To be able to create such an extravagant display we have used many things including tooth picks, Styrofoam, paint, paper, and even a laptop. After we had all the materials, it was time to get building. First we got the (already painted) floor and glued the (already painted) walls on it, next we made train tracks with toothpicks, then we made a desk, and finally we put shower heads up to represent the gas chambers.After all the craftsmanship was finished we decided to designate who would write what and who would do certain things over the weekend, for a paradigm we told Taylor to do the ESLR’s, Laurent to do the symbols, and Mitchell to do the summary/grade write up.Since we all (Taylor, Laurent and Mitchell) put such hard work in to this we would definitely give ourselves a good grade. We believe this because we did all the ESLR’s (at least one bullet from each) and put our hearts and souls into completing it. Overall on this project, because of the above reasons, we as a group definitely deserve an A- if not an A.

What it says on the walls:

Black wall:

Who would ever think that so much can go on in the soul of a young girl? I don’t think my opinions are stupid and others do; so it is better to keep them to myself.

I wonder whether you can tell me why it is important that people always try so hard to hide their real feelings?

White wall:

Approximately Six Million Jews were killed.About 220,000 Roma were murdered

Holocaust victims at 9 to 11 million, are just a rough approximate of the number killed

It is estimated that is
Berlin alone, 1600 Jews killed themselves rather then face the feared camps.

1.5 million Children were exterminated in the holocaust.