Culture Shock

Still Work on the Final Presentation

dunosaur — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:24:39 +0000

We Chinese group continued our preparation of the final presentation. Helge gave us useful suggestions which really inspired me and broaden my mind. And it is the first time that I have come across some big terms, such as pre-understanding, emergent properties, game-like learning, etc.

At the same time, I feel that I should better both my teaching and my English as quickly as possible.

Baby-Raising

dunosaur — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:09:07 +0000

The way that Chinese parents raise their babies seems to be quite different from that in Oslo. (I dare not say from those in western countries now, at least.)

First, in China women usually have to stay at home for at least a whole month after they give birth to their babies. We were told in old days they were even not allowed to take a shower! Of course things have changed a lot nowadays. But even though we were quite shocked when we see young parents took their TINY babies out with them.. (My friends said they were not as old as a month.)

Second, Chinese parents always over cherish their children by looking them as their own belongings. They are always afraid of everything. Parents will easily get nervous when they see their children wear little in cold weather. We can never fail to find good examples in this aspect. While in Oslo, I often see babies wear only thin clothes, they can even swim in the pond with nothing on!

Third, more fathers are seen taking care of children in public, which proves the saying “in Northern Europe women have a very high social standard…” But it is quite a pity that in many countries men neglect their responsibility and importance in raising babies, some Chinese fathers included.

Fourth, recently, another popular topic among us Chinese participants in Oslo is: should Chinese parents continue building the strong family tie with their children or should they set their children totally free as soon as possible? I can not give any opinion in their heated discussion though I am also wondering if I have a child one day, what kind of parent I should be… At least we had better not go to extremes…

Get Started

dunosaur — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:12:41 +0000

How time flies! The third week in Latina comes. And this is a results oriented week. Our Chinese participants were told to work as a group and to prepare a presentation on the teaching of constructionist feedbacks.

This is the first time our Chinese participants work together, but don’t expect it to be easier. Because sometimes it is difficult to reach an agreement even when we discuss in the same language!

Anyway, we did work out an outline of our presentation. And I was quite surprised to see that Mr. Helge had trimmed our outline by the time I logged on Latina webpage. He set us a really good example by giving clear instruction and being efficient at the same time.

Things Behind the Screen

dunosaur — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:09:37 +0000

The first thing this morning was to present our triggers in class. I was amazed to see how well all of us had made our own works.

I totally agree with Vera that communication with our group members during the trigger making is just as important as the result itself, maybe in some sense, even more important. And I just want to add one point, that is, cooperation and support is equally important, especially when our group met unexpected technical troubles during these two days. We got help from the technical people here and we also soothed each other. Therefore, I valued the processe more than the result this time, especially after hearing the technical person said “It is not a competition”.

No title

dunosaur — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:58:27 +0000

I am quite slow the whole day because of lack of sleep, and my tongue twisted from time to time. So I don’t want to write much today.

Maybe I have overused my good luck, our group met unexpected challenges this afternoon when we continued our trigger-making. Why every time the one last thing cost us that much time? Part of the sound was missing and it was hard to save the trigger in the end. Sometimes I even ask myself: is new technology helping us or irritating us?

The morning trip to Oslo National Library …

Trigger Making

dunosaur — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:36:12 +0000

Our group started to work on our trigger shortly after our class began this morning. It’s really hard work, much planning, discussing, walking from building to building,shooting and editing. But luckily we are in a cooperative group, especially with Joanna, the graphic-making expert in our group. Otherwise, Neyan, Yulia and I would be in totally dark.

I learned a lot today about how to make triggers. But I think the more important thing is that we know more aobut each other’s country, such as the food, traffic, buildings, ect.

Are We Living in a Big World or a Small One?

dunosaur — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:33:42 +0000

Today’s class has finished, leaving so much things and happy memories in my mind. I am both glad and surprised to see that several classmates are also interested in my theme–Culture Shock.

Some shared opinions with me during the break.

It seems that we are living in a big world, because in our first course, when we googleearthed our hometowns on the Net, I felt we were too far away from each other, jumping from one corner of the earth to another. And actually we don’t have much in common: our looks, our language, our lifestyle, even our way of thinking…

However, by using the Internet and mobile phone, almost all my family and friends are within reach. And in the Latina class, we can sit back and chat on the same topic… And the world no long seems that big…

A Happy Accident

dunosaur — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:52:41 +0000

In the morning, the four groups in our Latina course presented our digital stories.
I was amazed by seeing the works done bby the other three groups. For example, the “Libraries” background music and scripts are fantastic.
Besides, it is also interesting to notice that different people focused on different things even when we are in the same surroundings. I guess that partly dues to the culture and economic background of each person.
Anyway, we should always have a sharp eye no matter where we are.

One last thing, the three of us, Therese,Nayèn and I found difficulties downloading our background music yesterday, as I mentioned. So we just borrowed a piece from my Chinese friend in a hurry.But this morning it turned out to be just the right one. It seems everythings goes with us…Isn’t it a happy accident?

Lost and Found

dunosaur — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:34:13 +0000

Several days have passed, but what happened on the early evening of June 26th, 2008 is still ligering on my mind…
I put my jacket on a clothes shelf in an H&M in Oslo, and tried on a new sweater. Then when I came back, I found my jacket gone, with my purse in it! Can you imagine? the worst thing was all my cards were in the purse? My friends and I searched almost every corner in the shop, but failed. In the end, we had only one choice–to leave our phone number so that the shop assistant could contact us if they found anything.
Luckily enough, later that day, we got their call. It turned out that someone just mistook my jacket to the fitiing room…
It’s really dramatic, and I am not sure what would have happened if I was in another city.
Hope that we can always find the things we have lost…

presenting and making digital stories

dunosaur — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:52:06 +0000

Another busy day for me!
Most of today was focused on digital storytelling. We Chinese participants presented our YoUrban project and showed several works done by our students.
Then in the afternoon, we were divided into groups according to the themes we have chosen, and we tried to make our own digital stories. My partners are Therese Høivik,and Nayèn Bacci Myhrvold. We made one called “Culture Shock”. Everything went smoothly, except finding the music.