FREE WRITING 4

THE KITE RUNNER

   

   

      The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. It was published in 2003 and it is Hosseini's first novel. The Kite Runner was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007. 

         The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir who is a young boy from Kabul-the largest city of Afghanistan. Amir has a  close friend named Hassan and Hassan's father is their Hazara servant. This story forms not only friendship, brotherhood, love but also shines light on the history of Afghanistan and the rise of Taliban regime. It gives a lot of information about how Taliban overthrowed the former goverment and formed his own goverment, the  terrible times the Afghan people had in that time, and of course, how Amir, Hassan,his father affected from this situation.

           The Kite Runner is one of the my favorite books due to not only its topic but also the author's style used in this novel. Everything in novel can be understood easily thanks to the author's style. The author tells the story intriguingly. When I read, I want read more. I was always curious about the next event which Amir or Hassan had. Although The Kite Runner is the first novel of Khaled Hosseini, he is very successful in making up a story  and telling excellently.For instance ; I was always curious about how Amir would learn that Hassan and himself were brothers, who would tell him and when? . These questions always kept me on tenterhooks. I waited for the answers till the end of the novel. The answers were hidden in the last page of the novel and even the last a few lines.  Indeed; these last lines seems us as an end,yet it is a begining of different lives for Hassan and Amir. It is like the begining of a new story. Probably other boys from Afghanistan, probably brothers- sisters, new lives and new stories..

FREE WRITING 3

ICE AGE

Ice Age  is a kind of American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film. Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge are directors of this film. Ice Age was nominated at 75th Academy  Rewards for best animated feature.

Ice Age is a seies consisting of three sequels: Ice Age: The Meltdown , Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Ice Age: Continental Drift. The film begins with a squirrel known as Scrat who is trying to find a place to store his food. In the end, he finds a place for his food but causes to several cracks on ice and he ends up in a herd of prehistorical animals. These animals are aware of the danger coming with the increasing temprature and decide to migrate south except for Manfred, an mammoth who is heading in north. Another character in the film is Sid. He is a culmsy sloth and his family leave behind him. For this reason he  stands alone. Fortunately, he runs across our huge character ,Mandred, and continues his migration safely. During the migration, they have many adventures. Sid is always culmsy and he is in trouble most of the time. If he is not in danger, it is  almost certain that our mammoth Madred has saved  him. The struggles of squirrel Scrat to fine a safe place for his food produce so many funny scenes for spectators.  The Mammoth is always stubborn to stay north ignoring the meiting ice. However, his friends  convince him about the migration to south with them. Their adventurous journals to south last for three sequels. Each of them is full of enjoyable dialogs. Besides, this dialogs are one of the reasons why I like watching this animation. As far as I'm concerned, all characters especially Sid are very succesful in makig  spectators laugh during the all three films. I like almost all animations but I can recommend you watch especially Ice Age to have a rare old time :)

FREE WRITING 2

                                  ALBERT CAMUS

Albert Camus was born in 1913 and died in 1960. He was a French author who won Nobel Prize 1957, journalist, and philosopher. He studied at the University of Algiers. At the same time Albert was the goalkeeper of the university team and he continued to do this until he contracted tuberculosis in 1931. From time to time, he had to give up his responsibilities and just rest at his home because of his illness. Finally, he closed his eyes to life as a result of a traffic accident. Italy was the most beautiful country for Camus.He says for Italy the country created for my own heart ..

    

     Albert Camus is one of my favorite authors. Last summer,  I read a few of his books for the first time.At the begining, I had hard times to understand his aim to write. Then I read, I began to understand him very well.So far I have read his ' YABANCI' , 'MUTLU ÖLÜM', 'TERSİ VE YÜZÜ'.. His aim is not to be happy any longer; he just wants to be aware of his environment, his world.. He says  that life is very short and wasting your time is a kind of sin.. There is no limit to love. Embrace everything what see what you believe what you feel... Life is simple. It is human to make complicated everything.. Feeling sorry for the mother..Is it love to her ?.. No one will want to listen you any longer. It will be the terrible truth when you get older . You will be convicted to solitude and silence.. Man  is the only creature to refuse what he is.. The coming of the disease is all of a sudden, yet to going of it needs time..  He has a different , orijinal idea about life,love isolitude, oldness almost every topic. The most important one he looked at life from different perspectives..

    

     

                                       

FREE WRITING 1

                       
                          HOMESCHOOLING VS. PUCLIC SCHOOL



 Homeschooling or public school .. ? Which one is better .. ? This questions preposses people's minds for a along time. People can not decide about which one is better before thinking for a time. Then, let's see pros and cons of  homeschooling and public schools.

                                          Homeschooling Pros

• Homeschooling gives children more freedom about their education. Children search and learn whatever they want.

• In homeschooling, there are not  many time-consuming things sucs as school timing, exams, quizs etc.

• In home schooling, children also have emotional freedom. They do not have to can stand the pressure of peer grups, meaningless competition. They can study in peace.

•  Home schooling also beneficial for families about teaching their religions to their children.

                                         Homeschooling Cons

•  Homeschooling requires at least one parent  to be at home full-time. This could be financial problems in the family. The income of the family may  reduce.

• The amount of noise and disturbance may be cons of homeschooling. Noise and disturbance may break the concentration of children who are trying to study at home.

• It have to be accepted that homeschooling is an oddity and may cause some troubles about getting friends in close neigbourhood while other children go to a public school. As a possible result of this stiation, children feel lonely and isaloted and their psychology may be effected badly.

• If children spend most of their time at home, they can not attend team games. They may be not welcomed in public schools. For this reason, parents may have to arrange several team games for their children.

                                            Public Pros

  

• Public schools provide children with creative activities like theater, bands and so on. Participating this type of activities is much more easy in public schools.

• More resources to search and opportinies are avaible for children who go to public schools.

• Children in public schools also have an opprtunity to get to know different types of people which means children are prepared to face the real world in public schools.

• Apart from the class teacher, there are many teachers to teach many different subjects such as arts, music to keep up children's interest.

                                          Public Cons

• The teaching activities are done at mid-learners level. So, advanced learners may get bored in the meantime.

• Some students are quite smart but quiet. Because of the lack of individual attention, these gifted children may get lost in the crowd.

• Some children are tend to be effected from their friends and get some wrong behavior. Moreover ; ıf they are scolded, they rebel and follow their wrong behavior for a long time even forever.

• Sometimes children deal with several problems sucs as anger managements but they do not get help from school authorities. As a result of this, the matters get worse and children may take wrong steps.

       And in conclusion.. What is your decision ? Which one is better for you ?  :)

REVISED JOURNAL 2

REVISED JOURNAL 2

BEING A STUDENT AT METU 

When I was in high school, I didn't like METU  and Ankara at all. There was just one option for me: BOSPHORUS UNIVERSITY. I strongly thouht that METU was not appropriate for me. Furthermore, Ankara was not the most ideal of cities for me to live in and continue my education becuse of my its harsh weather conditions. However; as I stepped into METU, my thouhts about METU  and Ankara changed completely. I  now no longer think that I would  regret choosing METU for my education and future.  After  a few days I came to METU, I understood my prejudgments about it were very wrong and nonsensial. I would like to explain this with some examples. Firstly, I am happy to be a student at METU because of the great respect students get here. At the campus,regardless of what position someone is holding and how old they are, everybody is respectful to students. So far, I have never come across any disrespecful behaviour from anyone. Whenever I ask a question to somebody, she /he gives me not only the answer to the question but also some other information about METU  like the location of building , dormitory and so on. Everybody at METU is friendly and very helpful. Apart from these beautiful nature of the peope here, METU also has a splendid campus. It is almost full of trees. Everywhere is green and I can even see  species of birds that I have never seen before. One small problem though is the problem of transportation. Going from  one place to another is sometimes very difficult. More often  than not,  the buses in campus are full. That is why, from time to time, we have to walk to whenever we want to go. Walking can be time consuming and very exhausting given the large METU campus. My other problem at METU  is to find places. At first,all of the places looked the same to me. I got lost many times and have to walk for hours .However, now I'm getting used to this. To sum up, I think being a student at METU , so far, has been superb. And I'm sure that ıt will be the same for the next four years. I'm happy at METU. 

REVISED JOURNAL 1

REVISED JOURNAL 1

 MY IDEAL UNIVERSITY 

"How is an ideal university like to me?". This is one of the questions that I want to answer. According to my criteria, an ideal universty should provide a wealth of amenities for students including sports halls, recreational areas, proper campus transportation and so on. This is to give students the convenience of using them. Moreover, they should be free so that student can benefit from these facilities suficiently. I think  preparing us for the exam or helping us to get a job should not be the only goal of an ideal university. Other than these aims, an ieal university should make us think powerfully. After our education at the university, we should gain the ability to analyze and to produce new and different ideas. An ideal university should not teach us how we should choose one option over the rest as in exams. Rather, it should teach us life lessons in helping us deal with choices in the future. In short, it should prepare us for the "real life". The next question is whether or not METU is an ideal university. I can say so many things about this topic. Yes, METU is an ideal university. According to my own observations, teachers at METU want to teach us "how we can learn what we need". In other words, we can call that "learn how to learn". We are taught to find the information ourselves, think about issues, search for them, instead of just merely copy and paste what we find. In fact, these skills are what we need to change some things and develop our talents. I have been at METU just for a month, but I think METU's aim is not about teaching us to choose between options in an exam. Rather, its aim is developing the character of its students so that they are ready to face the world next time. The aims of METU complies with my criteria of an ideal university. As I embark on my journal as a METU student ,  I hope growing into a strong individual with qualities that METU would instill in me to face the chalenges of the world at the end of my university years.

COMMENTS

I have commented on Cansu and İnci's journal enries.

• http://inci010911.blogspot.com/2012/12/journal-set-2-reflection-entry-bringing.html#comment-form 

       

• http://cansudayanc.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-entry3.html#comment-form 

I have recommented on Mizgin and Dilek's journal entries.

• http://yektaduhan.blogspot.com/2013/01/to-want-be-foreing-in-this-video-we-see.html#comment-form

• http://dilekfazlioglu.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-set-3-multi-media-entry.html#comment-form