Year 10 Writing Portfolio (English)

For my English Portfolio, I am adding my favourite writing work that I've accomplished this year. My work is getting better
over time and I'm improving due to using different techniques that I've learned. Hopefully, you enjoy my writing.

New Zealand's shift to traffic light system (Reflection Section)

Text Title: Prime Minister - New Zealand's shift to traffic light system 

Text Type: News Report
Text Creator: Stuff News
Text Purpose: To inform the rest of New Zealand about the upcoming traffic light system
Critical Question: What is the text about? How do we know?
Date: 23/11/21

Critical Question: 
This text is about the new traffic light system that is going to enter New Zealand starting December 2nd-3rd we know this because Jacind Ardern had a press conference about it explaining it in more depth. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300460414/covid19-new-zealand-to-enter-trafficlight-system-on-december-3-opening-up-auckland

New Zealand is moving to the new traffic light system from 11:59 pm on Thursday December 2, meaning Kiwis will have to navigate a new set of rules on where they can visit and what they can do. At the announcement, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said setting the date now would give people, communities and businesses time to prepare. The system will involve three settings - green, orange and red. I like this traffic light system idea but I still wonder what will happen once this pandemic goes away.. would the system continue or would we go back to normal. The traffic light system has many advantages and can help us as a community be more aware on how many covid cases is in your supposed community.
I'm still wondering how they would know who has the covid cases and how would everyone follow the rules on the road when travelling this is what court needs to be aware of just in case because thats one potential way that covid could spread. Ardern is asking everyone to stop what they're doing so that they can install the lights all around New Zealand, Auckland would start on the red light system and no location starts on the green light till research has been done about the cases.
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Red

The red setting will allow hospitality to open with vaccine certificates, but gathering limits, physical distancing, masks and other public health measures would be used.

Record keeping and scanning will be required, with face coverings mandatory on flights, public transport, in taxis, retail, and in venues.

Public facilities can open with up to 100 people and 1m distancing. Retail needs to have 1m distancing too.

People are advised to work at home, but ECEs, schools and kura can open with public health measures.

Some outdoor community events will be allowed with limited capacity.

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Orange

At orange, gathering limits can lift. Places that choose not to use vaccination certificates will either be closed or have public health measures in place.

There will be no limits for the following if vaccination certificates are used: Hospitality, gatherings (weddings, worship, marae), events, close contact business, gyms.

Without the use of certificates, hospitality and gatherings will have limits applied

Without the use of certificates, events, gyms and close contact businesses will not be able to operate.

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Green

Green is when there are some Covid-19 cases in the community but at low levels.

Fully vaccinated people can enjoy all events and hospitality and gatherings by showing a vaccine certificate.

Premises choosing not to use certificates will face restrictions similar to the current alert level framework.

Image Credit:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/11/21/auckland-alert-level-shift-unlikely-before-november-29-pm/

New Zealand Covid-19 border removal (Reflection Section)

Text Title: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged to confirm Auckland COVID-19 border removal, set 'Freedom Day'

Text Type: News Report
Text Creator: Newshub
Text Purpose: To inform the rest of New Zealand about the border removal
Critical Question: What is the text about? How do we know?
Date: 15/11/21

Critical Question: The text is about borders re-opening inside New Zealand, People are calling it; "Freedom Day" We know this because there is a news article and a News confrence with Ardern questioning her about this so called "Freedom Day". 

What would have been more than 100 days in Covid-19 lockdown, Auckland could see its “freedom day” announced within the month, but the key question remains about how life will look like at that stage. On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda said the “strong expectation” is that Tāmaki Makaurau will hit 90 per cent double-vaccinated this month and will move into the traffic light framework following a check-up on November 29th. The traffic light system allows more freedoms than the phased stepping-down through alert level 3, resembling life at alert level 2 but with the added protection of high vaccination coverages and restrictions for unvaccinated people. There has been riots and protestors of people asking for freedom instead of being locked down in one part of the country personally I think that this is a bad idea for Auckland to be released to other areas of New Zealand because Covid-19 could reach areas like the South island.

Credit: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/126928758/covid19-a-freedom-day-for-auckland-nears-the-spread-of-covid19-elsewhere-looms

Teenager Lego with Gun drama (Reflection Section)

Credit-  
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/10/german-town--teenager-runs-up-and-down-street-with-lego-gun.html
https://sports.yahoo.com/restaurant-owner-mistook-teenagers-lego-152542654.html

Text Title: "German town shaken after teenager runs up and down street with Lego gun"
Text Type: News Report
Text Creator: Newshub
Text Purpose: To inform people about how a teenager alarmed a town because of a lego gun
Critical Question: What is the text about? How do we know?
Date: 8/11/21

A 15-year-old German boy has scared residents of the village of Lindau, by carrying a gun made of LEGO bricks. A restaurant owner called in the police, who went in a group. Witnesses saw the boy running up and down the town's main street. He was dressed in a camouflage outfit and was holding the fake gun. Residents of Lindau were shocked by the boy and did not realize that it was a LEGO gun. "We had no choice but to go straight to it with a lot of people and material," a police officer told local media. Many police cars were used to stop the boy. The federal police were also called in. The boy was soon found to be carrying a fake gun, but has been charged with scaring the neighborhood.

Critical Question: What is the text about? How do we know?
This text is about a chaotic event that happened that made a 15-year-old boy look like he was handling a gun, but in reality it was a LEGO gun, the boy is not being named for security reasons and has been charged for shocking his hometown, we know this because of News articles from around the globe.

Passion Project (Global Worldwide)

Reflection on your topic

What is your guiding question, and how did your guiding question change over time?

What are the key aspects needed to make a good song?

Why did you choose the driving question?

We chose the driving question to give us an understanding of what aspects are best whilst making a song to get the greatest potential out of our song as possible How did you collect your research and what did you discover?

We collected research by looking up how professional musicians generate ideas for their songs, and what they use to create their song Etc.

Reflection of Process

Did you encounter any unintentional learning? 

No, Once we researched our topic and all of the research was intentional. What obstacles did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

An Obstacle that we encountered was the lack of quiet spaces, we overcome it by informing a teacher about our project and kindly asking to use a quiet workspace, we also locked the doors to get the quietest space possible.

How did your distractions during the process help or hinder you, what path did it lead you on?

The distractions helped us to focus harder, and the noise distraction in the background was actually used in the music video which turned out to make it better. Listen closely to the music and you can hear it.

What transferable knowledge/skills/concepts have you gained?

Some Skills/Concepts/Knowledge that I've gained would be, How to create a song beat & that independence is more difficult than communitive.

The biggest growth for you, personally from this passion project experience?

The biggest growth for me would probably be that I've evolved with confidence during this phase.

What advice would you give for incoming students who might be completing this project next year?

Unless you're 100% confident in yourself to work and present alone, you should work with Friends that would make you feel comfortable doing the things that you enjoy. Choose a project that you would be willing to study and try your best in... 

The Red Sari (Post Reading Questions)

• Look up one new word from the story you don’t know the meaning of, and re-write the definition in your own words.
  Concertina- Concertina Means to Extend, Compress or Collapse against something.
  Example: The car had concertinaed against the truck, The best way to describe the text is the instrument concertina the instrument extends, compresses and pressures towards the other side of the instrument.

• In “The Red Sari,” the narrator experiences a very different world to NZ. What is a quote from this story which shows this?
  "High above the smog-filled sky" This part of the text is very different to New Zealand, There is a clear sky blue sky in New Zealand compared to New Delhi, India at the time, back then New Delhi was known as the most polluted country in the world because the air was filled with smog and you could even see some dirt in the atmosphere.

• What do you think the author, Apirana Taylor, wanted us to understand about experiencing different cultures?

                Apirana Taylor wanted us to understand the cultural differences and how they can lead to misunderstandings and discomfort within the Indian culture.

• Does Apirana Taylor encourage us to appreciate people who are different to us? How so? Yes, Apirana Taylor encourages us to appreciate others who are different from us because in the text we could picture their poor lives and the begging that they would need to do to survive, we do not know how hard it is for other countries and we do not know the suffering that they would have to live with. We need to support not only cultures but their beliefs because it can increase happiness, boost self-esteem, and improve our relationships with others. 

  
  
  

Sun Tzu- Art Of War (Reflection Section)

Text Title- Art of war

Text Type- Non Fiction
Text Creator: Sun Tzu
Text Translator: Ralph D. Sawyer
Text Purpose: To demonstrate military strategies for war
Critical Question: Why did Sun Tzu make the art of war?

Summary of the book:
This book tells us to Know when to fight and when not to fight, to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak. Know how to deceive the enemy, to appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak. To know your strengths and weaknesses, and if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Poems:
https://maorinews.com/writings/poems/artofwar.htm

Text info:
To Learn the Summary of each chapter in the Art Of War -
https://www.getstoryshots.com/books/the-art-of-war-summary/

Critical Question:
The only information on the web about why Sun Tzu wrote the book was to teach a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century Chinese military, from weapons and strategy to ranks and discipline. It stated that Sun Tzu had never lost a battle, and that he was one of the first treatice in warfare history. 

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (Reflection Section)

Text Title- The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
Text Type- Narrative
Text Creator: James Thurber
Text Purpose: To Create a story using imagination.
Critical Question: What would happen if Walter Mitty Died in one of his daydreams?

Summary of the Book:
Walter Mitty is an employee at Life magazine, spends day after day developing photos for the publication. To escape the tedium, Walter inhabits a world of exciting daydreams in which he is the undeniable hero. Walter fancies a fellow employee named Cheryl and would love to date her, but he feels unworthy. However, he gets a chance to have a real adventure when Life's new owners send him on a mission to obtain the perfect photo for the final print issue.

Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD6cy4PBQPI

Critical Question:
If Walter Mitty died in one of his daydreams, would it mean he is in a major life transition like what scientists suggest? or would it be something different like that he actually dies in reality too? This got me thinking, he is a normal person with an open imagination so it could mean goodbye to a relationship, a job, or a home. It could represent a part of him that is dying or something that he'd like to escape. This goes for anyone who dies in a dream/daydream.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Pre-Reading Questions)

Is it normal for a person to have secrets?
Yes, Researchers have found that 97 percent of people have at least one secret at any given moment, and people have, on average, 13 secrets.

Even from their spouse?
No, Your spouse and you should have trust, and Honesty keeps the trust alive.

What sort of secret of Walter Mitty hiding?
A secret new life, that he was living in his dreams.

What kind of person do you think Walter Mitty will be in the story based solely of off the title?
He has a Timid and submissive personality in real life and he seems bored with his current life.

Make a prediction about what will happen to Walter Mitty in the text.
I believe he would try to have a lot of jobs with his daydreams.

The Lake (Reading Features)

Post Reading Questions:
Who is the main character? - Harold Who is Tally? - The Girl that drowned Who is Margaret? - Harold's Wife Who finds Tally’s body? - The Lifeguard What was the tone of the text? - Reminiscent What were the moods of the text? - Depressing Language features- Listening- To listen is to give attention to sound or action. Example: The wave shut me off from the world, from the birds in the sky, the children on the beach, my mother on the shore. Figurative Language- Figurative language is when you describe something by comparing it to something else. Example: It was like nailing summer into a series of coffins. Dialogue- A conversation between two or more people. Example: Wait'll I watch my goose-bumps Emotive Language- Means to persuade the reader or listener to share the writer or speaker's point of view Example: All of the hot-dog stands were boarded up with strips of golden planking, sealing in all the mustard, onion, meat odors of the long, joyful summer Allusions- An allusion is when we hint at something and expect the other person to understand what we are referencing
Example: I stood there, watching the sun take away the water beads on my arms. I replaced them with goose-pimples Credits: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/woman-reading-book-by-the-lake http://hpskhushp.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-lake-language-features.html

Yellow Brick Road (Post-reading Questions)

Edited, Converted, and Extended From:
  
https://maryaleeza.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/yellow-brick-road-and-return-from-oz-by-witi-ihimaera/

1. The narrator believes they are moving to Wellington, we know this because Matiu states that "Wellington is where the money is. And you have to go where the money is, ay Dad." 

2. On page 3, what big difference between Waituhi and Wellington does the narrator mention? Matiu says to their dad that, "We'll make lots of money and be rich as anything because Wellington is where the money is. And you have to go where the money is, ay Dad. No use staying in Waituhi and being poor all the time, ay."

3. On page 3, we find out that Dad told Uncle Sam they were moving to Wellington because…? Matiu's Dad said to Uncle Sam, "No more jobs back home." He added with, "Plenty of the seasonal work, yes, but I and Hine had enough of that. We had enough of shearing, the fruit-picking, and the going down South to shear some more. No, plenty of work in Wellington. Plenty of factories." Furthermore, Matiu's Dad said, "I want us to have a good life, a new start, Dad tried to explain. A new start for my kids. Me and Hine, we've always had nothing. But my kids? They're going to grow up with everything. I'll fight for it, because they must have it."

4. How does the narrator’s attitude towards moving change once they draw nearer to the city?
This is due to the signs. Before and during the trip, Matiu was feeling exciting and curious. But as they get closer to the city, Matiu sees many signs making him scared and bewildered.

5. Emerald City, Yellow Brick Road, Flying Monkeys, scarecrow, tinman, and cowardly lion, are all references to what famous book? Why do you think the author made this comparison? The Wizard Of Oz. I think Witi Ihimaera made this with inspiration from The Wizard Of Oz to show the journey of people into a different place, where they will face problems with lots of twists along the way.