Summer Learning Journey Day 5 (week 5)

Day 5 (week 5)

Wow! What an amazing journey it has been doing the Summer Learning Journey and learning new information that I could never have known without it! Before I do my blog post I would like to thank all the members of The Summer Learning Journey and for the viewers that view my blog because they always leave positive feedback!

Activity 1-Your Future Self

For the last activity 1 of the Summer Learning Journey, my task was to think about my future(getting a job, graduation from high school, get a house etc.) and then post all these things that I can think of on my blog, here we go!

When I finish school my current heading seems to be either an accountant, a writer or a musician. For me, these are my top 3 subjects but I have absolutely no idea which I would choose, well not in the near future. At the moment I am not sure if university for me but depending on my courses in the future it will all unfold! After leaving high school I would also like to go on an Overseas Experience and visit many of the beautiful countries on our planet (including Paris!).

Activity 2-Flying Cars

If I had imagined that I got my license and was able to drive any of these cars which one would I choose? For me, I would choose the one on the left because I LOVE old cars! I like the design of most old cars and I think that it adds in a mix rather than all the modern cars on the road. The middle one is modern but I am not really an SUV fan and the one on the right has futuristic technology but I think that our world may not handle flying cards anywhere within the next couple of years.



Bonus Activity-Blade Runner 2049

Currently, there is a new movie that is out at the cinemas and the title of this movie is called Blade Runner 2049. This movie is set obviously in the future and shows what our future may even be like! If I had to imagine what New Zealand would look like in the year 2099 how would it be?

I would think that by 2099 there would either be a massive population count on the planet and space would be needed for housing and lots or we would have found a solution to this problem (maybe even living on Mars or the moon!) I think that houses may be all in a versatile shape like each room could be a pod and you could join different pods together to create various houses. I think that food and water may be a problem in the future so we may have invented food producers like a machine that could turn plastic into juicy burgers!

Before ending this, Once again I would like to thank everyone behind the Summer Learning Journey team and I hope everyone has a great and safe 2018!!!

Summer Learning Journey Day 4 (week 4)

Day 4 (week 4)

Activity 1-Moana

For activity 1 I read about how there was a huge launch of a new Disney movie in 2016 that was called Moana. It was about a Polynesian girl who goes on an exciting adventure. My task was to watch the trailer for this movie [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqmcxLUSRTQ] and then post on my blog as much as I can say about the movie.

Moana is the daughter of the villages chief and her father wants her to become a chief for her people but Moana has other plans. Since she was a child she wanted to go out past what they call the reef (which shall not be passed due to history). She had tried before to go but her boat had crashed and she had to stay back on land. She then tried again and the second time that she tried she got past the reef and her goal was to save her island from being destroyed. The so-called mother island got its heart taken away from it by a demi-god named Maui (a Maori mythological figure) and in result of this, it stops feeding life to other islands. Moana found Maui and they both ventured out to the mother island so that Maui could put the heart back and restore the islands. They encounter a crab which had stolen Maui's hook(which he uses to transform to various animals) and also they encounter a group of coconut pirates after the heart, yes coconut. They both successfully arrive at the island and find out that the mother island had turned into a huge lava monster but after Moana reminds it that is was the mother island she put the heart back and all peace and liveliness had been restored.



Activity 2-Country Calendar

The longest running TV show in ever for New Zealand is a show called Country Calendar. It has been running since 1966 and can still be watched up to today! It is about New Zealanders and mostly about the farmers out there. My task was to watch a short clip from country calendar [https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/40-years-of-country-calendar-2005] and then say whether I would or not want to be a farmer and the reasons why.

I would not really want to become a farmer because I have other interests. Farming seems undoubtedly a fun job when you get plentiful amounts of rain and the stock prices are not too high. It will let you bond more with animals and you will learn some valuable life skills. On the other hand, I think that it can get quite troubling when it comes to summertime and it may not even make you much of a profit with all the time and effort you put into farming. I wouldn't mind trying it for a couple of months but for a living? not really



Bonus Activity-Singing a Different Tune

Many New Zealand songwriters and singers are getting noticed around the world now and one of them majorly who is called Lorde. She is liked because of her choice of words or lyrics that are used in her songs that she writes. My task was to write down what my favourite song is and post some information about it. I don't really listen to music so I don't have a favourite but out of the couple that I have listened to this is what I seemed to like:

Song Title: Don't Let Me Down
Writer:The Chainsmokers
Lyrics:

Crashing, Hit a wall
Right now I need a miracle
Hurry up now, I need a miracle
Stranded, reaching out
I call your name but your not around
I say your name but your not around

I need you, I need you, I need you right now
Yeah, I need you right now
So don't let me, don't let me, dont let me down
I think I'm losing my mind now
It's in my head, darling, I hope
That you'll be here, when I need you the most
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
d-don't let me down

Don't let me down
 don't let me down down down
Don't let me down don't let me down down down

Running out of time
I really thought you were on my side
But now there's nobody by my side

I need you, I need you, I need you right now
Yeah, I need you right now
So don't let me don't let me don't let me down
I think I'm losing my mind now
It's in my head, Darling, I hope
That you'll be here, when I need you the most
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
d-don't let me down

Don't let me down
Don't let me down,down,down
Don't let me down,down,down
Don't let me down,down,down
Don't let me down, don't let me down,down,down

Oh I think I'm losing my mind now, yeah
Oh I think I'm losing my mind now, yeah

I need you, I need you, I need you right now
Yeah, I need you right now
So don't let me don't let me don't let me down
I think I'm losing my mind now
It's in my head, Darling, I hope
That you'll be here, when I need you the most
So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down
Don't let me down

Yeah, don't let me down
Yeah, don't let me down
Don't let me down, oh, no
Said don't let me down
don't let me down

Don't let me down
Don't let me down, down, down

Summer Learning Journey Day 3 (week 4)

Day 3 (week 4)

Activity 1-Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP)

In the year of 1996, New Zealand switched from their old First-Past the Post (FPP) voting system to the current one called Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP). In the recent election in 2017, there were three parties that had gotten together to form a coalition government, Labour, New Zealand First and the Green party. Today's activity 1 was to say if we would partner up with two other people (individuals) than who would they be? 

I would, first of all, choose my Mum because she is great at talking to people and persuading them. She can also deal with the maths problems because she was a maths teacher. Secondly, I would choose my Dad because he was an English teacher and we need someone who is excellent in English to write all the letters and rules.

Activity 2-Migration

In the past few decades, there has been a huge number of people from all around the world that come to New Zealand to either live or travel. Myself, I live in a nice modern home in Christchurch and I hope I never leave it, I mean I have been here all my life!


3 things that you can do while in Christchurch:

1. Rebuild. Unfortunately, a series of earthquakes had hit Christchurch a few years ago and this had caused huge devastation both literally and mentally. In result of this, the indigenous council of Christchurch had made their own remedy to the problem and they all decided strongly on forming a rebuild. It would be a great opportunity to view the Citys rebuild progress while staying here and see what a modern city would look like!

2. Gondola. Another popular place to have a scenic view on a gondola other than Queenstown would be Christchurch. You will see a nice view over Christchurch and at the top, there is a nice mall to spend your extra cash on.

3. Antarctic Centre. Christchurch is one of the main places that people go to for traveling directly to Antarctica. If you are not a scientist there is an easier way of experiencing that and this is done at the International Antarctic Centre. It has a realistic snow room so you can experience chills that are below zero and there is so much to explore in the museum!

Bonus Activity-Modern Learning Environments

A lot of schools have changed from traditional teaching (one teacher per classroom) to a Modern Learning Environment (many teachers with many classes). If I got the chance to design my own Modern classroom then this is what it would probably look like:

To start off it has 3 modern tables that can be split up to 6 or even joined together to make one huge table. I have put green circle seats around these tables which are made from wood and sponge so they are not too hard. I have out two green bean bags at the bottom for two lucky people. I have put the teacher's desk up the top so it easy for students to get there. lastly I put a digital whiteboard at the front in view of all the students.

Summer Learning Journey Day 2 (week 4)

Day 2 (week 4)

Activity 1-Chasing Great 

For Activity 1 I read about how New Zealand has had many sporting achievements in the past few years and one of the biggest would be the back to back wins we had in The Rugby World Cup 2011 and 2015! Both of these times the team (The All Blacks) were captained by a man named Richie McCaw and recently a movie named Chasing Great had been released to document about his fascinating Rugby career. My task was to watch the trailer for this movie [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In67DiC-U4E] then research about him and post three new things that I have learned about him.

1.The first time that Richie had been interested in Rugby was while watching the '87 world cup which his mother had said he had been glued to the TV and obviously had a lot of late nights!

2.He is actually a pilot in his spare time and was even made an honorary squadron leader of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Who could have thought a Rugby player always knows how to fly a plane?

3.He had also won the New Zealander player of the year in 2003. Wow, what an achievement to get!!!

Activity 2-Sporting Heroes

In the year of 2015, Lydia Ko from New Zealand had become the youngest women ever in the world to be the number one player in golf. Lots of people around the world see her as a sporting hero. My task was to tell you about who my sporting hero is and why.

My sporting hero would be Cristiano Ronaldo. I admire him that he is such a great football player and always gives his best at his games and he never gives up. I am also a football player and I like to try and learn from him via videos and images. He is a great team member for his football club Real Madrid and it would be completely different without him!


Bonus Activity-Shake it Off

For today's bonus activity I read about how lots of people are using Zumba as a fun and great way to exercise and I am sure you may have even tried it too! Zumba was brought in by a name called Alberto Perez who lives in Columbia. Zumba takes the likes of the following dances: Cumbia, Mambo, Hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, tango, and merengue. My task was to choose one of these dances then post three interesting facts about it.

Salsa
1.Salsa dance originated in the Carribean (no not in the movie). It was created by a man named Cuban Son who combined latin musicals and cuban music together to create Salsa.

2.Salsa has a lot of stepping movements in it and quite strangely when dancing the dancers top half is hardly moved by the stepping to create a still and also moving image.

3.This dance consists of a lot of weight shifting and doing this causes the dancers hips and legs to move.

Summer Learning Journey Day 1 (week 4)

Day 1 (week 4)

Activity 1-Celebrating a Win

Today is the start of a new week and I can't believe that we are already on the last one!!! Can you? For today's activity 1 I read about how the whole country of New Zealand had celebrated when Russell Coutts and his sailing team had won their second straight in a row America's cup! Today's task was to post on my blog what my family does to celebrate birthdays or special events and here is what we do! Is someone is having a birthday in my family we normally have either a small or a large celebration depending on the age you are turning. For example, my sister is younger than me so obviously she still has much larger parties like sleepovers and sometimes my Mum would bake a cake for her. For me, I prefer just getting some money and go out to the mall with my friends and normally I only choose my closest 2 or 3.

Activity 2-Lord Of The Rings

For activity 2 I read about how one of the most popular movie trilogies of all time The Lord Of The Rings cost about 300 million dollars to produce all these movies. If I imagined that The Director Peter Jackson gave me all this money for no particular reason I would save around 200 million dollars of it for future purposes, give away a couple million to help people out(homeless, charities etc.) and with the money left I would buy myself a nice house to live in, a car to drive in (probably a Lamborghini) and give some money to my family and my close friends.

Bonus Activity-The Rise Of The 'Selfie'

For today's bonus activity, I read about the popular term of a 'selfie' and I am sure that most of you know what it is but those who don't it is basically a photo of you that is taken by yourself using a front camera. The task was to post a selfie of myself including a particular hobby that interests me, here is my selfie!

And of course one of the most popular things I enjoy is Playing on my Xbox! But don't get me wrong I do not sit on it all day :)

Summer Learning Journey Day 5 (week 3)

Day 5 (week 3)

Activity 1-Hiking Tongariro

We have made it to the end of the week and there is only 1 more week of the Summer Learning Journey left! Time flies past so quickly when you're on holiday! For activity 1 I read about how there is a place in New Zealand that people can visit and there is a one-day hike available to do there. Today's activity 1 was to write down five things that you will need to bring for a one day hike.

1.Water, Lots of it! It is very easy to get dehydrated while going out for a hike and water is the most needed thing for this hike otherwise you may have heat stroke or get badly dehydrated.

2.A hat. A hat is required because it reduces the risk of getting sunburnt around your face and neck. You wouldn't want to go home with your skin peeling off!

3.Energy snacks. It is also really good if you can bring some snacks with you or even a self-packed lunch! This will give you energy when you need it most.

4.Sturdy footwear. It is also recommended that you bring strong or grippy shoes so that you won't accidentally slip or they won't break down when you are in the middle of nowhere!

5.A friend/family member. This is a strange item to bring but it is needed so that in case you get lost they will be with you to help both of you out. If there is no one available it is good to bring a communication device of just let somebody know when you will be back. 

Activity 2-Leading New Zealand

For activity 2 I read about how in the 1990s there were 4 individual Prime Ministers of New Zealand! My task was to write a short profile on one of our previous Prime Ministers and make a biography about them, here is my biography on Mike Moore:

Bonus Activity-You have to pay to play

For today's bonus activity I read about how in the year of 1990 New Zealand had for the first time in forever started charging students to learn at universities. The new government which is formed by labour has a goal to give three years of free tertiary (after high school) education to all students by the year of 2020. My task was to say what I think on whether students should pay or not in New Zealand to go to university. 

I think personally that students should be charged but only a small amount. I think this because the money that they will use to give us free education could go to better causes like to help world hunger, poverty and to help the homeless all around New Zealand and maybe even the world! The charge could be as little as $1000 per year and that would still help a lot, for example, if 200,000 students were in uni around New Zealand and they all paid $1000 that would help the government by 20 million!

Summer Learning Journey Day 4 (week 3)

Day 4 (week 3)

Activity 1-Hairy Maclary

For today's activity 1 I read about how one of the most popular children's books of all time was invented here in New Zealand and this book was called Hairy Maclary which was written in the year of 1983. My task for this activity was to write a short story from a sentence that was in this book.
"Out of the gate and off for a walk went Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy."
He went to the nearest corner because he was an explorer.
He then walked straight in hope of his fate.
A huge cat had walked in front of the dog which had the name of Feline Pog.
Feline led Hairy to a new Dairy and they saw a sign which had many lines.
Then they wanted some food but they both turned into a feud.
They then turned the street and found some meat.
He had made a new friend and they both knew it was not the end
Then back in the gate and finished his walk came Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy.

Activity 2-The Big 'OE'

For activity 2 I read about how in the 1980s it became increasingly popular for students to graduate from high school then take a year off exploring other countries around the world. This was known as the Big Overseas Experience. My task for activity 2 was to imagine that I was going on one of these big OE's and name a place that I would like to go to and three reasons why.

For my OE I would like to visit Paris. The first reason would be so that I could see the Eiffel Tower up close rather than on my clock. Secondly, I would like to go to Paris to go on a boat that will take me on a tour around the city at night and I can only imagine what it may look like! Lastly, the reason I would want to go to Paris is so that I can try some French food and try a truly baked croissant!



Bonus Activity-The 4 O'clock News

For Today's bonus activity I read about that in the year of 1982 there was a show on called Te Karere which normally has an interviewer named Scotty Morrison. If I could imagine being like him and got the chance to interview anyone that I wanted to, I would interview Peter Jackson. I would ask him "was it hard to create a whole 6 Lord of the rings and the hobbit movies?" "does this job earn you a lot of money?" "Are you planning on making another similar series?" and lastly "what gave you the inspiration to make these movies?'

Summer Learning Journey Day 3 (week 3)

Day 3 (week 3)

Activity 1-Ready to Roll

In the 1970s there was a popular program on Tv that was called ready to roll. It was hosted by a man named Roger Gascoigne and he would introduce music videos then play them on TV. I was shown three different music videos that were shown in this programme and had to place each of them in a rank of 1-3.

Video 1 (Golden Harvest) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKC6CFr1wCk I would rate this video as second as it has a nice groovy beat to it but I did notice that a lot of the verses were repeated and it went a little too far.

Video 2 (Ray Columbus and The Invaders) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOc8l4keP5I&index=10&list=PLA5rAF2h_nlltc1J7QQkiR0LfIEU1EiM1 I would give this video the first place as it had a great intro and I liked the enthusiasm that the whole band had especially at the interlude.

Video 3 (New Zealand Under Dogs) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxAc7gXtT0&index=7&list=PLA5rAF2h_nlltc1J7QQkiR0LfIEU1EiM1 I would give this video the third place only because the way it was sung was not really the best in my opinion. It had a country appeal to it which is obviously good for the country fans.

Activity 2-Bell Bottom Pants

For activity 2 I was shown that the fashion in the 1970s was unique. I have two pictures here of typical clothing in the 1970s and my task for today's second activity was to say two pros and two cons about what I think of these outfits.


Two Likes about it would be that it seems a lot more colourful than what we wear now so that would have improves their mood and secondly that it has a cool and funky look to it so your dressed for all occasions!
Two dislikes that I have about them would be that it seems too hot to always work in those long-sleeve business shirts and secondly that the patterns are quite strange and not really my type.

Bonus Activity- A Bilingual Schooling System

Before the year of 1972, New Zealand had only been teaching one language English. Until a Nga Tamatoa Member, Mrs Hana Jackson handed in a petition asking the New Zealand Government to also include the teaching of Te Reo Maori.  For today's bonus activity my task was to create a letter to my principal that would kindly ask him for a change in our school this is what I wrote:

Dear Principal,

There has been a problem going around for a long time and I think that maybe we could please have a change in how long school you would have to stay in school. I have noticed that people have the chance to drop out of school at the age of 16 and in some rare cases even 15! I can't imagine ever doing that because of the amount of learning and experiences I would have missed out. I think that it is best to raise the leaving age to 17 as it will secure more knowledge into these leavers and help them get a better way to start of at life. Please do consider this and I look forward to hearing back from you,

Thanks,Cameron

Summer Learning Journey Day 2 (week 3)

Day 2 (week 3)

Activity 1-The dawn of television

In the 1960s the dawn of the televisions had come. The television was introduced for the first ever time into New Zealand in the 1960s. My task for today's activity 1 was to say what my current favourite TV programme is and what it is about etc. Personally I watch hardly any TV but currently, I am into the Sci-Fi world and one that I quite liked watching was called Star Gate. It is about 4 people(Jack O'Neil, Teal'c, Sam Carter and Daniel Jackson) from Earth that use a transportation circle that is called a stargate. They explore different planets and encounter different races and species. I don't think that it is currently on TV but a few years ago it was.


Activity 2-Rock 'n' roll

In the year of 1964, New Zealand hosted the most popular band at the time the Beatles. My task for activity 2 was to read about their tour in New Zealand and post three awesome and interesting facts about it. This is the link to the site where I read about this tour: https://sites.google.com/site/summerlearningjourney/weekly-activities/week-three

1.There were over 7000 fans in their first stop in Wellington and most of them were actually Women!!!

2.There was a huge number of 30 police officers present at the tour but that was said to have been too little and that it was underestimated on how hard it would be to control them.

3.The crowds after the concert were so bad that the Beatles could not go back to their hotel normally so they had to actually enter in secretly through a bottle shop entrance of the hotel.

Bonus Activity-The three R's, Rugby Racing and Running

In the 1960's there was a famous man from New Zealand called Peter Snell who won a gold medal in the 800m race at the Olympic Games. And surprisingly he got another 2 medals after that.
Today's bonus activity was to create a poster on Peter Snell that showed all his other achievements and some information about him.