The Book I've read recently...

Hello, everyone~!

Today, I'm going to talk about the book I've read lately. The title of the book is "The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them".(The link brings you to Amazon.com for further information.) To tell the truth, I finished reading it about a month ago. However, I've been busy coping with the school things, so I kind of waited for this time because I finally had a chance to write a comment about the book!

This book is about how a teacher in high school can make huge differences on students' future by reading and writing. One of the authors of the book, Erin Gruwell was the teacher in high school where the troubles caused by guns, drugs, gender, and people's races have been taken for granted for a long time. In her class, the students were suggested that they use the skills of writing to change the environment surrounding them and to change their future, instead of relying on the power of violence. So she encouraged them to write their own diaries just like Anne Frank did when she hid the secret house. She thought that writing diary would help students escape from the reality they had to deal with on a daily basis. She also let the students read the books she recommended. At first, the students were confused because they hadn't been expected and respected by someone like her. But as they got used to the way she taught, they gradually started to think that studying would help them get out of the situations they were in, and to have hope for the future.

Living in Japan, I rarely have a chance to know what they'd experienced. Generally speaking, the rate of students who drop out high school is lower than that of the US. Moreover, according to the Japanese government, the people are given equal opportunity to study. So it was surprising for me to see what happened to them such as friends' death by guns, drug abuse, rape. These facts made me realize how fortunate I have been to be able to receive my education and what I have now. We all are likely to forget what we take for granted because it's so hard to see.

Also, the passion they have to move forward really motivated me! It was as if they made me able to move forward as they used the power of writing to get better education or live better.

If you have time, I encourage you to read it!
It definitely will give you the sense of how a little thing can make a lot difference, and tell you the importance of reading as well.

Alright, that's all for today!
Thanks for reading. ^^
Take care.

How have you been?

Hello, everyone!

Well...right now I should really be preparing for the presentation for next week, but I kind of feel like escaping from the reality by posting something on this blog before starting to work on the presentation. I also thought that some of you have been wondering what I've been up to recently...haven't you?

As you can imagine, I've been busy attending the classes, doing homework which seems to be endless, and hanging out with my friends. In short, I'm just doing fine!

I do have a lot of things to talk about, but I guess it really is time for me to focus on preparing the presentation!

Alright, that's all for today. ^^
I hope everyone's doing fine just like me!