Go Abroad with Standardized Test

Today’s world of education is full of standardized tests, varying from country to country. For example, in Thailand, high school students are required to take A-Net and O-Net examinations in order to compete for admissions to the prestigious, public universities. Upon graduation from their undergraduate schools, most students who see the importance of education will pursue further in higher education- the graduate schools. At this point, an international standardized test- TOEFL- for decades has come to play a significant role to those who want to study abroad. As a criterion used by many foreign institutions, especially in the United States, the TOEFL test has been developed to measure a variety of English-usage skills of applicants.

The old version of the TOEFL- CBT- consisted of four parts: listening, grammar, reading and writing. Most applicants contended that the listening was the hardest while some students argued that the reading was the toughest part on which to score. For the ineffective grammar part, there were so few questions with a short time that it was surely not enough to measure the critical understanding of English grammar usage. Like the grammar, the writing was incompetent to be used to measure the applicants’ writing skill as only a short period of time was available to give their responses to the question. However, the students could use a universal pattern for their writing response, and in most cases, they did; thus, this part was arranged in the manor that was not effective enough to reflect the tru potential of their writing skill.

Nowadays, the TOEFL has been developed to the IBT, which stands for Internet Based Test. A new part- the speaking- has been added to the test module in order to measure the essential skill of English proficiency. The test writers state that this is the better version of the test to be used as a criterion to select exceptional candidates to the renowned programs that use English as a teaching language and the programs that require critical English proficiency. Nonetheless, many people are still skeptical if the new TOEFL is culturally biased.

What a human being I am!

Human being is a kind of primates that has its own cultures and uses tools for some purposes. The word also includes abstract meanings: cultures, moral, norms and art. Other primates but Homo Sapient have none of these as those kinds of animals just take actions instinctively; thus, those are not human beings.

Human beings are social animals since they cannot live alone. Some might argue that, however, a human can make a modest living undependably from others, but I would call it JUST a Homo Sapient, not a human being. Living in clusters, they form a social unit in which they have mutual responsibilities and relationship. An astounding number of these small social units constitute a whole society, leading to a nation, and each nation is also dependable to one another.

To talk about human cultures, human beings pertain to the use of money, which cannot be found in other species. Furthermore, art and religions also play an important role in human beings’ activities on each day. Religion defines appropriate ethical behaviors of each society, and we human tend to adhere to the rules. For example, most of Thai people are Buddhists and have their own cultures and norms which help identify their morally good behaviors, while most Americans are Christians and have almost totally different cultures from Thai which define their moral conducts in different aspects.

In conclusion, human beings are different from other species in that we have our own cultures and logical thinking processes. We are also in the highest rank in the species hierarchy. Ironically, we human can sometimes take some unreasonable actions without rational thinking, such as committing suicide.

Magic Copperfield

I would call magic a kind of show that entertains people. It can foster family relationship as family members discuss about the tricks on magical shows. For instance, as a kid, I always discussed with my parents on the magical tricks played by David Copperfield. It was an interesting experience for me since, as you can imagine, every kid would be intrigued when watching magical shows on stage. I used to play a magical trick in front of the class when I was in elementary school. Every classmate was excited.
Philips and Lisa are also the famous magicians in Thailand. I always liked to watch their shows with my family. In my opinion, 'the magic' is magic as it brings family members together and share each individual's opinion. It also helps enforce family relationship.

My field note

Today I interviewed John, my English teacher at AUA, if his mood was affected by the space he was in. His response was interesting in that when there were phenomana such as storm and lightning, he would- when feels safe- understand more about the power and anger of the nature. He also felt more relax and enjoyed living with nature.