Diamante Poems

female

pretty sensitive

cooking cleaning decorating
mother    wife     father       husband

working exercising reparing

brave strong

male



I  wanted to compare general characteristics of  females and males.
You might say "You are in prejudice to say so"
However, actually, most females like to cook. clean and decorate.
In contrast, most males like to work. exercise and repair something.
I also missed my parents when I was writting down this poem.

Cleopatra

Today I want to introduce about Cleopatra. I'm sure that most of you have heard about her already. As you know, she was the queen of the Egypt. Also, she is representative of beauty until now.

First of all, I want to describe her appearance. She has big eyes and pointed nose. People says her pointed nose means she was a high-hatted woman. Her black or tanned skin shows she is from Egypt. She also had black and straight hair. Cleopatra was tall and skinny so I can guess she usually wore white and long skirts to stress her beautiful body.

Secondly, I will explain some features of Cleopatra. Since she liked cheetahs very much, she always be with them. Also, she wanted to build new palace to win a bet with J. Caesar. She was a ruler of Egypt so most of Egyptians felt scared about her. They had to follow her orders. Moreover, she felt love with J. Caesar. Even though J, Caesar was Roman, she didn't care about it.

Now, let's learn about Cleopatra's characteristic. As just I mentioned, she felt proud of herself. She hated someone who hurts her self-respect. That is why she had a wager with J. Caesar. For that reasons, many people say if she swallowed her pride, she could change the history. She also thought she is the best queen in the world. You can find out she was rude, too.

Fourth, I will give you some informations about her. She usually sat on the throne. The throne was gold and looked like owl. You can see the picture of it in the book. As you know, she could rule and force anyone in Egypt. I'm certain that you guys have learned already, so I will skip the explain of this.

Lastly, I will tell you the most difficult things, background. You have to know that J. Caesar and Cleopatra were already in love. We can guess the book is about the events that happened in 48-47 B.C. To sum up this book, they had a wager about building new palace within 3 months because of Cleopatra's self-respect.

I will skip reference and I hope you to read reference in my hand out.

Penelope

I'm going to talk about Penelope. She is a character in the book named 'The Odysseus'. To sum up the story of this book, it's about the adventure of Odysseus who is very brave. Penelope was wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. She was also a daughter of famous king Icarius. She was a queen of Ithaca and had lived in there. Her age is unknown but probably she was not too old. Because most people married early in that period. Her appearance is also not mentioned in the book but I can guess she was very beautiful and charming. Because lots of people wanted to marry with her even though she married. Before I start explaining about her characteristics, I want to hear you some background story about Penelope.

After her husband, Odysseus left his house, lots of suitors visited her. She wished comeback of Odysseus but he didn't. She felt sick and tired of them, too. She just continued the tapestry without responding anything to them. When she finished it, she had to replied when urged to marry. She woven during the day and undid at night the web so carefully. Unfortunately, it was discovered, so she had to make a decision. She had a good idea to delay it. She announced that she will marry with a man who can bend and send a arrow through twelve rings with Odysseus's bow. Actually, it was very strong and mighty. No one could performed it except the old man who was Odysseus in fact. After he succeed performed it, he aimed it toward suitors and finally he told the truth that he is Odysseus.

This story describes Penelope's characteristics very well. I will explain her characteristics which I found in this story. First of all, She was very faithful. She always loved and missed her husband. The book says, she yearn for Odysseus and her heart pines away and filled of grief when he was gone. It means she just love Odysseus not the other men. I think many people who want to divorce should learn something from her. Secondly, she was wary and poised. She was cautious even though lots of suitors proposed to her. She didn't puzzled and tried to solve the problem wisely. In addition, Penelope was observant, too. Moreover, I think she was also strong. Although waiting her husband was difficult, she lived strongly with a hope. She was also noble. Many suitors say to her 'noble woman'. Her this kind of characterist could be attracted lots of men, I think. Lastly, she was quite smart and diligent. She woven and undid her tapestry for 3 years not to reply. She also used Odysseus's bow to choose her husband. These ideas helped her to choose proper guy.

Now, I'm gonna talk about Penelope's feelings in the story. I can divide it for 2 parts. Her feelings before and after of Odysseus's comeback. Actually in the book, it describes lots of her feelings. First of all, I will tell you some feelings before the appearance of Odysseus. She felt lonely, depressed, gloomy and disappointed. She said 'My life is torment'. She missed him very much. She also missed her son who left house to find Odysseus. I think she was the poorest woman in that period. Because of her lost of families. However, after finding her husband, she was in joy and happiness. In my opinion, I can guess she couldn't sleep because of delightful news.

Actually, preparing this presentation was very difficult due to I couldn't use secondary sources. However, it was quite interesting that I read books and assume her characteristics. I also felt Penelope is great woman.

Life of the Highschool Student

http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipViewByVid.do?vid=tvdV5GUx8Js$
    A few months ago, the video about life of the highschool student was viral and controversial. It was a hot issue for everyone in Korea. Also, lots of series of life are released. This video gained the lots of sympathy of people. People say, 'It's creative', 'I really fascinated with this video' or someone say, 'The boy in the video looks like me'. It was also impressive to me.
    Nowadays, lots of students are very busy especially highschool students. They just study everyday for better grades.  They always study. They are under burden of  grades. I think this video shows the problems of it. It gives us some messages. "Students are so busy that they don't enjoy their lifes. They are living in same routine." Actually, I'm affraid of life in the highschool because of this video.
    I hope highschool students can enjoy their life!

Go away, Mr. Exam!

Go away, Mr. Exam!

 I'm sick and tired of lots of exams that I have. Also, many students feel like me, eighter.
Goverment and schools just focusing on the score of tests, not character.
I strongly believe exams should be banned in the schools.
My classmates and I wrote a essay about abolishing exams.
I hope people have a fun of our essay even though it's boring or not interesting.
Thank you.

      Exams must be stopped. Nowadays, most students are under the pressure of examinations. They complain about emphasizing on scores, too. That is why there was a famous drama named, 'God of studying(공부의 신)' . Actually, we have lots of tests. We have more than 6 tests per a year. Also, they have to study for that. They don't have enough time to spend their free time. So, I think we have to get rid of exams which make students stressful. There are several negative effects of exams.
     First, the tests give students not only stress but also embarrassment. There are many cases of parents compare our test scores with other students. It is not delightful to listen to the nagging or comparisons of parents make. It gives us stress and embarrassment. If students have done poorly on the test while the other students have gotten good scores, they will automatically feel depressed and unpleasant. They will be also disappointed about the fact not only they have failed their tests, but also worried about the scolding of their parents. Furthermore, the exams make conflicts between students and teachers or parents, making the relationship negatively.
     Second of all, examinations are barriers which disturb students to do what they want. This means, even though you have finished on exam, you have to start preparing for the coming exam. So most students can't enjoy their hobbies or interests. This makes students to have troubles in choosing their dreams. Also, some students never rest because they want to get higher marks on next exams. Exams are driving students crazy!
     Moreover, exams make students have depression or many kinds of serious mental problems. According to the news article, the percentage of committing suicide are growing. It also says that the major reason for their suicides was the burden of many exams.
     In addition, exams are too competitive. Students just work hard to win other students, not to improve themselves. Some people may say that it is not a big problem due to competition with others can improve the students' abilities. However, what I want to say is students would think that all students are their rivals. They just emphasize on winning. It can lead students to misunderstand the real purpose of examination. Without awaring exams are for improving, they may think "We study to get good grades and to win my classmates."
     In conclusion, exams must be abolished. They give excessive stress on pupils and take away the chances enjoy their hobbies. Plus, they can broaden the gaps between peers because of they will think each other as competitors instead of friends. They also give some problems mentally. So Mr. Exam, please go away.