Ngoc Bao Nguyen Phuoc kAthY

Journal #16

2009-05-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

My writing has improved a lot when I studied the ALP course. I had chances to practice my English skills such as reading, writing and speaking. The 6 classes give me opportunities to use English as much as possible. In fact, when I was in Vietnam, I used to use English at my university because it is an international school so I needed use it everyday whenever I had classes. However, I did not have many chances to use English as I live in USA because my friends and I still talked Vietnamese to each other when we hung out or out of class.
Writing essays is the good way for me to improve my writing skill. I can use right structure for each type of every kind of essay. For example: argumentative essay, process essay. Every type has a different transition words or phrases so I need to study suitable transition words in order to help my essay more smoothly and stronger.
I am satisfied with what I have get from ALP classes and I will try my best to get the high score in the Toefl test on May 8th. The only thing I hate is that I have to get up early for the morning class, haha, :p
I just want to say thank to the teachers who have taught me since I studied here xD

Journal #14

2009-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

I dont want to change anything on my body because it is my body and I love it no matter how and what it is. My parents gave me a birth and I love it. Lucky me, I am quite satisfied with everything that I have. Plastic Surgery is not good for your health for sure. Once you use any action which is impacted from outside to your body, it may lead to side-effect. If you want to go diet, there are many ways to choose. Doing exercises, having a suitable eating time and schedule and looking for advices from doctors are the most common and easy things for everyone to do. However, I want to be taller eventhough I am not as short as dwarfs but I dont think it is a good idea for me to go to the hospital to do it. As I know, it is very painful and we have to spend a lot of money for being taller. That is one of the ways to waste money and I wont do it =D

But anyway, there are many people having a plastic surgery and they are happy with their decisions. This problem depends on each person's thought.

Journal #12

2009-04-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, women and men are equal. Many women do not want to be passive in their relationships because they think they have rights to do what they want. Men do not need to be a person who always ask first. Should girls ask boys out? This idea is not bad, why do girls wait for invitation all the time? It is the 21st century and everyone can do whatever they want. Just imagine if I wait for a boy to ask me to go out with him, I am afraid that I can not have enough patience to be asked. However, girls are encourage to ask boy out today.

Obviously, boys ask girls out is a normal thing for relationships or dating. Girls are usually shy to invite boys to go eat or something like that. It is one of the most common reasons for this problem. However, sometimes boys are shy, too. They are not brave or confident to ask first. As a result, in this case, girls should be active. Boys might appreciate for this action.

Dating helps couples know and understand each other deeply. It is not important who is the person asking first but how they behave when they date together. Just catch the chances, chances never come again if you hesitate.

Journal#9

2009-03-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

I am planning for my Spring break. I intend to go to New York to visit my uncles who are living and working there. They are living in USA for more than 20 years. One of them I have never met before because he left Vietnam when I was not born. I think if I could go, it will be such an interesting trip because I can meet uncle who I saw many years ago and one who I have not had a chance to see. But my friends have asked me to go to Las Vegas with them by car. It is fun, too. I have experiences for traveling by car so I feel very excited even sometimes it makes me tired a little bit. Last weekend I went to Phoenix, Arizona by car for my friend's birthday party. We went together, chatted and joked in the car, stopped to take pictures..etc.. It was really fun and I love it. I am thinking about where I should go for this vacation. Still a hard decision lol =]]
But anyways, I want the spring break to come fast because it is the time for me to relax. Going to school everyday and waking up early make me feel tired :[

Journal#8

2009-03-13T18:51:00.000-07:00

Since I arrived and applied for ALP at CSUF, I feel that my writing skill is developed more and more. When I was in Vietnam, I studied a Rmit International University and had to write essays a lot so I am familiar with these kinds of homeworks. That is why I do not have many difficulties when writing journals. The Composition class is quite satisfied everyone so far, I guess. In order to improve my writing skill, I try to read books, magazines and study grammar or vocabulary words because I know it is necessary for me when writing journals or essays. Moreover, I am studying Newspaper class and I like it so much. My classmates and I have to write articles and design for the ALP Newspaper so I think it helps me to train my writing also. I think our class should have more activities which everybody can take part in together such as camping and then we can write about the experience that we spend for it. I just suggest, you know xD. I hope we will have a good time for the rest of our semester.

Journal #7

2009-03-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

My favourite TV program is MTV. It is a channel for music in the world that attracts many young audiences. I usually watch it when I have a free time. It is launched every day and every night but it has an exactly time for each kind of music. They broadcast songs on the Billboard in the evening, sometimes there are songs from Asia such as Korea, China. The purpose of this program is to introduce new songs, albums of famous singers to everyone who is interested in listening to music.

Journal #6

2009-02-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

One of my favourite destinations for traveling is Singapore. It is such an interesting land with many events and happy people. I go there every year, sometimes 2 or 3 times a year with my family. My parents get a vacation and we go together in order to relax after working hard. I do not know why I am addicted in Singapore that much but even though I went there for many times, I still want to come back. Singapore is a heaven for walking, shopping, and tasting delicious food from many cultures. All I usually do when I am in Singapore is shopping and shopping =]] I can go all day long without tiredness with my younger sister and some of my beloved cousins and go back to hotel after my legs cannot move anymore lol =)) I love walking on Orchard Road, which is known as a shopping center and always crowded with many tourists and local people. Singapore is an effervescent country even it is not large. People from over the world come here for working, traveling, and studying so it is mixed up by various cultures. Moreover, the air in Singapore is very fresh. It is as known as the cleanest country so I find it comfortable when being there.
Now I am studying in USA and maybe I cannot go to Singapore as frequently as I did before but I will be there soon for sure.

Journal #5

2009-02-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

Living in a different country has challenges obviously because I have to live far away from home, where I used to live and be familiar with everything. I decided for leaving Vietnam many years ago. At first, I intended to go to Australia for studying and I went there some days just for traveling and visiting my relatives and finding which school is suitable for me. After spending 10 days in Australia, my dad said that he was afraid if I lived far from home because I was just 16 at that time. Thus, I came back to Vietnam and continued to study. I have more time to think about my future so I decided to go to USA finally. Since the day I arrived, I have not had any trouble except homesick and miss delicious foods in my hometown. I have many good friends and my family live there, certainly, I miss them a lot. I usually think about them every single day. I have to go to school by bus because I have not known how to drive yet but I feel pleased with the bus ride even though it takes time longer than driving by my own. I think it is my choice to be here so I must overcome and cope with challenges which I have. I travel abroad a lot and am familiar with speaking English which is not my mother language so it is not a serious problem with me. I just have one difficult thing that is homesick. I hope I can go back to Vietnam as soon as possible. The best way for me to solve with this trouble is to keep in touch with my family and friends as much as I can, make a phone call or go online to chat with them. With the fast development of 21st century, everybody connects together easily by Internet. It is my solution when I live in USA.

Journal #4

2009-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

Fashion is one of the most interesting things that attract many people nowadays. It is, hence, they pay special attention and care a lot about trends which are hot or fashionable. Some people believe that we should not follow these modern trends because they are hard to follow, some do not think it is a good idea to consider. However, I believe fashion trends are difficult to grasp but they are interesting also for some reasons. In this essay, this problem will be discussed.

Firstly, fashion is really essential in life today. There are many famous or infamous brand names selling clothes and most of them are accepted by the customers. Even its quality might not high but the most customers care is a design and model. Besides that, in this modern life with the fast development, people easily approach new fashion trends from other countries or cultures which are not familiar with them before. To illustrate, many teenagers wear Harajuku that is a famous model in Japan as their style and gather to be a group. They also consider that the more they are fantastic, the more they feel beautiful and keep others’ eyes on them.

Secondly, more and more young people and adult think fashion makes them more confident and get attention from others. They believe that others can evaluate them by clothes they wear as well. Clothes are designed for various cases such as: party, workplace, club..etc… in order to make people have more choices and feel comfortable.

However, there are always opposite opinions about fashion. Old people think it is one of the ways to waste money and time because fashion connects closely with expensiveness. They believe simply that we should dress in what we like and feel comfortable in.

In summary, fashion is always a matter of controversy for ages. Even though fashion trends are difficult to follow but it attracts many people who are young and stylish.

Journal #3

2009-02-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

One of my unforgettable birthdays is when I was 18. It was such a happy day for me because I could spend my special time in my hometown with my beloved family and friends. We had a small party at my house and then my boyfriend with some close friends took me to the mountain, where is my favourite place and has a beautiful view because I can see all over my city from the top of the mountain. After that day, my boyfriend made me surprised because of his present. He knows that I like the Me To You bear very much so he ordered a bear as a secret gift for me. There is not any agency of Me To You in Da Nang but he tried a lot to buy it from Ha Noi in order to make me happy. He said he just always wants me to laugh. The day he brought it to my house, it was rain too heavy but he did not care and still went even he got wet. I had a cute bear with many beautiful roses from him. I was very touched by what he did for me. Since I always celebrated my birthday every year, I have never had a perfect day like that before - a day fulled of laughs and happiness.

Journal #1

2009-02-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

My full name is Ngoc Bao Nguyen Phuoc but you guys can call me as Kathy, it is my English name. I am Vietnamese and have arrived in USA for six days so I was late some days for this course. I have an older brother and younger sister who live in Ho Chi Minh City right now but they intend to go to America for studying soon. I was born in Da Nang City but moved to Ho Chi Minh after graduating from high school for studying at Rmit International University. I studied Commerce for 3 semesters but I realized I did not like this major as much as I thought. As a result, I changed my mind and decided to go to USA for studying Communication. I think it is suitable for me than commerce. Now I am learning ALP and feel pleased with what I got since the first day of school. I want to finish the English course as soon as possible and then I can study my major. I will try my best in CSUF because I know my parents have to pay a lot of money for me to study in the US.

Ngoc Bao Nguyen Phuoc *kAthY*