What is this?

Hi! My name is Ulrik, and this is my student blog. My posts will be based on tasks and subjects given to the class by my English teacher Ann. I am currently in my third year at Sandvika High School, Norway.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Nomination for the Edublog Awards!

Since the Edublog Awards are getting closer each day, I would like to nominate someone for the "best Student blog", and "Best teacher blog". 

For the student blog, I would like to nominate my classmate Victor "http://victorenglish.wordpress.com/".
For the Teacher blog, I would like to nominate my English teacher Ann "http://annmic.wordpress.com/"




Saturday, November 17, 2012

Who was the earliest born human to be photographed?

I have written a couple of posts about photography(Look at the posts written in October) , and when reading more about the different subjects, I asked myself "Who was the earliest born human to be photographed?". As i have mentioned probably a hundred times in previous posts, I have a fascination for history, and the thought of this question really made me wonder. So, I started my research, which is quite easy if you know how to use Google, and I found the answers.

Hannah Stilley. *1746-†1840-1850
Photographed around 1840

The photographs

Hannah Stilley seems  to be the earliest born human, ever to be photographed. Except that she was born in 1746, I wasn't able to find much information on her. She had probably a husband, and the names of her parents are probably known. Hannah lived in the US and died between 1840 and 1850, which means that she became a weary old women, especially in those days. This could be the main reason she was photographed. If you looked into church books etc., I guess you should be able to find more information about her. However, finding anything on the web wasn't easy.


Conrad Heyer. 1749-1856
Picture taken in 1853















Theres no certain sources when it comes to the birth year of people born in the 1800s and backwards, so i feel that there's still one man who should be mentioned. His name was Conrad Heyer and he was born in Maine. In 1749 Maine was part British, but no one really controlled it (The natives, British and French were at war many times over the territory)  . When the revolutionary war broke out in 1776, Heyer joined Washington's forces and fought in many battles. After the war, he bought a farm in Maine and settled there. Heyer lived trough a lot of events. When he was a child, there were only a few colonies and when he died, the United states was 75 years old. He had spoken with people born in the 1600s, and he saw the
invention of the railroad, the telegraph, and he even got his picture taken in 1853. When you look at the picture, you see a man who has experienced a lot.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Using blogs as a way of learning English

Most of the posts i have written on the blog, I have written as a task given by our teacher in class. I think it's working out great, and it's a excellent idea to use blogs in class. Our teacher has asked some questions about how we feel about this way of working:


  • you think there is more pressure on how you perform/write when you use blogs instead of writing a paper for the teacher only?
  • Do you think the use of blogs reduces the difference between your work at school and your everyday life? 

Personally I find writing on the blog much more "relaxing" so to say. I feel much more pressure when I am writing for the teachers eyes only. I don't know exactly why that's the case, but somehow, writing for a wider audience makes it easier to write. Maybe it's because the texts are red by more people, therefore making it more meaningful to write them. It's more inspiring to write, when there is a bigger audience.
The second question I find quite interesting. Yes, I think that the difference between homework and schoolwork is being more neutralized by using blogs. However, when writing about something interesting, i might forget that the teacher will read it, and forget to check my spelling. This is probably good though, it makes a more correct image of how I use my English on a daily basis. I believe that using blogs for teaching is great for the teacher, so he/she gets to see how the students English truly is, especially if the students write posts voluntarily. For the students, it's a (probably) new way of working, and a fun way of working.    

Monday, November 5, 2012

The Alaska Natives

In the English class, we saw a movie called "Big miracle". It's basically about a few whales, trapped in the ice. Things happen, and with the help of the natives, media, the National guard and of course the Soviet Union, they are able to free the whales. The movie is based on a real story, and i must admit that it's quite stupid to use all those resources helping the whales. Especially when it's all because the Reagan government needed good PR. It's nice that the whales were saved though, don't misunderstand me. Anyway, I will stay out of politics. I don't like the republicans, and we can leave it with that. So instead of writing about Mr. Reagan, the republicans, their politics, and how they were willing to go as far as asking the Soviets for help when it came to good PR, I will write a small post about the Alaska Natives.


The  indigenous peoples of Alaska

The natives in Alaska came there thousands of years ago. They quickly learned to adapt the hard climate, and today they are famous hunters and fishers. As many people seem to think, they don't live in igloos, but they live in small town and settlements in northern Alaska. The art to make igloos, is something that's quickly fading away. Only a small number of people still knows have to make them the right way, most of them living in Greenland. Anyway, the man on the picture is what you could call a classical Inuit man. He wears skin clothing, and is adapted to the hard climate. The picture is from the early 1900s, and today they drive snowmobiles, and mostly wear modern clothing (which i understand perfectly fine). There are over one hundred thousand natives living in Alaska, and most of them lives quite isolated in their towns. They are under the normal jurisdiction in Alaska, but they do have some exceptions from Alaskan law. They are for example allowed to hunt whales. The natives have as all other native groups, being oppressed and looked down on. Today however, they are equal to other American citizens.