Why do students need to learn a foreign language?

 

What is the impact of learning a foreign language?, How can language learning impact your skills?, Who first intended that learning a foreign language is important?

A foreign language is a language that the native speaker and the country do not frequently use.

It’s essential to learn a foreign language because it helps to break barriers to language barriers and creates a deep level of mutual understanding.

 

So why do students need to learn a foreign language? Basically, it has so many advantages in every aspect of life, not only in socializing or academics. 

1. Learning a foreign language is cool 

As you can show off to your friends and family or surprise strangers that you have this super power. It can also help you succeed in romantic relationships as certain people are fond of certain languages so this is a plus. Such as myself I love East Asian languages because of their different dialects, seemingly opposite norms and cultures.

2. Enhancing Skills

Not only does it make you look cool, but obviously it enhances your skills. According to a study from the University of Georgia, one is able to communicate in a second language, and he or she enhances listening skills and memory. One participates more effectively and responsibly in a multi-cultural world if one knows another language. Improves analytical skills, creativity, and multi-tasker, basically, it makes your brain bigger. So it gives you a competitive advantage as from my own experience my dad speaks a lot of languages from Japanese, Italian, English, and Indonesian. He easily gets this competitive advantage of applying or working in a foreign company based in these countries. It helped him understand more multiculturalism and see other people's points of view from his own, as he was often liked by his superiors. 

3. Having a different point of view

Learning or studying a new language can affect your views. It helps us understand a deeper understanding of new cultures since nowadays people believe the internet and more of the negative sides of cultures. It helps create a more positive attitude and less prejudice towards people who are different from us. Studies show that children who have studied another language are more likely to be open toward and express positive views towards other cultures. Mastering multiple foreign languages can also lower the cost of travel as you can more easily navigate and disconnect from the tourist bubble that is often inaccessible by monolinguals.

Conclusion

As you keep on studying and mastering a foreign language it will be very beneficial, so do all students need to learn a foring language? Yes they do, it doesn’t matter if it’s just one language because there are some languages that can connect you through the world such as English which. As one saying goes Foreign language study is simply part of a very basic liberal education: to “educate” is to lead out, to lead out of confinement and narrowness and darkness (UNG).

Sources:

• “Why Study a Foreign Language? - University of North Georgia.” Why Study a Foreign Language?, https://ung.edu/college-of-arts-and-letters/languages/why-study-a-foreign-language.php.
• 10 Benefits of Learning a Second Language - Lead with Languages. https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/why-learn-languages/top-ten-reasons-to-learn-languages/. 
• Dick, Kendall. “Why Is It Important to Learn a Foreign Language?” GoAbroad.com, 15 Mar. 2022, https://www.goabroad.com/articles/language-study-abroad/why-is-it-important-to-learn-a-foreign-language. 
• Team, Mooc Blog. “Why Is It Important to Study a Foreign Language?” MOOC.org, MOOC.org, 15 Dec. 2021, https://www.mooc.org/blog/why-is-it-important-to-study-a-foreign-language.

Following the crowd

 We tend to follow crowds easily without knowing who they are, and what they are talking about. This is called social influence.

When there's a trend going on around the world, what would you do? Follow it or ignore it. Most of us tend to follow it because we sometimes want to be accepted, liked, and have a sense of acknowledgment. Researchers conducted an experiment about this, they each asked the participants two questions about different topics and freely expressed their opinions. The result was that participant's changed their attitudes through the discussion and intensified their opinions as they were discussing. The researchers concluded that "Group consensus appears to produce a change in views in which respondents are inclined to accept more extreme opinions," the researchers found. When we see our unsure thoughts mirrored back to us, our convictions grow stronger.

 This can relate to my own experiences following crowds and others(crowds can also mean what is trending right now). It feels like there's nothing to discuss other than the trend at the moment, although it may seem awkward to some people talking to strangers eventually they will be getting along. Following crowds can date back to centuries as well, humans were required to live together, smother relationships, reduce conflict, and coordinate. Such as a person following a community.

From my point of view, following the crowd is human nature. It has been there since the beginning of civilization because one of the human characteristics is a social person. A social person is the type of person that is sociable to people using words, ideas, and feelings to work with people. Even though there are some people that aren’t social such as introverts it doesn’t mean that they can’t talk to anybody, they just feel uncomfortable talking for a period of time. In my conclusion people following crowds is normal and people cannot be oblivious to it. Following the crowd is a normal thing but it is your decision to join or so we call it “anti-mainstream”.

Do hobbies help people with their careers?

  

The word hobby was found in the 13th century and it referred to a small horse or a pony. It later came to describe a toy horse as a hobby horse. It’s from the word hobby horse that has evolved into the meaning “favorite pastime” and the word we use today, hobby. Hobbies can also be a form of career, but not everybody has this opportunity. To simplify it, yes, hobbies can help people with their careers, because it shows people's personality, interests, creativity, ambition, passion and hidden talents. Hobbies and interests are valuable since they do not distract you or waste your precious time, for example people like playing games, and they spend tons of hours doing what they like, as they do not care how much precious time they waste because they are focused on what they are doing.

My point of view is that Hobbies are a valuable factor to searching for a career because nowadays the worlds of jobs are much wider and have more variety of options to pick, compared to the past when you had common jobs  such as officer work, military, government, etc. As humans in the present become open-minded about picking their careers because it will be their lifetime jobs to provide their needs but also have fun. The Effect Of Doing The Works As Their Hobbies

The University of South California stated that Being happy at work and loving what you do is an overall productivity booster and enhances performance. People who enjoy their jobs are more likely to be optimistic, motivated, learn faster, make fewer mistakes, and make better business decisions. Steve Jobs also stated in his speech during the 2005 Stanford graduating class that ”the only way to do great work is to love what you do,”.

In conclusion, The path that you choose to be your profession is very important. Because not only the benefits you are creating for yourself and think optimistically. In turn, working on what you love will be more amusing and easier to master on the path to success.

How Diversity can affect a Classroom?

In my opinion, diversity can affect a classroom, because when working with other students with different backgrounds, can help us get a wide understanding of the topic. This can also help with group work which allows students to grow academically and socially. I think that this will have a positive impact.

Before we dive on to what are the more beneficial things that diversity can affect in a classroom we first have to talk about. What is diversity in a classroom, According to Maria Kampen in Prodigy, diversity is everything that makes people different, from race, ethnicity, economic backgrounds, ability, age, and many more. All of these factors will be beneficial to how students will interact with the world. As the University of Rhode Island said  “understanding each student brings unique experiences, strengths, and ideas to our classroom … Diversity is the exploration and incorporation of these differences to enrich learning in our classroom.”

There are a lot of benefits regarding diversity in a classroom one of which is making students more empathic. According to Drexel University School of Education, Preventing pupils from forming biases later in life may be accomplished by promoting understanding and building a personal connection with other cultures in the classroom. Because they are more aware of the experiences that persons of a different race or ethnic group may encounter, it helps them to empathize with others who are different from themselves.

Diversity helps with making students open-minded and growing their academic outcomes. This can help students by exposing them to different cultures and backgrounds from other students, this helps by encouraging them to be open-minded in the future, this will open them up to new ideas and allow them to have a better understanding of a subject by considering many points of view. It also helps students feel comfortable and recognized because of the different backgrounds that students have, although this doesn’t apply to all the schools in countries. For example most of this applies to first-world countries and international schools, according to professor AnnLopez from the University of Toronto. `` disrupt narratives and stereotypes in the classroom that position diverse people as lacking invaluable knowledge or unqualified.”

I think the things that I need to do are spreading this idea to a lot of schools through social media, and doing the things that are considered diversity in the classroom. In my point of view having diversity in a classroom is a great idea, it has a lot of benefits for the students and the teachers so they have new things to adapt, since this system doesn’t affect every school, for example, public schools in Indonesia don’t implement this system and its around more than 80%.

Sources:

“The Importance of Diversity in the Classroom.” School of Education, https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/importance-of-cultural-diversity-in-classroom/.

Kampen, Maria. “7 Ways to Support Diversity in the Classroom [with Examples].” Prodigy Education, 6 Nov. 2020, https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/diversity-in-the-classroom/.

“Diversity in the Classroom: Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.” Diversity in the Classroom | Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, 5 Jan. 1970, https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/graduate-students/resources-graduate-student-teachers/diversity-classroom.

“9 Ways to Create an Inclusive Environment in a Diverse Classroom.” OISE, https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/About_OISE/Dealing_with_diversity_in_the_classroom.html.

Young People and Consumerism

 

In this article, I’m going to discuss the consumerism problem of young people. According to my findings,  a lot of young people feel repressed because they have to follow the new trends such as the new iPhone, Yeezy. This can lead to young people who cannot afford these things then may buy counterfeit goods or knockoffs. My point of view is that some young people have this consumerism problem while others don't, for me I have don’t have this problem and some people say that I’m away too strict on the things I want, the thing is I don’t know what I want and need so that leads to the problem of me getting forced to buy things I need not want. According to Zygmunt Bauman, a consumer, the highly regarded sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman stated that he separated consumers into two camps, those he referred to as the ‘seduced’ and the ‘repressed’.

According to a survey a lot of young people like to follow the newest trend that's happening right now, it is mainly caused by the pandemic since you are stuck home and feel bored so you need to find something to entertain yourself. This is very bad since when a child is not connected to their parents, they're more likely to suffer from sadness, anxiety, low self-esteem, and psychosomatic symptoms. As a result, commercial culture has a direct and indirect impact on children. The American lifestyle is a perfect way to demonstrate it.

But not all youngsters have this problem, I can say this by from I am not consuming online and offline, it’s because I always buy things based on my needs, whenever I was invited to go shopping offline or online I always reject the offer because I was lazy and didn't know what I wanted to buy.  From my analysis, I can see that not all youngsters over consumerism, of course,  every youngster has the right to buy or things that they want but not necessarily buy everything they want, it depends on the family background whether they consume a lot or teach their kids, for me I was taught that don’t buy everything that you want and save up or buy the things I needed.

Over consumerism is a problem for all countries that have more youngsters than adults. It’s a thing to be concerned about because it can be a bad habit for the youngsters when they’re adults. It’s a new thing because generations before GEN Z didn't have the experience of shopping online. Over-consumerism is a problem that should be concerned about for your kids and you, although it affects the economy greatly by helping individual vendors online or offline it can damage the environment and your habits as well.

Finding A New Home Comic

The first short comic that I made digitally

The Importance of Cyberbullying

Rakha Aruna Dewa

Image from Kompasiana

 A lot of people say cyberbullying is dangerous but why is that? Elena Pearl Ben-Joseph in Kidshealth.org stated that Cyberbullying is the use of technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. Its behavior is aimed to scare people, anger, or shaming the targeted. According to UNICEF, The majority of victims who are targeted are children who use digital technology and mostly in video games. There are lots of types of cyberbullying that include spreading lies or posting embarrassing pictures/photos of someone on social media, sending hurtful messages or threats via messaging platforms, impersonating someone, and sending mean messages to others on their behalf. From my personal point of view, I have experienced cyberbullying many times from strangers in games. It usually happens when someone who bullies has a bigger advantage or more skills than other people, but it can also happen when the guy who got mad at someone who was just joking around or just doing an action that the game intended to do.

For example, a game called “Rise of Nations” is intended for the players to play as a nation and conquer other countries or make alliances with other countries, hence a lot of players get mad when their country gets invaded without any reasoning. Because online bullying is frequently anonymous or difficult to track, it can be especially harmful and disturbing. It's extremely difficult to manage, and the victim has no idea how many individuals (perhaps hundreds) have seen the messages or posts. When they check their phone or computer, they might be tormented indefinitely. 

Image from Nusabali

There are a lot of causes that can lead to cyberbullying from revenge of the victims of bullying, showing off their power, being bored, or following the trend or society around it.  Bullying is supposed to boost confidence by giving the impression that the bully has control, which is one of the main reasons why socially active people bully others; it gives them a sense of power and allows them to maintain their popularity. Some people were motivated by vengeance to engage in cyberbullying. Being bullied on a regular basis leads individuals to believe that tormenting others is only natural because certain people deserve to be bullied. It isn't always sufficient. Some claim they'll start looking for new targets who appear to be weaker than they are. 

When you're bullied online, it might feel like you're being assaulted from every direction, including your own house. It may appear that there is no way out. The effects of the one who bullies it can vary from having punishment from school, parents, friends or if the person got way too far such as hacking the victims personal information or hacking a company, etc, they can get caught by the authorities. As for the effects Cyberbullying can have a variety of consequences for us.

However, these obstacles may be overcome, and people's confidence and health can be restored.  People may be hesitant to speak up or try to solve a situation if they fear being laughed at or harassed by others. Cyberbullying can even lead to people taking their own lives in extreme circumstances. A lot of victims can experience depression, anxiety, and many more mental health problems since it's more of using the internet rather than physical contact. Unfortunately, a lot of people that got affected by cyberbullying and didn’t seek help/professional help from other people that are close passed away. A lot of the victims that didn’t seek help are often afraid or thought that this isn’t a serious problem to deal with. From my point of view, some of my friends online have had this experience and sought help from me which is one of the ways to counter depression.

Image from Aceforeducation

One of the reasons reporting cyberbullying is so crucial is that we all want it to end. However, developing the Internet we want requires more than simply condemning bullying. We must be cautious about what we share or say that may cause harm to others. We must be kind to one another both online and in person. It is up to each and every one of us. You can also don’t respond or retaliate, this is one of the easiest ways to counter cyberbullying. You can block or don’t respond to the bullying on social media or other digital platforms. We can educate ourselves or other people about bullying or how to respond to cyberbullying, this is the most crucial step for spreading information since education is everything. Don’t forget to trust your family, friends, and other people you hold dearly and make sure to tell them if you have encountered cyberbullying and differentiated between a joke and bullying, you can do this by paying attention to your own feelings or the person's feelings.

In conclusion,  cyberbullying is a major threat to people’s mental health especially at this pandemic times when people resort to using social media because of the quarantine.

Reference:

• “Cyberbullying: What Is It and How to Stop It.” UNICEF, www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying. 

• “Cyberbullying (for Teens) - Nemours Kidshealth.” Edited by Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation, Apr. 2018, kidshealth.org/en/teens/cyberbullying.html. 

• Engagement, Communication and. “Cyberbullying and Teenagers.” Education, NSW Department of Education, 18 Nov. 2020, education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/wellbeing/technology/cyberbullying-and-teenagers#How3. Gabriel, Grace. “What Are

• the Causes of Cyber Bullying?” English BINUS University, 29 Nov. 2019, english.binus.ac.id/2015/06/22/what-are-the-causes-of-cyber-bullying/.

Is Having Debate Classes in School Important?

Rakha Aruna Dewa

In my opinion, having a debate class is important because it can help students to speak up and express their opinions on a certain topic. Not only that but debate class can also improve a lot of skills such as improved critical thinking, public speaking skills, enhanced teamwork skills, and collaboration, etc. Debate classes can also encourage students to have a bigger sense of tolerance since in a debate you may not agree with other people's opinion on a specific topic, but with a greater sense of tolerance, you can at least understand and accept the opinion of others that do not agree with your opinion easily. Since you are not asked to agree with people’s opinions in a debate, tolerance is an important life skill that helps well in the future and improves your relations personally or professionally. Not only can debate improve social skills, communication skills, it can also help our emotional control since arguments can sometimes lead to emotional arguments such as being upset with other debaters. Of course, you don't have to lack emotion entirely since emotions are vital in debating to understand both sides of the argument.

From debating you can also learn knowledge that is outside the regular academic subjects that are taught in school, which can help you in the future since if you pick a specific job such as working as a diplomat you will probably won't be needing math or science that is taught in school but instead you’ll need public speaking skills and debating skills since being a diplomat is representing your country.

Attending debate classes can also benefit from being an active member and can be noted in your resume for university and professional qualifications that you want to apply to. You can also be a guest speaker if you're already retired since you are very well known as an active member of the community. 

Why Parents Are Sometimes Strict

Rakha Aruna Dewa

I think that it’s true that parents are sometimes strict or overprotective of their children because they want their children to have a happier life than theirs.  Parents can be strictly based on their mood, this happens a lot when for example your parents are arguing, stressed from work, or taking care of their babies.

Parents can be overprotective based on their experiences during childhood. This is important to parents because they want their children to protect from harm, danger, failure, and disappointments, but this leads to the children being overly scared of those things. Parents can have these experiences based on being an adult or childhood, it depends on the society they are influenced by. In adulthood, they tend to get information from direct sources (such as books), friends, and family. When in childhood, the parents have different experiences based on their parents treating them, leading to overprotectiveness in adulthood. As the generation grows and changes in perspective and experiences it all depends on the parents.

Parents being strict can be beneficial to the child because it’s a part of supporting their children so they can be more successful and raise their children. This can be beneficial by helping develop skills such as discipline, more mentally strong, and more confidence. These are essential skills that children need to be successful people and achieve their goals.

Based on my personal experiences I must listen to my parents because they are more mature, more experienced, and more care loving than anybody else. But sometimes it’s kind of okay to say ‘no’ and have time for yourself because it’s your right to do so as a child. It’s also important because it’s useful for your future, in a nutshell, your parents are the backbone of your success.

Experience learning a new languange

Learning a new language experience 

Czecść! In this blog, I want to share with you about learning a new language which is Polish, I would like to share you with some tips to learn about a new language and it doesn't have to be Polish. So if you want to want to know about this stick around!

Why I wanted to learn a new language? And why Polish?

Before I wanted to learn a new language I already am bilingual, if you don't know whats a bilingual is its a person who can speak two languages fluently. Which is my mother tongue Indonesian and English, I speak Indonesian and English at school and at home, I speak Indonesian and a little English at home.

I've always wanted to learn a new language since I was year 6, learning a third language can be very beneficial such as increase your decision-making skills, improved memory, and many other things. Oh yeah! I want to learn polish language is because Poland is my second favourite country, I like the history, the places and much other stuff. The other beneficial thing that not many people learn polish, in fact around 50 million people speak Polish as their first language, so not that many people speak this language so it's unique to learn. Poland is a Slav country  (a group of peoples in central and eastern Europe speaking Slav languages) so when you master polish you can easily learn another Slavic country such as Russia.

Hard Times learning a new language

Learning Polish is very hard in fact polish is one of the difficult languages in the world, for it has hard but I like challenging my self, polish is also hard for native English speakers to learn because of its pronunciation, for example, Dziękuję, difficult grammar and unique alphabet.

Tips

- When learning polish language I recommend you should know other Slavic cousins

- Use an app such as Dualingo and many other learning stuff
- Practice everyday
- Watch tutorial videos about the polish language
- Learning a new language comes from hearing it so watch movies or cartoons about polish

the most important thing is to have fun. Make sure you're learning the language is because you want to learn it, and no one is pressuring you. make sure the advantages that came with this and make sure you use them well. Good and luck and HAVE FUN!!!!! yeah...

5 popular idioms You can use

As you learn more and more about English, you may feel confused when you see odd phrases that just don’t make sense. One of your friends may say, “It’s raining cats and dogs!”. When you look up at the sky, however, you can’t see any domesticated pets, only water!

These phrases are called “idioms”. Idioms are phrases (groups of words) that have a hidden meaning which isn't clear when reading the words literally. They might seem baffling or random to you, but most idioms were born hundreds of years ago, and have slowly become part of everyday English speech.

1. Break a Leg

When I first heard about the sentence, I literally don't have a clue what does the sentence mean. But when I find out the meaning of the sentence, the sentence does not literally mean ask you to break a leg. The sentence means good luck, at first I was also wondering why does it have to be "break a leg"??! People say it because the term "break the leg appears to come from the belief that one ought not to utter the words 'good luck' to an actor. by wishing someone bad luck, it is supposed that the opposite will occur.

2. Raining cats and dogs

When I first heard about this I'm confused about what the sentence means, but when I find out the meaning of the idiom its literally not raining cats and dogs in the sky. The idiom means Heavy rain I was also wondering about why the sentence has to be raining cats and dogs?! But also maybe your thinking cats and dogs isn't that heavy why can we name it "its raining elephants"? Well it's stated that in the 17th Century people throw their waste in the streets just like that so the big cities were a mess between all that waste there were animals living and don't get scared they die there as well, unfortunately, there was no one to clean up the waste so when it started to rain, no-no like rain a lot. Everything would wash away including those dead animals and many of them are cats and dogs. So when people see heavy rain they would say "its raining cats and dogs".

3.  Piece of cake 

Well, I think this idiom everybody knows and pretty easy to understand. My prediction of the idiom is also right. The idiom "piece of cake" means something that's simple to accomplish. if a school assignment is a piece of cake, it's so easy that you will barely have to think about it. ... The Americanism Cakewalk used to mean "something easy," came first, in the 1860's - piece of cake wasn't use until 1936.

4. Hit the hay 

At first, it seems like the person saying this really wants to punch some hay. but it really just means that they're really tired and want to go to sleep.

5. Kill two birds with one stone

Don't worry, we're not actually killing any innocent birds here! It actually means when you kill two birds with one stone, a single action knocks out two task or responsibilities--accomplish two different things at the same time.

Why was France defeated in ww2?

Hello! In this blog we are going to be talking about why France lost in WW2. The country that we are going to talk about is France. France is a very beautiful country culturally, with its history and many more.

Why did France lose?

To begin with, In principle, the French army was as powerful as the Germans. It possessed a huge Empire as well as a powerful weapons industry. It had also constructed the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications along the country's eastern border with Germany. The purpose of the Line was to keep German troops out of France. However, it became evident in the late spring and early summer of 1940 that the French army was unprepared for the German attack in a matter of weeks. In 1940, France was humiliated by a humiliating loss and was shortly captured by Germany. France's defeat was the result of a hopelessly divided political class, a lack of capable military leadership, and unsophisticated combat tactics.

A French general inspecting troops during the war

Was France prepared for the German invasion?

At the outset of World War 2, French military tactics were woefully antiquated. They had overlooked the fact that combat had altered dramatically since the First World War. They were overly reliant on the Maginot Line, believing it would thwart any German assault. They hoped that the Maginot would increase losses and bring Germany to the bargaining table because they didn't believe they could defeat Germany outright. They depended on defensive tactics and were oblivious to the impact of new tanks and planes.

French light tanks from world war 1 used in world war 2

My first blog

Hello! my name is Rakha Aruna Dewa, but people call me Rakha. I'm 12 years old, I don't know what to write here because I'm new in this community. I have a band at school called "Da boiz", we usually play on events at school but we haven't attended competitions. At "Da Boiz" there are 4 people in the band, the singer is Rafif, the guy in the piano is Kaean, The guitarist is Arjen and I'm the drummer. We commonly hangout to practice the song at my house on Wednesday.  I like playing basketball, playing games and etc. I also like strategy games and I'm a big fan of ww2 and ww1. Right now I'm considering rather learning polish or german, but my parents said that I rather speak german then polish because I can get a scholarship there.  If you want to know more about me pls stay tune on my blog,