The reason why I study Chinese Momoka

   In  my university in Japan, we study English and one more language. There were many kinds of language we can choose. I chose to study Chinese. I will introduce the reason with some episodes.
   When I was second year in high school, I went to Australia to study abroad for twelve days. It was the for the first time to visit to foreign country so I was very nervous. I stayed with my host family there and there were already have two students from China. I was a little bit scared to them because what I watched the news about China is not positive and there are some international problrm between Japan and China. But they talked to me a lot even if I didn't have an enough ability to communicate with them. This was just for one week to stay with them but talked about each other's language and pop culture with them. Moreover, when I couldn't understand the vocabulary or what they said, they said to me again and again until I understood. I thought they are very kind and helpful. And I thought that I shouldn't look people with where they are from.
    Furthermore, when I went to Ireland to study English for three weeks, I took classes in the university there. But the level of class was too high for me and I wasn't often able to catch up many words and what they said. At that time, the person who helped me the most is a Chinese student. He always talked to me kindly so I was comfortable and very glad. Moreover , after I changed level of class, he invited me to hang out and talk with me. 
   So I decided to start to study Chinese hard. Of course I should focus on English here. But after I go back to my home country, I will stduy hard. I think there are some people who misunderstand people from other countries. But I will study Chinese and talk to them directly. And if people ask me about Chinese, I will tell them about Chinese whom I have met and talked to them.
I really appreciate my friends from China because they made me recognized  that we shuld look people as a person.
 In the future, I want to contribute to eliminate these misunderstanding and make a good relationship among any countries.

ENGLISH IS IMPORTANT - Daniella

English has become the language of international between countries, a bridge of knowledge of mankind. We can confidently show off by talking to foreigners that are traveling around and learn a lot of things from them. We will have more friends, relationships, and families will be proud of us and people will admire the ability of foreigners to speak English. There will be more opportunities to choose when we use English as well. Therefore, I will share what I am doing that is helping me learn English.

First, when I have free time I usually watch a movie and TV shows to read subtitles and I listen to English music as well. Although I do not understand most of it I can guess what they are saying. Some words I have never heard but I write them down and find out what it means. Then I watch again and again, so I try to remember the content of that program or movies. I also practice listening skills and pronunciation skills with my owner house.

Besides watching TV, I rewrite all the lessons in class. For example, when teacher give back my essay, I will check all my mistakes, and then I have to write again because I need to learn anything from my mistakes. These help me improve my writing skill, also my grammar skill.

The last thing I feel happy because I have been living and studying in the USA. This countries gives to me everything that makes me become better. Everyone helps me speak English more confidently. For instance, if I talk with someone about something, but my pronunciation not good, they will help me speak these words again until I am good pronunciation.   Since I live in the U.S, I have to learn English and eventually progress over time.

Now, I need to make learning English is number one in my life because English is an important language and it is key for the new world. 

Funny short movie - Penny

         I  saw a short funny movie. This movie is about there was a special world. The world has three
kingdoms; blue kingdom, red kingdom and yellow kingdom.The blue kingdom just has blue tinct. The red kingdom just has red tinct. The yellow kingdom just has blue tinct. They do not know each other. One day, yellow kingdom has a brave adventurer. His name is Mr.yellow. And then he starts his adventure. At frist. he arrives at blue kingdom and flies his ring in the sky. In the blue kingdom everyone sees yellow colour for the frist time. They feel surprise, but the blue king do not like it. He has a plan. Second, Mr.Yellow arrived red kingdom. He meet Princess Scarlet. The Princess is surprised. because she has never seen other colour person in outside, Also he sees many red flowers in red kingdom. They fall in love with each other. Mr.Yellow gave Princess Scarlet a yellow scarf, so the Princess gave he a red rose. Time go fast. Suddenly many red soldiers discover Mr.Yellow. So he flies his ring away from the red kingdom. He comes back yellow kingdom. Mr.Yellow tells many thing to yellow Queen. Queen is very happy. They think Mr.Yellow is a warrior. But when he takes out the red rose. The yellow Queen is angry. She do not like other colour. She wants to attackred kingdom. When yellow army arrive the red kingdom, they meet blue kingdom. And then they fight with each other. When yellow fuse blue, the colour changes. They get a new colour ''Green'' .All the soldier feel surprised. The Princess Scarlet falls off a cliff. Mr. Yellow flies his ring to save the princess, and also he makes three rainbows to every country. They stop the war,and there is a happy ending.

Benefits and disadvantages of Technology

1. Mohammed attar                                                                                                                                                               RW544                                                                                                                                                   .  Technology is a new gadget its started from the late 1970's.There is no doubt that technology effected our life dramatically. There is a controversy among different  people weather technology is effecting our life positively. I agree that technology effected our life's, i am for the topic that was issued above, and there are three different reasons.                                                                                        .                                                                                                                                                                     .  First reason, Technology made our life easy and people started to consume technology on daily by using it in work.People started to use technology in work fields because it is more convenient and faster to deal with in work.For example, business men ussually use technology to telecomute from work and have a better work carries.                                                                     .                                                                                                                                                             .         Moreover, technology made our communication's with friends and family easier in the 20th century. People had difficulties in the past to communicate with other in a three diminution way by using skye, which it didn't excit at that time. For example, calling friends and family by using Skype or viber and u can be up to date with them on daily routine.                                                                    .                                                                                                                                                            .    Finally, People use technology for transpotation from a destination to another by calling Uber,Lift and buying underground tickets with our smart phones online.To illustrate, Once I had a problem i was watching a movie at night time so when I finished the movie I had to order an Uber with my smart phone.                                                                                                                  .                                                                                                                                                            .    In sum, technology is a helpful gadget and people can not live with out it . Unfortunately, technology made our new generation forget their own tarditional things because of over using technology. 'According to Frank Sanatra don't over use technology in a daily way'. In my openion technology is a good invention but people should not count on it because it is created by humanity and humans are not perfect.

The first post -- by Joy

I am very interesting about business. Learning business is not only teaching the basic principles of management from the textbooks, but also giving me some new ideas of the world view and philosophy of my life. Winter quarter for this year, I studied at UCR extension for IEP class and I took the business management class for my elective class. In fact, this is my first time to understand deeply from the textbook. 

Through the few months learning, I developed the skills of planing and controlling the activities. Also, when I was as a leader in the activity group, I know how to take advantages of each person to make the activity becoming more successful and more efficiency. Besides, working in a team, from my point of view, there are two essential characteristics for a person. That is, the person must be cooperative and aggressive. Finally, some business words are not unfamiliar to me, because I used to learn the business words and news from the business magazines and television programs.

Now, I have more curiosity about the business. So, I need to study deeply from the te up, passion is definitely the word which describes my feelings for studying business. That's why I choose the business management for my major. I enjoying learning and studying it!  

Travel to Santa Monica -Penny

Last week is my birthday, so I went to Santa Monica with my friends.At first my friend introduce me to a Korean restaurant to eat lunch. This is really delicious and I want go there next time.

     After lunch, we came to the Santa Monica State Beach. We spend to much time find a parking space.There are a lot of people sunbathing and walk the dog. When I stepped on the beach,I was really exciting, because myhometown no sea can go. It is a beautiful sea and can made me relax also there are not really hot because there have cool sea vreeze.

     I saw a small wonderland in there, but my friend told me there are very expensive, so I did not go inside. If I have a chance, I will go there next time.

     We find a place can swing,I like swing,my friend push me can let me swing higher. This photo have my stupid friend Sofia and Yun.

     We went to a shopping street. I saw a lot of people in the street performances, such as dancing, singing, saxophone. My favourite show is a man just use one leg did five backward somersault. He said he do this for 14 years,so he succeeded. I give the man $5 to support his show.

     At last, we went to a Japanese restaurat to finish our dinner. My favourite Japanese food is chiken curry rice. They give me too much meat make us easier to full, also this restaurant can make delicious salad. I will come back eat again.
   

   

Firstpost-Fred

  This is my second quarter in United States, but the culture and things for me are still strange. I think it is hard for me to open my mouth to chat with the native residents. I'm afraid to talk with the strangers, and sometimes their speak's speed are quickly I can't understand clearly. At that time, I would feel nervous and uncomfortable. So I tried to do my best, to be more bravely and practice more and more. Change is necessary for me, it can bring many things for me.
  There has two parts of change. Some people think it can bring benefits, but others think it will cause the bad solutions. In my opinion, the pros that changing brings are much more than it's cons. People can learn many things from that. Change can make our life fill with passion, life is too short to people so why not trying something to challenging yourselves. It can improve your ability to adapt the new environments, you can learn more skills. For example, when you get a new position, everything for you is new. You need learn things from the beginning and establish the new connection with new partners.Also, change can make your life has less pressure. When you in a big company, you need to hard working for reserving the job. But as you came into a small company which you interested in, you can do everything that you like. And the efficiency can be increased, you can feel fullfilled from the work, that is a great way to show your talents. Change likes a challenge, you never know what will happen the next time. So be more bravely to face the problems, the difficulties will be solved by yourselve. You can confirm your own ability and be more confident. Moreover,change also will bring more troubles. For example, the new environment is hard to adapt,it will bring more pressure and problems. People don't have enough time to solve that, they will lose the hope to survive. And the things sound like riddles, people can't predict the future. They don't know what will happen, maybe the big problems are hardly to handle. But I think it can be a great experience to let people know how to deal the next time, nobody can be successful at once.
  Making a aim, try to achieve that. The goal can be easy and difficult, people just to encourage themselves to succeed.
   

My latest travel in Korea - Sunny(Wonkyung Cha)

  I want to introduce my latest travel. A month ago, I went to Namhae ,which is located in Korea's southernmost, with my friend. Actually, before we arrived Namhae, we expected about many things; a lot of good sightings, kind people, many delicious characteristic foods etc. Frankly, I think that it was not too good travel. Every time we had to wait bus for more 1 hour. If you don't have a car, it will be difficult travel. In Namhae, i learned the aesthetic of waiting. But i want to write about good points of Namhae for traveling.

First day, After we visited our accommodation, we went 'Daeraengi village' which is selected as Korea's good sightings in top 5 . I think it was very nice. Along the beach, I could see beautiful roads all the way to Daeraengi village. In Daeraengi villag, there are terraced paddy field and some people live in there. And after crossing red bridge, i saw awesome sea sitting on the huge rock. It was cool! I took a lot of pictures with my friend. It is good place to take a picture. All of the view was very good! And we came back home, ate 'Samgypsal' that is roasted pork. And we decided to register Namhae city tour bus for next day.

Second day, we went to Germany village with tour guide. Wow it was very convenient for us! Germany village is for some peoples who was sent to Germany for earning money in 1960. It is small village but its buildings looks like Germany building. I think that that buildings are very suit with sea. I knew that Germany beer has nice taste so we wanted drink beer. But it tasted so so. Around the village, it was clear and had a good seeing view. I want to recommend to just go see Germany village. Especially there is a beer festival every October.

And next we went to have a lunch! Namhae is well known for enchovy whgere the enchovy rice is famous. So that day's lunch menu is enchovy rice. In korea, we have lots of side dishes with main dish in one table. Almost Korean people like to make so much food like that picture. Actually, I had not eaten enchovy rice until that day, so it was unfamiliar food to me but it was tasty! At that time i had no room in my stomach. But I think it is not too tasty to foreigners. But you can try it!

  Our final destination was 'Boriam', which can see beautiful sunset. For seeing good view, we should to walk along the dirt road. Frankly, it was little hard to go up but when I arrived good point of view, I could forget everything of hardness. I think Boriam is best place in Namhae. Of course, every place is very nice to me but Boriam is best! At peak, you can look down on the Namhae village and there is temple in there. So you can feel peaceful in there. Wow it was so amazing. Even though it was so hard to climb up, but it was well worth! I can't forget that peaceful and amazing place 'Boriam'.

 It was my latest travel with my friend Sunyoung. Although first day it was too hard to go somewhere(because we have no car), but second day we could look around good places in Namhae by bus touring. I think that Namhae is really cool palce to travel. If you go there, you can take your time and can see nice sea in everywhere of Namhae. I want to recommend to go Namhae for everyone!

Asma Al juman (Advetising)

Advertising

                                                                                                                                                                        All of us can see that advertising surrounds us everywhere. Advertising is a  controversial among different people. Some believe ads help individuals, but others believe ads harm us. I agree that advertising helps us. I think it gives consumers a better idea. 

 

            First of all, advertising introduces good products for children to us through it. We can choose a best milk and drinking that have Vitamin C for our children. Also, most advertising for children supports education. For example, a child experiences educational games when he listens to the sounds of numbers and letters, so he can repeat the sound. Another example, when I see that advertisement for a new ice cream store, I go quickly to the store and try its flavors because I like ice cream. Also, its look is very appealing for me.

            Another reason is that gives me exposure to a new device. For example, when I see a new offer for Apple devices, I pay attention to that advantages in programs iPhone 6s. It has a 3D touch screen and has a particularly impressive camera. Also, I like the colors which are very memorable. Thus ,I could buy it at a reasonable price.

      In conclusion, I think advertising is useful for our lives. It help us to make a greater decisions on how to select our products. I think it is entertaining and informative part of society.  

       

First post " Rawan Alyousef "

When my daughter was 9 months old, she was trying to walk. When she fell down, I didn’t help her. In this situation, I didn’t help her because I believe she must learn by herself. But when we see someone who needs help, we usually run to help him or her. However, why do we help other people? When can we help them? In fact, people help each other for several important reasons.

First of all, human nature makes us help others. For example, while a girl was drowning and calling out in the sea, immediately most of the witnesses ran to help her because our human nature makes us want to help someone who is in trouble. Also, if I see an old woman crossing the street and relying on her stick to walk, I will help her because I am a compassionate person. The compassion is part of human nature.

Second, helping can have a reciprocal basis. For instance, if I help my classmate now, she will probably help me if I need something in the future. Also, if I help my daughter when she is small, she will probably help me when I am an elderly woman. That means we help people now because we believe that if something happened to us in the future, they will probably help us.

 Finally, some cultures encourage people to help others. For example, my culture urges everyone to give an elderly person our seat when there is no more seat. Because everyone has responsibility. Also, Islamic culture urges us to help people if we know him or her and even if someone is a stranger.

     There are many factors that influence why people help each other. They are human nature, reciprocal basis, and culture. We help other people to improve our society. That helps us to survive in our daily lives. 

       

Fist Post kureha

    Today, I would like to tell about my favorite Japanese holiday. Japan has a lot of holiday and each one has its own characteristics. However, I don't remember about all Japanese holiday. Anyway, my favorite holiday is New Year's Day because this day has a lot of special and exciting things.Now, I want to tell about "Why do I like New Year's Day".

   First, I like that day because this day has a lot of special events. For example, all relative together to celebrate this day so people can spend a great family time. Also, Children can get a New Year's gift of money from adult. I think many people like that day because of this events. Most people go to the shrine to make wishes for example there health and success. This event is called "Hatsumoude". These events are very special for Japanese people and have warm atmosphere.

   Secondly, I like that day because I can eat many delicious foods. Most mother and grandmother prepare a Japanese New Year's cuisine, it is called Osechi. It has a lot of kind food, for example big lobster, herring roe, black soybean and other many foods. Osechi's looks is so gorgeous and exciting. Osechi's foodstuff each one has its own meaning, mainly to wish for health. Also, that day has other special dish, it is called "Ozouni". Ozouni's main foodstuff is rice cake. It has many different style, it come from region. These all food are really delicious so every year I eat too much.

   Thus, I like New Year's Day because I can spend special time with my family, and this day has a lot of traditional events and delicious foods. Japanese New Year's day style is very different from other counties. If you come to Japan at
this day, you can experience the tradition of Japan.

First post Tzu Chin

     It is my third week in Riverside. When I was in Taiwan, I couldn’t believe I can cook one day. The cabbage that shows below is my first time to cook. I have to say it was awful! The stem part not even cooked enough. It was too terrible to finish it by myself, so I asked my Japanese roommate to help, and she said the cabbage is ok to her, but I thought she just tried not to hurt my feeling. Few days after, I mentioned about this when I chatted with her. She admitted the cabbage just ok, and she emphasized that she never said the cabbage is good…

     During continuing practice, now I can cook cabbage like this. It is good enough for me, and my parents were surprised when I showed them the picture. The color is beautiful and not too salty. I am very satisfied with this time.

     Beside cabbage, I have tried congee too. At first, I searched the recipe in the Internet, but the recipe that I chose told me wrong proportion of water and rice. So it became very soft rice without any water. I made the congee with some bacon, vegetable, mushroom and an egg. It was fine, but not tasty enough. The second time when I made that, I used a chicken broth cube. It taste much better than the first time.

     And today, I miss Taiwan’s bubble milk tea too much. So I made by myself! It is not so similar to real bubble milk tea which I brought in Taiwan, but I had a lot of fun when I made it. Next time I want to try the other Taiwan’s traditional food: Sweet Potato Ball.  

                      hqdefault.jpg

Yoshiyasu Miyano

Do you have favorite food in the United States? Do you have your country food in the United States? Since I’ve been here, I had many foods that I’ve never tried. Today I‘ll tell you about some foods in the United States.

     In the morning, what breakfast did you have? Bread? Serials? Pancake? Waffles? Or your country stuffs? You didn’t have breakfast? By the way, I had waffles many times as a breakfast since I came here. Then I am really wonder about waffle’s origin. Why do waffles have the shape? Actually, its ingredients are almost as same as pancakes. Waffles came from Belgium. They call a honeycomb ”wafel.” When they came to the American Continent, they brought the wafel. Then, the immigrants call it “waffle.”

     Second, have you tried strange food for you? One day, I tried cactus. Do you know what it is? It’s one of plant, but usually Japanese doesn’t really eat cactus. However, people in Latin America eat it very much. It is great food for them. My host family is from Latin America. So I had a chance to try it. Then how was the taste? I ate it as stir flying. It tastes bitter and sour, I’ve never been the taste of sour, but I feel it just one of vegetables, I can eat it normally.

     Through the experience, I enjoy some different kinds of foods. While we live in the United States, we will see many foods that we never seen. At the time, I recommend you to try them!

Trip to a beatiful place..Fatimah Almutari

Trip to a Beautiful Place

            Do you want to take a break from your busy life? Traveling to another city can be fun. Last week I traveled with my husband and my son to San Diego, which is located in Southern California. It is really beautiful. We spent a good time in this place. There were many things to see. Although our trip was very interesting, some bad events happened to my son.

            Our trip to San Diego was interesting because we saw beautiful views. This made us feel happy. The weather was great. San Diego has on average of 146 sunny days and 117 partly cloudy days a year. First of all, when we rented a home, we found a nice house near the sea. It was brown and white. Behind it, there were some tall green trees. Also, there were many big and small rocks in front of the house. Moreover, small green grass grew between them. I liked the house because it had two small levels and one tiny red top overlooking the beauty of the city. As I was looking at two small speakers on the second level, my husband told me to come down because we will go to the sea to view the sunrise. We sat in front of the sea. We felt relaxed because we heard the quiet voice of the waves. In addition, we saw distant mountains beyond the blue sea. The view of the light from the sun on the gray big rocks was very nice, and it looked like they were glowing.

            However, there were some negative events that happened to my son. He was one year old, so he did not walk well. When I was busy in kitchen, I heard him scream loudly outside the home. I quickly ran to him. I found him between two small rocks because he fell down between them. He had tiny bruises from the fall. At midnight in the home, the weather was colder than during the day. Then, my son had a cough because he did not wear appropriate clothes for the cold weather. I was concerned for his health. My husband went to the pharmacy and brought medicine for him.

        

In conclusion, my family enjoyed the trip because we were relaxed. We felt happy when we saw the sunrise. Also, we felt relaxed when we heard the waves. However, bad things happened to my son. When he fell down between the rocks and when he got sick. In next vacation, we will go to the same place because it is really beautiful. However, we will pay more attention to my son to minimize risks of him having accidents. Also, we will caring for him if the weather changes.

 

Disney hospitality--Hatsumi

My name is Hatsumi Watanabe.
I am from Japan and the reason I came to UCR is because I am going to join the Disney Program.
This Saturday I went to Disney California Adventure with my friends. It was my first time to go there and I had a awesome time. We walked for almost all day to ride some rides and getting some fast passes so we could ride some rides early. However I was surprised with the congestion in Adventure land. Disney in Japan,we always have to wait in line to ride some rides for more than 1hour. Sometime especially on weekends we have to wait for more than 2 hours but in Adventure Land the longest we waited was 45 minutes. That can not happen in Japan. I don't know why but that really helped us going around every rides and show.
Not only did I have fun but I also learned a lot of stuff. Because I am going to work in Disney, I was paying attention to the cast’s services. They were really nice and showed good hospitality, which I found impressive. When we asked one of the cast members how to get to the place we wanted to go to, she didn't just teld us how to get there but she actually gave us a map and put a mark on the place we wanted to go. That really helped us have a better understanding. Also, every time when we bought some food or Disney goods in the stores,they always said, “Have a nice day！” with a wonderful smile. It made me really happy and I really felt like I wanted to be like one of those cast members who can make all the guests happy and make them want to feel like coming back again.

Homework is Imprortan - Daniela

          Students need to do homework if teacher give some exercises to practice the knowledge learned in the classes  because it helps students  improve their skills in the lessons. The students usually have trouble with their homework ,such as they are lazy, tired or do not feel interest. Therefore, when student wants to successful to do homework , they need to make plant , give questions for friends or teacher, and try hard.
          One solution to help students with homework is making a schedule. For example, the students always procrastinate homework. they have many plans with their fiends, so they did not have time to do homework. Therefore, making a list and follow it. This helps students have reasonable time.
         Another solution that helps with homework is to ask for help. for example, if the students do not understand the lesson in the class, and they feel shy to ask because they think their classmates will say something bad to them , students won't do their homework , they don't have knowledge and don't catch up with classmates. Therefore, the students should not feel shy. When students have some thing don't understand about any problems , students need to ask classmates , teachers or friends to solve those problems. Consequently, when students understand the lesson, they are excited to learn more, and they don't think that homework is their fear.
         A final way to help students with homework is  striven. For instance, the students don't enjoy a lecture of teacher. They don't listen to the teacher teach in the class, so they don't want to do homework . Because of that , the students should create their own interest in the lesson by watching video about that lesson in the internet or reading books related to that lesson. If the students solve the problems as above, they will do homework when teachers give to students, and they will feel confident for the tests to earn high scores.
        In conclusion, if students want to reach to goals, they should design schedule , ask for help, and learn more. When the students learn to do homework successfully in any type pf class , they will pass all classes, and they will gradual. The students feel very happy with all their efforts they had to  do.

First post Momoka

 Today I will introduce about my aims at UCR. I will stay here for three months and it has been passed for three weeks since I came here.
 First, I want to meet as many people as I can. because I really like talking to people and one of my dream in my life is meeting a lot of people.  In addition, I want to know directly other culture, religion and their idea for many thing from them. So I will speak to my classmates more and more and get along with them. It has passed only for three weeks, but I  already like my classmates. They always say hello to me with their beausiful smile and they have a big passion for English.I am always stimulated by them.
 Second, I want to improve my English. I am going to Florida for internship. So especially I want to get the ability of explaining about a lot of things in English. And I need to study a lot of vocablaries and use them. Now I take a grammer, reading ,writing, and vocablary class. so I hope my English skill will be gradually growing in this three months.
 Third, I have stayed with my host family and there are host mother, host sister and her husband. I especially talk with host mother and she is so talkative and affable. So she always talk to me and tell many things to me. Also, when I ask questions to her, she tells them to me with some conprehensible exmples. I really enjoyed staying with my host family. Moreover, sometimes she cooks Japanese food like Tempura, Japanese curry and rice for me. We eat those food with chopsticks and Japanese dishes.  I didn't expect to eat Japanese food, which my host mother makes in America.
 So, I am sure thet I can do my best for everything with people who have met and will meet from now on here. I want to contribute to societies and this world as a tour guide interpreter in Japan in my future. I believe that I can take advantage of this experience and be supported in difficulties. So I will spend time with thank to people here.

Welcome to the Reading-Writing 544 (Spring 2016) class blog!

You are encouraged to use this blog as a place to keep notes, to present your ideas and opinions, or to start a discussion about a topic that you think is interesting or important.

Here is a basic truth about writing:

The more you write in different contexts and situations, and the more time you spend writing, the faster your writing improves! However, if you don't do a minimum of writing, your writing skills will actually deteriorate!! 

Much like learning to play the piano or play a sport, writing is a physical process; more than most people realize! Consequently, the more you write, the more comfortable you'll feel about writing in English, and when you get more comfortable, you can concentrate on improving specific skills, like paying more attention to word choices, or finding different ways of developing an idea, as well as learning how to find your own grammar and syntax problems.

Writing is also the best way to get a deeper understanding of the complexities and flexibilities of a language. Further, writing can help you organize your thoughts. Writing a first draft helps you realize what you actually think about an issue. Once you have a first rough draft, further revising and re-writing can help you organize and explain your thoughts and ideas even better.  

Writing also has other benefits. For example, writing in a personal journal lets you think through difficult situations you don't feel comfortable discussing with others. At other times, when you feel inspired, you can even create alternate realities in writing. 

Some writers claim that you don't really know what you think about something until you write about it. So, use writing to find out what you think about different issues and things you learn and experience. 

Best wishes to everybody, and I hope we will have a great learning experience this quarter!