Cooperation with Japanese students from Nihon Fukushi University, Japan

After we spent 2 hours discussing, sharing, and exchanging experiences with each other.

Human behavior is more result of culture

      “Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them apart” ~ Confucius

 

      “Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that carry them apart”, stated Confucius, a Chinese philosopher. He used the word “habits” to refer to the environment, culture and society in which we live. Of course, many people support the idea that nurture shapes human behavior, yet some people still attest that it is nature that greatly influences our behavior. It is so controversial an issue that many educated figures debate on. In my viewpoint, although some people show some evidences that biological roots shape our behavior, I still believe that what truly affects it is culture due to threes basic reasons.

        People are born in a blank state, waiting to be written on. Since the first second they exist in this world, human infants are entirely shaped by the environment around them. They start to see the world, learn to smile, cry, and laugh, and start to assimilate the group’s cultures as they are growing up. They learn what they should do and should not do by socializing with others. Calhoun, Light, and Keller (1998) state in his book titled “Understanding Sociology” about a girl named Anna who had been placed in a foster home in the forest and kept alive by milk provided by her mother, but had never communicated and cuddled or played with other people. After five years without seeing the outside world, she was finally discovered deaf and mentally retarded. She did not walk, talk, smile, cry, dress herself, and even feed herself when hungry. Later, she was placed in the ordinary life as the other people at the age of six years old. With great attention, she slowly began to talk, walk, and play with other children and also learnt how to take care of herself. She began to develop human interest and ability. This example sufficiently proves that socialization is a head machine that controls human behavior, not heredity.

Start first, see your result later

                   “A good author spent so much time on                                                                                                                      practicing writing before s/he could produce a good book.”

“Again! Tomorrow we have a writing test again? Oh, ma god! I will fail” are common phrases I always heard. Many students always complain that writing is very difficult. They do not know how to start writing their sentences. Well, I believe that it is difficult when starting writing for the first time. But the key point to bear in mind is that “Practice makes perfect”. No one is born a writer. We have to learn day by day, week by week, month by month, or year by year. We have to start from the very zero point. If we don’t even know how to stand, it is impossible that we can walk, let alone run. Similarly, to be good writers, we have to start writing about what we like and what is simple first. We can write about something we know, what we like and dislike, what we have undergone in our childhood, or the like. The following passage is what I wrote for the first time

Alone again that night, sitting on a blue, four-leg, plastic chair, watching bunches of stars glimmering and   spreading through the sky over his head, and typing on his personal computer ,with an earphone attaching to it simultaneously, on the roof on his house, Pharith, known as a handsome man at ITC, felt great. The cold, soft wind blew on his half-top-bared body made him feel as if he were walking on the beach walking hand-to-hand with his 100-year prospective friend. The light from the windows of his neighbors’ houses shone on his thin, pale face made him felt missing his past back when he sat on the balcony of his country house watching the moon while his mother was persuading him to have dinner- she always told him that if he did not eat, the moon would take his turn. The sound of music to which he was listening made him missed his youngster-friends who usually sang karaoke with him during spare time. Everything around him at that time was touching his hands leading him to a realm of his past; everything that passed by seemed alive to him.

“The world seems to be full of intriguing things that I do not expect that I will encounter all of them in my lifespan. For these 21 years that I have been living, I do know that I know very little- I can say one-third of 0.000000001 things existing in this world, if not nothing,” he said. “To say this reminds me of a great man, Alexander the Great. He said he was so disappointed with his very short live. Do you know why??? Well… Had you read the book about him,” he continued, “you would know the reason why he said so. Frankly, I read his book six months ago, and it was amazing. He was the student of the great philosopher Plato. He ruled nearly half of the earth; his ambition was to control the world but he could not. Before he died he said there were many stars in the universe, but he could not wield his power over even a single one. Mmmmm,,.. How a wise man he was!! Some of you may say that he was avaricious, and so were I if I had not read about him. I recommend you read about him if you want to discover the truth. But I bet you will change your mind and admire him for his great and sage action.” 

I started writing from very simple thing like this. I tried to think about my childhood, how I felt, and what the atmosphere was. I also invented a story illustrating what I thought. I didn't care how it was; I just express my feeling. This is what I want to share you about. I sincerely hope that you, after reading this article, will spend some of your free times writing about what you feel comfortable. Remember that “A good author spent so much time on practicing writing before s/he could produce a good book.”

Advantages of Group Discussion

Gathering together every Saturday morning, many students, some from IFL and some from other universities, go to U-life Café, which is located along Russia Federation Boulevard and in front of IFL, for the same reason. Obviously, they go there in order to make group discussions. They say that they do so because just sitting and listening to the teachers explaining in the classroom is not enough for them to become effective and efficient learners and to possess themselves a hallmark of well-rounded educated people. They have to establish group discussion. Hence, it is clear that group discussion is the only way to consolidate and ameliorate knowledge, build-up self-confidence, and strengthen relationship amongst group’s members. 

Firstly, group discussion is actually a good way to consolidate and ameliorate knowledge. By forming a group, students are able to review their lessons they have just learnt from school. They explain each other on what they don’t understand clearly, and if they still can not find the answers to those problems, they will try to search in other sources of information such as the Internet, magazines, newspapers or libraries; that provides them skill to cope with the problems they face in academic years. Moreover, homework or assignments assigned by teachers can be done and checked whether or not they are correct, and are corrected by the group’s members in case they are unacceptable or wrong. Doing this regularly, sooner or later, they will get to know each strength and weakness, so they can help complement each other. Not only do they work on what teacher have assigned them, but they gain general knowledge outside the school context, for they share current information they just get from such mass-medias as radio, television and internet or from their friends, families, neighbors as well as local residents. They can pick up one particular topic and debate about it in order to reach a good solution. As a result, deliberately or unintentionally, they will automatically become critical and analytical thinkers. Furthermore, remember that no man is an island; people have to learn and exchange experiences from each other in return. They can get good experiences they may not themselves undergo. So it is clear that group discussion enables students to consolidate and ameliorate their knowledge both in formal and informal context. 

Secondly, self-confidence, a very strong, golden key used for breaking down the barrier of desperation and fear, is built up due to group discussion. Many students face the same problem when they are asked to express their ideas because they have no confidence. Though they have many ideas related to the topic that others are discussing, they still unable to open their beauteous mouth and let out words they want to say. That’s because they are afraid whether their ideas are acceptable or not; they are afraid of being laughed or ridiculed. Moreover, at the time they are speaking, they tremble- their hearts are pounding like a bulldozer breaking down the great giant wall or like the world fastest train running off its track and hitting the mountain- that make their ideas drifted away from their heads; therefore group discussion can help them. Practice makes perfect. During the discussion, all of the group’s members are obliged to practice speaking, sharing ideas and responding to their responsibilities that the group facilitator who orders them to. They practice again and again and again like the wheel turns and turns and turns until they could pronounce words clearly and accurately and then speak fluently and confidently. Along with practice speaking, writing is also included into the group’s schedule. When one is speaking, the others have to take notes and then develop them into essay and exchange each paper for editing. By and large, they have to be aware of their responsibilities. As a consequence, they will become full of confidence and are not afraid when expressing ideas in class or in public as well as on exam day. 

 In addition to the previous two points, group discussion also enables students to strengthen relationship amongst the group members. It is a chance for them to meet and share ideas and common interest with one another. Relationship needs dialogue; relationship needs spending time and enjoying together. Staying together, they will get to know each other clearly that leads to mutual understanding, an important aspect for living in harmony. Now imagine; how can we become close friends if we have never talked to each other, just sit and listen to the teacher? It is definitely not. In short, strong relationship exists only if all members spend time together and share ideas and common interest in order to become faithful friends. 

On the other side of the coin, someone who has different view to what have been mentioned earlier, always thinks and says that it is a waste of time as well as an awkward and silly thought to establish a group discussion and gather together on weekend. Their idea is that when students meet each other, they will talk about something useless, so they had better stay at home do housework or watch their favorite program on TV. However, does it really destroy their time that they just spend only two hours or something discussing about study? This idea is completely preposterous because only two or three hours, or four hours if possible, they need to sacrifice to get back knowledge. I don’t think and also don’t believe that all of them do beneficial things besides sleeping and watching television when they are alone at home. If you are one among those people, why don’t you think again and form a group? It’s not too late to do so. It’s never too late to learn. 

In conclusion, ones can attain their goals as successful learners unless they are in the gloomy world of unawareness of the value of group discussion, which helps students to gain and consolidate their knowledge both inside and outside school context, to build up self confidence, and strengthen relationship among their friends. Being a college student, we should sacrifice our time so that we can fulfill our brain with knowledge, and in the near future we will see the impressive result. Bitterness can be a catalyst to be better.

How to Write a Good Paragraph

I had never been practicing writing when I was in high school. As the time passed by, I finally became a year one student at Institute of Foreign Languages. When the teacher gave me an assignment on a particular topic, I found out that it was very difficult for me to write a paragraph even though I had many ideas relating to it. Whereupon, I tried to read as many books and other documents as I could to learn how to write a good paragraph, but it was useless and a waste of time, for I could not find out how to write it. My lecturer, finally, told me the process of writing, and I followed her. As a result, I could write a pretty good paragraph. Do you know what did she told me? Honestly speaking, in academic writing, it is not too difficult to write a good paragraph if you follow three main processes.

From Here to There (How to be successful in university life)

“A journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step,” said Confucius, a famous, Chinese philosopher in the history. This quote is well known all over the world for its insightful meaning. It teaches us that before doing things we should set our destination and then walk towards it a step at a time-- I mean a step at a time. Likewise, in university student life, it is critically important to note that ones can master their knowledge and attain their goal if they are not those who do not have any goal in their lives. Only having set up the goal and started walking your first step is not enough for you to reach your goal, however. For now, what is of most important to you is to keep your feet moving persistently forward despite many obstacles along the way on which you walk. To say this, there is a question asking that “How can we assure that we are able to reach our destination, then?” In my viewpoint, it is not too difficult to reach your dream if you follow the following steps.

1I.     Set up a clear, concrete goal

Being a university student is like a warrior who is trying his best in the battle field. In the other word, we can say that almost all, if not all, of the warriors have simply the same goal which is to get triumph. They have thoroughly studied the enemies’ whereabouts, how strong their enemies are, what strategies their enemies use and which one they should use to protect themselves from being defeated as well as to win over their enemies, from which location they should attack, and what time is the most appropriate to start attacking, which all of these I call a concrete plan of establishing their goals. Without this goal, you and I- I mean we- believe that they will not have any golden opportunities to successfully defeat their enemies. Similarly, all of these things, in your university-student life, will inevitably befall you too. No one can escape this reality which they have to face. Personally, I asked myself incessantly various questions when I graduated from high school and started my university life, some of which were “Why do I decide to step into university? What is my purpose? What do I want to be after I graduate? Should I choose to study what I love or what I am good at?” Undoubtedly, I, finally, decided to choose what I love and am also good at. I chose to be an engineer at Institute of Technology of Cambodia, where I got scholarship. But I still told myself that it was not enough to study just only engineering skill due to the fact that there should be at least one more skill that could help me to be a good engineer and to fit into the competitive job market. I foresaw that English was so potential that I decided to apply for the entrance exam at Institute of Foreign Languages, the most famous foreign language institution in Cambodia, and then I was admitted that year- the same year I started my engineering field. From that point, I have successfully set up my future goal. It should be noted that the essential part of being successful is to be aware of what you want. How about you? Have you established your future goal yet? If not yet, I recommend you think about it. Your future is in your hands; grasp it and let it light your way. Believe me or not, a man without a goal is like a city without electricity and water supplies. Nothing is worse than this.    

2II.     Measure the distance between the point at which you are and that of your goal   

   

     It is generally believed that there is no instrument used to measure abstract things or it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure it, but I say we can. Personally, I believe that nothing is impossible if everything is possible. I acknowledge that scientifically we cannot measure it but we can do it psychologically. We need neither advance technology nor high-tech instruments to measure it. We use what we naturally have, and that we have is our ability to think. Supposed that you are now a freshman at one university in Phnom Penh, you have three or four more years - or it can be many years more than this if you are a medical student- to graduate from your bachelor degree. The point of this example is not only help you foresee how far your goal is, but you will be also aware of how much effort you have to make in order that you can reach it if you do not have any faintest idea of what you are going to do yet. For now the point to remember is that, contrary to what some people claim, it will be easier for you to be ready to overcome any difficulties you may face in your academic years. When you have a clear idea of what might happen to you along the way, which connects your position to your goal, you are able to handle the problems or to minimize the difficulties. Frankly, as mentioned earlier, I study in two universities simultaneously, both of which are challenging majors, so you might wonder how I am able to handle it. Am I a magic man? No, that can not be. That I know clearly what I might face in my academic year is the key that help me disclose the armory and take hold weapons fighting against all of those difficulties and move towards my goal without let or hindrance. Actually, it may be difficult at first because you are a newcomer to that world of problems, but I bet you will find it as a merely challenging game when you know how to wield power over it. Use your smile to change the world; do not let the world changes your smile. Considering any difficulties as your companions to your goal is what I recommend you.

3III.    Achieve your goal  

       

    Not all competitors in a sport game get a trophy, so do university students. It needs commitment. Some people keep moving toward their goals, doggedly and patiently until they attain them while others surrender to the problems in the middle of their ways. Broadly speaking, those people who are successful in reaching theirs are those who are intellectually able to deal with challenging time. They meet failure but never quit doing what they aspire to do. Once you have decided to embark on your journey, you should bear in mind that your destination is where you want to go, no matter how hard it is to get there. Personally, rarely do I run smoothly on the way I am taking. Time constraint is the hindrance that hampers me from doing things smoothly. As mentioned earlier, I am studying in two universities simultaneously. Now imagine how hard it is to manage the time well. I have to study 11 hours a day. I have homework and assignment to do. Yet I still can do it as a result of the fact that I am stubborn to give up and that the I-would-rather-study-smart-than-study-hard strategy has been inherently placed in the seat of my brain. Once I fail, I try to stand up again. Because of I-am-fear-of-regret-than-failure idea, I stay focus on my life goal rather than spending too much time judging the way other people behind and around me are doing. “The most successful people are the ones that work on themselves first,” said Jen Groover, an USANA spokeswoman, and I can’t agree with her more. If we do not help ourselves first, who will help us? Even if we have someone behind us waiting to push us up to a safer place, it is still impossible to reach there if we try not to achieve it by ourselves. Far more than this, as mentioned above, although you have successfully established your life goal and been ready to overcome any difficulties that will come to you, it is still incomplete since you have not reached your destination yet. You have to walk on it towards your goal, and the means you choose to get there is dependent upon you. The courses of ones’ life are alike except for the roles they play in those courses. I, during my academic years, have noticed that some friends of mine decided to choose the same way as I did, but we have reached different places because some of them decided to turn backwards and some others were too appreciative with what they had done; they ignore the fact that the beauty of success is that it can have many stratum and that they have succeeded is just the first one. They have crossed a river, but there is a mountain standing in front of them waiting for them to walk across, and there will be also a desert waiting for them to pass by. Their actual destinations are still not yet reached; they need to try more to get there.. In short, the ultimate step of being successful is trying to achieve your goal.

            To sum up, these three steps, if follow thoroughly and patiently, will enable you to attain your life goals. Being aware of what you want, being ready to overcome obstacles, and fighting to get it are the true powers you need to be successful. You are the one who walks your life, not other people. You may sometimes feel despaired and other time motivated, but you still can withstand with any circumstances when you see your purpose. Some people work very hard- I mean they work very hard but not smart enough- to get success, but still fail to get it. They even have courage to stand up again, but still can not attain it. They, as a result, give up. Why? Because they don’t see their purposes; they don’t have a clear, life goal. John F. Kennedy once said that effort and courage were not enough without purpose and direction, and I can’t agree with him more. 

“Study without thought is labor lost, thought without study is perilous.”—Confucius