My journey of learning English This is my speech in my English class: Like many Vietnamese people of my generation, I started to learn English at secondary school. Most of what we learned was vocabulary and grammar. We learned them via exercises such as filling in the blank, choosing the correct word, finding the mistakes ... What is the result? When I was in university, I can read, write and translate pretty good, even made money with translation job. But I can't communicate in English. I don't understand what others say and many people don't understand what I say. Many people told me "Your pronunciation has some problem", "your pronunciation does match with your English level. I thought your English level is the beginner when you started to speak". So deeply hurt! From that moment, I have never been confident with my pronunciation. Do you ever hear about Liebig's Law of the Minimum, often simply called Liebig's law or the law of the minimum? I have a photo here in order to help you easier to imagine. The capacity of a barrel with staves of unequal length is limited by the shortest stave. So, I started with my biggest weakness. It' pronunciation Chapter one: Pronunciation My pronunciation is not good because my imitation ability is poor. I can't imitate to pronounce as teachers, even they have just finished pronounce. I can't differentiate some consonants and have a lisp even in my native language, Vietnamese. I download all pronunciation programs what everybody says good or popular. Thanks to these programs, I understand why I mispronounce and how to pronounce exactly the word, not just by imitating. I even have learned many similar programs, simply because of my confident more than the desire for standard pronunciation. So I stayed at this stage for quite some time. If we have next class, I will share more detail about my pronunciation learning. My pronunciation is currently much better. And I got confused to find what to learn next. I think about response skill because if I have a lot of preparation time, I can speak fluently like that. Otherwise, I still have difficulty to communicate, partly because of lack of confidence Actually, I have no specific plans for improving my response skill. I will continue to find out the way to learn that suits me best. Finally, what I want to say here. Build your own journey of learning English, based on your strengths and weakness as well as your goal. Don't imitate exactly how other people learn.

A play about anecdote of the Little Match Girl. Sống Group created a play based on an anecdote of the Little Match Girl. Play Summary: ACT I, Scene 1, H.C. Andersen comes back to Copenhagen, Denmark. He goes to a cloth store and bought a sweater and a fleece coat for a little girl. Asking the store owner and a shoeshine man about the little girl selling matches in the town, he found out that she froze to death on New Year’s Eva and there was a pen-holder with text, “For Mr. Andersen” in her pocket. He requests to receive back the pen-holder from the shoeshine man. With pen-holder in his hand, he reminisces of the evening he met the little match girl. Scene 2, One autumn evening in Copenhagen, Denmark, a poor little girl is trying to sell matches in the street and she comes across Andersen. He gives her all his money and converses a little with her. He would leave in the next few days, so he promised her he would give her some other gifts when he comes back. The little girl also promised to give him a gift. ACT II, Scene 1, In Andersen’s room, Sitting at his desk, Andersen is obsessed and tormented by the poor little girl’s image. He picks up his pen and starts to write. The Little Match Girl is put on the stage with background of Andersen is writing. After completing his work, he stands up and delighted by the present that he dedicated to the little match girl’s soul. The complete play is written in Vietnamese.

An anecdote about the Little Match Girl There is an anecdote about the Little Match Girl: the little match girl is a real character in Andersen’s life. Summary: On autumn evening in Copenhagen, Denmark, author H.C. Andersen accidentally met a poor little girl selling matches in the street. She was afraid to go home because hadn't she sold any match, her father would have beaten her. H.C. Andersen gave her all his money. He would travel somewhere next few days, so he promised he would give her some other gifts when he comes back. The little girl also promised to give him a gift. When Andersen had come back to that city, he remembered his promise. He bought sweaters and fleece jacket for the little girl. After asking about the little match girl, he knew she was frozen to death on cold winter night and there was a pen-holder with text “For Mr. Andersen” in her pocket. She still remembered her promise. The Little Match Girl is a present which author Andersen would like to dedicate to the little girl’s soul, isn't it? If you know Vietnamese, you can read the full version written in Vietnamese of that anecdote here: http://namievunguyen.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/giai-thoai-ve-co-be-ban-diem/

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz I have a passion for tales of adventure. Besides thrilling times, they bring us valuable lessons in inspiring manner. “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is a tale like that. Life is a journey, not a destination: The Scarecrow believes that he has no brains. The Tin Woodman believes that he lacks of heart. The Lion believes that he is a coward. They all go to the Emerald City and ask Wizard of Oz for what they want – wisdom, love and courage. Always thinking of them and self-reminding, they really get them through their journey. Belief and how important it is: They still lack belief in themselves. But they believe in Wizard of Oz. He just uses simple ways to make them fulfilling. Dorothy is a line which creates story and connects characters. She always knows what really important to her and never forgets her main purpose. “No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home." Dorothy. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a best-known children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and considered as American Fairy Tale. I watched 1939 film version and had no impression at all. But when I read this book, I am completely intrigued from beginning to end. I can image a marvelous Land of Oz-sweeping landscapes, unique creatures, and miracle things. Fantasy children's novels have ability of enrich our soul and imagination.

Why do I love animation? And "Princess Mononoke". I love animation world. It is a place where everything is possible, where our mind and dreams are set free to play, where there is no limit to imagination and creativity. As I said, I am a big fan of animation, especially fiction and fantasy genre. I watched many works of Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, etc. After watching Hayao Miyazaki' works, I knew a whole new level. All his movies are true works of art. Princess Mononoke is really a masterpiece. It is extremely breaktaking and exceedingly imaginative. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen at the first scenes. I think this is the most horrifying and wildest movie of Hayao Miyazaki. Its characterizations are more various and more full-blooded than the other works. Its visuals such as lush forests, sweeping landscapes, horrifying creatures, or thrilling battles are absolutely marvelous. The story is about multiple conflicts between human with human, human with nature. Although it is awful with violence and revenge, but it still has belief, faith and love. In all of Miyazaki's movies, love is always something magical.

Some thoughts after watching Kiki's Delivery Service I love all the girls in Hayao Miyazaki’s works. Kiki leave home and live independently at her 13. She is the most responsible and wholehearted girl that I have seen. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart." Colossians 3:23 Sometimes, we don’t do everything with all our heart. [Spoiler alert] Kiki: Flying used to be fun until I started doing it for a living. I think it is why Kiki lost her magic. As Kiki, sometimes we lost our magic, spirit and inspiration. We are unable to do anything. Maybe it is because we don’t believe in ourselves and we can’t enjoy what you do. Here is a meaningful conversation between Kiki and Ursula (a young painter) which really inspired and touched my heart and mind. Ursula: Painting and magical powers seem very much the same. Sometimes I’m unable to paint a thing. Kiki: You mean it? Then what? What happens? Ursula: Kiki, please don’t move. It’s hard to draw a moving target. Kiki: Without even thinking about it, I used to be able to fly. Now I’m trying to look inside myself to find out how I did it. But I just can’t figure it out. Ursula: You know, could be you’re working at it too hard. Maybe you should just take a break. Kiki: Yeah, but still if I can’t fly … Ursula: Then stop trying. Take long walks. Look at the scenery. Doze off at noon. Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon you’ll be flying again. Kiki: You think my problems will … Ursula: Go away? That’s right. It’s going to be fine. I promise. …. Ursula: When I was your age, I’d already decided to become an artist. I loved to paint so much. I’d paint all day until I fell asleep right at my easel. And then one day, for some reason, I just couldn’t paint anymore. I tried and tried, but nothing I did seemed any good. They were copies of paintings I’d seen somewhere before … and not very good copies either. I just felt like I’d lost my ability. Kiki: That sounds like me. Ursula: It’s exactly the same, but then I found the answer. You see, I hadn’t figured out what or why I wanted to paint. I had to discover my own style. When you fly, you rely on what’s inside of you, don’t you? Kiki: Uh-huh. We fly with our spirit. Ursula: Trusting your spirit! Yes, yes! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. That same spirit is what makes me paint and makes your friend bake. But we each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy...

Coraline The movie has a vivid animation and stunning story. I feel so great when knowing that it is based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name. I greatly love a quote from Neil Gaiman: "The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.". This quote inspires me so much. I am extremely impressed by ideas of this story such as dolls with button-eyes, a ghostly passageway that leads the other parallel world where everything is idealized. The idea about the other world is really alluring. Sometimes, life is so tough. I also wish that I could run away, go other places and live other life. I realize there is no other life. I have to learn how to enjoy my own life no matter what happens. This movie is rather creepy to children, but they are surely lured and mesmerized by each scene. I am always confused by its name: Coraline or Caroline. It is so easy to confuse.