Learning Log 1

Plan:

This winter vacation, I decide to read a novel: The Diary of a Young Girl. I will separate the whole book into 14 parts (about 25 pages per part). After finishing one part, I will write down my thought about that part. Doing this plan can help me in many ways. I can read and write English everyday, so I won’t be unfamiliar with English after this winter vacation. By doing so, I can also change what I thought into words, and this is the main point I want to improve. Four years in university, there must be many essay questions waiting there. No matter in English or Chinese, I want to strengthen my ability of getting my thought well in order and writing it down clearly. 

Date: 1/18-20

Part: The Secret Annex Online (http://www.annefrank.org/en/Subsites/Home/), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (movie)

Reflection:

Since I know almost nothing about Anne Frank and her background, I surf on the Internet for some information before I read her diary. Surprisingly, I find a website which is really fascinated, and it provides a lot of information about all the thing happened in the Secret Annex. The website is called The Secret Annex Online, and there is a link: Enter the 3D House. I can look around where Anne once lived just through the Internet. Besides, clicking blue-hollow-circle buttons will come out some short stories. These stories are read by a woman with British accent, so it can improve my listening.

In order to get the whole outline of the diary and Anne’s daily life, I watch the film about her, Anne Frank: the Whole Story. Before I watch the film, I was always confused by the people in the diary. After watching it, I can clearly recognize them. In my notion, vision is a lot more shocking than words because its impact is direct and immediate. The scene that shocked me most happened at the time when Anne was sent to the concentration camp. Germans gave them nothing to eat and treated them like animals; they stripped off all Jews’ clothes, making them naked, and then tattooed the number on their body. What’s more mortified was women’s hair was all cruelly cut down like weeds. After the mayhem had all done, Jews were sent to obsolete camp.

Harsh environment leads to the emersion of depraved humanity. In order to live, people can do everything without caring about they are the same race. Since the wind was bitter, they needed a lot of clothes. Where were the clothes from? the dead. Greed, theft, selfish, and the dark side of humanity all come into sight. At that time, Anne felt nothing but hopeless. She held Margot’s cold body in arms, crying mournfully; the masses around them started to take off Margot’s clothes. Though it is just a movie, it is so real that I feel sick and even can't breathe.