Humanities Newspaper Article

Sydney Herald

Date: Wednesday 13th 1835

The English government have sent over a man to be known as a ‘British Resident’, James Busby. He has been sent to New Zealand as a response from the letter sent the by the native people. Maori people needed help because they felt they were being treated fairly by the English settlers.

It is said that when James arrived in New Zealand, the Maori people had no respect for him because his lack of firearms. They named him ‘man of war without guns’. James Busby forged a declaration of Independence. It was for the people of New Zealand to become an independent country.

Rumors have spread, saying that a Frenchman by the name of Charles de Thierry has said that he would invade New Zealand with a French army with hundreds of men. James Busby took this as a serious situation and travelled around the top half of New Zealand requesting Maori chiefs to sign the Declaration. The French government have informed us that the French have never actually wanted to claim New Zealand. Therefore Charles de Thierry, who was thought to have an army was a false statement.

New Zealand was now safe from French colonies and other threatening countries. From this we will hope to see New Zealand finally become one as a nation.

English Assignment: Monologue

(Spoken in a Scottish accent)

This traditional ritual doesn't feel right anymore, killing off an innocent elderly won’t help anything. I mean, I know that as we were children our fathers and mothers would tell us to always stay to tradition. But I say nay, the crops haven’t grown, water produce is low, our resources are beginning to become scarce. A ritual that does not help with our needs, is not needed? Lindsay's old man was chosen, killed by the very citizens which once called him a friend. Do we as a village have no heart? The ability to turn on an elderly which once took care of you. It astounds me. People I say lets stand together as one village and wipe this ritual from our memories so that one day we may be able to see our grandchildren. This is my speech to you folks in hope that you have the same passion as I do. So who will stand with me? Who will fight for our future and our childrens and their childrens future? If you’re with me say ay!... Right then a bright future is ahead of us.    

Global Warming: A World Wide Crisis

In my Humanities class, we were all given an assignment to discuss and share "An environmental Issue Facing Society". Here is my presentation and the marking schedule.

Non-Renewable Resources ESSAY

There are many ways to produce electricity using non-renewable sources. Some of these ways include: Coal, Oil and Natural gases. Non-renewable means once a source is used it can not be returned to its original form. I think the best way for New Zealand to produce electricity is by using Natural gases. This is because it can be used for cooking, heating and fuel. Natural gases also do not release dangerous gases or have any harmful effects to the environment. I also believe Natural gases are the best way for our country because it is easy accessible and affordable for people to use.

Coal is an energy source when combined with heat, is used to create electricity. It can be also as a fuel for heat. Coal, when heated releases smoke which  affects the environment and contributes to global warming. Coal is used almost all around the world in factories creating electricity. Most countries do not consider this fact. Coal is found in various places in the world and can be considered as a common resource. Coal is created from animals bones, rotting trees all under the earth which has been compressed and heated over thousands of years. Because of this coal is not a source that can be maintained and humans can not continue to abuse coal.

Oil is an energy source used all around the world to create electricity and many other purposes. Oil leak out in the ocean is around the earth and is pollutes marine life. There are lots of countries which mine oil too. Oil is one of the most important resources. Most of peoples daily needs depend on oil. Oil is created by compressed waste over thousands of years and this is why humans cannot create this type of fuel. As time passes oil will become scarce and its prices will continue to rise. People will have to find an efficient way to replace oil.

Natural gases is a source found in the earth that can be used for heating, cooking and can also be used for electricity. Natural gases do not release dangerous gases into the atmosphere like coal does. Natural gases like all the other sources has been compressed over thousands of years. But Natural gases is not easy to find. People are using it at a fast rate and the original source can be renewed at an efficient pace. Natural gas is good for controlled fires, cooking and heating. Lots of people use a gas heater rather than an old fire place. People also use gas ovens.

In conclusion all these non-renewable ways are not sufficient. But I think the best non-renewable source is Natural Gases because it is partially clean for the environment and is easy to control.

Mt Tarawera

The New Zealand Herald

10 June, 1886 a tragedy occurred in the North Island of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Mt. Tarawera has erupted all three of its peaks which had sent clouds of ash and smoke, meters into the sky. People have said the explosion was heard as far as Blenheim and the effect of the ash had blown all the way south towards Christchurch. It has been reported that the smoke and ash have destroyed many villages including covering Te Wairoa in ash and mud. The famous pink and white traces were lost during the event. An estimated 120 people died during this natural disaster.

The Birds

In the novella "The Birds" by Daphne Du Maurier, the author explores the subject of hubris. The greediness of mankind, thinking that we're superior and that nothing can harm us. She suggests that human beings suffer from hubris, which makes them unprepared for possible threats from the world.

In the exposition, Du Maurier shows how Nat, the protagonist, is clam and confident and not concerned about the strange behaviour by the birds.

In the inciting incident, Du Maurier shows how Nat is unprepared for an attach by the birds, and becomes panicked.

Because Nat, the protagonist, is arrogant and tries to use different excusees like " a message comes to the birds in autumn", like a warning. This shows he is pretentious.

The protagonist (Nat) becomes frightened and afraid as soon as the birds begin attacking him and his family. After the endless attacks by the birds he begins to feel a little impressed by the birds and there sense of organisation.

Nat the protagonist becomes afraid and organised this is shown when " The blanket became a weapon of defence" this shows that Nat was not ready for the possibilities that he was unprepared.

The World's Worst Natural Disasters

For Humanities at St Peters College we have been learning about Natural Disasters. Here is a graph to show my findings and learning.

St.Peters College

A new year, starting a new school it does feel weird. St.Peters college an all boys school, private, right next to Auckland Boys and Catholic. That’s my new school, that I would be attending from now onwards. It sent a shiver up my spine even thinking about a new school. Orientation day, the day where I got to meet some of the other year 9’s that were starting at St.Peters college this year too.

“Good Morning Boys!” exclaimed Mr Neville. Mr Neville is our Dean (which means he’s in charge of all the students in year 9 level) “Good morning sir!” We answered. He told us all about the college and its principles to follow by. We followed him around the school and saw most of the classes which we were going to be in. It was a junkload to take in, I was still trying to figure out which classes I would be in?

My favourite subjects include, Maths, French, P.E, Art, Humanities (History and Geography). Some of the other subjects I find a little more challenging like English and Science. This year has taught me to become more independent and organised for example catching the bus to school, learning to move class by class and getting my stuff ready for the next day.

This year one of my goals is to do well in school academically and also in sports. I hope that this year will be a good year.  

D.L.O World War 2 (Made by Kingston, Darius, Raenan)

World War 2 K,R,D from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

In our D.L.O we were trying to show that world war 2 was a massacre to the people that were involved in the War. A lot people didn’t return to their country they were either lost in action, or killed. What we learnt from this event was that a lot of people were trying to fight for their own countries.

P:

(Positive)

What I thought was positive was that we had finally finished our D.L.O. (Wasn’t on time though, but we had acting for production) We had good animations and a good voice over. We worked together well as a team, we got out tasks finished as well. Our sound track was a good suit for our movie.

M:

(Minus)

What I thought that wasn’t good is that sometimes we would go off task and sometimes not focus on our main objective. Another Minus was that we didn’t finish the D.L.O on time.  We could have focused more on our Storyboard and involved more acting as well.  I think we should show more drama instead next time.

I:

(Interesting)

What I found was interesting is that World war 2 was so big that the events that we chose was the starting of World War 2 and the ending. Another thing that was interesting was we finished the movie.

New Phone

As we headed into assembly I just remembered that Mrs Burt put out a competition in the holidays. That if children blogged their names would go into the draw to win a new phone. During the holidays my mum pushed me to do at least two posts. Very unexpectedly Mrs Burt drew out my name. I was half asleep when it happened. Lesieli won the first phone which was a Nokia and I won the second phone, a Samsung. I wanted to say thank-you to my mum for pushing me to post in holidays and to Telecom for donating the phones to our school. Thank You Mrs Burt as well for getting the prizes organised. I’m glad I’ve got a new phone because it’s a touch phone and now I can get rid of my old one - it’s a Samsung too.

Meeting An Amazing Person

Butterflies fluttering around waiting for the unknown guest to arrive. Today was the day that a celebrity came to our school and gave a anonymous donation to the Manaiakalani Trust. Cars were pulling up and lots of medium built guys were in tuxedos with each of them wearing earpieces. I was shocked when I found out who was coming. My mum knew but she wasn't allowed to tell me.

As the cars pulled up the guest came, it was WILL.I.AM he was the surprise visitor that was coming to give the donation. WILL.I.AM it was unimaginable to actually see him in real life. I greeted him with a simple “Hello” and shook his hand. As we headed into the hall everybody started to open their mouths in awe as WILL.I.AM entered. The cameras were blinding me as they all flashed.

After escorting him to his seat we walked back to sit down. Once our kapahaka and Hip Hop group finished performing, WILL.I.AM shared a very inspirational speech with us. He talked about how he grew up and his family were poor. He really wanted to help out his mum when he was younger. WILL.I.AM is a very humble man, he shows a lot of leadership skills in raising money for charity. He was also wearing some really cool boots.We finished the hour off singing to WILL.I.AM our school song Strive To Succseed.

Fortunately the whole school had left back to their daily routine again and the hall was almost empty. Interviews were everywhere, people asking WILL.I.AM questions. Some of the media people were interviewing prefects as well. I was interviewed five times by many well-known media like ZM radio station, Erin Simpson show and a bunch of other people. I didn't get a chance to see it on t.v or listen to it on the radio. However, lots of my friends and family me on the t.v again!

I think that WILL.I.AM is an amazing person. He has sold albums all over the world and one of his albums went platinum in New Zealand, he is associated with the Hallenstein Brothers which is incredible. I hope next time he comes, he is able to perform for us. , http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/i-am-donates-100-000-nz-children-s-trust-5433031/video?vid=5433336 <--- click here to see what came on T.V

Fiafia 2013

Fiafia, if you don’t know what that is, well it’s when our school cultural groups get together to perform. Our school has it every two years but this year we were lucky because our principal decided to take the stage out onto the field. I was really excited for Fiafia this year. This year was also a special year because it was the 60th anniversary for our school.

“Now you have to select the group that you want to be in this year, remember you have three choices” Mrs Langitupu (our teacher) instructed us. I know I couldn’t pick anything other group then my normal choice Niue because my mother always puts me in it. “Thursday is the day when you all leave to your practice” Mrs Langitupu said. Then the day arrived Thursday.

It approached really quickly the day for fiafia I felt really relaxed on the night. We all strolled to the courts everything so dark and people crowding around my body looking at everybody there looked like more than one-thousand or more people. Going to sit down at the row we were allocated I really started to feel the butterflies in my stomach fluttering around frantically. I really wanted to see the other groups perform their items. We were right after the Uni-Cyclers group.

My mind racing of the things that I should be doing as soon as the performance starts. The conch shell blew and it was all about to start. We started the item with the Hopo (jump), Ta me (action-song) and last was the Takalo (war dance). Once it was over I felt really thankful for everything that the tutors had done but now I just got to sit down and watch the other groups perform.

One of the groups that I really wanted to watch was the Barkerville factor group. Which I think they smashed a car and made beats. If I was to pick another group to, I would have been in the Cook-Island drumming group.



Niue Fiafia 2013
This was a little highlight

First Game Of The Season

Butterflies fluttering around in my stomach anxiously waiting for Te Atatu Roosters to arrive at the club. The weather looking dark grey and cloudy just waiting to rain on us. First game for the season of rugby league was pretty exciting I was on the starting lineup playing second rower. “Okay I want to see mouth guards in you hands no tackles above the armpit” the referee instructed.

“Forwards run the ball!” Our second five Terakia called. Our last man ran the ball and made 15 meters, I took the next run up and then the other second rower. “Try” the ref said this was our 2nd try and it was halftime. “Backs you need to set your line better forwards need to drive through the middle of the defence” our coach instructed us.

Our last man Denzel scored a hat trick with 3 runaway try’s we were winning by far the score was 36-10 . I took another run this time I ran into the maker. One point in the game I made a run but this little guy tried to tackle my legs instead got kneed in the face I felt sorry for him because he got up crying. Most of the game I was on defense and trying to tackle them.

Just before end of the game the 2nd five Terakia chipped the ball over the defense and the winger Jacob dived on it. The ref called no try because she couldn't see the ball being planted. The score at the end of the game was 36-10 to us. After the game I was really thankful that the game was finished and over because I really wanted to go home and play games.

What Does Easter Mean To You?

Easter is a time to remember what Jesus was crucified for our sins. Centuries ago Jesus decided to sacrifice himself to save all people from their sins. John 3:16 says for God loved the world so much he gave his only son to save our sins, so whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That was one of the scriptures which is a very popular verse known all over the world.

Equippers church had a big Easter give away where families can come together to have a good time with their children. While I was there I was hanging out with my friends from church and we walked around looking at the things which we could participate in but there wasn't anything so we decided to play tiggy.

Over the years people have changed the true meaning of Easter and turned it into about Bunnies. People commercialize to make profit and money from selling Easter eggs. They also have things like Easter shows, Egg hunts and all sorts of other things. Easter eggs are a sign of rebirth which means new beginnings.

Easter for me was really about going to church services and eating a lot of chocolate. I had a Turkish delight chocolate Easter egg it had a big hollow egg and 10 small eggs with Turkish in them they were delicious.

Presenting for Telecom

Yesterday the prefects and I headed down to Tamaki College for a very special presentation. I was very nervous because I was one of the speakers and there were lots of people. I shared about what we do at school and how blogging and netbooks have helped me with my learning. If you look closely you can see my blog and one of my posts on the screen behind me. Click here to see some of the footage. Our presentation was not because of the recent job losses that are about to happen at Telecom.

Earthquake In Auckland City

This was one of the first Earthquakes that I had felt in my whole life. There were two Earthquakes which hit Auckland city. The first Earthquake was at 4.01and the magnitude was 3.1magnitude and 6km deep. It reached the North-East of Auckland and the South-Coast of Motutapu.

The second Earthquake was 4min right after the first one but it had a 3.9 magnitude and a 5km radius.

Writing Sample

“Bring Bring” the bell died out eventually. Okay class today we will be focusing on our art projects everyone has started umm except for you miss Izzy” she pointed out. “Well I haven’t started because I just joined this school” I thought. The old school that I went to was called Glendowie Primary. My parents moved so I had to enroll to this school Pt Paris Intermediate.

“Izzy you must finish your painting before Friday” Miss Lavakula instructed me all I heard was “blablabla”. “Come sit over here” one of the girls called. I strolled over to see blue streaks of hair slide across my face. “Hi my name is Martha and this is my sister Makayla” She said cheerfully. Her sisters hair was the opposite to Martha is was a vibrant streak of red.” Well would you like to start” Miss Lavakula put a piece of paper in my hand. “Hmm where’s my pencil gone?” I wonder hopelessly probably never to find it. “Do you have a spare pencil my seems to be gone?” “No sorry mine was stolen we have stealers in our class”

So for the whole entire block I spent looking for a pencil. I’m sure I saw one under the table I went to grab it but it disappeared like it was made out of thin air “Something feels wrong” I thought. Wait it was 11:00 shouldn’t the bell had rung I looked for the bell and it was gone just like the pencil. I asked the principal “what happened to the bell” he replied “What bell?” He acted like there never was a bell.

I investigated and a whole heap of things had gone the chairs, windows, cars, teachers even Martha’s sister was gone. I asked “Martha where’s your sister?” before she told me an answer a massive black hole swallowed her “Ahhh” I screamed the black hole turned to me. Was this the end after all these years this is how it ends with Izzy the girl who’s life was a misere about to be eaten alive by a black hole?

“Izzy Izzy!” Martha called you were hit by a ball and started screaming “Black hole Black hole!” Did you have a night mare? “Yes it was a dream to remember” I said

Visual Mihi

Fakalofalahiatu my name is Darius I am half niuean, half samoan . I am a year 8 this year attending Pt England school. I am a prefect this year I have a lot of responsibilities this year. These four emblems represent what values I treasure. I love to represent my cultures, religion and my favourite sports. My cultures have very beautiful island's and very wonderful patterns. I go to Equippers church in Manukau.

2013 Fresh Start

Kia Ora my name is Darius I am in room 21 with my teacher Mrs Langitupu. This year I am a year 8 last year until college I am also a prefect for the school. I have a lot of responsibilities this year. I am in year 7/8 Extension. I can't believe how fast the years have gone and how I am going to college soon.  

Back to Australia again!

Heading off again as usual. I fly over to Australia every year maybe twice, in the holidays to see my dad and my siblings. Have you ever flown by yourself? If you're my age it does feel a little bit scary but this was my second time flying unaccompanied so I wasn’t as anxious. When you fly by yourself you have would normally have a flight attendant watching you. Two of my favourite things to do on the plane is to watch movies and listen to music. Landing of the plane is not my favourite part most of the times the plane screech’s but fortunately the plane wasn’t that bad it was smooth landing. As soon as I hoped off the plane I was happy to see my dad. As soon as I got to my dads house I put bags into my baby brothers room and watched some movies then crashed.

One of the things that I did while there was go to was heading to Wet and Wild. The weather was scorching as soon as I headed outside it just overwhelmed me. Swimming was fantastic just hanging out with my dad his wife and my siblings. “Splash! Get over here” I said to my two younger siblings we were have a little fight in the pool. My little brother who was five and my sister who was three years old, were trying to punch and drown me ( I sort of taught them to be rough ). I didn’t go on any rides because I would have gone by myself and so I was looking after my younger brothers and sisters instead. It was packed to capacity with people.

Another thing that I did there was a lot of shopping (which I usually hate doing). My uncle Ailuai took me to a house near his place where they sold basketball singlets for $15 and caps for $10, he had the sale in his garage. They are all imported from U.S.A or thats what I overheard the seller say. When we got there there was a wall filled with snap back hats. They were all different colors and brands. My uncle said I could pick three hats. After a lot of thought I chose  three hats: Neff, Sorry I’m Fresh and Street Swag.

I always love coming to see my dad and my little siblings especially to come see my new baby brother Deandre. Can’t wait to go back again had a lot of fun. Most of the time I was there I was watched movies which was awesome. My favorite right now has got to be Pitch Perfect. Have you seen it yet? You should watch it!