EAP Term 2 2023

Through studying about Boyan Slat and the Ocean Cleanup, I thought his energy and creative power is wonderful. I was impressed that he did not use his youth as a excuse which he cannot achieve his goal. I sometimes use my young age as a excuse when I think I cannot accomplish something. However, he has been trying to correct plastic in the ocean even if this is one of the most difficult problems all over the world. First, he made TEDx talk to make people aware of the dangers of the marine environment and succeed to correct many supports from expert and money to start the project. After that, he came up with an innovative way to collect plastic and started using it. Also, he has been overcoming failures which happen in projects. I thought his never-give-up mentality and energy made him a success. Therefore, his projects must improve and be a beginning of a solution to the problem of marine plastic waste.

      I was impressed by his wonderful idea. When I was 16 years old, I was not interested in any environmental issues at all. He influenced a lot of people and changed their motivation about the environment.  I can say confidently that the process was not easy. He must have struggled for a long time. I respect his patience and huge motivation which affects others.      When he found garbage in the sea, he took action soon. Absolutely, it can be one of his great characteristics that has fueled people. He was surely a positive person about anything.      However, I guess it would take so long time to complete the project though I respect his idea. That is because the ocean is incredibly wider than what we expected. Sadly, I couldn't believe what he said, which was "This project will finish in 5 years."

I think he is a genius because he came up with the ideas to clean ocean when he was so young. He achieved to remove the big size of plastics like a three times as large as France. I think he is an active person because he found a lot of plastics while doing scuba diving. In my opinion, this his personality caused his success. I think his project will be success if they study it for a long time.

His project is excellent because it will come true to collect all garbage in the ocean. His ability to take action by himself plays an essential role in this project because it's hard to start acting as a leader. I think his project will be a success in the long run because he is still trying to improve his system now, and also this serious problem that there is a lot of garbage in the ocean is known all over the world. So, I believe other people will start to help.

 I think he and his project are great because I believe it is significantly hard to carry out one's word. He gave a TED talk. Despite he was only seventeen. His project might have been optimistic at that time but he founded his company in practice so I think he is brave and influential. I think his plan is amazing, but I'm sure that it will take longer than thought because of the various difficulties that are expected to be encountered in the future to accomplish it.

While diving in the ocean, slat discovered that there was more trash in the ocean than fish, and that's when he felt he needed to help clean up the ocean. He also gave a ted talk to bring attention to this issue. He even dropped out of college to complete the project, called the Ocean Cleanup. But in fact, only a small part of the garbage collected by boats and nets, most of the garbage is at the bottom of the sea. So in response, their team started a river cleanup program. Because most rubbish flows from rivers into the sea. This prevents new garbage from flowing into the sea. In my point of view, he is brave and does what he wants, even though he has experienced setbacks, he just works harder to complete the goal and studies new methods. But cleaning up the ocean is still a very difficult problem, because it is very difficult to stop the problem at the source, to stop people from releasing waste, so we have to do it ourselves to reduce the waste.

For the first time, I saw the video related to his innovative idea about the Ocean Cleanup in order to deal with the serious environmental issue and then I was really awe-inspiring. On the one hand, Boyan Slat had a brave and consistent heart and mind so that he could introduce his idea to a massive number of people including excellent scientists in a TED talks in 2011, especially it was inevitable that he also had a concrete mind to encourage many knowledgeable and wealthy entrepreneurs for raising his funds (approximately $9,000).  Besides, despite facing a lot of trouble and criticism, he always kept in mind his initial ideas and developed them gradually and completely. I must admit that he is truly courageous. With the first two systems, although they were not really working effectively, there was a huge amount of garbage collected. and I firmly believe that it would be more successful for their new system 003 in the near future.  Anyway, we humans should be grateful for h...

  I though he Boyan Slat has great imaginations and the ability to take actions. The reason why I thought this way is because he made ted talk when he was only 16 years old and he was able to communicate his views to the adults and offer specific suggestions on the problem of plastic pollution and how to solve it. Also I thought his solution was a slow process, but a certain way to remove all of plastics floating on the sea surface. His solutions and bold ideas using concrete data and research influenced a lot of adults and contributed to his achievement.  I expect the project will take longer than he thinks it will because as the project progresses, various unpredictable problems will emerge and it can be prevention of advancement. The project team has to deal with the problems so I think it will take a lot more time than he trust. 

 I think Boyan Slat is brave, his project is bold and innovative and he and other members of the Ocean Project deserve more credit. Then, I think what contributed to his achievements were the project members who agreed with his views and donated money for the project. Because when he started this project, he was only 16 years old and still a child physically and mentally, and he had to struggle a lot with fundraising and pressure to set up the organization. So the people around him who agreed with him and supported his activities were very important. I also believe that his passion for protecting the clean oceans he loves so much has contributed greatly to the success of a system that efficiently scoops up large quantities of plastic waste in one go, and will finish collecting all the waste in the Pacific Ocean completely in the future, far faster than the conventional speed too. Finally, I believe that the Ocean Cleanup Project will continue to innovate with the support ...

 I unanimously support his ocean cleanup project. Despite, he was 16, he aware of  plastic problem in the ocean and have a obvious idea to solve this urgent issue. His ideas are a little bit dreamy, and there is still room for improvement, but he overcame those by his spirit of  loving diving. The ability to initiate crowd-funding and to seek the help of experts was a key element of this project. In long term his improved cleanup system work very well to address today's ocean plastic  problem. It is because the system has been updated and he latest one shows big progress from existing system. It expected to be 3 times larger and 10 times more efficient. 

 Firstly, I respect Boyan Slat because he took action to come true to his idea of cleaning our ocean. I would not do it even if I came up with such as his idea. Therefore, his success is related to not only his imagination to think of solutions but also his ability to take action.   Second, the Ocean Cleanup Project will be more developed than now because most countries perceive it as a serious problem to live in life, and they also will invest a lot of money in technology to solve this problem. In addition, some countries began a campaign to decrease the amount of plastic trash: charging for shopping bags. Therefore, the Ocean Cleanup Project will advance because of state assistance, and the Garbage collection rate will catch up with the amount of plastic trash on the sea.

         I think his project is very interesting for me because environmental issues are going on at this moment, and it is an issue that someone must tackle at some point. In such a situation, I respect him for working to make the world aware of this problem at the age of only 16.  Crowdfunding has contributed greatly to his accomplishments I believe that those who donate money are making such a decision because of his clear vision and the future need.    　    I expected that his project would gradually wrong because as I said before, this project is supported by crowdfunding which means if those funds were to run out, we would not be able to continue. In addition, plastic collection operations require a lot of time and labor. In view of the above, this project will gradually cease to take place.

 I learned about the Ocean Cleanup Project and thought it was a great idea that a young man came up with. In my learning about this I learned that his idea was criticized by many people. I thought ideas which is came up with by adult were old-fashioned and impractical. His novel idea caught the interest of many people and they crowdfunded his activity. I thought this was the most important key to success. I believe this activity will lead us to even better things in the future. I couldn't understand the scale of the project just by reading the text, but after watching the video, I was impressed by the scale of the project. I think they will use 003 system to collect even more plastic waste efficiently.

 I think that Boyan Slat is an amazing person, and his project is necessary for our future. Crowdfunding has contributed to his achievements. I think that it is difficult to get a lot of money before doing his project, but by doing crowdfunding, he could get a lot of money and support. I think that his love for diving has fueled him to do his project. In my opinion, his project will get many achievements in the long run because it has already gotten little results. However, he will also get some new problems. For example, more plastic garbage may flow in from the land. Therefore, I think that it is important to care about those issues.

Write a post about Boyan Slat & the Ocean Cleanup. What do you think of Slat and his project? What is it about Slat that has contributed to his achievements to date? Which of his personal characteristics do you think have fueled them?  He has, though, experienced setbacks, with his initial idea of an autonomous plastic trash collecting system not working. How successful do you think the Ocean Cleanup will be in the long run and why?

 I don’t tend to take responsibility when I have spent too much money for something such as foods and things I collect. When I see something I would like, I usually tend to buy them right away without thinking them through. The excuse I always use is the possibility of selling out because if I didn’t buy them at the time they were sold, I would never be able to buy them again or I would buy them at a price higher than the selling price.   Especially, I’m even more impulsive about buying limited items and limited quantity products.  To take responsibility, I should consider whether they are really necessary for me before I buy them. In addition, I need to know exactly how much money I spent.

Life can be stressful and unpredictable, and sometimes it is easier to run away from taking responsibility for our actions. That's because accepting responsibility for our actions is often hard.   Many years ago, once when I was the head of a department. In one project, we made some mistakes and the project was seriously behind schedule. Resulting in customer losses, the company was also warned by customer complaints. At the wrap-up meeting, I listed who made what mistakes that led to the loss. And I didn't take responsibility for it myself. At that time, my leader was very angry, he said, as a leader, you have to bear the main responsibility. You need to know the most important job responsibilities of a supervisor. A man who cannot take responsibility cannot be a good leader. A responsible leader can make subordinates loyal to follow you, and also affect the cohesion and appeal of the entire team, thus promoting the healthy and rapid development of the career.   W...

 I don't tend to take responsibility when I belong to a group. For example, if I am in a group and our group is scolded or warned by a teacher or superior, I will think that it is not my fault. This is because I don't like to be scolded by anyone, and also because I don't want to hurt myself more than I have to. Therefore when I'm in that situation, I tend to be absentminded or think about how quickly it will end.  In my opinion, In order to change this behavior and way of thinking, it is necessary to think that I had a little something wrong with me, and to attempt to improve my words and actions in response to what I was told. But I don't think it's a good idea to blame yourself too much. Also I'll try to accept only the appropriate pointers.

  I don't tend to take responsibility when I do group work with some students. For example, I don't always run for leader, I'm not very forthcoming with my opinions. This is because as a leader, I have to get the opinions of all the group members and facilitate the discussion, and I am worried about what will happen if my opinion is not accepted by many audiences. I often tend to use the excuse that I think you are a better leader than I am or I'm not a solid person. That said, I'd leave most of it to more responsible kids.  Finally, I might change my bad habit like this by knowing how hard it is to be a leader. Because if I know how hard it is to be a leader, I could know the folly of imposing a leader and not giving a single opinion and corporate in group work equally without imposing a leader every time. 

  I don't take responsibility when I can't lose my weight. Since I came to NewZealand, I have tried to lose my weight many times, but I have failed all times. Every time I felt stress, I ate too much snacks. Despite the fact that I ate too much by myself, I have the excuse that I can't manage my own food while living with a host family. Moreover, when I am eating something delicious, I am absolutely saying, "This is the only time I can eat this! If I miss this opportunity, I can't eat again" and then I eat it with satisfaction. Today, too, I found myself eating churros after school. In order to improve my bad habit, I'm trying not to be stressed out. Furthermore, since I am so happy to spend time eating with friends, I wanted to make an effort to eliminate overeating at other times.

I don't tend to take responsibility when I get my weight. I have gained weight since I came to New Zealand, but I tend to excuse that it is because the food we eat here is not Japanese food. Actually, it is not because of food; the main reason is that I frequently eat out with my friends. I usually go to a cafe and eat sweets. Therefore, I got into the habit of eating high-calorie foods compared to when I was in Japan. However, I often say that the reason I have gained weight is food. I make excuses that kiwi food is fattening because it contains more butter and oil than Japanese food.  I think I should make a list of what I ate to remember it. If I make it, I can understand how much I ate and change my eating habits, and can notice that I should cut down on the amount of food.

I think taking responsibility is incredibly important to grow up own mentality. However, we get a situation where we don't have to have responsibility for some reasons some times. In my case, I got the situation when I was a high school student. my boss in a bakery told me because you are  Generation Z whenever I made a mistake at work. In Japan, people who birthed between Yutori-Generation and Generation Z are looked down upon by the rest of the people because we don't have to go to school on Saturday because of changing education system. However, it doesn't the reason to underestimate us. Therefore, I think we don't have to take responsibility for what we are Generation Z.

When a bus or train delay, I do not tend to take responsibility for my fault especially in the morning. There are some possible incidents to be late for my schedule but, traffic the factor that is related to traffic is unavoidable. Try to arrive earlier than schedules are necessary for us. Of course, I keep my mind not to late. In particular an opportunity to meet with superior. If it is scheduled after 10 a.m. Public transport is available or easy to get on another if there are delays or cancellations. When it occurs early in the morning, I do not have any other suitable alternatives. However, it might be mistaken to take the transportation at that time. It can be predicted accident for me. I could avoid it by taking one bus ahead. I think every delay could be occurred by idleness. Keep mind to take action in line with line one previous time is significantly important for me to fix it.

      In Japan, I didn't tend to take responsibility when I used water too much at home. My mother was always concerned about the waste of water, and she tried to save water and reuse it. However, I couldn't stop using water too much because I couldn't be satisfied with the amount of water that I used then. Of course, my mother told me not to use water too much, but I excused myself every time. "I don't waste water. I'm using only a vital amount of water for me." This is my favorite excuse when I was scolded by my mother. I have never admitted my fault.      I believe I could improve this bad behavior since coming to New Zealand because I know the cost of water is too expensive in New Zealand. However, I need to keep this improvement after going back to Japan. For example, I would have a shower within 10 minutes. Moreover, I would like to apologize for overusing water for a long time.

  Hi! I’m Tomoe. Today, I’d like to talk about something I do that I don’t tend to take responsibility for. It often happens to me when I am in a group.   When I was a high school student, I was a member of the tennis club. There, we had meetings once a week and opportunities for team discussions were provided. Everyone would propose their opinions and good ideas, but I would often just agree with everyone, and give up on thinking, leaving it to others. This made things quite easy for me as I didn't need to think much, but it came across as passive to the team members and sometimes led to conflicts.   To avoid evading responsibility, I realized that when being part of a group, it's important not only to hold onto my own opinions but also to actively listen and understand the viewpoints of others. In this way, thinking for myself is most important to avoid evading responsibility.

When I was a naughty boy at the age of 15, there were some awful deeds that I disobeyed my parents' advice. For example, I sometimes said liars to my parents and did something against them but did not admit my sins.  One day, my friends and I planned a football match at My Dinh Stadium on Saturday (a day off); however, my parents commanded me to come to the field to take care of our buffalo. Therefore, in order to hang out with my friends, I made a decision to lie to my parents that I had a group discussion for our next presentation. Then, they agreed totally and I had an enjoyable football match with my classmates. Unfortunately, during my football match, one of my next neighbors saw me playing with my friends and informed my mother. As a result, my mom shouted at me seriously, but I did not admit my guilty and blamed my neighbor for his wrong experience.  However, two days later, I felt conscience-stricken for my bad behavior. Accordingly, I confessed my sins and gave an apo...

 I tend not to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong during a soccer game. When this happens, I usually make excuses for the lack of support from my teammates. Furthermore, I act as if I am not responsible at all, such as a bad pass from my teammates. In fact, of course, I have my causes. However, I cannot notice it during the game.   Therefore, to change this behavior pattern, I believe that by reviewing my match video after the match, I can reflect on it and become aware of new options, which will reduce the chances of having this way of thinking. In addition, by doing this, I can get a lot of new patterns, so I can choose how I should behave.

 I do not tend to take responsibility when I am late. When I do not get there on time, I tend to use excuses about traffic even if it is lack of self time management. The excuse most often use is traffic congestion because I think no one cannot complain about it. Another example, when I am late for class in a morning, I could say that I could not arrive on time because the bus was late. Also, when I am late for the meeting with my friend, it is more likely to make excuse that the path to the destination was too complicated. I know that lateness is caused by my own carelessness, but I tend to hate to take responsibility and use excuses.  To stop this bad behavior, I should manage time not to be late. I have to remember that giving myself enough time is essential. In addition, if I am late, I should apologize with honest reasons. 

Describe something you do that you don't tend to take responsibility for. What excuses do you tend to use for your behaviour when you act this way? How might you be able to 'own' your mistakes and change this pattern of behaviour? Title your post 'Taking Responsibility -- Your Name' & an add an image to illustrate your post.

There are several things that have shocked me since I came to New Zealand, but the opening hours of malls, cafes, and restaurants are the most astonishing of them all.  I was especially surprised at the number of cafes that close at 3:00 pm. I was incredibly shocked when I heard that the reason for this was that caffeine, when consumed late in the afternoon, can be harmful to sleep. In Japan, almost all cafes are open from morning to night. Therefore, when I first arrived here, I didn’t know about it and tried to go to the cafes after school, but they were closed and unfortunately, I couldn't go there. In addition, there are a lot of restaurants that are open 24 hours in Japan. However, restaurants in New Zealand not only have limited hours of operation but there are times when I can’t even enter the restaurants between after lunch and before dinner.  To overcome this culture shock, I have gotten into the habit of always checking the opening hours before going to the store. Mo...

The most noticing thing that has happened to me since I arrived to New Zealand is that people in New Zealand perceive time differently from japanese.  The first day when I came here, I was really surprised that my host family went to bed at 8 pm and got up at 5 am. I thought that they were an early to bed and early to rise family and even strange because I went to bed at 11pm and got up around 9 am when I was in Japan. However, a few days later, I realized it was normal in New Zealand to keep early hours. Perhaps because of this custom, most shops are open in the early mornings and close early. Especially, it is interesting for me that almost all cafes are open from 7 am and are usually crowded in the mornings with people trying to have breakfast and a coffee because it is rare that shops are open and busy in the early mornings in Japan.   In addition, it was new for me that it is common to work as little as possible on holidays. Here, on weekends and holidays, most shops are ...

When I came to New Zealand, I was most shocked by the differences in institutions and lifestyle. I would like to introduce three major differences. Firstly, I want to mention the difference in transportation. In Japan, if you want to go to a destination, you can reach there by train, bus, or car. There are plenty of train and bus stations, and trains and buses run on time. However, in Dunedin, there are no trains; people basically must travel by buses which are often late or do not come at all. I frequently check bus schedules and leave home early to meet my schedule. Secondly, the stores close very early. When I was in Japan, I used to kill time by hanging out with my friends or going to part-time jobs after school. Conversely, there are not enough places to hang out after school here, so I try to make the most of my time by going to the library to study or to the gym to exercise. Third, I was surprised in terms of food. In Japan, people usually use chopsticks to eat meals and som...

  I experienced a big culture shock when I came to New Zealand. I was shocked about transportation facilities the most because New Zealand has fewer buses than Japan, and trains are not as mainstream in New Zealand as they are in Japan. Also in Japan, I always get on the train on time because I was not on the bus but on the train, but in New Zealand buses are often delayed or buses skip. When I realized it, I was incredibly surprised because I always had to care about the time to catch the bus. There are a lot of trains, so I don’t have to check the time of them in Japan. When I first came to Dunedin, I really hated having to worry about the bus time to get home every time I left. In addition, even though only one bus comes every thirty minutes, I couldn't understand why it wasn’t unusual for the bus to not come. I dealt with this culture shock by deciding which bus I always take and creating my routine. I also accepted that only one bus comes every thirty minutes. Actually, I ...

Write about an experience of culture shock. Title your post 'Culture Shock: My Experience -- Your Name' & accompany your post with a relevant image .