Journal article:

The problem of plastic waste and microplastics in the sea and oceans: Impact on marine organisms

By: Kurtela, Antonia; Antolović, Nenad. Croatian Journal of Fisheries. 2019, Vol. 77 Issue 1, p51-56. 6p. DOI: 10.2478/cjf-2019-0005. 

Summary:

This article mainly talks about the problem of plastic waste and microplastics in the seas and oceans which has become a global issue as millions of tons of plastic waste is being found in marine area around the world. To introduce the problem, the author points out that land sources washed into the sea are the main part of marine pollution. Plastic waste soars in recent years as the plastic materials are massively produced from 1950s.  Another reason to explain why the wastes end up in the seas is due to the wind and sea currents. The author lists a few harmful impact of  this problem such as threatening marine life, passing through the food web to human bodies, releasing chemical compounds to the environment. The author also studies the problem in some specific areas such as 'The Great Pacific Garbage Patch' and plastics and microplastics in the Adriatic Sea. In the last part of the article, the author mentions a few solutions such as reducing plastic production, replacing by  sustainable material, expanding waste disposal services and enhancing public awareness of  reducing and recycling.

https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=6f35b35b-59eb-4fd4-9beb-9931661bf93d%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=135834035&db=edb

Immigration to Australia, 1992 & 2002

This pie chart shows the amount of immigration to Australia in 1992. Immigration from Europe and former USSR is the largest group, followed by people from Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. A third of the immigration came from other regions such as South Asia, Oceania, Africa and America.

This pie chart shows the amount of immigration to Australia in 2002. There were nearly twenty thousand immigrants coming from Oceania, which was the largest amount of immigration that year. Nearly half of the immigrants came from Europe, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia altogether. Less than a quarter of  the immigrants came from other regions such as South Asia, Africa and America.

This bar chart compares the number of immigrants to Australia in 1992 and 2002. The number of immigrants from Europe and former USSR dropped by almost ten thousand from 1992 to 2002, which makes this group no longer the largest. Meanwhile, people from Oceania increased by almost ten thousand during this period. 

Refugees scared of citizenship test

Summary:

Refugees stopped seeking citizenship due to their fear of failing Australia's citizenship test. Most of refugees may be traumatised and have little or no education, and this test makes them feel unwanted in Australia. As higher fail rates in refugee group are shown, the government announced a citizenship test review. The level of English used in the test is not suitable for all. Refugees who failed would never do the test again. So the government was welcomed to review the test and make concessions due to the big gap between refugee group and other people.

Being Bilingual Good for the Brain

Summary:

Being bilingual has many benefits such as higher math scores in children, higher salaries for employees and being open to other cultures. There are also many measurable positives brought by speaking two or more languages. For example, it improves memory, decision-making skills, and even preventing Alzheimer's. what's more, being bilingual keeps the brain active in focused thought and solving problems. Bilingual people can switch between task more quickly which results in dementia to appear later.

Languages spoken in Australia

This pie chart shows that English is the most widely used language in Australia, spoken by 80% of the population. Mandarin, spoken by 1.6% of the population, is the most popular language spoken by non-English speaking people in the country. Other minority language include Italian, Arabic, Greek and Cantonese spoken by 1.4%, 1.3%, 1.3% and 1.2% of the population respectively.

Newspaper article

Here is my study of the news article from:

https://www.smh.com.au/education/we-banned-phones-in-the-classroom-and-the-benefits-are-obvious-20190228-p510yk.html

Title:

We banned phones in the classroom and the benefits are obvious

Notes:

• mobile phone ban in class
• important parts of our lives, but not necessary in class
• distract students and waste their time listening music and playing games
• students should be taught to make better decision as they are not mature enough
• argument that music in class helps students concentrate is not proved 
• phone ban makes students more focused on their school work 
• make a balanced policy to make sure students make good use of their phone

Summary:

A mobile phone ban has been implemented in author's school recently. although it is admitted that mobile phones are important parts of our lives, using phone in class is not necessary because students always waste their time on it and are distracted from their school work. The author also mentions that phones are banned because students are not mature enough to make good choices. The argument made by some students that listening to music helps them concentrate is not proved. Meanwhile, phone ban brings certain benefit as students concentrated more in class. the author finishes by pointing out that we should make a balanced policy to make sure students make good use of their phone.

Reflections:

Mobile phone play an important role in everyone's life and it is very hard to get rid of it. While it brings easier communication with people, it also distracts us a lot in our daily life, and it is even harder for children to control the usage of phone in their school. A certain limit is necessary to help students make good use of their phone instead of wasting their time playing with it.