Five or six year ago, one of my relatives asked me if I could recite the National Anthem of Libya, my country. He shocked when I told him that I couldn't. On time of Gadhafi, I didn't have any loyalty to Libya except my home town Misurata. After Gadhafi fled, my Libya's loyalty is indescribable regardless what is going on there.

The Second Dairy Essay

The PEAP course provides an essential framework for the students and tutors. The framework is plainly visible in the third block. Transparently in this block, the basic element of the PEAP course is prompting the students to rely on themselves. In addition, the PEAP course aimed to introduce the concept of academic listening, speaking, reading and writing. To achieve that aim, in this block we did an academic timed writing, an academic essay, an academic group discussion and an individual academic presentation. As a result, block three put us in a stressful condition. Although I am satisfied with the way I completed all the requirements of the course, I believe that I am still have some difficulties in some English language areas. In this essay I will write about the benefits of the PEAP course's block three and the difficulties which I still have.
On the one hand, I have obviously benefited from block three; principally, my academic reading and writing. Due to the time, which we had to complete all the requirements, being very short, immediately after the topic was given, I started searching about it and reading the materials which were provided. This block's topic was about global issues and the requirements were the timed writing, the essay, the seminar and the presentation. Consequently, by the end of block three, I had skimmed, scanned and read approximately 25 materials including an extensive range of sources, such as, books, electronic books, journals, electronic journals, websites and documentaries. Before this course, I had never done that amount of reading. My speed reading also has improved. Moreover, the practical approach to write a long academic essay was very useful to my academic writing. Accordingly, my tutor told me that my essay was very good in the last tutorial. Indeed, reading others' works and using them to support your opinions and ideas is something innovative to me.
On the other hand, at the end of block three, I highlighted most of my problems and difficulties, especially, in seminar, presentation and some areas of grammar. In fact, the presentation was the first one I had ever presented in English before this course. One of the problems was I presented too much information which needed more than 10 minutes. Furthermore, in this block's seminar, I attempted to avoid some mistakes I made in block two's seminar. Unfortunately, we made other mistakes. One of them was, we could not attain the discussion for a long time as group. In spite of the improvement of the use of grammar, I have to do more work to enhance it; especially, in articles and some tenses. For this reason, the forthcoming block is critical to improve my seminar, presentation, and grammar skills.

In conclusion, this course places particular emphasis on academic writing skills. To manipulate the academic writing, students need to read speedily, listen carefully, speak correctly and use grammar accurately. After I finished block three's requirements, the seminar, timed writing, presentation and the essay, I could guarantee that my reading, writing, grammar have improved. In the meantime, next block, I am required to put all my effort to attain or increase the improvement; particularly, in academic discussion and academic presentation. Finally, I fully appreciate all my tutors and classmates for the amiable atmosphere in the class which has been very supportive to me in this course.

Globalisation in My Country

There is an ongoing debate about whether or not globalisation is a problem. On the one hand, there are several opinions that disagree with it. On the other hand, others agree with globalisation. It is an ongoing process in terms of human activities, such as, economic, cultural and environmental. My country is one of many countries which have been affected by globalisation. This essay will talk about two positive effects, which are education and access to information, and two negative effects, which are the economy and the environment, and gives examples from my country.
First of all, globalization has some negative impacts on the economy and the environment. In addition, around the world, there are trends of strong and wealthy countries attempting to control weak and poor countries by using transnational companies and international institutions, such as, the IMF. In consequence, in my country, the TNCs have entered and have made the competition with the local firms unfair and there are some local companies which have closed. In addition, globalisation has affected the environment because the people, companies and countries over use the natural resources. For example, the over use of water in my country, has resulted in almost a drought conditions.
Despite the fact that globalisation has negative effects, it has positive effects as well. Education and access to information are some of those effects. In fact, one of the most striking features of globalization is globalising the information and education by using the highest information technologies. As a result, in my country, the education system has been influenced by the international education systems. In addition, my country’s government has sent thousands of students to learn abroad. Also, it has brought the Singaporean education system to primary schools and has applied this to the local education system. Furthermore, in my country, all kind of information is easily accessed by using the Internet because the Internet is allowed everywhere.

To sum up, globalisation can be both positive and negative. In my country, the positive effects are on both education and access to information. In contrast, the negative affects of globalisation on my country are on both the economy and the environmental. In fact, my argument is that, although the globalisation has positive and negative effects, its process is inevitable.

My Dairy Essay

Before the PEAP course, my general English background especially my vocabulary was somewhat sufficient to commence an academic course. Comparatively, my academic English background was unsatisfactory especially my academic writing. I was so surprised when I found myself in the top of level two group after the assessment test, because I have thought that my place should be in level one mostly. In this dairy essay, I will attempt to provide a description of my improvement after the first two blocks of the PEAP course and the difficulties I have encountered.

In my opinion, if students want to succeed on the PEAP course, the minimum effort they should do is, attending all of their classes and completing their homeworks. If they want more success, they should do more work, such as, more writing, reading, listening, speaking and practising grammar. This is what I attempted to do: not only did I perform all the optional homeworks which were given by my tutors, but I also applied a practical approach to learn English outside the classes. As a result, my academic writing has considerably improved. For instance, the difference in accuracy and vocabulary between task one writing paragraph, which was about my father, and the last paragraph, which was about mobile phones, is remarkable.

Furthermore, the most striking features of the PEAP course are vocabulary classes, because of two reasons. Firstly, the vocabulary book which we are using; principally, the collocations which I believe they are a treasury to my writing. Secondly, the tutor who teaches these classes, that is, she smiles all the time and gives all the students the opportunity to answer, even when our answers are incorrect, she always correcting us kindly. I am fortunate in being one of her students.

Despite the fact that my academic English has improved, I am still concerned about specific grammar areas, such as, articles, and the use of new vocabulary; especially, in the timed writing, because I have to memorize them. In addition, I have encountered stressful events in the classes. Not because of the homeworks or time writing, it is because I occasionally lose power of concentration during the class and seminar discussions. From my point of view, I have a small degree of flexibility and besides that I am getting older. I have just reached forty.

To summarize, I am extremely satisfied with my progress in the first two blocks of the PEAP course. It is confirmed in the tutorials. I hope my progress in the next two blocks will continue as it has in the previous. Moreover, it is plainly visible that the PEAP course has improved my academic English in spite of the complications I have encountered.

Mobile phones

Mobile phones are a new mode of communication, yet they cause a controversy about whether or not they are crucial elements of our lives. On one hand, mobile phones could be important to us in terms of communication. They make the contact between people easy and rapid, especially in emergencies or difficult situations. Furthermore, they can be used to browse the internet to get information, immediate news, send emails and entertainment. On the other hand, mobile phones could not be essential items for our lives, because people overuse them. For example, some people use them while driving automobiles, and as a result, they cause a lot of accidents on the roads. In addition, mobile phones cause some health problems according to some researchers although this does not have widespread support among scientists. To sum up, mobile phones have more advantages than disadvantages and as a consequence, people can not eliminate them from their lives.

War in Gaza

The Israeli war in Gaza was the most important news at the beginning of this year. Although Gaza is a small sector of land, it contains approximately one and half million people without enough food and water. Also, they were inadequately armed to defend their homes against invaders. In spite of the Israeli military were not certain of wining and achieving their objectives, they started the armed conflict and used powerful shells in civilian areas that they knew would cause a large number of innocent people to be killed including children and doctors, and destroying a medical facilities. In addition, the pictures about the war in Gaza which displayed on mass media were pictures of a massive carnage. As a result of that kind of news and pictures, the Palestinian people received a widespread support from people around the world. For example, lawyers from around the world have prepared some cases in many international courts against the Israeli leaders. To sum up, as a consequence to the outrageous events done by the Israeli army, the Israeli war in Gaza has been a newsworthy for all kinds of mass media around the world.

Internet in my life

The internet is the most important mass media in my life, and I usually use it every day. In fact, I use the internet at home, in internet cafes or at my school for several functions, such as, news, searching for information, learning and entertaining. In addition, the amount of time which I spend using the internet is varies from day to day and season to season. As a result, the time of using the internet, is between one hour and five hours a day. In brief, the internet is my favourite media. I use it daily. Also, I use it for many purposes.

Mass media's role

The name “mass media” is used to talk about newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the internet. Mass media publishes and broadcasts immediate, live and transitory news to people. For Americans’ life, the media is an important element. It can be used, also, to entertain and educate audiences. Information to caution against hazards or difficulties is supplied to the public by using media. Not only does it form our thinking, but societies also socialize their members by transmitting cultural values on media. In addition, the media offers companionship to particular viewers (Brown & Hood, 2008).

DOES VIOLENCE ON TV INFLUENCE PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOUR?

TV has become one of the most important agents of socialization; not only does it have a strong affect on the way we think and act, but it also has plainly visible violent programmes. Violence on TV causes a lot of controversy about its influence on people’s behaviour. This essay will discuss the two opinions about whether or not TV violence influences people behaviour.
First of all, TV programmes are full of illustrations and examples of anti-social behaviour. Some studies have shown that if people stay in front of the TV for a long time, they will watch a lot of violent programmes. The repetition of watching these programmes causes them to behave passively towards the violence encountered in real life. For example, one mother explained that one of her children watched a TV movie with a lot of violence in it; as a result, he attempted to imitate the hero of the movie by jumping through a window. Moreover, it has been claimed that violence gives nightmares to children when they are asleep.
On the other hand, some critics have claimed that people are not passive to the violence on the TV all the time. They can understand what they watch even if the programme is full of violence. In addition, in most of the TV programmes which contain violence, justice is applied at the end more than is applied in real life. For instance, there are many people who watch TV programmes consisting of violence, yet they are not criminals.
To conclude, the influence of TV is a controversial but essential feature of our lives and yet it is filled with a lot of violence. Violence on TV may influence one category of people; in contrast, it may not influence other categories of them. It depends on the individual themselves.

Marketing and Culture

Some companies have started to market their products inside many countries; however, marketing needs to take into account the local culture of the countries in which they tend to market. Products must not contain any kind of materials which may be forbidden in the local culture. For example, when companies want to market food products to Islamic countries, food products must not contain alcohol or any part of a pig. Moreover, advertisements and brands which are used to market these products should not contain any messages or images which can be misunderstood or cause offence in the local culture. For instance, a company caused a lot of anger among the Islamic population when it made a commercial on TV to market a product, because it used an inappropriate message which was considered as offensive to the local culture. In summary, companies must consider the local culture when they want to market products.

Internet and Society

Internet is the most important media that has been invented in the last twenty years. It has caused a lot of controversy about the negative and positive influence on society since it was invented. This essay will attempt to give some explanations of these two kinds of influences.
The internet has had significant positive effects on society. One of them is communication, that is, internet has become a dominant way of communication everywhere. It is easy and fast, in spite of the distance and nations. As a result, people use the internet to communicate with each other throughout the world. For example, people who live in the UK can communicate with their families in other countries with voice and pictures. The other positive influence in society is that the internet is informative, because it consists largely of beneficial information which can be freely obtained and used to learn and educate. For instance, the internet is used visually to visit many parts of the world and learn about sciences and arts. In brief, the most striking features of internet are communication and information.
In contrast to the positive influences the internet has, it also has negative influences on society too. It is filled with confused, one-sided, inaccurate and incomplete news. Moreover, everyone can create his or her own website and put information which has no confirmation by any source and without any monitoring. For example, in the Iraqi war, there was much diversity in news talking about the same event on the internet. The other negative influence in society is that the internet is addictive. As a result, people find themselves staying on-line longer than they intended. For instance, when people access the internet to check their emails which needs only five minutes, they stay browsing the internet for five hours. In short, the internet has an adverse impact on society, because it is deceptive and addictive.
To conclude, the internet has a positive and negative influence on society. Also, the internet can be useful or harmful. Furthermore, People fully appreciate the internet by using it appropriately.

Gender stereotype

The differences between nature, which means what we inherit from our parents, and nurture, which means what we learn from our parents, are apparent in the gender roles of children. Children inherit their sex (male or female); however, children learn their gender roles because, parents dress them, socialize them and teach them how to express their emotions according to their gender.
Mothers dress girls differently from boys. Usually mothers dress their children in specific coloured clothes, with pink for girls and blue for boys. Parents are more concerned about how pretty their daughters are, but worried less about their sons’ appearance. Furthermore, parents buy gender-specific toys for their children, dolls and domestic toys for girls and cars, guns and building blocks for boys.
In addition, parents focus on gender-role socialization, which means, girls are encouraged to care about their families and rely on others especially males, while boys are encouraged to be independent and to direct their attention to the world outside their families. Moreover, when children get older, there are a lot of activities allowed to boys which are not allowed to girls; for example, boys can go to many places and be late, whereas girls can not.
As a result of parents’ socialization, fathers and mothers deal differently with the children. It means that mothers talk more politely than father do; moreover, girls tend to imitate their mothers whereas, boys tend to imitate their fathers. Therefore, parents’ behaviour is reflected in the children. Parents prompt girls to express their emotions; on the other hand, boys are taught to behave like men and told that boys don’t cry.
To summarise, families tend to bring up new born babies according to their gender from the first moment of birth and they continue doing that until children get older. As a result of parents’ teaching gender roles to children by dressing, socializing and telling them how to express their emotions, children learn how to behave according to their gender.

advantages and disadvantages of TV

Television has been one of the most significant devices invented in the last two hundred years. It is well-known fact that most households around the world have TVs in their homes. Yet, TV still causes controversy about the advantages and disadvantages of it and it is one of the most important issues in society today. The advantages and disadvantages of the TV will be discussed in this essay.
The first thing that should be noted is that people spend a lot of time in front of the TV. Consequently, it can lead to isolation and sometimes to less communication between family members. For example, it has been claimed that the time wasted watching TV by households is about seven hours a day, also the amount of time that people spend watching TV varies with age, gender and education; however, they spend on average three to four hours a day. Furthermore, TV programs are full of violence. According to a study in the USA, they analyzed 1600 programs and found that 80 percent of these programs contain violent acts. Therefore, violence on television promoted the violent behavior among youngsters and communities.
In addition, children and TV is one of the most concern issues in societies. There have been many research studies on the relationship between violent TV programs and the aggressive behavior on children. Most TV programs watched by Children are cartoons. Cartoons contain the highest number of violent acts of any type of TV program. It has been claimed that TV turns children into zombies while they are awake and gives them nightmare while they are asleep. Moreover, children's ability to learn, their moral values and acceptance of social norms will decrease as a result of staying in front of the TV for a long time. For instance, my children watch cartoons for a long time every day. They always imitate the characters of the cartoons: language used, behavior and the violent actions.
One the other hand, there is substantial evidence that watching TV has positive benefits among a wide range of viewers. Not only does TV entertain, but it also educates viewer and can be informative; as a consequence, it can help viewers to learn every thing about any kind of science or art. Also, it might be useful as a companionship to viewers, particularly if those viewers are socially isolated, aged or invalid. Moreover, TV can be used by society to transmit cultural values about what is appropriate behavior to its members.
Furthermore, some researchers have also pointed out that children do not just copy the behavior they see. They interpret or "read" what they see. It means that violence in TV programs are not responsible for children's behavior; instead, children's behavior is affected by how the violence is presented and dealt with and also the attitudes and values that the children have already developed.
In summary, TV has several negative effects which are: its programs contain violence, viewers waste much time in front of it, that might lead to social isolation also it has been claimed that there is a relation between violence on TV and children aggressive behavior. Alternatively, the TV is informative, useful, entertaining, and educational, also offers a companionship to its viewers. Between the advantage and disadvantage of TV, we can choose what is appropriate for us and our children, it is our decision.

Local and Global marketers

People are surrounded by evolved marketing in the form of advertisements, shops and products. Globalization does not have a deep influence on marketing in my country. However, the effect is hard to ignore. This essay attempts to describe two ways in which related to advertising and shopping behaviour is affected in my country.
Firstly, in my country in the last few decades the local marketers contacted the local consumers directly in outlets without using any kind of advertisement. In contrast, the contemporary local marketers are using all kinds of technology to contact the consumers. They are using the local media: television, radio, newspapers and sometimes an internet to promote their products and goods. For example, in my city, Misurata, there are a local TV, Radio and newspaper which are used by the local marketers to advertize their products and to affect the local consumers’ attention and cash.
Secondly, in the past in my country there were no global marketers or any of their agents. On the other hand, there are a lot of famous brands of global companies nowadays. As a result, all local marketers have started to improve their relationships with customers by using global marketing strategies to compete with the global marketers. For instance, in my city, some of the local marketers have been employing women to attract the customers even though employing women in this way is prohibited by the local culture.
In summary, the local marketing in my country is affected by the global marketing strategies. They have started to use the media to advertise products. In addition, the local marketers have started to improve or build relationships with customers to compete with the global marketers and use techniques sometimes forbidden by the local culture, as a result of the famous global marketers entering to the country.

An accident

In my country the number of people killed in automobile accidents is very high compared to people who die in wars. For instance, in 2008, 2333 people died and 6424 were injured because of traffic crashes according to the official report from the Libyan government. The main reason is driving at a very high speed without restrictions, stated the same report. One of the most dramatic events I encountered while I was driving my car to work that year is that a motorist crossed the road in front of me at a very high speed. Before my car hit his vehicle, I managed to press the brakes and my car stopped moving. After people in the region heard the sound of the brakes, they crowded around the vehicles. In fact, whenever there is a traffic crash, people crowd around it. As soon as my car stopped moving, I got out. Unexpectedly, another motorist crossed the crowd and killed two people and injured five and hit my car which was fortunately vacant. After that, the scene became like a war vision. To sum up, the majority of motorists in Libya do not obey the traffic laws.

Except for the accident story, everything is true.

Family's Size

Family size has rapidly declined in my country in the past few decades. For example, my father’s family consists of fourteen members but my family consists of only five. There are two reasons for this. First of all, modern economic problems have forced contemporary families to reduce in size in order to afford bringing up children. Secondly, people have been using new cheap contraception, which has been used by parents to prevent pregnancy and control birth. On the other hand, in the past in my country, families did not encounter the economic problem as we have now. Furthermore, they were not concerned about the number of children. Because, the more family members available, the more likely each one to get assistance. Indeed, the size of current families is less than before.

Being alone and being lonely

I love being alone with peace and quiet, even if I have nothing to do, but I do not like being lonely. For instance, I prefer travelling in my car alone for long times and distances. Being alone can have advantages. When a person spends some time alone, he returns refreshed mentally and spiritually. Moreover, a creative person needs being alone sometimes (of course I am not a creative person). On the other hand, to be lonely can have a lot of disadvantages. Lonely people stay isolated for a long time; therefore, they blame themselves and resort to activities that exclude social contact or productivity, such as, watching too much television. In short, it may sometimes be good to be alone; however, it is rarely good to be lonely.

The elderly

After eight months of living in Nottingham city, I have perceived that many old people in the city live alone and look after themselves. It is customary to find old people who can hardly walk, walking alone in the streets carrying their groceries. For example, my neighbor is an old man. His age is about 70 and he lives alone. However, he is cleaning, washing, cooking and shopping for himself. Besides, I have not seen any body visiting him for eight months except once. In contrast, in my city, Misurata, old people can rarely be found walking alone in the streets carrying their groceries. They usually stay at home and are served by their relatives. Caring about old people is their relatives' responsibility, especially, their children. Moreover, we believe that the worship to God is not accepted from anyone does not satisfy his or her parents. For instance, my father is about 80 years old and my mother is about 70. My parent's family contains 14 members. We are 2 parents, 6 sons and 6 daughters. Although we all have our own nuclear families, we still care about our parents. We do nothing without their advice. We obey them and try not to make them angry about anything. Not only do we treat the old people respectfully, but we also bring up our children to do the same, because we will get older one day. In brief, the elderly are more respected in my city than in Nottingham.

My father

In every family there is a leader and that leader influences the members of the family either positively or negatively. My father is the leader of my family. He brought me up in a big traditional family with conservative values. Also, I got most of my positive traits from him (if I have any). His name is Salem. He is more than eighty years old. He is both a businessman and a farmer; although, he roughly knows how to read and write. He is an independent hard-worker. Furthermore, my father put a lot of his efforts into helping all the members of the family to build up their lives and their own families. My father usually does not express his emotions; however, at specific times he does. For instance, at the day of my travelling to the UK, he cried. After all his hard work, he and my mother are living together and still care about us. In fact, my siblings and I are proud of them and working hard to make them happy and satisfied. For example, I have eleven siblings. We all have our own nuclear families; nevertheless, we still care about our parents. Also, we do nothing without their advice. In brief, my father is the leader of my life.

Globalization of contemporary culture

The uniqueness of societies will not be destroyed by globalization of contemporary culture, especially in the religious countries. Because religions are the most important element in some societies, countries in which people are strongly connected to their religion, whatever that religion is, will not accept any globalized culture which conflicts with their religious rules. Moreover, we can not separate religion from culture; for example, some customs in Islamic countries are related to Islamic rules, such as women covering their heads by wearing a scarf. In contrast, countries where people are not related to their religion, obviously influenced by contemporary globalized culture; for instance, Turkey’s culture has changed from Islamic to secular. In short, whenever there is a link between culture and religion; the uniqueness of diverse societies will not vanish.

The seven rules of happiness

The seven rules of happiness (Islamic view)

1- Don’t hate any body even if he or she has made many mistakes to you.
2- Don’t worry about any thing because everything is in safe hands.
3- Live as an ordinary person regardless of your position.
4- Be optimistic and always look forward to good news even with the problems that you are in.
5- Give a lot even you have nothing.
6- Do smile even if your heart is bleeding.
7- Pray to GOD for the best to all humanity brothers.

Honestly speaking, I have not obeyed all of the rules above. But I am getting used to them.

Hello

It took me very long time to make my decision to open this blog in English because it is not my first language and my English language is very poor. The idea behind this decision is writing in English blog is a very good practise to improve my English. Then I started thinking about the topic of this blog. There are nothing to write about my live except that I had woken up one day to find myself starting the procedure to travel to the UK as a dependant on my wife who has got a scholarship from my government to study English and Master in Mathematics. I left every thing behind me. I used to work in a good stable job and I own my house, car and good relationships with the local community. I am not sure what are going to happen when I will go back to my country.
I have been in the UK for six months. At the end, the sponsor of my wife decided to include me to her scholarship. A family with three children, one of five years old daughter, three and half years old twins sons and a full time students parents will led things to be very tough for me and my wife, but we will manage by helping each other to be succeeded.