Webzine Reflection

1)     For the webzine, other than focusing on my own part of talking about human rights in Qatar, I proofread my group mates' posts. I looked for mainly typo mistakes and a bit grammar and I corrected the mistakes for them by editing their posts directly. I did not do any edition for the layout and design because I am not too familiar with Tumblr. However, I gave suggestions for the layout for example the background colour and how to access different links. I also gave suggestions to some of my group mates that were not certain what to do and what the posts should focus on. For example, to focus on the geographic and not talk too board. I made sure the contents from my group mates' post do not overlap and can provide sufficient information about human rights around the world after combining all posts. Finally, I made sure all of us are posting in same formats.(some of us typed "final draft" on the title and I reminded them not to do it!)
2&3)     The takeaway from the webzine is that I learnt how work with my group mates to make sure our final product is informative and our posts support and relate to one another. This required us to really not what each of us was doing so that we could write relevantly. Also, from reading our final product, I can definitely learn more about human rights in different countries. One good thing about our final product is that it's not from experts that always put hard vocabulary which makes it easier for me to read and understand yet it is informative. The major takeaway from the class is that I learnt a lot from human rights. I feel like this class focused more on human rights instead of English grammar and writing skills(this makes sense because I have already studied these basics in my ESL 26 class and I am expected to be not bad in English). The UDHR and other laws are definitely something that I had never went in depth before I came to the US. By doing the essays, I am now able to apply human right protections to any issues. I studied geography for many years and I am already quite familiar to cultural, geographical problems and issues around the world(for example, sweatshops in Vietnam, cultural encroachment from the US to China, farming system in California). Even though I know there is unfairness to many people around the world, I never realised how many rights are violated against them and how human rights protections are actually helpful to them. I can definitely connect my knowledge from geography to knowledge about human rights that I gained. Something that's quite amazing is that I was taught about the UDHR from 2 other classes within these months(photography 8H and Photography 10H). These 2 courses both talked a bit about human rights(for example, the lynching of black people and the civil rights movement ) and I realised how human rights are important for us to know today. To be honest I have never really read long books. But from this class, I read Little Bee and another book about the presentation and reading 2 books in 2 months was something I could never have done before. I enjoyed the reading part(books and materials provided) as I really learnt a lot from them including information and even writing/speaking skills. Anotating the materials was definitely a way to make sure I understand most of the things I read.
4)    Overall I am really satisfied with this course and I definitely learnt a lot(writing skills and knowledge about human rights). However, I think the presentation should not be only a book and it can require groups to do research themselves referring to guidelines. I can say everything provided worked well for me I learnt from each of the materials equally. Perhaps we can do a presentation about CURRENT issues so students can know what is happening around the world. Also, the research paper can be about some controversial topics such as legalising gay, allowing young marriage, etc.