The Role Of Government

The role of the parliament are:

1. They decide how tax money is spent

2. They make new laws/Make amendments to previous/old laws

3. They represent the people

These three jobs help control chaos and help educate kids by helping supply schools.

                            If I were in parliament how would I spend the ta money?

I would spend the tax money usefully. I would use it on making things safe for us people. Spend it on schools for kids to learn and even spend it on companies that aren't as big as McDonald's or Nike so that people that don't get paid enough could get money to help provide for their families or themselves. I would help build more houses for the homeless.

Migration Model

On the bottom is my migration model. This diagram shows the movement of Tokelau and New Zealand. They could migrate because of something positive or bad. This is called a push and pull reason. A push reason means a negative reason for migrating. A pull reason means a positive reason for moving. For example. You could migrate from one country to another to escape the the climate change, because the water is taking over their place/houses. You could also migrate from one country to the other for a better future for your family. This is called a pull reason, because your migrating for a positive reason. This diagram also shows the mainstream flow. This is represented by big arrow which means the people leaving than coming back, that is why the arrow on top is bigger than the bottom. The counter-stream flow represents the people leaving and not coming back, that is why it is small. For example people might migrate from Tokelau to New Zealand. That is called a mainstream flow. People might migrate to New Zealand and not return back to Tokelau, where their from. That is called a counter-stream flow. This diagram also talks about place of origin and place of destination. Place of origin means where you originated/born. Place of destination means where you migrated/travelled to. The diagram also talks about obstacles, which represents something that stops you from migrating. That could be because you can’t afford, you have a visa problem or you can’t leave your family.

Tokelau

Today we learnt more about Tokelau. We read and answered questions that were linked into the article. I really enjoyed learning more new things about Tokelau like the recieve 2,500 mm a year of rainfall. I also learnt that the strongest atoll out of the three is Fakaofo. I found this work easy to do and interesting. Next I hope to learn more about Tokelau.

Climate Change

Climate change basically means the weather changing. Climate change is caused by gases, oil and coal. When they burn it, it leads to greenhouse gases. These types of gases trap the heat in the air which makes the temperature rise. Climate change can been found around the world but in a story I read the places that were affected were the Maldives & Venice. The people in the Maldives are being threatened by the sea levels rising, due to the climate change. The same is happening to Venice. They are also being threatened by losing land, due to climate change and sea levels rising. The rising of sea levels is caused by by the melting of ice glaciers Climate refugees are forced to flee their houses because their houses are underwater.

Trip back to Tokelau

It was a good morning as the sun just woke from it’s deep slumber. I was disturbed from the sound of splashes as the boat punch through them. As I rub my eyes I see the beautiful island of Tokelau and noticed the seawalls but that didn’t bother me. I was still thrilled to be back in my homeland. I see my family as the boat gets closer to the island. The feeling of joy hits me. I quickly pack my things and wait for the boat to park. Not going to lie as I sat down waiting for the boat to park I wondered if there was any change since I left oversea for my education. I wondered if Tokelau was still the same.

 As I was thinking a lady enters the room and kindly asks us to exit the boat. My heart is beating out of my chest. I stand up and exit the boat and see my family with the biggest smile on their faces. I dashed towards them and give them the biggest hug ever. After all the hugging and crying It was finally time to go home.

 I jumped on the back of the truck as my dad starts the engine. As we were heading home I noticed a few new changes. Like the fact that people have tv's, computers, fridges, global warming, shops are now selling food that are imported, they are now using solar power and most important there is electricity. Everything was becoming modern. I didn’t have problem with things changing but what I did have problem with was that everything might change and people might start to forget the Tokelauan traditions. It was a bit of a worry to me, but I told myself that I need to focus more on my family and education.

 As the days go by I was finally getting use to the changes that were made. Not going to lie at first I found it hard accepting and getting use the changes, but I figured that I was going to accept it or get use to it in the future.

Tokelau

                                                            Tokelau

By watching the video I know that Tokelauans face some challenges. First of all they have to make some hard decisions. A small family is having a hard time thinking about if they will let their child/ren take up scholarships overseas and if they are will they go with her/his child/ren. This is not only for this small family but for the others. If I was in this position I would let my child/ren go and I’ll stay back to take care of my parents. They could come and visit in the holidays. That way my child/ren could have a better future.

Another challenge people have to face was to do with their job. A woman migrated back to Tokelau. She returned because she felt the need to give back to her people for what they did to her. When she came back she found it challenging to adapt with to Tokelauan traditions. She also found it hard finding a job as a policewoman because the elders that run the Island think that women have certain jobs. She then got her job as a policewoman.

Another challenge they faced was losing their land. In the video it shows the small Island of Fakaofo in the village of Fale. They talk about how their village is eroding. To prevent that from happening they built a seawall out of rocks to survive. Unfortunately the village had a beach but then lost it due to erosion.

These are the challenges they face from making hard decisions to preventing their village from eroding. If I had to deal with these challenges it wouldn't be easy. I did learn something from watching this video and it was to appreciate what we receive in the present and in the days to come and that we are not the only ones dealing with difficult challenges.

Social Studies - Key Concepts

Today I learnt about two new Social Studies concepts, sustainability and modernisation.

The first concept sustainability means Sustainability is basically to sustain something or in more specific words to keep something in a certain level. An example of this concept is preventing a animal from being extinct by protecting its environment.

 The second social studies concept modernisation means modernisation is when you use something that was recent. Like in the olden days back before your parents were born they use to cook their food by making a hangi, but now and days they use stoves. An example of this concept could be using a tool that was recent like google maps to find your destination.

Diwali

Diwali

My tradition that I chose to present for social studies was Diwali. I chose to research this tradition because I first heard about Diwali at my old school and always wanted to know more about it. Diwali is also known as the festival of lights because they decorate their houses with lights and candles. They also celebrate by lighting up fireworks especially firecrackers. It could last until 12 in the morning. I personally got to experiences Diwali at my old school by drawing a rangoli pattern outside of my class door. This is sustained in New Zealand because nearly every year they have a festival to celebrate Diwali in New Zealand. Presenting my presentation was easy, but not gonna lie at first I was nervous but then moving from slide to slide I gained more confidence. The thing I need to work on while presenting is to give more eye contact.

Made In Taiwan Documentary

For the past few days we watched a couple of videos about to guys(Oscar and Nathan) going on trips to experience and find out more about their ancestors. They were looking at the Lapita pottery. They discovered that the patterns were similar to any other culture. They saw that the pattern on the pottery was similar to the pattern on Oscar’s tattoo. They found that the language is similar, they dance moves were similar and they also had similar dance moves. The thing I found interesting was that the Taiwan culture had similar tattoos on their face to the Maoris. I think that there trip was successful because they found out what they needed to know.