Reflection

I was born in Glendora, California, and was raised here most of my life. Going through preschool all the way up to second grade, I was put through the American way of life. One day my dad surprises us with luggage and tells us were moving to where we are from, Palestine. At first, my brother sister and I were excited, however we didn’t know what was in store for us. It was weird that Palestine were we come from, yet we were not used to the way of life there. Everyone spoke mostly Arabic, whereas my siblings and I spoke very little of it. At school, different classes were taught like Arabic class and religion. Also the teacher was able to hit the student if they misbehaved, which was very unusual in our eyes. Everything was just so different there, the way people drove in the streets, the way people talked, school, clothes, and it was really hard to make friends with people who were so different from me. My sister and I were constantly getting in trouble with our Arabic teacher because we were one of the ones who just couldn’t get the alphabet or how to write in Arabic. For a year we struggled trying to get used to where we were and then came the war. It was hard watching planed above and hear the crashing noises everywhere and that’s when my dad decided we would move back to America. Finally we came back and I continued 4th grade in America. We visit Palestine every now and then, but we realized California was where we belong.

Reflection

When it comes to reading, growing up, no one ever really ever brought it up to me. Going through school I would read here and there, however it was never a great hobby of mine. During fifth grade my teacher encouraged me to read, so I read a couple books, and eventually got tired of reading and took a long break. When in high school, I never read the books assigned, and just didn’t enjoy it at all. I remember I started the book “A child called it”, and I got really far, but never got to actually finishing it. The summer of 2009 is when I got very close to my friend named Hayley. I watched as she read really lengthy books, such as all the Harry Potter books, and the Twilight books. Watching her excitement and love for reading has really inspired me and now I am trying to get back on track and get into reading a lot more then I did in the past. Usually I never read the class books assigned, however I have been reading the class assigned book “Funny in Farsi”, and have really been enjoying it, seeing to as I can relate to the girl, Firoozeh, a lot. Also a lot of her family customs are very similar to mine, which makes me understand all the obstacles she goes through. Once I complete this book, I do intend on picking a book of my choice, and reading it. When it comes to reading, I think my best friend, Hayley, is to thank, for showing me all I have been missing out on.

Reflection

Studying the vocabulary required for this class has had an impact on me in many various ways. Throughout life I have heard many words on the list from others, trying to act as if I knew what they meant, and now I look back and realize what was really being said. Also it has given me a wider range of words to use in my everyday language. Through our vocab I have not only memorized the meanings of the word, but I have actually began using them, making me seem more educated. Also it has helped me pass it on to others who do not understand the word nd ask me for its meaning, giving them another word to add in there speech. My favorite thing about the vocab chosen, is that most of the words give a hint of their meanings by the root word. Also a great way I have learned to find the meanings is by contex clues. Many have difficulty to remember the word, but looking at sentences with the vocab used helps significantly, and also creating original sentences helps one remember it. Whats great fun about the vocab is they are from things I have read, such as Funny in Farsi, which helps to understand the book more. It was also nice learning vocab from other countries such as baklava, the persian sweet. I am Palestinian, which is very close to Persian, so its very exciting to learn these type of words. Learning the vocab words has impacted my everyday life greatly.