Self-Assessment of Your Project / blog 17

I wrote a diary for Sookan, who is the protagonist of "Gathering of Pearls"; this book talks about what she had experienced in the first year of studying aboard in America. The reason why I didn't make another character up is that I want the readers of my diary to know better about how Sookan's daily life is, and how she feels about everything by psychological descriptions in my entries. Even though my diary sounds like a summary of the book and seems like lacking creativity before reading, it is actually different than the original book by adding a lot of new ideas, new events and many mental activities into it. I had included many descriptions of the five senses in a lot of my entries, which could bring some of the scenes in the diary to the readers' brains, and have them imagine what had happened and how things are all set up; some senses are really hard to describe and add into my entries such as tasting and smelling because Sookan is not always eating or cooking, but for other senses, I put in a lot of detailed descriptions in my entries to better express the feelings and the settings of the scenarios. In my entries, the most abundant descriptions are Sookan's narrations of what had happened, descriptions of the settings and the atmosphere, and reflections of what Sookan feels; there's a lot of entries describing her life and feelings about what had happened; about 30 percent of the entries is the description of Sookan's mental activity, and another 30 percent of it is the narration of what had happened. Even though my diary is almost reaching 4000 words, I revised it again and again with my friends and the writing center teachers; they helped me to correct many careless mistakes such as typos, and corrected my grammar carefully. I achieved the length limit of 1900 words, and wrote even more than what we were asked to have. Overall, I think I did a great job on achieving the requirements in class and practicing my writing skills for the future.

Review on Writing Center / blog 16

Lillian Xu

Ms Guarino

English II

Dec 13th, 2015

Last Tuesday some of my classmates and I visited the writing center to work on our diary entries with the teacher there. We brought our first draft with us, and went there in our free periods. Kevin, Johnny, Minh, Jerry and I were all there with Ms Swift correcting our grammar mistakes and telling us what we are aiming for this writing. She said that this diary's main point is to write about the character's life and show the settings of the book, and all we need to take care of is the mechanical thing such as grammar.

Ms Swift looked at my diary entries and said that I am in good shape already, and then looked at others' work and corrected some of the grammar mistakes. She told us that sometimes English is hard, like grammar; she gave us some examples like, when it is a thing that had happened already, we should be using past tense; when it is a thing that is written in the past but still happening now, we should be using present tense. For example, the phrase "the campus is big" describes a campus that is still big now, but the phrase "the campus was big" describes a campus that was big before, but for some reasons it is not big now. Then she showed us National Geographic, which is a magazine that has many pictures and many interesting things happening all around the world, and said, that English is not always hard; she flipped to a page that has only a few words on it and is really easy to understand, and asked Kevin to read it out loud to us. I couldn't remember what it was talking about, but all I could remember is that this author used only less than twenty words and a picture to describe a complex detailed opinion with the readers' imaginations. Everyone has a different understanding about the same description and picture, which makes it a successful piece of writing.

Ms Swift helped me on some details on my diary entries, such as plurals and tenses. Her suggestions and corrections make my entries more grammatically correct, and point out the path that I'm writing on for the following journals. Ms Swift made me feel like my work is appreciated by others, and I'm going to keep this good work up to make my writing better. She encouraged me to enjoy the process of writing, and gave me confidence to write more about what I want to. I learned that a long and complex sentence is not the only way to express what you want to say; a short and simple sentence can also describe a lot of things. And, for gaining more knowledge, we should always read more books, magazines, and newspapers, watch more movies, and even listen to more songs.

Grammar / blog 15

Look up the definitions of comma splice, run-on sentence, sentence fragment, independent clause, and dependent clause. Post the definitions on your blog along with an example for each term.

Comma splice

Definition: Two independent clauses separated by a comma instead of a period or semicolon.

Example: I am starving, I have no food to eat.

Run-on sentece

Definition: A run-on sentence is a sentence that has two or more clauses which are improperly joined (usually without punctuations).

Example: I am starving but I have nothing to eat so I want to steal some from the dining hall.

Sentence fragment

Definition:a phrase or clause written as a sentence but lacking an element, as a subject or verb, that would enable it to function as an independent sentence in normative written English. 

Example: Went to the train station.

Independent clause

Definition: An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought, which is a complete sentence.

Example: I am starving.

Dependent clause

Definition: a dependent clause (or a subordinate clause) is a clause that provides an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Example: and also went to the train station.

Draft of Diary Entry / blog 14

Diary Entry

Before School

9/1 Cloudy

Finally arriving on campus in my new school in America, I decide to write something down in my diary. It was an extremely long flight from Korea to here including the transfer; time seemed to be endless while I was on the plane waiting for it to land on the ground. When the plane landed on the new continent, I almost cried because of ecstasy. But unfortunately, the school forgot to pick me up in the airport, so I took another few bunch of hours looking for buses and trains to drive me school. When I arrived, there are only a few coins left in my pocket. I felt upset about using up all the money I have in just one day.

September

9/2 Sunny

Waking up at noon when sunlight is filling in every corner in my room, I realized how long I have been sleeping. Because of being too tired yesterday on travelling, my body almost collapsed when I wanted to stand up. Sister Casey, who is the academic dean introduced me herself, my dorm and my new roommate last night. My new roommate's name is Ellen Lloyd; she is an American. Ellen introduced me herself also, and told me that I can find her for help if I have any problems.

9/3 Sunny

I would like to add some details into my previous diaries. When I arrived school on the day before yesterday, Sister Casey wanted me to wear my hanbok (which is a type of traditional Korean formal dress) in the opening ceremony; I refused at first because I didn't want to be so outstanding in a situation where everyone is wearing their casual dress. At last, under her cajolery, I chose to compromise and show my specialty to the community because she told me that I am the only Korean in the school. I was feeling very awkward and embarrassed at the beginning of the ceremony while everyone was staring at me, but I felt less embarrassed when they all say that I'm pretty. Thank god, no one disliked it.

9/10 Partly Cloudy

This is my first day of baby-sitting in America. I went to Professor Bennett's house for his kids; he invited me to have brunch at their house. One thing that really impressed me is that, I saw Professor Bennett, a man, cooking food for his family in the kitchen. It is too shocking for me to see this because in Korea, only women do the housework and men are usually having their own businesses outside. There are two kids in the Bennett's, Sarah and Jimmy; instead of being naughty and annoying, they are pretty mature at their age. I had a good day with them.

9/25 Cloudy

September almost ends. In this first month of everything, I realized the responsibilities that I have to carry on my shoulders. As a scholarship student, I have to work in the dining hall for fifteen hours every week, which means two to three hours everyday, and get good grades in all my classes. Unlike some other students, my family isn't very rich; instead, it could be described as poor; there is no extra money for me to spend on daily supplies, so I have to do some part time jobs besides school work and the dining hall work. The school work is very hard, especially in a language that I am not using very often; I am afraid if I won't get good grades in my classes, because I might lose my scholarship and the financial aid. Ellen asked me to make more friends, but I feel like too busy to make friends or socialize with others.

October

10/6 Rainy

I met Marci, the girl who lives in the single room  on the opposite of my room, and said "Hi" to her, but she didn't reply me. I was feeling a little upset because of realizing the truth that not everyone in America is nice and easy to get along with. Never mind, there's still a lot of work for me to do. Fighting!

10/13 Sunny

Marci said "Hi" to me this morning. I always know that she is a very nice person who says hi to everyone. She told me that she wasn't having a good mood last Sunday, and she actually wants to be a friend of mine. We had a walk and Marci showed me her camera, which looks very expensive and nice. She told me about her family, about her personality and a lot of other things about her, and at last she told me that I am special. It was a great conversation with her, I'm very glad to have a new friend like her:)

10/20 Cloudy

After another full day of work, I saw Ellen and her boyfriend Kyle kissing on the street while I was walking back to my dorm. They are so into each other, so I didn't say hi for not interrupting. It is so different from my Korean concepts, because I was told in Korea that it is not allowed to do such thing in public, even for married couples. American is such an open place where couples could kiss and hug in public; I never thought about being like that, because in Korea, your parents choose who you would marry and who brought the largest benefit for both families. Things in America is so different than in Korea; I feel difficult on accepting both concepts in a short period of time like this, and maybe I just need more time to adapt into this open and advanced society.

10/27 Rainy

There are two letters from my family today; one is from my mother, and the other one is from my sister Theresa, who's fifteen years older than me. My mother is being understanding as usual; she is much different than other mothers in my thoughts, because she never forced anyone to do what they do not want to. Even when I didn't tell her about my busy schedule, she is still thinking about how my life is going on, and telling me not to worry about my family. I feel homesick and extremely sorry about not writing any letter to home telling everyone how I am doing in the U.S. Very different from my mother, my sister is kind of like blaming at me. Her full letter is about how she cares about me, and complaining about my behavior and environment in America, which makes me feel like it is all my fault for not taking my responsibility as a younger sister in the family. Maybe I should write her more often about my life, so then she doesn't have to worry about me too much.

November

11/4 Rainy

It is a hard day today as usual. Thanksgiving is coming, and because of that, many work (such as papers or projects) are due in just two weeks. Ellen asked me to go hang out with her friends, but I have no time to have fun because of the heavy work that I have to do for school and for my little pocket money to spend. I never thought of having fun or finding a boyfriend in America, because my work and my responsibility is too heavy. My parents risked all their money on me, so I shall try hard to not disappoint them.

11/13 Sunny

The weather today was extremely good; the clouds on the sky seemed like huge sweet marshmallows. I went to Professor Bennett’s house for baby-sitting because their kids seemed to like me, and I like them a lot either. By steeping in the open American culture, I eventually adapted some concepts in my mind, like equality between women and men. I was a little scared on the opening school ceremony when Sister Casey asked me to present myself in front of everyone, but now I am more used to show my personality in front of everyone.

11/20 One Day Before Thanksgiving

Ellen invited me to her house to have thanksgiving dinner with her family; she’s been telling me that I need to relax a little, but I didn’t listen to her, and instead, I treated her like a three-year-old kid daydreaming about something impossible. This time I compromised, because I want to have someone to celebrate the festival together. I am homesick, and I wonder how my family is doing—my mother, my sister, my three brothers, and Father Lee… I missed my father too, but it’s impossible to see him again because he had sacrificed himself in the brutal Korean War. I am thankful to my father, because of the contributions he had made for our country.

11/21 Thanksgiving Day

After a few whiles of driving, we finally arrived Ellen’s house. Ellen’s house is so much larger than my family’s house in Korea; it has six acres of land beside it. Ellen’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd are really nice to me, they introduced me themselves and their houses, which gave me a really wonderful impression about all the Americans. At the meal, we mentioned about my homeland—Korea. When they asked me about what we are wearing, Ellen wanted me to wear my hanbok because she thinks it really fits me. After a few minutes of consideration, I decided to let Ellen wear the hanbok. I’m very familiar with the steps to put this huge dress on, and when I finished decorating her, she looked extremely gorgeous. We showed her parents the dress, and they all think it’s pretty and special. I decide to give this dress to her, because I think the hanbok fits her perfectly, and it is very meaningful because she is my precious friend.

Practice Diary Entry / blog 13

11/25 Sunny☀️

It is the fifth day of my thanksgiving break, and we just went to the China Town in Boston for dinner. We live near by the China Town, which gives us a variety of wonderful places to eat during the break, such as Korean food, Dim Sum, hot pot and etc; we usually wake up at noon or maybe afternoon, and go there for dinner. We had Korean food like bibimbap, barbeque squid, spicy rice cakes and kimchi with pork. The bibimbap smells really good when it came; there's a fresh egg on top of everything, and also beef and veggies covering the rice. The bowl was really hot because it was made of stone and it was heated; I almost hurt my hand when I touched it. The barbeque squid was very juicy, and the spicy dishes were also very dilicious because I really like spicy food. It was a great meal overall.

A Short Review Of My Thanksgiving Break / blog 12

My thanksgiving break was pretty relaxing. I attended the school's program in Boston, which schedules our activities and meals and provides us somewhere to live. The activities were optional, but I rarely went due to my laziness. We lived near by the China Town, which gave us a variety of wonderful places to eat, such as Korean food, Dim Sum, hot pot and etc; we usually woke up at noon or maybe afternoon, and went there for dinner. There's a snooker room on the second floor of the hotel, where me and my friends would also hangout. We went to Newbury Street for the Black Friday; it was really crowded because people are all looking for good deals. We bought a lot of stuff on cosmetics, clothing and shoes. Jerry was looking for a pair of shoes that is just came out for his brother, but unfortunately it was sold out when we went to Footlocker because it was too popular. Everything is fine in this camp; we had plenty of free time to do what we want, and we had a lot of fun there. 

Review- Gathering Of Pearls / blog 11

Write a short review of the novel -- what do you think of it? Do you like it or not and why? Would you recommend another student to read it or not and why? Be specific.

Lillian Xu

English II

Mrs. Guarino

Nov 18th, 2015

Reviewing Gathering Of Pearls

The book Gathering Of Pearls is a novel written based on the author, Choi Sook Nyul's real experience, which basically talks about how to blend into American college and culture as a foreigner. She experienced the brutal Japanese Occupation when she was young, and moved to MA, the United States for education.

The protagonist of the book, Sookan Bak, a nineteen years old Korean girl who studies aboard in America, has already finished her first year in college. She eventually realizes the differences of culture during her first year of studying between Korea, her homeland and America, where she studies, and adapts both culture while she is steeping in the American environment. Because of the Korean war, Sookan's family isn't wealthy; instead, it can even be described as very poor. Sookan's mother spends all their money and even borrowed some from their relatives to buy her the ticket to America. The poverty of her famiy makes Sookan a hard working scholarship student. Sookan has to work for school in her private time every week for fifteen hours, and has to get a good grade for all; this makes her life very tough when she first comes to America, because her English is really poor; but when she gets used to it and know English better, she finds it easier. During her first year at school, she makes a lot of new friendswho treat her very nicely, both teachers and students, and she has also went to a mixer to have better communication with the community.

I found this book very interesting; Sookan is very different from the other students who study aboard now. Nowadays, only children in the rich family are sent to foreign countries for studying, and they don't have to worry about money at all, because their family have prepared a plenty for them to use. Some students even buy a lot of luxuries and they don't pay any attention on studying. It might be very suprising to the wealthy kids that how hard Sookan's life is, and how she is doing tons of jobs while they are playing and having fun. I think all students that studies oversea should read this book, because this book explains how a student can have happiness without materialized satisfaction, and how a student can seek happiness in daily life without spending a huge amount of money. Different from material satisfaction, Sookan get's happiness by hanging out with friends and seeking it through little details in her life; taking photo with each other, having dinner at home, and even cooking together. These are really easy simple things to do at free time. There is no need to build people's emotions and moods on wealth.

The book Gathering Of Pearls demonstrates the story of a young Korean girl Sookan studying aboard, conquering the difficulties both in her daily life studying and adaptation and adjustment of a different culture. Many things happened in her first year of college, her mother's death, her roommate Ellen's marriage, her friend Marci's family issue and such and such. She succesfully handled all of these, and improved significantly. I really recommand all oversea students to read this book, because it tells a completely different world of studying aboard.

Peter Pan Ending / blog 10

Wendy grows up and gets older and older but Peter stays the same. Peter complies with his promise to see Wendy once a year in the future, and listen to her stories. In my opinion, I think it is a happy ending for the show because in the original novel, Peter forgets the fairy Tinkle Bell few years after and eventually forgets to come, and Wendy tells the children about Peter Pan's adventures and stories. We don't really know what will happen in the future in the show because we could make optimistic assumptions about the follow-up scenarios; maybe Peter Pan would come once a year until Wendy became a really really old lady couldn't tell him the story again. The show leaves the audience plenty of space for imagining the future, which makes the ennding more meaningful, because we all know the story of Peter Pan, and there might be a little change to make the ending happier. Like all the fairy tales, Peter Pan may renew his acknowledgement of mother and live happy ever after with the Darling's family.

Peter Pan Review / blog 9

Lillian Xu

Mrs. Guarino

English II

Nov 15^th, 2015

Peter Pan Review

There was an orphan boy who never grows up. He knows a place called the Neverland, where he and his fairy friend, Tinker Bell can fly around and have fun. His name is Peter Pan. Unlike other children whose parents care about them, Peter Pan was abandoned by his mother. He refused to grow up, so he went away from his family and lived with the fairies in the Neverland. One day, when he was listening to the bedtime story by Mrs. Darling, he was found by the kids and he lost his shadow when escaping. When he went back for his shadow, he had occasionally woken up Wendy, who was Mrs. Darling’s daughter. She helped him fixed his shadow, and told him a lot of stories. Peter Pan found her very interesting, so he invited her and her brothers to Neverland and wanted Wendy to be their mother. Wendy, her two brothers John and Michael, Peter Pan, and the children in Wonderland had an incredible adventure. They built Wendy House, rescued Princess Lily, made friend with the Indians, and fought with the evil pirate Captain Hook. They won Captain Hook, and went back to their house. Peter Pan didn’t want Wendy to come back because he wanted Wendy to be his mother; but when he saw Mrs. Darling weeping and sent Wendy and her brothers back. He promised Wendy that he would come back every year to visit her and listen to her story.

I really enjoyed the play when I was watching it. Everything was set orderly and beautifully, especially for the background. The walls are painted in beautiful colors, the windows are well made, the bed seems warm and soft, and every single detail has been taken care of, which creates a dreamy atmosphere. It is obvious for the audiences to see that the varsity players had spent a great amount of time on the props, the costumes, the makeups and the setting. Everything happened in the play were just wonderful. The actors expressed their emotions through their facial language and body languages. When Peter Pan was fighting with Captain Hook, I can clearly feel the angriness from him; and when Wendy was kidnapped on the boat, I can feel her fear from her eyes. Overall, it was really a great performance.

Vocab Set 3 / blog 8

Vocabulary Set #3: write word, sentence it comes from, part of speech, definition -- due on your blog by Friday evening.

1. mannequin (n.)

A small, black velvet purse hung on the shoulder of the mannequin.

Definition: a dummy used to display clothes in a store window.

2. second-hand (adj.)

To save money, I had purchased second-hand textbooks from upperclassmen at a fraction of the original price, and I was careful not to use too many notebooks.

Definition: used by others.

3. animatedly (adv.)

Many of our classmates were there, with drinks in hand, talking animatedly.

Definition: full of excitement; lively.

4. faltered (v. past tense)

Flustered, I faltered, then hurriedly responded, "Yes, well, I had a good time, too. Good night."

Definition: start to lose strength or momentum.

5. impulsive (adj.)

She would acknowledge that I had done something impulsive, but would say that it was okay.

Definition: acting or done without forethought.

6. constrained (v. past tense)

But maybe that was why I had wanted to leave home for a while; I had always felt constrained there.

Definition: severely restrict the scope, extent, or activity of.

7. Gregorian chant (n.)

A Gregorian chant program is scheduled for June, and students will be coming from around the world.

Definition: a single vocal line church song in free rhythm and restricted scale.

8. pearl (n.)

The pearl necklace and wishbone pin would really stand out against the black velvet.

Definition: a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk.

9. elope (v. present tense)

If it hadn't been for you, she said she might have eloped with Kyle.

Definition: run away secretly in order to get married.

10. taciturn (adj.)

I would write to each of my taciturn brothers, even though they had never written to me.

Definition: reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying a little; shy.

11. sobbed (v. past tense)

I sat, buried my face in my hands, and sobbed.

Definition: cry noisily, making a loud sound.

12. pouch (n.)

In a silk pouch that Mother had made was her thin, white gold wedding band. I put it on and pictured the ring on Mother's hand.

Definition: a small flexible bag.

13. listlessly (adj.)

As I stared forward listlessly, little Sarah snuggled up against me, and whispered into my ear, "I love you, Sookan."

Definition: lacking energy or enthusiasm.

14. hymn (n.)

I was comforted by their high-pitched hymns reverberating in the domed chapel.

Definition: a religious song/poem, typically of phrase to god or a god.

15. fainted(v. past tense)

She had fainted, and they found out it was a cerebral hemorrhage.

Definition: losing consciousness; pass out.

Sookans Future / blog 7

Lillian Xu

English II

Mrs Guarino

Nov 6th, 2015

                                                  Sookan's Future

Sookan is a girl from Korea who studies aboard in America. She went to a Catholic School that was closed to New York, and during this period, she made lots of friends.  She finally figured out how close minded and traditional Korea compared to the America from the daily conversation with her friends, from what she felt from the environment, and from what she saw everyday. She found a huge gap between her family and she, because these two culture are so different and some of her family members wouldn't understand her. But I assume that things would turn out to be better; fortunately, Sookan is mentally strong and she handles everything she is facing in the future. 

In my imagination, Sookan will eventually adapt the American culture even though her sister wants her to be a traditional Korean. Her roommate Ellen is an American, and they become very good friends when they first meet each other, even though their culture difference is huge. The different cultures make them think in different ways. Americans wants to be unique and everyone can express themselves, but Sookan, as a Korean girl, just wants to incorporate into their culture. In the future, when she get her college degree, she would choose to stay in America to continue to pursue her education. In her mind, education is as important as her family, even though in Korean culture the family and the elders have the highest position in the daily life. Sookan refuses to listen to her sister, Theresa’s opinions for her to stay in Korean and to be a nun, because after she adapts the American culture and thinking, she chooses to do what she think it's right for her to do. Marci and Ellen are both the important characters in this story, but in my opinion, Sookan might want to live with Marci at the school more, because Marci’s personality is similar to Sookan, which is hard working, humble and quiet. But Ellen's character are more close to the American culture, open, talkative and free, which are totally opposite from Sookan. These features does not fit Sookan as how Marci's does, because Sookan just wants to finish her studying and stay quiet That is why Sookan does not want to go to the mixer and make friends there. Sookan is absolutely missing her family in Korea, but she would not go back to Korea in a short period of time, because I think that she may want to stay and get a job to supply her family. Her sister Theresa will be very angry at her, because Sookan was obeying everything that she said when she was in the America; but when she starts studying in America, she begins to be rebellious. Her sister has the desire to control how Sookan thinks and what she is doing. And for Sookan, her family is the most important thing in her whole life, especially her mom. She would treat her mom very well because she really likes her.

For Sookan, she will have a long way to go. it must has the long distance, she might be struggling a little, but I believe that she will overcome all the problems. Her family would support her on her way, and her friends would also support her. I assume that in the end of the story, we will see Sookan achieved her dream and she may find the way to adapt both American and Korean cultures.

Activity- differences between Korea and the U.S. / blog 6

Vocab Chapter4-9 / blog 5

Write the word, part of speech, the sentence it comes from in the book, and the definition of the word the way it is used in the book.

Chapter 4:

melancholy (adj.)

I felt melancholy after reading Mother's letter.

Definition: a feeling of thoughtful sadness.

imposing (v. present continuous)

I knew how Mother hated imposing on her children.

Definition: to force something (force someone's idea to others, etc)

Chapter 5:

stroll (n.)

I drew in a deep breath of the deliciously fragrant air, picturing my stroll along the stream with Sarah and Jimmy.

Definition: a short leisure walk

transformed(v. past continuous)

The note said: "What a grand surprise to see our neglected greenhouse transformed into a lovely little garden.

Definition:make a thorough change in appearance, form or character 

greenhouse(n.)

The note said: "What a grand surprise to see our neglected greenhouse transformed into a lovely little garden.

Definition: a glass building that protects plants from winter

neglected(adj.)

The note said: "What a grand surprise to see our neglected greenhouse transformed into a lovely little garden.

Definition: fail to care properly

Chapter 6:

mixer(n.)

I pictured myself all dressed up, walking with them in a leisurely way, and chatting about the last mixer.

Definition: a social gathering where people make friends

invigorated (adj.)

I was shocked to hear Marci say these things, but strangely invigorated.

Definition: give strength or energy to

oddball(n.)

I feel like an oddball wherever I am.

Definition: a strange or eccentric person

pretentious(adj.)

She had once told me she thought the dress code and the formality were "ridiculously pretentious" and a waste of time.

Definition: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc

Chapter 7:

fulfilling(adj)

My sister does find her work fulfilling; she teaches children, and she helps so many people.

Definition: making someone happy because of fully developing their characters or abilities

rambled(v. past tense)

It's so pretty," Ellen rambled, "and I want to show you off."

Definition:talk or write at length in a confused or a consequential way

frankly(adv.)

I think it is because your culture encourages people to speak openly and frankly."

Definition: honestly

Chapter 8:

horrified(adj.)

I was horrified.

Definition: fill with horror; shock greatly

demerit(n.)

I had never gotten a single demerit before!

Definition: a mark awarded against someone for a fault or an offense

humility(n.)

Here, they do not place so much emphasis on patience, humility, family harmony, and silence as we do in Korea.

Definition: humbleness

harmony(n.)

Here, they do not place so much emphasis on patience, humility, family harmony, and silence as we do in Korea.

Definition: goes along with each other

Chapter 9:

ambassador(n.)

You have become quite an excellent ambassador for your country, and have made lots of friends, I hear."

Definition: a diplomat that's sent to the other countries

farmhouse(n.)

The next day, Ellen and I took the train to her parents' farmhouse in New Jersey.

Definition: a farm attached to a farm

acres(n.)

We have sixteen acres here.

Definition: a unit of land area

Informal Writing- compare your experience with Sookan's when first arrive America / blog 4

 It was the summer of 2013, I went on a summer camp to America with my school; the people attending were two teachers, who could speak fluent English, and fourteen students, whose ability varies. We were living at St. Georges School in Rhode Island, which was one of the best school there. The language policy was really strict there; our teacher did not allow us to speak in Chinese, and if we did, they will put a marble into a cup which had our names on it. The person who gets the most marbles would be punished, and the person who gets the least marbles would be awarded. In the first few days, I tried my best not to speak Chinese, even when I couldn't express something with my words, I would gesticulate to make people understand. My English improved a lot during these days; but it was so differet later on. I saw other people playing around with the language policy; some people spoke Chinese whenever the teacher was not around. They didn't get marbles, some of them were even awarded. I started speaking in Chinese by a little bit everyday; and the percentage of Chinese speaking grew and grew. At the last few days my English did not improve as much as the first few days, and I feel really regretful when I look back.

Comparing to Sookan, even if there is no language policy for her, she still can not speak Korean in her daily life because Sookan is possibly the only Kroean in her College, so she has nobody to speak Korean to. She has to study English both for her scholarship and learning because her family is poor and they need her to earn money for maintaining the family's income in the future. Unlike Sookan, I was born in a well-off family; I don't have to worry about any financial issues, and I even have plenty to spend every month. These may probably be the differences of us.

5 Discussion Questions for Chapter 3&4 / blog 3

1.When Sookan starts studying aboard, how do her family and neighbors feel?

2.What are some differences between Marci and Sookan?

3.What do the teachers think about Sookan?(Sister Casey, Sister Reed, Miss Mullen, Professor Bennett)

4. How is Sookan's mother different from other mothers?

5.What is the relationship between Marci and her sister?

Partner: Marinda

Author of "Gathering of Pearls" / blog 2

The author of the book, Choi Sook Nyul, was born in the war. She was a refugee from North Korea, who experienced the brutal Japanese Occupation. She emigrated to MA, the United States for study when she became older. She said that she now has two countries, Korea and the America.

Of Reading And Writing / blog 1

Jiaqi Xu
Mrs Guarino
English II
Oct 13th, 2015

Of Reading And Writing

          Reading is a meaningful thing for all humans in the world, and for me, it is one of the most important thing that I am doing everyday in my life. We read in every second while we are awake and breathing. We can be reading toilet signs, reading maps, reading people's emotions and thoughts, and even our own thoughts; or in the academic aspect, we can be reading fictions, non-fictions, newspapers and comics. Writing is connected to reading in many ways, but it is also very different from reading. If we compare reading to an input, then writing is an output; we read to get information from the outer world, and we write to give out information from our brains.
          I love to read books in both fictions and non-fictions, for example romantic, historical, adventure, and survival. I only read romantic and historical books in Chinese, because comparing to English ones, contemporary Chinese romance novels are more euphemistic and consist of more connotations, and I can understand historical articles in my mother tongue better. But because it is too figurative, many famous and good books are translated poorly from Chinese to other languages. I used to read a lot when I was in middle school, I almost finished all the books at home which filled about four to five huge bookshelves; but when I grew up, I spent more time on socializing and hanging out with friends, which had stolen a lot of my time for reading. Chinese books are easy for me to read because it is my native language that I used to speak, read and write in everyday; but for some English books it is really hard to read, because English grammar is completely different from Chinese grammar, the use of figurative language is also different, and to fully understand a novel written in English, an understanding of an enormous vocabulary is required. Many books written in English are even hard for native speakers. I started reading English novels since I was in middle school, and probably in sixth grade. My favorite novel for english class is called Hatchet, because I was reading this novel for three years and I was told to finish this book for three times in three different leveled English classes. The first time of reading this book is in sixth grade, when I was taking EAL II. I found it really hard for me because of the lack of vocabulary and my poor understanding; but when I grew up, I eventually becoming easier to understand.
          Pretty different from reading, I feel like writing is a more suffering thing for me to do in both my first and second language. Reading is a way to receive information and emotions, but reading is a way to express the thoughts and emotions. It is easier to read and understand than to actually write and express your complex thoughts, because it is hard to express how exactly you feel about something; for example, even the feeling of itchiness can even be different. My writing had a great improvement in my middle school. When I first came to the school, everyone can speak perfect English and write long and complicated essays; I felt like I was the only one who cannot speak and write in fluent English, which made me harder making friends and made my life harder. I couldn't express what I wanted to my teacher if I cannot speak or write fluently. Then in more practices, my English had great improvements; I started in the lowest level class in sixth grade, but graduated in the highest level class in eighth grade. I actually liked writing, but it is really suffering for me to read my own writing because I would have found my writing to be very silly and found a lot of does-not-make-any-sense sentences, and would have to correct them. And for many times I was just repeating the same idea using different words and sentence structures, which made my reading kind of boring and annoying. In the writing class last year, many of my problems were reduced, for example repeating ideas. Now I am writing more with my brain and less for the word count.
          Reading and writing never ends in our lives. It continues going and always has space for improvements, and just like researching in science, we will never find out anything unless we put our effort into it and to really think about it. Reading and Writing are all about the experience thing; the more you read, the more you understand, and the more you write, the better you will get.