Writing/Reading Progress

Before coming to the U.S. to study, every international student is required to have an English test to check the skill level of communication. In my case it was TOFEL. I did quite okay in the exam on listening and speaking part but when it comes to writing and reading, especially writing, my brain was immediately shut down. I felt nervous, anxious, and my heart started to beat real fast. My hands started to sweat like crazy. An hour later, I was still sitting there with an empty page, nothing on my paper. I could not write anything and I hated to look at my results. Writing had always been my fear in academic study especially written exams. I have never been successful with it. Now it is a different story, my attitude toward writing and reading are very different.

I have been attending a class called Academic Reading and Composition (ESL 3202) with Professor Megan Rodriguez 3 times a week since the beginning of September, 2014 at the University of Minnesota. Professor Megan Rodriguez has taught me about processes of writing. It helps me organize my thoughts and construct my essay paper fasters. That makes writing easier for me. Many types of patterns of writing that I learned helps me to practice about critical reading. As the Professor Megan Rodriguez helps us to practice on reading essays and try to find what types of writing and what pattern that the Author uses in their essays. This types of critical reading that I have never learned before in the past and now makes my reading become more interesting. It make me think more about what I read rather than just reading the words. When I submit my homework, Professor Megan Rodriguez gives me feedback about my writing. She gives me directions to improve my writing such as grammar errors or how to use some nouns and verbs correctly. One feedback I have gotten from Professor Megan Rodriguez was the strength I have in my writing when I write about my personal experiences. These strengths I did not realize I had. I think about whenever I write anything about myself, sometimes it hard for me to stop writing, words are just pouring out of my head. I am so proud of myself that I can finally write something. I am feeling very good!

Today I am still nervous when I have to write something but those feelings are much less. The time that I need to write something has reduced to half. I still need to improve grammar and sentences structure. So far, just 2 months I have attended ESL 3202 class with Professor Megan Rodriguez, I can write much faster. I can finish my homework quicker. I am enjoy having ESL 3202 with Professor Megan Rodriguez and I am enjoying my study at the University of Minnesota.

Summary of "Mother Tongue"

Summary of “Mother Tongue”

Amy Tan, the daughter of a Chinese immigrant family was born in 1952 in the state of California. In her essay “Mother Tongue”, she mention about different kinds of English language that she use with her mother and when she use outside of her family and how English language that she use at home affect her life as she grow up. She says when she talks to her mother, she used a kind of English language that she considers “broken” because it contains a lot of grammar mistakes and incomplete sentences. To her it seemed perfectly clear and understandable because she grew up with that kind of English with her mother but for some others like her friends, when they talk to her mother, some people can understand part of it but some are not understand at all. Many similar situations happened to her mother when she talked to people outside, many people did not take her seriously because of her “Broken English”. Many times Amy had to pretend to be her mother in the conversation on the phone with others to help her mother to get a better service for her business. Because of this situation, she felt bad about her mother’s English that limited her mother’s communication and expression. Amy Tan said that her life was also affected by this “Broken English”. She said that she and most of other Asian Students didn’t do well in school when it comes to English subject because the English they used at home had its limits in the ability of its thinking and expression. Even though there are many possible correct answers during English exam, but Asian students, including her, could not answer correctly. Asian students tend to excel in Math and Science subject because there are often only is one correct answer, but because of this reason, many never become Asian writers as teachers suggest students to study only what they are good at. In Amy’s case, she liked language and that’s why she studied more and became a writer.

 

My Response….

I totally understand her mother’s situation and how it affected her mother’s confidence of speaking with others. The whole story could not explain any better about the problem that I myself face today, just like Amy Tan’s mother. I have been living with my spouse for 6 years and we have developed a kind of “Broken English” that we use at home. For me and my spouse, we totally understand each other using our own language that we developed but when I hear him talk to others I can tell the differences. I asked my spouse to talk to me like he talk to others but it always come back to “Broken English” that we have between us. When I talk to people outside, sometimes I find that people do not understand me at all. They lose their interest when I try to say something and that frustrates me. Many times I asked my spouse to make a phone call for me because I have lost my confidence of speaking with other on the phone just like Amy Tan’s mother. I found it’s difficult for them to understand what I try to say.  

We Met Just to Say Goodbye

There are 365 days a year displayed on the calendar and every person has their own special day. For me it’s today, October 10th. That might not mean anything to most people but to me is a very special day. Today is the 3^rd anniversary of my marriage. Though last year on my 2^nd anniversary it was even more special. I got a little gift from my spouse that lives with me with a forever memories. This special gift was a cute little kitten. I named my little fella “Mangkut” (Means mangosteen in Thai language)  and a friendship began that I will never forget.

Mangkut was an American Shorthair breed. He was very amazing looking cat because he had an interesting pattern on his body that I had never seen before. When I first met him he was only 1 month old with very tiny body, the same size of coffee cup. I fell in love with him right away and after receiving him I rushed to the shopping center nearby to buy foods and toys for him. I was very excited to have him in the house.

When he was 5 months old, Mangkut had grown so much. He became so big almost the same size of full grown cat, I couldn’t believe my eyes to see him grow so quick. I searched in the internet about this type of cat and found out that they could grow much bigger and would reach the maturity in about year and a half or two. He could get big and be almost the same size of the medium sized dog, living for 15-20 years. I was a little scared that he could become a tiger in my house and couldn’t feed him anymore, he would eat me instead, I laughed.

Mangkut was very smart kitty. In morning when he wanted to wake me up, he would claw on my bed and sat on my face, or he would sit on my chest and started to massage my chin. Sometimes if that didn’t work to wake me up, he would then run back and forth between my bedroom and the living room. Our apartment had wooden floor and it created a lot of noise. I couldn’t resist any more of this morning activity but to get up and play with him.

One day when I finished my laundry, I had found out that I lost a lot of my socks. At first, I tried to look for them everywhere but there were no sign. I was wondering where I forgot them. I went to buy a few new pairs but it kept disappearing. Then one day I saw Mangkut carrying a pair of my socks as he disappeared under the bed. I lifted my bed up and found almost 20 pairs of my socks piled up like an eagle’s nest. I put all my socks back in the drawer and next day after I came back from school I found my socks everywhere on the floor with him playing with them. First I blamed my spouse that left the sock drawer open. Then a few days later the same thing happened again and it continued to happen again. I was laughing and mad at the same time wondering how was this happening. Later that week I was at home watching TV when I saw Mangkut open and close drawer by himself. I was laughing so hard and took a video of him opening drawer. I went to the shop and bought a medal stick to lock the drawer. My cat was way too smart. He could steal the sock on his own from the drawer.

The day when I found out that I had to leave China to come to study here at the U of M, my heart was broken for I knew that I couldn’t bring him along with me. I have never thought before that I would have to say goodbye to him but the time had come too soon. I gave him to my good friend in Beijing and he promised to take a good care of Mangkut. I went to say goodbye to him one last time before I left China. Now I have been living at the new place but every day I come home without seeing him playing with my socks. I feel like I missing something in my life. Today is October 10^th and I could not stop thinking about how happy I was last year. This year all I can do is to remember that once he had put smiles and laughter on my face each day I was with him. His memorry will stay with me forever.

Summarize of “Prisoner of Tehran”

Summarize of “Prisoner of Tehran”

Nemat Marina wrote a book “Prisoner of Tehran” to share her life story when she was in Evin political prison in Iran. In the book Part One, She mention that she arrived in Toronto airport on August 28, 1991 along with her husband and her son. They were staying at her brother’s house at first and 9 years later her husband and she finally bought a house. She begin to lost her ability to sleep because of her memories in the prison in the past was haunting her. She began to write her memories down. She gave her story to her husband to read, and it took him 3 days before he finally read them. After her husband finish reading her story, he asked her for forgiveness that he been ignorance about her life in prison all this time of 7 years of their marriage. In 2005, Nemat had met an Iranian lady at social dinner. They found out that they both were in the same prison at the same time. They made several phone call after they met to share about their story in prison, and finally Iranian lady decided to stop sharing this story because it was painful memories to her and she just want to forget what happened in the prison.

In Part Two of the book, Nemat said she was arrested on January 15, 1982. She was only 16 years old. Earlier that day in the morning, it was darker and colder than usual. After her father left to work, she made herself a cup of tea and head of to church. She met Andre, an organist guy in the church, they like each other and they had met at the church a few months before. Andre and she haven’t seen each other for a while because she was sick and hadn’t been to the church recently. Andre offered to walk her home because she still look sick. She thought about two of her friends Sarah and Sirus that had been arrested and sent to Evin, political prison. The day that her friends got arrested, she was at home and her mom asked her if her friends have done something wrong, her mom was worried for her. She thought back about principal at her school who was a revolutionary guard and she knew that her name was on the list. Nothing she could do but to wait. The night that she got arrested, she was about to go to shower before the revolutionary guard rang her house bell. The guards went inside her house and straight in to her room, they found western novels. They took her into a car, her parent was shocked and could not help her. The guard drove her to the Evin political prison, they suggested her to tell the truth to avoid the pain. They blindfolded her when they arrived. They brought her into a room, sat her on a chair. Ali, the name of a guy in the room started to questioning her about her Christianity and other questions and she gave him answers. He asked her questions if she was a member of communists or antirevolutionary group, she denied but he did not believe her. Ali continued to request her to give the lists of people who join her groups, she denied to co-operate because she knew nothing about those people. He still did not believe her and thought that she was lied and decided to torch her. Hamehd, a revolutionary guard handcuffed her up on the bed and whipped her feet with cable for 16 times but they still did not get the answer that  they want and he stopped torching her. Ali said that she was stupid try to save other people and hurt herself instead. She asked Ali to go to the bathroom and she collapsed inside. When she woke up she was in the small cell and Ali was still with her and a doctor give her an injection. She thought about her grandmother before went back to sleep.

In Part Three of the book, she wrote about her memories when she was a child. There were four people lived in her house which were her father, her mother, her grandmother, and she. Nemat has one bother but he left home to study at the university. Her mother had a salon and her father own a dance studio.  She was very close to her grandmother, they used to go to the market together in the morning. They went to church together every Sunday, and walked in the park together. Her grandmother was Russian women who met her an Iranian grandfather and followed him to Iran after the world war two. One Sunday Nemat and her grandmother went to visit her grandmother’s friend and her grandmother’s friend offered her an angel figurine gift. Her grandmother’s friend told her that this figurine will be her angle guard. She accept the gift and she was very happy. One afternoon she went to the park with her grandmother again and this time was different. Her grandmother called her different name and her grandmother did not feel well so they went back home earlier than usual. Her parent took her grandmother to the doctor next morning and doctor discovered that she has a liver cancer. Her grandmother knew that she was dying soon and she gave Nemat a box and a key. Inside the box were her written life story that she want Nemat to keep. One morning she woke up and went to her grandmother’s room and discovered that her grandmother was already passed away. Her father was crying and the house was covered by sadness. She said goodbye to her grandmother one last time. She grabbed an angel figurine, she started to pray and she fell asleep. She dreamt about the angel guard and discussed about the death.

In Part Four, she work up in the small cell with the pain on her shoulder. Hamehd was kicking her to wake her up and told her that they will take her to arrest her friends. Hamehd putted her in the car and went to her Minoo’s house which was one of her friend from the school. The guards arrested Minoo and putted Minoo in the car and sat next to her. Minoo was terrified and started to cry. They arrested another 4 people before headed back to the prison. They blindfolded her as soon as they arrived at the prison. She was sitting in the hallway before Hamehd called her name and took her outside with one of the girl. She was stumbled along the way until Hamehd told her to stop walking and removed her blindfolded which later she discovered that she and another 4 prisoners were about to get executed. One of the girl tried to run away and she got shot. The guards tied them all up to the poles, Nemat closed her eyes and prayed, preparing for her death. Just before The guards about to pull the triggers, a sound of speeding car came toward to them. That was Ali with a piece of paper on his hand, and after Hamehd read the paper, the guard untied her and Ali took her in the car. She did not want Ali to take her and she want her life to be ended at this point. Ali took her to the cell and told her that Ayatollah Khomeini, a friend of his father reduced her death to life sentence in prison. She did not want anybody to save her. Ali gave her a bowl of soup and left the cell.  She thought about her friends from school Sarah, Sirus, and Gita before she fell asleep.

In Part Five, she wrote about the time when she was in element school. She had to stay away from her mother’s salon after school, she had to be careful not to spill her drink on the table because she didn’t want to upset her mother. Sometime when she was naughty, her mother would locked her outside the balcony. One day she decided it was better to get punishment rather than being locked up. She dropped pins from the balcony on others people head who were walking on the street, and asked them to talk to her mother to let her inside. Her mother was even more upset with her and scared her by telling her that she was leaving, did not want to handle Nemat's naughtiness anymore. Namet was crying and bagged her mother not to leave. Her mother agreed that she would not leave and exchanged with her good behavior. Nemat accepted the deal. Later after school, Nemat stayed in her room and read the books. Her mother was very happy to see her new behavior. Nemat finished all her books and ask her mother to buy her a new book but her mother only allowed to buy one book a month because of financial problem. Nemat began to save her own money to buy more books. One day she lied to her mother and went to a book store, she met Albert, the owner of the book store. Albert adored her and sold her a book even Nemat did not have enough money. Nemat finished reading the book twice within three days and she wanted a new book. She did not have enough saving and she did not want to ask her mother so she decided to sell her pencil box to her good friend Sarah. After she got the money she went back to a book store to buy a new book but Albert did not charge her this time. He gave her books to borrow. Nemat was very happy. She went to Albert’s book store for 3 years and one day after her twelfth birthday, she went to a book store but all of the books were gone. Albert was moving to the United State to stay with his son. He gave Nemat her favorite books. Nemat was very sad and hugged him to say goodbye.

My response…
I am moved by her stories for what she had been through. What a horrible time of her life that once had been taken away from her happiness. At least those horrible times are over but at the same time I feel sad for those who did not make it or didn’t get a chance tell us their stories. It makes me wonder, how many lives of young innocent people have been sacrificed for our freedom that we take for granted.