Self-Assesment of Diary project

     My work turned out not as well as I expected. I chose Marci as my diary's character but then found out that I was paying too much attention to Sookan instead of Marci, therefore I only knew a few things about Marci that I'd had to look back into the story to find details about her. I was actually happy to write in Marci's perspective, this showed many things differently. I wrote details for a few paragraphs describing the surroundings and also Marci's feeling inside. But if I would have more time or another chance to work on it again, I'll add more details using the five senses to make the diary more lively and realistic. I'll also pay more attention to details and descibe every person, everything more attentively. My diary's clarity and correctness might not result in a good way, I always turned out to have lots of grammar mistakes. But I also think what I did good was to clearly show Marci's attitude's change after a school year. How she disliked her parents including living at home then she turned out missing home and also gradually understanding her parents' careful intention. One problem I realized after printing out my diary was the length of it, I found out my diary shorter than my classmates'. Even though I said my project did not turned out as well as I first expected, but after all I think my project was done also not as bad since I rarely had done any diary written in another person's perspective. My diary's creativity was pretty good in my opinion, but I am also afraid that this would make my project looks informal. In conclusion, I found after evaluating that there are still a lot of things for me to improve on my writing but I also had accomplished most of the goals. I involved creativity and tried to give the small changes of Marci's idea after a school year; I gave detailed describing the environment and especially Marci's inside feelings that she never told anyone.  In my opinion, this is a good start for writing diaries in different perspectives since I knew what were my errors and mistakes so I could do a greater job for the next few times when someone asks me to write. 

Writing center reflection

   Writing was always one of my headaches while doing school works. I had never tried asking for helps on my own, all I did was wrote and waited for my paper fulled of mistakes returned to me. Last few days I went to the writing center to see Ms. Swift and asked for help on my writing project. It is my first time writing a journal as another person and from her view rather than mine. This made me think harder since I had to refer how the character might be thinking and writing down according to the novel. I went to the writing center at first because Mrs. Guarino asked all of us to go, so I went there without thinking what should I ask her. The first thing she said to me was:"How can I help you?" And "What do you want me to look over?" I stopped and was shocked at the moment, I did not know how to answer her. Eventually, I showed her the longest part of my diary and asked her to read it over for me. As soon as Ms. Swift started reading my writing, she found out so much mistakes including run-on sentences, grammar errors and incorrect vocabularies. Therefore, the rest of the time I spent in the writing center, we were working and fixing on my sentences that could be improved better and correctly. My diary was written in past tense but sometimes I jumped out having several present tense. My writing also included many run-on sentences that were too long, difficult for the reader to understand and sounded weird when I read it aloud. 

    Ms. Swift also asked me questions on what kind of characteristics and personality Marci are described in the novel. This made me tried harder to think deep and detailed into the story events so I could tell someone that hadn't read the book what kind of person Marci is and involve these into the diary. Marci was a girl with mostly an opposite personality than Ellen. The novel we written in the view of Sookan, Marci was one of her best friends in the novel. It was difficult and caused me to pay more attention to a few events in the story to write as Marci. Since Marci was not as outgoing as Ellen and had less friends, so I decided that Marci might be writing more of her inside thoughts in her diary because she most likely kept her ideas to herself and only to really close friends. Another problem I had writing this project was the dates and separation between each paragraphs. In the novel, Marci are being mentioned by Sookan a lot but sometimes there were blanks for one to two months without any writing about Marci which needed my imaginations to predict what might Marci be doing during these days so I could fill in the blanks. So other than the dates given in the novel about Marci, I'll have to add up more details on the events and things that might be going on with Marci during times Sookan didn't mentioned in the story. After all, I had received useful helps from Ms. Swift and fixed most of the mistakes in my writting. I might consider going to the writing center more often to learn more about my mistake made often while writing. It was a great experience for the first time visiting writing center. 

Homework 2015.12.08

Comma splice:

(Definition)

 A comma splice is used to connect and join two independence sentences. 

(Example) 

it is almost 7:45 at night, we will miss our check-in and get detention. 

Run-on Sentence:

(Definition) 

A run-on sentence is a sentence with two or more independent sentences without using any correct or appropriate punctuation and conjunction. 

(Example)

I went to Stop&Shop during my free period for some fresh fruits then I got late for my next period because I was waiting for a long time in the line to pay for my fruits and people were all upset about the long line. 

Sentence Fragment:

(Definition)

A sentence fragment is not a sentence for most of time because it is missing an independence clause. 

(Example)

When we were having our chemistry class.

Independent clause:

(Definition)

A sentence, therefore a group of words containing both subject and verb. 

(Example)

I took the trash downstairs so the room won't smell bad. 

Dependent clause:

(Definition)

A clause that gives additional information on the independent clause but can not stand by itself alone as a sentence. 

(Example)

It was very dark and scary. 

Detailed Thanksgiving

"The Eiffel Tower was so beautiful when lighted in the night when skies are dark" 

       As we walked through the crowded people I heard people yelling in different languages, most of them are all trying to take a nice picture with the Eiffel Tower, obviously we're all tourists. There are also peddlers that were trying to sell mini Eiffel Tower all around the plaza. The first time I saw the Eiffel Tower was in a sunny afternoon a few days ago, the moment was wonderful, it was even unreal to see it when I usually only see it on Internet and from books. This time in the night when the skies are so dark and black, the moment and the tower was even more unreal and beautiful. There are elevators that goes all the way up to the top of Eiffel Tower, I saw small dots in the middle of the Tower and the lights of elevator running through the tower. Eiffel Tower looked so much bigger from all I have seen in the past. That night under the Eiffel Tower, we were waiting for our dinner ship to come beside the Seine River and all of us in the tour group from Taiwan were all trying to help eachother for a good picture with the lighted tower. Although the the tour guide asked us to go down beside the river as soon as possible after we took our pictures, but all of us took as long as possible up there enjoying this very new, beautiful and unreal moment. 

Thanksgiving in Paris

Marinda Hsu

2015.12.01

English lS ll

Mrs. Guarino

                                                              Thanksgiving in Paris

      This was my second thanksgiving break since coming to the U.S.. Last year's thanksgiving break was terrible because my mom sent me to a homestay, it was too boring. But fortunately, this year I met my mom in Paris, France. The first few days have been nervous because of the terrorist attack that happened in Paris. I could tell the securities are working harder, there are police and soldiers with guns around the airport and places with crowded people. But overall this trip to Paris was still interesting and beautiful, I had never been to France and any countries like this. The buildings are breathtaking, they are so old but yet so huge with neat and beautiful statues, paintings on the wall. It was interesting that I found out many of the castles are built during the Renaissance which was what we're learning in our history class. I was actually proud to know what the tour guide was explaining to other people. 

     The Eiffel Tower was so beautiful when lighted in the night when skies are dark. The first few days when we are there, the tower is lighted with blue, white and red as France's flag. But the next few days the color turned back into normal yellowish light which I liked more. I felt lucky and relieved that me and my mother were safe for this trip. Over all, this was really a fun and new experience for me, I really liked France with all these well preserved ancient buildings. Another thing that was memorable was eating our dinner on a ship with glass roof and Windows on the Seine River. It was too beautiful as the ship rolled down the river and all these lighted buildings and bridges appeared into my vision. I would admit that as people have been saying that France is definitely a place with romance! 

Encouragement found in Gathering of Pearls

Marinda Hsu

2015.11.17

English ll

Mrs. Guarino

                                          Encouragement found in Gathering of Pearls 

    Gathering of Pearls written by Choi Sook nyul is a great book that I really enjoyed reading. It is a story written based on the author, a Korean girl going to a foreign country to study alone and all her experiences, growth and emotions during those days therefore especially her first year in college. The main character Sookan is a tough girl that always tried her best to do everything perfect and tried to fulfill people's expectation on her. Her friends in the U.S.—Marcy and Ellen influenced her a lot and she also did influence and taught lessons to her friends, it was fun and interesting to see hoe Sookan found out their cultural differences. It is also fun to observe that Sookan had gradually changed her characteristics more outgoing comparing to the previous parts of the story. 

      In my opinion, this story really relates to my life and my experience within these days starting last year when I first came to the U.S. for high school. I felt just as nervous, lonely and excited like Sookna did in the beginning, I had really bad homesick and been crying, too. Another thing I felt related to the book was doubting my choice coming to the U.S., it is always difficult to adapt to a whole new place with new people and new cultural even if you heard of it a lot. I was doubting myself for making this decision and doubting myself if I'm not mature enough just like Sookan did, but latter on, I found that rather than questioning everything, I should just work hard make this decision a correction and turn this decision into a successful pathway. After reading Sookan's story, I felt fortunately that days like now we do not have to wait for a letter from home for so long, it is so much easier to get in touch with our family in a far country with technology. Sookan worked so hard and had became a writer, this encourages me to keep up my attitude on studying and a new life in the U.S.. 

     Moreover, I really liked Sookan's mother saying that too much pressure will only make an oyster turn into pearls, especially for girls. When I was reading the ending of the story last night knowing that Sookan's mother was sick and had died, I felt terrible and sad that such a great, open-minded mother, beloved woman died without seeing her daughter growing up into an adult. This was a part that made me felt depressed, but to be honest, this is a story having an abundant plot and was really interesting to read. 

     In conclusion, I will recommend this novel—Gathering of Pearls, to my friends and specifically to friends and people that are studying aboard for the first few years. I really liked it and I want to show people around me what I enjoyed reading. This is a helpful story for overseas students and people studying aboard, it is positive, inspiring and at the same time interesting to read.  

Ending of Peter Pan

   I think the ending of Peter Pan is sad if you see it deeply, not just because Peter and Wendy only got to see eachother once a year, but how Wendy kept growing up and Peter did not. Peter Pan also did not admit that he is in love with Wendy at the end because love sometimes might force people to grow up and be mature, so rather than going back to reality with Wendy, Peter chose to be free and live a adventurous life. Therefore, Peter Pan for most of the time will be lonely which is very sad I think. Another part about Peter Pan fighting Hook. In my opinion, villain Hook represesents all the bad parts about a grown up and Peter Pan is always struggling and fighting to not grow up.