Entry 8: Westmount Greenhouse and Homemade Apple Sauce

 

Goals and Language

At the beginning, my goals were to improve my English skills by learning a new vocabulary and becoming more comfortable with conversing in English. During my penultimate day of internship, a German lady came to speak to me about Universities. She mentioned that my English had improved since the beginning of my internship. She explained me that the first time we met, I was very insecure with my English, whereas now I seem more confident because I articulate my words and I speak louder. I do agree with her, because I can see the difference in my English now compared to before. Furthermore, I have expanded my vocabulary and as you can see in my other posts, I am not afraid to speak in English with people.

Strategies

During my internship I often use the practice and guess strategies. I use these two techniques by talking with my English teachers and my English friends. For instance, when I see May Ann, I automatically speak with her in English.

After my internship when I walk alone, I talk to myself by creating a dialogue or I try think in English about my old memories.

 I will abandon the strategy "look for patterns in a language"; because I have discovered that I can't learn a language without learning the grammar first. I need visual learning by practicing with the exercises.

Growth

Wednesday October 13, Sonia organized a little trip by bus to go and visit a greenhouse in Westmount. During our observation of the different types of flowers and plants, Sonia and I had a conversation about her work. Sonia said that she has two jobs; one in the yellow door, where she organizes activities for the social club each Wednesday, and another where she writes blogs about several topics for her company. After our conversation, I discovered that I would like to have a similar job, because I enjoy writing blogs in English and I also love working with people. Moreover, in the social club, we have many volunteers that go to McGill University. I discovered when talking with them that I would prefer to go to an English University.

The internship

In the social club, I gained a lot of knowledge by participating in all the activities that I have named in many of my previous posts. I learnt to sew baby hats, make small stars in origami, make homemade apple sauce, how to decorate my house with Halloween pumpkins and masks, etc.

 

Gratitude

Wednesday October 27, during my internship we made a homemade applesauce. When everyone had finished eating, May Ann and I went to see Sonia to offer her two cards and a little gift.  She could not believe her eyes that we were offering her a gift. I explained that it was to thank her for correcting us at any moment and encouraging us to speak English. After giving us a hug, she asked us if the next session we'll come back to help her and we responded that if we do not have a lot classes on Thursday, we will come to the reading club which will allow us to improve our reading skills.

“Dear Sonia,

Thank you for allowing me to participate in the social club, I will be forever grateful!

During these two months I noticed your enthusiasm and dedication to the social club. I am really glad to have you as a host, and I have learned a lot from you and your strategies. In the future I hope to have a similar job as you.

Everyone loves you and likes to participate in your wonderful activities.”

The placement

The Yellow Door organization contains a lot of choices of entertainment for the volunteers and the seniors. On Mondays they have the art club to help you relax and get your creative juices rolling. On Tuesdays they have the knitting club which permits you to learn new techniques or share the ones you already know with a group. On Wednesdays is the social club which consists of workshops, visiting museums, musical performances, potlucks, and various discussions about film and poetry. This service allows you to go outdoors, meet new people, and share ideas. On Thursdays they have a book club in which they discuss some great books and have an enjoyable time. Finally, on Fridays it is a movie club where you can enjoy free popcorn and a show.

I recommend this internship placement to other students, because you can improve your reading, listening, writing and oral skills by choosing any of the above mentioned activities. Also, the elderly are really friendly and sociable as employers. 

Entry #7: Origami Workshop

 

Wednesday November 20, May Ann and I prepared an origami workshop to explain to the seniors "how to make many small stars with magazines". I had to do an internet search to find the origins of the origami and do a little presentation about it. As my research was easy, I thought that I didn't need to practice for my presentation, but I was wrong. When everyone finished eating or drinking their coffee, Sonia left us to enable me and May Ann to fend alone.

At the beginning, it was hard to get the attention of everyone, because we are both shy and we did not daring to start talking first. Finally, I started with my little presentation about the origami.

Hello everyone,

Today we will make many small stars in origami. The origami cames from the East Asia and Europe. In the Japanese language, the word "ori" meaning to fold and "kami" meaning paper…

I did not expect to be as nervous during the presentation. I underestimate my ability, because I know that I need a lot of time to be ready, before an oral presentation. When it came the turn of May Ann to spoke, one lady told me that we can't say the word "cames" in English, so she explained me many rules that I already know. I did this basic error that made me shame, because it was stressful to talk in front of everyone. However by politeness I thanked her.

Entry #6: Pumpkin + Sewing

Welcome Blogger!

Today I will talk to you about my two days of internships. It was Wednesday October 30 and November 6. 

Wednesday October 30, we did an activity about <<How to make a pumpkin for Halloween? >>. First, we were paired with a partner. Second, we cut out the pumpkin by removing the seeds and the flesh. Third, we chose a design in a paper to reproduce it by drawing on the side of the pumpkin. Fourthly, we cut along the lines and in the end, we placed a candle inside the pumpkin.

Wednesday November 6, we made baby hats for new born babies. When we finished, my host Sonia donated them to women shelter just in time for the cold weather. During the workshop, I learnt sewing and some new words as bib and pacifier.

All the words I have highlighted are the new words I learned.

I will employ them, maybe, when I will go shopping or when I will babysit. But, it is certain that one day I'll have to use those words.

How has my English improved so far during my internship?

Listening Comprehension

I still have misery with listening, but when someone repeated me the second time I better understand.  For example, a lady told me two times that she had an headache this morning. When I analysed the word "headache", I discovered that head is represent "tête", ache means "douleur" and overall this is equal "mal de tête".

Accent

In my opinion my accent did not change as much. By cons, I have some problem to pronounce the word "thought", "thus", "through", "taught", "threw", etc. Because of my pronunciation, when I write those words I do often many mistakes. For instance, I write the word thought and taught strangely like that "thougth and taugth".

Fluency

Before my internship, I was talking quickly with a basic vocabulary. Now, I don't talk too fast nor too slow, which allows me to choose my new vocabularies that I learned in class or in my internship.

Humour

Once when I was holding the door, an old man came to give me three dollar to thank me for having held him the door. He even said that I was a good "doorwoman”, but when I said “no thank you” for the three dollar with a smile, he took it wrong and he said that it was just a joke. I do not understand it yet how can I would react differently to its proposal.

I think there are no differences between the Francophone and Anglophone jokes, because both contain puns, the similarities and the differences between two or three objects, riddles, etc. Likewise both have the same topic.

Accuracy

In my English class, I did a work on the pronunciation sound. I needed to put the past tense verbs in three category which was [ed], [t] and [d].  As a case in point I put the word "parked" in the [d] category, but the good answer is the [t]. Also, I put "caused" in the [t] category, but the good answer is the [d]. In addition, I wrote "recorded" in the [d] category, but the good answer is the [ed].

 

 

Blog # 5 : Cultural Encounters

Wednesday October 23th I took on my fifth day of internship. My host Sonia decided to proceed with the activity of <<papier maché >>. Rather than participating in creating the masks, as I did the last Wednesday, I decided to observe the environment and ask some questions to my elderly friends.

My Cultural Observations:

During every class the yoga instructor plays soft music to allow the elderly people relax. During my observation I noticed that in this establishment we don’t have any cultural objects to respect other people who use the room after us. Also, I saw many flyers on the counter about alimentation, diabetes and about the schedule of many activities in the yellow door or in the social club.

Questions and Answers:

Kim and I:

Me: Hello Kim can I ask you three questions for my blog?

Kim: Sure, go ahead!

Me: Do you love to read books, if yes, tell me which types of books?

Kim: Yes, I like to read biographies of famous people, books about psychology and books about philosophy.

Me: Wow, that’s interesting. Where are you from?

Kim: I am from Malaysia.

Me: Do you celebrate Christmas or other holidays?

Kim: No, because I live alone now.

Me: Hmmm… Did you come, last year, to celebrate Christmas with the social club?

Kim: Oh yes, it was very pleasant. I hope they will do it again this year.

Me: So do I. Thank you very much Kim! I will let you continue your mask, it’s very beautiful.

Kim: Thank you Arina. Good luck with your blog!

Another Sonia and I:

Me: Hi Sonia, can I ask you some questions?

Sonia: Of course!

Me: What is your nationality?

Sonia: I am Armenian. I am from Egypt.

Me: Wow I didn’t expect that! What then is your religion?

Sonia: I am orthodox.

Me: What a surprise! Me to! Do you celebrate Christmas or Easter with your family?

Sonia: Yes, my family and I gather together for every celebration. We bring a lot of food, we chat, and we dance. Most importantly we have a lot of fun!

Me: I imagine a lot of love and laughter.

Sonia: It was a pleasure to talk with you Arina, but I have to go home.

Me: Thank you for answering my questions. See you next Wednesday!

Describe the types of English you have been exposed to:

I used 5 idioms from our class notes which are;

1.Against the clock: Rushed and short on time AND 2. Pig out: To eat a lot and eat it quickly: Before my internship which starts at 12pm, I had my exploration class and my meeting for Hawaii. Furthermore, many times, I have rushed to come earlier, because I didn’t want to disturb the seniors during their yoga class. Also, I need to eat quickly, because my internship lasts 3 hours.

3.A leopard can't change his spots: You cannot change who you are: One of my elderly friends came to talk to me about her life. She says that if she could change then people will not judge her. I tried to give her some advice that was; first, she needs to love herself, and second, ignore other peoples negativity because they are simply jealous.

4.Keep your chin up: To remain joyful in a tough situation AND 5.All in the same boat: When everyone is facing the same challenges: Every week I have a lot of writing, listening, and speaking exams as well as homework. When I then attend my internship I try my best to benefit from this time, to relax, and to enjoy the moment. On another note, even though everyone is not in the same grade, in my class we are still all in the same boat. We have the same goal to improve and do well in the class.

Rewards and challenges:

At the beginning the challenging part is to go talk to the elderly, because I am shy. But when the shyness is gone, I am more comfortable and able to improve my English

Blog # 4 "Papier Maché"

Discuss linguistic interference

Wednesday, October 16 I was excited to have my fourth day of internship since it was also my eighteenth birthday. I stocked up on newspapers in the metro, to make masks for Halloween with some elderly friends.

Upon my arrival, I met another volunteer named Roxie. I was enthusiastic about practicing my English, when I learned that she is an Anglophone.

I noticed that my second language which is French interferes with my English. I did an oral presentation with May Ann and Julie in Exploration about possessive adjectives where I played a teacher. I never thought that I had a problem with this rule, until I talked to May Ann during the internship and I realized that I mix his and her when I speak. However, when I write I can see my errors therefore I don’t mix them up. For example, "She went to see HER cousin in Paris". Also, I have a lot of difficulty with my prepositions, even if I know when we’re supposed to use them.

Furthermore I remarked that I have a problem understanding people's names when they pronounce it in English. An example of this is; a volunteer once told me about her career that she chose in university, when I asked her name I heard Adele, but a week later I discovered that her real name is Heather. This happened to me several times with the other volunteers as well as with the elderly. In the future, I will try to change my strategies and perhaps ask them to write their name instead of repeating it many times, after all I am a visual person.

How is learning English different in your internship than in a classroom?

In an internship, you have the opportunity to step back and thinking freely due to the lighter work load. In contrast, in the classroom we practice our language by writing, and we are supposed to practice through discussion however, not many people participate.

New words I’ve learned:

During the activity, we were concentrated with our masks. We did not have a lot of discussion at that time, rather I learned some new words while decorating the masks. The materials I used to decorate the masks were glitter, beads, feathers, fabric, yarn and buttons. This demonstrates that I am both visual and kinaesthetic.

 After the internship:

Every Wednesday I do my internship with May Ann. I am really happy to practice my English with her, because she can correct me at any time. Also, after I spoke with her in the metro, I realised that for the first time ever I thought in English instead of French about something when I was walking. Later, when I arrived in a bakery I ordered a cake for my birthday in English. I did not think about which language I would order, it just came out naturally. What amazed me is that I am always afraid to speak to someone in English because, I don't want to make mistakes. Since my internship, I have started speaking English without realizing and without shyness. The more I approach my goal which is to speak fluent English, the more I am proud of myself.

Blog #3 : Workshop on LAUGHTER

    Wednesday, October 9^th I attended my second day of the Internship. Usually everyone arrives on time to yoga class, I didn’t want to disturb the class so I showed up early.  Before we started our class, Sonia put the cup of coffee on the table and said that it is the only time when we can make noise. Even if I knew the word noise, it was like I heard it for the first time. I asked her to explain the word noise. After Sonia explained the word to me, I felt silly, because I had learned the word previously. I realised that I enriched my vocabulary by asking her for the explanation. I had a great time during yoga class.  After yoga, we had a workshop on LAUGHTER with the cheerful Ms. Helen Angelopoulos.  

 

   At first, I assumed that Ms. Helen was a comedian because we were in laughter workshop. But I discovered that she is an instructor that teaches to laugh and enjoy every part of your life. During the session, she showed us different laughing techniques. She convinced us to put our shyness away with the first activity called gibberish.

The activity consisted of talking with everyone with gibberish language and shaking hands. In the next activity, we needed to mimic the laughing of a witch, a ghost, the joker in batman, a cat, etc. We also did the exercise of laughing without thinking about something funny and communicated through are body language. Example: we laughed by dancing with our body and by producing song with our mouth.

 

   At second, I noticed that English people used first name to speak to someone. In contrast, French people added Mister or Ms. before first name. In this two languages, this each way to speaking are consider polite.

  In the end, my host Sonia reminded us to bring newspapers and jars for the next week, because we will do masks with the "papier mâché".  Not everyone understood when she pronounced the word "jar", she explained that it means a bottle.

 

Wordplay:

Before Ms. Helen left us she told us a joke about a rope.

A rope walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender looks at him and says "sorry we don’t serve ropes here." So the rope disappointedly leaves, but returns later and again orders a drink. The bartender looks at him and repeats that they do not serve ropes there.

So the rope goes outside, ties himself into a knot and beats himself against the wall.

He then goes back into the bar and orders a drink.

The bartender looks at him and says "aren’t you the rope who came in earlier?", and the rope says “no, I`m a frayed knot" (I am afraid not).

 

Blog #2 : First Impressions

Wednesday, October 2 I had my first day of my internship . I arrived at 12 pm at The Yellow Door with May Ann. Our host, Sonia, informed us that the social club is a few minutes walk from there. While we walked together, she informed us that there will be various activities in the social club. Sonia was energetic and really wanted to introduce us to her group of elderly. When we arrived, I noticed that Sonia complimented all the seniors. For example, she asked with interest where they bought their clothes.

 

Later, Sonia was going to buy food during our yoga classes. After we relaxed and stretched, I discovered that she prepared food for us all to eat. While we ate, Sonia moved from table to table to talk to everyone about different topics. After some hesitation, I decided to mimic her, and I discovered that there was more culture in the group than I thought. Some of them were from Australia, some from France, Central Asia, Sri Lanka, etc. I loved talking to them, and as I expected, the elderly can talk a lot! They were so eager to share their life experiences with me.  What I really liked is that when I spoke they corrected me and helped me with my pronunciation. When I talked to the elderly, I did not pay attention to the expressions that they used, but I learned more words by writing this blog.

 

anecdote:
To conclude, before yoga, I had to open the main door for the group. I greeted them with enthusiasm and let them into the room. Suddenly, I was distracted by something and the door closed ! I got locked out ! Lucky me that a window was next to the door, so I was able to knock and they came back to open the door .