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Mis Seres Queridos

Posted by My Truong in Spanish 1 - Manuel on

¡Hola! Mi nombre es My Truong. Tengo catorce años. Soy de Vietnam pero vivo en Filadelfia. Tengo el pelo largo y los ojos café. Soy baja, guapa, y inteligente. Me fascina conocer gente y salir con mis amigos. Saliendo con mis amigos es muy. deeverteedo

 

Su nombre es Nak. Es de Cambodia pero vive en Upper Darby. El tiene el pelo corto y negro y los ojos son negro, tanbien. Le gusta Facebook y tomar fotografías. El es mi mejor amigo porque el siempre esta allí para mi  lo adoro por eso. Mi y Nak siempre text y skype video chat.

 

Ellas son mis amigas CQ y Cindi. Ellas les gustan salir de ir de compras y hacer diferente cosas, también les gusta pasar el rato. La adoro porque ellas son buenísimas amigas. Ellas son inteligentes, guapas y sociables. Ellas dos parecen como si fuera gemelas.

 

Ellos son mis amigos Dustin y Phong. Ellos son de Vietnam pero  Dustin vive en Minnesota. Los dos son vietnamitas. Los dos son en una universidad cada uno son diferentes pero me cae bien con ellos. Cuando tengo tiempo libre nosotros video chat. Ellos siempre me ayudan con tarea y situaciones en mi vida por eso lo adores. 

 

Nosotros somos hermana y hermano. Mi hermano nombre es David. Tiene cinco año. El tiene guapa sonrisa y pelo. Cuando tengo tiempo libre mi leer juntos. David encanta helado. Nosotros siempre jugar videojuegos juntos. David y mi es muy bobo pero súper hermosas. Me gasta mi hermana. El siempre hacer me reír. 

 

Mis Seres Queridos

Posted by Monisha Das in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
​

Intro

Hola, gracias por toma tiempo a ser este vídeo.

Yo
Mi nombre es Monisha. Tengo catorce años. Soy de Bangladesh pero vivo en Filadelfia. Soy asiática. Tengo el pelo liso y los ojos cafés. Mi encanta leer y depende del día ayudar en casa

Ella
Su nombre es Katie. Katie es mi amiga. Tiene veintiséis años. Ella es muy interesado en bailar. Tiene un perro. Le gusta SquashSmarts y cachorros. La adoro porque ella es increíblemente creativa y simpática.

 
EllosEllos son mis amigos Tim y Jessica. Tienen veinticinco años. Son de Filadelfia. Tienen el pelo rubio y cafés. Tienen los ojos cafés y azules.  Ellos son geniales porque ellos siempre están allí por mi. ¡Ellos es un amor de gente!


Ellas

Ellas son mis familia, Ellas nombre son Runu y Laxmi. Runu es mi madre y Laxmi es mi mayor hermana. Runu es cuarenta y cuatro años sin embargo Laxmi es veintidós años. Son de Bangladesh pero vive en Filadelfia. Tienen el pelos rizado y los ojos cafés. Les encanta hindi músicas e ir de compras. Ellas son importantes para mi porque puedo hablar con ellas sobre cualquier cosa.


Nosotros

Ella  nombres son Sabrina. Sabrina es mi mejor amiga. Sabrina tiene quince años. Nosotros ambos son boba y muy habladora. Tenemos el pelo negro y largo. Nos gustan las  películas y hablar en inglés. Cuando tenemos tiempo libre nos gusta estar de vago. Ella la adora porque es una buenísima amiga.

Conclusion
Gracias a todo el mundo que estaban parte de este proyecto.

Language Autobiography

Posted by Seamus Kirby in English 2 - Block on
​Introduction and Reflection:

The purpose of this project was to write a “language autobiography” about how language is a part of ourselves, and connect it to a larger idea. At first when writing this, I wasn’t sure what larger idea I was going to connect to, but as I wrote my scenes and about how my language is a part of me, I started to realize how language is a huge part of people’s identity; how it makes them different from everyone else. As I started to write about this, ideas flowed easily, and the essay seemed to write itself at that point. The part I had the most difficulty with was writing my descriptive scene, and about my experiences with language, but the rest after that was much easier for me.

Essay:

Languages are unique; they change and differ in many ways. When most people hear the word “Language,” they think English, Spanish, French, or other languages. Languages are a lot more than just that, whether it’s a dialect from Texas, or the Xhosa click language. Different languages can be have different words, or sounds, or grammatical syntax’s, but the one thing all languages have in common is that it tries to express something; an idea, or desire. If you ask someone from Alabama what language they spoke, they would probably answer with “Regular English”, and if you asked them what language someone from New York spoke, they would most likely answer with “English with a New York accent.” Everyone thinks that their own version of English is correct, and that everyone else is speaking differently.

Everybody speaks his or her own version of English, even people who live in the same neighborhood. If you look at the world, only some countries speak English. If you look at the English speaking countries, only The United States speaks “American English.” If you look at the US, only New York speaks with a “New York accent.” If you look at New York, only Brooklyn speaks with a “Brooklyn” accent. If you look at the families in Brooklyn, each individual family speaks differently, and everyone in the family speaks differently. This narrowing process can be done for any one person in the World. If you were to listen to everyone in a family speak, you would assume everybody spoke the same way, but the differences are very subtle, such as word used frequently in between pauses, or the speed they talk. All of these differences can separate that person’s individual way of speaking from everybody else’s.

When I think about how I speak, and how my family speaks, I always think that I speak “normally”, and that my words and sentences are “correct”. But what do “normal” and “correct” mean? When it comes to language, there is no such thing as “normal”. If everyone speaks differently, how could you single out one language to be the “normal” language? This also means that everyone is “correct” in the way they speak; you can’t decide that one person’s way of talking is “incorrect”. I then tried to think of how I speak differently from others, and various words and phrases came to mind; things that me and my family said that I doubt any other people used. For example, we sometimes call my brother Colin “Scooterby”, a nickname he got when my family went skiing. It was our first time as skiing, and my 6 year old brother was standing there completely bundled up in coats, snow pants, goggles and a helmet. He was practically unrecognizable in all those clothes. Around the end of the day we had gotten all the way down a hill, and were waiting for my brother. We didn’t see him, and we were worried he might be hurt. “Where is Colin?” my dad asked me, as I had gotten down after him. “I don’t know I replied, I didn’t see him fall though.” My dad was concerned, and said “I hope he’s alright.” We waited a few more minutes, and my dad said “I’m going back up to see if I can find him, wait here.” I said “Wait! I think I see him!”, and sure enough, my brother, came slowly sliding around the bend in the hill, covered in jackets. “Scooterby’s fine!” my dad said, and even though he had never said that word before, I knew exactly what it meant, and we still call my brother “Scooterby” to this day. My dad will also sometimes call me and my brother “Skraelings”, and while this is an actual word that Vikings used to describe the indigenous people of North America, my dad gave it a new meaning that only we know.

There’s a reason everyone’s language is more similar to those they are around a lot. When you are a baby, you learn a language by listening, and repeating what you hear. In a sense, you are copying someone else’s language; but because you are copying from more than one person, your language will be a combination of more than one person’s language. It will be similar to all of them, but different, and therefore unique. It’s not just from your parents that you learn language though, you learn it from friends, teachers, television; you learn it from anything that you can hear the language from. The more time you spend with one specific thing, the more it influences you. Your language is constantly developing and changing, and it will never stop unless you separate all contact with the outside world.

Language is just another thing that makes individuals unique. If you look at the way you speak, the words you use, the way you say them, your language stops feeling “normal”, but it doesn’t seem wrong. You can trace the words you use, and your speech quirks to different groups. I generally speak “calmly” with my words evenly spaced, which is something that my dad does. I sometimes say the word “like” a lot to fill blank spaces in my speech, which is something my friends would do in elementary school. My mom and dad have had the biggest impact on my language, I use similar words to them, have similar speech patterns, and combine the differences in their speech to make my own language.


Citations:

Rickerson, E. M.. The five minute linguist. N.p., 2004. Web. 6 Jan 2012. <http://spinner.cofc.edu/linguist/archives/2005/05/how_do_babies_l.html?referrer=webcluster&>.



Boeree, C. G.. "Language change and evolution." . C. George Boeree, 2003. Web. 6 Jan 2012. <http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langevol.html>.

Video:

Lang auto Biography

Posted by Robert Mc Cormac on
Language has a lot of different meanings to me it's what we us to talk to other people through out the world. We may not all speak the same language but we all have the right to speech and we are entitled to what we have to say that is what inspired me to write my essay because I wanted to show that people should feel free what ever they have to say.


Robbie McCormac

Find your language and voice is never easy and I think this is never truly accomplished in a persons life. No one can ever always speak there voice no matter how bad you want to some times you have to hold your tongue and watch what you say. Language is the most powerful tool people have word’s can be the strongest thing they have when they don’t have anything else. When a person can’t speak what they want to say then they truly are not experiencing the process of finding there voice. I’m a person who holds no boundaries I always speak what I say and when I say something I mean it I don’t know where I learned it from but I feel as if i was just born with it.


Ever since I was a little boy I could always remember not taking no for an answer of making sure I get the right answered and if someone was being mean to me or one of my friends I would always be the one to speak up and give them a piece of my mind and voice. One vivid memory I have of me finding my voice was in kindergarten. It was my 2nd month of school and you would think by the 2nd month of school the teacher would know everyone name with a class of 8 kids well she didn’t. I would raise my hand every day in her class and she would say yes Robert. My teacher did this for the first 2 month’s of school but I never really said anything it bothered me but it wasn’t something to get upset over. But on this day when she said Robert I just didn’t know what to say or do. I just looked at her are eyes meant and were locked togthere like a key and a door. I just said my names ROBBIE. Something happen to me that day that I will remember for the rest of my life I was able to speak the words I didn’t dare say for 2 month’s and it was the best feeling ever I was able to say what I wanted. It’s very powerful being able to speak with out boundaries and not letting anyone hold you back. In English class we have been reading a bunch of different essays related to language and being able to speak different ones and how that can have a negative and positive affect on the lives of those individuals.


In English class we were reading an excerpt from an essay which was called “this is the oppressors language/ yet I need it to talk to you”: Language, a place of struggle by Bell Hooks. Bell Hooks brings up some very interesting and new perspectives in this essay it’s very different and has a lot of mixed views on language in America.  This quote shows her views towards language in the united states. “In the United States it is the mask which hides the loss of so many tongues, all those sounds of diverse native communities we will never hear, the speech of the Gullah, Yiddish, and so many other unremembered tongues...”  I can’t say I agree in full with the ideas that Bell Hook presnts in this essay. I feel that the United States is one of those rare places where you almost have thousands of different languages all over the country but it’s truly up to the natives of those languages to keep there language going and to teach there children there language. Now a days different languages are truly a thing people marvel over. We don’t have the same kind of consciousness that we us to have if you spoke a different language. People back in the days had to deal with prejudice and racism some due to the language they spoke but now that we are past that we are re kindling are love for language and learning new one’s and old one’s.

language is a very powerful tool that has been used for good and bad through out the world we all have the power of speech some people may not recognize it yet. Language can be used to oppress people but it can also be used to set the same people free, It can be used to speak out against the wrongs of society and the social oppression other people can cause by saying your language is the wrong one. There is no wrong or right language the gift to speak is amazing in it’s self so Cherish the language you have and respect the language that other people speak.


Language Autobiography

Posted by Helen Kilmartin in English 2 - Block on
Reflection

We had to write a paper that was 750-1000 words about language, it could be about any thing. As long as it envolved language. I felt like I was expressing my feelings that I didn't even know I had on this topic. When I started to write it all poured out of me. I didn't really have any big struggles during the writing process. I have so many memories of different accents, the paper just came together. I think this was a good topic for us to write on, especially  for our age group.

Paper 

Helen Kilmartin

12/12/11

 

            What is language? There are a variety of different types of language, but what is it? Language is something that is changing day by day. Every sentence we speak, and all of the mistakes we make are a form of language. We make language and soon we will all speak the same language. We change language daily. What this means is that everything we say or do has and influence on our language. By going down to southern states you might catch some of their accent, by watching a British show you could catch some of their dialect. The more diverse we become and the more we start going to new places our language will change. Were we go, what we do, whom we communicate with, all has an impact on language.

            When the Europeans came to the Colonies they were all from different places inside of Europe. They needed to communicate for all purposes, so they mixed their languages and slang together. Then language started to mix again when the Colonist brought over Africans. The Africans needed a way to communicate, and since they all spoke different languages they needed to make up a new one. Then the Colonists had to adjust to this new language. 

                        When I was five my parents took me up to main. When we went there we sounded funny to everyone else because we had south Philly accents. We only stayed for a week, but in that weeks time they managed to change the way I spoke. I had a Main/Massachusetts accent. As I we traveled back home my accent grew softer, but I kept some of it.

            I always knew I spoke different. I first realized how I spoke this year when my parents and I were discussing SAT scores. “Mom, what will happen if I get a bad grade on the SATs?” I asked. “Well you might not get into the school you want- wait, what school do you want to go to?” My mom wondered. “Well I have been debating on going to either University of Pennsylvania or Bawstan.” “What did you just say?” “I said I want to go to either University of Pennsylvania or Bawstan.” My mom laughed really loud when she tried to talk she paused with laughs in between. “Wait, wait…BAWSTAN?!” Then she continued laughing. “I can’t help it mahm!” “You have such a northern accent its insane!” 

            Who we hang out with also has an effect on our language. When my parents and I went to Jamaica in 2006 we hung out with a great variety of people. As soon as we landed the Jamaican accents were flying everywhere. Of course I picked up some of the words. Then when we went to the resort the accents were mild. I was very friendly with this one Jamaican worker, she was a young adult and very friendly. I picked up some of her Central Jamaican accent. Then I met these nice Canadian kids, Sarah and Rachel. We were close friends; we would hang out every day. Their father would take us out scuba diving on the surface of the water and my dad would take us to the buffet. I picked up some of their Canadian accent and they picked up some of mine.

            What we do also affects our language. My mother is a travel agent and this allows her to meet many different people. She has met people from all over the world, just from working! Although my mom hasn’t picked up any accents from working she has picked up some different slang. Other things that could change our language are watching movies and reading books. I know it sounds crazy but it is true. The way that the dialect is written or acted could change the way we speak. For instance my family and I were watching this old southern movie from 1945, and for a moment we all had a slight old southern accent. It’s incredible that the smallest thing could change our language.

            We all didn’t start off speaking the same language, but we will end speaking the same. Schools are forcing children to learn different languages so they will be better off in life and be able to speak to many different types of people. What they are actually doing is making all of us the same. Soon we will all be able to speak different languages and be able to communicate to everyone. It will end off with us comingling our languages and slang to create, yet another language. But, this time everyone will speak it.





 

Mis Seres Queridos

Posted by Amani Bey in Spanish 1 - Manuel on
Click the picture to play movie
Guión​

Intro: ¡Hola! Siéntate y escuchar para mi.

 

Yo: Soy Amani. Tengo quince años. Soy de Filadelfia,   Tengo el pelo rizado y los ojos morrenas. Me fascina practicar/ escuchar música. Me encanta cantar!

           

Ella: Ella  es Emily. Tiene catorce años. Ella es extraña! Tiene el pelo roja. ¡Literalmente! Como mananza. Es adorable, me gusta mucha el pelo de Emily. Ella es muy boba. Le gusta dibujar y escuchar música. ¡Yo también! La adora  porque ella es divertido.

 

Ellos: Ellos son Thomas, True y Haneef. Todos son altos y lindos . Todos tiene el pelo marrones y los ojos café. Pero, True tiene el pelo rizado . La apodo de True es Trigga Trig.  True y Haneef son bobos, pero Thomas es serio. Haneef y True jugar  Basquetbol, pero Thomas practicar guitarra. Sin embargo todos Les gustas escribir música.  Me caen bien porque son geniales hermanos.

 

Ellas: Bryanna, Donesha y Khadija son mis amigas. Todos tienen diferente años. Bryanna y Donesha son bastante boba , pero Khadija es tímido. Khadijah y Bryanna les gusta bailar. Donesha es muy habladora. Todos son trabajadoras. Me encanta ellas porque son buenísimas amigas.

 

Nosotros: ¡Somos mejor amigas! Nos encanta escribir poesía. La quiero porque ella es importante para mi! Somos son algo exactamente. Somos hablar todo el tiempo.

 

Conclusión: mis amigos es mucho importante. Ellos son mi familia!!

Imani Rothwell

Posted by Imani Rothwell in English 2 - Block on
​​Introduction

The idea behind this project is to show a different language we use and how use. To get us in that mind set my teacher Mr.Block has showed us different languages and had us read multiple essay's on different people stories and how different their language are. I will have to say the easy part of this project was the topic and choosing a language that is different. The hard part was the writing and trying to tie all my ideas into one paper. Overall this assignment was fun and I felt it was a great way to think about how we are different with our voices. 


PAPER

​Poetry is a language that I has been passed down in my family. My great great great grandmother Leana wrote poetry, my grandmother Mildred also wrote poetry, and my mom writes poetry. As I got older I started developing a feel for poetry. It wasn’t until the sixth grade when I wrote my first poem. In my middle school we did something called dream flag. We had to write a poem about a dream or desire and paste it to a cloth and hang it like a flag. This  project was the start of me discovering my talent. It was like I entered a whole new world of writing. The whole idea of me being able to use my imagination and write on it made me fall in love with poetry. I went from writing poetry to sharing it with different people. There was this time in eighth grade where my teacher announced that we were going to have a Slam at the end of our poetry unit. This part was new to me so I raised my hand and said “Mr.Crain what is a slam.” he replied and said “ A slam is where a person or group perform a poem and get scored. The person or group with the most points win.” This was something new for me. I never had to share my poem in front of a group of people before let alone be scored on my poem. This made me nervous. I’m a very confident person and speaker but for some strange reason performing a poem brings out a shy side of me that I’m not use to seeing.

When my grade had our Slam I was sweating bullets. The only thing on my mind was do not mess up do not make a fool of yourself. Once my turn came up I did exactly that. I messed up on my poem and left the hard copy of my poem up stairs. So I had to wait and go again, but the second time I nailed it. I was a little nervous but I still did good because I came in second place. Hearing that made me want to keep writing and performing. and my teacher made us have a grade open mic share. I wanted to master this craft and keep on building. High school was the place that helped me with that. My high school have a poetry team that I joined. The poetry team is amazing too. There is diffrent people with diffrent styles that made their poem unique.  Mr. Kay our mentor  and coach was a deceptive. He loved paint pictures in people head and have them really understand the magic behind his pen. Then there was Eryn she had a flow and rhythm to her poems that always got you leaning and keeping up with what she was saying. Next Gina and Mecca they always made sure that their writing had a point across. The way they made that point the will connect it with what people can relate to. Then there was Sina I She had a mixture of them. She had painted pictures, had you want to hear more and connected with the audience. From these different styles I picked up on a lot. I also learned that my style is different. I like to get to the point. I’m good at not over extending a metaphor in a way that’s good but in another way there a something that need to have that extra description to give it more life. I started working on that to perform my first poem in highschool. It was October 15th I was in 9th grade. There was a poetry slam going on at a place called tha Ratonda. I had made the decision to do open mic because I did not want to be scored on my poem.  The stage lights was only on you and you really couldn’t see in the audience. The Mic was set center stage and the host Greg Corbin would announce people names. It was that very moment when He said “Now up to the stage Imani Rothwell reading her poem P.O.W” That was the moment that I felt like dying. I never read in front of strangers. Then my grandmom and dad was in the audience that added extra stress. So I walked slowly towards the stage with a million thought running through my head. My first thought was run Imani your always getting yourself into something. Then My next thought was stupid what made you think you could do this. Next thing I know I was at the stage standing there. Looking for a point I can stare at to comfort myself so I won’t mess up. Then I started my first line  of my poem,

“In my head I have on this orange cotton jump suit

With the words P.O.W written across it

I’m a Prisoner of Words

Waiting for my thought to be said

But instead they are locked away in my lonely head

I should start to speak and stop staying silent

But every time I do my words stay quiet”  I was loud reading this poem and after looking k at the video I was so nervous that I was not even standing near the Mic. After looking back on it I realized I gained more confidence but in order to gain more I will have to start reading performing often. I would perform for  my family

A couple of months went by and I started to change the topics I write on. I would right on drug dealing and the streets. So I put myself in a character that is going through a tuff time and just needs God. I called that poem “Calling God”  This poem I took it straight from the heart. I did not right for some points or for a praise. I wrote it because at that time I was feeling upset and I need my pen a paper to play my therapist. In poetry club I told Mr.Kay that I wanted to share a poem. He said to me “Alright well lets get the group in a circle.” They he told the group we going to start open share with me. Before reading the poem I explained that this is a personal piece and I really do not want feedback then I began my poem,

“Today I called god

But he forwarded my call to voicemail

So I left him a message in prayer

He hasn’t returned my call since

So I sent him a text message

Giving him my prayer

I started off in the name of Jesus Christ

But he never replied

Now I need the address

To talk to my heavenly father

To let out all my sorrows.”

That was the beginning but these next lines are my favorite lines in this poem that I’m proud of are, “I smile ear to ear So my cheeks can choke back my tears and I laugh
So my laughter can smother my crying” and
“I need to speak to my father
But he is not answering.
Does anyone have his number?
Can someone give me an address?
I asked my preacher and he says he has no answers I
looked through the bible
But I see no number
I need to speak to my father
He is the only one that listens”

During the slam I scored an average of 9 out of 10 from 4 different judges.

During these different experiences I wanted to aim bigger and I did just that.

May 5th 2011I shared a poem in front of Erin Gruewell the  teacher of the freedom writers. While she was talking to us she started talking about a student of hers that came to school on the first day on house arrest. This reminded me of my poem I wrote that had to do with a teen who was arrested but I decide to put a spin on it and make them innocent. I thought that I could share this with the group so I got up from my seat and went over to Mr.Kay and asked him was it ok. He said sure and before I knew It I was performing my poem.The name of it was “Have you ever.” Before I started reading it I looked down at my laptop back up to the audience licked my lips and I began

“Have you ever had your innocents taking away from you

Your child hood scrapped up like gum

And you were holding on to the rest that was left  

Pride dangling on your tongue

Because you’re to strong to swallow it

People constantly looking

Becoming objects in your rear view mirror

As they appear closer on your secrets

Stressing Can never get any rest

Because of those flashbacks

Have you ever Locked your secrets in titanium plates

Making sure they never escape
Have you ever felt like your tear duct was glued?
Cause tears wasn’t flowing through
And you just wanted to cry.” The ending lines were,
“Have you ever Wanted a MRI scan for your brain
Just to make sure your Optical lobe was working
Cause you just looked at your life
And said
Dang.
Have you ever had your innocents taking away from you
Your child hood scrapped up like gum
And you were holding on to the rest that was left  
Pride dangling on your tongue
Because you’re to strong to swallow it
Erin Gruwell loved my poem. She loved it so much that she wants to publish it on her website and even wanted to take a picture with me.
From these different experiences have encountered in my life I realized two things. One poetry has been a gift god gave me and Two poetry can save lives. Now when anyone ask me what’s a language I speak that’s different, I tell them poetry because the craft and putting words together to describe something in a new way that people can understand,  My name is Imani Rothwell and at a young age I discovered a new language called Poetry.