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• Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

  
  I spoke with Géssyca in this conversation. I don't remember why I choose her, or she choose me.
  
  

• What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

  
  I learned where she lived and what she lived to do.

• How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

  
  It worked out good, my goal was to talk about music and it went well
  
  

• What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

  
  Talking about music and past experiences
  
  

• What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)rc

  
  I didn't understand her at first but I quickly got over that.

Pre-Conversation

Since I'm doing a chat instead of video, I think that the people answer quickly and politely.

I'm looking forward to meeting my goal for this chat: chatting without a dictionary.

I'm not really nervous about much, but the on thing is when I come into a stump. I want to be able to call upon all of my knowledge to prevent that.

Post-Conversation

Name: Emilio Gago

Country: Spain

Emilio is a great guy! We talked for a long time about things that we liked, and he really likes comics, and learning english. I learned that he is from Spain, and is also a student. I've learned a lot from him actually. He really helped with grammar errors, and even just better phrasing. I've learned some cool phrases too, one being:

"Eres el amo"- you are boss and another less school-appropriate :O.

I was really proud of my ability to recall all of what I know, and I was even complimented on my spanish abilities! Though, I must admit, it was much easier to think on my feet while I was just TYPING. But I still give myself credit because it was IM.  I'm very aware that I can conjugate pretty quickly when I'm typing/writing, but talking takes a few seconds more. For my next post, I want to have more questions ahead of time (just in case) and I also want to have a way to measure what I learn. Perhaps, I might just count the number of strategies I come up with. Or I may even make that my next blog post question- ask what are good strategies for conversations in Spanish.

More Slang (from Peru I believe)

Slang: Mamada.- significa Mentira

Choreado: Robado

Jodido:: Destrozado, arruinado, tambien significa " Super"

•  What will be your topic of conversation be? 

I wanted to try to have a natural conversation and get to know my conversation partner. 

•  What are 5 questions related to your conversation goal that you can think of ahead of time to ask your partner?

- What do you like to do?

- What do you like to learn about?

- Where are you from?

- What do you want to do when you're older?

- What brought you to sharedtalk?

•  What are you looking forward to about this conversation? 

I think it will be great to get to know someone in a completely different place than me. I want to know exactly how different or similar we are. 

•  What are you nervous about? 

I hope I can keep the conversation moving without using a translator. 

I learned a lot about my partner in this conversation. We had a very good conversation that progressed as one would between two native speakers of any language. I discovered that my partner Rafael(19, Brazil), very much enjoys learning other languages and has a great love for China. He's also part polish and likes learning about astrology. 

What did you learn from them?

Honestly, I didn't gain much from this conversation except morale. Before this I'd had many dud conversations but this was uplifting. I didn't learn much because he chose to write in english, while I wrote in spanish. In the end, it worked out because I could tell if he understood what I was writing by his responses and it was much easier to do in english. 

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned that in trying to be quick and consistent in my responses, I let some spelling and grammar mistakes get through. I was worried about responding quickly, because with other people when I'd take too long trying to make sure everything was correct, they would disconnect. 

What were you surprised about?

I was surprised he knew so many languages. Rafael knew english, spanish, portuguese, and chinese. 

What are you proud of?

I was proud that he seemed to have no trouble understanding what I was writing. He never mentioned any mistakes which made me happy. 

What follow-up questions do you have?

I just would have liked to know specifically where my spelling, grammar, or usage could have improved in our conversation. 

What will you improve on for next time?  How?

I will think about the context of things before I write them so I use the correct tense of words and such. I'll carefully read and take a moment to fully comprehend what I'm reading so I can answer accurately. 

Dalena Bui Photography

For this quarter I decided to choose to do my own project involving photography. Last quarter is when I choose to do photography. I was a bit rusty at first now I am more comfortable finding or taking pictures and editing them with photoshop. This whole process made me way more comfortable with photoshop and being able to edit pictures like the way I want and everybody else to see it. i am able to photoshop in a snap and not think twice about it and I really enjoy that feeling. My pictures have become sharper and cleaner and more precise.

Process...

For this quarter I decided to put down my camera for two reasons. One because I was to busy to go out and take pictures and second I have been on Tumblr a lot and I saw a lot of pictures I could edit. I am a Tumblr user and I loved the different pictures I seen on there and how people could capture such a beautiful moment. But I always saw something was missing in the picture and it could be better. Then I thought if I could take those pictures and make them… prettier? Then I decided that would be my project this quarter of taking art and making it better and most importantly my own. I really liked what I did because I am so much more comfortable with photoshop and making the pictures the way I want it to look.

Closing Out The Quarter...

- ¿Cuales son algunos de las formas para empezar un conversación? (What are some ways of beginning a conversation?)

- ¿Usted tiene una forma favorita? (Do you have a favorite way?)

- ¿Hay mas formas a empezar una conversación con alguien cortésmente o mas formas que no son cortésmente? (Are there more ways of starting a conversation politely or impolitely?)

¿Qué déportes important en Brazil? 

¿Qué deportes en muy grande en Brazil? 

¿Haces ves fútbol? 

¿Deportes es mucho importante en Brazil o arte es muy importante? 

¿Deportes en las escuela?

Negative space is the space that is not apart of the object.This space is like the emptiness in a shape. Exp.In a chair there might be a whole in the chair, and that would be the space.

B. Explain how you found negative space in 1. your cut out?, 2. in your stool drawing?

In my cutout I just chose what I wanted to be my negative space. It didn't really matter when I cut out the white and black shapes. In the stool drawing it was easy to find the negative space because it was basically just the empty space between the stool.

C. Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?

It helps the artist see all the details of the picture.

D. Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not

It does because it shows a different more interesting view of the picture.

The  topic of conversation will be about the sports that are played in Argentina and how that relates to the culture of the country.

•  What are 5 questions related to your conversation goal that you can think of ahead of time to ask your partner?

1. What is the most popular sport in Argentina?

2. What kinds of sports do you play?

3. What is your favorite football team?

4. Do most children like playing sports in Argentina?

5. Who is your favorite soccer player?

•  What are you looking forward to about this conversation?

I am looking forward to learning about the sports of Argentina since I myself is a big sports fan who follows professional football and even play football on SLA's varsity football team.

•  What are you nervous about?

I am only a little nervous about having a full conversation without using a translator. However, I have learned how to deal with this from my work on my first goal.

Post-Conversation:

Reflection:

• Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

I spoke to Juan Vela and I spoke to this person because I wanted to know about sports in Argentina and he is a native of Argentina.

• What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

I learned that Juan is a very passionate soccer fan. I learned that football is the most popular sport in Argentina but other popular sports include volleyball, tennis and basketball. I also found out that Juan plays football and tennis. His favorite football team in Argentina is Boca. Juan's favorite player is Carlos Tevez. Juan also learned that I also play football for my school and my favorite football team is Man City in the English Premier League.

• How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

I am very passionate about soccer and I wanted to learn about soccer in foreign countries and Argentina has one of the best national soccer teams. I have learned a lot of sports vocabulary while at the same time learning about something that I enjoy doing. I also liked that my conversation with Juan included different tenses.

B. For my cut out, I found negative space in the outlining of the different parts. For the stool, I first focused on the outline of the stools and then looked at the space outside the outline, not inside.

D. I think that negative space enhances a drawing, because you become more aware of the environment that the object you are drawing is placed in.