Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Your Thoughts On The Class
Write for 20 minutes as practice for the term test. Make an evaluation of our class, what you learned, what you would have liked to learn, changes you suggest and /or any other ideas you´d like to mention. This will help me for future classes, at the same time it will help you to "loosen your hand"!
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My thoughts on the class
During this year I learned a lot of things in Mrs Jeanine's classes. I learned how to write essays, even though I'm still trying to write them better every time as it's not something I'm very used to do, but as I said, I'm still learning. I also learned a lot about many different countries of the world, like South Africa, England and China. It was great to get knowledge of each one of them, about the history of South Africa and the way the live. The same with China. It was very interesting to see how their system works and I tried to understand them. Everything about spanglish called my attention as I did not take into account before the fact that Spanish or English may disappear, and how is influenced in the whole world, so I learned new cultural things that are happening in this real world, and these kind of classes were like a door to the outside, to the things that are going on out there and nobody knows about them. Every theme about technology, video games and internet were not so new for me, but still I learned more about them. The theme about teenagers was one of the ones that I liked most as I am a teenager, first of all, and because it made me understand other teenagers different from me in different aspects.
About the books, the ones that I liked most were “The invisible man” and “The Crucible”, and the movie “Scarlet Letter”. They were the stories that I enjoyed most reading or seeing and with them I learned values and characteristics of the human being, such as the power of its instinct, his will and needs, etc. I liked a lot when we analyzed every story and took things from them that were useful for life.
Poetry was not that much interesting but I liked analyzing the poems and trying to look for their meaning. That was fun and as I like a lot to read and to write poems I enjoyed a lot doing it.
The breakfast was the best that an English lesson could have. I never enjoyed more having breakfast. My Fridays were full of energy and I never went to school wanting so more to share cookies with our classmates. It was awesome.
What I liked most about every class is that we could share our thoughts openly, without having to keep something in our minds. We always had the possibility to express our feelings and explain why we think something is like this or that. We had this important chance to be ourselves and that made me feel very comfortable during every class. That’s the most positive thing I take from Jeanine’s classes. At least I had a lot of fun when she scolded Conti almost every class. Or when she made funny faces or just said Nooooooo, with an ironic voice. I laughed a lot. And also when she spoke Spanish, which is a basic terrible Tucumano, that I had forgotten since 8th grade. I think she is more Tucumana than anyone that was born here, and it was fun listening to her speaking Spanglish some classes. What I admire of her is how direct and frontal she is to say what she thinks, making no spins, which is sometimes really good, as she is very clear, even though there were sometimes during this year when I felt like humiliated, but I know perfectly that that was never her intention.
Not only I learned English, but I learned things for life, values, and communicated with classmates that I had never spoken before. We learned to share so many things, from food to personal reactions. English this year was awesome, fun, and very educative. Thanks Mrs Jeanine for letting me be myself and making me work harder everytime, to get high. Thank you very much,
First of all I want to make a coment just to aNyelen.. Mrs Janine? Since when you call her Mrs Janine?! Pleaaase..! She is just janine!! She is almost one student more of the class (except for her age! ajajaj)
Well, now let's start with my thoughts on the class.. First of all, and I am sure that is the most important thing for all of us, I have "learned" how to write essays! Even though I can't get more than a 6.5 (or I think I have ONE seven, I don't remember) yet! I think this is one of the most important things we have learnt during this year, not only in MRS JANINE'S CLASSES, but in the whole school year..
What was most INTRESTING for me of MRS JANINE'S CLASSES, was what we studied about teenagers. I think that is a topic we should all study and pay a lot of attention to it, because it is a problem that really involves all of us (YOU as an adult, and us as teenagers!). As Ale always says, adults are many times responsible of giving us the bad things like alcohol, drugs, pornography and ciggarettes, between others. Language was also an interesting topic, but I think you have given it too much importance and we had to read many articles about this, what ends up being a bit boring..
The book I liked this year is Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding (oh my god! I am so used to writing essays now!! ajaj). I found this novel very interesting, and I think it has really lots of good lessons. Of course it is not just because it has good lessons, but it has a really good plot, and the author knew very well how to develop it.
On the other side, I really did not like the other two novels we have read. The Crucible, just because it was too complicated for me, so instead of enjoying it while I read it, I had to be extremely concentrated on it. So it was almost a suffering reading that book (at least for me, obviously!). The Invisible Man, was different. I think that the plot of that book is not for 16 years old students. And that the story its too long for just a simple plot. I think that plot would have been good for a shor story for younger people (because we are so OLD!).
Short stories I said? How could I forget hemingway?! My God! Hemingway's short stories are a particular case. I iked "the short happy..", for example, because even though as all his stories has a "hidden meaning", I was able to find it. But in, to give an example, "Hills like White Elephants" the meaning was TOO HIDDEN! And I still do not know WHY THE COUPLE WAS TALKING ABOUT ABORTION! ajaja.. But I think Hemingway is also smething you should keep in your classes (my grandfather could not believe me when I told him that we had read them, he said AND DID YOU UNDESTAND THEM? ajaj! If he believes that he is a very good writer and that his stories are some of the best in the story of literature it must be that way!)
I think your classes were, in general, interesting! What I would change is first of all, POETRY! i know tht is necessary, but I really HATE IT! I think we should keep the breakfast! ajaja.. Of course! I would also like to watch more films and.. I don't know what else to say.. I don't know if I am forgeting of something, I don't think so.
Well, see you tomorrow! And, if we are lucky on this term test, see you next year also! Happy Holidays! For the whole class.. of course!
During this year, I have learned many things with Janine. Principally, I have learned how to write essays, although I was really depressed by the first essay that I wrote (I got a six), and I thought that I would never write good ones and that I will have big problems in English classes this year. Gradually, step by step, you taught me the strategies to write a good essay and today I have improved a lot, although I still need to work hard in some aspects. I also have learned how to use the different punctuations correctly, and it is really useful not only in English classes, but also in other subjects.
It was fascinating for me the articles we have read in class, specially the ones about teenagers and language, because they are topics that we are all involved in, and it is important that we realize what is going on in the world; this part was learned through the articles about the media, south Africa, Europe and China. These parts of global issues have really broadened my mind, as I never read the newspaper nor watch the news channels on TV.
About the books, the one I like most was The Crucible. I also like the others two, but not much the last one we read, The Invisible Man, although it was quite funny. The topics between those three books are similar; they show the negative aspects of human nature and they make us reason about the reality of the world we live in. The Hemingway’s short stories were really interesting, I have never read so ambiguous stories and it is thrilling the way they make us think and later we come up with a hidden idea that the author wanted to express. The part I find really boring was poetry. I really hate it, although I know we must learn how to analyze them, so I don’t blame you.
This year was really nice, and obviously the best part is the tasteful breakfast we have every Friday morning. On Friday, when I wake up, I never have breakfast because I know that something delicious is waiting for me at school. I also enjoy the moments when you tell Conti off as he forgets bringing the copies, when you throw chalk to Silvio to wake him up as he always get sleepy and when you shout to Isaias to shut up. The classes are practical and formative; I have spoken much more in classes than other years, because you always make us give our opinions. I’m really happy to have you as teacher because you are great, you always say things directly, and this is what I admire from you, because even many times those words hurt us, but more than hurt, they teach us. I, or better WE also have to thank you for the confidence you have in us, when you are not coming to classes you leave us alone with work, although many times we don’t do them.
Well, I hope next year we continuous having our Friday morning breakfasts, and reading more things about global issues, short stories and novels. Please don’t consider the last essay I wrote, don’t even read it, it is a mess. See you next year, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND I HOPE THAT AFTER TOMORROW WE ALL CAN HAVE A NICE HOLIDAY.
Throughout this year I’ve learned lots of interesting things, from the very beginning when we studies teenagers and media influence in people’s lives, to knowing how to write essays and analyzing poetry. I really enjoyed working during Janine’s classes, because of the freedom we had to do things. Friday’s breakfast time was one of the best moments of the week. We could eat lots of delicious things while we discussed, read, or did some other kind of activities. The classes were dynamic, and we never had time to get bored. Watching movies was also a very joyful activity. Through this, we were able to compare and analyze different aspects and points of view of each one of the books in which the movies were based, and it also contributed to give dynamism to the class, and to make us feel comfortable with work.
The activity which I enjoyed the most was when we watched Lost while we had breakfast, and we could manage to see how it was similar, yet different to “Lord of the Flies”. I really enjoyed reading Hemingway stories, and trying to guess the hidden message they all have. The activity which I liked the least was reading “The Invisible Man”, because the book didn’t catch my attention from the very beginning.
Although we had an introduction to poetry in which we listened to some music and we had to present a song related to any kind of relationship, I would have liked to study some unit related entirely to music. As a final comment, I would like to say that this was one of my favorite English years, because of all the things I mentioned previously. I could widen my vocabulary, have fun, and at the same time learn. Thank you for all this things, and thank you for being so Janine :D
Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and happy well deserved holidays to everyone!
I really enjoy english classes this year. They were very interestings and I could learn many things. Before this year I hate writing in english, but then I started liking it. I am surprised how much I can write. The topics we analized and studied this year were very good. I really like reading teenagers topics as I feel identified with them. In my last essay I write about that. There were some topics that I don't like as languages and poetry. I think they were a bit boring. The article of video gaming was very entertaining because it talks about real things that happend nowadays. The search of the information about the countries was really usefull. I learnt many new things that make me essier learning other subjects as history and geography.
"Lords of the flies","crucible" and "the invisible man" were very interesting books.. I don't like reading very much but it is true that this stories enthusiasmed me more while reading them. We also saw the film of golding's work. It was great!The short stories were a bit confusing as you could interpretate differents things. I love that! It help us to have our own point of view and a critical position.
Acording to the method Janine used this year, I think it was very good. We learnt a lot and not only the content of the subject, also we learnt to be perseverant persons, for example when we had to write an essay more than 3 times to improve it. It is important to say that it brought good results!
How can I forget all the breakfasts we had on fridays. Isaias and I were the ones that ate more!!
The only thing I don't like very much was having two modulos the same day. It tired me! But besides that, it was a productive year in which I have learnt too much!
CONGRATULATIONS JANINE!
berniii!!!
My thoughts on the class of MRS Janine jaj
Well I think this class was great during the whole year. I really had fun at the back with my partners and let’s be realistic, the only thing I did with too much emphasis was to SLEEP jajaj. But I really worked hard…or at least that is what I think…I also read a lot as we read The crucible (I kind of liked this book, I will give it a 8/10),The lord of the flies(during all the time that we read this ``book`` I felt that a cancer was growing inside me and that in any moment It will emerge from my chest like the beast in the movie Alien -.- jaj) and The invisible Man(to be honest, one of the best books I have read during English lessons in schools, despite the fact it had an old fashioned English writing).We also read lots of short stories from different writers but mainly from Hemingway, which from my point of view was a lunatic which splashed all his hate towards world and society into his works and made them in such an ambiguous way that readers had to figure out that in a simple dialogue between two persons there was some kind a conspiracy to dominate the world or something from the kind that was impossible to be thought (great example The hills like white elephants) jaj. But after all I enjoyed reading Hemingway’s works in class as it made me think and to realize that there are always hidden things in the simplest situations of life. But I still think that Hemingway should have bought a dog or get a girlfriend (that did not leave him) instead of killing himself in the way he did jaj.
In general what we did most was to sleep…sorry…in general what I did most was to sleep (now do you like it more MRS Janine?) and to read novels, stories and articles. I think the program in this year (at least our program) was very different from the last years as we did not studied the present simple, past simple, and all that grammatical theory, and I liked it because of MRS Janine help I have became a more cultural person (YES, BELIEVE IT OR NOT from Ripley) but I am still thinking if it is correct to say cultural or not, who cares.
At last I would like to let know the readers that I was sarcastic, no, REALLY sarcastic at saying MRS Janine. Come on guys, when have we called Janine by MRS?? She has been like a peer for us as we have shared breakfasts, jokes and lots, and I mean LOTS, of essays where (as El gaucho said) the marks were not better than a 6.5.Even if we think more Janine has been very good to us and to our reports (ok, I will say it of you are asking it SOOO much: THANK YOU Janine) and have showed us her good and bad sides (I am not not going to forget when you hit me with that rubber, that hurt, as I was in ``disadvantage``… distracted…OK… I was sleeping … SO WHAT??).Because of all of these Janine I think that the balance sys that this was a good year.
I hope to have a year like this next year.
Silvio, namberguan in sleeping salutes you jaj.
jej it is fell not felt.vey sorry.dont make me write it 1.000.000 times please.see you.
and when i said peers i meant that she was almost like a friend of our same age with the same thoughts despite that she passed this age a long time ago.
Hi!!,i dont know exactly what to write in this moment because im really worried of tomorrows tests, with this i suppose you know already why and it is because of my really low level at essay writing from the begging untill the end but i can tell you i will try my best next year and also i will practice during holidays with my sisters help, dont worry i will come to classes knowing a lot more of my families origins and i shall also practice my english, it doesnt matter where i go xD.
I would like to thank you for all the great things we did this year, it includes from breakfasts to movies and books, principally Hemingways short stories and the movie of the "Lord of the Flies" (that day i found out that "Lost" is something i would like to watch) , whith all the books, stories, songs and poems i found out how can people show their feelings through words which will last forever, showing and teaching others about how the real world is and how hard and important is to live and how important is to show how you feel it doesnt matter how.
Also with all the articles we have read about teenagers, China, South Africa and Europe, about comunication and relations between countries, from this i have learned things i didnt know (i didnt really found them interesting untill i made investigations about this topic) and im really happy just to know about them, for me the most important things are culture and history and im really interested now about the influence they have in the world principally because i have two cultures to understand, study and see, this is all thanks to you Janine you are the teacher who have made me see the importance of the information circulating all around the world (and i saw that because of all the investigation i had to do for my essays).
This year,for me, is as important as all the past years because of all the new things i have learned that will help me in my future formation, most importantly the ESSAYS (i promise i will practice and that i will write better ones next year xD).
Thanks for everything and for your great effort, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and good bye utill next year.
Mr.Pak
This year the Enlish class was definetly different from the ones from other years in secondary school. I think this year we had a much more active role in the class and had to think more, use our creativity more to write essays and interpretate literary works, it was more of a challenge compared to other years.
What I liked the most of this year's english classes were Hemmingway's short stories and the articles. The short stories because I like how Hemmingway writes, now because it was the first time I read something written by him, and I also liked very much interpretating the short stories. And I also liked the articles because the topics (teenagers, languages, educational system, video games, the media, and the situation of Europe, China and South Africa. I also think that learning how to write an essay was very interesting and probably knowing how to write an essay will be very useful in the future.
What I didn't liked much were the novels because I didn't find the plots very interesting, I liked the interpretation of, Lord of the flies, though. I didnt liked poetry very much, but I didn't liked poetry in spanish also but I liked listening to the songs by Eric Clapton and Elton John and the interpretations of each song.
But in general english class this year was great. And when I was studing the fotocopies for tomorrow's exam I remembered most of what we did in class and helped me a lot. English class this year was different from other english classes from other secondary school years, and even every other class from all secondary school. Thank you Janine for a wonderful, entertaining class.
This was my english year that I`ve most enjoyed because we were able to use what we have been learning of english in all these years, in a different way.
An important thing of this year was to learn how to write essays, although I still have many many mistakes, now at the end of the year it is really easier than at the begining. Especially if i consider the number of words in the essays, at first it was difficult for me to write 200 words, and I used to say that I couldn't write anything, but now I feel much more confident writing.
About the contents of this year, I really enjoyed reading the novels "Lord of the flies" and " The invisible man" even though I didn't like at all the plot of the last one, it was a bit boring but it has an important significance. Lord of the flies was the one that I liked the most.
The crucible was the most boring, the same as poetry. But poetry is boring to me because I don't like it. I prefered doing others things like reading about other countries, or reading the short stories.
I finded interesting the orals of the countries (Southafrica, China and Europe)and the fotocopy with the adjetives and verbs that we never finished!
The most I liked of this year class were the discussions after reading the texts, they helped me a lot to improve my speaking skills.
Breakfasts were great!and the funniest things were when conti forgot the copies or the essays!
THANKS janinee for everything you taught us this year, to making me enjoy my english classes!
One thing to suggest, more practice in timed essays!and less poetry please!=)
Happy Holidayss janinee!=)
One year more has passed and many things I have learned.In Janine`s classes I performed many different situations,and I learned not only english but also about life. The results will be shown in the future.During this year that we were together I enjoyed very much the sistem of the clsses.Besides of the freedom we had, the important aspect that we had been tested of our responsibility, organising out timetable such as writing an essay or reading some chapters of some book. I fell the the idea of this year was to let us take the asignature from our one points and to demostrate that we can do it, that we are really capable. Of course, we always need a special support and a model to copy and that one was Janine. Been so strict but at the same time make the students to trust one them selves.
I enjoyed a lot reading the three books.I found them really interesting. Also I loved the short stories of Hemingway, they teached a lot ,although they were not so easy to understand. Moreover, the articles were very interesting, specially those related to language becuase I think is something we all have to be informed, the same as the work of investigating of the countries. I enjoyed the oral presentation with the power point.
That I want to emphasis is the idea of having breakfast together because was a great idea to join more the group and the felling with the teacher. I think it has perfect results. I hope next year we can continue doing them!
On the other hand, what I find was not so good, was having mostly the hold morning english that tired me and also in some moments bacame boring and I looses the concentration.
I`m very happy because of the essay`s. In my opinion it was very interesting to learn how to write and to focus when we start writing.
I also enjoyed the free writings, because was like we broke with the common structure.Lastly, I want to thank you to give me the oportunity to be in your classes, beacuse I don`t know if you remmember that I asked you to be there. I`m very happy with my work and results, besides I know I hve a LOT to improve.
Thank you! And I hope we can meet next year!
Well.. first,one of the things I like to have learned this year was how to write essays. I think I have improved although I have a lot to learn yet. I must admit that at the bigining I hated this thing about writing essays, but during the year through the practice started to like me more.
Second,as Aye said, I also liked to learn something about China,Europe and South Africa.About spanglish, teenagers and things that are really interesting to know about.
Third,the story I personally liked more was ¨Lord of the flies¨, I could connected it with the film ¨Lost¨ that I saw and was a story that somehow caught me. ¨The invisible man¨ was also interesting although I didn´t liked all the fantasy that a man gets invisible. And the one I didn´t liked it at all was ¨The cruicible¨ I don´t know exactly why but it seemed to me a story very heavy.
Forth, I liked the fact that we could talked in class and share our opinions. I found it a way to improve our english and to learn how to express ourselfs.
And fifth, I loved our friday´s brakfast! was the best of the year having a time to chat with my classmates and janine about whatever. A time to relax and eat delicious thing :) I really liked it.
One thing I didn´t like was poetry although we didn´t have too much about this.
And well I can´t forget to thank you janine for support us all this year. I will admit that I was a beat irresponsable with my homework and the delivery of the essays, so thank you for your pacience :)
During the English class this year, i've learned lots of interesting things. I've learned how to write an essay, i've read lots of interesting books and articles. But the most important thing i've learned undoubtly..... is "not to forget any fotocopies or any book", otherwise, janine would get mad at me and would punish me.
Throughout the year many things were spoken in class, all of them helped us on getting envolved in the class and in feeling more confident about our english abielities, skills, and in feeling more confident in the treatment we had with our teacher.Spanglish, China, South Africa, Europe, Enfotaintment, are some of the many subjects we studied this year. This fascinating subjects were the ones which helped us to imporve our essay writting procces, by giving usefull and precise information.
Essyas are undoubtly the great obstacle we all had this year, but hopefully we were able to improve our writting skills.At least in my case, I was able to improve my writting which was poor and uninteresting to the reader.But by practising... a lot!!! And by handing lots of practice drafts ,and due to all the writting we did through the year, I was able to improve at least a little bit my writting abilities.
If I had to qualify this year I would say that, it was a great year, where I learned lots of stuff, and which helped me to become in the great person I am now!!!
And i'm glad to say happy holidays Janine..And see you next year.
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