Estoy Enferma

Estoy enferma

Finally I learned how to say something cool in Spanish class. I actually learned it Thursday but forgot to post it in the blog! It means "I'm sick" I was happy to learn it because I've had a cold for the past couple of weeks.

I have to write a persuasive essay for McLaughlin. I have no idea what my topic is going to be either. We had to write a thesis statement so I made up a really bad one that's not going to be what I actually use.

The Spanish news is that Friday I freaked everyone out again (or was it thursday?... No, friday) we always have to make flashcards with our new vocabulary after we take a test so thursday night I did but I also had to type them up and IM them to a friend who had forgotten his book. Therefore, I actually wrote the words twice. Usually I can remember quite a few words just by doing the flashcards but Friday I was remembering them really well and of course all the people in the *cough cough*LD*cough cough* spanish class started freaking out they were all like "what did you do go and study 'till four in the morining." Well obviously they think I don't have a life. For their information I do and I can't help it that Language is my gift. So yeah I'm telling them "no I don't" and the whole time I'm thinking "Just shut up you idiots.." It's not that I was embarrassed I actually kind of enjoyed the attention. Yet in a way it's kind of annoying... ah well. I've got to get off and let my mom on so g'night all....

Russian (yay) Yesterday and English Teacher

So we had Russian after school yesterday. This week there were only four people as opposed to last time's 15. Ah well. We practeced writing the letters of the alphabet and we also practiced writing words to help us with our cursive. That's about it.

I have made an executive descision. I'm including English. I can't not include it anymore. (Yes, I know that's a double negative.) Here's why... My hobbie in English class is that whenever we have a test with short answers, I always pick the short answer where I can write an opinion. That way, I can say whatever I want and get points for it just so long as I support my answer. I keep doing it for one reason... Reaction. Mrs. McLaughlin always writes some rather interesting comments on my short answer answers. Today however, I got the best one of all, and I actually wrote something halfway decent. So here it is. The question is underlined, my answer is in regular font and her comment is in italics. Enjoy!

Do you think Bradbury is too pessimistic about technology? Support your opinion with details from [The Pedestrian] and from the real world.

No because I can see his point. In the story, it talks about how everyone sits at home watching something similar to television. No one does anything else. I can definitely see where he's coming from because one thing people in the real world like to do is sit around and watch T.V. More people watch T.V. than read. It's rather scary if you think about it.
Yes! Also scary is how they're in denial about it! Scarier-the books on the best-seller list are mostly garbage!

So there you have it. Personally, I found it all quite funny and so even though this is mostly experiences with foreign language, I have to talk about English just because of this. Whenever I get a new one, I'll post it and when I find the others that I did, I will post them too! whoo hoo! Cheap entertainment!

Reviews:Movies:La Vita è Bella

La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful)
Directed By: Roberto Benigni
Staring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi
Languages: Italian, English Subtitles, German (German not subtitled)


This movie is absolutly wonderful! Guido Orefice usues humor and surprise to court and eventually marry the beautiful Dora. Five years later they have a son and the Nazi's have taken power. Guido and his family are taken to a concentration camp. There, Guido tries to comfort his son by telling him they are playing a game.
Essentially this movie holds the theme of sarcifice. It does a good job of telling about the horrors of the holocaust without getting to violent. I know, I know, The Holocaust was a terrible event. I've read. But still this movie does a good job. I don't think that blood is usually neccesary. Much can be left up to the imagination. Though this story isn't really about the son, more about Guido, it tells about the Holocaust from the son's point of view.
Overall Fluency Rating: 5

Weeked

So, over the weekend I had some interesting things happen. First off, Saturday evening my Mom, Dad, and I went to my brother's house to eat, hang out, and watch movies. One of the movies we watched was one I've been wanting to see... Life is Beautiful. IT WAS REALLY GOOD! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel warm and fuzzy. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how good it was. I'll be posting the review because it's in italian.

Next fall, I'm planning on doing post-secondary. Which is when I go to college for free and get both high school and college credit. I'm planning on attending Kent State. My problem however, was that I can't access the online catalog from my computer. So I went with mom to work yesterday and got on the computer there and accessed the catalog. RUSSIAN! Kent state has RUSSIAN! They also have ITALIAN!! And French, and Spanish and Japanese. I'm going to attempt to either take Russian or Italian next year! Yay!

Fun in Study Hall

During exam week, we have 3 exams a day and we have study halls during the lunch periods which are 4/5 6/7 and 8/9. the people who have lunch go to lunch and everyone who has a class one of those periods goes to the class to do nothing. 8/9 is when I usually have French. Now that you know all of that, here's the story.

Madame wants us to do something productive while we're in study hall in her room. She had some games out (in french of course) that I assume were out because AP is in there the period before us. So my friend Joye and I started looking at a game called 'fish.' "Poisson' in french. We asked Madame if we could play and she said yes just so long as we played it in french. Joye, me and two or three other girls spent the period going back and forth with "donne-moi tout les cartes de..." and then inserting the name such as "René Requin" It was actually really fun. Not only did we ask those things but we threw in other words here and there. Le salle bête when someone stole three of the four cards you needed. Zut when the same thing happened. Yup. Good times. Don't know when or if we'll be able to do it again. But it was fun!

Exams

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Okay, I feel much better now... Exams started today. They were supposed to start yesterday but didn't because of a snowday. Unfortunetly, the snow also cancelled Russian for the week. Jon-Michael and I were sad.

Took the Spanish exam today among others. It was pretty easy but I think I messed up on one part. Shields also showed us the test we took Tuesday. I got 36 out of 35. Whoop de doo! I don't take the French exam until next Tuesday. I'm going away with my youth group for the weekend. I can't wait.

One thing I've noticed since starting this blog; The french door is open more often. I think about all the language stuff and then I start thinking about french, then I start realizing that I know how to speak quite a bit of French. It's all rather exciting!

Did I mention that I watched the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast in French the other night? It was rather interesting. I was surprised at how much I actually understood.

Afterschool Meeting

Five girls meet with Madame after school. She wants us all to take the National French Test as I think I've mentioned before. So we had our weekly meeting and Haley brought snacks. Boy she brought a bunch too! Chips and Italian ice, cookies too. French three had french club today so Madame had some stuffe called Buch de Noel. It was really good and she gave us all the recipe.

We learned about opposites today. Learned about a bunch of new words. I had to leave early and go to another meeting elswhere in the school. Now there are two other people reading Chair de Poule books.

When I walked into spanish today, I about passed out! It was so hot! I was wearing a hoodie too! ACK! Spanish usually isn't as exciting as French, but then my class is really slow. I joke that it's the LD spanish class. (No offence to anyone with a learning disability) It's made up of preps and guys who sit around and play Halo 2 all day. Mr. Shields gave us this worksheet that had English phrases we were supposed to translate. When I finished, no one else was done. So I amused myself by translating the sentences into French too! Man, I have no life!

Books and Recipe

Madame is getting more books! She showed me the catalog today and she's getting like ten books! I can't wait until they come in. Then I can read them! For now, she gave me another Chair de Poule book. In english the title is Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes. In french, it's La Revanche Des Lutins. I havn't started it yet.

In our Cahier (workbook) today, we read a recipe. It sounded really good so I thought I'd post it. I'll let you know when I try it.
Salade Niçoise (pour 4 personnes)
-Prenez un grand bol.
-Dans ce bol, mettez quelues feuilles de salade.
-Coupez quatre tomates en tranches et mettez-les dans le bol.
-Ajoutez d'autres feuilles de salade.
-Coupez deux oeufs durs en trances et ajoutez-les à la salade.
-Ajoutez aussi des anchois, du thon et, si vous voulez, du jambon coupé en cubes.
-Ajoutez du sel et du poivre.
-Sur cette salade, versez une cuillère de vinaigre et trois cuillères d'huile.
-Mettez la salade su réfrigérateur une demi-heure.
-Votre salade est prête. Vous pouvez la serbir.
Bon appétit!


see, it sounds really good except for the anchovies. Even the tomatoes sound good and I don't even like them. Here's the new vocab I learned.
coupez- Cut
Versez- Pour
l'huile- Oil
prête- ready

Spanish class has been okay the last couple of days. Mr. Shields is sick. He was at school yesterday, but not tuesday or today. It's rather boring sitting there for an hour, watching a movie and answering questions.

Reviews:Books:Prends Garde Au Bonhomme De Neige

Prends Garde Au Bonhomme De Neige
By: R.L. Stine
Translated By: J. Lussier
Language: French

This is in the Chair de Poule series. In english, that is Goosebumps. I guess you could say that this the the first "real" book I've read in French. (I don't count those thin little 32 page books that Madame was giving me.)

This book was surprisingly good. It pulled me in and made me want to know what was going to happen next. I wanted to know why there were strange snowmen outside of each house in the little village, and why there was a strange man living on the mountain with a white wolf. Basically, this story is about a girl and her aunt who move from montreal to an unnamed little town where it snows all the time. The girl hears strange stories about a giant evil snowman who lives on the summet of the mountain. The story progresses from there.

Overall Fluency Rating: 3

**Special Note** When Madame gave me this book she told me it was hard. Personally I didn't find it hard but then I'm one of those types who reads all the time.

What I Did Today En Français

Configuring electrons is fun! Alright, so just for fun I told my mom in french what I did when I got home from school today. Of course she didn't understand it and told me to "tell" her. Since she doesn't appreciate the fact that I can speak french, I have decided to post it here. So with out further ado...
Mon Après-Midi
Premier, j'ai couri. J'ai fait des animaux. J'ai nettoié mon bureau un peu. Finalement, j'ai joué du piano et J'ai fait mes devoirs.

So that was my afternoon. whoop de doo!

I just realized how much french I've been putting into this blog. Sorry but I know more french than anything else and I can't really Type sign language now can I? But I do have a sentence or two that I have retained for use if I ever travel to Spain.
Mi hermano es gordo y feo
Mi padre toca la guitarra.

That's all I've got.

Reviews:Movies:"La Belle et La Bête"

La Belle et La Bête
Directed by: Jean Cocteau
Starring: Jean Marais, Josette Day
Language: French with English Subtitles

This is a wonderful film. It could even be called a work of art. Yes, it is older, yes, it's in black and white, but that just adds to the beauty of it. This is the typical story of beauty and the beast. Belle asks her father to bring her a rose from his trip. He happens to pluck one out of the garden of the beast... Things go from there. There are some interesting things done with the story however, such as the beast's smoking hands. There are many interesting camera shots, such as one that done through the window of a litter that's being carried. There are also some interesting effects. Though nothing like Star Wars, they look pretty cool. If One happens to see the dvd version of this movie, it is also worthwhile to check out at least a little of the Philip Glass opera that is included. A downside is that the movie can be slightly confusing at times. When my family watched it, we didn't quite understand the whole thing with the smoking hands and had to go back to the opening and watch it again.
Some humor, love, romance, and an interesting ending all make this a great film for everyone!

Overall Fluency Rating: 4

Funny French Story

Yeah. So I have a few things to review. I'll be posting them as separate well...Posts. Today in French class, Madame said En Français of course something about how she was going to have one girl in our class sit in the front of the room. (the girl in question talks and laughs all the time.)Madame said that after the girl was sitting up front, she would attach a leash to her and pull it everytime the girl talks. Kind of like a dog. I know this sounds kind of cruel but here's the really funny part. The girl didn't understand what Madame said and started laughing. I mean COME ON!! Okay. Humorous French story for the day. Maybe it's one of those things you have to be there for. I'm not sure.

Goals

I have several goals for myself and language.

1. Learn Swahili
2.Go to France
3. Dream in another language
4. Read "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in French
5. Speak Fluent Russian
That's it. five simple things. At least for right now. I think there was something else I was going to post but I forget what it was. Oh well.

Doors

There are doors in my head. One door for each language I know. When I start speaking one of the languages, the door or sometimes I call it a drawer, Opens, and the language comes out. When I'm done, English sounds strange to me but eventually I go back to my dream-language. There is a lot behind my sign language door, and quite a bit behind the one labeled French. There isn't as much behind the Spanish door, and hardly anything behind Russian. It will come.

Today four other girls and I stayed after school for a french thing. Madame (our french teacher) wants us all to take this National French Test that is like a competition or something. I'm not real sure. But yeah, it was really fun, because we get to learn all this extra stuff. YAY! I eat language for breakfast!

I've been reading a Goosebumps book in French "Chair de poule" en français it's called "Prends Garde Au Bonhomme De Neige." It's a lot more interesting than some of the other books Madame has given me to read. (I beg books off of her.) It drove me nuts because there was this whole thing about this killer snowman and the main character of the book finally figured out why everyone was afraid to go to the Summet of the Mountain.

I think Madame was happy because when we were at the French Meeting, I told her how I liked the Goosebumps books. She said that was good and then asked if I understood them. I said "I don't understand some of the words, but I get the gist of it."

Alright. Mom will kill me if I don't go and get dinner so Au revoir, adios, De Sverdania for now.

Beginnings

I should've started this a long time ago. Back when I first started to learn French. But, c'est la vie... (did I spell that right?)

I absolutly love languages. I think I always have I just didn't notice it until recently. When I was younger, My family would go to county-wide church functions. I always wanted to sit so I could see the interpreters for the Deaf. My mother told me, though I don't remember, that when I was really little my grandmother taught me a song in norwegian. My mother said that I was 'bi-lingual' in that song. That I would sing it in norweigan and then switch to English then back to norwegian. I think that's kind of cool and I wish I could still do it. Just for fun. Also when I was younger, I would read books about codes. I'd read other books too, just because I love to read but I remember one book in particular that had all kinds of ways to send secret messages. But enough sentiment.

I know uh...*counts on fingers* five languages? yeah. I don't claim to be multi-linguistic though. Not yet.

Fluent In:
Sign Language
English

Working on
French
Spanish
Russian


Okay, I can say pretty much what I want in SL (Sign Language) I've been taking French for two consecutive school years and I've read several books, though nothing big like Notre Dame de Paris or anything like that. This is my first year taking Spanish, and my Spanish teacher also knows Russian and he's teaching a group of about 10 people Wednesday afternoons after school. We've had one lesson of that so far (we just started) It's great! Except that I pronounce the words with a french accent.

English is what I like to call my 'Dream-Language.' My uncle's mother was from Germany and she said she knew she was American when she dreamed in English. That's not the only reference I've heard to dreams and language, so I affectionetly call English my dream language or the language that I dream in. It is my 'native tongue' My goal is too dream in another language.

Okay. That's it for now. I have a lot more to say about things like Learning to Read, but It's 11:46PM and I've got to go to bed so I can go to school tomorrow. I had to write a report and that's the only reason I'm up.