Dairy Self-Assessment

In this project, it is the longest articles I have ever written. Writing dairies is a project that I never did before, and I had many problem at the beginning. After I finished the project and print it out, I felt very proud of myself to made this project successfully.

In this project, I created a new character for main character. She is almost the copy of myself, so I can write the dairies easier. I wrote about some things that truly happened at me in her dairies, and I tried to write the things that I want to do in her dairy too. For example, I do not good at painting at the real life, but I want to have the ability to draw some beautiful pictures. So I make my character a painter.

Beside this, I become more sensitive about details. When I tried to write something like "Sookan was beautiful in her dress", I do not just write the sentence. I wrote "The Korean girl who wore a pale blue silk dress looked like a princess" for instant. Also, I did this in expressing my feelings. I try to avoid using too much simple sentence to express character's feeling in this project, and I write about details like their actions to show the feeling. I feel very confident about these two parts.

About clarity in my project. Even though I have checked dairies, I still think there are many mistakes in the project. Sometime when I am writing, I thinks in Chinese then translate to English. This made many of my dairies have very small mistakes. For example, I forgets add "s" or "ed" after verbs a lot. I really need more time to check my dairies carefully to find these mistakes. On the other hand. I am very careful about comma splice, run-on sentence in this project. I think I did a good job at this part in my project. I can make the quality much better if there is more time for me to check the grammer in my dairies.

I feel very confident for my length because it is definitely the longest writing I have done. I always think that 50 words are not enough for me to write a complete entry, and I always write around 100 words for an entry.

In conclusion, this project extends my knowledge about writing. I feel more confident to write a long article. I know about how to write things in detail, and how to write a good description. This project helps me learn a lot.

Writing Center Review

Rujian, Zhou

12/13/2015

Visited The Writing Center

Last Tuesday, I visited the writing center of our school. I have heard about writing center a lot last year. My English teacher, Mr.G told me that I can get a lot of help from there, and my Writing teacher Mrs.B also said that. But this time is my first visit to the writing center.

The writing center is on the second floor of Humanity. It is different from the other classrooms where near it. Inside of the writing center, there is a long wooden table at the center of it. Around the table, there are 4 tall chairs. The first impression it gave me was warm and welcome. Also, there was a flower perfume smell in the room. I felt very comfortable when I talked about my dairies with Mrs.Swift.

Firstly, Mrs.Swift let me read about my dairies to her. This is a very helpful way to check articles, I did it at my dorm room too. Because I had checked my diary many times before I came, including I did reviews at class, I felt very confident when I read it. I thought that there was no a single mistake in my dairies, and I did not need to spend more than 10 minutes at here. But I was proven wrong just about 5 second later. It was my second sentence of my entry, I wrote “There are no changes, always the same people, same building and same life.” I was complete shock by this, even though I had checked a lot in the dairies, there was still such a careless mistake. I was very impressive, and I quickly changed “are” into “were” before Mrs.Swift said anything.

After that, the real big problem came. When I read the last sentence of my entry “Today, my journey had started”, Mrs. Swift stopped me. Then she said “ Here, because people always write diary at night; usually before going to bed, it is better to use present time.” I was confused and had thought a lot about this sentence myself too. I talked about my reason to use “had” in here to Mrs.Swift, which I thought my whole entry used in past time, so it was reasonable to use past time here. In this way, the times fit each other in the entry. Mrs.swift pointed out that, even though the other sentences were in past time, to this sentence it was happening when the time I was writing. So it was present time to me, as the writer. It was a really confuse and difficult question to me. Mrs.Swift noticed that and gave me more examples about this. Moreover, when she saw I was still not understand of it, she went to her room and took a grammar book from there.

At the moment she was looking for the grammar book, K who is my classmate came to the writing center too. I was very happy that I had a partner with me. After all, I felt very nervous about being one to one with a teacher. K’s coming let me relaxed a lot. Then Mrs.Swift brought her grammar book out. She talked with K when she saw him. After that, she explained about my mistakes to me and K. She told us a sentence that she read from book “People always live in the past”. She explained that, everything people did became the history at the moment the people did it. It was a very hard to understand this sentence, but it explained my problem. I knew that there were several other sentences that I used in past tense, so I went to correct those sentence when Mrs.Swift began checking K’s dairy.

I was in the writing center for about 45 minutes, I left there a little early before my free period end because I needed to change my art class at academy office. I did not realize I had stayed there for how long after I looked at the clock on my ipad. Even though I stayed there for almost a class’ time, I only read and checked my 2 dairies with Mrs.Swift. But I had learnt a lot, except the past tense confusing. Mrs.Swift also talked about comma splice, and run-on sentence to us. She was very conscientious when she listened me reading my diaries and found the mistakes immediately. Moreover, I was impressive that she explained to me very detailed. She used a lot of examples, like she had so many ways to teach me that her idea would run out.

After that, I realized that why so many teachers encourage students in Cheshire Academy go to visit the writing center. It is a place that can bring your articles a lot of changes. I felt my dairies became much better before I went there. And the teachers in the writing center were very kind and patient, they can listen or read your articles for an hour and find every mistakes. The writing center can help student a lot, if you have a chance and want to improve your writing, I suggest you to visit there as well.

Grammar about Sentences

Comma Splice: Use of a comma to join two independent clauses

I have a lot of homework to do, it is nearly end of the marking period.

(I have a lot of homework to do, because it is nearly end of the marking period.)

Run-on Sentence: Two or more independent clauses are joined without an appropriate punctuation or conjunction

I called my mother I talked with her about my life at school.

(I called my mother and talked with her about my life at school.)

Sentence Fragment: Sentence that can not stand by itself. It doesn't have any independent clauses.

Worked very hard every day that could not have enough sleep.

(He worked very hard every day that could not have enough sleep.)

Independent Clause: A clause that can stand by itself as a simple sentence.

I play soccer.

Dependent Clause: A clause that provides an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence.

He is the boy who broke the window.

Dairy Fist Draft

Rujian, Zhou

11/30/2015

English II

Mrs. Guarino

Dairies

Inter:

I had a dream when I was small, I wanted to go out of country and see the world. I got used to views in my hometown, there were always the same, same people, same building and same life. And this morning October 29th, my dream came true, I arrived at JFK airport in New York and  I was ready to begin my studying in America.

I was so excited when I got off the plane, I was going to enter a new world that I never know before. I felt I was exploring a new world. Then, I saw the securities in the airport, they were people who different from people in my city. They spoke English, they had brown eyes, blue eyes, and golden hair. As well as guide sign in the airport, all of the words are in English. I was clearly realized that I was not in China, but America.

America was a whole new world for me, I could not wait to start my first year in my school. My journey had started!

Sep 1st

Dear Diary:

Today was my first day at school, I was so excited that I could not sleep last night. I did not know what will happen in the school year, but I was sure that I would have a great time at this school.

At the morning, I went to the administration building, as called “The Castle”  to check in with teachers. The administration building is a big, European structure made by gray stone and has four turrets on it. I had never seen a building like this in China, I realized I was in a different country again. Then, all the students and teachers attended the opening ceremony of the school year. All of us went to a church, which was a classic Catholic church with polychrome stained glass window, as well as people who song Hymn in the center. With the Hymn and the sunshiny from the stained glass, I felt the church was the most holy place in the world.

It was a great start for the school, I believed that this year would have a lot of good things happen.

Sep 2nd:

Dear Diary:

Today was the end of the orientation session. I had learnt a lot about my school. I knew about my schedule, the location of classrooms and other things that I needed to prepare for the school. It was very helpful for me, an international student to have orientation. It helped me know what I should do and how was the school like.

At the afternoon, all the student were in the assembly hall for the final orientation session. At the middle of the session, a asian looking girl who wore a pale blue silk made dress went into the hall with a sound of opening door. She had beautiful long black hair, and big brown eyes. She looked like a Chinese, I was curious about her and more importantly, I felt at ease to see someone liked me in the school. Because she looked so pretty in her silk dress, all of the students in the hall was looking at her. Then, the girl’s face burned with embarrassment, she must be very shy.

Beside this surprise, the orientation session went on good. The school was going to officially start, there were still many things I needed to do.

Sep 7th:

Dear Diary:

This was the end of my first week at my American school. It was a tough week, I had so many troubles in the school.

Firstly, I could not understand what my teacher saying at class. They always speak too fast for me to translate words in my head. Because of my poor English, I could not speak a lot to my classmate, and sometime I could not understand what they were talking about either. It was the worst time for me, I felt helpless. I did not know what I should do in the school, and I wondered that my decision to come here is right or not.

The only thing I could do was keep practicing my English, because all the causes of troubles were related to my poor English. I had to spend more time than other on studying and used all my rest time to read my English book.

Sep 30th:

Dear Diary:

After a month’s studying, my English had improved. Even though there were still many problems with my grammar and speaking, I was glad that my hard work had reply.

One of the things had helped me was my English class. I was so happy about there was English class in the school. In this way, I had more times to learn English and get help from my English teacher. Also, I was more and more familiar with the environment, the lifestyle of living in America. I still remember I had heavy jet lag at the first few days I came here. My life got a little easier than I just came.

I was very glad about my improvement in English. And I wanted to improve more, then I could speak more at the class and makes friends with my classmates.

Oct 1st:

Dear Diary:

October 1st is the National Day of China. I remembered my old school always had a big celebration at the National Day each year.

I thought about the National Day at last year, my old school setted up a sports game. Each classes made their own uniforms for students, and we wore the uniform during the sports game. I thought about one of friend at my class named Owen. He was a tall, handsome boy who love playing tennis. In the sports game, he signed up for the tennis game. I went to support him as well as some of my classmates. We were very excited, every time he got a point we shout together, and we wave our uniforms to him. He won the game at last, I ran to him and hug him.

It had been a month since I came to America, and now I was thinking about all the things happened in China. I missed my country very much.

Oct 9th:

Dear Diary:

I had one new friends today. Her name is Ellen, she is also a freshman. She is tall and had a beautiful blue eyes with golden hair.

I met Ellen in our Biology class, we were assigned into one group to do an experiment. Before I saying anything, she introduced herself with a big smile “Hi, I am Ellen. You look like my roommate Sookan, both you and her has such a beautiful black hair” I was shocked by this frank greeting. Then, we talked to each other after school. She invited me come with her and some of her friends to have some drinks. Ellen is a very outgoing girl and she has a lot of friends. She treats every people she meets with smile, and she is friendly to all of us.

I was very happy to know Ellen. It is very nice to have her as a friend.

Oct 10th:

Dear Diary:

Today, I went to the post office and got a letter from my mother.

At the first sentence of the letter, my mother wrote “I miss you.” When I read that, I felt my heart was bleeding. I missed my mother, and all my family members very much. I could not find a word to describe how much I missed them. So when I read about this sentence, all the feeling that I hided deep in my heart came out. I could not control myself from crying. It felt like I was away from my family for decades, at that moment I thought I would give up anything if I could come home.

My mother wrote about her and other people lives in China. She wrote that they were all right and all I need to do was studying. She did not want my to worry about anything at home. After I finish the letter, I saved it very carefull in a box and placed it under my bed. The letter became my little treasure.

Oct 21st:

Dear Diary:

I was so happy today, there was a big project in my world literature class and I got full score in this project.

My teacher - Professor Bennett asked us to write an essay about our understanding of literature. Because it was my first big assignment which worth a lot of points, I was very nervous about it. I went to ask help from Professor Bennett at the first day’s afternoon. I was worried about that I wasn’t a native English speaker, and I am still learning English, how could I write an essay? Then Professor Bennett told me about all the main points and importances in an essay that I should pay attention. He was very patient and answered all my questions. At the end, he listed all those things on a paper and gave it to me. And I found it was already evening.

I was moved by Professor Bennett, and I did all the things to the best in my essay. Today, when I got the result, I knew I earned it and I could not did it without Professor Bennett’s help.

Oct 31th:

Dear Diary:

It has been 2 months since I came to America. My life at the first month was full of struggle, but now it got much better.

My English has improved a lot. I gained confidence by the essay at Professor Bennett’s class. Then I felt more comfortable about talking with other people. I could understand my teachers’ speaking at class. I was glad about my improvement in English. At the other hand, Ellen and I became closer and closer, we always talked about Kyle who was her boy friend. Moreover, Ellen introduced Sookan to me. Sookan is also a very good girl, but she is always busy and we could not meet her.

This was a wonderful month.

Thanksgiving Break Diary

Nov 27th, 2015

Dear Diary:

  The last 2 days, I went to a field trip with my parents. It was my father's idea that we should go out of the city and spent time with each other. So we went to Huizhou, where is a countryside city near Guangzhou. It had very clean air and blue sky compare to Guangzhou. I could smile the fruits and vegetables from the air. There were also many green trees and big farms in Huizhou. I was very excited about the field trip, I did not go out with my family for a long time. I talked with my mother for a long time. I talked about my life in Cheshire, what did I feel in America, what I did in my class and all the funny things happened in school. My mother was very happy to hear the stoies.

  We bought some vegetables and 3 chickens from a local farmer before we came back. I was interested in the chickens very much. It is rare to see a live chicken in city. Those chicken had very smooth golden fur. When I touched them, I felt like I was touching an expensive well-done carpet. When we went back home, my father placed them in a big box at our garden. We wanted to fed those chicken for a while. 

  I was very happy about the field trip, it was nice to have some time with my family. Coming home is always the best.

Thanksgiving Break

  In this Thanksgiving break, I went back to Guangzhou China, where is my hometown. I had  a lot of fun there. I ate breakfast tea, watched a movie with my friends and had a field trip with my familly. The most happy thing was the field trip, because I did not go out with my family for a long time. We went to Huizhou, where is a courtyside near Guangzhou. The air there was very clean and had a lot of trees and farms. It was great to leave a city for a while, that you can enjoy the nature. Also, because there was not wifi, I could not play my phone. But I had more time that I could talk with my family about the my 3 months in America. We stayed in Huizhou fro 2 days, we visted some farms and ate local foods. Before we left, my father bought a lot vegetables and 3 chickens from a farmer. The vegetables were very fresh, green and delicious. And the chickens were strong, my father put them in our garden when we back at home and fed them. Those chickens were very clever, after you let them went to find foods, they would go back to the boxes where they slept. It was not common for me to see live chickens, I thought it was very interesting to keep the chickens in my house. I felt like I was a farmer.