Week 11

It have been eleventh weeks since I have started my 20 Percent Project. . They are eleven weeks!! It seems really long, but I feel that it wasn't that long... This week was one of the shortest weeks for me in the school year.  On Monday there was no school, and on Thursday and Friday I was gone in a trip so I didn't have the chance to work after school.  Beside that on Tuesday and Wednesday Monica and Mariela couldn't work with me.
but the good news that I gave Monica the flash cards and she found them really useful!  And she said that they helped her to memorize them even better.  The next week I will absolutely work with Mariela, and I will make flash cards for her.
At the same time, I will do flsh cards for the alphabet.  Hopefully everything will be well done by May.

Week 10

The first semester is over, and a new semester came. This week is the second week of the second semester but the tenth week since I have started my project.  This week was shorter than other weeks because we did not have school on Monday.  during this week  I could not work with Mariela for some reason, but I worked with Monica, but for only short time.
Now I know what is the hard part that Monica is struggling with and stands in her way to speak Arabic, Which is that she can't say all what she learned from her memory and most of the phrases she doesn't know what they mean if she does not have the list in front of her so she can read them.  Because in the list, the phrases are in Arabic and in English.  I made the flash cards but I did not give them to any of the girls yet.  But now I think that Monica needs the flash cards so hopefully that will help her know the phrases better than when she reads them from the list.
I kinda of having the same thing when it comes to memorize words, but to be honest I am better than my students.  For example, I took French before and I did memorize phrases very well, also I know some phrases in Japanese that my uncle's wife taught me.  Actually she did the same that I am doing with my students but the difference is that she taught me only once about twenty phrases and I practiced them by my self. Beside that I can count to ten in Japanese.  And the good thing that I still remember some of them after more than 4 years!!  Also I learned some phrases in Turkish by myself, while I have watched Turkish series that are translated to Arabic!!  That might be the reason that I don't think that learning some phrases in a new language is very hard.
Now it's February 13,14, and I have decided to finish working on the phrases within the next couple weeks.  Then I will teach them the alphabet and the numbers.  And the rest of the days, I might teach them some random words.

Week 9

After couple weeks of break, we came back to continue on working on my project.  This is the ninth week since I have started my project. That was a long break and then we had the finals and to be honest I haven't work on my project throughout this time.  I have taught Monica all the phrases that I taught to Mariela and even  a few more. Monica learn fast, but Mariela memories better.  But the good thing that I see Monica more in the school and so many times we talk in Arabic using the phrases that she have learned.  At the same time, I have noticed that Monica forget easily.  So without practicing she lose what she learned. But Mariela still remember everything even though we haven't work after a long time ago.
I always try to keep my students willing to learn and adding some fun for the weekly lesson.  Also as I like it when someone encourage me, I am encouraging both girls to learn.  I have talked to Mariela and she wants to continue on working with me on my project.  So I am thinking of plan for a day where I meet both girls together, especially that they almost know the same phrases.  Now I just want to keep on track with Mariela, and keep working with Monica to make her memories what she have learned so that she can use them easier.  I have also made the flash cards and I will give it to both girls this week.  Beside that I will try my best to make both girls memorize everything really well by the end of this month so that I can teach them the alphabet during March and in April and May we will be working on other simple words and sentences.