​Anjali Phadke's P​ortfolio

 

At the Dayton Regional STEM School, there is one specific class that is a little more unique than other classes offered at other schools. That class is Chinese. Now, Chinese in itself is growth, where we learned a completely new language. How cool is a new language? Very cool. In fact, this is the language in which I have grown this year. In Chinese class this year, I have grown in being able to learn a completely new language and transferring that knowledge to the final presentation about my family.

 

Although Chinese is a completely new language, the base is still the same. Before I learned this language, or more in depth from last year, the only language I fluently knew was English. When I worked on presentations or projects in English, the variety was endless, because we used English in every class, all day every day. But, now, because I learned a specific set of words in Chinese, I was able to apply that knowledge to a Prezi about my Family Tree. Basically, my growth used to be learning new grammar in English, but now, it is learning grammar, words, phrases, you name it, in Chinese. Basically, I have been learning a new language, which has probably been one of the best experiences in school for me. Because of this new growth, I have fun with Chinese. I text my other classmates or 同学 in Chinese (中文). I talk to my friends in Chinese, and sometimes we talk in Chinese so others don’t know what we are saying. I guess learning Chinese has changed me educationally and emotionally. Overall, I am so glad I had the chance to learn the beautiful language of Chinese.  

 

Besides Chinese class, there hasn’t really been a chance to use Chinese in any other classes. Because of this, I cannot really relate my growth specifically to Chinese in other classes. But, because other classes use English, I have been able to learn new words and phrases in all of my classes. For example, in Conceptual Physics, new words or meanings that relate to Physics have been a part of my learning. Like, Transit Photometry, or Half-Life. I guess you could say that the base is the same. Learning a new language is basically the same as learning a previously learned language. But, I can say that the same experience as I have had using Chinese is the same as I have in English, using new words to confuse others. It is a joyous feeling.

 

One endeavor that supported my growth in Chinese was my Family Tree Project. The goal of this project was to either make up a family or show our own family in a presentation. Basically, we made a presentation describing 10 family members. We created 5 sentences to describe them and we made either a PowerPoint or a prezi to show our family. This presentation included 5 sentences in Chinese and the English translation of those 5 sentences. Towards the beginning of 2nd quarter, when all of this started, we were given a worksheet of about 44 family relationship names. This worksheet gave us a preview of what we were going to do towards the end of 2nd quarter. Our teacher first told us about this project by giving us a rubric and a guide on the project. Some of our requirements were: You will need to know the vocabulary from family members and relationships as well as the grammar required to say all things about your own families. You can do your project using power point, prezi, and construction paper and bind it in to a small book, or on a poster. Photo of your family members, you need at least 10 family members on your family tree, including yourself. You can also include one pet. If you don’t have photo of all the members of your family, you can draw their pictures instead. If you don’t feel comfortable to describe your family, you can invent a family instead of describing your actual family members. Or you can choose famous people to be part of your family tree, or you can even invent a family where you are the head of household and describe your own future children and grandchildren. We had 3 workdays in class to finish. Then we presented in front of the whole class over a span of 3 days. During the presentation process, we were allowed to look at note cards if we couldn’t remember exactly what the Chinese characters were. We dressed professionally and spoke for about 2-3 minutes in front of our class. This whole process was a valuable learning experience because we spoke in Chinese the whole time. So, you had to pay attention during the presentation, no matter who was presenting.

 

My first artifact is the worksheet that we got at the beginning of this year. This fits into the learning process, because it was really the first thing we got that was even slightly related to the project. This assignment was a stepping stone into the actual project Because of this assignment; I was able to realize that I needed to practice more in Chinese. This assignment was also a stepping stone for me as it made me realize that I had to try harder. This worksheet has 44 names for family members. Here is a list of 10: yeye (which means grandfather), nainai (which means grandmother), wai gong (which means grandfather), wai po (which means grandmother), gugu (which means aunt),fuqin (which means the professional version of dad), mu qin (which is the more professional version of mom), jiujiu( which means moms brother or your uncle), a yi (which is your aunt), and finally, erzi (which is your son) Now, this worksheet is not implying that you will or will not have kids, it is an approximate family tree based on family members that a list of people have.

 

My second artifact is the final prezi that I have, which I used for the presentation. This prezi was the final step of this project. Even though you may not be able to see the growth, I sure can. When I look at my prezi, I see 3 days’ worth of design elements that I flushed down the toilet. I see 4 hours of work the day before the assignment was due. I see all the effort and the growth that was put into this final project of the quarter. This was the final presentation in which all the work that I put in was shown. As an introductory to Chinese, if you know nothing about it, Mandarin Chinese is the official language of Mainland China and Taiwan, and is one of the official languages of Singapore and the United Nations. It is the most widely-spoken language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is sometimes referred to as a “dialect,” but the distinction between dialects and languages is not always clear. There are many versions of Mandarin spoken throughout China, and these are usually classified as dialects. There are other Chinese languages such as Cantonese (spoken in Hong Kong) that are very distinct from Mandarin. However, many of these languages use Chinese characters for their written form, so that Mandarin speakers and Cantonese speakers (for example) can understand each other through writing, even though the spoken languages are mutually unintelligible. Now that you know all about Chinese, I can tell you about some of the classroom content that was in the actual prezi. 这是我. This means This is I, or This is me. 我叫潘安吉. My name is Anjali Phadke. 我十四岁. I am 14 years old. 我是高中生. I am a High School student 我很埃. I am very short. Some of the classroom content we learned had to do with the worksheet. Some other classroom content that we learned was given  to us on the guide that our teacher gave to us. For example, Write sentences describing the appearance and personalities of all of your family members. (高gāo(tall)，矮ǎi (short)，胖pàng (fat)，瘦shòu (thin)，漂亮piào liàng (pretty)，帅shuài (handsome)， 丑chǒu (ugly), or information she gave us like 警察 police, 消防员 firefighter, 房地产经纪人 real estate agent, 建筑师 Architect, 电脑人员 computer programmer or IT , and 家庭主妇 house wife.

 

My first artifact is the worksheet we completed, is a very good example of my growth. This worksheet literally shows 44 terms that I learned. Because of this worksheet, I got the chance to learn 44 new terms that helped me transition into the final step which was the family tree Prezi. My second artifact is a good example of my growth because it shows the final representation of all that I learned in Chinese class. Out of the 44 terms that I had learned, I only used around 10 of them in my Prezi. I learned so much throughout this process and both my prezi and my worksheet show that.

 

Since I was 4 years old, I have always wanted to be a pediatrician. No matter how old I got, I have always wanted to be a pediatrician. Now, I do not know where I want to work as a pediatrician. I may work in America, or I might even work in China. The point is, because I learned more and more of the Chinese Language, it puts me one step closer to being fluent in the language. If I become fluent, then future Chinese patients I have who don’t speak English could be helped out and I could understand their problems instead of having to wait for a translator to come. This way, I could save time if the patient’s situation is dire. Because I go to the Dayton Regional STEM School, I will take Chinese the rest of my high school career. So, because of this project, I have taken one step closer to becoming fluent, which means that I will be better in my future Chinese classes in High School.

 

No person is ever fully fluent in a language. It is not possible. There are new words added to the dictionary every year, and there are many topics like Quantum Physics that have phrases that not a lot of people understand. Basically, I am not fully fluent in English, and I don’t think I will ever be fully fluent in Chinese either. As I go through the rest of my life, I will learn new phrases and words that will get me a step closer to becoming fluent, but I will never be fully fluent. I guess learning is all I have to focus on, and I am so glad I went to this school and got to learn this wonderful language. I love my teachers and I love the way they teach. For the rest of my high school career, all I can do is pay attention in class and hope I understand what the teacher is teaching. All I can really hope for is to get as close as I can to being fluent. Maybe then, I will be fully satisfied. But until then, I guess I just have to live long enough to be as fluent as I possibly can be.