Essays are due Thursday, Sept. 22. Bring them in electronically already set up to email. Students will email them to me from class.
Homework is to read chapters 4-5. The discussion was really sparse, really sparse. Only a few students shared passages from the book. Makes me think students didn't read the book (hum).
Come to class prepared Thursday.
Cyber-Assignments
1. Post a reflection on the peer review process from the point of view of the recipient and the advisor. What did you enjoy about the process? What did you gain? What did you learn about yourself? What will you do differently next time you have such an opportunity?
2. Secondly, students are to find a published review for Girl in Translation and review the author's website. Read the review and post a response. How doe Kwok's life experience inform her material?
Try out the COA Library Database (smile). There is more to research than google.com
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15 comments:
1. I actually found reviewing essays via Microsoft comment to be very convenient and I wish I had known about it before for other classes. I felt like it was just a better way to comment on essays because of how straight-forward it is and that you can actually put your criticisms right next to the sections.
2. Nicole Tsong of the Seattle Times gave a review of "Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok in which she mentions how the narrative voice of Kimberley Chang actually shifts and grows as she herself does throughout the book. Tsong also says that it is a solid immigration narrative as Kwok was able to draw from her own experience and provide vivid details.
Jean Kwok's website also has questions and answers in which she does confirm that while her story is a piece of fiction, she still drew many events from her own life experience and how Kimberley's was also largely drawn from Kwok's older brother as he and Kim were around the same age when they moved to America.
Adetona Adewale
Professor Sabir
Eng 1B
20 September 2011 Peer Review #1 Reflection
As the recipient of my pal Igor’s essay I know for a fact that peer reviews are an absolutely fabulous idea for college students to do because it shows you what other people such as yourself notice when they read your piece of work. What I enjoyed most about the peer review was the use of a grading scale format to try to judge what letter grade you should receive and I also gained a great deal of respect for my pal Igor’s writing capabilities. What this taught me about myself is that I could be a teacher because grading is rather enjoyable. But what I will do much differently next time is I will make sure I pick a very reliable partner like Igor to peer review with.
Adetona adewale
Professor sabir
Eng 1B
20 September 2011 Website Review
In the review read on the website it said that the author of “Girl in Translation” also hailed and emigrated from Hong Kong China as well. As well, she aspired to attain the American dream as well because she wanted what all immigrants want she wanted opportunity. She also felt as though she had a duty and responsibility to not just to assimilate but to also uphold the values her family’s culture as well. Finally they also were alike when it came to bilingualism in the United States.
Angela Stokes
My thoughts on Peer Reviews
During peer review, I was thankful to have Tia as my partner. She pointed out passages on my very rough paper that needed correcting (most of what she said I already knew) but the way she did it was very clear and very un-abusive to my sometimes inflated ego. As mentioned before, writing in my head is very different than writing for someone else. I would also like to mention; I now know why my Microsoft program cost a fortune, I had no idea what the review part was and I'm glad to have had Professor Sabir point it out to me.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50 T/TH
21 September, 2011
Thoughts on peer review
I felt having a period time to peer review someone else’s paper was a good thing. From the past experience at a different college, I found that having this peer review will beneficial for people. The comments that are given help provide guidance for the reader which will help them improve on the next paper that they write. As for what I learned about myself is that I tend to use words repeatedly. The next time we are able to do peer reviews I’ll make sure comment more so I can make sure that the other person will be able to continue to grow as a writer.
Alexander Jung
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 201 B 9:00-10:50 T/TH
21 September, 2011
Response to Girl in Translation review and to author’s website
The book review that I found talks about how the book opened the eyes of the reviewer to how life could be difficult if you moved to the United States from a different country. The reviewer points out that Kimberly shows perseverance and strength in trying to adapt to her new surroundings. Also the reviewers makes note on the relationship between Kimberly and her mother in that both of them support each other in their new lives and how they will depend on each other from time to time. In the end the reviewer states that this book is based on the author’s experience which is the reason why the book is very touching.
After reading about the author of “Girl in Translation,” Jean Kwok, I can see how her life experiences are portrayed in her book. She mentions how they moved to New York City at a very young age, just like Kimberly from the book. Kwok says that she would go to a sweatshop after school with her father in which Kimberly would go to her mother’s factory after school. There are other examples that show how Kwok’s life is portrayed in her book such that her family’s apartment had no heater and that there were rats and insects in their apartment. Although we haven’t read much of the book so far, we can expect to see more of how Kwok’s life is depicted in this book.
Tia Gangopadhyay
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B 9-10:50 AM
21 September 2011
Peer Review Analysis
I found the peer review very helpful. It's always beneficial to have someone critique your work especially when that person has also read the book you are analyzing as it not only gives you feedback on mechanics but also literary merit.
My peer editor, Angela, was very helpful. Her comments helped focus my ideas and point out errors that I missed. Often times, when you read and reread your own work multiple times, you often miss details that a new pair of eyes can catch.
I learned the importance of peer editing, not only as a recipient but also as an advisor. In critiquing Angela's essay, I realized mistakes that I myself make and realized the importance of having your ideas flow on paper in a coherent manner. Next time, I will get peer edits a few times before an essay is due by a few different people so that I can have various opinions and view points as well as an essay that has been proofread various times.
Tien Hardin
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B Tuesday/Thursday 9-10:50 AM
20 September 2011
Reflection: In-class Peer Reviews
I believe that peer reviews are a valuable tool for a writer who endeavors to be a better writer. I received two peer reviews. The first reviewer suggested I give examples of some of my statements, introduce who characters are, because not all of my readers will have read the book and not know the personalities of whom I’m talking about. I found his feedback very helpful. However, when reading the comments of the 2nd reviewer, I felt like she and I were in totally different classes. Many of her comments were not in line with “Three Part Thesis Statement”, “Initial Planning Sheet”, and other in-class instructions. However, her comments on my MLA structure were right on.
As a result of the feedback from the first reviewer I learned that I don’t need to try and cram all of my thoughts into a 750 word essay and to stay focused on my key points. I tend to start with a key point that branches out of control into so many other points that it’s impossible to prune the branches within the parameters of the assignment. My second reviewer reminded me that MLA structure is equally important as the content so that I was able to “polish” my essay.
The essay I reviewed was written by the second person who reviewed my essay. Again, while reading it, I felt like she and I were in different classes. There was so much going on in her essay, it was overwhelming to me. I wanted to provide useful feedback but did not know where to start. I did not want to seem over critical. In addition, I spent too much time correcting typos and spelling.
Also, I spent too much time on editing. Next time I will focus more on the content and trust my judgment in providing more useful comments to the writer.
Nick Malecek
English 1B
T/Th 9:00-10:50am
Professor Sabir
21 September 2011
1. This was my first experience using the Review component of Microsoft Office, and I don't have a lot of experience reviewing other student's papers. I found this to be an invaluable experience for me. The review function in Office is incredibly powerful for submitting feedback on a paper, I am very grateful of that discovery. Getting feedback on my paper from a completely different point of view was enlightening too. There were some things that may not have occurred to me otherwise because I was so involved in my perspective. Just connecting and sharing ideas was fun.
2. I went to Jean Kwok's website and also read a review of "Girl in Translation" from Princeton Book Review. The fact that Kwok has accomplished so many impressive feats in her life such as graduating from Harvard in spite of the adversity she faced is so inspiring to me. Even though "Girl in Translation" is technically fiction, I realize that Kwok actually endured most of the circumstances portrayed in the book. Even learning three separate languages that are so vastly different would be an impressive feat for me to accomplish. I could tell while reading the book that she has experienced these situations first hand. Small details such as the fabric dust are so accurately described. Anyone who has never experienced something like that before would never bother to write about it or think to include it in their writing.
While searching for a review on "Girl in Translation" I came across something else that was very interesting. I used "Lexis Nexis" from the COA library database and found an article about Jean Kwok that was ran in The Sunday Telegraph, a London newspaper. It was really intriguing and I recommend everyone read it. The article was about Kwok's brother, whose real life details were engrained in the book. I won't spoil the rest of it for anyone, but I will say that this article was just as poignant as "Girl in Translation" itself. The article is called "O brother, where art thou?" and I believe it was actually written by Jean Kwok.
Arjmand Khan
Professor Sabir
English 1 B
22 September 2011
1. Peer reviewing personally helped me a lot. There were a few mistakes that I overlooked. I personally liked reading the comments since they gave me new ideas and made my essay more clear. I realized I was too hesitant in commenting because I didn't want to seem too picky, but I definitely should have added more comments. I also didn't know that we could use the comment feature so that is something new I learned.
2. After visiting Jean Kwok's website and reading some of the reviews, I found out that the author pretty much went through what Kimberly is going through in the book currently. I admire Kwok for her determination since she worked hard to get where she is right now and didn't let her situation get in her way.
Yennie Cheung reviewed "Girl In Translation" by Jean Kwok, emphasizing the culture barrier even for readers, as the language and lyrical nuances are portrayed almost exactly as Kimberly would have delivered them. Cheung also discusses how oftem times the people in our own race are the "harshest oppressors."
Jean Kwok's website was very informative. She went through many of the experiences that Kimberly goes through in "Girl in Translation." The most interesting part of Kwok's website for me was her blog.
Work Cited
Cheung, Yennie. "Girl in Translation." 2011. 21 September 2011.
Angela Stokes
As I have already mentioned in class my favorite passage in the book "Girl in Translation"but another one is "In many ways I thought of myself as one of the black kids." I live how she connects other minorities and how she relates to them because she is so poor.(Kwok 58)
Jacqueline Diulio
Professor Sabir
English 1B
21 September 2011
Peer Review/Book Review
1. I actually found the peer review to be quite helpful. My partner pointed out some problems with my writing that I didn’t see as I read my own paper. She thought I should explain my points more in depth. When I added more explanation to my essay, I realized it really did help my essay to improve.
As I was reading my partner’s paper I was able to point out some flaws of her essay. Although it was a very good essay it jumped around quite a bit, but overall she got her points across and made her statements clear.
2. An unknown reviewer of “Goodreads First Reads” website states that Kim’s life is very similar to a lot of other immigrants coming over to America trying to learn the language. “In terms of language, I thought Ms. Kwok did a great job of transposing Cantonese conversations into English (partly by keeping idioms) and of making the English Kim hears sound more foreign to the readers, in a creative way.” She describes her own problems in trying to translate from Cantonese to English. I thought this was very interesting because I have tried to learn other languages and it is very difficult to translate when someone has a different accent from you.
Nick Malecek
English 1B
T/Th 9:00-10:50am
Professor Sabir
27 September 2011
Tia:
I too found the fact that Jean Kwok actually experienced the situations in the book first-hand, such as working in the factory, fairly interesting. This raises some questions for me, like what was the extent of the overlap between her real-life circumstances and the ones in the book? Is she some kind of super genius like she portrays Kimberly in the book?
Melvin Arquero
Prof. Sabir
Eng 1B 9-10:50 AM
20 September 2011
1. I find that peer reviews will always be very helpful. It is always nice to hear feedback from someone else and receive tips and comments that would improve an essay. I think that having my classmates edit my paper is a valuable exercise and should be done more frequently because we, as students are able to learn from each other and find things that we can improve about ourselves and for other as well in terms of our writing skills.
2. I read an interview of Jean Kwok in which she discussed her book and reviewed its meaning and content. I found the interview to be very interesting. Somehow, I was able to see Jean Kwok's thinking as se was writing the book and how she went about with her novel. In it, she discussed her own life experiences and how it, in many ways parallels the life of Kinberly. Her semi-autobiographical novel brings about a lot of poignant scenes and stories that many people can relate to.
I felt that she was also really honest and answered the questions in great detail, which allowed me to look at the content and the meaning of the book in a better light.
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