Alawami 1

Lina Alawami
Ella Frances
ENGL 1102
October 13, 2014
Journal 8

As an international freshman student I have learned a lot in this course, it was

hard for me in the beginning to understand some of the assignments that we took in class,
I thought I could not pass this class because most of the students in my class are native
speakers. One of my friend helped me a lot with my work, for example, if I did not
understand what the assignment about he would explain it for me in Arabic he is half
American and half middle eastern so it would be clearer for me to understand it. My first
journal entry was in class, this journal was not hard for me because I had to talk about my
self, which is easy I had few grammar mistakes so it was not bad.
Reading the articles in class made me a confident person. I am a shy person so
reading in class reflected my shyness it also helped me to understand how I think and
what everyone else thinks. In the begging I had some difficulties in understanding the
articles then I had to translate most of the vocab in Arabic although it toke me time to do
it but it is better to understand the real meaning. This class is plying a huge role in me
learning how to be a successful writer and a confident speaker, I know it is not easy for
me as an international student to be a fluent speaker but I know that everything takes time
and efforts.

Alawami 2

There are few things that confused me in class when the professor talk fast I do
not know what she is talking about I feel lost sometimes but I am trying my best to catch
up with her. Talking with my professor was very helpful to me, knowing my skills in
writing and how it improved. She gave me more thoughts and ideas when I get my papers
back I noticed that it takes more than one draft to come up with a wonderful idea.
My goal in this semester is to develop my writing skills and to increase my
vocabulary because words can tell so much more than just a story, stories can tell plenty
about life, society and culture. Hopefully I will be able to achieve my goals at the end of
the semester. This course made me realize that I will gain knowledge from other students
who has taken English classes before and I hope that I can learn more and more about
writing and I hope that what I learn will help me in the future.