I did a lot of reading this semester to try to learn new words and understand Swedish grammar/syntax. The examples here are TInTIn in Swedish and Män som hatar kvinnor which is the first dragon tattoo book in Swedish!photo-1.JPGphoto-2.JPGphoto.JPG
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We made Swedish meatballs! We talked about the ingredients in Swedish and made sentences about who we were eating with and what we were eating as a part of our food section.IMG_20131102_183352263.jpgIMG_20131102_180713631.jpgIMG_20131102_180704616.jpgIMG_20131102_181737446_HDR.jpgphoto-5.JPG
David Stevens Hebrew Culture Presentation on Refugees in Israel
The following link is a link to a Children's TV show. This is for children. The songs are very basic, but go over very good verb conjugations and belongings to. Also, it brings up basic vocabulary. In this list of songs is the song "If you're happy and you know it". It was great to hear this song and start trying to learn it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSddhdC_FzA&list=PLla4dPBUV93ETsCZRwRTvT5jX47NHtz--
http://www.dw.de/israels-open-refugee-detention-centers/a-17261176
This article written on November 29, 2013, The subject of Refugees is a very hot subject in Israel. This article was talking about how hard it is for people seeking asylum to arrive in Israel. Only 34 people have crossed into Israel since the border walls were erected in January. All 34 were detained in an asylum center and spent numerous months in the detention center. This article follows the story of one of the refugees from Africa and his story. Even though his reason for coming to Israel was because his home country was unsafe and he was fleeing from the persecution, the police when they released him put on his identification card that he was in Israel for work. He was then put on a bus with the other 34 refugees and driven to South Tel Aviv, Levinksy Park. This park is the home to hundreds of refugees. Because the refugees are seeking some way to sustain themselves, they turn to petty crimes for food. Legislators have been working to try and get work for the thousands of refugees in southern Tel Aviv. However, all policies have been knocked down and vetoed because if Israel allows the refugees to work, they will settle, have children, and more refugees will come to Israel seeking shelter. Israel is a small country, although it is very prosperous, the resources are limited and Israel is already strained without trying to be self-sustaining and accommodating the refugees. Legislation was passed to shorten the detention the time of refugees in the asylum camps and quicken the deportation time.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.554153
http://www.timesofisrael.com/dahlan-israel-agreed-to-absorb-200000-refugees/
http://refugeesinternational.org/policy/field-report/hope-hold-african-asylum-seekers-israel
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imig.12070/pdf
Yesterday, legislation was passed to shorten the detention time in asylum camps to one year, but detention camps now have an indefinite time. Legislators fighting for the rights of refugees have vowed that the political battle has only begun in Israel.
http://prezi.com/w0fsvr91efmg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
In my final week of study, my language partner and I addressed the Ukrainian culture and its perception of other cultures. I learned country names and language names of different major countries, which to my surprise were actually very different from the names of those countries and languages in Russian. I then learned how to talk about where I am from, my family background and my travel experiences in Ukrainian. As my language partner and I both walked back from the library to the dining hall, he made me point out and describe the things we see on the road there and apply them in conversation. I felt confident addressing what I saw and conversing in Ukrainian with my language partner. This semester has been a success and I am very pleased with what I have learned and how I was able to apply my knowledge in Russian in a constructive way for learning another language.
On the Taglit Birthright website they call this experience an "educational journey". "One of the primary objectives of our trips is to motivate participants to explore their Jewish identity through a peer educational experience of historic and contemporary Israel".
Birthright is not about brainwashing people to think or act a certain way but to educate them on their religion and state. This is not a mandatory trip in any way, it is a privilege to have this opportunity and it is up to the individual whether or not they would like to participate. In fact it is not always easy to get on one of these trips, most people are rejected the first time they apply because spots are limited and you have to meet the eligibility requirements. There are a lot of factors taken into consideration that decide if you are eligible such as age, previous Israel experience, whether or not they are involved in a Jewish studies program and of course Jewish heritage. Since religion in our present time can be a complicated thing to define for an individual, Birthright lays out a guideline on how they define having a strong enough Jewish heritage to be eligible for the trip: you must identify as Jewish without practicing another religion, have at least one Jewish birth parent or have completed Jewish conversion and be recognized as Jewish by one of the denominations of Judaism.
The program was first founded to address the growing divide between Diaspora Jewish youth and the land and people of Israel. Judaism is unlike most other religions in the way that is not only a faith but also a culture. If people of a culture are spread all across the world how can you keep that culture as one? To preserve our culture it is necessary to bring our people together to learn, grow and form bonds that keep our culture and loyalty so strong.
"Taglit-Birthright Israel aims to change the course of Jewish history and ensure the continuity of the Jewish people by strengthening Jewish identity, Jewish communities, and solidarity with Israel via an educational trip to Israel for Jewish young adults around the world". So does this disturb the natural evolution that Borris speaks of? Perhaps. Did the Holocaust disturb the natural evolution of the Jewish people? Absolutely.
Borris compared the natural progression of people losing their Jewish identity to the fact that more and more Muslims are moving into France and the number one religion is changing from Catholic to Islam. So what he is trying to say is that if Birthright did not exist, the number one religion in Israel would not be Judaism, or not for long at least. These are in fact two very different situations. First of all people in France are choosing not to practice religion which is driving the population of Catholics down drastically. Second of all there are more Muslims moving in who practice another religion. The difference between France and Israel is that France is not based upon a religion while Israel is. So if the number one religion in France changes that does not directly change their politics but it would in Israel. Another difference is that the people who go on this trip do not live in Israel so do not affect the population of the country unless they decide to move there (which sometimes happens but is not the main purpose of the trip). Also it is extremely difficult to continue a culture if the people are not physically together, making this trip a necessity to keep it alive.
Israel is the state of the Jewish people - the only country built off of religion. This puts Israel and its people in a very different category than most other countries. The Jewish people are also fortunate enough to have this unique opportunity to learn about their heritage and religion which is fantastic. Can you really disagree with a people for wanting to educate their youth and pass on ancient traditions?
Swedish learning plan
Section 1:
Learn:
- Alphabet
- Numbers
- Colors
- A few animals
Outcome: Learned everything we set out to do. I received a 64/60 on our first quiz. Although had extreme difficulty with the vowels especially the three Swedish ones that were introduce. Also had difficulty with vowel rhyme we memorized.
Section 2:
Learn:
- Basic greetings
- Pronouns
- Family words
- Description of ourselves
- Basic question to start a conversation
Outcome: Successfully learned everything on our list, received a 36.5/40 on the quiz. I continue to still get the pronouns confused but with practice I am getting better. Greetings were particularly easy for me.
Section 3:
Learn:
- Weather
- Transportation
- Time
Outcome: Learned a majority of things. This was the most difficult chapter for me yet. I prefer not to share the grade I received on this test. I think the difficulty was there were a lot of words, too many for me to handle. The reason being I had all the words from the topic and then tried to add in random words I found and it was too overwhelming.
Section 4:
Learn:
- Food
- Silverware and utensils
- Cultural conation with dinning
Outcome: Successfully learned all the words in the section, with a 74/80 on the quiz. This section was interesting because we did not only focus on the words but also the cultural components of eating at a Swedish dinner.
Final: Cumulative review of everything we went over. Extremely helpful because it made me go back and review the words I had forgotten or started to forget. Good set up. Consisted of 10 words that we had to translate from each section and then a portion in the bottom where we had to write in Swedish about the topics we had learned.
To practice what we had learned, molly and I would sometimes have text conversations in Swedish.
Almost every week we had a quiz on what we had learned before.
We had to read/translate the comic book, Adventure with Tin Tin.
I then made a list of the new words I did not know yet.
Swedish Language
Jante's law
Today I presented on the Israeli Defense Force (IDF); the two other students who presented had topics about video gaming in South Korea and the Swedish Education system. These three topics do not seem to have much in common but as I was watching these presentations I kept finding things that could relate to my presentation.
Before I share my train of thought I would like to touch on the other student's presentations. I thought both of them were great and they clearly know a lot about their topics. The way Sweden's education system is laid out is very unique and I have heard of nothing like it. I wonder if it discourages or encourages more people to continue their education (to higher ed) because high school ends much earlier (age wise) than the typical education system we are used to. The video gaming was very interesting and actually makes me angry how segregated the sport is because it seems like only men are recognized as typical players. Yes there are females out there but the only mention I heard of a female and gaming throughout the whole presentation was about the "love seat" where a boy can invite his girlfriend to come watch him play video games...not play, just watch. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that most of these games are so violent and involve killing other people.
While listening to the education system presentation I was thinking about how being drafted into the army at 18 affects the Israeli education system. It certainly affects the high education system as I mentioned in my presentation but I am curious to know if it also affects the elementary through high schooling because most Israeli citizens are preparing to go into the army. I am sure it does and will talk to my language partner about it.
The people who are typically playing these video games are high schoolers according to the presentation. Most of these games involve killing and there is such excitement about it (as we saw in the video clip)...there is something very wrong about cheering someone on while they are killing other people/beings in the game. Yes it is only on the TV screen but who says a video game cannot influence life offscreen? Most people in the IDF are right out of high school, not much older than these gamers, and are out on the battlefield and in the streets with guns in their hands. Although the Israeli government has good intentions putting a gun in an 18 year old's hands sound pretty dangerous to me. If these gamers are so excited to kill their enemies...why wouldn't people halfway across the world and about the same age have the same feelings?
I support the IDF and do not think this is of huge concern since they all go through intensive training but the presentations brought up these interesting points for me.
Inanmiyorum yaaaa nasil bu calisacagiz?
Gelecek yil Avrupaya gidecegiz insallah.
Eyvah eyvah, ablam ne zaman geliyor?
Allah Allah, bana ne soyledi...
ne olur??? ordek yok, hic bilmiyorum :(
Yolda cok para bulacaksin. Bir insan tanisacaksin ve bu insan senin ayatinin aski. Bu yil ona ile evleneceksin. Dikkat et, hava cok soguk, ve sen hasta olacaksin.
