Blog Post 5 - Mother Tongue

In "Mother Tongue", Amy Tan discusses the importance of a person's home language. Many people often speak the most common language used around. In our case, at Raha, lessons are in fact taught in English (excluding the language subjects), so many students tend to use the English language to communicate. Do many of you do the same ? Do you speak English or the common language used throughout the school more often than your mother tongue language? Over at our school, that is usually the case. I have many friends in our school community who speak their mother tongue language at home in their own environment. Unfortunately for myself, I only speak, write and can read fluently in one language, English.

I believe that Tan expresses her opinions in "Mother Tongue" as she believes that even though you don't look like someone who would know how to speak English, people assume that you don't know how to speak the language. Although, being able to speak or not English as a language doesn't make you less intelligent than anyone else who speaks, who has been brought up to know English as their mother tongue language. People technically 'label' you as someone who wouldn't know or speak "Broken" or "Fractured" English. I agree with her opinion as people see people for the first time who look or seem to be multicultural. These people who would be considered bilingual, you would first interpret that they wouldn't know how to speak English. Although I believe that people should, in fact, give people the chance of being able to use their second language (can be English) to further develop it in their everyday life when they need to communicate with people around them.
Before I get too carried away, let's talk about the purpose of this blog post, which is the Importance of a person's home language. In my opinion, the importance of a person's mother tongue language can be interpreted in different perspectives.
The include:
Personal: When a child is born into a family that speaks their own language, it is essential that that language is carried on throughout their childhood as it develops his or her identity. Preserving the language would assist in the child's cultural and heritage values.
Social: When the families traditional language (mother tongue) does not follow the child through life, it would reduce the links to the family and different communities would be lost. In my opinion, because Ii had the opportunity to have been brought up in a bilingual community. Although, may families around the world who are learning or enhancing their mother tongue language or a second language, they would send their children to a country that speaks the language. Then the children would be welcomed by another family, who would take care of you. The only issue is that they only speak either own mother tongue, the language that you are trying to enhance. I believe that this allows you to gain knowledge of the language as you have the opportunity to pick up the language when you are forced to use the language to communicate.
don't speak two languages fluently, I wish
Intellectual: I believe that people need to not be interrupted when they are developing a language. When a person who is not fluent in a language should just use only that language. Like stated in Social, because then "you are forced to use the language to communicate" which would further enhance your knowledge. When children are speaking their mother tongue language at home with their parents, their parents are more likely will correct them in pronunciation and errors as they know best, meaning that both parents and children are communicating at the same intellectual maturity. If they were to be interrupted, they tend to work intellectually a lot younger than their age.
Educational: Students specifically in Raha, learn and are being educated in the English language. Because Raha has 75 or more nationalities, many students would either be bilingual or multilingual. If those students keep up and maintain their mother tongue language, they have a higher chance academically to be successful than those who have to reduce and are limiting their knowledge of their mother tongue language.
Economic: When it comes to Economics and employments, many businesses want someone on the job who can speak a variety of language depending on the career path you wish to go through. For example, people who want to go through marketing, you would need to speak at least two or more  languages to open up the audience you wish present your product to.
Overall, I believe that there is an importance to maintaining a person's home language because there are many advantages of having more than one language. You can communicate to a larger audience, talk to family members and other communities, being able to successfully use your mother tongue language to pursue your career path.

Work Cited Page

"IDRA." IDRA. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

"Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue": The Purpose And Power Of Language - EssayJudge." Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue": The Purpose And Power Of Language - EssayJudge. N.p., 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. 

Blog Post 4 - A Good Name

As you may know already, my name is Jessica May Hilu, yet people call me Jess or Jessie rarely Jessica but I am normally called Jessica IF I have misbehaved  :) (WHICH IS NOT VERY OFTEN). Historically, the name Jessica was a part of Shakespeare's play 'The Merchant of Venice' that was presented in 1596. The name Jessica was the first introduced in this play, where the name was given to the daughter of Shylock. Historians believe that William Shakespeare used the name which was initially based in the bible as ISCAH, of which was also spelt Jescha during the Shakespearian time. Yet, on the other hand, the name itself was not commonly used until the 1950's.
If I was to be completely honest with you guys, there is somewhat of a personal significance to my name SOMEWHAT. But because I am 1/4 Lebanese shocker right ? In their culture, Arabic names from grandparents, parents etc. should be passed down from generation to generation.
For example,  Traditionally the oldest son takes the grandfather's name and then their dad's name (as their middle/second name)
My grandfather's name is Nassim Jabra Hilu who had two sons of which were twins.. but my uncle was the oldest by 2 minutes so he traditionally gets the name. Sorry dad. My uncle's name (oldest son) is Gabriel Nassim Hilu. You can see that his grandfather's name is slightly different to his father's name. Jabra is the original name, although Gabriel is the English version of which is pronounced Jabrel in Arabic. It is quite confusing when I heard it myself although it's pretty simple one you really think about it. Grandfather's name is Jabra, Father's name is Nassim and the last name is Hilu.
Sadly in our family, the tradition has not followed all the way through completely, yet there are some traces of these traditions that can be found within someone's full name.
For example, Callum Nassim Hilu should, in fact, be Nassim Daniel Hilu if the tradition was followed.
My brother has a British name although he does have his grandfather's name within his full name.  This tradition would be considered as a master identity because the names are passed down from generation to generation which has rarely been changed.
When it comes to my name, there isn't any cultural or personal significance, unfortunately.. but I found it quite interesting to know where the name originated from. As my name doesn't stick or has a tradition within our family, I would have a personal identity because there hasn't been the name Jessica that has been passed down through our family.

Work Cited Page

"Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Jessica." Behind The Name. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

Blog Post 3 - Cultural Markers

Welsh Cultural Marker - Love spoons

Have you ever heard of a love spoon? I wouldn't expect you to, it's quite common that people don't know where or know about Wales. Love spoons are one of many symbolic representations of the Welsh Culture. It is believed that the first welsh lovespoon dates right back to the 17th century. In the Welsh tradition, men would carve lovespoons out of wood and give them to their lovers as many men didn't know how to write or read, so this was a way of conveying their love. This would be an effective communication through this cultural marker as it was another way to express their feelings as they didn't have the knowledge to read or write. The wood carvers have been using timber (traditional wood) for the love spoons. The earliest dated love spoon was found that was dated to be made in 1667 that is now kept at St. Fagans Museum of Welsh Life, although the tradition has been apart of the welsh culture before this time. It is an important symbol that represents our culture because it has been apart of our heritage for many centuries.

What exactly is a welsh love spoon? A love spoon is a carved piece of wood that is presents with meaningful designs, of which have special meanings. These special symbols and meanings can be found within of engraves on the spoon. During the 17th century, many people did not know how to read of write so to illustrate their love and affection to their lovers, they would carve out a love spoon. 

Carved with Diamond, Heart and Ball in Cage

The History of the Love spoon

Like stated above, traditionally, love spoons were normally made by younger men throughout long winter nights or even young men who were travelling long journeys. They carved spoons to express what they wanted in their relationships as well as their intentions towards the sweetheart. Why a spoon? A spoon was symbolic to the need to support or to "feed" his lover with the symbols that were carved on the spoon. In other words, he would give the spoon to his lover to show what he desired and wish to have in the relationship. The spoon wouldn't be used, it would be used as a ornamental gift. The love spoons were practiced right through the 17th, 18th and 19th century although the making of the love spoon started to fade by the end of the 19th century. BUT !! it was revived and is still in the process for more than 40 years.

Special Meanings:

Bell - symbol that symbolises weddings or anniversaries

Balls - are kept in a cage that symbolises the number of children. The cage hold the wooden balls that are carved to represent the number of children he would like to have. 

Cross - religious symbol that represents faith

Diamond - as you would expect, it represents good fortune and wealth. Love spoons that have a diamond shape in the spoon would give hope of wealth.

Love Spoons

Heart - common symbol of which symbolises Love. This symbol would be given to his lover to say that he was giving her his heart. The heart can also be found with a chain, this symbolises that they are 'linking' together, living their lives together.

Horseshoe - Luck, symbolises that the lover wishes and hopes for good luck within their relationship.

Key/Keyhole- Security + home. The key illustrates that he is giving the key to his heart and the key hole meanings that he is allowing her to know that they can live together.

Knot/Celtic knot work- This symbol would be carved into the love spoon to represent that he wishes that their love would last forever. 

Love spoons today are still very popular not only to lover but to family, friends and even to those who are visiting the country. They are also presented in special occasions such as weddings, births, christenings and even retirement.

Work Cited Page

"Welsh Love Spoons." Welsh Love Spoon Symbols. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

"Lovespoons." Wales. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

"History of Welsh Love Spoons." History of Welsh Lovespoons. N.p., 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

Ltd, A5 Multimeida. "The Welsh Lovespoons Centre." Welsh Lovespoons with Free Engraving Available on Our Hand Carved Love Spoons from Our Online Shop. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

Blog Post 2 - Language Barriers

As I am an IB student, you are surround by many people from different countries with different nationalities around the world of which have their own language. You don't really realise how much Language plays an important role in our lives, for me, I definitely believe that it plays an important role in my life specifically because Language itself allows you to express yourself through different ways and most importantly it allows you to communicate with others from different countries with different mother tongues. I never thought about it until I moved from a British curriculum to an IB curriculum, and in fact, I feel that it is a great way to discover different languages through the people you meet around your school campus. You could, in fact, use it to understand how people communicate using their language and you could even pick up the language.

In my opinion, I feel that it is important to study Language because languages can give a different feeling than others. In other words, when you read a book, the book is written in English although in a book the author could have a section where one of the characters brings out his mother tongue language because the specific saying that was stated by that character had a more powerful meaning that it would be in a different language. Even though you may not know what the statement means, you can still be presented with the feeling and emotion that the character is presenting, which is pretty impressive how language can present such feeling.

Doesn't everyone have that one friend that speaks a completely different language ? Well, I certainly have been excluded due to language barriers. As I only speak one language, of which is English, I tend to be stuck behind this language barrier even though I have a mother tongue language. Although I can't speak it due to the fact that I haven't lived in the UK I wasn't able to be brought up in an environment that speaks Welsh. We have people that have been brought up in an environment where they use their mother tongue. Being a young adult, I find it difficult to pick up a new language at the age I am currently than when comparing to younger children. The younger you are, less of a challenge it is to pick up and evolve a language. Another situation would be during school as there are a variety of people with different nationalities where they speak more than one language, this tends to be difficult for me because speaking only one language limits communicating to those who only know how to speak multiple languages. Because we are part of a diverse school, this seems to be the norm. as not everyone speaks the common language (English or Arabic) used in the school. Yes, we're taught the language so we can communicate with others that are fluent in the language but we are still limited when communicating as we only know the bare minimum.

Blog Post 1 - About Me

Who am I ? My name is Jessica Hilu Aka. Jessie or Jess, quite a few nicknames to choose from I would say. I have been living in the Middle East my entire life even though my nationality is British. I sure have a strange and wonderful family as we were all brought up in different countries in Europe and Asia. The funny thing is that I haven't lived or have been educated in the U.K like my parents were brought up. You could say that I have many nationalities like Welsh, Lebanese, a little Irish, and a little German. Well to be honest its quite confusing as both of my parents are Welsh, yet their parents are Irish, German, Welsh and Lebanese.

I LOVE SPORTS !! My interests would be every to do with sports, just sports, sports and more sports. Is there a sport that i haven't played before ? well I don't know that answer myself but I have played a variety of sports from water sports, land sports and even sports played on ice. Well, I still working on that last one. I enjoy and consider netball my main sport and my main interest. It's a passion of mine and it has been passed down from generation to generation. My only question that I have about this sport is Why isn't Netball a sport that no one has heard of before? And when people ask me What is Netball ? I literally just state: " It's like Basketball, but its even more challenging" You can't move with the ball in your hand, there is no backboard like in basketball, and the hoop that you shoot into is smaller than a basketball hoop. In other words "It's 'similar' to basketball"

Its a long story to how I started netball, but I can tell you how I began to take an interest. I can remember looking at my mother's school photo's and stumbled upon this one image. This image was my mother in the Netball team playing as GA (Goal Attack), sitting on the first row, on the left hand corner in her red and navy blue uniform when she was 14 years old. From that moment, like all daughters/sons, I wanted to be like my mother. When I liked in Dubai, I moved to Uptown Primary School and participated in a variety of sports teams, including swimming, netball and even football. Although netball was different, I didn't have anyone from my grade level on the team as there was a netball team for my age. I ended up trying out and joining the Under 13 Netball team when I was only in 7. I only stayed in Uptown for a year before I came to Raha International School. In Grade 5 through till grade 11 I have and currently participated on the Raha U14 and U16 teams. Throughout my journey, I have proudly been achieved with an MVP (most valuable player) and have been captain for the U16 netball team for two years running.

It's quite surprising that as an IB student, you tend to have some free time. When we have the opportunity to have time to ourselves we tend to complain about how we don't have or have enough time to ourselves. But I consider playing a sport as my stress reliever when I don't have a lot of time to myself. I definitely wouldn't consider myself a reader even though on the occasional day I also enjoy reading in my free time, although the only issue when it comes to reading books is that not a lot of books interest me, and this is why I only read occasionally. When I do decide to read, the only books that I tend to hook onto would be fictional books that have a storyline that would/could happen in reality. Other fictional books that are about adventure that tend to hook other readers, I can't seem to stay interested when I read them. You can say that I am very picky when it comes to reading.. 

To me, the question " what things do you care about?" was a challenging question to answer because there are a lot of things that I care about including the people around me (Family and Friends), school and my education as well as my own health. These three things are something that you normally don't think about, you just know that you care about them as you see your family and friends everyday, you work as hard as you can during school and I take care of my own health by participating in a sports activity or going cycling around YAS Track. I consider this as my everyday routine. Family and friends are one of the things I care about because they are the people that keep my motivated throughout everything I do. I also care about my schooling and my education because it's a major priority when it comes to being successful in the future. As I can hopefully achieve the IB Diploma points that I need to go to the University that I have always wanted to go to and to become the person I wanted to be "when I grow up..." I am motivated to follow my dreams to go into the medical field. I also care about my health because it is good for you to be fit and exercise on occasions to keep yourself healthy.

Making goals for myself was a lot to think about as there can be a lot of things to consider. Although I thought that it would be best to stick with the goals that I will personally need to allow myself to become and achieve academically as well as socially the more motivated to achieve more in life. These would include:

> Be successful in my academics, specifically trying to achieve at least a 34 overall in the I.B system.

> Challenge myself, trying to push myself and challenge myself into doing things that i wouldn't normally do.

> In the future, my goal would be not to think things twice when it comes to activity challenges and be a risk-taker, "Just do it.".