1) The last visit that we had with our family was a bit sad, yet again very successful. We decided to do something fun since it was our last visit, so we made cookies with them. It was a lot of fun and we ended up having a yummy snack afterwards also. It amazed me how well the kids already knew how to use everything in the kitchen. I don't think that when I was Baneen's age, I knew how to stick the cookies in the oven or how to turn the oven off or on for that matter. After the cookies were done, we looked at Tahgreed's and Baneen's homework. Tahgreed has been working on her alphabet and Baneen has been working on math and just simple concepts in English. After we were done looking at all their paper work and everything, we helped Baneen fill out a sheet for her school that allowed them to go to a pizza party. It was difficult to do because we could't figure out what grade Mustafa was in because no one was able to tell us. They all just kept saying no number, so Taylor and I both assumed he was in Kindergarten. We ended with watching a few episodes of a children's show. I noticed that the TV was on most of the time we were there and it stays on the children's networks. I think this is good for all of them and they have learned a lot from watching these programs.
2) One of the main communication technique that we use while we are with our family are nonverbal codes. Both the family and Taylor and I used kinesics to get our points across. During this visit we had to use them to find out where all the things were in the kitchen in order to make cookies. We also used them to help describe words to Tahgreed especially. It helped for her to understand what we were talking about. For instance when we would talk about her baby she would have to point to her stomach then count on her fingers to show us when the baby was due. Another concept that I can relate back to is the connection between meaning and words. The language barrier that we have with our family shows that words are arbitrary and don't matter unless they have meaning attached to them. It shows that the words they were speaking to us in their language had no meaning to Taylor and me, and vice versa. The last connection I made from this past visit, was each of their identities. I noticed that Baneen is adapting more to the American way and transforming her identity to the culture that she is in. This supports the four ways that we form our identity. Our identity is constantly changing therefore it is dynamic and multifaceted, and it is also developed from social interaction. Tahgreed on the other hand hasn't changed her identity. Although she is adapting and accepting the English language, she continues to maintain her past identity.
3) Unfortunately we aren't going back to visit our family. However, if we were I think that we would continue to work with Tahgreed on her alphabet and writing. I have noticed that she has come a long way from the first visit, and that she is really trying to adopt the English language. I think that for Mustafa we will just work on vocabulary and broaden his range so that he is able to understand what is going on in school. We didn't work with Saad at all but by the end of our last visit, we were able to somewhat have a conversation and at least get our point across. I found it interesting how easy it was for the kids to say sayings, yet it was difficult for them to just remember simple words. I think that it would be good to teach them more fun sayings and that might help with communicating with other people, especially since they're able to remember it better. Watching children's programs also has helped them advance in the English language so I think it would be a good idea to continue watching them if they have free time.
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