December 16, 2016 - 12:08
Dear Anne:
Thank you so much. I’m so glad to have you in my first semester in college. I mean it.
I really appreciate the in-class discussion. I didn’t feel like to talk much in public before, not mention having discussion with others in my second language. But Anne always encouraged me to talk more in class in our conference, so I forced myself to talk more in the class. But gradually talking became less stressful, and I didn’t have force myself anymore because I started to feel comfortable to express my opinion whenever I want, and this really makes feel that I’m truly involved in this class.
Among my classmates, Toni impressed me by the responses. Toni always can give relatively rational response when others become too critical toward some specific topic sometimes, and I started to view everything more objectively and rationally thanks to Toni.
Though reading was like a torture for me at first because my reading skill was really, really bad, I felt much better gradually, especially when I finished reading getting mother’s body, which is the first English novel I have read completely. I don’t like reading those essays that write in strict format because they are usually more abstract and abstruse and kind of boring (I mean when I read them I may feel boring but I have to admit that sometimes the idea is interesting like the last reading we had). And I prefer the novels and science fictions. They are fun and easier to read.
For writing, it’s more huge a challenge for me than reading. At first I felt so headache about the every-week paper, and I had no idea what to write for a paper and how to write a paper. But when I got used to this assignment, I found it a good for me to dig deeper in to my thoughts and explore my new thoughts, and it’s also a good way to record some of my random thoughts. Nearly half of the main points of the papers I wrote in this semester occurred to me when I was taking shower.
When doing the 6-week project, I was continuously in a stressful status, because unexpected things always happened, such as I failed to make an appointment to interview to the director of health center and I didn’t feedback from the archives.
I think what I benefit most from this class must be the way of thinking and the courage to speak out my thoughts in front of other people. Oh, and the confidence. I felt much more confident about myself in many aspects.
Thank you again, Anne.
Rachel Wang