“You Killed Time”

I want to start off today’s blog post by saying that I have saved some of my fellow classmates’ asses these past two semesters more than just a couple of times. I am the one who constantly answers their questions in the group chat about what was the homework, when is the homework due, when is the quiz, what does the quiz cover, etc. On Monday night, a few people were asking where they could find the link to a particular YouTube video so they could finish the homework. Like always, I dropped the link in the chat, and one guy called me a saint, to which I replied in good ole Han Solo-style: “I know.”

Also, my professor told us in an email that we could do quiz corrections. After completing my corrections and sending them in, my 15/20 went to a 20/20. I hope this becomes common practice for future quizzes. 

Tuesday, April 13

In class, we went over the homework--which most people miraculously completed--before moving onto another drill. And I’m not going to lie, I am very insecure in my Arabic language capabilities. But watching other classmates, who have more exposure to Arabic than I have, struggle more than me makes me feel a little bit better about myself. I know everyone learns a language differently, but you would think that people who have had more background knowledge of the language would pick it up quicker. 

We had to read a passage aloud and identify the iDaafas (see previous blog post), possessive pronouns, and adjectives. When it was my turn to read, I took so long and butchered so many words. After reading, I immediately put in the group chat, “Y’all, I’m so sorry *insert crying emoji*.” And one of the guys said, “It’s okay, you killed time.” And everyone was saying that we’re all bad at reading out loud, so I didn’t feel quite so embarrassed. I do enjoy the little community we’ve created in our group chat. Misery truly does love company. 

I should have called my professor’s bluff, because we didn’t have a vocab quiz today. Instead, she announced that we are to have a quiz on the entirety of Lesson 3 next week on Thursday. Oh joy. 

Thursday, April 15

Class flew by really quickly today. We went over possessive pronouns--which are suffixes, not separate words--and also went over the verb “to have”: عند (eind). We also learned how to negate “to have,” before we were put into breakout rooms and had to ask our partner questions with the new verb. Once we came back as a group, the three separate groups went through their little spiel.

My professor went on a small lecture about how some plurals of masculine nouns look feminine, and then before I knew it, we had twenty-five minutes left of class. I could tell that my professor was about to start on the next lesson, so I asked her what we should expect on the quiz for next Thursday. I’m really glad she went over it, but the amount of things we’re probably going to see on the quiz feel like it’s an exam, not a quiz! (And I don’t even want to think about what the final exam will look like.) 

By the time my professor finished reviewing the lesson for our quiz, class was over. I am thankful for Arabic classes that go by quickly. And now, I have to study for the upcoming Arabic quiz. Wish me luck!

Arabic Word of the Week

science / eulim / علم

P.S. Ramadan Kareem to all my Muslim friends!