Cookies Make Everything Better
Tuesday, October 5
Today felt almost like déjà vu because we went over verb patterns again. We learned about them last semester, so it was nice to have something familiar retaught to us in the midst of learning a lot of new things. Essentially, all verbs fall into one or more of fourteen verb patterns. As you become a better speaker of Arabic, you memorize the patterns and are able to figure out which verbs go with each pattern. Confused by my explanation? Sorry. I promise that it was very easy to understand with my professor standing at the whiteboard, two different colored Expo markers in hand, writing out the different verb patterns and giving us examples for each.
Thursday, October 7
We continued our discussion of verb patterns by going over our homework. This included dealing with the dictionary, which I both love and hate. After going over our homework, we reviewed how to answer the question “why?” and learned how to reply to “what are your favorite hobbies?” My professor ended class by assigning a mountain of homework. I just have no motivation to do any of it. Ugh.
Tuesday, October 12
So my Tuesday started off with a mini heart attack from my Arabic professor. As a homework assignment, I had to write a small paragraph about my favorite hobby. I decided to write about my blog. I waffled back and forth to include that I journal about my Arabic-learning experience (you know, what I’m doing right now), but I decided to put it in my paragraph. Well, this morning, my professor replied to my email. And you know how you have an email preview that shows you the first ten or so words of what the email says? Hers said “This is so interesting! I took a look…” and that’s all I could see from the preview. Now I know that writing about my blog would lead to the possibility that she would look at it, but the reality that she did made me nervous. It’s not like I badmouth my professor. And any angst I have about the class is directed towards myself and not her. But still. It’s kinda nerve racking.
(Also, Professor, if you’re reading this, مرحباً!)
So anyways, at the beginning of class, my professor brought us cookies! She brought us anise and fennel cookies, and while I’m not a big fan of anything licorice-flavored, I loved trying something not American.
We went over some homework in class, as well as some online exercises. Class ended with a quiz being assigned for the following Tuesday. Even though we students are on Fall Break this Thursday and Friday, our professors are acting like we aren't and are piling on the homework. Guess I’ll be studying my Arabic vocab while on the plane to go home.
Arabic Word of the Week
life / alhayaa / الحياة