Thursday, May 9, 2013

Bedtime Stories

       The first time watching these stories, I watched first the Russian version following by the English version. However, for some reason it was hard for me to understand the Russian one first following by wanting to watch the English version. So, a few days later I tried it again; watching the English version first actually helped to watch the Russian one. As an observation, I feel understanding the lesson learned in the English version first because English is my dominant language helped me understand and look for the lesson learned in the Russian version.
        "Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster" was a cute, but sad story with a happy ending. One can relate such feelings to a cultural diverse student;and the hunting boats as the bullies. Cultural diverse people/ students may look to appear different, but does that make them right away a monster or bad person? Rather, until you get to know them they may be very nice, helpful or funny ; they may even become a best friend. This was a valuable lesson to learn; that in life not everyone will see the beauty and friendship in someone as you would. Nothing you can say or do that can change a persons mind, and sometimes getting negative energy from a situation can diffuse a problem. However, I do believe that this problem is still not lost; the bullies may come back even angrier than before and that is what left an empty feeling in my chest knowing. Shelley Duvall also said at the end of the video she hopes they don't come back. However, I do realize there is one lesson to learn through these children bedtime stories, and it was a great one to listen to.
           "The Four Friends" was a cute, but sad story as well with a happy ending as well. Even though I could not understand anything the narrator was saying, I was able to watch the communication between the animals. If there was an animal in need of help, they came together to save and help the animal. This can relate to real life experiences where even though you may not be from the same ethnicity or in other words , look like one another doesn't mean you cant be good friends and stick up for one other if you see they are in some kind of trouble. This is another valuable lesson to be learned and for parents and teachers, this brings hope that children can learn and see these lessons to take on with them in their lives.


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Becoming American

Watching this video opened my eyes to see and understand, just because you have money and are famous does not mean your personal life is absolute perfection. Even famous people do not know everyone that belongs to their family especially an immigrant ant-sister  However these famous people actually are interested in knowing that that routs connect them to someplace else. Not only is it such a great feeling tracking down the history of family, but watching someone uncover their ant-sisters; Facial reactions are priceless to watch. My Great Grandma Salerno who is alive and 106 today, always loves to talk about her history. Even though she has been living here for years, she can still speak Sicilian as well as English very well. She has been a hard worker her whole life; one of her jobs a long time ago was to turn on and off the water to the worlds sphere. She loved to dance, sing, and most of all smile! It is quite amazing how such characteristics can be passed down through generations. On the other hand I am very lucky to have been born into a family where on both sides have kept a family tree diagram which has been passed down. My heritage is Sicilian, Swedish, and Basque. When visiting I will interact with my Swedish family however, its not so much. My Basque family still lives in the Basque land, however my grandpa passed away in 1995, and so has his brother and sister. I love my family and heritage and would like to connect to my heritage as much as I can. God Bless My Great Grandma Salerno!