Hi there
How's it going? No diaries from you last week - please it is VERY important for you to complete the diaries for your assessments.
Apart from your reflections on the discussions I'd like to know how your video projects are going - have you finished? What difficulties did you have or are you having in making them? Is it possible to be objective? Has it changed your perception of the media you watch?
As for the discussions, if you are not happy about the way they are going - what is it that you don't like about it? Can you do something to change this? Have you tried talking to your group or your facilitators about it?
Please post your diaries for week 4 as comments to this post!
See (most of you) on Thursday for a discussion.
Thanks
Francesca
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Good morning,
RispondiEliminaIt was a very interesting meeting. We started in 5 and we talked about our weekend and Maram was so surprise to know what Halloween is and what you have to do for organize an Halloween party.
We tried to give a definition of terrorism and we had different point of view. I was a little bit shocked about Ayman definition because he said terrorism is doing by someone who’s not religious for divide people. For me this thought was very crazy because I’m not a religious girl but I don’t want to make any terrorism act. But almost all of us said that terrorism is something to disturb the lives of others. We agreed terrorists are involved with the governments.
After that the discussion was focused on the US wars and if the Iraqi intervention is terrorism or not. Amy was very diplomatic, Maran and Sean less, but it was an interesting speech and it was respectful about the different point of view.
After one hour the 3 Jordanian girl came into the room. They were late because they had some technical problem.
We were divided in group of 3 and we went to the breakout room for talk in a small group. I was with Batool and Sabreen. At the first it was a little bit difficult to choose the argument, but we decide to learn more about our culture. They both studied a little bit of Italian and I taught them a better pronunciation and they taught me two words in Arabic, but my pronunciation was horrible and they start laugh, probably because I said something very ridiculous, but I didn’t mind about that because for me it was something new that I learned. After that language training we talked about the work possibilities in our countries and I knew that in Jordan there are more job possibilities than here, and I was a little bit shocker to hear that.
After 30 minutes we went back the main room and we had describe our experience in one-a-one talks, and It was positive for everyone.
The 30 minutes in breakroom was a beautiful experience because we had more possibilities to talk to each other and to know us better.
Hi!
RispondiEliminaanother interesting session...
At begin, everybody shared a photo; I showed a picture of my degree and I explained it...It was so nice!
Then we talked about thinghs that make us proud of ourselves..and one that don't.
We were divided into small groups; I was with Eman, a very kind girl from Egypt.
We talked about our lives..it's strange to talk with a girl with "burqua" on pc while she is in Egypt, anyway..
why was posted only half diary?
RispondiEliminaConversation grew up: each one had to define the word "terrorism"; air became hot.
I said what I tought: terrorism is a situation where you try to scare people because you are scared.
Arabs maybe misunderstand me, but I explained it better and we finally agree.
Next time we'll talk about Iraq and Afghanistan...
It'll be funny!
The fourth meeting was more amazing because our facilitators decided to make a “pair activity”, which gave me the opportunity to be more in touch with one of the other guys, exactly a Jordanian girl. I appreciated it a lot, because it was easier and better for me to have a contact and talk with one person, rather than nine! I mean, in that case it was better to have 45 minutes (so enough time) to talk in pairs and understand better the others’ perspectives about a defined topic. The luck was that I am an outgoing person, very curious and I love to talk, so I balanced my friend’s character, which is very shy…. But it was also a good opportunity, not only to discover other tradition and custom in order to have less prejudice, but also to help us each other. She expressed me, first of all, her problem, that was my same problem: she did not have many opportunities to speak English, and then she felt ashamed of it. So, after our interesting and amusing talk, we decided to meet and connect each other in our free time, only to talk about our hobbies and whatever we’d prefer. She was so happy, and so did I. We talked so much in another room, like the others, that our facilitator came in to call us for the late!!!! After that activity we had so many things to say to the other that our discussion was quite fluent and full. We began with weddings and we finished with talking about gender problems, where the three boys had difficulties, because they wanted to say (in particular the one from Palestine) that it’s better women do not have power and control!!! He took a false step, because all the girls (from Middle East and from West united!) attacked him!!! LOL!!! He even asked for help to the other boys!!! Fantastic...
RispondiEliminahii!!!
RispondiEliminaDespite tech issues, we had some great discussions.
We were able to explore issues more personally in the breakout rooms, and we also were able to have our first discussion concerning Foreign Policy.In the break up rooms we discussed about our personal things, like our plans for future,it was interesting because we spoke about education, about differences, wedding traditions and customs in our country. But the main topic was the media issue and what in the media is creating or causing negative connotations?
Hi everyone, sorry to keep you waiting, had so many things to do. Have to say that every time is better on Soliya's session.
RispondiEliminaIn the fourth meeting, we started talking about our weekend, families, brothers and sisters, if we are first child and how do we fell about being older. After that we discussed about what role do men and women play in our communities, about the stereotypes and how do we feel about.
Corey (USA) was interested about how the women are treated in arab countries. Amira said that in Egypt the women are allowed to study to go to college and that they can hold political positions, they have given civil rights, but the way they are percived in society is not equal and that is not accepted that women can be fully indipendent.If women are independent its perceived as trying to act like a man. Imane explained the situation in Marocco
,she said that documentaries, newspapers say women are emancipated, that they're free, but the reality is different.
When a woman wants to have an independent life- its perceived as unacceptable and that is also unacceptable for her to live on her own. But there are also some positive changes, as a
new family code that says that women now have the right to ask for divorce, women can now pass on their nationality to their kids, previously, it wasn't possible. Talked also about the women doing the men jobs and about the women in the army.
I have to say that if we compare with the past, women have caught up in education qualifications and increase their employment rate, but the family responsibilities are still the main reason for women's above average inactivity rate. My opinion is that the governments have to do more to make them easier to reconcile the work and family.