My Hobby

What is better than having a cup of coffee in a cozy place with a book. Actually nothing can be compared to such an atmosphere! 

After a long day at work, I used to come back home, change my cloths and go for a walk at the park with the company of a book. After an hour of walking and enjoying nature, finding a suitable seat that offer a nice and comfortable view. There in Al Shahid Park I used to spend 2 hours every day. Books were my dearest friends, they add joy and happiness to my day and imagination, they teach me what people doesn’t most of the time. Reading is a door that once you open, it takes you to places you never imagined or even know about.

My favorite books till now are: “The Alchemist” -  “Tuesday’s with Morrie” -  “How to Enjoy Life and Work” – “Whatever You Think Think the Opposite”

Bridge Plan

Friends and true friendship…

   A friend in need is a friend indeed. Friends are the sugar cube that adds sweetness to our life. As a loyal friend, friendship means a lot to me.

Back in Kuwait, I have left my best friends that I have spent my last 18 years with, that is absolutely dreadful. We went to school together; our friendship continued to after college and lived until today. At the good and bad, we were together hand in hand facing all life circumstances and happy moments. When God presents you with true friends, make sure you protect your friendship with all the strength and wisdom you have.

Other friends I have met at work and we became sisters with a very tight relationship. Another friend we met through a relative in common and after that, we became the best friends ever in a very short time.

In their absence, life isn’t the same anymore, loneliness is the current situation now a days. Meeting will be one day, hopefully soon J

Chasing Opportunities…

   While I was studying my university years, I had the chance to work as an assistant teacher in a bilingual school in Kuwait. Learning and working at the same time isn’t an easy job, as it requires a lot of responsibilities and puts you under a huge pressure. Although that period wasn’t easy on me but I still love it and I can only remember the joy I had during these amazing years in my life.

  After 3 years as being an English teacher assistant for KG’s, and for unpleasant reasons related to school residential papers, I stopped working in Kuwait Academy Bilingual School. And as said, when a door closed another door opens. That is what happened exactly. I was employed in a very known company specialized in Drilling Oil Wells. The journey in Kuwait Drilling Company wasn’t easy nor comfortable, as it is in any new step we take in life. With time, I was transferred to the Health and Safety Environment (HSE) Department where I met my new family. In my position as the HSE team assistant and coordinator, I have worked on many projects and events, which made me gain a great experience in a very short time. Also, I have learned so many life lessons. My manager Antonio Delgado was not only a manager, he was a real leader who brings out the best of his team members, he took my hand and accepted all my faults and taught me how to face work problems.  At work we used to be one family, we celebrated our birthdays, we had a lunch in every weekly meeting, and we used to go out each one with his /her family.

  A lesson to communicate, a happy person is the person that enjoys going to their work every day. And yes, I have been once this person and unfortunately I had to leave my position and the company to move to my home country Lebanon.

Memorable photos with KDC family

Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis

If you love reading, you will be in love with oral and written critical analysis. The purpose for writing a critique is to evaluate somebody's work (a book, an essay, a movie, a painting...) When a group of people in a book club reads the same book and gather for an entertaining book discussion which personally I adore and enjoy so much . This will show the opinion and the critical analysis of each club member and it will eventually increase the reader's understanding of the book and see it from other person’s perspectives. Therefore, a critical analysis is subjective because it expresses the writer’s opinion or evaluation of a text. Analysis means to break down and study the parts. Writing a critical paper requires two steps: critical reading and critical writing. Critical reading: Identify the author's thesis and purpose Analyze the structure of the passage by identifying all main ideas Consult a dictionary or encyclopedia to understand material that is unfamiliar to you Make an outline of the work or write a description of it Write a summary of the work Determine the purpose which could be To inform with factual material To persuade with appeal to reason or emotions To entertain (to affect people's emotions) Evaluate the means by which the author has accomplished his purpose , if the purpose is to inform, has the material been presented clearly, accurately, with order and coherence?

Some pictures of the book discussions with my book clubs that I used to be a member in.

Kindness

Dreaming of a world full of kindness…

In a materialistic world where people don’t believe except in what they see or what they hear, we are left in darkness where there is nothing but hatred speeches, violence, corruption and deep depression that isn’t easy to come out from.

As humans, we are distinctive from other creatures by our humanity and feelings. This world miss people who feel their human brother. The funny thing is that it take the person nothing to be kind, to be loving, to be caring and supportive. It doesn’t cost any money it only needs an awaken heart and conscience.

Kindness is all what we need to learn and to improve, be successful and loved, it always can avoid people to fall in deep depression because of bullying or any state of a family or society issues. Being kind often requires courage and strength, a kind person have empathy and sympathy to others and put their needs beside his/her needs. Kindness returns happiness to the providing person as much as the receiver does.

• Here are some quotes of kindness that touched my heart.

 “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.” – Jackie Chan

“You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.” – Pubilius Syrus

"Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.Kindness in giving creates love.” – Lao Tzu

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
-Mark Twain

A Counselling Session

Teaching is a profession that has a huge impact and influence on the society and people in particular. A teacher plays an important role in building students' minds and behaviors. In the teaching journey, teachers face many different cases of students having psychological, mental, family issues etc ...  In her position, a teacher should be aware of how to deal with students facing different issues that effects on their school behaviors and academic performance. 

• In a case study i have done, I have met Mariam who was a polite and smart student. Mariam's academic performance dropped suddenly which led to understand that there is something wrong happening somewhere in her life. The sessions with Mariam was successful and beneficial. The result of the counseling sessions are as follows:

The Result:

During the five sessions, Mariam showed a lot of cooperation and acceptance, she was excited for the change and more excited to find ways for doing that. After the first homework and the discussion done on the second session, Mariam started to believe that things can be changed and she put on me more responsibility to make her feel better towards all the circumstances that she is facing in her life. During the third session, I felt that I gained Mariam’s trust in range of 70%, which is a very high percentage to reach in three sessions. By the end of session five, Mariam started to think in a problem-solving way in which she can face any problem she might face in the future. Mariam is a smart girl who suffered from parent’s criticism, and surrounded with many negative people. Mariam needs someone to support her emotionally and mentally, she needs motivation and guidance to do things in the proper way and to think out of the box.

Methods used in the 5 sessions are:

• ABC Model: Using this model will make us understand the client's feelings, thought, events and behaviors. It can be applied on past and present situations.

• CBT Therapy: It is mainly a practical treatment that works on experiencing problem-solving. The goal from this model is to change the client’s pattern of thinking or behavior, which will lead to better feelings.

• REBT Therapy: Is an action-oriented approach to manage the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances. In this method, therapists work on managing the client’s thinking about events that leads to emotional and behavioral upset.

Webinar

Build Lasting Relationships with Students One Book at a Time

Thursday, January 16, 2020 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST

In this webinar, the instructor talked about the importance of reading for students from their early ages, each age and each grade should be given the suitable kind of books that suits their interests and their level in reading. 

A teacher can make a reading survey to know the level of each student and assign him\her to read books that they are able to read and understand. Students can be interviewed as well to know their preferences in reading and what are their favorite genres that they are looking forward to read about. A teacher can also help students choose a book by introducing the different genres and building up a background knowledge about reading. In the Teacher/student interview or conversation, the teacher can check the spelling of the child and find the suitable method to make the student read and enjoy reading in order to continue reading and never stops. Teachers should be working on her students spelling developing. Through the conversation that should be done in a periodic time the teacher can tell how much a student did improve and when can this student move to the other level. 

As teachers, we should take into consideration that the books should have pictures especially for students in the pre-school years.  Moreover, the book cover should be attractive to grab their attention and be excited to know what they will be reading about in this book.

Picture Books

One of the most amazing courses I have studied during my journey at university was Children Literature. In this course we studied about illustration story books. As the picture of Peter Rabbit book cover shows, those type of stories are very simple in how they look like but in facts it requires a lot of effort to create them in a way that suits young children.

Picture books are a unique literary form of children literature that blends illustrated pictures with textual stories. Children in pre-school age and beginning readers will find it easier and better to understand the story through supportive pictures next to the text or as some books are published for toddlers, the book is all about pictures in which the child can tell the story in his own words.  The importance of illustrations in improving and stimulating the child’s imagination, perception, social and reading skills made publishers more considerate to pictures and art in books.

We were told. “Not to judge a book by its cover”. But children do it all the time. A child is attracted first to the illustration pictures in a book and that verifies how important illustration is in children picture books and in literature in general. In their young ages, illustration entice them to read and interact with the text. They are also motivated to find and learn names of hidden objects and characters or even guess what will happen next and that has to improve their imagination in a very effective and healthy way. It also improves their hidden talents and enhances their perception in real life and build up their own personality and character. Picture books are read to toddlers by a mother or any family member, which forms a strong relationship between them as well.