Renovating Dar- Al Hanan Library

One of the closest activities to my heart, one thing that I'll always be proud that I did and that I was a participant in. 
Once Mrs. Hala Hashem came up with an idea of renovating a library, all agreed and the journey of real hard work started. First of all we had to go search for some money, we visited some banks, some people that we knew they would donate money and other big institutions that we thought might help. Actually people we reacting positively and we collected a good number of money.

After that we had to empty the shelves!! The library was a huge one that contained many and lots of books. The number was gross. we emptied the shelves and then we started sorting the books, we divided the books into cycles and we had that part of really bad books; those books were missing some pages or the covers. Others were really of a very high level that shouldn't be found at schools. So we sorted these books into 3 cycles and then appeared a collection of books for the same author so what we had to do id to group them together.  

After that we had to put the books back in their places after the shelves and the tables were changed,and the walls were repainted. We put books of low grades in low positions so kids can reach them and we went up as the level increased. This renovation was done over a period of 1 and a half month of real hard work and perseverance. After this we were rewarded by Mr. Abdulraheem Mourad, he distributed certificates for the participants in the opening ceremony and the library was then named after Joumana Zebian (My her soul rest in peace).  

This experience is one of the closest to my heart. I would repeat it over and over again with no hesitation and with no doubt that we can do it. It feels very nice to see that you are able to do something beneficial to the society especially if it is related to orphans. 

Students now are spending most of their times in the library where they can easily find the book they need and sit in a comfy place to read it. 
Thanks to our instructors who allowed us to experience such a thing and be a part of it. 
Always happy that i belong to this big family, the English department of the LIU. 

Brunch 2015

One of the most heart warming events, Brunch 2015. As almost everyone knows as an undergraduate I've always been a part of all the activities done by the English department. Here is a throw back to one of my favorites.
On such days the English department aims for gathering some money for charity and that usually goess to Dar-Alhanan. All the participants of this day bring a certain type of food and sell it in the university. The food that is usually sold is of all kinds; Lebanese, American, Sweet, Salty and sour. People tend to buy and many invitations are sent to schools so kids from nearby schools can come and buy some of our products.
Another part of this day is the fun part, where I used to be the most active. In this part we used to prepare some fun activities and game like activities for kids who come from different schools. We had the part of face painting where we turned most of the kids into cats :). The other activities were simple but fun and productive. Kids had to play for a certain gift.
Such activities brought us closer to each other, we shared the smiles and the laughs, we learned together the importance of giving and that by making others happy we become happy. 

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars is one book i never feel bored reading it over and over again. The reason I'm writing about this book is that I usually recommend it to anyone who asks me about a book. 

In this story a teenage girl named Hazel who has cancer hated to go to a certain support group, and there she met a very handsome boy Augustus who is a survivor of cancer as well. With time they started to like each other's company and then they fall in love with each other.

 Hazel was in love with a certain book that had no ending, Augustus arranged a meeting with the one who wrote this book so he and Hazel can go and figure out what would happen next in this story. The man who wrote the book disappointed Hazel and they came back to their home town. With time, Augustus health started deteriorating so he wanted Hazel to write him an eulogy and say it for him before his death. Hazel did but the day he died she said totally different words. At the funeral, Hazel saw the writer and she talked to him, she then knew that Augustus had written her something before his death, so she went crazy searching for this thing thinking it was the ending of the book. 

At the end of the story it's shown that the writer of that book was broken and disappointed because his daughter died with cancer. The book ends with an eulogy that Augustus had written for Hazel before his death and that was given to that writer so he ends his books with. 

This book is a well written one. while reading you can sense the love between Hazel and Augusts and you can't but tear down when Hazel says her eulogy for Augustus. The settings in this book are very well described  that in some parts I could smell and see some places.

This book is one of my favorites that I have read three times by now. 

Ice-Breaking Activities

Ice -breaking activities, or ice breakers are on of the most important activities that help teachers get an idea about their students since day one. They are important activities because they help us as teachers to introduce ourselves to students and get to know more about them, especially if they are new to the school or to the class we teach. In addition to that ice breakers give the chance to students to know each others more especially if there are any new students. 

some examples of Ice- Breaking activities and the way they work    M & M's: your students will definitely LOVE this activity. What is better than serving them chocolate since day one!! in this activity you should prepare a poster in which you design a group of questions for each color of the M &M's. Students would pick a random color introduce themselves by mentioning their names, and then he or she would answer the questions related to each color. for example for green you may ask about a time when this student laughed really hard, a birthday gift he/she will never forget.... So each one would talk about a certain point.      

                                                                                              

  The Yarn:     The Yarn is another fun ice breaking activity. In this activity you should ask you students to sit in a circle and then give them a yarn. Tell them that each person of them should ask the other person a question about their lives or about something the'd like to know about each others, then toss the yarn to this person. After this person answers the question, he or she should toss the yarn again and ask the others another question. By the end you'LL end up having a web like the one shown in the picture, this web might resemble the way student should always work AS A UNITED GROUP. 

The hidden Question: 

This activity should be prepared before students come to class, in which the teacher should prepare some question, print them out or write them on strips of papers and then paste them under each student's desk or chair. Once students com to class, the teacher may ask them to briefly introduce themselves and then take the hidden question and read it aloud. Some of these questions might include: When might you slap the door? Tell us a secret only you and your best friend know. Who is the closest family member to you heart? why? 

Bingo: Bingo is the game we played on the very first day of   this course.  It requires students to move around and find people with some interest. The winner is the one who finishes first. This way students get to move around a bit and at the same time know a bit about each other.

Ice breaking activities are real fun activities that help teachers a lot in knowing their students since day one.