Blog Post # 5: Cultural Encounters

Make cultural observations and compare your experience with Quebecois culture 
Last tuesday, when I entered in the hospital, I realized that there was Hanukkah things pretty much everywhere. I sometimes forget that my internship is in a Jewish Hospital. I was kind of curious so I looked how the candles that you are supposed to light for Hanukkah works. I couldn't get the name of the thing so I will call it a chandelier for now! They also celebrate christmas because there are a lot of mini christmas tree, in my department.

Last tuesday, when I was finishing my tasks, i heard someone putting music in the background.It was "Die young- Kesha". Not my kind of music but it's always better to work with music.

There's a lot of newspaper in the conference room of my department. All of them are Jewish newspaper. I've got to read them a while ago since Astrid (A girl in my department) asked me to search if there was anything about the hospital in it. I'm kind of surprise to see that the jewish community is this big, in Montreal. It's nice to learn more about other culture in your own country.

I didn't get the chance to ask them about Holidays since they are often busy but like I said, they do celebrate holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah. They are also doing a party for christmas. I'm currently helping them do organise it.

Describe the types of English you have been exposed to
I did heard slang since there's also a lot of teen wandering around the hospital. I sometimes listen to their conversation when I am passing by. Not that I want to spy on them but I want to learn new expression! 
I actually heard someone say "Bloody Hell" and I couldn't stop laughing since I knew this one and It is not american at all. If I am not wrong, this is British. 
Also, I hear someone say "Double-double" took me some times to realized that it was an expression about coffee. In case you are wondering, there's a second cup in the hospital. 

I didn't write anything right now, but I did some reading. I read the newspaper once or twice.

Sadly, I didn't get the chance to use idioms since I'm moving around the hospital. It would be funny to use an idioms while talking to an old lady, isn't it?

Select 5 new words, expressions or structuresWrite down:

• Screen(My supervisor were showing me the decoration for the holiday party and I didn't know the english word for it) : a movable or fixed device, usually consisting of a covered frame, that provides shelter, serves as apartition, etc. If I see one, I'll know the word for it.
• prospectus (While placing some magazines, someone asked me if those were prospectus.): a document describing the major features of a proposed literary work, project, business venture,etc., in enough detail so that prospective investors, participants, or buyers may evaluate it.
• Hashtag (someone in my department were talking about it): (on social-networking Web sites) a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within amessage to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it
• Menorah: The menorah is a seven branched candelabrum lit by olive oil in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem. 

Rewards and challenges

• What has been the most difficult aspect of the internship for you so far?

Definetly to create link with people. Since I'm speaking in english, I don't get jokes or feelings the same way as I do in french.

• What has been the best part about the internship?

Wandering around the hospital is the best part of it. Because I get to talk to different people. 

Blog post #4

Describe interactions you’ve had in English and what you learned from them
Since I'm in an hospital, you get a lot of different interactions. Last week, I had to place some magazines in rack and place many posters on billboard at multiple place in the hospital. I clearly know that I'm the girl with no sense of orientation but it was still fun to ask people where to go. I also had small conversation in the elevator on my way to my quest (Yes... placing posters on a billboard are now a quest!!)
Other than asking my way and conversation in the elevator and with my supervisor, I don't think I had that many interactions, but it is still nice to see how much people are kind and patient, over there.

I try to not use "faux-amis" but look like i'm not the one using them. One day, when I arrived earlier , one of the man that work there told me "you can go ahead and read the journal." Isn't it funny coming from someone who's anglophone?

Other than that, I think that the english community is not that different from the french one. Maybe that they don't make as much as joke as I'm used to (Even though, I think it's more because they are busy ) and they always say sorry! 

How is learning English different in your internship than in a classroom?

It is very different because , compared than being in a classroom, in an immersion you don't really get the time to think of your answer so you have to be very spontaneous and that sometimes make the conversation a little bit awkward (just a little bit...)

Also, let's say that my host is not as smiley as my teacher! But more seriously, you have to be very independant and make sure to understand what they ask you do it. Mainly because I don't want to look irresponsible.

In other word, that's the real life!

For now, the two only strategy I got to use was the gestures ( Even in french, I use a lot of gestures) and the "talking out loud". When I learn a new word, I make the person repeat so I can say it and make sure I pronounce it well.

When it comes to challenge, I definetly had trouble finding my way in the hospital. Poor people that I had to stop on their way haha. I stopped probably twenty different person to ask the same question but, I'm persistant and in the end, I found my way!

Select 5 new words, expressions or structures

-Lanyards

-Billboard

I didn't really learnt new words.

Blog Post # 3: Diving in

Describe interactions you’ve had in English and what you learned from them
In my internship, I don't talk a lot with my supervisor but I do talk a lot with people around the hospital and that is probably my favorite part of my internship. I often wander around the hospital to place poster, magazines and information sheets. Also, I get lost most of the time since this hospital is huge! I always end up asking directions and where is x room or y place. I realized that I probably look weird to an anglophone person when I speak english. I tend to do a lot of gestures to explain simple things. As long as they understand me!
I did not learn any new expression, though. Like I said I don't talk a lot with my department since most of the time, I'm walking around the place to do some tasks. But hey who knows! I might learn a new expressions from an old lady.

Describe your observations of Anglophone culture
I don't want to generalize but in my department, people are not very punctual. They are supposed to start at 9 and some person arrive thirty minutes late, sometimes. I was kind of surprise by that since I always want to be on time. I had a hard time to ajust my schedule to theirs since that I was always 1 hour earlier than I was supposed to. I always try to kill time or else I end up doing over work! 
I don't think that people have a big scale of politeness. I know that they say sorry a lot, for pretty much nothing. Other than that, they call themselves by their first names all the time. I think it is because my department work together since a long time. In the morning, when you enter you can always see someone saying "good morning" to another one and they welcome everyone. Same when it comes to leave. Everyone says goodbye to everyone else.
I actually never saw them do jokes. Not that they are not funny but once again, I'm always on the first floor or the RC.
I'm having a hard time to dress like they do. When I asked my supervisor for the dress code, she told me "No joggings". I said ok and I always wear jeans. I think it's funny to see a girl wear a skirt or a dress in winter but the girls in my department still do it. My health pass before my style! Though, I'm still trying to look elegant since it is important to them.
When it comes to breaks, I never had one and that would be stupid anyway since I only work 2 hours and a half. That would be useless to have a break. I never saw my supervisor take one either.

Select 5 new words, expressions or structures
-Zionist: I was reading the newspaper. Someone asked me to read it to find if there was information about the JGH and I came across this word.
-Pavillion: I thought "Pavillon" was also pavillon is english.
-Raffle: I had to cut paper for their Christmas party.
-"Lick someone's boot": While placing stuff in the hospital, I heard an old lady say this.
-"break your back": I don't quite remember if this expression is right but I remember that someone said something similar to this because I was doing tasks since 8:30 while I'm supposed to start at 9.

So today, I went for my first day of internship at the Jewish General Hospital. The day wasn't planned like it was supposed to. Look like my host was too busy to show me the hospital. Oh well, next time, I guess!
It looked like it was a busy day in general in the communication department. There was lots of meetings.

• What struck you on the first day?

What struck me the most was probably the kindness and "welcoming-ness" of everyone. As soon as I entered, when people saw me they immediatly introduce themselves to me and welcome me. That was nice of them. 
When it comes to the linguistic observation, well I'm not sure if this could be considered linguistic but they say "sorry" a lot. I knew it was present but not that much ! People are so well mannered.

• What new language did you learn? Begin your language lexicon (2-5 new words, expressions, structures)

Sad thing about today is that I didn't get to talk a lot. Probably what frustrated me the most. I wanted to talk but I got the impression that my host was too occupied with other stuff. Well, I did the inventory of some gift they plan to give for their holiday party. Why I'm telling this? Well I learn a new word haha. I now know what the word "lanyard" is. Trust me, after five hundred forty five of them, that word is stuck in your head the rest of the day. Worst than a song haha.
Doing inventory is the only thing I've done today. That is why I'm a bit disappointed. 
But oh well! Next week, I'm sure it's going to be better.

• Did you have any misunderstandings? What can you learn from your mistakes?

I didn't have the chance to talk much but yes, there was one. I arrived early (way too much) and then there is Mister... I forgot his name (I'll ask him again!) But yeah, he said something so fast that I couldn't understand and I was feeling bad to make him repeat (Yes, I know, I should make him repeat again! Promise I'll do next time) So I just nodded my head and said yes. That's when he started to speak french haha. I'm proud of myself though, I kept talking english!

My goal for this internship

Since I'm going to be at the Jewish General Hospital, I'm going to set goals that mostly have a link to jewish culture and everything that could be considered related to this.


My goals for this internship are:

• I want to learn more about the jewish culture.
• I want to be able to use idioms currently.
• Make sure this internship will be a positive experience.
• Do my tasks efficiently. (with less possible errors haha, well no one is perfect.)
• I want to speak with a decent accent in english.
• I want to correctly learn how to pronounce the "th" sound. I guess that by hearing other people use it, I'll eventually learn how to do so.

When it comes to the language strategies I'll be using is mainly going to be guesses. To be honest, i've been in a hospital three or four time in my life so I guess there is going to be vocabulary that I will encounter and that I probably won't know and plus, I'm shy to ask questions (haha). I'll need to put that aside.
Also, lucky me, I have lot of classes where I speak english so I'm going to use the "pratice strategies". It's always easier when you have people who speak english around you.

I've meet my host yesterday. Their names are Amanda , who will supervise me and there's also Marissa who work in the same department. The only incovenient is that I arrived way to early. About forty minutes haha.
Oh well, they were still pretty welcoming and I explained them the contract and the assurance. I haven't got the time to explain them this blog so I guess that will go to next time.

My pre-internship impressions, concerns and/or expectations:
Well actually, they explained me what I would do and from what I heard, I won't talk a lot. So I don't think I'll be able to ameliorate my english. I'll talk to that about them or else that's not really a stage. Other than that, the tasks seems really interesting. Mainly office work but that seems fun.
I'm supposed to help them with some translation and I'm going to pass some magazines in the hospital. They write a "kind of journal." Didn't really understand that part but I can't wait to start. Next week, they will show me the hospital and then I'll start what I am supposed to do (Yeah!).

About me

Hello there,
the main purpose of this blog is to keep a journal of the activites, mistake and problem I may encounter during my internship. If I am a stranger to you, well there's big possibilities that you don't understand what I'm talking about so to make short, I'm a Trilinguism and culture's student at Cegep Andre-Laurendeau.
Welcome on my blog.

My first post: Internship body language

This video is about advices that may help you within a work/internship interview. I think that the most important advice they give you is definitely to stay confident and comfortable with the situation. When you look stress, the employee see it and that change a big thing about it. If you walk there with confidence, the employee

For my first internship, this is going to be an helpful video since I’ve never really done a real interview. I’m easily stress by this. Well let’s blame it on shyness! Haha

What I’ll try to do to make this interview a nice experience:

• I’ll prepare some answer to the question, in my head.
• I’ll try to act comfortable to avoid awkward situation.
• Walk in with confidence.