Immigration Reflection

Project Reflection

I thought that Circuit and Breaking Through were good choices. I liked the books I chose because I could relate to the story because it took place mostly with Francisco the main character in school. I also thought that it was interesting to see how he dealt with things in school. I learned that a lot of Immigrants like Francisco would have to move from place to place following where the crops were. He would have to leave school for a couple of weeks to go do work.  I think that we should just stick to doing the meetings in class instead of posting on the blog because then it is easier to discuss the book with our group. I didn’t really like blogging. I like filling out the sheets and then meeting in class to discuss the book in groups in class.  I didn’t have any problems blogging I just thought that it was less confusing when we discussed the book together in class.  I learned that my peers had many of the same interpretations as me.

I chose to do a scene that struck me to reflect on the book because I thought it would be a more complex painting instead of doing a new book cover.  Also I thought that the scene I chose was an important one in the story. I think that there was a connection between my painting and the novel because the whole book was about him being in school and hiding he was illegal.  Once he was found out and taken by the border patrol, he was scared.   I thought this scene really did a good job reflecting on the book.  I think my final product, the painting, turned out well because it was complex and I took my time painting it.  I was hard sometimes to stay inside the lines because some things were small.  I thought that I could change the faces into black silhouettes instead of looking like cartoons.  I think that changing the faces to silhouettes would have improved my final product.  I learned that it is difficult to reflect a book in art and it was hard to think of ideas of what to paint. 

My interview went OK.  Sometimes I asked a question he didn’t understand or he gave an answer that didn’t make sense because of the language barrier.  It was hard to explain some things and get the right answer.  It was difficult to get my immigrant to respond to my emails so a couple of times I was late with interviews because he didn’t answer on time.  It was also difficult to plan the in person interview because he didn’t always answer his phone or answer my emails.  Once I scheduled the in person interview I thought it went well from there. In the first interview I learned that my immigrant was from Eritrea and I had never heard of that country.  In the second interview I learned that he was a refugee to America and that he was 30 years old.  In the in person interview I learned that it took him three days to come to the United States.  He first went from Eritrea to Ethiopia, then from Ethiopia to Germany and then on to the United States.  I also learned that he fought in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.  He has been here in San Diego for two years.  I learned that he came because of a “push factor” which was a war and political pressure. He came here for a better life.  I thought that it was cool that we got to give our immigrant a gift that we made to show appreciation.  I enjoyed painting the scene that showed his life and his journey here.  I think that it turned out well and I hope he likes it.