11

th
Grade Fall Semester
The fall semester of my junior year has been a great learning experience for me. This
semester has increased my academic skills shch as investigating the world, vaining new
perspectives, and Investigating the world was a distinguished skill. This was possible because
of the fast food unit we did in English as well as the series of projects in Chinese 3.

The fast food project was a very unique one. In this unit we read short sections of the
novel Fast Food Nation by, Eric Shclosser which gave us a new perspective on the horrors of
the food Industry. Aside from that we had to choose a restaurant in our local community, visit it
while assuming the role of a health inspector and later present our found information to the
class. The group I worked with included Marilynn Lopez, Ruben Vargas, Kevin Martinez and
myself. We chose to go to Wongs Kitchen off of Osborne in Pacoima. We met up at the
restauraunt and conducted our investigation using the actual California State food regulations
as a guide to determine where the restaurant stood in terms of food health. We considered
factors about cleanliness, bathrooms furniture conditions and the way employees handled the
food. We found mild violations such as dust on the floor and small tears in furniture; the only
major violation was the very dirty bathrooms. Wongs Kitchen had an A letter grade posted on
its window and our findings also reflected a high rating for the restaurant.

This unit vastly changed my perspective on the food industry. Before, I could just go to a
restaurant order food and that would be it. Now I question whether or not my food is being
handled correctly. Ive learned that just because a restaurant has an A on their window it
doesnt mean they are 100% safe. Also Ive started to eat a lot less fast food because we
learned about some aspects about how food must be processed, go through machines, be
inspected and sent off to the distributor. The whole experience and what I have learned really
surprised me and caused me to change for the better.

In this project I also expanded on my ability to communicate ideas. At the end of this
project we presented our findings. We gave a group presentation in the form of a prezi and
included information from all aspects of the unit such as facts from Fast Food Nation and our
experience at Wongs Kitchen. I noticed that when I delivered my portion of the presentation my
flow of words and speech pattern greatly improved since tenth grade. Throughout high school I
have given presentations in front of class and I would stutter or sound really nervous but now I
can calmly speak in front of an audience. Although my speaking skills have not reached their full
potential, they have taken a big step towards forward.

The other aspect of this semester that improved me as a student is the series of projects
I've made in Chinese 3. Although they are simple, they've helped me greatly. In these projects
we must include new Chinese characters accompanied by a picture and a sentence in Chinese,
English and pin yin. These projects have helped me with communicating ideas because they
furthered my ability to communicate with people in another language. It was always challenging
to remember Chinese characters and these projects definitely help. In the beginning of Chinese
3 I would usually stutter or pause when speaking Chinese and now I am more confident in
speaking chinese faster and more fluently.

These are some of the few academic aspects of the semester that I enjoyed because
rather than just focusing on a work of literature we actively went out into the community and had
a hands on experience. Over all the Food Industry Unit vastly helped me grow to be a stronger
and more competent student. Chinese projects have also allowed me grow by improving my
Chinese speaking skills. These two aspects were great because they pushed me to investigate
the world, communicate ideas, and gain new perspectives; it was worth it.