Natasha's Blogs

I was seven years old when I moved back to Abu Dhabi. We moved in August and in September I would be starting grade one from the beginning when I had already been in grade one for six months. In South Africa, the school years run from January to December, and since I didn’t complete grade one fully, I had to go back to square one. At the time, it didn’t bother me very much since I didn’t quite understand why school would start in the middle of the year, I thought I was just continuing from where I left off. This was my first time in an English school and I was over the moon to start. I knew very little English but enough to help myself, I knew how to ask if I could use the bathroom, to say how old I am and what my name was. On the first day of school, I met my teacher and made friends with a girl who had the same birthday as me. Everyone seemed so nice and I loved it. No one asked me a lot of questions so I didn’t have to speak a lot which I was happy about. Later on, in the week ...

The Queens English My parents first moved to Abu Dhabi in 1999. It wasn’t my moms first time outside of South Africa, before moving, they travelled around Europe but my dad was her personal translator, from ordering her meals to asking how much something cost. His English wasn’t perfect either but he knew more than her.   When my mom was a child, she learned English in school but the teachers spoke “Very high English, the queens English” as she describes it. She said that it was difficult for her to follow along and speak the way they would. Out of 50 countries, South Africa is ranked the lowest in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Studies. In South Africa nowadays, an abundance of children still struggle with learning English. Internationally, 4% of students around the world were unable to reach the lowest literary benchmark, in contrast with South Africa where 78% of the children were unable to reach the benchmark.     My mom’s aunt was a...

- 20 lines - Opposite idiolect  N - me  O - other person N: Hi, my name is Natasha, what's yours? O: Matthew.  N: I'm from South Africa but I've only lived there for 3 years. O: Oh, I am Hawaiian N: How long have you been in the UAE? O: I am only here on holiday.  N: I lived here for 15 years. So what grade are you in? O: I have graduated but I do not work, my parents have a lot of money N: Loaded parents, cool! Have you got any siblings or pets? I have a brother and 2 dogs O: I do not have either  N: Would you like to get fries? I'm starving, I haven't eaten all day! O: Fries? Disgusting.  N: How about something else? They have ice cream and pizzas? O: No. N: There is no need to be so rude O: I am not being rude, I do not want anything N: You could say "No, thank you" O: No thank you, goodbye N: It was nice talking to you  O: I couldn't say the same. 

Pt. 1 - Me  I'm Natasha and I share a birthday with Isaac Newton. I personally think I have the cutest, (and naughty-est) dogs ever, (I believe every dog owner thinks their dogs are the best). My mom sometimes says it feels like she has five kids, my brother, my dad, my two dogs and me. I am from South Africa but I was born and raised in Abu Dhabi, so I've basically been here my whole life. I love playing football, (aka soccer), and this year it's my second year playing football. I would consider myself a very adventurous person, I've gone down the longest zip line in the world which I consider a huge accomplishment since I was extremely nervous. I'm also obsessed with the ocean, I think its one of the most beautiful things on earth. I care a lot about animals and being from South Africa I see loads of wild animals every year and help my aunt who is a vet, treat some of the animals. I was a pescatarian for 3 years mostly just because I never liked meat that mu...