Introductory Post

Part 1: Biography

Hey, I'm Raihan. I am 15 years old, turned recently last month on August 14th. I am from Jakarta, Indonesia, born but not raised. I moved to Malaysia when I was just 3 years old in 2006 and moved here to the UAE when I was 10 in 2012. So I've pretty much spent almost my entire life living abroad, and raised within international and diverse communities. I am interested in a variety of things, particularly keeping up with movies and television shows. I am not really a huge sports person nor am I great at most of them, but I still enjoy doing and sometimes watching them anyways. I enjoy doing things such as taking a stroll or riding my bike along the coast, hanging out with friends and just learning and wondering about different things. I'd say that I am a caring person, but I may be bias so I'll just go with it. For instance, I play close attention and keep up with the latest news about the ongoing conflicts and disasters worldwide, and I worry for those who suffered in these situations. Other than that, I care about the things and the work I do, the people I interact with, including my friends and family, etc. Language plays a major role in my life and everyone else's life because it is the main form of communication within other individuals, which is also the main reason why it is important to study it. Along with that, studying language also develops and improves different skills including reading, listening, speaking and writing. Personally, language barriers have been one of my main problems that I encounter when I travel back home to Indonesia during my holidays. Since I have lived abroad almost my entire life, I do not completely know my own mother tongue and native language, the Indonesian language. This makes it difficult for me to communicate with my own family and other Indonesians which I find quite embarrassing and shameful. Other language barriers related problems that I've encountered happens when I travel abroad obviously when attempting to communicate with the local people. It also happens in the UAE occasionally since the country is very diverse. 

Part 2: Goal Settings

To me, being in the IB Diploma Program means a new phase of high school, it means an opportunity for me to start fresh in terms of myself, it means that I have two years left to make the best out of high school before entering the real world. In these two years, I want try new things that would enhance my experience in this rigorous course. For starters, I have to start the habit of studying independently at home. In my previous years of school, studying at home independantly (exemption of doing homework and studying for tests) was not something you would see me doing. I always had a sense of over confidence inside me, that I would do good in school overall without doing any rigorous studies at home. This actually lasted for a while, but not anymore as time goes. So independent studying is one thing that I will be trying this year. Anything habit I would have to get used to this year is asking questions. For the past years, teachers often call me shy during class, that all I do is sit quietly and do not participate a lot in class discussions. I need to start realizing that teachers are here to help me in in any way possible, and that I should use this privilege in order to do good in these two years. Other things that I will try this year include; new ways to manage time, new ways to organize work, etc. My main goal is of course, to pass this Language and Literature HL course and to pass DP overall. Specifically, I am aiming to get 30+ points by the end of this program. Other goals include improving my skills in using language and literature. The material that will be covered in class will help me achieve my goals because they include things such as text analysis and other skills and techniques of language and literature. 

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