Making a scrapbook about my travels to the Netherlands and explaining in French

When I was thinking about topics for my personal projects I knew that I wanted to learn languages, mainly French. When I was younger I was heavily influenced by movies I watched with my family and one of them included the pink panther, it has always been a binge staple in my family. French culture has always been intriguing to me, from its history to its Fashion. Now, it's been 7 plus years since i first saw the movie, it has played a pivotal role in my childhood. Choosing this topic for my personal project is also a great motivation, due to the fact that during the holidays I've been learning French on online courses and ever since school started I've never had enough time to learn French and hence, why i choose it, and also as i'm interested to attend university in Montreal, Canada. Ever since mid-june my memory is not as sharp as it used to be. I started to forget sentimental and fond memories that I've made with my friends; I tried journaling, meditating, and sleeping earlier than I usually would. But none seem to work well for me as I would remember fragments of my memory but not entirely, however when I joined French class my memory started to improve. Thus, I wanted to learn a new language since it's a good way to exercise the brain and sharpen memory. For these reasons, I knew this would be a good opportunity to learn a new language. Therefore I decided that my learning goal would be to learn French.

Product Goal

My expectation for the learning goal will help me gain new skills that will hopefully be practical for my future studies, therefore my product goal will be a scrapbook consisting of pictures I've taken of my travels to the Netherlands, peers and friends I’ve made on that trip. It's been a hobby and habit for me to take photos of events that happen for me to cherish them later on when I print them out. The reason why I choose to write my scrapbook in French is because in the Netherlands French is an official language and I'm planning to go to University in Montreal, Canada where French is one of the official languages aside from English. During my trip to the Netherlands, I bought a disposable camera, and it was fun taking pictures of me and my friends in situations/ events that I would love to hold dear for and explaining each shot in French. I'm curious how people on Pinterest and Instagram manage to have such well-organized and intriguing scrapbooks, which is one of the advantages of scrapbooking. Keeping a scrapbook organizes your pictures and helps you keep a journal of memories.

Reflection

When I was starting my personal project, I thought of a design outline. As I made my outline and researched templates, I reminded myself that I should design and decorate the room the way I want it to be, rather than being influenced by other people's scrapbooks and expectations. I learnt that French has feminine and masculine nouns that sound similar but are written differently, and that apostrophes have a significant impact on the meaning of a word. Garçon, for example, denotes a small boy or a boy, whereas Garcon denotes an imbecile. The way the product personally impacted me was, when I look at the photo I remember the joyful memories and friends I made during my trip. I feel proud and satisfied when I see my product.

After practicing and learning French, I noticed that my memory had greatly improved, since my brain was challenged, and because of that I was able to concentrate better as a result of practicing and learning French. I assessed the product based on the following success criteria: composition, which my supervisor and I have devised for my project. I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself while working on the project, so I tried to think of it as a fun project rather than a school assignment, and it turned out to be quite successful. Surprisingly organizing, writing and decorating my personal project was actually relaxing and satisfying.The process of picking the material of paper was quite difficult and stressful for me, cause i needed a specific textured paper that weren’t common in online shops (Shopee, Tokopedia, Bukalapak and other websites) and most shops , so I personally had to go to an art and supplies store and also buy some of the decorations too. I bought a handful of highlighters that had a blue, purple-ly, green- minty color to match with the photos taken ( which had a blue tone to it). As time passed , I explored different designs and motifs for my scrapbook and added stickers of all shapes and sizes to add a little bit of a pop to my scrapbook. In the end I was able to finish my scrapbook.

Although, when I was writing down the contents of my scrapbook, in certain pages, my writing appeared rushed and there were multiple misspelled words that were later on fixed. Additionally, The process and the result of the decorations somewhat ties up the scrapbook. Overall, I think that my personal project is adequate, and I would for sure continue adding more pictures into my scrapbooks changing things up in the future.

Product Evaluation

The product's design and decorations are in keeping with the aesthetic of the images, and they are to my liking. The first photo is my favorite page since it contains all of the friends I've made on this trip and reflects the fun and memorable moments I've had. I believe I have built a successful product; although I believe there are certain areas that may be improved, I am pleased with the outcomes, which fulfilled my expectations. I'm pleased I selected to make a scrapbook as my product goal; I've been writing in a journal and decorating it in the same way that I decorated my scrapbook since then. Overall, I'm pleased with the work I've put in. Overall, I am delighted with the effort that I have put into this project, and I have accomplished my aim for this product. I evaluated the works and procedures to the quality and aesthetics success criteria, and I'm delighted to say that, in the end, all of the product's materials are of excellent quality.