Facing Issues of Acculturation Through a Book

With my Personal Project, my goal is to face the issues ofacculturation by creating a guidebook that provides advice based on personal experience and supporting research onthis matter. This goal is highly challenging because everyone’s experiences are different, making the breakdown of the processdifficult to generalize. I chose to pursue my Personal Project because I learned a lot through acculturation in Indonesia, andmuch has changed ever since. With my Personal Project, I aim to put the lessons I learned from my experiences to use.

Global Context

My global context for my project is an inquiry into Identities and Relationships. I chose human relationships (including family, friends, communities, and cultures) as the focus of my project because, for me, they were the most affected by acculturation. I think that being prepared to move to a new country is important so that people will know what to expect and how to deal with its difficulties if ever encountering them. I decided to use this opportunity to share my advice and the lessons I learned from my experience. Hopefully, I can use the global context to guide me through my investigation.

Product

My product is a guidebook titled A Teenager’s Guide to Acculturation which aims to face the issues of acculturation. The book explores four different topics which are culture shock, language barrier, homesickness, and academic life. These topics are illustrated through detailed definitions, advice, shared personal experiences, and fun interactive features. I hope that by sharing my personal experiences, people will understand that they are not alone. I want the readers to know that if they are ever feeling down, there will undoubtedly be tough times, but there is always a way to make things easier. Everything is going to be okay. By reading this book, the readers have prepared themselves for the adventure ahead of them.

As my criteria acted as a foundation of my project, my product explicitly follows it. Observing the final product of my book, I think I have achieved my goal. I believe I have addressed the common issues that people face with acculturating, communicated my advice, and responded to the global context regarding Identities and Relationships to the best of my abilities. I explored the people in my community and beyond, and various human relationships with different communities, cultures, families, and friends, by reflecting on my past experiences and conducting further research.

With all the effort I have put into my project, I am pleased with how it turned out to be. I think that I was able to make my content clear, compelling, and always relevant to the goal of my book. If I were to do this project again, I would be more specific with my personal experiences by including more sensory details and articulating my words to put the readers in my shoes. I would also include more of my hand-drawn illustrations on each page because although I am going for a minimalistic design, some pages seem a bit empty.

Check out my book below!

Reflection

Working on this personal project has allowed me to explore a topic that I am passionate about. I have obtained a better understanding of writing and designing and gained a detailed insight into acculturation. Before starting this project, I had no idea what acculturation was. I never knew that there was a word for the process I had undergone until I learned about it through this project. This project has taught me that the challenges I encountered in the past are shared, yet it is also something that makes each individual different from everyone else. I also understood how not everyone experiences culture shock when moving to a new country, despite how different their home culture is from abroad. I was able to explore the global context: Identities and Relationships. I think I have grown my understanding of the true commonality present in all human beings through this project and I think I have recognized the uniqueness of individuals. Thinking that the breakdown of acculturation would be difficult to generalize due to everyone’s unique experience, I seemed to notice a general pattern in my community and beyond. As I progressed through the project, I began to connect the dots between my personal experiences and my research and understand why I experienced such things. I understood that my mindset and the way I handled situations before, during, and after the acculturation process strongly contributed to the extremity of those negative experiences.

IB Learner Reflection

I have critically analyzed my growth and development as an IB learner. One of the IB learner profiles I developed was reflective. Before sharing my advice through my product, I had to learn a lesson from my past mistakes. Looking back at my past experiences has influenced me to grow forward by understanding what I do well and where I need to improve. I had thoughtfully considered my own and other people’s ideas to understand multiple perspectives to make the book’s quality to the best of my ability. My strengths and limitations were constantly brought to the project and even now I am using them to reflect on my PP experience after my final product has been completed.

Besides being reflective, I developed as a thinker. I have applied my thinking skills critically and creatively to make adequate decisions and to solve problems. I have thought carefully before making any decision and I believe that I have shown initiative throughout the project. Despite having a lot of thoughts on my mind, I am known to be less participative in class and I rarely contribute to class discussions. For the sake of this project, I had to break out of my shell, think carefully about what I want to say, speak up, and present myself to the people around me. This proves how I have also developed as a risk-taker, as I am willing to take criticism over the success of this project.