DÍMELO
Fall 2015
Hello! ¡Hola! مكيلع ملاسلا Bonjour! Hallo! 今日は Здравствуйте!
We are very excited to present DÍMELO, our first Foreign Languages
Newsletter here at Mott. DÍMELO means “ Tell (it to) me ” in Spanish.
Our goal is to keep you informed on what the Foreign Languages
Department is up to and to maintain the strong sense of community that we in foreign languages all share. Whether you’re new to Mott or an old friend living in Russia, Japan, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and beyond, our hope is to continue to make our program strong by staying connected and bringing you helpful information, ideas and updates.
Throughout the year, we will publish upcoming events, department news, resources, student and instructor highlights, and much more!
Do you have an idea or a foreign language success story to share?
Maybe you’ve heard of an upcoming event that we should all support.
Did you just find a solution or travel tip you’d like to suggest to others?
Send us your ideas so we can help support each other and grow together! There are so many interesting experiences and opportunities to learn and our newsletter is just one way we can share that information!
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(dee-may-low)
 News & Upcoming Events
 Hispanic Heritage Month
 Original Work Submissions
 Meet your instructor!
 The Scoop on CM2106
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THE “NUEVOS PROFESORES”
New semester, new people! Our previous coordinator for Foreign Languages, Stephen Shubert, is now down the hall from us as the new Dean of Business.
Congratulations (¡ ENHORABUENA !), Stephen! We will miss you and we wish you the best of luck! Now our chief – Foreign Languages Coordinator - is
Jessica Hunter, a previous part time instructor at
MCC. Hail to the chief! If you need to know something about Foreign Languages, she is the person to see. We also have another new Spanish instructor,
Norberto Aguado. He is from Spain and he also was a previous part time instructor at MCC. They are both in CM1101D so be sure to stop by and say “
Hola
!”

DÍMELO
Several MCC Japanese students and Mott language instructors (pictured above) visited the Japan Festival in Novi, Michigan this year. The event entailed cultural presentations, learning workshops, food, and games. The students had a great time and got to use their Japanese skills!
Spanish Instructor
Norberto Aguado became a
U.S. citizen this semester.
Be sure to congratulate him the next time you see him!
Volume 1, Issue 1
Foreign Languages tutors and instructors proudly represented the program at this year’s Fall
Rally and College Night.
Mott students and faculty (pictured above) pose with the famous chicana author Sandra Cisneros at her book signing/reading in Chicago, Illinois.
The group also had the opportunity to visit the National Mexican Museum of Art during their trip.
Some of our Foreign Languages Students and
Faculty were part of the MCC Holiday Wish video this year! Check out our video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9aa0nzB41k
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January –
The Fulbright scholar at Cornell Univeristy, Dr. Tomoyo Nakao (Okayama University in Japan), will be visiting Mott and discussing her work! The title of her current research is “Inheritance of Memory: the American POWs, Civilian Internees in
WWII and Their Descendants.”
January – April -
La mesa española – The “Spanish Table” is a conversation group where anyone (yes, you!) can come and practice Spanish in a fun and relaxed environment. The MESA is held every Tuesday of the semester from 5-7p.m.
February –
Carmel Christy Kattihara Joseph of Kamala Nehru College in New Delhi, India will be visiting our campus. Dr.
K.J. is a Fulbright Scholar and works on questions of caste, gender, language, and media studies.
February – April – Poetry Under the Stars at Longway Planetarium is back! Each of these months local poets can showcase their work and many students and poets even translate poetry to/ from various foreign languages.
March –
Mott will be hosting its very first Japan Fair. The mission of the Japan Fair is to build bridges of cultural understanding between people of Japan and the United States. It is a great opportunity to learn about Japan and the Japanese people. There will be many exciting activities and events (including a “selfie” station)!
April –
The Foreign Languages Talent Show is back! All performances must be in a foreign language, however, participants are not required to be foreign language students or faculty. All are welcome to perform! Auditions should be videoed and sent in to
Jessica.hunter@mcc.edu by February 25 th to be considered.

DÍMELO Volume 1, Issue 1
STUDENT PROFILE
The author of the Hispanic
Heritage Month article is our very own Alyssia Washington.
She is a dedicated and promising SPAN281 student here at Mott whose goal is to learn more about the world and “all of the beautiful people in it.” She started here at Mott as a premed student but quickly fell in love with foreign languages (Spanish in particular) and is now considering attending U of M next fall to study linguistics.
Her goal is to travel and live abroad one day. We have no doubt that she will do great things with her Spanish and for the world!
Hispanic Heritage Month at MCC celebrates the beauty of the Hispanic culture, by use of movies, factual trivia and
Speaker Presentations. This year, we had the pleasure of having great Hispanic Heritage month experiences and lots of student participation!
During the month, we showed films every Tuesday that not only displayed the history, but also sparked deep conversation afterwards. We even had our first family friendly film for all ages to attend: The Book of Life ! Films that were also shown include: La maleta Mexicana ,
También la lluvia , and Anita . Tasty food and refreshments were also provided!
In addition to films, MCC students also received emails that were official MCC Hispanic Heritage Month trivia questions. These questions ranged from Music artists, to identifying famous Latinos/as in America. We received such an influx of responses and selected several winners who won red
“Stay calm y habla español”
T-shirts! Thank you to all who participated!
Concluding the festivities was guest speaker Armando
Hernandez. Well known in the community for his work and humble beginnings, he spoke to students about the realities of being Latino in America and the many contributions made to American history. There was a fantastic dialogue about immigration, language, family, etc. We at MCC were honored to have had him as a speaker.
As a Spanish learning student, I absolutely loved participating in Hispanic Heritage Month and highly recommend that you join us next year for more! Thank to you all who made this possible!
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DÍMELO Volume 1, Issue 1
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To my citrus tree, in my garden, back in Syria
We said good-bye to you months ago ... and we kissed both your cheeks ... and we wiped your tears. And we promised you that we would
انتقيدح
...
كيتنجو انلبقو ...رهشأ ذنم كانعدو
كيتعمد انحسمو
وأ رهش دعب كيلا دوعن نأب كاندعوو
رثكلأا ىلع نيرهش ...
come back after a few months at the most...
Forgive us… because the months have gone by and we could not fulfill our promise. We said good-bye to you and we left our home and our garden in your trustful gaze. And we promised
ا نعطتسا امو روهشلا ترمف انيحماس
دعولا ءافو
ي ف انتقيدحو انلزنم انكرتو كانعدو
كتنامأ to come back to you and make jam from your fruit. Forgive us because we could not fulfill our promise.
We said good bye to you and we hid in your chest; our belongings… our small treasures… our mirrors, our feasts…our drinking glasses…
ىبرملا كنم دقعنل دوعن نأ كاندعوو
يدابكلا
دعولا ءافو انعطتسا امف انيحماس
.. انتا ينتقم كردص يف انئبخو كانعدو
.. انايارم.. ةريغصلا انءايشأ and the beauty of our childhood, the purity of انتبعادم ةبوذعو انسوؤك .. اندئاوم playing in your leaves...
I know that right now you are sad … lonely...
كقارولأ
... ةديحو ... ةنيزح نلآا كنا فرعأ and you miss listening to our conversation when
انثيداحأ ىلا يعمتستل ةقاتشم we were drinking coffee beside you and making
ريثنو كبرقب ةوهقلا برشن نحنو you jealous as we were wearing necklaces of
ن يمسايلا قاوطأ سبلن نحنو كتريغ
Jasmine
حملام م لملن دوعنل يتبيبح اي انيرظتنا
Please stay strong my lovely and wait for us, so we can return to gather the features of our faces from your fruits
And stay majestic… grounded and hold to your earth…with your roots
With your existence the hope stays … the
كتادابك قوف نم انهوجو
يكسمتو ةخسار قبا .. ةخماش قباو
كروذجب .. كضرأب
ريخل ا ىقبيو .. لملأا ىقبي كئاقببف
مركلا ىقبيو
لك ليزيل الله ىلا يعرضتو يعكراو bounties and the hospitality will stay.
انتيروس يف ىشفت يذلا رشلا
Please kneel to God and pray that the evil,
حرفل ا دوعيسو .. دوعن فوسف انيرظتنا which spread in our Syria, will leave. Wait
ماشلا تويب يف معيل for us, we will come back … the joy will return and spread in Syrian homes. Our homes will be full of light once again …
د وعيسو .. ءاضتل تويبلا دوعتسو
ناملأاو ملاسلا
مركلا دئاوم .. دمتل دئاوملا دوعتسو peace and security restored
Feasts will come back … the feasts of
ةماركلاو ةزعلاو
ماـــــــــــشلا لــــــــــــهأ دـــــــــئاوم hospitality, honor, and dignity, the feasts of Syrian people.
-MARLIN DIB-
DÍMELO also serves as an opportunity for MCC students, faculty, and staff to share their experiences as people who come from a diverse background, in the form of acknowledgement of their accomplishments and experiences.
We seek high-quality academic work (e.g. original fiction & nonfiction, short stories, poetry, artwork, and photographs, etc.) by students and faculty/staff who want to share their foreign language and cultural experiences.
Submissions may be submitted in a foreign language or in English and must be submitted before the fourth week of each semester to jessica.hunter@mcc.edu
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DÍMELO Volume 1, Issue 1
1. What is your name?
Mohamed Daassa.
2. How many children do you have?
I have four children.
3. What are they doing?
They are in high school and middle school.
4. When did you start teaching at MCC?
Fourteen years ago.
5. What do you like most about MCC? I like the fact that we are here to teach and I like the diversity of the student body. I take pleasure at interacting with my students.
6. What do you like most about teaching Arabic?
I have a lot of admiration for my students. They are courageous enough to have picked a language that is completely. I tell my students that Arabic is not the language of one country, but of twenty-two nations across
North Africa and the Middle East. It is a language that unites millions of native speakers in the Arab world. It is also the lingua franca of Muslims worldwide. My students are aware that by learning Arabic, they are having access to different cultures and to an entire civilization.
7. Do you think Arabic is hard to learn?
Arabic is very unlike Indo-European languages, but easier to learn than you’d think. My students have so many reasons to learn
Arabic and I have learned so many ways to approach it.
8. Who are your favorite authors and poets?
I like contemporary poetry, in particular poets such Samih Alkasem (Palestine), Mahmoud Darwiche (Palestine), and Nizar Kabbani
(Syria). My favorite novelists are Najib Mahfouz (Egypt), Tayab Saleh (Sudan), and Fatema
Mernissi (Morroco).
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Come stop by the Foreign Languages Center! There is study space and computers to get your language homework done. Need help? Ask one of our tutors, they’ll be happy to help!
Also, new in the Center are our book and flashcard libraries if you need some extra studying resources. You can even watch some international television on our big screen T.V. We look forward to seeing you there! - Rachel (Spanish tutor)
I think the Foreign Languages Center is an AWESOME place for students who are learning Japanese! We have a huge whiteboard wall that is perfect for writing the characters and example sentences! We have about 5 boxes of flashcards that correspond with the textbook that we use and a huge library selection of books about the language.
Please come by! – Quinton (Japanese tutor)
Get to know Rachel, one of your Spanish tutors!
Stay
!
Q : How many semesters of Spanish have you had here at Mott?
What do you plan to study after you leave?
A : I have taken all the semesters available here at Mott, and I plan to study Spanish at university and get my bachelor’s… and most likely my master’s as well!
Q : What are some interesting things about you?
A : I play the violin, I’ve been to Ireland with my orchestra, and I want to become a teacher!
Q : How long have you been a tutor?
A : This is my fourth semester tutoring Spanish here at Mott! I love it!
Q : What is your favorite website to visit?
A : I love to go on YouTube and watch videos. Some of my favorite YouTubers are iiSuperwomanii, Connor Franta, and danisnotonfire.