SURROUNDED BY ALIENS?

Before Reading

1. What is a vlog?

2. Do you follow any vlogs? If so, whose vlogs and what are they about?

3. Are you a vlogger yourself? What do you vlog about?

Jenna

Jenna’s Vlog

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Hi everyone! I’m Jenna, nice of you to visit my weekly vlog so we can stay connected. Last week I got a lot of comments and questions about school and the new school year that’s coming up. That got me thinking, and I would like to share a story with you guys.

A year ago, I started in a new theater group and I didn’t know any of the kids in the group. Our first meeting was a total disaster. They were all so different from the kids in my old group and very different from me. One had blue hair, another talked all the time –I mean, all the time! One had brought a vegan sandwich and just sat in the corner, eating. It was all very weird, and I felt so stupid! It was nothing like my old group!

When I came home, I told my dad I didn’t want to go back to the new theater group. Even though I love acting, and I really wanted to keep it up, I felt like I couldn’t because I had absolutely nothing in common with those people. But dad didn’t buy that and used his parent voice and said: “Those people? I bet you are more alike than you are different.” He said I needed to go back and try to see beyond the exterior, beyond the blue hair and the vegan sandwich. That I probably was as alien to the girl with the vegan sandwich as she was to me with my turkey sandwich. That I needed to be a little bit more curious and a little less judgmental.

I felt I didn’t have much of a choice and, without really believing his words, I decided to give it one more chance. So, I went back. And I tried to be curious. I looked for similarities, not differences. I felt shy, stupid, you name it, but to my surprise it turned out that the blue-haired girl and I shared the same taste in music – heavy metal! The talkative boy was just every bit as nervous as I was, and when he calmed down, he turned out to be a great listener, too. Who would have guessed?

Now I just love my new theater group and can’t understand my first reaction. Imagine if I hadn’t gone back! I hate to admit that my dad was right, but he was, he really was.

This got me thinking about how we react to strangers. We are so suspicious, and we treat them as if they were aliens from another disaster katastrof weird konstigt exterior yta turkey kalkon curious nyfiken judgmental dömande choice val similarities likheter shy blyg talkative pratglad calmed down lugnade ner sig listener lyssnare imagine föreställa dig admit erkänna strangers främlingar suspicious misstänksam planet, or something. Why? They probably experience the same emotions and thoughts as you and I do. They laugh, get frustrated, get angry and make up, think and overthink, just like I do all the time. They probably also do many of the same things that we do. They wake up, brush their teeth and set out to do their daily thing the best they can – go to school, play basketball, have dinner, do homework, just chill, charge their phones – and then they brush their teeth again and go back to sleep.

We won’t always have the time or energy to make friends with everyone we meet. I know that, but maybe we can at least try to understand each other and open up so new people don’t end up being aliens.

So, to all of you who might be nervous about this new school year – don’t be! Try to be curious! Look for similarities, not differences. Make friends, or at least reduce the number of aliens and strangers in your life. We are, after all, more alike than we are different! Now I got really serious, but it’s true, isn’t it?

Reading comprehension

1. Why is Jenna talking about making friends?

2. How was Jenna’s first meeting with her new theater group?

3. Jenna’s father used his “parent voice”. What does that mean?

4. Why did she decide to go back?

5. What did she find out as she went back?

6. In what ways are we alike according to Jenna? What are your thoughts on that, and why?

Let me know what you think and be sure to check in again next week for an update! Until then – take care! experience

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