Sam’s Story

This is from Sam’s Blog
http://samsam009.blogspot.com/2009/01/true-story-about-me.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009

True Story About Me

I read an article in magazine which talk about " how the live lose its’ value if there is no dream". The article explained how people dreams' are relate to their background and surrounding or are affected by someone. So, i know I’m one of these people who dreams were affected by their background and surrounding.

When i was a kid, I dream to be an artist. I have been a great interesting in drawings and painting. and my father has believed, i have a talent, So he always encourage me and provided any tools which progress my hobby. I liked that and i started to contribute in art classes and competitions. I Can't image my life without that encourage is given by my father who worked as a civil engineer in the construction company.
In summer holiday, I went with my father to his work and there i found some architects had drown in sheets and with my Curiosity i looked at them and indivadually i began to simulate it. at that time i changed my dream to be an architect. I thought i would be like my father, but later i know that is a different field. After that, i began to interest in design of historical buildings and sketches were made by architects, my new hoppy continued Till i went to school of architecture for to be what i dream. I was exciting trough my study. But when i graduated from school, my dream grow up to search for my own style and Uniquely in field. So i came to USA for fellow that image. and even my way is hard, I ll' keep on.

I had not any idea or understands of these strange changes in my dreams until read that article in magazine. And I know how surrounding conditions are affected in life and dreams. Another thing i learnt from my experiment is some moments can play major role in change of our dreams.



CONTENT
I think that you had the stuff in your essay that you needed. Take a look at the highly edited essay below. If most of that essay accurately describes you (or, ideally, if most of it says what you wanted to say), then I was able to pull it out of what you wrote. And if I was able to pull it out of what you wrote, the “raw material” must have been there.

COHESIVENESS
Your essay has the “skeleton”: an introduction with a thesis statement, a body that develops the thesis statement, and a conclusion. However, you need more practice “fleshing the out the ‘skeleton.’”

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

How I Became Who I Am
How I Became Me

I read an article in a magazine that talked about how life loses its value if there is no dream. The article explained how people’s dreams are shaped by the environment they grew up in. I know that my dad and a trip to his job shaped mine.

When I was a kid, I liked drawing and painting, and my father encouraged me. I took lessons, and he provided all the supplies that I needed. I can't imagine what my life would be like now if Dad hadn’t stood beside me.

My father was a civil engineer at a construction company, and one summer vacation, he took me to work. I found some work that architects had drawn, and I was fascinated by it. I looked at each one. I began copying them. That’s when I first thought about being an architect. After that, I started studying the design of historical buildings and sketches by famous architects. I dreamed of studying architecture in college, and that came true in _____ when I entered ________________________ . And since I graduated in _____ , my dream has grown: I want to find my own unique style, so I came to the USA to follow that dream. And even if things get hard, I won’t give up.

Of course I can never know what my life would be like now if I’d grown up in a different environment, and I know I could have made different choices, but I can see the fingerprints my environment left on my life. I know how the people and events in my environment affected my life and my dreams. I see how my father, my art classes, my trip to my father’s job, and my college studies have all played a major role in my dreams.

Pirata’s Mother in Law, the Ninja?

Stills from Granny's Day Out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsdaBB1RQI)

From Pirata's blog:
http://pirata333.blogspot.com/2009/01/grannys-day-out.html

Friday, January 23, 2009
GRANNY'S DAY OUT
GRANNY'S DAY OUT, is a short action film of a kidnaping. It takes place at the same time that an old and sweet lady ( my mother in law), was out with her nurse at the park. She isn't like other old ladies, she is special, because she is a ninja.

The principal actor, is this sweet old lady, she is a heroine of the film. She saved a couple from the kidnapers, with her ability and her power. It was set in a luxury house in a fine neighborhood. There are many good action scenes.

The film was made in a very short time. The soundtrack is similar to James Bond music, it is not possible that you don't remember those films. The movie has killers, but not blood, it could have better special effects. I recommend this film, only if you don't have any thing to do.

3.21 minutes
Youtube
ninadiamante321



CONTENT
The content’s pretty good, but you should not have included the very last part (“… only if you don't have [anything] to do”) — see “COHESIVENESS.” You tell us how the film ends (That’s usually a no no.), but that’s probably OK because I don’t think that anyone who watches this film will think, “Oh, my God! Is she going to save them?!” Instead, I think that the average viewer is interested in “how” she’ll do it — not “if.”

COHESIVENESS
Most of this review “holds together” well. However, you shouldn’t have included the very last part (“… only if you don't have [anything] to do”) because it doesn’t fit in well with the rest of what you wrote: i.e., almost everything else is positive, so this negative comment seems out of place.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
Please pay close attention to the punctuation — especially the commas (,). Also, look at the verb tenses; you usually want to use the same tense throughout the essay.

Granny's Day Out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsdaBB1RQI

Granny's Day Out is a short action comedy about a couple that gets kidnapped and their rescue. The kidnapping takes place at the same time that a sweet old lady (my mother in law) is out with her nurse at the park. She isn't like other old ladies; she’s a ninja. The sweet old lady is a “super heroine.” She saves the couple from the kidnappers with her special abilities and her power.

It is set in a luxury house in a fine neighborhood, but it was made in a very short time. The soundtrack is similar to the music from a James Bond film. (You have to remember those films!) There are many good action scenes. It has killers, but there isn’t any blood. It could have better special effects, but it’s a low budget film. I recommend this movie if you enjoy silly comedies.

Mihoko’s Fridge

Two stills from ふりっじす Fridges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxhMtnc6t0


http://mihokopasadena102.blogspot.com/2009/01/fridges.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009
My review of Fridges
This is a short animation movie. In this movie, a refrigerator is personified. One night, a refrigerator is thrown away. But he believes that he still can work, and try to show it. But he realizes that the real society is harder than he thinks. The refrigerator represents the people who are dismissed from their company. At first, they try to find other job, but when they see it’s difficult, some of them try to kill themselves with despair. Even if they could find a new job and become happy, there appears other person who is dismissed. It seems continue eternally. Through this movie, we are confronted with the problem which is happening in this society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxhMtnc6t0

time 6:55
from You Tube

CONTENT
The content’s fine. I was worried that you told the reader so much that it would spoil the movie, but because you discussed the analogy instead of refrigerators (“The refrigerator represents the people who are dismissed from their company.”), I think that it works.

COHESIVENESS
The cohesiveness was quite good. However, some small grammatical and vocabulary errors meant that it didn’t flow as well as it could have.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

My Review of Fridges

“Fridges” is a short animated movie. In this movie, a refrigerator is personified. One night, a refrigerator is thrown away, but he believes that he still can work, and tries to show it. However, he soon realizes that society is harder than he thought. The refrigerator represents people who are dismissed from their job. At first, they try to find another job, but when they see it’s difficult, some of them try to kill themselves out of despair. Even if they could find a new job and become happy, another person might lose theirs. It seems to continue eternally. Through this movie, we are confronted with a problem which is happening in society.

I Believe You’ll Like This

A “Book Autopsy” by Brian Dettmer (SOURCE: http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/)

NPR (National Public Radio) has a neat little collection of “non-academic essays” by various people. The essays all have the same topic (I believe), but each writer provides their own object/controlling idea. You can both read the essays and hear them read by the authors:
http://www.thisibelieve.org/dsp_Top25EssaysTW.php

How to Improve Your English Skills

English Language poster by Michael Ciancio (SOURCE: http://inspirimint.com/)

A Post by Hello Everybody
http://linli-linli.blogspot.com/2009/01/studying-english-experience.html

Sunday, January 25, 2009
HOW TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SKILLS
English as an international language is becoming more and more important in the world. When you are in forign country which English is not the native language because of trip or business, even though you can't speak local language, you can feel at home if you can speak English, so Many countries teach English as a second language. I have been studying English in the middle school in my country. I think that there are three necesery steps for us to improve my English: making up your fundmatal English skills including vocabulary, grammar and writing; correcting your pronunciation and paticipating the social foundmatal.

This first important step is to make up your foundmatal skill. Leaning English is alike building a house which includes base, body and roof. How many vocabulary you understand, how your base is storg, so abundant vocabulary is the key to success. Grammar is important as same as vocabulary because you can's express your opinion clearly if you are lack of your grammer skill.for example, "Rose liked cats" and "Rose likes cats" is the different meaning because of tense. The first sentense shows that Rose liked cats before, and the other sentense shows that Rose liked cats in the past. When you didn't see you friends for a long time, you reply business letters and you will plan to do a speech in pulic, writing skill is very useful to help you solve this problems.

Correcting your pronunciation is antother important for us to improve our English skills. When we study English, we always are influened by our mother language. To avoid the influence, we must be farway away from mother language tone. Let's study standard pronuntiation from stapes, TV and radios, just like a baby who how to learn speaking from your mother.

After you finish these steps, you should attend the social practice. Many people speak English just at a specialic time, on a giving occasion and with particular person. They perfer to speak their own country language with their famlily, their friends, and their workmates. These actions can't improve their English, otherwise these will become obstcal on their leaning English way.

All in all, There are no short cuts for us to improve your English skills.You must keep going on making up your fundmatal English skills, correcting your pronunciation and paticipating the social pratice. If you follow these steps, you will be succeed.
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CONTENT
It looks like you have most of what you need for a good essay.

Use the spell check: forign, fundmatal, paticipating, paticipating, foundmatal, foundmatal, storg, grammer, sentense, pulic, antother, influened, pronuntiation, specialic, perfer, famlily, obstcal, fundmatal, paticipating, pratice. (In both Word and a Blogspot blog, the misspelled words are underlined with a wavy red line.)

COHESIVENESS
Your overall organization looks quite good. You included a thesis statement in the introduction, a topic sentence in each paragraph in the body, and a restatement of the thesis statement in the conclusion. So it looks like you have a good understanding of some of the basics. However, the mistakes in grammar and vocabulary make some of it hard to follow.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

How to Improve Your English Skills

English is an international language, and it is becoming more and more important in the world. When you are in a country where English is not the native language, even though you can't speak the local language, you can often get by if you can speak English. Many countries teach English as a Foreign Language. I am from _______, and I have been studying English since middle school. I think that there are three necessary steps to improving your English: improving fundamental skills (including vocabulary, grammar and writing), correcting pronunciation, and speaking English (instead of your native language).

The first important step is working on the fundamentals. Learning English is like building a house, and vocabulary is the foundation. The more vocabulary you understand, the stronger your foundation is, so an abundant vocabulary is the key to success. Grammar is also important because you can't express your opinion clearly without it. For example, "Rose liked cats" and "Rose likes cats" have different meanings because of tense. The first sentence shows that Rose liked cats before, and the other sentence shows that Rose likes cats now. [YOU NEED TO WRITE ANOTHER SENTENCE, OR SENTENCES, ABOUT THE VALUE OF WRITING.]

Pronunciation is also an important English skill. When you study English, you are always influenced by your mother language. To avoid the influence, you must spend some time away from it. You need to spend some time surrounded by English, like a baby who is learning how to speak. You can study Standard English pronunciation from tapes, TV, and radio.

In addition to these steps, you need to use it as often as you can. Many people only speak English when they have to. They prefer to speak their native language with their family, their friends, and their workmates. This doesn't improve their English, and it can become an obstacle to their learning English.

All in all, there are no short cuts to improving your English skills. You must keep working on your fundamental English skills, correcting your pronunciation, and using it to communicate with. If you follow these steps, you will be successful.

微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile

Two stills from the movie 微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile:
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

Wendy’s Movie Review: 微笑的魚 A Fish with A Smile

Saturday, January 24, 2009
A fish with a smile
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

This is a animation movie. A man usually goes through an aquarium and he sees a fish that it always smiles at him whatever how is he. One day, the man decides to buy the smile fish and he likes it very much. Whenever the fish always keeps with him and smiles at him. At that evening, he chases his fish, dives water, swims in sea, and he enjoys it. Suddenly, he discover to be surround. The movie is great and it give us a good example. I hope you would like it.
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You chose a wonderful movie, and I really like your link — you just click on it and go there. I have copied the addresses from sites and pasted them in my blog, but I really wanted to do what you did. If I can’t figure out how to do it this weekend, please show me how to do it on Monday.

CONTENT
I think that most of your content is fine — however you have major grammar and vocabulary problems. You do not have a topic sentence, but I think that it might still work out to be OK. However, the following sentence needs to be clarified: “The movie is great and it give us a good example.” Why is the movie great? What do you mean by, “it give[s] us a good example”? Please see “COHESIVENESS” for more specific advice.

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
I have corrected all of your grammar and vocabulary, but the following paragraph is not a good paragraph yet. However, if you fill in the blanks with grammatically correct sentences that do not spoil the movie by telling the reader too much, you will probably have a good paragraph.

A Fish with a Smile
http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=haUYU037UmI

“A Fish with a Smile” is an animated movie. A man usually goes to an aquarium, and he sees a fish that always smiles at him. One day, the man decides to buy the smiling fish because he likes it very much. He takes the fish with him as he goes about his nightly routine (e.g., eating, watching TV, and showering), and the fish always smiles at him. That evening, he has a dream about the fish, and he discovers what it’s like to be alone. The movie is great because __________________ , and it has a nice message: __________________. I hope you will like it.

COHESIVENESS
The grammar and vocabulary problems made this quite difficult to follow. You don’t have an introduction, and you do not have a topic sentence:

• http://www.eslbee.com/topic_sentences.htm
• http://eslbee.com/topic_sentences2.htm

• http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html

But that might be OK. It might work without an introduction or topic sentence because you start with a chronological narrative, and that’s easy to follow. I tried to structure my revision of your paragraph so that one event clearly follows another event, until it just hints at what comes last — generally speaking, do not tell the reader how the movie ends. If you fill in the blanks above with stuff that is relevant, easy for the reader to understand, and does not spoil the movie by telling the reader how the movie ends, you will probably be OK.

Homework:

1. Fill in the blanks with something that is relevant, easy to understand, and does not spoil the movie for your audience.
2. Choose another movie, and write another review. This time, I want you to have a clear introduction that has a topic sentence, a body that is easy for the reader to follow, and a definite conclusion. Do not tell the reader too much about the movie because that will spoil it for them. (See the sites included in “COHESIVENESS” for an explanation of a topic sentence.)
3. After you finish your movie review, save a copy. Then read it and make corrections. Reread it and make corrections. Reread it again and make corrections. Reread it and make corrections until you think that you have corrected everything.
4. Finally, I want you to post two versions of your paragraph on your blog: 1.) The First Draft; 2.) The Final Draft.

Ying Ying’s Movie Review:

Stills from the movie Love and War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiSu3YCDEuw



I have placed Ying Ying's review
http://yingchen89.blogspot.com/2009/01/love-and-war.html#comments
on my blog because I want all of you to better understand the movie review writing assignment:

Saturday, January 24, 2009
LOVE AND WAR
“Love and War” is the world’s first animated opera film. It is a romance film. Bunny, a nurse, met with Bear on one day. They got married after falling in love. Bear went to the war with his duty. Unfortunatly, his plane was crashed down by the enemy rocket. He tried to escape. But he was shot to death by the enemy. Bunny was missing him seriously. He left her with a baby. It ended with despair. The soundtrack is very good in it. It is a astounding animation film.

Time 14:25
From youtube
Posted by Ying Ying at 7:46 PM 0 comments

First off, I’m happy that you wrote a review that’s based on a short film from the internet, and you picked a great film. You did give me enough information to find it, but I wish that you had given us the address:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiSu3YCDEuw


CONTENT
You summarized the main things in the plot, but that is not a movie review. A movie review gives us the author’s opinion of the movie, and it helps the reader decide if they want to watch the movie. You did give us your opinion of the movie (“It is a[n] astounding animat[ed] film.”), but you didn’t tell us why you hold that opinion. And by telling the reader everything that happens in the movie, you spoil the movie.


COHESIVENESS
Your movie review is supposed to have an introduction, a body (supporting sentences — examples, explanations, or details that support the topic sentence), and a conclusion. In a paragraph, the introduction is often a topic sentence. Topic sentences contain both a topic (what you are going to write about) and a controlling idea (“what you want to say about the topic”):

http://www.eslbee.com/topic_sentences.htm
http://eslbee.com/topic_sentences2.htm

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html


GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
All of the grammar and the vocabulary in the following “paragraph” are correct, but it is not a good paragraph because of the aforementioned problems with content and cohesiveness:

“Love and War” is the world’s first animated opera. It is a romance. Bunny, a nurse, met Bear, a soldier, one day. They got married after falling in love. Bear went to war. Unfortunately, his plane was shot down by an enemy rocket. He tried to escape, but he was shot to death by the enemy. Bunny missed him terribly. He left her with a baby. The movie ended tragically. The soundtrack was very good. It is an astounding animated film.

THE TEACHER’S VERSION
“Love and War” (14:25 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiSu3YCDEuw) is an animated opera that will captivate the audience with its music, its animation, and its story. The movie begins with a operatic soundtrack that seems both ridiculous and wonderfully appropriate as animal puppets in human clothes sing and act out the story. Through wonderful stop motion animation, you soon believe that these animals are not puppets but living creatures that live, love, and long for one another. The main characters are a bunny, who is a nurse, and a bear, an air force pilot. They fall in love, get married, and he goes off to fight while she stays home and cares for wounded soldiers. Will he come back safely? Will they be reunited? Will the story have a happy ending? The amazing thing is that you will have to learn the answers to these questions. You will forget that these are puppets. The music, animation, and the story will grab your interest, and they won’t let you go until the final credits roll.

HOMEWORK
Please choose another short movie from YouTube, and write a paragraph that has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Read, reread, and reread your writing again. Each time you reread your writing, remove any sentence that doesn't plays an important role, and add anything that's missing.

Kick Butt Comments

This was Pirata's comment on Mihoko's banana cake recipe. There are some small mistakes, but this is perfect! This is exactly how I want you to comment on the writing assignments:

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CONTENT
I think, it's easy and clear to understand.

COHESIVENESS
I liked the order that you wrote the recipe,
because it's easy to read.

GRAMMAR
The way you wrote 338F, it lacks the Farenheit symbol.

Add the eggs little by little and THE banana,
I think you forgot THE.

3 walnuts..... plural, not singular

And the last n.6, whipped cream, not whipp cream
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Well done, Pirata. Well done.

How’dja Do Dat?

This picture was created on http://coraline.com/
The original picture is from a book called Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg (Author) and Paul Weitz (Contributer).

A few students have asked how I made the picture in the post below: “Today's Question” (Monday, January 19, 2009). That’s easy (because an internet site does most of the work for you), and it’s difficult (because you can’t get there quickly, but don’t worry because the trip is fun, even if you get lost). First, go to this site: http://coraline.com/
It is going to take a long time for the image to load if you have high-speed internet access. (If you have dial-up access, it will probably take a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy loooooooooong time.) You need to enter the white three-story house on the left-hand side (look at the picture below). I’m serious! If you want to do this, you really need to enter the white three-story house (look at the picture below) on the left-hand side — not the right. When your cursor is by the left-side of the building, you will see an arrow-shaped sign with red lights (look at the picture below). Click on the sign. After you do that, it will reload again. It will take a long time again. (If you have a dial-up connection, take a potty break. What do you mean you don’t have to go potty? C’mon, it’s a long trip. Don’t argue. Go. Now!)

Now you see two posters in front of you, red curtains to your right, red curtains to your left, and an odd picture to the left of the red curtains on your left. Click on that odd picture. And, yes, you will have to wait for it to reload again. (If you have dial up, go make a sandwich. And don’t forget to wash your hands. What do you mean, “Why?” You just went potty, didn’t you? What do you mean you didn’t — oh, forget it!) After the animation stops, you should see an empty picture frame with the following inside:

ADD YOUR PHOTO
IMAGE FROM COMPUTER
UPLOAD IMAGE
IMAGE FROM WEBCAM
CAM CAPTURE

I don’t what happens if you click on “CAM CAPTURE.” If you find out, tell me. Click on … oh, wait! Hold on! I forgot something. You need a picture of a person. What? What did you say? Oh, you need to find one? OK. Go ahead. I’ll wait (♪♬ Oh, whistle while you work. ♪ Hitler was a jerk. ♬ He picked his nose and picked his toes ♪♪♬ … and uh ….) Got your picture? Good. Click on “UPLOAD IMAGE.” Then you will see, “I agree to blah, blah, blah.” Click “AGREE.” After that, you will have to find the image on your computer. On my computer (a Mac) I click “Select.” If you own a Windows computer, it says … well, actually, I dunno. Look below the picture. If you click on one of the arrows under “CHANGE FRAME,” it changes the frame. If you click on one of the curving arrows under “ROTATE PHOTO,” the photo will rotate to the left or the right. If you click on the “–“ or the “+” under “ZOOM PHOTO,” the photo will get smaller or bigger, accordingly. And if you click on “REMOVE PHOTO,” what happens? You can’t guess?! Yes, that right it – removes – the – photo. Duh! Now let’s talk about the buttons.

In the movie that this site is based on (Coraline), some strange creatures have buttons sewn onto their eyes. (Creepy, huh?) So you are supposed to put the buttons over your eyes, and you can if you want to, but you can put buttons anywhere. When you “hover” over the buttons with your mouse, you’ll see “ADJUST BUTTON.” You can use “ZOOM” to make a button bigger or smaller, and you can click on “REMOVE” to remove a button. OK. Go decorate your picture. Don’t worry about me. I’ll just take a quick nap. Wake me when you’re done. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Zzzzzzzzzzz! Huch hu- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Huch-ch-ch-ch Zzzzz! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Zzzzz! Please ladies! One at a time! One at a time! Yes, that right. Give it to me. Yeh! You give that hamburger. You give me those fries. You give me that milkshake. OK. You can leave, ladies. I have my food. Zzzzzzzzzz! Zzzzzzzzzzz! Zzzz! Zzzzz! Huh?! Wha-?! Oh, it’s you. Are you finished with your picture? Do you want to save it? Yeh? Then click “SAVE.” Now you download it and/or print it. What happens if you click on “FACEBOOK” or “MYSPACE”? I dunno.

The End

The top picture is the white three-story house that I mention above in "How’dja Do Dat?" The bottom picture is the same house, and you can see the arrow-shaped sign with red lights that appears when you are on the left-hand side.
PICTURE CREDIT: http://coraline.com/

Wendy Wants to Know

Wendy (http://pinkberry778.blogspot.com/) asked me a question about one of my posts (“One Perspective on Spending”: http://monkey4cec2see.blogspot.com/2009/01/one-perspective-on-spending.html)
ORIGINAL:
Maybe I am wrong to ask why, but I dare ask you. Is that magic that you tried to withdraw $700 from the ATM; and it worked ? I still can not under stand why it was possible to do it.
EDITED VERSION:
Maybe I am wrong to ask, but, dare I ask you, when you tried to withdraw $700 from the ATM, did it work? I still cannot understand how it was possible to do it.

Yes, it worked. I was surprised, too! And here’s the background on the story. People think that I’m joking when I say that I’m poor, but I’m not. I really am poor. Of course, I’m not dirt poor. I have some wonderful luxury items. I have an almost new iMac (which I bought with a new credit card because my eMac “died” — well, it didn’t “die,” but it was very sick). I have a cell phone, a 2002 car (which was purchased when my ex-wife was my wife ☺), and an iPod. I use all of them for work, but I’m still very lucky to have such things. However, my job at CEC only covers my rent ($1,070/month) and some of my bills: e.g., credit card debt, utilities, and my phone). (By the way, I do not have “vacations” during the session breaks at CEC; I’m unemployed during those periods.) In addition, I have to buy some things to support my bad habits: e.g., food, gas, drugs (prescription drugs that is — see * below), toiletries, and coffee. So in order to pay for these things, I have to have more than one job.

I have two other classes now. I have a private ESL class with one gentleman, and I teach a group ESL class at a factory on Wednesday nights. (I used to have another private ESL class, but the student — a rich, lazy, spoiled young man who got all of his money from Mom and Dad — didn’t want to continue studying. Actually he never did any studying while we were together anyways, so his parents were actually wasting their money. Oh, well.) I am very happy with the students that I have now, but the class at the factory (my second major source of income) has not been held since mid November. (The factory’s owner said that they are too busy from mid November to mid January.) That class resumes tomorrow night (1/21/’09), but that didn’t help me last month.

Last month, I had to pay my rent and support the aforementioned bad habits, but I only had $100 in the bank, and I wasn’t going to get paid for two weeks. I told my private student I would give him a 30% discount if he paid for 12 lessons in advance. He did. I, also, borrowed $300 from my credit cards, and that maxed them out. However, I was still about $350 shy of my rent, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t think it would help, but I went by my bank (Bank of America).

The guy at the bank said that he would not recommend it, but he had heard that customers could withdraw up to $700 from the ATM — even if they did not have $700 in the bank. (If you withdraw more money than you have, you have to pay a $35 overdraft fee.) I had $350 in the bank. I crossed my fingers, closed my eyes, and I said, “Please, God. Please let it work.” God said, “I thought you didn’t believe in me!” “Well … ummmmm, yeh. That’s true, but ummmm … why don’t you prove that I’m wrong?” God said, “You’re on your own, kid.” I put my card in the ATM, and I tried to withdraw $700. On the screen, it said, “You may be subject to penalties blah, blah, blah.” I pushed a button next to “I accept” — or something like that. I waited about 15 seconds, but it felt like 15 minutes, 15 hours. And then the ATM gave me $700! I went inside with the $700 from the ATM and $400 in cash, and I opened a new bank account with all the money I had in the world: $1,100. The next day, I gave the apartment manager a check for $1,070 from the new checking account. I made it. Phew!


*I had a stroke about four years ago, so I have to take eight medicines every day. Because I’m poor, I only have to pay $160 a month. If I didn’t get any financial aid, I’m not sure, but I think that they would cost approximately $500 a month.

Today's Question:

¿¿¿Writing Teacher???

Today's Word:

teach
v. tr.

1. To impart knowledge or skill to: teaches children.
2. To provide knowledge of; instruct in: teaches French.
3. To condition to a certain action or frame of mind: teaching youngsters to be self-reliant.
4. To cause to learn by example or experience: an accident that taught me a valuable lesson.
5. To advocate or preach: teaches racial and religious tolerance.
6. To carry on instruction on a regular basis in: taught high school for many years.

v. intr.

1. To give instruction, especially as an occupation.

Synonyms: teach, instruct, educate, train, school, discipline, drill These verbs mean to impart knowledge or skill. Teach is the most widely applicable: taught the child to draw; taught literature at the college. Instruct usually suggests methodical teaching: instructed the undergraduates in music theory. Educate often implies formal instruction but especially stresses the development of innate capacities: "We are educated by others ... and this cultivation, mingling with our innate disposition, is the soil in which our desires, passions, and motives grow" (Mary Shelley). Train suggests concentration on particular skills intended to fit a person for a desired role: trained the vocational students to be computer technicians. School often implies an arduous learning process: schooled the youngster to play the viola. Discipline usually refers to the teaching of control, especially self-control: disciplined myself to exercise every day. Drill implies rigorous instruction or training, often by repetition of a routine: drilled the students by having them recite the multiplication tables.

American Heritage® Dictionary, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2002

Dad and I in January of 1965. I was 4, and my dad was probably about 51.

Dad and I in January of 1965. I was 4, and my dad was probably about 51.

How My Father Became an Amazing Man: Or My Evolution from Boy to Man

From my late teens to my mid thirties, I thought my father was an embarrassment. Why? He was old, afraid, and illiterate. He died when I was in my early 30’s. Now I’m in my late 40’s, and I think that my father was an amazing man. Why? He was old, afraid, and illiterate, but he did his best.

When I was a kid, I didn’t understand why the other kids’ parents looked so odd. They looked more like siblings than parents to me. That was because my parents had me when they were in their late 40’s. I am the youngest of five children, and my siblings are all 10 to 19 years older than I am. My mother was almost the same age as my father, but she didn’t look as old as he did. He was a bald old man, and unlike the other fathers, he almost always wore a brown janitor’s uniform. But his age was the least of it.

It seemed like my father was afraid of everything. He was afraid of fire. He checked the stove and the vents to the heater at least twice a day, and often up to five or six times a day. He was afraid of water. He took baths, but the only water that touched his head was a damp washcloth. He was afraid that he forgot to lock the doors. When he left in the middle of the night to clean the floors and the bathrooms of various stores, he always jiggled the door to make sure that it was locked, and he always came back once or twice to check it again.

When I was a kid, I thought that all trips by freeway began at the same onramp in Pasadena that my father used — even though the Pasadena Freeway was miles away and the San Bernardino Freeway was only one block away. I thought that all fathers rehearsed the contents of shopping lists with their wives if the father needed to go to the market. I thought that all fathers asked their sons to read the comics in the Sunday newspaper to them. Later on I found out I was wrong. Only my father did those things. He couldn’t read, and these were some of the strategies that he used to maneuver through a world that was written in an indecipherable code.

The written word was a mystery to him, but I think his life made sense to him. He was a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a janitor. He owned his own business; he cleaned the floors and the bathrooms of various stores in Southern California. His main customer was one of his brothers, who owned a chain of stores which sold curtains, carpeting, and bed linen. However, when my father reached his early 70’s, he spent more time socializing than cleaning, so he was forced to “retire.” The uncle that owned that chain of stores saw to it that my father received a pension; so we had enough money to live, but my father didn’t have any reason to wake up in the morning.

He spent the remainder of his life sitting in his armchair (sleeping or watching TV) virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He’d always been “old” to me, but his aging process accelerated after that. He went from being a strong bull of a man to shriveled up shell with more and more health problems in the span of about two years. Then he had a massive stroke.

I don’t remember most of his symptoms. I remember that he only said one word: “control.” My mother tried to talk to him, but that was the only thing that he could say. We took him to the hospital, he was admitted, and I’m not sure why, but I was left alone to watch him. He kept trying to get up, and I had to keep telling him that he couldn’t. Over the next few hours, this literally happened about 100 times. I looked in his eyes, and I think that I saw my dad in there somewhere, but he couldn’t communicate. I don’t think that he really even wanted to get up, but some part of his brain kept repeating that signal again and again. That was the last day that he was conscious. He was in a coma the next day, and he died a couple days after that.

When my parents had me, Dad was about the age that I am now: 47. I haven’t had any children, and I’ve had mixed results with my own business: teaching private ESL classes. However, I’ve got him beat when it comes to health problems. I had a minor stroke about four years ago. I had surgery to reattach the retina in my left eye about three years ago, and I had surgery to reattach the retina in my right eye about two years ago. I’ve also had problems with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. “How did you do it, Dad? How were you able to start raising another child when you were my age? Did you think that you had passed the midpoint of your life? Did the future frighten you?”

Dad was afraid of things, but now I know that that’s OK. Everyone is afraid of things, but not everyone is brave. Dad was afraid of things, but he was a brave man, too. He was brave because he didn’t give up; he didn’t quit. And he may have been braver than many because he had special demons to face. I found out after he died that he was afraid of fire because of an accident at work. My father worked as a baker for a large company during World War II, and the oven next to him exploded. He watched his coworker burn to death. Dad was afraid of water because he almost drowned when he was a boy. I don’t know why he was afraid that he’d left doors unlocked, but I’ve “inherited” that fear. I often go back and jiggle doors to make sure that they’re locked. I’m not sure why I worry about it, but I do. I can’t explain why Dad did it, but I can understand it.

I’m not proud that Dad was illiterate, but, again, I’m proud that he didn’t let it stop him. I lived in Japan for about five years, and I’m virtually illiterate in Japanese, so I have some idea what it’s like to be illiterate. I, also, teach English to nonnative speakers, and I see how problems with reading, writing, speaking, and listening can hold people back. Dad didn’t have the luxury of saying, “I can’t.” Even though he was an illiterate janitor, he was the only breadwinner in the family; he bought a house, raised five children, sent them all to college, and he provided them with every necessity — and a thousand other things that his children didn’t need but wanted. He had dreams, but he was too busy caring for his family to do anything about them.

He once told me that he dreamed about being a big rig truck driver, and I imagine that those giant beasts must have looked magnificent to him as he spent hours in his van (which contained all his janitorial supplies) driving from one business to clean to the next. It was an impossible dream for him: he couldn’t have ever handled doing all the paperwork, planning his routes, or spending days away from Mom. But I’m not embarrassed by this dream; it makes me love him more. It makes me love him more because I can see now that Dad was a human being. He had impossible dreams, ridiculous fears, and responsibilities that he didn’t want to face, too

Dad was always an amazing man. I couldn’t see that when I was a boy, but now that I’m a man, I can. Being a man has nothing to do with age really. It is, also, not synonymous with “acting like an adult” — by which most people mean acting like you have a stick up your butt. Being a man, being an adult, means being responsible. Being responsible means that you fulfill your obligations in spite of your fears, in spite of your dreams. Dad did, and he was amazingly successful. I hope that I will be successful, too.

PICTURE CREDIT: http://www.primates.com/chimps/chimp.html

One Perspective on Spending

Some people might think that it’s difficult to spend more than you make, but you’ll see it’s quite easy if you just follow these simple tips. Everyone knows that credit (specifically a credit card) is a license to spend money that you don’t have, so I’ll just add that the best way to take full advantage of this is to carry all of your credit cards with you when you go “window shopping” for things that you love. (My favorites range from books to electronics, depending on how big my credit card balances are at the time.) Next, some people think that ATM cards, unlike credit cards, only let you spend what you have in your bank account — pish posh!* When the clerk behind the counter asks, “Credit or ATM?” he’s actually letting you in on a secret. The astute*** observer will notice that the first word was credit, as in credit card. Now, that doesn’t give you as much to spend as using an actual credit card does, but if you hurry up and hit a few more stores, it might give you enough time to spend more than you have in your bank account. Finally, I’ve discovered one final way to get some extra mileage out of your ATM card: if you’ve had your account long enough, you might be able to withdraw more money than you have in your account. I’d heard a rumor that $700 was the magic number, so even though I only had $350 in my account, I tried to withdraw $700 from the ATM; and it worked! (Can you say kaching?! ****) So, remember that by following these simple suggestions, you too can end up in debt for the rest of your life.




VOCABULARY
* pish posh interj. Declaring one’s opinions or thoughts absurd, irrelevant or redundant; blowing off someone’s statement. Based on the entry from the Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pish+posh. (Pish is more common than pish posh, but neither is common. They are both quaint** expressions, which are usually only used sarcastically today.)

** quaint adj. quaint·er, quaint·est

1.) Charmingly odd, especially in an old-fashioned way: “Sarah Orne Jewett . . . was dismissed by one critic as merely a New England old maid who wrote quaint, plotless sketches of late 19th-century coastal Maine” (James McManus).
2.) Unfamiliar or unusual in character; strange: quaint dialect words. See Synonyms at strange.
3.) Cleverly made; artful.
American Heritage® Dictionary, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2002

*** astute adj. Having or showing shrewdness and discernment, especially with respect to one's own concerns. See Synonyms at shrewd.
American Heritage® Dictionary, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2002

**** kaching interj. The sweet sound of cash. Usually associated with making (or spending) a [lot of money]. [From the sound an old-fashioned cash register makes when the cash drawer slides open.] Based on the entry from the Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kaching

PICTURE CREDIT
This picture is from a book called Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg (Author) and Paul Weitz (Contributor).

Welcome to My Blog

I am going to start teaching a “writing class” at CEC this Winter Session. I put writing class in quotation marks because I plan on spending almost as much time on speaking, listening, and reading as I do on writing. I hope that my students and I will be able to see some similarities between these different skills by asking what genre (or genres) — i.e., what kind (or kinds) of — speaking, listening, reading, and writing that we examine represent.

I haven’t ever used the term genre this way before. This is the entry for genre from the American Heritage® Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Copyright © 2002:

gen·re (JOHN ruh) n.
1. A type or class: “Emaciated famine victims ... on television focused a new genre of attention on the continent” (Helen Kitchen).
2.
a. A category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content: “his six String Quartets ... the most important works in the genre since Beethoven’s” (Time).
b. A realistic style of painting that depicts scenes from everyday life.

[French, from Old French, kind, from Latin genus, gener- …]

Our use of the word will be similar to that in 2a. However, while 2a refers to common genres in, say, movies (e.g., comedy, drama, action, romance, and science fiction), we will discover (or make up our own) genres for speaking: e.g., directions, small talk, a job interview, and a speech. We will also look at similarities and differences between these genres in speaking and genres in writing: e.g., a recipe, email for friends, a business letter, and an expository paragraph (a paragraph that explains a thing, idea, or process).

And speaking of writing, I hope that every student will post some writing on this blog. I also hope that each student will create and post writing on their own blog! In that way, we will have concrete, realistic examples of “the communicative purpose of the … genre, the roles of the writer and the audience, and the context in which the genre is used” (endnote 1) for at least some of our writing.

Endnote 1
Osman, H. (2004) “Genre-based Instruction for ESP,” The English Teacher 33: 13—29.

PICTURE CREDIT: The picture is a collection of six portraits from a book called Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg (Author) and Paul Weitz (Contributer).