My First Essay

Hi, teacher and class.

I have been learning English with you for almost one year, but I haven’t written anything on the blog. I know that practicing writing and speaking are the only ways to improve my English. I only can say "sorry", because I thought I didn’t know enough English and I didn’t have time to write an essay. Also, I don't know how to use a computer.

Everyday, during the class, I just understand about twenty to thirty percent of what teacher taught. I thought the level of this class was too high for me. Sometimes I wanted to quit it, but I told myself to try one more week. So I still study in this class.

Thanksgiving 2006

Click here for more photos.

Thank You Richard Very Much for The Turkey

I thought our teacher was an average cook. I was wrong. Our teacher is indeed a good cook!

Today our teacher brought a turkey to the class for our "Thanksgiving" party. He carved the turkey into many slices. I tried one slice of the turkey. Oh, it was delicious! I couldn't believe that our teacher seasoned the turkey so tastily. I liked it very much.

Thanksgiving is the first holiday of the season, so everyone is very excited. Most families gather together to have turkey and some traditional foods. People enjoy eating and talking each other.

Today our class had a big party for "Thanksgiving." Everyone shared food in the class, so the tables were full of foods. Everybody enjoyed good food and each others company.

We appreciate our teacher very much for staying up all night and cooking for us. We'll always remember your tasty turkey. We hope our teacher will cook for students every ' Thanksgiving Day.

I thought our teacher didn't love his students, but he does.

A Vietnamese Woman's Diary

Click here to read about this incredibly moving story about a young Vietnamese doctor's diary.

Aljazeera News

Click here to view the news on Aljazeera.

The video stream uses the Realaudio program. If it hasn't yet been loaded on your computer, you can get it here. RealAudio is free. Be careful, however, because RealAudio also sells a "premium version" that is not free.

Tonights lead story is about corruption and politics in Taiwan.

Snickerdoodles

(Cookie mixture)
3-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1-1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
walnuts (optional)

(Cinnamon-Sugar mixture)
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1.Blend flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, mix butter, 1-1/2 cup sugar and eggs thoroughly. Add milk and vanilla and beat well.
3. Add dry ingredients to beaten mixture (butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla), beating until well combined.
4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls.
5. roll cookie dough balls into cinnamon-sugar mixture (3 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp ground cinnamond) and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
6. Bake 8~10 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes about 66 cookies.

Was the cake delicious?

Ask Kathleen or Kai Yan. 

The Room 101 Cooking Club

Look what Nhu Thai started!

 

Strange Land

Hi ! classmates,

You and I are immigrants. We are from many different countries. We came to America to live. I don't know how you felt, but for me those first days were very difficult.

Seven years ago, I left Viet Nam. I came to America to live, because my husband was living in Oakland. He wanted to bring me and our three years old daughter to this city to live together.

I remember the first few days when I came here. Everything was so strange to me. I couldn't go to sleep because the time here is different than there.

I stayed at home. I was very afraid to go out. That's easy to understand because I didn't know the way and my English was poor, too.

I wanted to go to English school, but I had to take care of my daughter. I was very weary. At that time, I missed my parents and the rest of my family in Vietnam. I missed many things from my country. I would have gone back to my country if I had had a choice .

Now , it 's a different story. My kids go to school. I have a little free time to go to English class. I also have a part time job, too. I'm busy now. I don't have time to think about coming back to my country or not.

The Good Ideas of Our Teacher

If I had known our teacher had a bunch of cards in his drawer, I would have asked him to let us practice conversation using the cards. I think it is very good to do this everyday.

It is a good idea to change partners and tables in conversation every time. It makes our conversation practice more exciting.

If we had started the conversation practice two months ago, we might have been very good by now.

I Try To Write Some Sentences.

I will try to write some sentences with “unless”, “as long as”, “provided” and “providing”. I hope our teacher and classmates will give me your valuable corrections.

Thank you.

I’m going to play soccer tomorrow unless it rains.

(Looks good to me.)

I’m going to play soccer tomorrow provided it is not raining.

(Still good)

The Fox team can win the champion as long as their team finishes the last competition.

(Not so good but we can fix it.

The Fox racing team can win the championship for this year as long as their team wins the final race of the year.)

The Fox racing team will win this year’s championship unless they lose the last race of the season.

(OK)

Providing their team wins the final race of the season, they will win the championship this year.

(OK)

(All the the rest are also OK.)

We’ll achieve our goals unless we are lazy.

We’ll achieve our goals as long as we study according to the plan.

We’re going to eat out tonight unless it rains.

She can catch the bus as long as she leaves home early in the morning.

They’ll arrive here on time provided the traffic is not too bad.

He’ll go to the concert provided the ticket is free.

Great News! Great News!

Today I try to make the Coconut Milk Cake . It's indeed successfull. I feel very happy.

I'm going to bring the cake in our class tomorrow. I let you guys try how the taste is.

If you guys come in late tomorrow. The cake will be gone.

Specially, Veronica, If you want to try my cake, you have to come to school tomorrow. If not we will eat all!

My School

The name of my school is the "Neighborhood Centers Adult School." My school has two branches, one is at the corner of International Blvd. and Eighth Avenue and the other one is nearby, just one block away.

My school building is old but classical. There are many class-rooms in it. My school has many classes such as E S L , Computer, and G E D. There are three teaching shifts in my school: morning, afternoon, and evening. My school is always busy and crowded with students.

All the teachers in my school are excellent. The teachers of my school are of many races. They are enthusiastic and hardworking teachers. All the pupils like them very much.

The personnel who work in my school are sweet and efficient. When students need help, they are willing.

There are many pupils that take two classes. Some students live in other cities. They like to come to this school to study because the teachers are interesting and the school is comfortable.

Anyway, my school is the best place to learn English. I am indeed proud of my school.

Hacking Democracy

Click here to view the HBO video about problems with computerized voting systems.

A Special Day

Last Friday, I was absent because I went to a hospital with my aunt in Berkerly. My aunt is pregnant now, but the doctor in Chinatown could not make sure whether the baby has heartbeat or not, so they asked my aunt to go to the big hospital in Berkerly. When we got there, it only took us 20 minutes to wait for the doctor. We got into the room, the doctor asked my aunt to lay on the bed and closed to her. My aunt's English is not very well, so she said to the doctor," Can you speak Chinese?" The doctor said," I can't." "Can you speak English?" the doctor asked me. I said," No." Because we knew there is a Chinese staff there, and we thought if we said we could not speak English, the doctor would ask the Chinese staff to help us, but she didn't do that. After that, she started to check the baby. I thought maybe she got mad because no smile on her face, and she didn't say anything to us even one word during she checked the baby. I was afraid because I didn't know whether she got mad or the baby was not very well. After she checked the baby. She walked out with a paper and said," Wait for me here, I'll be back." We thought she was going to ask the Chinese staff to tell us something about the baby, but she came back alone. She looked at us and said," I think the baby is ok, you can leave now." After she said the baby is ok, we were very happy, because we love baby very much. We all look forward to this new baby born.