One Of My Dreams

Last night, I had a strange dream.

In the dream, I met a Mexican couple. The husband spoke to me in fluent Cantonese. Cantonese is my mother tongue. He told me that they have been in the United States for just a half year . As I was wondering why he could speak such fluent Cantonese, I woke up from the dream.

I wondered why I had this strange dream. Oh! I knew why. I remembered a story that I heard in our class.

Do you remember when Mei Mei told us about her dream. She said that in her dream she spoke fluent English. The teacher said, “You have reached your goal! When you dream in English, it means that your English skills are much improved.”

My dream meant that my English has not improved.

Understanding that, I went back to sleep.

OCCUPATIONAL HABITS

A Ticket Seller

She was a ticket seller on the bus. One day, she and her husband came home. When they arrived in front of their door, she opened the door, entered her house, and closed the door quickly. Her husband was still standing outside.

Her husband knocked at the door and shouted, “I didn’t come in. Open the door!”

His wife answered, out of habit, “You, take the next bus!”

An Officer Leader

An officer leader received a telegram. The message in the telegram was “Mother has died. Father is seriously sick. Come back quickly!”

As the officer leader read,he was so overwhelmed with grief that he hardly wished to live. He cried.

He was accustomed to signing telegrams with the short message “agree”

When the post officer saw return paper, he was very surprised. The paper was signed “agree”.

The Police

A policeman and a friend went hunting. Suddenly the policeman saw a Sitka deer. He moved around quietly behind it. He lifted his gun and shouted, “Don’t move! Lift your hands up. I will shoot you if you move!”

Meifang

The crying woman: A Mexican Superstition

Albero Ortega Servin

The Crying Woman (La LLorona): A Mexican Legend

The Crying Woman is a story about a ghost woman who wanders the streets of cities in search of her children. This legend not only scares children, but also adults.

A beautiful young society woman was married to a poor man. He was not rich, but he was good, responsible and loving.

He loved his wife. He knew that his wife was used to comfortable life with many servants. He worked without rest to be able to satisfy the economic desires of his wife. She felt content but she was wasteful.

This story is famous in Mexico because people tell it to scare children. They had 4 children. The children were educated by the servants. The mother had parties with her friends. One day, her husband became sick and he died.

The widow was left without a penny. She was responsible for the children. They needed to eat. She sold the furniture, and then she sold her jewels. Finally, one day she had nothing left to sell. She had never worked in her life. She worried about her children.

One day she told her children that they were going on a picnic near the river. The children were very happy, because this was the first time that their mother had brought them on a picnic.

When they arrived at the river, mother took each child down from the wagon and threw them into the water one by one.

The children couldn’t swim. They waved for help with their little hands. They were drowning, but she watched them with indifference. She got back in her wagon and left that place moving like a robot.

How the devil takes soul! She felt remorse and she returned to the place of the crime, but it was useless. The children had gone to a better life. When she realized that her children were dead, she threw herself in the river. Now, four children and one woman floated in the river.

The legend says that La LLorona rises from her grave at midnight. She cries because of her misfortunes. It is also said that La LLorona wanders the city in her wagon in search of her dead children. At midnight you can hear the sound of the chains of her wagon.

Also legend says that La LLorona screams and shouts at midnight. She asks, “Where are my children”

People say that she passes through the streets at midnight and under the light of the moon. People swear that this lady passes on her wagon pulled by wild horse. Some say that she is wearing a dark dress, while other people say that she is wearing a white dress. Everyone agrees that she is searching for her children.

A Frustated Examination

Hi there!

I am going to take a few minutes of your time, and I will talk to you about an examination that I have never had.

Well, I still thinking about to leave my actual job. One of the reasons is: I am unhappy with him. I think you are asking to yourself WHY? No class?
I will give you a quickly answer right now: I am unhappy with him, because this is a hard job, I do not want to continue working at nights and I need to go ahead and reach my goals.

O.K. Class, talking about the interview, In January ( this past January) I applied on line for a job at the Alameda County web site.
By February, when I did not have hopes to get the job, I received a letter , and SURPRISE CLASS!! it was a letter from the Alameda County Social Services. They have been approved my application.

Everything was going well at that time, I was happy because they could give me the job, but I was nerves for my English skills too. But I was just waiting for the appointment that they gave me.

I have been applied for a Social Worker Child Welfare position, and I was happy because I have never thought about to reach and pass the first step: THEY REVIEWED MY APPLICATION, AND APPROVED IT FOR THE NEXT STEPS ( and one of the next steps was an examination)

Sometimes, we do not see clear somethings that are obviously clear. The examination day, I was mad with myself, but at the same time, I was laughing of myself. Why? well, for the simple reason that I was not intelligent.

I say I was not intelligent, because when I went to the office to get the examination, I arrived on time, I was wearing for the occasion, I had my transcripts with me ( because they were asking for my transcripts too) and finally, I thought, I had everything in order. But I made a big mistake: They were asking me for my transcripts in English, and I had them with me but in their original version, in Spanish. And how you know, we are in United States, and logically, they could be asking for a translation of them in English.

I felt terrible, when the person who was ready to give me the examination, told me: I am so sorry Mrs. Lopez, But you can not get the examination today, because we need a translation or an equivalence of your transcripts and your diploma first. She gave me some web pages and told me that I will need to apply with them for the evaluation of my transcripts.

Oh my God! I was really sad and mad with myself that day.

At the moment, I still waiting to get the application and send everything to one of that institutions, and after I will need to take some courses to finally get the evaluation.

And that is the big reason because I lost the examination.

I think I was not ready to take it, and I hope to get the job in the future. And I will always say, that the better way to reach our goals, is being optimistic, and do not dishearten although the doors close. We could be lucky some day, and find one of this doors open.

Day by day we learn of our mistakes, and in this matter, I learned a lot.
An advise class: always, when you fill out an application, and if they call you for an interview or an examination, do not forget about to ask for everything, until it is clear in your mind.

Peng! peng!

Peng! Peng!

by Yan Hua

An old man was a house owner. His house was divided into two flats. He lived alone in the downstairs flat. He felt very lonely. The upstair apartment was empty, so, he wanted to rent it to somebody.

One day, a young man wanted to rent the old man’s upstairs apartment. The young man asked the old man “I come home every night very late, is that ok?”

The old man said, “Okay! No problem!”

On his first day in the old man’s home, the young fellow arrived home after work in the middle of the night. The old man was already sleeping. The young man tip toed to his room He took off his left boot - peng! The heavy boot fell down on the wood floor, then, peng! The second one fell down, too – peng!

The old man woke up suddenly. He didn’t know what had happened. He couldn’t get back to sleep again.

For three nights, at the same time, the same thing happened. Now, the old man knew what was happening. He knew the sound came from the young man’s boots.

The next day, in the morning, the old man told to the young man, “Please, put down your boots on the floor gently. Be quiet in the middle of the night.”

The young man apologized to the old man, and he promised to remember.

That night, the old man still didn’t go to sleep before the young man came home. When the young man finally arrived home, he took off his left boot - peng! The boot fell down and made a loud noise. Suddenly, the young man remembered.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot!” he told himself, and then, he put down other one very quietly.

The old man only heard the first peng! So, he waited for the second peng! After a long time, he didn’t heard it. The old man got angry. He ran upstairs and he knocked on the door.

He said very loudly, “Please, put down your second one boot quickly!”

The young man said “I already did.”

Hi, Classmates

Hello, how are you?

Simret, I hope you feel better.

I will write a story soon.

I promise!

Hi, Classmates

My name is Hang Kit.

I will write you a story soon.

Please help me get used to using this blog.

Haven't Wear Clothe's Chicken

A month ago, l read a story in a Chinese newspaper. The title was "Haven't Wear Clothes Chicken". Now I am going to tell my classmates this story.

A man, who was a foreign student in China, went to a poultry market. He wanted to buy a chicken to cook for dinner. He spoke Chinese to a seller at the market.

He said, "I want to buy a haven't wear clothes woman chicken.” He pointed to a girl and said “Same like her."

When the workers heard this, all of them burst into laughter. A worker said: "I know you want chicken whose feathers have been plucked."

In China people classify people as men or women. They classify animals as male or female. The foreign student was embarrassed and hung down his head. The workers didn't see him blush because his face was very black. He was a black man.

Meifang

Picking Grapes with An American

I was married in Moldova to an American woman in August. We stayed in Moldova for a few months after we were married to help my family collect and gather crops such as corn, potatoes, and grapes. Wine is very traditional in Moldova. Most Moldovan families have their own house wine which means that they all have land that they grow grape vinyards on. When my family started to gather grapes my new wife helped for the first time and thought it would be fun. We woke up at 6AM, ate a bowl of chicken soup and drank a small glass of wine. My wife thought that eating chicken soup and drinking a little wine in the morning was strange and all she could eat was some bread and butter. After breakfast we went to the vinyards. It was very cold in the morning and my wife had to wear 5 layers of clothes. She even had two pairs of gloves on! We started picking and gathering the grapes the baskets. It is very hard, physical work. After about 4 or 5 hours we all took a break and had a picnic together. After lunch we picked grapes for about 3 or 4 more hours. After our hard day of work we all went home and my mother cooked us all dinner. We do this day after day until we harvest all of the grapes. My wife said that she was so tired and sore after the first day. She could not believe that we do this for many days in a row. She also said that she could not believe that my 60-year-old mother was able to do this physical work, she said that most Americans do not do this kind of physical work ever in their lifetime. Although it was not as fun as she thought it would be, my wife is very happy that she had the opportunity to help my family and she is happy that she was able to have the different experience.

Hi class

My name is Simret. How is spring break?
Ni Spring Break ,i read book story of Beetles & Angels, his name is mawi he home lands of Eritrea and Ethiopia this story form 19 61 t0 1991 Eritrea became an idepenent nationin 1993.Mawi with his family went Sudan camp 19 80 to 19 83 then his famliy went chicago U,A left he gradution from Harvard.
I love this stroy
This Simret keleta.

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s vacation

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s vacation

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s Vacation

Teacher Richard, welcome back to our class after your four week vacation. We are very, very sorry that. nobody wrote any essays on the blog during your four weeks vacation, but we had good reasons.

We perfer you to edit our essays in the classroom than for you to edit them by computer. And, some of us don’t know how to print the edited essays and the unedited essays by ourselves. But the most important reason was that we were very busy learning about medicines with Teacher Linda and Teacher Anna during your vacation.

In March, everyday we learned about pills and tablets and their dosage. We discussed drops and why they are used only for eyes and ears. We learned that ointments are for external use. Medicines can cause side effects like drowsiness and nausea. We need to carefully look at the expiration date of medicines before taking them.

Welcome back! I think every classmate of mine will write many essays on the blog. You will be very busy editing them. I think you had better save prepare a lot of energy to edit our essays or you will have to limit each student to only write a single essay (a joke).

Three Pictures

I had taken three pictures from our teacher Richard Blum and his lovely dog Ciga on January 24th this year.
I post these three pictures on blog today. I hope Richard likes the pictures.
I like dogs, But I have many things to learn. I have not enough time to take care of them. Especially, I don’t want to see their sickness. So, I don’t want to own any one.
Excuse me, Richard. I have tried to upload the photos four times in the defferent day. But the blog showed up the "No photo available". I don't know why. I think I need your help.

Welcome Back to Our Teacher

Next Monday our teacher is going to be back with us. We’re very happy and looking forward to see him again. We all like him because he is an intuitive teacher. He knows what we need and what we dream. He lets us practice to tell stories. While we’re telling stories he helps students to make the stories clearly. He is a very patient teacher.

Everyday we have three hours to study in class. He makes us to do many thing such as telling stories, a pair of conversation, learning grammar and write stores at home. In addition he still have time to correct essays for students in class. We do the same like this everyday. We have many things to learn from him.

My class is the highest level in school so that we stay in this class for a few years with him, but we still like the way of his teaching because he always helps students to reach their goals.
After his vacation, we hope he will bring us a miracle technical to teach and help us how to reach to American dream, that is Speak English Fluently.

A Strand Of Keys

My youngest son came back home after work one evening near the end of last year. He opened the front door and came into the living room. He picked up something from under the coffee table and went out quickly. I wondered what happened to my younger son. I went out after him.

When I opened the door, I saw my neighbor, Mrs. Mohammad, her two young daughters and my son. They were looking for something around the bushes in front of my opposite neighbor’s house.

Mrs. Mohammad and her two daughters looked anxious. My son told me that they were looking for their keys.

Mrs.Mohammad’s two daughters had been playing in the street when their mother asked for the key to the her front door. The oldest daughter threw a strand of keys to her mother. Unfortunately, the keys flew over the bushes then dropped somewhere. They could not find the keys.

At that time, my son had just arrived home and saw what happened. He wanted to help them, so he took the flashlight from under the coffee table to help them look for the missing keys.

Once I understood what was happening, I took out two big flashlights and joined them.

We checked the bushes from top to bottom, one by one. We could not find the keys. It was getting darker. Mrs. Mohammad said, “It is difficult to find them. Please don’t worry about them now. Thank you for your help.” She returned home to cook dinner.

Before we gave up looking, the older sister saw the keys lying on the ground between the post of the house and a bush. She picked up the keys, raised them over her head and shouted, “Mama, I got them!” Then, she and her sister rushed into their house to show their mom.

Although my son and I did not find the keys ourselves, we felt happy, because we had helped our neighbors.

Travel to Vancouver

Hello Classmates,

On March 28, I went on vacation for 3 days to Vancouver, Canada. I met up with my friend that I haven't seen for approximately 40 years. She looks completely different. We stayed at The Hampton Inn in Richmond. The next day we went on a tour of Vancouver City. We went to a couple different parks and Chinatown. It was very big, but everything was more expensive. Tax in Canada is 13%. The day after, we went to Victoria. We drove the whole bus onto the ferry that took us there. It was a 2 hour ferry ride to Victoria from Vancouver. We also went to the Chinatown in Victoria as well as Butchart Gardens. It was the biggest garden I had ever seen. Most of the flowers were in bloom, it was beautiful. Everywhere we went, I saw cherry blossom trees. They are my favorite. This was a great trip. If I have free time, I would definitely make another trip out there. Bye.

Hi again

It is me, Simret.

I wish you a nice day

Hi, class

My name is Simret,

I will write about a book I am reading.

The name is of the book is "Of Beetles & Angels"

No Richard No Stories

Hi, teacher,

Please don’t ask how come? How come we have no stories? As you know you had been a student and you know more than us?

We all right here wait for you. How has your vacation gone? We really want to know about your vacation. Certainly, you have a lot of stories during vacation. Could you post yourself stories on the bog? We prefer to read your stories than we write because English is so difficult for us.

We all study well while you are on vacation. We are very busy because the big test is coming soon and it is very important. That’s why we have no stories for you. Sorry!

We enjoy to read stories of native writer than foreigner writer because we can learn more English.