Cool aquarium tank

JAN. 4TH - Jeff's going away pizza party at Jupiter's!

Hi everyone,

Jeff is leaving the country and going back home, so the plan is to meet right after school on Monday, January 4th, at 2:45 p.m. at Jupiter, just next to the school.

Jupiter makes great pizza and they have really good beer on tap!

See you on the 4th hopefully,

Denise

Glide Memorial - so beautiful

Today Gulizar and Agnese came to Glide Memorial in San Francisco, it was so wonderful.  Thanks for coming!

I hope everyone can have a chance to go there sometime, check the previous posting for the address if you want to go.

Enjoying my time off!  Hope everyone is doing well,  Denise

See you at Powell Street BART station - 8:54 a.m. 12/25

Hi everyone,

Somehow left my cell phone at home!  I hope to see you in the morning to go to the Glide Memorial Christmas mass. 

If you need to find me tonight before 10:00 and early tomorrow morning between 7:00 and 8:00 at: (415) 992-5525.  I'm at my friend Leah's house in Alameda.

Till tomorrow,

Denise

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

Christmas mass - Glide Memorial!

Hi everyone,

Thanks to everyone for a fun potluck today.  I hope you enjoyed Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

I added a link for Glide Memorial Church, look in the right column.
http://www.glide.org/
GLIDE
330 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94102-2735
(415) 398-4145

This place is wonderful and accepting of everyone - it's an experience to be had - I recommend it!

Rev. Cecil Williams is an amazing humanitarian - a good, good guy - feeding and caring for the homeless, the poor and the sick.

On Christmas day, whoever wants to join us, we are attending the 11:00 a.m. mass.  Since it gets really crowded, a group of us have decided to meet at the Powell Street BART station at 08:54, 12/25.  It takes less than 10 minutes to walk to Glide.

The mass includes a gospel choir and a jazz/gospel music ensemble.  Hope you will join us!

ALSO if anyone is feeling inclined - you can always volunteer in a place like Glide: while you do great things for humanity, you immerse yourself in an English speaking community!
http://www.glide.org/Volunteer.aspx

Much love - hope to see you at 8:54 at the Powell station on Christmas morning, 12/25!  Denise

LEGENDARY PYRAMIDS

Wikipedia Encycbpedia's article ''Egyptian Pyramid'', September 2009, reports about the story of the giant pyramids.
The Egypt pyramids were built for pharoahs and family's tomb.Egypt has 138 pyramids.The best known Egyption pyramids are those found at Giza. The pyramid of Khufu was built in 20 years. The pyramid construction was very hard.Because a stone weight was about 20 tons each stone and 100,000 employees worked for huge pyramids. The great pyramid has orginally 280 cubits and 146.59 meters.
The pyramid of Khufu is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is one of the best known of the seven wonders.

" There are no bad kids,there is only bad environment"

In her artical "A town of their own". From National Geographic 2002, Jennifer Steinberg explanis how Father Edward Flanagan built a small town to make a new life for troubled kids in 1938.

All these children have a bad record(ex: drugs, attempted suicide etc). They were sent by family or court.

In general, this small town has a school, hospital, police station etc. not different from any other town.

They control every kid by diving them into a group of 6-8 people, same- sex, mixed-race. Each group has parent-teacher to over see them. They treat the children like part of their family.

The cost of living is not much because the money comes from donations, some parents, trust funds, and fees that are paid by state agencies.

Summary of saving energy

In his article "Saving Energy", National Geographic March 2009, Peter Miller reports that saving energy starts at home.
Peter Miller and his wife, PJ, started a project to reduce CO2 emissions, because global warming became a serious problem. And they realized that the average of producing CO2 in U.S.A. is more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average. According to the Tim Flannery who wrote the book of the Weather Markers, he insists that we have to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent.
Peter Miller and PJ Miller tried to change their daily habits for a month begining in July. PJ read their electric meter each morning. They turned down the geater's temperature and reduced using their car. But it was not easy. So they asked for some hepl from an expert. The expert found that the energy flows out even if they didn't know it.
After a month, they received their electric bill, they saved $190 because of their efforts. And they will make more efforts by changing lightbulbs, opening a window instead of using an iar conditioner, riding a bike, and so on.

Carnotaurus

In his article, Extreme Dinosaurs, National Geographic, December 2007, John Updike

discusses many types of dinosaurs, among them the Carnotaurus.

The Carnotaurus lived 82-67 million years ago in Argentina.

This dinosaur probably doesn't look like a dangerous predator, the reason for that is because it has small teeth and ting arms. It confuses you because it really is a perfect killing machine: big, bad, strong and fast. It has the some construction as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but with horns.

In his article "Jewel Scarabs", National Geographic, February 2001, Ronald D. Cave reports about the jewel scarabs of Honduras's tropical montane forests. Researchers studying these animals discovered at least seven new species since 1992.

These bugs are collected because of their impressive colors. There are even silver and gold ones that can cost as much as US$500. But the biggest threat to scarabs is the loss of habitat as tropical forests are converted to farms.

The rainy weekend.

Hi everyone,

This weekend was sooooo boring because of the rain. I was sick of staying inside the house. To kill the bordom, I cooked something. The first thing was the same dish I brought for the potluck; spicy friedrice with tofu. I sort of invented it myself, I mean I just decided to make it because I thought it must be good. Now I know that it's not new, some people make it, too. But as far as I know, it's not traditional and not on any menus I that I know of. The second is stir fried bean thread noodles with tofu instead of pranws. It is very yummy with prawns but my boyfriend doesn't eat them. I use the same recipe for both of them. You just need to know what kind of vegetables you like. For me I prefer greebeans, carrots and red cabbage. I need a lot of fiber in my diets. It would be good if you can use brown rice or red rice for the fried rice because it's another way to get more fiber. First I dice the vegetables and the tofu. I like them small because it would be easy to eat. This step can take an hour for me. And if you are going to make it with the bean thread, this is time to soak it in room temperature water. Next, just go out and relax for a while before you feel bored in the kitchen. After you feel better and ready to cook, get a pan out and put some olive oil in it. Turn the stove on not very high. Start frying the tofu first. Put the sauces in. I use two kinds of sauce; chili sause and soy sauce. And don't forget to put the spicy tom yum paste in, too. Stir until everything is mixed. Then put the rice or the noodles in. How do you know if the noodles are ready? Touch them. If they soft, they are ready to be cooked. Stir fry until everything is mixed. The well cooked noodles are clear, very clear. Taste it. The rest is how spicy, how sour, how sweet or how salty you want it to be. The vegetables are the last thing you put in the pan because you want to make sure that they won't be over cooked. For me, I put the vegetables in and turn the stove off and keep stirring it to make sure that it's nicely mixed. Decorate the dish with some sliced tomatoes and red cabbage, and don't forget to eat everything on the plate. Don't waste anything.

need signatures from: Pim, Gulizar, Anatoliy, Jeff, Ugur, Lori, Astu and Ray

Hi everyone!  Long email ahead - this is important - it's about your stories getting published in an English language learning book!

Remember I told you about the book project I was working on with my professor a few months ago?  Her name is Gail Weinstein and the name of the book is Learner's Lives.  

Originally the team could only use three stories, Pim's, Gulizar's and Anatoliy's.  Now they are able to use more stories.  So that's why I'm reaching out to you Jeff, Ugur, Lori, Astu and Ray.

Here's what's going on:  in order for us to publish your stories and your photos in the book, we need your signature on a permission slip.

For those of you who are at the school, please see me about signing the permission slip.  For ex-students,  if it's easy for you to stop by the school Monday or Tuesday, before 2:30 great  - otherwise -

for those to whom, coming to the school would pose a hardship, please send me your post mail address, we will send you the permission form, you can sign it and mail it back to us.  We will include envelopes and postage for you.

If I don't reach you, oh well, maybe next time!

Thank you very much.  Let me know if you would like the publisher to remind you which story you submitted since I know you wrote them some time ago!

Denise

PHOTOS OF YOU PLEASE

Hi - if any of you are reading this and you don't have your photo uploaded to our blog, what are you waiting for?  We want to see your cute faces here, OK?  

The great white shark!

This is a mammal kind of animal. The great white shark populates the whole world. They are a good example of perfect predators - fast, strong and strategic.

Bill Allen, the editor of National Geographic, explains in his editorial, that when the movie and the novel Jaws by Peter Benchley were released in 1974, everyone was terrified of sharks!

Today, we have the same situation, but in the opposite way: the sharks should be scared of people!

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) killing of sharks has skyrocketed 2,000 percent since 1991.

Twenty-five years later, Peter Benchley, in his article, Sharks, in National Geographic, April 2000, tries to show sharks in a different light. According to Benchley, what do we need to do? We need to save the sharks and stop our destroying missions.

Now they are protected off the coast of Australia, some tips of Africa, the Maldives and parts of the U.S. It's a first step for a solution to this problem.

From Anatoliy

Hi everyone who remember me, don't worry i'm steel here i just really busy by studying some unusual complicate stuff for me,
Tomorrow i ll have free time to visit class so see you late


Here is some art from Ukrain. It represent history of people of USSR during second world war

WE ARE MISSING ANATOLIY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Case Type : went another way
Missing Day : 3 month ago, 2009
Mental Age: over 40
Missing City : Berkeley
Missing Sate: CA
Missing Country : United States
Case Number : c.o.m.e.b.a.c.k.t.o.2.0.1.0

Hi Everyone!

We lost our handsome classmate in Bay Area. We miss him enough to cry all day. We coudn't reach him by phone. Who ever sees him, please let us know.
Thanks a lot.

Meerkats

Tim Clutton Brack's article , Meerkats Stand Tall , Nnational Geographic , September 2002 , reports about the life of the meerkat.
Meerkats live in Kalahari, Africa . They are mammals and live in large groups. They live among 40 members. Cooperation and group loyalty are very important to them. For example,while the group is eating , one meerkat acts like their guard against predators. When the guard feels some danger , it gives an alarm. If there isn't any denger, it gives a ''watchman's song'' signal.Another characteristic is that they have long claws that they use for making tunnels. Also they use their tails for walking on their 2 legs for balance .

Bird of Paradise

I am always in love with this kind of flower. It is colorful. Every part of it makes it beautiful. I took this shot myself when this one was blooming. I was waiting for the moment that it was opening for two weeks. It's worth waiting, I think.

Summary of "The Beauty of Full Figure"

8,000 years ago, Sha'ar Hagolan was once the largest city in the Middle East, like New York or London.
They had great technology of fired-clay pottery and created elegant, stylized designs such "Mother goddess" figurines which have squinty eyes and massive belly fat.
They are found by archaelogist Yosef Garfincle. According to him,these figurines have been used in routine households as a good-luck charm for feritility and the well-being of their family.

Interesting Places

I went to Humane Society of Berkeley on Sunday and I dropped by this place before I went there. It's an interesting place. There are a lot of open studios. The whole area is about three blocks at least. I like it a lot because I got to see how the artisans actually work to come up with thier arts. I reccomend this place for folks who like art.

Art car. I have seen it twice, once was in Solano stroll and this time in the art area I mentioned.

A fountain in China town, Oakland. I don't know what it means but I like it.

Bird Pictures I (and DML) Took in Two Weeks.

What kind of bird is this? We saw him at Berkeley Marina. He looks like a vulture but the beaks look too strong to be a vulture. Sounds like I know about birds, I don't, by the way.

Pellican in Jack London square. There are a few of them. We were trying to take when they are diving but we couldn't get good a shot.

Anyway, I took this one in Berkeley. I never thought I would be able to take a picture of a humming bird before because they are so fast.

Pigeons don't look so pretty up in the sky but when they walk on the ground and in the sun they are much prettier becuase I can see the color better. And they color changes from grey to purple and from purple to green.

AMERICAN AIRLINES

According to an advertisement by American Airlines, in the New Yorker, 6/16/2008,
they are " Head Of The Class" in airlines in the world.

American Airlines has improved high tecnology about seats on its Boeing 777 and 767-300 fleet of planes for satisfaction of customers.
American reconfigured business cabins, such as: they designed the widest armrest, a flexible tray table and the available set-control memory button. In addition, movie and televison programming are refreshed monthly. Further, American is open to providing different delicious-menus for customers.
American has a First Class Flagship Suite as comfortable as a private room.
American Airlines enchants customers with their innovations.

Surviving in Space Summary.

In the article Surviving in Space, National Geographic January 2001, Micheal E. Long reports how astronauts have to face difficulties while living in space and how the problems are going to be solved.

According to Long, there are a lot of problems living in space including disorientation of weightlessness, physical problems and psychological problelms.

Astronauts have nausea from weightlessness but they can adjust after a while and even enjoy it later. Fluid flows upward too much in space and that causes organs to enlarge. Lack of exercise make astronauts suffer from muscle weakness and bone loss but exercise is the best solution for those. Researchers are designing a computer system to indicate astronauts to fix the injuries themself in case of emergency. Radiation from the sun and other galaxies are not absorbed in space. Astronauts can get cancer because of it. Now researchers are coming up with some antioxidant drugs to cope with such a problem. Psychological problems occur in isolated space ship especially when you have to always deal with the same people everyday. Isolation, cultural differences and having tight shedule cause stress and depression, too but the crew just have to talk abou it and understand each other's culture so they can adjust to each other.

Long also states that NSBR (National Space Biomedical Research Institute) is ready for the Mars mission in 2010. Research results can also help people with related diseases. According to a cardiovascular surgeon, we need science research and we are not wastig money in space projects.



Micheal E. Long, (January 2001). Surviving in Space. National Geographic.



NOTE: The article is 23 pages long including a lot of graphics. I left something out for sure but I hope I got all the main ideas.

"The Macaw : Clay Variety"

From National Geographic 1994, the research zoologist CHARLES A. MUNN asks "Why does the Macaw eat clay?" He make a research for many years to answer this question.

In southeastern Peru, lives one of the most beautiful varieties of birds in wildlife. Here, we can find dazzling wildlife living on the gray-pink clay. At 130-feet-altitude, the biggest class of parrots "Macaws" congregate.

There are 3 kinds of Macaws, the red&green is the biggest - the scarlet is slimmer with darker blue wings and yellow shoulders - the blue&yellow is more gold and turquoise. Macaws mate for life and live in a big crowd.

The food of Macaws is not the pulp of fruits but they eat the seeds inside. These make Macaws different from the other birds. But they also eat gray-pink clay because the clay is high in salts and minerals. Another reason is because many seeds that Macaws eat, have toxic chemical compounds and the clay can blend with the toxins and speed them through their bodies. So Macaws have to eat clay to detoxify themselves.

Summary.

In his article Across the Arctic, "National Geographic, March 2002", Borge Ousland reports about his journey crossing the North pole.
According to his article, he crossed the north pole from Russia to Canada from March 3 to May 23, 2001, because he wanted to challenge to the world and himself.
During 82 days, he walked on the ice, skied, swam and rode in a sled. Whenever he didn't whether know the ice was safe or not, because of global warming, he tracked the polar bear's footprints.
Borge Ousland succeed in his expendition because he believed even if something is very hard, there is a way.

winter thoughts

It's finally really cold and it feels good to be bundled up and writing papers for school!  I have an amazing amount of work to produce within the next few weeks for school.  Time for a warm drink and more writing!  I'm writing a paper about the art of summarizing.

only a dream in rio

hi you guys, i'm in the middle of writing papers, but i just posted this link to facebook, and wanted to share it here - it's a song i heard back in the 80's and it made me cry - i miss brazil, i miss rio, i miss the old days!

This is a song by James Taylor, and one of the most famous Brazilian musical geniuses, Milton Nascimento is singing backup vocals!  Additionally, Nana Vasconcelos is on percussion, another master!  I hope you enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWRlaYkIKgM&feature=related

Congratulation!!!!!!!! You won!!!!!!!!!! Denise!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally you saw second writing of me...I coudn't run away from her....but thanks a lot Denise....

Summary of zebra article

Zebras!

In Kenya there is the biggest population of zebras, some 200,000.

They migrate 300 miles during the year. They are herbivorous animals that look like horses but have pretty stripes, it is like an I.D. picture, and this may be confusing to predators.

"Horse In Prison Grab"

Most people call the zebra "A HORSE IN THE COSTUME".It's true because the zebra is the cousin of the horse.They have alternate black&white stripes along their body and no one has the same stripes.These stripes also help them to make predators confused.

Every year,the zebra migrate to follow the rain more than 300 miles between Tanzania and Lusher Kenya.

Anup Shah and his brother spent a year to find a visual feast in the giant animal herds.

A Summary of the Zebra Article

The zebra is the cousin of the horses. They are athletic and have beautiful crazy stripes to confuse predators. They migrate in the dry season from Tanzania to Kenya in Africa. It looks like a fashion festival of more than 300 miles.

Fractals are mandalas

Naturally occurring fractals are a miracle of nature.  An Italian mathematician Fibonacci, figured out the mathematics behind fractals.  He was so fascinated by this recurring pattern in nature that he came up with a formula to explain this pattern.  You can google Fibonacci if you are interested in this study.

      

other, another, others

Hi - here's a little explanation of these three similar words:

Other and another act as determiners - they modify nouns.

Others acts as a pronoun and stands in place of a noun.

Another can only be used with singular countable nouns.
Examples: I'd like another glass of wine.  She goes to another school.

Other is used with singular and plural countable nouns and non-countable nouns.
Examples:  I like the other book better.  We like the other books more.  The other rice was better.

Others stands on its own, since it acts as a pronoun.

Example:  Where did the others go?
(The others refers to the other people.)
Here is a pen, here's another one and the others are in the drawer.
(The others refers to the other pens.)

Hope this is useful!  See you tomorrow -

bird songs

Just as flowers are mandalas and are spiritually uplifting, the songs of birds are a source of divine inspiration for me.  How delightful their continuous singing is.

I would like to post a little audio file of bird songs that I hear everyday, but I don't have time to figure this out right now.  I will figure it out during the Christmas break.  Turns out podcasts can be inserted onto our blog!

lovely Native American chant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA65KmOBTDw

An Inconvenient Truth and small vocabulary mini lesson

Hi - Today we watched an Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore. For those who have not seen this movie, I really recommend renting it, it is a classic documentary film about global warming. I have probably seen it at least 10 times and each time I see it, I learn something new!

At the end of today, we discussed the meanings of a few words and idiomatic expressions and here they are:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The word volition is a high register word for the word will.

Volition = will - these are nouns

Ex.: She left of her own volition. She left because she wanted to.

Common expression using the word "will": When there is a will, there is a way! This means, if you really want to do something (you have the will to do it) you will find a way to make it happen! I love this expression especially because it reminds me of my mom who said it a lot!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- That doesn’t cut it.

Verbal phrases:

To cut it – to make the grade – to pass inspection

If something doesn’t cut it, it means that it’s not good enough.

Ex. The food at the restaurant didn’t really cut it for me. It wasn’t good enough for me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-to step up to the plate

baseball reference, we saw the design of the baseball field, often called the baseball diamond. The batter steps up to the plate to bat, so he's ready for action!

In figurative language we use the expression, to step up to the plate, to mean, to move into a position where one is ready to do a task.

For ex. It's time for Tom to step up to the plate and take on his share of work.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s important to connect the dots –

To make sense of things – logical conclusions - If I connect the dots I begin to see patterns and make some deductions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope this is helpful for you.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Don't forget to read an article, or a short story over the break - be ready to tell us something about it. Next, you will write a summary about what you have read.

Till Monday ;)

Warm blankets and jackets donation

Warm blanket and jacket donation

to MASC - Multi Agency Services Center

Please donate any clean, warm blankets or jackets to level 4 by Tuesday, December 15^th. We will have a box in our classroom for your donation. We will be making this donation on December 16^th to MASC, a support center for the homeless, located on Center St. in Berkeley. Please make people happy during the winter season!

If you have any questions, come talk to students in level 4.

Thank you for your interest!

Thank you for a lovely potluck

I want to thank those who brought food, it was so wonderful to share what we prepared together. Let's have another potluck before we go on holiday in December!

flowers today

Bougagonia, something like that. :( I know it's B.......nia. The Thai name is Fuerngfa, meaning flourishing in the sky. I heard the English name before but I don't remember.

Passoin flower, Thai name is Saowarot. We eat the young leaves with chili paste, yum.

What is this called? Hooky violets, how's that?

The bird of paradise. In Thai is Kaampoo, meaning the crab's pinchers.

Pot Luck

Hey guys, don't forget about the pot luck party we are having this monday. I don't know if anybody remembers this. Just to remind everybody. I have a wonderfull dish for it.

Sunday morning

I have been working on a lesson plan based on the song, We are the World, by Michael Jackson and I can't believe that every time I hear this song I tear up.

Twenty-five years have passed since this song was released and the eighties don't really seem that distant to me, but such is the nature of time.

Michael Jackson, We are the World

We're going to be working with Michael Jackson's song, We are the World, this coming week. If you have a chance, please take a look at this link. See who you recognize in the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzw6GiqZyD0

lotus

The lotus is one of my favorite flowers.

Played hookey today

Went to hear some live Brazilian music, my old room-mate Carlinhos Oliveira played guitar and Mark S played drums. It was lovely to be surrounded by Brazilian photos of carnaval and hear this music. I also got to eat some oysters. Then I went to celebrate a friend's birthday.

So I didn't study, I played hookey instead! oops.

The flower is Brazilian, in honor of the music I went to hear.

Life After The Rain

Last Saturday we went to walk three dogs. Nina, Spunky and Nin. The hills were so pretty with green grass everywhere. I took some pictures up there, off course.

My Football Experience.

Last Saturday I went to see a football game. Cal and Arizona were playing. The game was SOOOOOOOOO BORING. The score was 9-10 in the first half, Cal was one point behind. The third quarter began, they were slowly playing. It looked like they didn't want to play. The score was 18-16 at the end of the thrid quarter. That was nothing!! Oh my god. Everybody was disappointed. The fourth quarter started and they were still lazy. A guy behind us was yelling " I will never be here again. You guys suck almost as much as we do" I find that funny. Nobody scored until the last minute. Yes the last minute. There was one minute and about thirty seconds left. Cal made a touchdown, you guys. I almost sarcastically cried. They made a touchdown. My eyes were sparkling with tears. Oh my god. I was waiting for that for SO LONG. Thank god, they finally made it happen. Better than nothing. Time's up. The final score was 24-19 I'm not sure about 19 but I'm sure about 24. How low. You can tell by the score that the game was so boring. I only enjoyed the atmosphere, spending time with friends and their kid, and the marching band. And here are some pictures we took. I said WE because some are from me and some from my boyfriend. The first one is the boy who was crying after the end of the first half because he thought we lost. The second is the Cal players, they call themself Bears but I think they more like bees. The third one is the marching band making a star, if you think so. And the last one is the Campanile view from the football stadium. And now I'd better try to finish my writing homework so my students in Thailand will be proud of me, hehehe. See you later.

Groundhog Day

Everyday so many movies come out. I love lots of choices and enjoy variety. On the other hand when I have too many choices I am going to be impulsive very easily. It makes to find me more difficult the great one. I haven’t seen a really great movie since I watched The Shawshank Reademption, 1944. Also I am pretty picky about great movies that must have good stories and correct castings and suitable music.

Yesterday I discovered a great movie that actually I already knew this movie. One day my friend and I talked about what was the greatest movies in our lives. He strongly recommended this movie. I thought it would be a too old style move and one of many ordinary romantic comedy movies. I also was not interested in the leading actor. That’s why I avoided watching it several times. However after watching I realized how great this movie was! EUREKA!

The story was a weather guy who is very selfish and apathetic and cynical. He went to another place for work before previous Groundhog Day. After work he wanted to leave immediately but he couldn’t do it. Because there was lots of snow so he was stuck that place. He decided to stay there one more day. He didn’t expect what would be an unbelievable situation to him until the next morning. Can you imagine that everyday is the same day and than the next morning everything restarts? When It happened to him the first time he didn’t believe this situation. On the other hand he was very excited. He tried to do many things that he never tried in his normal life such as, stealing a car and money, hitting on women. Nevertheless he was getting depressed very quickly. He tried to commit suicide four times and he tried to explain his situation to his boss. But nobody could change anything. So he changed his mind attitude that he started to spend his time for valuable things. For example he enjoyed developing himself and helping other people. Finally people loved him and he fell in love with his boss.

These days when I wake up I feel exactly the same feeling like the groundhog day’s guy. I meet the same people and live the same routine day. I have never thought I can spend this happy a moment for helping other people. I’m also lazy for developing myself. This movie gave to me lots of lessons. Why don't you see this movie your family or friends this weekend?

writing assignments

The clarity and the organization of your ideas as well as the structure of a written text is important for readers, especially during the first draft phase.

For the second draft, after peer review and the teacher's review, please focus on the mechanics of writing such as spelling, grammar and style.

I will only indicate any errors in your writing pieces with a little mark and you will have to figure out what to do on your own. It's always best when learners know why they are making an error than just simply receiving the edited form.

Today, whenever I asked writers questions about errors, each one successfully self-corrected their texts! Way to go people!

My travel with my friends.

I have 3 best friends. we met each other at high school at first. I love them because whenever I have a worry, they give me advice and help me to solve the problem. We are very close and keep in touch until now.
3 years ago, we went to the beach together. This was my first travel with my friends. There was no one who interrupted us. So we were overjoyed.
As soon as we arrived, we got to the beach and started dabbling in the water. The beach was beautiful and there were lots of people. We had a great time like children. Even if some people looked at us, but we didn't care.
After we enjoyed the water, we ate shellfish barbecue for dinner with drinking. We ate, talked for 4 hours. After dinner, we continued talking and drinking in the room until the morning. We didn't sleep at all and we saw the sunset.
Even though our vacation was just simple, but I can't forget those days. Maybe the reason is I had a great time with my best friends. I hope to have a vacation with them again when I go back to Korea.

changes in the blog

Tonight I made some changes to the blog - and transformation is such a good thing. I was feeling a little down because my current students weren't contributing as much as previous students... but that's OK -

I decided to take this opportunity to transform this space into a journaling spot, and this is so gratifying. My sweet friend Guido, from Chile, who passed away in October of 2007 always urged me to write a blog because he said I had so much to share with the world! I miss my friend, he was such a mentor to me and so many others. Thank you Guido for inspiring me to create a blog.

may peace reign in our hearts always -

musings

Hi all,

I decided that I would start to journal here on the blog and I hope that all of you will feel free to do the same. Also, please continue to feel free to post and respond, if you wish!

My latest readings for my coursework are about the importance of peer reviews. It's an idea that is often foreign to many learners and it is a relatively new technique overall, having become popular here only since the seventies and eighties.

It's really important for teachers to guide their students to understand why peer reviews are important. One of the main reasons is to elicit from writers the notion that what they have read is meant for an audience, and not just for oneself! When we begin free writing on any topic, we are mostly writing for ourselves, but eventually we need to shape our writing for others to read besides ourselves!

Here are some other reasons why peer reviewing is valuable: through other people's mistakes, we often notice our own; by reading another's work, we can appreciate various writing styles and very importantly, readers and writers become a part of an academic community. Also, in the U.S., collaboration is very highly valued, so if you get an early start at working collaboratively with your peers in the classroom, you will find it easy to do so in a university or professional setting.

I will be giving everyone guidelines for these peer reviews, so you will know what to look for when you read your classmate's work.

More later, d

Jellyfish in Japan: the article we read today in class

Hi all,

Here is the link to the article that we read today in class:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/11/16/2009-11-16_ocean_warming_causes_jellyfish_to_swarm_waters_worldwide.html

Please read this if you were absent today in class.

See you tomorrow,

Denise

Jeff's Adventure 2009

Hey guys, I just want to show you a video that I did last night. Because I'm leaving the United States in Jan of 2010, so I made this video to retain my memory. In the video has some picture of my friends and my family. This video I named it "Jeff's adventure 2009", because I came here with myself and without my friends and somethings, so I think that is an "adventure" even that is not an adventure. haha....

Some people, I mean some old students in Denise's class with me before, they are in the video, like Denise(teacher), Pim, Gulizar, Gadi, Raquel, Weng, etc. I couldn't tell everyone's name in the video. And also, I didn't mention every events we had, but almost all of them are in the video.

Just want to say thank you to you guys, you guys are really the most important part of my journey in America. Here is the video, hope you guys like it!

P.S: Hi... I'm Jeff, for those new guys whoever doesn't know who I am.

my story...

I'm a senior at the University and I withdrew from University temporarily, because I'm studying in U.S. This was my dream a long time ago.

When I was a high school student, my dream was to be an architect, but I couldn't actualize this because of my parents' opposition. Now, my major is electronic engineering. This subject is so difficult. So I was confused about my future. I couldn't be sure about anything.

After I became a senior, I had to decide something for my future. With difficultly, I determined to go to study English in the U.S. Of course, my father wanted me to get a job instead, but English is very important to get a job in Korea and I really wanted to be a good speaker of English. At that time, I thought that would be my last opportunity to do so.

After I arrived in San Francisco, everything was exciting for me for 2 weeks. Many things were different from Korea. I never greeted anyone whom I didn't know or who was not close to me. However, when I lived in the residence, everyone greeted each other even though we had just met.

Nowadays, it seems that I had lost confidence. I'm not sure how my English skills will improve. In Korea, I just thought if I go to U.S, I can meet many Americans and I can quickly improve my English skills. But that is not true. Meeting Americans is very difficult even if I try to. So I was sad and gloomy until a few days ago. But now, I changed my mind. There is nothing to get something easily. And I realized that I always have to make an effort. If I always make an effort, I will be a good speaker of English. I think this is the best way.

HOME video - about our planet earth - please watch!

This HOME video is very beautifully executed and educational. I hope you will take the time to watch it.

Click on the link to view:

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

reminder - oral presentations this monday!

Hi everyone - this is a reminder that we will have oral presentations on Monday. It's up to you what you would like to present, as long as you keep us entertained for at least 2/3 minutes, longer is even better. We will also be videotaping presentations, unless you don't feel comfortable with that idea. An alternative is that I could tape only your voice. The idea of the taping is for you to hear yourselves and see yourselves to get a better idea of your language production. This can be very useful for you!

If you would like to include a slide show with your presentation, you can, but this is not required of course!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend, I am busy, as usual, reading and writing papers!

Remember to get out there and listen to conversations in cafes, bars, on the street, on the bus etc.! I want you to pay attention to the English language wherever you are! If you feel inclined, take notes of what you hear, especially if you have any questions about what you hear and we'll share together in class.

Take care - Denise

p.s. the flower I posted is a magnolia, I just found it on the web - but I thought it was beautiful, another gorgeous mandala

p.p.s. HURRAY for Shota who figured out that if I use Safari I can answer your postings! Thank you Shota!

Just A Show Off.

When I was trying to take a picture of the flower, the butterfly came along. I have something to tell you about the word BUTTERFLY. I heard this from when I went to the Rose Garden last spring. A man was telling a woman about the origin of this word. He said, it was called FLUTTERFLY before, then it got changed to BUTTERFLY. I don't know if it's true but it's kind of interesting, don't you think?

This is another picture from Point Pinole. I saw this bush from far away. It was outstanding. I tried to make it more interesting with the ocean. I don't know if it is, though. What do you think?

Two small dogs at different ages.

The white one is quite familiar for some of us. I mean Spunky was introduced long before. But the black one is new, a newborn. She is only two months I think. But in one more month she will be much bigger than Spunky. She is a pitbull. She is a dog of my coworker's. He got her from a friend. The parents were killed by police because they killed some dogs after having some puppies just for a week. Poor puppies have to live without parents. Now that Nin; the little pitbull you see, lives with my friend's family, she is loved. My boss who is the mother of my coworker loves Nin as if she was her own daughter. She always tells me about Nin's behavior in the morning when I go to work. She is a very cute puppy or adorable, I would say. When we were walking, people always stopped to pet her.

As usual, Spunky never leaves his favorite pinecones alone. He has to tear them to pieces. Nobody knows why he loves biting them so much, any more than they know why he loves chasing balls so much. I know why, he's a little weirdo!

Poor Nin, she was too little to walk for an hour. We had to stop periodically for her to cool down. As soon as we stopped, she lay down, even when we just stopped for short conversations with people.

Some Nice Pictures From My Weekend Activities

I have a lot of pictures I want to share but I am afraid of boring people here. I tried so hard to take pictures and I tried harder to choose some to post. Here are some that I THINK nice enough to use the space of the blog.

This picture is from when we went sailing. We started at Berkeley Marina and ended at Pier 1, I think. I had a chance to steer for a half an hour. I enjoyed it. The forecast said it was supposed to be foggy but as you see it was lovely. We were so happy. Anyway, the real scene was much prettier than the picture. I tried so hard to take a picture that can show how pretty it is but I failed. I think that's why people travel because there's nothing like real experience. It took us about three hours and a half for one way. I was sleeping on the way back. :)

The Bay Bridge on the way back. that was my last thing to take picture of, the rest was the dark. Again, the real thing was much much much prettier than the picture. I actually had a talk about this with a friend on the boat, how hard it is to take pictures that look real like we see it with the bare eye. It's impossible.

On the next weekend we went to Point Pinole again. We love this place. It always beautiful whenever we go there. It has different character each time we go there but always is beautiful. This time we wanted to see how the rain changed things. It really did change a lot. Grass was so pretty. It was everywhere. I felt so good to see that. Life is coming back with the rain.

Noon Concert.

I went to the Noon concert with Selda. Before I went to the concert, I had gone to Doe library. There, there were many students but most of the people slept, so there were no seats. So I just looked around the library. The library's atmosphere was so diffrent compared to my University. Although many students slept, I loved that place.
At noon, I went to Hertz Hall to see the concert. The concert was about Beethoven. First the concert started with Vilolin, Piano and Cello. After that, the singer sang with instruments. The atmosphere was quiet and the classic music made me feel calm. Actually I expected a big orchestra, but it was small. So many people were disappointed. However it was enough for me.
Wen I was a middle school student, I played cello. So this concert reminded me of that time. I was happy because I had a great time.

English class

1. My motivation to learn English
- To get a job
In Korea, English is very important to get a job.
And I want to learn English because I like studying English.

2. What focus would I benefit most from in this class?
- Actually everything is important and necessary to me.
But above all, I want speaking, pronunciation, and writing skills.


3. Goals for using English
- In Korea, we have to speak English in the job interview, so my goal is to speak English fluently.
And I'm not sure but if I study in USA for a long time, I might go to commuity college.

Classical music concert

yesterday was a fascinating day for me. First, I had a chance to go to People's cafe, and I liked it very much. It had a warm atmosphere. Second, I did something that I like. Library! I spent a half an hour at the Berkeley Library. Then, I bought some foods for my lunch, and I began to walk to go to the Berkeley Music Hall. After I found the Music Hall, I sat on a seat, and I ate my lunch.In the beginning I thought there were few people to see the concert, but many people came there soon. I listened for classical music. The concert was divided into two parts. Although I liked both parts of the concert, the second part was incredible for me, because I thought the singer sang songs very well, and her voice was very good. I was very glad to go o the concert yesterday. I advised my friend to go o U.C. Berkeley very Wednesday. Consequently, it was a good experience for me.

English classes

I want to be able to communicate with other people in English as well as I can in my mother tongue because I have plans to live in the U.S. for a while.
I would benefit most from perfecting my listening (and comprehension) and pronunciation skills as well as from learning how to say things in day-to-day life.
My main goal is both being able to understand what other people say and to say exactly what I mean in the most accurate and correct way.

About Me...

First, my motivation to learn English is that I have many dreams in the future. I think I am going to work in the U.S. as a movie director and an actor. To accomplish my dreams, I need to speak English very well. Therefore, my motivation is for my future.
Second, I would like to improve my speaking and reading skills in this class. However, I have a problem that almost books for my level are too boring to read. I am looking for a good book for me.
Finally, my goals are to communicate perfectly in English and to read philosophical books and ancient books fluently in English.

Hmmm noon concert this Wednesday...

Hi everyone again,

I'm starting to think that the concert this Wednesday might be worth our while... so maybe we can watch the movie the following week - let's have a pow wow and figure this out on Monday!

Btw - (by the way) we now have a Hertz Hall link here on our blog - check it out - so you can look at the schedule and enjoy other musical opportunities even outside of class.

See you! D

Some ideas for next week

Greetings all,

I want to thank those students who have taken the time to post on our blog. It would be really great if you could reply to each other's postings as well. I'm busy doing homework and am appreciating the lovely, balmy weather.

Reminders: this Tuesday we'll spend a little time at the Berkeley Public Library so people have an opportunity to check out some easy books to read. It's important for you to read books that don't require the use of the dictionary in order to develop fluency reading. We will go to the library after lunch.

On Thursday I am planning to show you the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore. I keep referring to this movie and I would like for all of you to see it so that my references make more sense to you.

Though the music concert at U.C. Berkeley's Hertz Hall sounds amazing this week:

Beethoven, Piano Trio, Opus 70, Nº 1 "The Ghost" and Scottish and Irish folk songs for contralto and piano trio

I am not planning a field trip there this week. However, if any of you wish to go to this concert, I will mark you present for the school day, however, you will be required to write a report about your experience and bring back the program which you will have to explain to your classmates. This would not be a difficult assignment for you to do and you would be enjoying some fabulous music which would serve as some good stimulus for writing and speaking.

If EVERYONE wants to go to the Beethoven concert, then we can do so and watch the Al Gore movie the following week.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend, see you on Monday, Denise

My Great Weekend

I went to a party and drank so much last Friday. I talked a lot with many friends there and enjoyed it very much.
I hung out with my best friends on Saturday. We went to my ex-school, Walmart, In-N-Out, Safeway, and one of m friend's apartment. Actually, I've known them only for 1 month. Since that day, I'm used to meeting them on every weekend. Finally, we became best friends Also, we plan to go to SF this Saturday with a car which is available for 8 people.But there are 7 men to go together. I think we should get one girl.

How 11th Hour effected me.

The movie 11th Hour reminded me about how important living a green life is. It reminded me what I already forgot long ago. I used to be very careful with what I ate back when I still lived with my parents in Thailand. We ate only FRESH vegetables and very little fish. My aunt who now is not alive told me that we should pick the vegetables right before we eat them. It's not only eating organic vegetables but fresh ones. And I felt a little frustrated with life style in this country. People buy too much, way too much than they really need. I went to Pak'n Save Food yesterday evening to buy some vegetables although I know that they are not fresh. I saw people carried a lot of groceries. I didn't know what was inside the bags but they were so big, bigger that the person who carried them. I wondered what 's she gonna do if she doesn't like the food she bought? Or what is she going to look like or even feel after eating it all? The food can't last that long, especially if it's good food that still has some nutrition. So thanks to her. I didn't buy much because of her. People can buy a lot if they can eat it all or if they can make sure that they won't throw away without wasting them.
I even asked my boyfriend if we can stay here for only ten more years and then move to Thailand. Thailand is not better than America except for the fact that I can grow things there myself all year long. In America, people grow things only in summer and the rest of the year they eat whatever the markets have to offer. It's not too bad but it just costs too much than humans can afford in a long term. Imported produce is not fresh. Also it takes so much energy to transport. I can talk about this for a year and still have some more to say for another year.
Yes it's not too late, we still have time even though it's so little but I'm not positive that we will make it because people DON'T CARE as long as they have enough to eat. Others don't matter. As long as they can survive, the future doesn't matter. We don't love each other enough. Not enough to bring us together and do WHAT WE HAVE TO DO. the movie didn't tell me much about things I don't know. I just wish that people who still act like global warming doesn't exist had a chance to see it and THINK.

The eleventh hour

The things that I remember most about the movie are that we, humans, have been wreacking havoc on our planet. That it is necessary to disengage from consumerism as the main avenue of experience because you can never get enough of wha you don't really want. And that we don't have much time left to make drastic changes in our behaviour towards the earth if we ant to survive as a species.

About expired visa and I-20 form.

Yesterday we had a small conversation about visa and F-1 status in the class. I guess many students don’t know the difference between visa and I-20 form. So I just want to let you know the difference.

Status and Visa are 2 different things. Visa is required only for the entry to the US. As long as your I-20 is valid your status is LEGAL. Even after your visa is expired on your passport stamp, if you have maintained the full time student status and you have valid I-20, you are not out of status (you are legal). You are still ok with your F-1 Student Status.

An F-1 visa is ONLY needed for travel. Next time when you travel outside of the US, you need to apply for F-1 Visa and get visa stamped to enter the US.

If you have any questions about this sort of stuff, just shoot me.

My future trip

I've just confirmed my flight to go back to Malaysia. The date is January 15th 2010, 100 days from today. The plane ticket only cost $300, why so cheap? Because my sister used her Asia Miles points to buy it. Maybe on the way back to Malaysia, I will stop in Taiwan. I'm looking forward to shopping there, that will be so cool. I might stay there for 2 days, I think that is enough. hehe... :)

SFMOMA

We went to the Modern Museum in San Francisco yesterday. I was surprised because there were a few students in my classroom before we left in the morning. On the second floor of the museum there was a tour guide, but I didn't join the group because I wanted to see the works with my pace. Some students who study art in college cheated from my notebooks many times so I escaped from them. On the third floor, there were so many Japanese pictures which were taken by Japanese artists. Some photographs are from 100 years ago, others are from 30 years ago. On the fifth floor, there was Avedon's section. There were a lot of wonderful photographs, and I especially liked a photo of a woman with an elephant It was beautiful. I enjoyed yesterday's feed trip very much.

MOMA

Yesterday I went with some of my classmates to the museum of modern art in San Francisco. It was an interesting field trip because there was an exhibition with Richard Avedon's photographs. I've never seen nothing from this artist before, and I liked it a lot. Avedon could transmit feelings with the expressions caught with his photographs. He took photos of a lot of famous people like Marilyn Monroe, presidents from the U.S, writers, poets, singers and unfamous people like carneys or haltlesnaker skinners. I liked the photographs of his father, because he transmitted the essence of oldness. Another interesting photograph was one of a murderer, you could see in him a strange an dark gaze through his eyes.
Ana Prats

SFMOMA this Tuesday, 10/6

Greetings!
Hope you've had a fabulous weekend - just wanted you to be prepared for our SFMOMA field trip this Tuesday!

We'll meet at school as usual at 9:00 a.m. and leave around 9:45 a.m.

For those who missed the Richard Avedon exhibition last month, here's your chance to see it - it is worth the $5.00 admission fee, FOR SURE.

For those of us who saw the Richard Avedon, there are a couple of other photography exhibitions to see, click our link to the SFMOMA for the current exhibitions (in the top right corner of our blog.) These new photography exhibitions look very interesting. Of course there is also the wonderful permanent collection on the 2nd floor.

See you soon, Denise

MY NAME - SELDA -

My name is Selda. This name was given me by my grandfather. He gave me that name because he liked a singer very much whose name is Selda. The meaning of my name is floating water. The root of my name is Sel that means flood. People in my village believe that water and floods bring good and worthy things to people. In addition, in the ancient times the most beautiful and rich villages were constructed near a river that means water is alive for all people. Finally, my name symbolizes water and life.

my name - vivian -

When i just came here my friends and i were thinking about my English name.
Actually I already thought about my name that was victoria. But my friends told me
that is too long and when they heard victoria they couldn't image me.
So my friend's wife, who is a writer, she gave this name to me. So It became my English name.
I love my name.

Boulder, Colorado 3

Now we are there, in Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was huge and endless, at lleast that was I felt. There were a lot of spots that people can have some nice views of the valleys and mountains. The little chipmunk wasn't scared of people at all becuase people feed them. That is not good for the wildlife but as we know, people are like that. Not that they are kind to the animal but they DON'T CARE if it's gonna hurt anybody. So there was not much snow. Just patches of snow all over the place maybe two or three inches. But that was more than enough to make me happy.










Then we drove back in the different direction and we got to see some elk. They were grazing the grass in the field on the hill. I like how big the antlers are. As you can see there are some dead trees. Those are pine trees. We first thought they were chinging color but as you know, pine trees are evergreen, that means those red ones we see are dead. And a lot of them died. I saw a lot of them died all over the place. That is sad. I hope it's just the way it is. Becuase I can see that about one fourth of the trees are dead. I really wish it was the way nature works. Somebody know about this tell me.