Spring 2, 2011 Edition International Voices
Challenges to Learning English Alessandro Gaboardi, Level 4 People have many difficulties learning a new language, but nothing is impossible to learn. For a foreign student from Italy, Spain, Germany or France, English is not the most difficult language to learn because there are many similar words that derives from the same language: Latin. So I think the most common problem of Europeans are comprehension, speaking and pronunciation. At first, a guy as me that comes for the first time in a country where the people speak English, the main problem was the comprehension. In fact many times i didn t understand what the others told me because many Americans talk very fast or speak about particular topics in which I didn t know the meanings of the words. There are many differences in the speaking of the school where I study, because I believe that the teachers pay attention to speaking clearly and slowly, and the other students who came from another country, are the same level as me, so was easier and sometimes also funny to speak with them. So to solve this problem, you have to stay a long time in a English country where you are used to listening to the other and you ll improve a lot. At second, the other main challenge to solve is speaking. I don t know why, but for example in Italy, when I learned English, the only three things that I did in class, were reading, studying literature and writing essays, so I didn t use to talk in this language and when i arrived in New Orleans, I had many problems. In fact I spoke half in English and half in Italian. I believe that for solving this problem you have to act as for the past problem; so you have to speak, speak and then speak for improving a lot. Finally, the last problem is learning the right pronunciation. I think this is the most difficult problem to overcome because it required a lot of time and there are many difficult kind of pronunciation in the different country where people speak English. I remember that when I was in Ireland, people spoke in a language that for me seemed very different from the American and I think there isn t one right pronunciation for all the kinds of English. So, to overcome this problem you have to listen to many people speaking English, watching movies or the television and maybe you can learn one kind of English and improve your pronunciation. In conclusion, I believe that learning a new language requires a lot of time and sacrifice, but if you apply yourself you can overcome every problem because nothing is impossible. Challenge To Learn English byomar Rasem Level 4 English,the universal language at this time, is used and learned around the world because its easy to learn, connects people from different nationalities, and its considered a simple language. English speaking people see it as easy to learn, and others see its harder to learn; it depends on the person who need to learn it. Actually English is easy to learn if you follow some of these steps, such as using a dictionary, listening to and reading the news, and trying to get a girlfriend. First, the dictionary is considered the circle that connects between the learner and strange words. For example, if you don't know a word you must use the dictionary to find the meaning of it. On the other hand, don't depend all of your studies on the dictionary because if you do, that you can't save a word in your memory. And then you will use it every time and that will bring you problems when you learn the English language. Second, try to read the English articles that will improve your reading skills, and try to read by aloud because its better when you read as low voice. That enhances your reading skills and you will speak fluently. Beside the reading you must at the same time improve your listening skills by listening to the news on T.V, watching movies,and listening to quiet English songs with the lyrics that will help you to understand the words of music.. Third, try to get girlfriend that will spend a lot of time with you because the English girlfriend speaks with you all of time in English then you must speak with her in the same language. Then she will correct for you if you have some errors in your language skills and help you to improve your speaking skills and you will get from her the right accent. These steps have all of scientists of language advice applied to it, because it has a positive rates when testing it by them. Finally, English is the modern language at this time and very important in our life. It's used in all of the world; that makes our lives flexible and easy. Besides, it's considered one of the successful steps in this life, if you speak English that will bring you quickly to your goal in your life. If you don't speak English until now, go fast to any English council in your country to learn this nice language.
Learning English is Difficult By Pamela Izquierdo Lazo Level 3 Learning English is difficult for three reasons. First, English writing is different than Spanish. For example, adjectives in English come before nouns. However, in Spanish you write adjectives after the nouns. Second, pronunciation is also very difficult because it s different from how you write a word. In Spanish, the pronunciation is the same as the writing. Finally, it s also very difficult to speak English because I can t think about what I ll say before I talk. These three things make learning English very difficult, but I must surpass. IELP School By Abdulrahman Aldossary Level 3 IELP school is best school I see until now because they have many ways to teach students English and they have many points to teach international students. Each teacher in IELP has many plans for the students to be comfortable in class or in the school. They always have many ways to help each student to be well in the future. IELP school has good activities to refresh our minds. Each teacher has many steps to help weak students to become excellent student. When I arrived in IELP in the first days, I was weak in class, but my teacher helped me. She gave me good practice and now I am a good student. My score is very good to me. Finally, IELP school is the best school I see until now because they are friendly and always have a smiling face. Failure on Tests by Ghazi Hassoubah, Level 5 Failure is a sad subject that students are concerned about. It will occur for many reasons. If I start with failure on tests, I have to tell my reasons that resulted in failure in courses. I have failed three tests in my whole life and each test has a different story. However, that happened when I took a test without preparation, when I was having emergency circumstances, or when I was being careless. One of the tests I failed was when I was unprepared for that test. It was an electric course that I had to take, but I didn t like it. It was a difficult course to understand, that concerns electricity circles and complicated electric currents. It was for me general information, just to enhance my knowledge. When the final test came, I took the exam without preparation, and I was trying to solve some of the questions, but I actually couldn t do it. I got out of the class and waited for the consequences: failure on the test. That was first test I had failed and it was in the first year at the university. The second test I had failed was because I had an emergency circumstance. The night of the test, my grandfather died, so, it was sad and confusing night. I started to ask myself, how can I do the exam? I was so sad, first for my grandfather and second for my test, which I was totally prepared for. I had decided that I wouldn t go to the test and I would attend the funeral, it might be the last time I would see him. So, I failed on the test, but I took it in another day after I discussed that with my professor and I passed it. The third failure story starts when I took a course that I liked and I didn t care about it because I thought that I would pass the test. Carelessness about anything in life leads to sad situations, and that is what happened to me. I failed that exam because I didn t study well for it till the test time. I had just started to study the test on the test night, and there wasn t enough time to review the whole book. I had punished myself about that test, because I have been able to pass it but I didn t. Failure is difficult for me. I am one of the people who don t like to fail, even if I have causes for that. My failures were sad days, but that feeling, sadness, let me improve my way of thinking and how to be prepared to take tests. Also I distinguish when I m being prepared and being unprepared.
Love By Ahmed Alshammari Level 3 Love is a special word in the world. It makes everything beautiful in your life. I can t describe the word because no one lives without love. I remember an old story that talked about love. It s called Qaiss and Layla. They loved each other, but Qaiss was a slave and Layla was a daughter for the prince of their village. The time when they saw each other was at a small lake in the village. Then, Qaiss saw Layla and he stared at her face for a long time. When he came back to his tent, he couldn t stop thinking about her. The prince decided to move to another place because the lake had a drought. When Qaiss recognized the prince s things, Layla shouted at his face. He sorrowed about what happened to him. When they moved to another place, they stopped to take a rest. The dark closed the place. Suddenly Layla screamed, Help me! Qais marched squarely toward her. When he came, he asked her what happened and she said the snake bit me. He took her hand and absorbed the poison from her hand by his mouth. Then, she felt better. She loved him after that and he also loved her, but there is a problem. He can t get married to her because he is a slave. They thought if they escaped, they will live together and they did. THE MEANING OF ROSES ON SPECIAL DAYS by Chanh Lang There are many kinds of flowers but Roses are used very much in some special days. Why are roses used in these days? People usually give a bunch of roses as the most beautiful present to others. They have many colors, however red, pink and white are main colors. Every color has a different meaning. Roses are seen as more popular in Valentine s day, Women s day, birthdays. In the Valentine s day, guys usually give chocolates for their girls friends and obviously not without a branch of rose. Red roses which show a deep and pure love, are the most beautiful in this day. Red color is intense and constant in their love. This is the most important in love and friendship. A rose sprig full of thorns tells us that we will sometimes see wind and waves in our love or living. Thorns will make us feel deep grief as they thrust and pain our fingers and have a fond remembrance of our love. Our love is also like that, we can be sad, even disappointed by our love. However, a heartfelt and loyal love helps us keep memories and overcome difficulties. Green color of leaves is a demonstration for resuscitation and beginning a faithful love. So red rose are a the main present to show love and desire about a fine future for couples. In the birthday, a birthday cake, candles and a bunch of roses are always present in party. A Rose shows loyal friendship. People usually use red and pink roses in these days. Red color shows faithfulness. Although time elapses, our friendship never change. Pink color shows mildness. Sometimes we are angry and misconcieved together but a loyal friendship helps us pass everything hand in hand to the future. In the women s day, this is a special day for all women, such as mothers, sisters, friends. Guys will show attention to women. We can use red roses for mothers, sisters or friends. We also use white and pink roses for friends or others who are orphaned mothers. This international day is on March eighth but every nation will have another day, such as on October twentith in Vietnam. Our mother, sister and friends are very happy when they get a rose. In addition, they will see that we always take care and respect them. Furthermore, we also show a deep gratitude to women who give the beauty of life. They are mothers, sister or friends. Mothers who have been taking care us all their life. Friends who have shared happiness and sadness in our life. A rose is a thankfulness to women whom we are always love. In conclusion, roses have many different colors, every color has different meanings but they evenly show love to other people who are always in our heart. For this reason, roses are more and more popular. They help us express love messages and maintain relationships to people who cannot be absent in our lives.
What Would Be a Perfect Life For You? I asked myself this question when I was kid. I said to myself if I have 500$ I will be a perfect person. This was when I was just 6 years old. However, when I became older my imagination for a perfect life had changed. I mean when I became 10 years, I thought If I have a bike I will have a perfect life. By the time I actually owned a bike, I didn't feel that I had a perfect life. However, when I became 15 years old, I thought if I could drive any car, I will have a perfect life. I said to myself."if I had a car, I would go anywhere with my friends and my life will be perfect. Actually, I started to drive the car when I was 17 years old and I didn't feel that my life was perfect. Day after day I said to my self, if I have a Porsche, which is from the fastest cars on this planet, I will have a perfect life. I worked hard and I spent time to achieve this dream. After while I owned this car, a lot of my friends were surprised. I thought for a moment that my life was perfect because I owned this car. This car was unbelievable. It could go from 0 to 60 miles in less then 4.3 seconds.i was happy when I owned this car. The truth is I didn't feel that I had a perfect life. After this, I realized that to have a perfect life doesn't mean to have more money. Actually, now I understand what you can do to have a perfect life. To have a perfect life you should make other people s life perfect. If you see people who are poor or orphans, you will realize that your life is perfect. Advice that I Would Give to my Child All children need to be guided by their parents when they begin growing up. In fact, if I were the mother of a child, my first advice to him/her would be to try to do well in his/her studies. When children are in the school year, some of them prefer playing rather than studying, so parents must advise them to put as priority their studies and avoid having distractions while they are doing homework or studying for a test. Certainly children dislike receiving this kind of advice because they think that parents are boring people who have never enjoyed being children. However, the reality is that all parents want to educate their children well. Another advice that I would give to my child would be stay away from people with bad influences. Without considering resulting actions, some children like to imitate other children because they are the most popular of their class; however, parents must warn them to stay away from children with bad habits and behaviors. Indeed, children are innocent people who don t know how dangerous life can be and they could run the risk of losing their way by staying in a dangerous environment. Given these facts parents can t afford to desert their principal role and must require them to be guided away from bad influences. The last advice that I would give to my child if I were his/her mother would be to struggle hard to get what you want out of life. Generally, children love telling their parents about their aspirations when they become adults and parents should encourage them to achieve it. Consequently from an early age, parents should teach them to fight for their objectives by planning the necessary steps to reach them. In conclusion, doing well in the studies, staying away from people with bad influences, and working hard to succeed are the three pieces of advice that I have to remember to give to my children. Carolina Benitez, Level 6 Two Important Festivals for Muslims by Arwa Saleem, Level 6 Every year all Muslims celebrate two important festivals called "Eied". Both of them are religious celebrations. The first one is after Ramadan month and the other is about two months after Ramadan. The first Eied is" Eied Al Fiter. It means you can eat after fasting 30 days or so, depending on the moon. In this month every adult Muslim has to fast from daybreak to sunset. Muslims do a lot of worship and they should give charity to poor people. The real target for fasting is to feel like the people who do not have food and live in hunger and poverty. All Muslims feel equal and thank God for the boon. The holiday of this celebration is 3 days. Children wait for this day eagerly, and it is the greatest happiness for children because they are pleasure to wear new clothes and shoes. Also, some people give them money or toys.in this celebration people visit their families and friends to congratulate each other and eat desserts. The second Eied is "Eied Al ladha". Some Muslims fast the day before this celebration. There is a special worship called "Al Hajj. Every Muslim should do it once at least in his/her life. Also, Muslims can do it just in holy places in Saudi Arabia.The holiday is 3 days,too. In this celebration people kill a lamb, cow, or camel as a sacrifice to God,just people who have ability to buy one because it's not cheap.in Libya Sometimes the price of lamb is approximately300-800 Libyan dinar. However, people who buy one or more should give charity to people who do not have. People enjoy doing many things with meat like B.B.Q and special dishes. For example, in Libya many families make "Assban" from the gut of lamb and they put pieces of liver, meat, rice, and some vegetables inside it. Also, people visit and congratulate each other. Abdullah Al-Jubiri, Level 6
GREEN SUMMER by Chanh Lang There are some people who are popular in my country and they are part of the Green Summer Campaign. The Green Summer Campaign began in 1995. Recently, it has been developed nationwide. Thousands of students have joined in the Green Summer Campaign every year. They wear blue polo shirts, so that they can be easily recognized. Student volunteers who participate in social activities, such as going to countryside to help poor people, to help traffic in big cities, and propagandizing to protect the environment. In addition, they also help homeless old people and teach poor children. Most of student volunteers go to difficult country sides to help farmers. They will fix old houses, build bridges, harvest crops and teach farmers children. Young people in the countryside go to big cities to work in companies with hopefulness to change their life and they are attracted to living in the city, so they do not want to have a strong attachment to their village. Therefore, the labor force in the countryside is not enough. Many children do not go to school and they are not taken care of by their parents who work in fields all day. Every summer, hundreds of student volunteers go there to help them. Daytime, they help the farmers to harvest crops in the fields and fix their old houses. In the evening, they teach children how to read and write, some students can teach English to them. They cook and prepare food by themselves. Before coming there, they are provided a little money and enough rice for three months. On Sunday, they can swim in the river or discover mountains or the forest and enjoy some special dishes in the countryside. Some students who study engineering will help to build bridges. They will finish their jobs in three months. A bridge is a dream for many people with their children who can go to school everyday by themselves because there are many rivers in South Vietnam. After ending crops in about three months, they will say goodbye to the farmers and see them again the next summer with other student volunteers. Students and local residents are still attached to each other. They cannot avoid shedding tears when they fall into each others arms. Some students will attend to directing traffic in some big cities where the population has been rising quickly, so traffic is terrible. They are often in intersections during rush hours to direct citizens how to drive properly to be on time for their work. People can see many green pulls of the volunteers in and around the city. They are very friendly. Other students try to find a job for homeless people, especially old people who are interested by society. Some students have been studying in medicine, they can take care of the people s health. These are good behaviors that people respect. Other student volunteers try to be clean waste in downtown and raise knowledge in protecting the environment for citizens. The polluted environment is an important problem that needs to be solved to develop the country. Student volunteers wear blue polo shirts that signify a green globe. They want to say, Let s protect our living environment to people in all countries. Nowadays, student volunteers are very popular in my country. They can be recognized by blue polos in the countryside and the cities with their good activities in all country.
Mark Twain by Juan Gabaldon, Level 6 On November 30, 1835 in a small town in Florida, one of the most famous American writers was born, Mark Twain; according to William Faulkner, Mark Twain was the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs. For me, besides the greats books he wrote, his quotes are a mix of reflection, humor and reality; I have read some of Mark twain quotes since I was 10 years old and read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in Spanish of course-, and I was impressed by how nice the reading was; then, occasionally, reading Reader s Digest, I found his wonderful phrases that made me, sometimes reflect, other times laugh and, in most cases they gave me some life s learning. One of the most impressive Twain s quote for me is, Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the thing that you didn t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. And, even though I tried to follow that advice for years, but I fell that it just started happening to me three years ago. Funny Twain s quotes like If you tell the truth, you don t have to remember anything. or, Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. have made me laugh and, made me think I think that Mark Twain has left a deep impression in my life. Have a great break! See you June 8th!
Failure on Tests by Ghazi Hassoubah, Level 5 Failure is a sad subject that students are concerned about. It will occur for many reasons. If I start with failure on tests, I have to tell my reasons that resulted in failure in courses. I have failed three tests in my whole life and each test has a different story. However, that happened when I took a test without preparation, when I was having emergency circumstances, or when I was being careless. One of the tests I failed was when I was unprepared for that test. It was an electric course that I had to take, but I didn t like it. It was a difficult course to understand, that concerns electricity circles and complicated electric currents. It was for me general information, just to enhance my knowledge. When the final test came, I took the exam without preparation, and I was trying to solve some of the questions, but I actually couldn t do it. I got out of the class and waited for the consequences: failure on the test. That was first test I had failed and it was in the first year at the university. The second test I had failed was because I had an emergency circumstance. The night of the test, my grandfather died, so, it was sad and confusing night. I started to ask myself, how can I do the exam? I was so sad, first for my grandfather and second for my test, which I was totally prepared for. I had decided that I wouldn t go to the test and I would attend the funeral, it might be the last time I would see him. So, I failed on the test, but I took it in another day after I discussed that with my professo and I passed it. The third failure story starts when I took a course that I liked and I didn t care about it because I thought that I would pass the test. Carelessness about anything in life leads to sad situations, and that is what happened to me. I failed that exam because I didn t study well for it till the test time. I had just started to study the test on the test night, and there wasn t enough time to review the whole book. I had punished myself about that test, because I have been able to pass it but I didn t. Failure is difficult for me. I am one of the people who don t like to fail, even if I have causes for that. My failures were sad days, but that feeling, sadness, let me improve my way of thinking and how to be prepared to take tests. Also I distinguish when I m being prepared and being unprepared.