ArtofEnglish Guest Bloggers

Students from my BOCES ESL class post their favorite writings from Fall Session 2011.

My Fourth Guest:

 Khosrow Nassiri. Khosrow is a former police administrator from Iran who is now a U.S. citizen and a daily participant in our ESLclass. His wisdom and understanding are an inspiration to us all.

—Can you guess which one he is?

Khosrow chose this essay as his blog post. We read it aloud the last day of the Fall Session and had tears in our eyes after the last line. Khosrow who was in class with his daughter and son-in-law opened his heart to everyone; knowing intuitively that we are all one extended family.

The Last Paper of the Year (December 16^th 2011)

I registered my name in Carver Center. My teacher is Mrs. Camille. She is the best teacher that I have had during my life. She loves her students. She is coming earlier than the students and is going out later than others. She gives us courage and energy to study. The shape of our class is fantastic. Every student could see the teacher and look at her mouth for learning the correct pronunciation. She practices with us many times.

She teaches us about American History and famous men and artists. She is a teacher that loves to teach her students and respond to the students’ questions. She brings different books and gave to student for to read. She tries to learn how to think and imagine the subject. At the end of the term she invites us to celebrate the Christmas party. We went there, all of the classmates were happy to be there. The decoration of the house was beautiful and artistic harmony. We put the gifts under the Christmas tree. Her husband is named Lou Del Bianco. He is handsome man and attractive singer. The situation of the party was very warm and lovely because everyone look each other with pure love. We celebrate the ceremony and read about SinterKlass.

Now this is the last paper of this term. I used to come five days a week to this class. I learned many things during the 10 weeks from my lovely teacher and dear classmates. I don’t want to say goodbye. I like to say see you soon with love.

My Third Guest: Hermogenes Sanchez
Hermogenes is a quiet, thoughtful Peruvian gentleman who has been in my class for two years. He enjoys learning new words and has become a “living” dictionary for many of his classmates. We are always impressed by the insights he expresses so beautifully in his second language. Here are his selections.

Assignment: Look at Paul Revere’s etching of the Boston Massacre and write from the point of view of one of the people in the picture.
British Soldier: Today seems like no other. I can see a lot of people in the square, a bunch of rabble rousers trying to make us angry. In a few minutes my regiment is going to face those protestors and in a good way we are going to tell them to disperse. (One hour later) Listen up, people. This place is not right for you to do this kind of expression against the government. So, all of you have five minutes to leave the square in peace. If not, we are going to take action no matter what. My captain is very angry and disappointed by this kind of behavior. Think about it, go home, please.

Assignment: Interpret the words “All men are created equal”
I agree with this saying because I think this is about how a man and woman get together and for natural law create a new offspring; this is the same for everybody. But we have to know that our society is going to effect the behavior, education and all those complex things that make a human being successful through his whole life. I can say that family plays an important role in the education and makes one excel in this society.

Assignment: Write about – What is beauty?
Beauty is what makes you happy, impresses your senses in the way that makes you wonder what you see or feel; it’s a moment of excitement that can stay forever or vanish. It could be colors, nature, animals, art, cosmos, people, love. It’s a complicated topic because ir depends on the person who is seeing and the way of interpretation and its point of view on the moment. Our culture most of the time gets confused about the meaning of beauty and it’s focused just in external appearances just for commercial advertisement which means money. Beauty is the inspiration of many artists. They capture that feeling and they are able to transform it into another kind of beauty that could even be music.

ArtofEnglish: Guest bloggers:

Students from my BOCES ESL class post their favorite writings from

Fall Session 2011.

My Second Guest:

Michiyo Soga: Michiyo is a lively, enthusiastic Japanese woman who recently discovered her talent for writing poetry; a talent she inherited from her mother. She started our class in early 2011 and is in this picture

Assignment: Write about a day you felt really happy to be in this country.

Every morning I open the door
Children are playing on the ground with cheerful voices
A man is sweeping the floor, humming a Spanish song.
I enter the classroom.
Familiar faces welcome me as usual.
People I love and the best teacher in the world.
This is New York.
There are many places to go.
There are many things to see.
But I go to the class every morning
Because I know this is precious time.
The time I talk to the people from around the world.
The time I feel connected with these friends.
Although my English is poor, our feelings are one.
Today I go to the class as usual.
A lot of “good mornings” shine my day.
Thank you, Camille.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you, America.

On the sidewalk,
Holding a coffee cup, showing up white breath,
Walking to the station, in heavy boots.
In a rush, but not too much rush.
She tries to cross the road.
Her eyes cross my eyes in the car,
She smiles and I smile.
She starts crossing, holding up her hand.
Her mouth moves.
Without hearing, her voice reaches me,
Warming my heart in the crisp air

Driving along I-95
Up north…aimlessly 60 mph
The road stretches for miles away
It melts into the May sky.
Wrapped up by the vast azure
Humming Pink with 102.7
I go through the State line.
My heart glides in the bright sunshine.

My First Guest: Anonymous

(My first guest blogger wishes to remain anonymous.)

She is from Taiwan, has studied English in different places and has been in our class at Carver Center, Port Chester since September. She is in the picture.

Assignment: Write about a day you felt really happy to be in this country.

A Day in My Life: Happy to Be Alive

Light penetrated through the window and woke me up with bright warmness. The birds were singing and the squirrels were chatting. They seemed to welcome me to a new day. The aroma of coffee filled the air. It was a seductive morning call.

The newspaper was lying on the table waiting for me to browse. All of this cheered up the beginning of my day. My senses were alert and satisfied. I kissed my husband and kids and watched them leave home to go to work and school. Emotions were swirling in my heart. This is what I have always dreamt of. A family, happiness and health. I felt so content and thankful to be alive surrounded by people I love. And they love me very much too.

Assignment: Write a story that your parent or grandparent told you. (Her grandmother)

She wears a long dress, the wind blows through her golden blond hair and she misses her lover. Where has her lover’s boat gone? There is no information at all.

Has his boat met stormy weather? That makes her worry, but there is no one she can tell. She can only tell all her troubles to the wind, but the wind is heartless and teases her saying she is a fool. The wind doesn’t know first love with a trembling heart.

She misses her lover at the same time she misses her father. After twenty years she still doesn’t know who and where her father is. She misses her father and would like to meet him, but the only information she has is a golden cross he had left for her mother. Her mother told her that she was born out of wedlock. When she thinks about it sadness comes up in her mind. She doesn’t know whether her father is still alive or not. She only knows he is a Dutch ship doctor.

She thinks about both her mother’s and her own life. She misses and hates her father at the same time, especially when she sees some people who are close to their parents and she is the only one raised by a single mother. Today she is young and lonely and standing here waiting for her lover hoping that one day her lover’s boat will return to the harbor of An-Bing.

There is Miss Gold waiting till she hears the horn of the returning boat.

This is a Taiwanese legend.

THE PEOPLE: Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the day to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as PEOPLE.

THE EARTH MOTHER: We are thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our MOTHER, we send greetings and thanks.

THE WATERS: We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms – waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of WATER.

THE FOOD PLANTS: With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, the vegetables, beans, and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Food together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.

THE ANIMALS: We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animals life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and hope that it will always be so.

THE TREES: Now we turn our thoughts to the Trees. The earth has many families of trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many people of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the TREES.

THE SUN: We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest brother, the SUN. Each day, without fail, he travels the sky from east to west bringing the light of the new day. He is the source of all fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our brother.

THE FOUR WINDS: We are all thankful for the powers we know as the FOUR WINDS. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. They come from four directions bringing messages and giving us strength. We send greetings and thanks to the FOUR WINDS.

GRANDMOTHER MOON: We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest GRANDMOTHER, the MOON. She lights the nighttime sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face, we measure time, and it is the MOON who watches over the arrival of children here on earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our GRANDMOTHER, the MOON.

THE BIRDS: We put our minds together as one and thank all the BIRDS who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the BIRDS, from the smallest to the largest, we send our joyful greetings and thanks.

THE ENLIGHTENED TEACHERS: We gather our minds to greet and thank the ENLIGHTENED TEACHERS who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to those caring TEACHERS.

THE CREATOR: Now we turn our thoughts to the CREATOR, or Great Spirit and send greetings and thanks for all the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the CREATOR.

CLOSING WORDS: We have now arrived at a place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.

What happened to Thanksgiving?

The month of November used to be filled with legends of Pilgrims and Indians and school plays, Squanto. Miles Standish, Priscilla Alden.

Though their stories have turned out to be more fiction that fact, Thanksgiving was always a major part of the end of the year holiday count-down.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

But, where did it go?

I’m afraid it’s been gobbled up by the flat screen.

The truth is in the year 2011, 390 years after it was first celebrated, Thanksgiving means television, television and more television:

We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in the morning, football bowl games in the afternoon and evening and squeeze the “traditional” feast somewhere in between. There’s narry an Indian or Pilgrim in sight…

And to add insult to injury, Santa is the star of the Thanksgiving parade and everyone tunes in just to see and hear a range of performers from the latest Broadway musicals to the country’s top high school bands. I’m not complaining because our Port Chester High School Marching band was chosen to march in the parade and even starred in the re-make of Miracle on 34th Street!

But, how did Thanksgiving, that most American of all holidays, get lost in the media shuffle? Maybe it was too young and immature to fight back.

Unlike the ancient feasts of All Hallows Eve and The Festival of Lights which have both been Christianized, Thanksgiving is a very recent holiday. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday in November a national holiday in the middle of the Civil War, 1863.

And the traditional Thanksgiving feast varies as much as the people who prepare it. My German grandmother made bread stuffing for her turkey, my Italian grandmother used a more spicy sausage for hers.

The logical conclusion; Thanksgiving is as American as you can get, a melting pot of feasts that interpret and define cultures from all over the world. Of course it’s overshadowed by the media, it’s personal and familial, just as it was during the fall harvest of 1621 when a staunch group of English settlers welcomed the native people into their settlement. First, the colonists thanked the natives who helped them survive their first winter; half of the original group died. Then together, natives and pilgrims thanked their Creator for a bountiful harvest.

Over the years, I’ve tried to get our family to recreate that spirit by introducing a Native American Thanksgiving prayer for everyone to read aloud before the feast. They did it to please me…but they weren’t thrilled. If you want a copy, it’s in the next two blogs.

In our family, like so many others, Thanksgiving traditions work better when it comes to food. We usually say what we’re thankful for and love to sing together, but I always get to make the candied sweet potatoes. Amen!

I feel a little cold because of the weather. It makes me think many things and feel strange. Marvin

I can associate this with other experiences that I had receiving therapeutic massage. They used to use the same kind of music combined with relaxing sounds. Carlos 

It seems so familiar and a little sad to me. The peaceful melody calms me down. Ting

It’s like I’m dreaming, but after a few minutes I feel a little bit sad.  Latifa

The common feelings are security, appreciation and peace. This music gives me positive energy. Yuko

I can feel relaxed and nostalgic. I’d like to listen to this music before I go to bed,
I guess I can get rid of my daily stress and sleep very well. Izumi

The music makes my mind clear and relaxed.  Mayumi

I feel that his sound is for my heart gently. Setsuko

When I listen to this music I feel peaceful. It is like I just woke up and opened the window of my bedroom. Clara

Feelings of peace, comfort, community, always in a circle. The life circle in song.
Listening makes you a member of the circle. Feelings of peace. Camille 

The music evokes images from our collective unconscious and sets up a friendly environment for new students. Here are some images that emerged from a half hour of listening and writing:

I am in a vast plain and wild nature and I can see wild animals too. Mayumi

I imagine as if he and I are in bamboo grove and he has been playing only for me. Setsuko

I can see a town with hills and many trees. I can see the sun showing up. Clara

The sky of sunset, a flight of birds return to their nests. The little town is becoming darker and darker. I hurry to go home from a secret field. Yuko

All creatures are breathing calmly, and the earth is holding them gently. Yukiko

A dignified view in Moabu, Arizona:  It is an indigenous settlement. An eagle of the sky, red rocks on the red field and wind. Yuko

There are many trees with fresh green leaves and a little bit mist like a fantasy story. I can’t see any stream, but I can hear comfortable spring water running down out of the mountain. Tomoka 

I see an Indian standing alone in a wide field. It’s the time of sunset. An Indian is looking far away, he is thinking of someone special who he cannot meet anymore.  Yumi 

River with an icy stream; chirping birds at dawn, green vegetation, endless plain, pouring rain, gathered people, farewell to a death warrior, fire in a dark night. Hermogenes

People are in a religious ceremony practicing their rituals and presenting a beautiful girl as a sacrifice to their believed God. People are wearing some feathers, accessories, and different colors. Latifa

Images that I see are the Twin Towers falling down, people crying because they have lost their family. Marvin 

Michiyo even wrote a short, short story…

A man is in a mountain range, in a cold air, talking to condors about his feeling. He just lost his loved one, he feels so sorry and alone, but also feels her soul somewhere around him. It is early in the morning, between the mountains, you can see the sky in the east is growing white. He feels hope from that, he feels the energy from the earth. He thinks he is going to live with his way because his life was given by nature. Everybody around him knows lives are precious, and they are part of nature. He says,”Condor, what do you see? You might see my love’s soul. If so, I want you to fly me up.”

When I think of the innocent people involved I am very sad. They felt fear and were suffering. Nobody could help. I’m so sorry. There are so many victims. Around victims, many times that number of families and friends. One day changed everyone’s life.Enormous numbers of people will need mental care. Not only victims, but also ordinary people in the US won’t keep their usual peaceful life. I’m afraid of the future. U.S. has been number one, its authority and dignity was destroyed so I feel the U.S. is likely to take revenge. I only hope another war won’t happen. Miyuki M.(Japan)

I feel so sad and my heart cries about ordinary people.
Many children will wait for their mother and father, but will never see them.
Never will mother kiss her baby.
This is a national mourning.
This is a world mourning.
This is a mourning for each of us.
All people woke up on a day of tragedy,
said good morning, but no one supposed
what the sunrise would bring.
The city under horror.
The city under smoke.
The city under a stream of fear and vulnerability.
All the world quaked from this tragedy.
All the world is in shock.
It is a terrible real-life movie
Who is the film director?
But American people have hope in their hearts.
They must be strong and have faith for the future.
God bless America.
Svetlana K. (Russia)

Day of Surprise
It seems to be a normal day for everybody; a day of routine. People going to work, traders making deals, air traffic running normal, but surprise. At 8:45 a plane crashes into one of the Twin Towers in Manhattan. What seems to be at the beginning an accident turns out to be a terrorist attack. A few minutes after another plane crashes into the second tower. Then the  horror begins. People running in different directions for their lives. Journalists covering the scene. But yesterday something really shocked me. I saw people jumping out of the windows. Then I stopped and thought what was going through their minds? How was their state of mind? And I thought did they have to choose how to die: jumping out of the window or letting the flames reduce you to ashes?  Jiovanny (Ecuador)

Ten years ago at 9:00 a.m. I was in my classroom in Port Chester, N.Y. teaching English to 20+ foreign born adults as these New Yorkers gazed up into the lower Manhattan skyline speechless and forever changed….

I notice Jose, the computer instructor, standing silently in the doorway of my classroom. Walkman in hand, “What’s going on, Jose?”
 ”A plane just crashed into the Twin Towers.”
 ”What plane, a small plane?”
 ”I don’t know. No, I don’t think it was a small plane.”
“O.K.  Well, let me know what’s happening. I’ll be down during the break.”

My students barely notice the exchange. The classroom is productively noisy with different accents asking and answering questions. The clear September morning is alive with the sounds of English.

It’s 9:30 and we take our break. Several students go outside to the coffee truck. I remember to check with Jose about the plane, it had almost slipped my mind.

“Another plane crashed into the Twin Towers.” now Jose looks worried. Two other teachers are with him listening to the radio in the school office.
“A second plane? The Twin Towers?” Are you sure? It must be a mistake. Two planes, that’s no accident. What’s going on?”

By this time many students are gathered at the office door, some visibly alarmed. My students look at me, I look back at them.

“Do you want to leave? Do you want to go home? I’ll stay as long as I think we should, but
maybe you should go…”
Most of them are already out the door. I stand in silence looking from the door to the office.
I walk with the few remaining students back to our classroom. We want to be together so
we talk. I have no memory of what we do or say from that time until class ends at 11:15………….

The next day my students return to my class. We are still afraid, confused.
We discover that one of the new students Noriko Tanaka, has lost her husband. She is in the city looking for him.
We talk about what we can do to help. We talk  and talk…
It isn’t enough…We need to write!

Some of those writings are in the next blog. They were published in our local newspaper
a few weeks after that terrible Tuesday which wasn’t called nine-eleven yet.