Let's Speak English

It was the first day of class. Two of her new ESL classmates wanted to know where

Tara was from. They were both from Iraq. Because Tara looked Iraqi, one of the women

asked Tara, in English, if she was from Iraq. Tara replied, "No, I'm not." Then the women

took turns asking Tara if she was from Iran, or Syria, or Jordan. To each question, Tara

responded with a simple no. Laughing, one woman said to the other, "She's not from

anywhere!" The two went to their desks, talking to each other in Arabic.

The next day, the teacher divided the students into groups of four. The students in

each group asked introductory questions of each other. A student in Tara's group asked her,

"Where are you from?" Tara answered that she was from Iraq. The two women who had

questioned Tara the day before were sitting only a few feet away. Both of them heard Tara's

response.

"Aha!" they both exclaimed. "You ARE from Iraq!" Tara smiled and said yes. Then

she apologized to both of them for lying the day before. She explained that she had not

wanted to get into an Arabic conversation with them. It had been her experience that many

ESL students continued to speak their native language in ESL class, and Tara had not come

to ESL class to practice her Arabic. In her opinion, ESL students should try to speak

English only.

"I agree," said Rose.

"You're 100 percent right," agreed Jennifer. "Rose and I must stop speaking Arabic to

each other. Right, Rose?" Rose nodded, and then said something in Arabic. All three

women laughed.

Over the next four months, Tara became friendly with both women, although she

never spoke a word of Arabic to them during class or break.

Yes/No Questions Quiz

1. Was it the first week of class? _____________________________________.

2. Did two classmates want to know where Tara was from? _______________________________________________________________.

3. Were the two classmates from Iran? _____________________________________.

4. Did one of them ask Tara if she was from Iraq? -___________________________________________________________________.

5. Did Tara say that she was from Iraq? _____________________________________.

6. Did they keep trying to find out where she was from? ___________________________________________________________________.

7. Did they joke that Tara wasn't from anywhere? ____________________________________________________________.

8. Did the two girls speak Arabic? _____________________________________.

9. Did the teacher divide the students into four groups? -_____________________________________________________________________.

10. Did the students draw pictures of each other?-________________________________________________________.

A Woman Has Needs

Wally asked Anita how her daughter Heather was doing. Heather had always been a

dutiful, loving daughter. She got married about 10 years ago, at the age of 23. It was the

first marriage for her and her husband Ben. They had two kids. Everything seemed fine,

even though Heather was the only one working. Ben had gotten laid off two years ago. He

was still looking for work.

They were fortunate because Heather's grandma loved her to death. She had bought a

house for Heather as a wedding gift, so Ben and Heather had no mortgage to pay. Not one

penny. Grandma asked only that Heather call her twice a month. Recently, grandma had

asked Anita what was wrong with Heather. Anita said she didn't understand—nothing was

wrong. "Then why hasn't she called?" grandma asked. Anita said she would talk to Heather.

She left several messages, but Heather didn't call back. Anita drove over to the house.

Ben was home, taking care of the kids.

"Where's Heather?" Anita asked.

"She went to the beach," Ben told her.

"Without you and the kids?" Ben was reluctant to talk, but he did. Heather had started

smoking again. Even worse, she had found a boyfriend. She had met this guy at work, and

things got out of hand. Ben didn't know what to do. If he filed for divorce, he might be out

on the street with two kids to support. If he didn't get a divorce, he had to live with the

humiliation of being supported by a wife who was cheating on him.

Anita was astounded at her daughter's selfish actions. She drove home and called her

mom. Grandma said that hopefully it was just a phase that Heather was going through. She

told Anita to make sure to remind Heather to call.

A Woman Has NeedsGap-fill exercise

Wally asked Anita how her daughter Heather was . Heather had always been a dutiful,

loving daughter. got married about 10 years ago, at the of 23. It was the first

marriage for and her husband Ben. They had two kids. seemed fine, even

though Heather was the only working. Ben had gotten laid off two years . He was still looking for work.

They were because Heather’s grandma loved her to death. She bought a house

for Heather as a wedding , so Ben and Heather had no mortgage to . Not one

penny. Grandma asked only that Heather her twice a month. Recently, grandma had asked

what was wrong with Heather. Anita said she ’t understand—nothing was wrong.

“Then why hasn’t she called?” asked. Anita said she would talk to Heather.

left several messages, but Heather didn’t call back. drove over to the house. Ben

was home, care of the kids.

“Where’s Heather?” Anita asked.

“ went to the beach,” Ben told her.

“Without and the kids?” Ben was reluctant to talk, he did. Heather had started

smoking again. Even , she had found a boyfriend. She had met guy at work, and

things got out of . Ben didn’t know what to do. If he for divorce, he might be out on

the with two kids to support. If he didn’t a divorce, he had to live with the

of being supported by a wife who was on him.

Anita was astounded at her daughter’s actions. She drove home and called her mom.

said that hopefully it was just a phase Heather was going through. She told Anita

to sure to remind Heather to call.

The Big WeddingAnn and Bob were in love. They were going to get married next year. They had

known each other since they were in the third grade. They were both 20 years old. True

love was something that Ann and Bob knew everything about. There was hardly anything

they disagreed about. Even when they disagreed, they settled the disagreement in such a

way that both were totally happy. This was truly a match made in heaven.

They had already made plans for the wedding. It was going to be a big wedding.

Every relative from both families had already been notified about the date. All their friends

knew about the big day. The invitations were already printed. The priest, the church, the

reception hall, and the limousine service were ready to go.

Nothing was being left to chance. This was going to be the happiest day of their lives.

Ann had gone to several wedding web sites for ideas and help. Of course, she had also

consulted her mother, grandmothers, aunts, and married friends about how to plan the

perfect wedding.

Each one of them tried to tell her that there was no such thing as a perfect wedding.

There was always at least one thing, or more usually one person, that made the wedding a

seeming disaster at the time. But of course, like the disaster that happens on your vacation,

that incident or person would be what makes the wedding more memorable.

"Oh, you should have been at my wedding," said Aunt Mabel to Ann. "My brother

James was in charge of the rings that Kyle and I were going to exchange. On the wedding

day, James presented the ring to Kyle, who put it on my finger. An hour later at the

reception, I took the ring off to admire it and read the inscription. I gasped. The jeweler had

spelled my name 'Mable' as in table. My name, as you know, dear, is spelled Mabel as in

label. So I went to the ladies' room and cried for almost half an hour. No one could console

me."

"So, the moral of the story, my dear," chimed in Aunt Prudence, "is to make sure that

Uncle James isn't in charge of getting your rings engraved. Not that you would have a

problem. How could anyone misspell your name—it only has three letters, and two of them

are the same."

"Aunt Prudence, you know that isn't true," said Ann. "Half the people I know spell my

name with an 'e.' But, Uncle James is not in charge of our rings, so I'm not worried."

The Big WeddingGap-fill exercise

Ann and Bob were in love. They were to get married next year. They had known

other since they were in the third grade. were both 20 years old. True love

was that Ann and Bob knew everything about. There hardly anything they

disagreed about. Even when they , they settled the disagreement in such a way

both were totally happy. This was truly a made in heaven.

They had already made plans the wedding. It was going to be a wedding.

Every relative from both families had already notified about the date. All their

friends knew the big day. The invitations were already printed. priest, the

church, the reception hall, and the service were ready to go.

Nothing was being to chance. This was going to be the day of their lives.

Ann had gone to wedding web sites for ideas and help. Of , she had also

consulted her mother, grandmothers, aunts, married friends about how to plan the

perfect .

Each one of them tried to tell her there was no such thing as a perfect .

There was always at least one thing, or usually one person, that made the wedding a

disaster at the time. But of course, like disaster that happens on your

vacation, that incident person would be what makes the wedding more .

“Oh, you should have been at my wedding,” Aunt Mabel to Ann. “My brother

James was charge of the rings that Kyle and I going to exchange. On the

wedding day, James the ring to Kyle, who put it on finger. An hour later at

the reception, I the ring off to admire it and read inscription. I gasped. The

jeweler had spelled my ‘Mable’ as in table. My name, as you , dear, is

spelled Mabel as in label. So went to the ladies’ room and cried for half an hour. No one could console me.”

“ , the moral of the story, my dear,” chimed Aunt Prudence, “is to make sure

that Uncle isn’t in charge of getting your rings engraved. that you would

have a problem. How could misspell your name—it only has three letters, and

of them are the same.”

“Aunt Prudence, you that isn’t true,” said Ann. “Half the people know spell

my name with an ‘e.’ But, James is not in charge of our rings, I’m not worried.”

A Festival of Books

People joke that no one in Los Angeles reads; everyone watches TV, rents videos, or goes to the movies. The most popular reading material is comic books, movie magazines, and TV guides. City libraries have only 10 percent of the traffic that car washes have. But how do you explain this? An annual book festival in west Los Angeles is "sold out" year after year. People wait half an hour for a parking space to become available.

This outdoor festival, sponsored by a newspaper, occurs every April for one weekend. This year's attendance was estimated at 70,000 on Saturday and 75,000 on Sunday. The festival featured 280 exhibitors. There were about 90 talks given by authors, with an audience question-and-answer period following each talk. Autograph seekers sought out more than 150 authors. A food court sold all kinds of popular and ethnic foods, from American hamburgers to Hawaiian shave ice drinks. Except for a $7 parking fee, the festival was free. Even so, some people avoided the food court prices by sneaking in their own sandwiches and drinks.

People came from all over California. One couple drove down from San Francisco. "This is our sixth year here now. We love it," said the husband. "It's just fantastic to be in the great outdoors, to be among so many books and authors, and to get some very good deals, too."

The idea for the festival occurred years ago, but nobody knew if it would succeed. Although book festivals were already popular in other US cities, would Los Angeles residents embrace one? "Angelenos are very unpredictable," said one of the festival founders

A Festival of Books

Gap-fill exercise

People joke that no one in Los Angeles ; everyone watches TV, rents videos, or goes to movies. The

most popular reading material is comic , movie magazines, and TV guides. City libraries have 10 percent

of the traffic that car washes . But how do you explain this? An annual festival in west Los Angeles is

“sold out” after year. People wait half an hour for parking space to become available.

This outdoor festival, by a newspaper, occurs every April for one . This year’s attendance was

estimated at 70,000 on and 75,000 on Sunday. The festival featured 280 . There were about

90 talks given by authors, an audience question-and-answer period following each talk. Autograph

sought out more than 150 authors. A food sold all kinds of popular and ethnic foods, American

hamburgers to Hawaiian shave ice drinks. Except a $7 parking fee, the festival was free. so, some

people avoided the food court prices sneaking in their own sandwiches and drinks.

People from all over California. One couple drove down San Francisco. “This is our sixth year here

. We love it,” said the husband. “It’s just to be in the great outdoors, to be so many books

and authors, and to get very good deals, too.”

The idea for the occurred years ago, but nobody knew if it succeed. Although book festivals were

already popular in US cities, would Los Angeles residents embrace one? “ are very unpredictable,”

said one of the festival .