At last, our ten-week session is almost up. No one failed. Everyone learned a lot. I hope you are happy with your progress no matter which level I choose for you. I am very happy with the progress of every student who regularly made it to class.
Is there anything you want me to talk about before we finish the class?
What did you used to do when you were seventeen years old? What were you doing Saturday at 2:00 PM?
When I was seventeen, I used to dance ballet. I danced about 17 hours per week. I used to try to teach myself to play the guitar. I used to go to high school. I used to read novels. I used to talk on the telephone for hours.
On Saturday at 2, I was driving to Virginia Beach to see my dad.
Melancholy is a very old word for sad or depressed. People rarely use "melancholy."
When I am sad and anxious, I don't like people telling me that my fear is foolish.
What makes you feel better when you are sad? What is a good way to cheer up a sad child?
Challenging Information for politically curious advanced readers: Fairfax and Virginia Election 2019
Tomorrow, Virginians will vote on the local and state politicians who run the schools and set zoning and business laws.
The whole country will look at Virginia tomorrow because it is the most likely state to change from a Republican majority to a Democrat majority. (Some people are retiring. There are currently three more Republicans than Democrats in the State legislator. There is no Republican candidate for the Virginia Senate on my ballot.)
Minimum Wage -- No business can pay a worker below this hourly pay
Abortion -- pregnant women can have surgery to not have a baby (prochoice-- surgery is available, and the government may pay for poor women to get it. prolife-surgery is illegal -- considered murder)
Gun Control -- Government should decide or restrict who can own guns
2nd Amendment Rights -- Everybody should be able to buy a gun
ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) -- A constitutional change that says that all laws apply to women and men the same way.
When I was younger, I loved the voting information from the League of Women Voters. Now they link to Vote 411 and directly to the candidate's websites. Vote 411 is a website that gives information about all the political races in the USA. It was started by the democratic party, but they try to be fair in their information.
Are you moody? Do you have any moody people in your family? Do you think people are naturally moody or that disciplined people learn how to control it? Can you calm down a moody person? How?
A normal baseball game has nine innings. One inning means both teams have a chance to be offense and defense one time. A team gets points when one player hits the ball with the bat and touches every base without another player catching the ball (without it touching the ground) or a player getting the ball and then touching him or a base the player needs to go to.
There are lots of ways to get "out." Three outs makes it the other team's turn. If you don't hit the ball when the umpire thinks you can, that's a strike. Three strikes and you are out. A ball hit off the field (FOUL) counts as a strike, but never the last strike. If you hit the ball, but someone catches it before it touches the ground, you are out. If someone gets the ball and touches the base you need to touch before you, you are out.
If the pitcher doesn't throw the ball in the good place that it is possible to hit, that's a ball. Four balls and the player gets to walk to first base.
Baseball games can be very long, and fans sitting in the stadium can get sore from sitting too long. When teams switch places in the middle of the seventh inning, everybody stands up, stretches, wiggles, and sings, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game!! It's called the seventh inning stretch.
Are you a Nats fan? Do you understand how baseball is played? Do you like baseball? Do you have any favorite players? Did you stay up to watch any of the games!!
Schools, government offices, banks, and libraries close for Columbus Day. Restaurants and stores usually don't. They are often crowded with people who don't have to work! Sometimes, they offer good deals for Columbus Day.
Advertisements that may include Columbus Day bargains:
Use present continuous (present progressive) tense when the action is happening NOW!
Use simple present to talk about facts, routines, and frequency. Also use present tense when you use a stative verb. Stative verbs often express possession, opinions, emotions, and senses. Use simple Simple Past for one past action that is finished.
Are you having a good weekend? Are you going to go shopping?
If Jack makes me happy, silly, or sad, he causes the feelings of happiness, silliness, or sadness.
Example homework sentences: Laurie is happy when her students understand.
Laurie is sad when she hears that a child is hurt.
What do you do when you are happy, silly or sad? means What is your response to happiness, silliness or sadness.
What do you do side: Mary giggles when she is stressed. Joe eats when he is hungry. Sarah wears a sweater when she is cold.
What makes you excited? What do you do when you are excited?
Some songs always bring back memories. This song reminds me of ice skating in the 70's with my babysitter -- a young man who wanted to be a magician. He always found the quarters for the hot chocolate vending machine behind my ear! The ice rink played this song a lot. (Shah la la la, shing a ling a ling, whoa oh oh don't have any meaning, but people often sang those sounds in the 50s)
Do you have any memories with this song? What songs make you think of certain times in the past?
What do you love to do? What are you passionate about? Do you know any people that really stand out from the crowd because they love doing something well? Describe someone like that -- maybe you in the future.
BUT ONLY WITH CVC (consonant-1 vowel-1 consonant) WORDS!!
One of the hardest things about comparatives is remembering when to double the consonant at the end of the original adjective before adding -er.
Never double x or w.
We usually double the last consonant of CVC words--One-syllable words that end with one vowel then one consonant.
If there are two vowels or two consonants, don't double. (heater, harder)
The vowel in a CVC word is usually "short." It doesn't say its name. It sounds like you were punched in the stomach.
The grammar word for any letters added to the end of a word is suffix. ER, ED, ING, and EST are common suffixes. CVC words double their last consonant for all of these endings.
Tap -- tapping Pet- petted big--bigger pin-pinned pin-pinning hop--hopped trotter
Silly Children's Videos to help you remember: (If you like children's materials.)
1 syllable - add ER (short -- shorter, tall--taller)
1 syllable that was spelled with 1 consonant -- 1 vowel -- 1 consonant-- repeat the last consonant to keep the short (not the name) vowel sound -- add ER (big-bigger, thin--thinner)
2 syllables that end in ow or le add ER (yellow-yellower, little--littler)
2 syllables that end in Y -- change the Y to I and add ER (pretty--prettier, happy-happier)
Other 2 syllables act like
3 or more syllables: Use the word more before the adjective. (more modern, more beautiful, more interesting)
I love the tune and the pace of "Say Something" for my students, but I don't like "I'm giving up."
Give up means "quit." I never give up on my students, and my students always learn a lot when they don't give up.
What were your favorite clothes when you were eight years old? When I was eight, I liked my red shorts and a striped top. I liked my long blue dress. I also liked my puffy blue coat when I went outside in the snow.
Write about a loving memory that makes you happy when you think about it. Perhaps it was wonderful when you met your spouse or a good friend. Perhaps it is good to think about your parents or your aunt or your uncle or your silly cousin.
The chorus doesn't really mean anything, but it "Cat's in the Cradle," "Silver Spoon," and the "Man on the Moon" are all popular songs or activities we do with small children.
A child "with a silver spoon" is a child with a rich Daddy. In the USA, most rich daddies are busy daddies.
"The cat's in the cradle" is a string game that we used to play before computers and cell phones were fun. Do (Did) children play it in your country too?
"Nonsense" doesn't make any sense even for excellent English speakers
Many times children enjoy saying silly things.
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Do you have children? How are they similar to you and your spouse?
Present continuous and Present progressive are the same verb tense. Use it NOW. Use it when the action is in progress and will continue after you speak. Use it NOW when you are NOT finished. I am typing. You are reading. He is not typing. They are not working.
Is it easy for you to make decisions? Did you ever date someone that didn't want to make a commitment? (My college roommate dated a man for eight years, but he didn't want to get married, so they never got married.)
My mother is not like a mother on TV. She doesn't like to cook or clean or invite people over. She likes to look for pennies in a shopping mall floor or shells on a beach.
Describe your mother. Is she a hero? How are you similar to her? How are you not?
Today we tried a new app from learning upgrade. You can get it from the app store or the google play store. You can also get it on a computer from www.learningupgrade.com. The company is giving it to our students free this summer, but we need to tell them if it is good and if it has problems. If many of our students use the app three or more times every week, the school can get a prize from the company. The app has English and math and can help people prepare for the GED. The code to get it without spending $ -- only for students in our program and their families -- is 3366133.
Stative verbs like want, need and like do not use present continuous. When have means possess, NO having. When have means experience or eat, have is normal and you say, "I'm having" for right now.
In the USA, children often have to write haiku poems. We learn that haiku are a Japanese style of poetry. The poems must have three lines. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. Did you ever write a haiku poem?
Today, Kyanghwa told us that women in Korea are wearing yellow roses that symbolize gender equality and hope for the future. Immediately, this old American Song from the civil war (1850s) started playing in my head. This song has some comparative and superlatives in it!! Sometimes beats means hits, but here it means "wins" or "is better than."
Saule is a Dimash fan! She suggested this song!
Please let me know if the Chinese is not good. I can't read it!!
When I was young, I was very proud when I could do something all by myself. I'm still sometimes happy when I do something difficult or unusual. What can you do all by yourself?
