Personal Narrative

Personal Narrative Sherrick 1Kendall SherrickLaura NowocinEnglish 110012 September 2014The True Gift of LifeA little black hole in a wall as white as snow is the vivid picture I seem to remember. My view got cloudier by the second- as my eyes filled with salted tears. I could not believe that my biggest fear had just become my reality. My whole world had been flipped within a twenty minute phone call. As hours and hours had passed and I had regained my composure, I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening. As I looked at the wall I started to focus on the little black hole again. It is the smallest things that stand out. Even though the ratio of the size of the wall compared to the little hole did not even compare to one another, that little hole is what made the wall unique and stand out from the other three that surrounded me.A selection of 4 different felt cloths.Right then and there I realized that it is the most miniscule things that make life unique and that are why it is so precious.April 8, 2014: It was a normal Tuesday. I woke up got ready for school, spent my day wishing I was home, then as soon as I got home rushed to make sure I was to work on time. I have exactly thirty-five minutes from the time I get home from school to the time I need to be clocked in at work. That gives me enough time to change clothes and make a phone call or two. I knew my "adopted father" had a doctor's appointment earlier that morning, so I figured I'd call to check up on him. When I called his phone rang twice and then went to voicemail. So that... Personal Narrative Personal Narrative Even if there were a chance to change my life, I would ignore it. Now, I am at the point when I clearly understand that everything has a reason. Moreover, everything that happened with me, no matter pleasant or not, I perceive as a lesson. I am grateful to those people whom I met. All my experience is a part of me. Now, I lead a life of an average white middle class female. Until the age of eight, I happily lived with my parents; we spent time together, sometimes traveled a little bit. However, I cannot say that everything was fine. Once, I woke up in the morning and understood that there was no us anymore. For me, a little girl, it was important to be a part of something big. In this case, family was the most important thing for me. Of course, I had friends and classmates, but the family was the only thing I identified myself with being a part of the society. After my parents got divorced, I stayed with my mother; the farther emerged in my life only on weekends. We often moved to new places that helped my mom to hide her pain. I changed places as mittens and tried to find a place of my own like my mother. The time passed by. When I was twenty, in one of the clubs, I met Warren. He was from Britain. That night, we spent around two hours in the conversation. That was the beginning of our romantic relationships, and less than in two months, I packed my bags and moved to England. Later, we got married; however, I cannot say that we lived happily ever after. In terms of the culture, Britain is totally opposite to the USA. I felt not in my plate as everything was new for me starting from the language. The way people think, act, behave, and treat each other was often not clear. Nevertheless, I tried to stay positive. I had a job, but it did not help to make my living in Britain colorful and bright. With Warren, we tried to make our marriage work; however, nothing helped. After two and a half years, we decided to split up and have a chance to live the lives we wanted, but separately. Smashed and lost, I returned to the USA. From the perspective of the years, I can suggest that in the relationships I had, I inherited a model of behavior from my parents. The way I acted was quite similar to that I saw being a child. In my desire to run away, I forgot that no matter where I go, I would always take my self with me. With time and new experiences, I developed stronger personality and some useful psychological skills (Cherry, 2005). According to Ericson, people need to experience the conflict, which often becomes the turning point (Ibid). The first stage in the development of personality is Trust vs. Mistrust. According to Ericson, it is one of the fundamental periods in life of every person experienced during the first year of living. In case the attempts of developing trust fail, the person will experience fear. The last five years were the years of challenges and discoveries for me. I understood that the kind of a person I am now is the result of the previous decisions and choices. In the society of superstitions, I probably should be successful in everything that I start. However, we are the part of the society and, according to its laws, everyone plays his/her role. William Shakespeare mentioned this in the 16th century. For some people, you are a good friend; the others see only enemy in you. The only person ready to worship you for your being is mother; her love is unconditional. I cannot say that religion is a huge part of my life. In my opinion, there is a difference between belief and religion. Nevertheless, my parents and their generation were brought up with the beliefs of the recent times. Religion has few main functions that can be called 5T: transmission, translation, transaction, transformation, and transcendence (Campbell, 2010). Usually, people are lost in terms of religion and try to find substitution of it. Modern culture suggests a wide range of them. There is an opportunity to choose, but often, there is no opportunity to reject. Culture is a complex of beliefs and peculiarities of behavior of the ethnicity or a race (Zion Kozleski, 2005). Often, our culture causes misunderstanding, which was probably the main reason why we broke up with Warren. We were different and similar at the same time. Instead of concentrating on what we had, we were looking for something that was missing. For me, it was important to identify myself and learn to fight w ith confusion. After being misled, I tried to understand what I like and who I am. The answer to these two questions helped me to start my life from the new chapter and to find strength to develop and learn. I started working at Texas Department of Criminal Justice. I cannot say that my work is easy, but I really like it. My main job is held inside the prison. I work with inmates and try to help them to arrange their life before getting out. I know that often, it is a shock for people to start everything over again. Although I do not assume that I killed all my fears, I hope that my experience will help others to overcome their fears. Everyone around me appears in my life on time. In this situation, it is only my decision to get the message or stay aside. This is a psychological rule. If the persons development is under stagnation and despair, it is quite hard to turn to the starting point and find strength. The same can be said about my studying. This is a chance for me to understand my individual differences and learn my inner self. Only after this, I can help others.

Teaching to the Test in ESL Class

Teaching to the Test in ESL Class There are many issues surrounding the idea of teaching to the test. On the one hand, many feel that teaching makes it more difficult to test students knowledge because the focus is on the particular test at hand, not on holistic learning. Once learned, students can discard test-based knowledge and then begin to study for the next test. Obviously, this approach doesnt encourage language recycling, which is essential to acquisition. On the other hand, students who are thrown into a test without knowing exactly whats on the test might not know what to study. This presents a conundrum for many teachers: Do I pragmatically meet objectives or do I allow organic learning to take place?   For the English teacher, luckily, exam results wont lead to success or failure in life as is the case with the SAT, GSAT or other big examinations. For the most part, we can concentrate on producing and measuring the relative success or failure of each student. For example, I find giving students grades based on project work to be a highly accurate means of testing.   Unfortunately, many modern students have become accustomed to a test-based mode of study. In some cases, students expect us to give them clearly-defined tests. This is especially true when teaching grammar classes.   However, at times, students dont do very well on these tests. This in part is due to the fact that students are often not familiar with the importance of directions. Students are already nervous about their English and jump right into an exercise without clearly following the directions. Of course, understanding directions in English is part of the language acquisition process. However, it sometimes gets in the way.   For this reason, when giving any kind of standard assessment test, I like to teach to the test by providing a quick mock test in a review session leading up to a test. Especially at ​lower levels, this type of review will help students focus on their true abilities because theyll understand whats expected of them.   Example Review Quiz to Help Teach to the Test Here is an example review quiz I provided before a big grammar final. The test focuses on the present perfect, as well as difference in usage between past simple and the present perfect. Youll find notes and tips listed below the example quiz.   Part 1 – Circle the correct helping verb. 1.  Ã‚     Have / has he had lunch yet?2.  Ã‚     Have / has they played soccer today?3.  Ã‚     Have / has you eaten sushi? Part 2 – Fill in the blank with the PRESENT PERFECT verb. 1.  Ã‚     Fred (play / ) __________________ tennis many times.2.  Ã‚     She (have / -) __________________ breakfast this morning.3.  Ã‚     Peter and I (eat / ) _______________ fish this week.   Part 3 – Make a present perfect QUESTION with this answer. 1. Q ______________________________________________A: No, I haven’t seen Tom today.2. Q _______________________________________________A: Yes, they have flown to Chicago.3. Q ________________________________________________A: Yes, she’s worked for Google.   Part 4 – Write the correct V3 (past participle) in the blank. played  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     quit  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     driven  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     bought 1.  Ã‚     I haven’t ___________ a Lamborghini in my life.2.  Ã‚     She has _________ smoking cigarettes to be healthier.  3.  Ã‚     They’ve ____________ soccer two times this week.4.  Ã‚     I have _______________ three books today.   Part 5 – Verb forms: Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verb.   Verb 1  Ã‚     Verb 2  Ã‚     Verb 3make  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     sang  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Forgotten   Part 6 – Write ‘for’ or ‘since’ to complete the sentences.   1.  Ã‚     I have lived in Portland _____ twenty years.2.  Ã‚     She’s studied piano _________ 2004.3.  Ã‚     They’ve cooked Italian food _______ they were teenagers.4.  Ã‚     My friends have worked in that company _________ a long, long time.  Part 7 – Answer each question with a complete sentence. 1. How long have you spoken English?A: _______________________ for _________. 2. How long have you played soccer?A: _______________________ since ___________. 3. How long have you known him?A: ____________________________ for ___________.   Part 8 – Write the correct form of the verb. Choose simple past or present perfect.   1.  Ã‚     She ___________(go) to New York three years ago.2.  Ã‚     I __________________ (smoke) cigarettes for ten years.3.  Ã‚     He _______________ (enjoy / -) the movie yesterday.4.  Ã‚     _________ you __________ (eat) sushi before?   Part 9. Circle the correct answer. 1. Fred _________ cake yesterday afternoon. a. has eatenb. eatedc. ated. was ate 2. I __________ at PELA for two months. a. studyb. am studyingc. have studyd. have studied   Part 10 – Fill in the blanks in these conversations. Use present perfect or simple past.   Peter: Have you ever ________ (buy) a car?Susan: Yes, I have.Peter: Cool! What car ___________ you _________ (buy)Susan: I _________ (buy) a Mercedes last year.   Teaching to the Test Tips Project each section onto a whiteboard to make sure that each student  actually sees whats expected.Ask students to come up and complete individual sections of the quiz. Have other students state whether they have completed the exercise correctly or not.  On the whiteboard, circle keywords in directions to make sure that students take notice of specific instructions.For the first question in each exercise, ask a student to complete the question on the whiteboard. Ask the student to explain why they answered in that manner.  Pay special attention to time expressions. Students tend to forget how important these are. For example, in exercise six students need to decide whether for or since should be used. Ask each student why they chose for or since.  On multiple choice questions, ask students why each incorrect answer is incorrect.  Dont worry about making a review quiz the same length as the actual test. Keep it short as the focus is on understanding how to take the test.