Friday, December 31, 2010

DIAMOND LENS

Thursday, December 30, 2010

REASONS TO MOVE

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

LOST AND FOUND IN KIEN GIANG- 2

As the plan went wrong, she pushed herself further, well, involving into 2 other trips. At a time, she, along with her 2 brothers, their 2 wives made a secret one for themselves. When she asked me, I calmly explained I had to stay for my Mom. That was what I found myself who I was, what I really wanted to do no matter how the trip would harm me and no matter what my Mom would think about it.
Thanks Goodness. All was over peacefully. Once she told me how sorry she felt as she started getting on board. Being in Kien Giang gave me a chance to understand more about life about her love and a lot more valuable lessons that the teachers at school could not teach.
My God mother’s advice proved itself right once more. I tried to tell her what had happened to me and she appreciated so much. That is what love is for, what we live for. Making those whom we love happy means making ourselves happy too, doesn’t it? Living a full life no matter what would come how it would hurt us means making the biggest achiement in our lives.
As time went by, her spirit seemed to calm down and she went back home feeling bored again. My God mother asked her to come here to visit me several times. Not until had she hurt my feeling shouting at me for what was not really essential, I wrote her a letter to say good bye in Apr 1983 to end a chapter in my life autobiography book.
My youner brother after being released from the prison made a trip in Jun 1982.He and my sister asked me to go along. They seemed to forget why I had decided to come here. After they had left, I got married to a lady whom I believed would help me care for my Mom. After I had worked for 2 companies, working 3 part time jobs, I put all my heart on my English lessons I took from an evening class. With an excellence- graded A level certificate, I was asked to become a teacher at the center. I went on making my teaching English better. I got a bachelor of English in 1999. My wife and I have got 2 children. We have given my blood mother whatever she had wished for. What I got here was just like what an one-eyed man could get in a world of the blind.
I didn’t learn any lessons about life neither at NLS Can Tho nor Bao Loc. But I did learn and gain a great deal from living in Kien Giang, making my life better with my own effort. What I lost and found was simple but meaningful in some way and that would make my life worth telling.
Could you imagine that?

Rach Gia Jul, 2010
Luong Ngoc Thanh

LOST AND FOUND IN KIEN GIANG

LOST AND FOUND IN KIEN GIANG
Thirty years ago, Apr 1980, I left HCMC for KG with almost nothing except my skill of playing football, a university diploma and a dream of making my Mom happy. What I have lost and found here was preferably not much so would what I lose and find.
Since I got there, my life style changed to be suitable to the surrounding, I have lost a big thing but that marked in one chapter of my life that: “Everything can be changed”.
I found myself adjustable so fast that I could win a lot of my co-workers’ hearts. I learned from them the reality that life was much different from what I thought it would be. As I performed rather well in some first football games, I also made the football fans there pleased and I found a way to train myself. I only went to work in the morning and the other half of the day was for my practicing football. I was given a deserted unfurnished house not far from work to live and that was the first thing ever deeply pleased my Mom- who had lelf Can Tho for Rach Gia to stay away from my younger brother who, as a drug dealer, had broken her heart and, of course, that was also the first thing to warm my heart. It seemed almost too obvious to say that my God mother’s advice was worthy.
Five months after that, I had a visitor, Nhu Ngoc, my fiancé as well as my God mother’s daughter. What she needed was what I could offer and what she showed people there was good for me. Her police’s permission showed that she was assured to be here to visit me- her official- husband- to be.
A week later, I set up my first business ever- selling soy bean milk in the evening. I managed everything but she helped me serve the customers and we actually earned a living, a reputation and simple happiness of being independent. We knew how to spend on every cent we had made and how happily we spent our golden nights and days being together, planning a simple life ahead. And every morning she gave me some cents for breakfast then waved me good bye as nicely as any good wife did. Once, she told me that she was happier than she had ever been despite the fact that she, born to a middle- class, a rather weathy family, used to only think of studying, living abroad and used to escape many times since 1975.
Although we had been in bed together for over one year, we had more freedom to enjoy our bed time but unbelievably, I kept her virginity.
Saturday evening or Sunday morning, I followed her to church. Once, after the church, we went to a coffee shop. Getting my order of 2 hot cups coffee, a shop assistant brought them to our table with a smile on his face. He asked if Nhu Ngoc was from Sai Gon and directly he told her that no young ladies from SG could have such a cup of back coffee like that. I found that she wanted to deserve me- a poor young guy having a poor back ground, just moving to a strange place where people were having strange life styles. We left the coffee shop with our different feelings which each of us grew a bit better our respect to each other and which could be counted as the second thing I found here and in her love for me. Who could say that women would not be changed softly naturally unexpectedly and also nicely?
I felt as if we had been a real marriage couple until one thing came up suddenly. A rather calm co-worker of mine asked me if I could keep three teenagers, his customers, for a few days while he was waiting for his brother-in-law’s trip to go overseas. To believe it or not, he asked me if I was interested. I wasn’t for sure but Nhu Ngoc was. She took it seriously enough and she rushed home to inform the family as well as ask someone to join her promising trip. I found that she was so realistic that she could ignore how much she would hurt me and how much damage that would be to me. I felt like a husband who had to send his wife abroad for some vulnerable reasons for her own wish no matter how he would feel.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Monday, December 27, 2010

VISITING MOM-2

Along the road was the river leading to HaTien. From Rach Gia, there came a bridge for each of 3-5 kilometer- distance- the number one bridge- the number two bridge. By asking, I got to know that Quan Thong canal was about two third from the number three bridge to the number four bridge- Soc Soai market. Facing Long Xuyen province were small canals, one edge heading to the sea where the poor Cambodian households settled down doing farming, the other heading to the Delta area.
It passed the second bridge rather hard. Going down the slope, it ran much faster. Passing through the empty My Lam market, it stopped at its station after a while. They one by one got out of the Lam not saying good bye not thank you. After getting out of it without a rain coat nor a hat not mentioning the rain drops clashing onto my childish face, I asked the driver, getting cold in his wet jacket.
“How far is it to Quan Thong canal?”
“About 9 kilometers.”
“9 kilometers? Is there anyway to get there, Uncle?”
“As it is dry, you can ask a boat for a ride. But in this kind of rain, there’s no way out.”
He seemed to be doubtful so he asked me in a low voice,
“How come you are here alone?”
“From Sai Gon, I come to visit my Mom at Quan Thong canal, across the river.”
“I have thought you have been here on … Why didn’t you take a night off in Rach Gia? It’s scary to get there at the time. Spend a night at my house, not far from here. Catch an early boat first thing in the morning.”
I had a feeling that my Mom, by an oil-lamp, had been waiting for me. I knew she would stay up all night waiting for me. So if I had not come that night, she would have aged several years, half of hair turning grey. I politely said good night denying the kind driver’s offer. Despite the heavy rain, I stepped ahead.
On the two sides of the road, there were the thatched cottages closed. The light of oil-lamps was as dim as the elderly’s health. I unsteadily stepped on a pitted road with boulders, holes full of water. I was like walking on the road but as it seemed, I was sometimes like wading in shallow pools of water. The leather shoes my grand pa gave me, one his heirloom, turned into a proof of my unique trip. I had a feeling that they became one size bigger, with the soaked leather. The wet backbag I was carrying became as light as I just passed a section of the trip. After a few first kilometers, I passed by a cluster of bamboo trees where it was so dark that I could imagine anything worst or ghostly. Whenever there were lightnings, they seemed to be signs, urges or warnings to recall me. Any bad guy could rush out from the middle of somewhere, grasping my hand, pulling me to a small boat then he rowed it to an empty strange place as a drammatical kidnap. In interesting detail was that there was noone could pay for the ransom. If searching carefulling everywhere on my body, the kidnapper could not get an amount for a cheapest pack of cigarettes.
It was as if I were electrocuted as I were struck by lightning. I suddenly wanted to rushed ahead as I heard a clanging sound coming from
an coming motorized sampan nearby.
“Is anybody there? Give me a lift. Help me.” Or as poor as I may be,
“Give me a lift. I am on my way to visit my Mom at Quan Thong canal. I am not a bad guy. Please, help me.”
Poor me?! There came a loud lightning downing my calling for help. There came next the start of the engine boat leaving me alone in rain and in completely dark. I asked myself,
“Haven’t I been left for a long time?”. “Haven’t I come over a lot of difficulties for 4 years with a small amount of scholarship but a big trouble?
“If a soldier could survive in a jungle for some time before being caught, So could I before coming to my Mom’s.”
As having been made stronger, I felt as if I were injected a magical tonic. I felt like I were 5 years younger. I wanted to run fast to the dam canal shouting,
“Mom, I am coming. I am coming.”
At the edge of the canal, instead of asking for a ride across the river, I wanted to jump into the water, swim fast, holding my Mom and cry like rain.
We both would stand still saying nothing to each other.
Passing the third bridge, I was still alone on the way. The local people’s houses seemed scatered. Kien Hao canal headed toward the mainland on my right hand side. On the opposite side it headed toward the sea. Not many houses lay by the river making the view clearer. I did not feel hungry nor tired. The feeling of coming home seeing my Mom made me forget everything. I was as physically stable as a marathon athlete. I knew my shoes were going to be broken into pieces. I knew there was someone chasing me. I imagined my Mom was waiting for my calling. I passed a section of 3 kilometers as someone just strolled in a park. When seeing the group of cottages one by one on the other side of the river, I recognized it would be that. I walked fast as if a ghost were following me. Suddenly, I shouted loud- a loud shout of help at the mid night,
“Ms. Sixth! Ms. Sixth!”
The door of a cottage in front of me just moved leading a half-hearted voice asking me,
“Who is asking for her at the time?”
“Yes, Yes, that’s me, her son. Take me there. I come so late. Please.”
With a palm- leaf- made conical hat hiding her face, a lady, seemingly to have been told to pick me up many times, not saying a word nor asking me anything, stepped carefully down onto a small sampan tied near the cottage getting ready to take me there.
I stepped down quicky feeling gladly easy like a soldier or an escaping prisoner was lead to his desired destination. Around two third of the trip, in such that rainy dark night, I suddenly cried out,
“Mom, Mom, I’m coming.”
It sounded like that of a lost young bird calling for his Mom in the nest. Noone has ever heard or imitated.

Rach Gia Nov 12,10
Thanh Luong

VISITING MOM

VISITING MOM
Those having Moms must visit them. I was away from mine for 4 years. While visiting her, I had a trip that nobody could imagine.
Once my sister from the new economic zone- Long Dat passed by my Technical Educational University to pay me a visit. She told me where our Mom had been living, the join section of Quan Thong canal, Sos Soai, Hon dat district, Kien Giang province where I promised to come just right after my graduation. Being accepted from Sep 1975, I swore to be on my own not to be affected by the family matters and not to see my Mom till my graduation. While waiting for the university’s decision, I asked the dormitory superintendant for a permission to see my blood mom Sep 12, 1979.
At around 4 o’clock, at the Western bus station, I had to be on line for a Rach Gia ticket. With so many small bridges, so many big holes and 2 over-loaded ferries made the trip so much longer than a desire of a normal son visiting mom like me. I arrived at Rach Gia bus station at 4:30 PM. Knowing there was no boat left, I caught a carriage to the Lam station. Waiting for some late coming passensers, the driver hoped for some extra money. I wished to have that amount to offer him to urge him to start earlier.
Outside, It was going to rain cats and dogs while inside I felt a big concern. If I had not found my Mom’s house that night, I would have been considered a bad guy, an escaping prisoner.
The Lam made me feel more miserable that evening. It ran unsmoothly as a sicked chicken, a drunk- driver. It down poured as a water fall did in a rainny season. There were no single souls nor things seen one on both sides of the road. The weak oil lamp- lights reaching out the ignoring doors of palm- made cabins made it more scary. There were 7 on the Lam. They got used to it but it was the most terrifying situation I had ever been in. The sounds of the engine the lightnings and the heavy rain drops clashing on the top of the Lam, the whistling wind through the windows and the uneven beats of my heart created the most haunting symphony ever heard in the world of music. To keep myself calm, I imagined what my Mom was doing at the moment. She probably sat by an openned- oven, in a no-window, no- room unfurnished cabin. She would probably lie sighing on a bed made of chopped bamboo sticks with a mattress made of grass, with 4- piece of chopped wood- legs, which rarely had young painters been able to paint. I wished I would be travelling on a 52- seat bus on the 20th national road. I wished there would be a magical power to push the slow old lobby Lam fast forward immediately. A passenger asked to get off the Lam reducing the weight but increasing my worry. Another on the road could stop the Lam but he would also be the one to ask me in a hard voice,
“How come you are here at the time? Going overseas?”

DO YOU HAVE FEELINGS OF

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

THU THUY- cont

We two went fast toward Hoa Binh boulevard, leaving Thong behind with some white burning smoke. Just passing the corner, heading the one-way road, I stepped quicky on the brake making the back wheel slide on the dusty layer on the road turning round the scuter. Tri watching me laughed in great fun,
“How professional you are! If I were a girl, I would be crazy about you.”
“If you were a girl, I woud be a monk. Who would love a toothless one like you.”
Tri, laughing funnily, closing his eyes, didn’t want to give up,
“Who would love a tree-like slim and small-eyed guy like you?”
Feeling so embarrassed, I rushed the opposite way while Thong was coming toward me. We both tried our best not to crash into each other and I went on going straight as I had just seen her there. Among the white ao dai, my silver crane was glowing. She stood there waiting for me, giving me a fresh smile as if she had turned me into a worse driver, a body guard going round his client looking at someone on the empty street. Somehow, I felt calm enough to look at her bagde quickly. A leather school bag she was holding in front of her chest hid a half of the badge. I still could read the two last words, Thu Thuy and it seemed like she introduced herself that way. Tri’s engine sound made me rather startle. I tried to ignore it. Tri appeared in time to help fill a gap of a shock. I asked him,
“Hey, guy! Where is Thong?”
“He’s heading to Tham Tuong bridge. Hey, I saw her smiling at you again, Thanh!”
I bit around the bush very nicely,
“Still angry with me?”
“Having stood there and waiting for you could be said being angry.”
“I meant to ask about Thong, didn’t I?”Who cares?”
We both did not mention the school boys in white and blue walking on the side walks nor the white cranes standing in front of Doan Thi Diem school. We had our own ways, our riding round ways of the peculiar at the age of walking home from school with school bags.
That afternoon, Ngo Quyen st. was crowded with school girls and boys. But unlike on the other days, I knew today among the girls there was one watching me to give me a smile. And unlike what I had done everyday, I, confidentally, bravely lost my way in the crowd looking for my Thu Thuy who smiled only at me turning me into a poor fool.
I was given a memorable zero by history teacher- Mr. Luc but I was also given a 20- one time in my whole schooling life by math teacher- Mr. Phi. Now I was making another record – getting another smile from my Thu Thuy. I had no way out rather than riding in the crowd- fighting a losing battle- keeping track of her with my instinct and good luck. Reaching Hoa Binh boulevard, I made my way rightward quickly, taking a deep breath to keep myself calm. The less the pedestrians, the relaxed I felt in my heart. The round I took became shorter and smoother. At Minh Mang joint section I had to slow down to give way to the students stepping on the zebra crossing. The afternoon sunlight was shining weakly. In the middle of somewhere, there came a sudden sweet call of my name,
“Thanh! Have you recognized me?”
A sudden flow of blood came out from my heart. My whole body was heated as if I were pushed toward the incenerator. My scuter seemed tobe dead so did I. There she was in front of me smiling so sweetly as me. I smiled back then turn into a dam poor guy knowing nothing else to do. In a moment, the whole world was stopped moving. We both were transformed into two statues facing each other just smiling. The boulevard was also transformed into a great lawn with flowers on the sliding slope in a quite corner of the sky. Our physical distance became shorter than ever. I was withdrawn into a power whirl but nobody saw. I was hypnotized to stand still in the middle the road. The little girl, Thu Thuy, changed herself to be a witch as the smiling girl did to be an angel. We were divined flying into the air as a heavenly ambassador to read a message for the love of God,
“Human beings should love giving hands. The youth should have dreams, hungers.”
During a few following months, every day I rode round and round Ngo Quyen and Hoa Binh boulevard before school and after school time to see Thu Thuy to have her smile at me. Everything was gone through so was the innocence or turborn. I got rid of the riding group. I joined a basket ball team then I would go to Can Tho Agricultural high school and transfer to Bao Loc one and I just cared for how to make it no longer how to make Thu Thuy smile at me.

THU THUY

THU THỦY

It was rarely to see a high school boy to ride a Honda SS 67 to school and so was it to witness an ugly- looking guy like me to have a school girl- Tran Thi Thu Thuy- a six grader at Doan Thi Diem Can Tho- smile at while I was riding pass or in front of her.
My sister had insited to get that second- hand scuter from Uncle Thuc- an old family friend. After a few months riding, getting bored of the unsuitable stuff, she covered it with a blanket 2 months before I became a six grader at Phan Thanh Gian High school.
Fortunately, I practiced riding by myself and never did I fall down or make any dents. One night, I rode it to pick my Mom- working night shift. Having a ride behind me, my Mom witnessed the way I rode it and she believed what she was seeing. The very next morning I got another chance to take her to work. After two- time riding it safe and sound, I was given a license by non-verbally. Ow, I had another good luck as my sister never got envious or offended. I wondered somehow if it was her way to get rid of the responsibility to pick Mom from work. Anyway, it was a way to help me win my Thu Thuy’s heart.
Among 47 classmates of my 6- A1 class, I was rather special, slim, riding Honda SS 67. Van Thanh Thong, medium-build, a son of a big fabric store, rode a Honda SS 66. Tran Huu Tri, toothless, a son of a military father, rode a Sash. Three of us were as famous as “The three Imperial guards”. Our group of three had three different riding ways, three personalities but we had the same entertaining way- riding around before school and after school time. Tri performed it like a circus rider. Thong did it gently skillfully. I, while feeling so excited, made the front wheel lift up high or made a 180-degree-turn round. We, three- sixth graders, riding scuters to school, made others watch, commend, envy, or even scold. Among them I recognized only a neighboring school girl having some interesting things in common. My heart beat was roared up while I saw her smiling at me. At that moment, I wished I were King. I wished my scuter were a great horse having two swings to ride her up to the blue sky. I wished I had her hold me the way Quang was holding Thong. I wished our two schools had opened earlier so I would ride more rounds and she would stand there longer smiling at me more. I wished suddenly the other two had disappeared leaving me alone on my own way. But I still wanted to have them beside me to escore us while she got on my back seat making her other beautiful schoolmates desire.
“Hey, Thanh, she is smiling at you?”
The toothless Tri, pulling past me, excitingly cried out to my ears.
I smiled feeling proud,
“Who else?”
“You’re really cool. Hey, off we go.”
(to be continued)

Friday, December 3, 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sunday, October 17, 2010

THAT NIGHT- cont

Towards them, I nodded slightly, looked at the road ahead of me and continued walking out. It was as if I were just seeing my mother facing me. She looked at me and said nothing. Her sad face made her look much older. I was quick to step ahead to grasp her hand. But the road light made the image vanish. I left BV and the girl there as I had previously denied my classmates’ a lot of fun, coffee, wandering several times so late. But I did not miss my evenings, studying times, my working hard for the coming college entrance exam.
On the way, down the slope, I did not feel as easy as usual. I wanted to run quickly to my rental room to lose myself in the blanket, facing down on the pillow. I wanted to sink into the dark, sink into a chaotic pile of formulas, definitions, hard confusing un-memorable rules. I wanted my Mom to hold me. I wanted to cry so much in her arms who I loved more than anyone else in the world. How could I tell BV how much I would love my mom. How could I explain how much I needed BV’s smiles and her eyes. How would I express how much I wanted to have a better future for me and my be-loved ones when I did not have as many advantages as many others around me did. I wished my mother to understand that I was always her pride. I wished my mother to be there nodding her head, smiling or raising her eyebrows.
Loving each other during schooldays can be harmless or extremely harmful. Who knows what affects the schooling? But everyone knows that spending on books, assignments and high school graduation could make the lights brighter, the future better and all mothers want their be-loved children to do more than anyone else. I asked her for a permission to go to school. I never make her sad. I never break my promise -where to go- how long to be out. I've never lost myself. And especially, I must make my mother pleased twice- one for her own will, the other for my dad’s. I must be two times better than anyone else.

That evening would also be a difficult night for her to sleep. She can curse me. She could wish that I would disappear. She could ignore me the next day. She could ask someone to give me a note,
"Do you know how much you hurt me?"
The following day, I could hand her a note to reply. In it, what would make her most interested would be,
"How can I use the words to describe how I have felt about you, about the love for my mother and how hard I will have to try to go to college- the first step in making a better life.”
Bao Loc has someone who has a great attraction, a sweet call, which always recalls me of it, always makes me to write about it to tell more people. Since what happened. that night, I have just revealed.
This is where I passed the most difficulties than any youth: love in schooldays, and graduating from high school.
I never create that moment again but that feeling still remains unchanged, beautifully.

Rach Gia Oct, 17, 2010

Friday, October 15, 2010

THAT NIGHT

THAT NIGHT
During three years in Bao Loc, in more than 800 days and nights in the cool, boring town, that was the only night I couldn’t get to sleep.
After visiting Uncle Luan, I hurried home, trying to go to bed as early as usual, but the girl’s eyes made everything diverse, making me stay awake, comforting me, giving me a such warm breeze blowing through my remaining days in Bao Loc, just for me. From an alley on right side of the military medical station, across Bao Loc church, leading to the 20th highway, I walked home pretty fast as usual.
Day by day, how much to learn, how much to understand, how many difficult math problems to be solved became more important to me than any one else. Day by day, my habit of going to bed on time to wake up on time the next morning was what no one cared but me. Walking slowly as a gentle middle- aged guy, I suddenly startled.
A lightning- like flash shone a cold corner of the sky brightening every covered place in my soul, tying my legs. I couldn’t walk any more although I had passed in front of her Agricultural class seeing the lovely light in her eyes many times for almost 3 years.
That evening, next to a girlfriend waiting for a smoked corn, Bich Van looked at me with her brighter, happier, friendlier or even a more interesting, surprising eyes. I didn’t recognize the girl next to her. Maybe, this area light blinded me. there was no one making me moved just her. The road light made everything blurry but I could recognize two of them friendly smiling, politely greeting, softly inspiring me to stop, to tell me to step closer and do something that I could not imagine. Day by day, how much I studied, how much I understood, I got through more hard mathematics than any one else.
It was cold in Dec. Despite wearing a sweater, I felt as hot as I were in a corner of a desert. I sweat as if I were suffering Malaria. .I was held captive in their two eyes and smiles. My legs were like being frozen making my steps unstable just like an animal having been shot at its heart with a sweet bullet. I felt my chest wet. The warm of blood made me alert. I fell like a prisoner facing a group of soldiers just firing me to commit my death sentence. I feel like a mendicant friar who stepped in front of his lovely house with some family members’ eyes calling. I felt like a baby child, ignoring stupidly not running to get a worthy gift from people waiting to distribute. I felt my two ears were burnt on the coat oven by the street vendor. I wished I could have collapsed. I wished I would die. I wished the earth would stop spinning and the time would stop going by. I only wished there were only her and me to make me confident enough to step in front of her to hold her hands, and as a powerful miracle, to ask her a question,
“Is it me you are looking for?” Or
“Have you heard what my heart whispers?”But dreams are just dreams. I was simply foolish. I - my mother's good child- just went on stepping. I did not even smile back. I could make her feel painful, a pain of being ignored or to say the least, insulted. I could have made her cry. There would be tears of valuable diamonds, that throughout my working life, I can not compensate.
To be continued

VOA with subtittle

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Thursday, August 26, 2010

FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR FUTURE

DEVELOP A VISION THAT FITS YOU

Looking at the future with new eyes can be intimidating. It might lead someone to reevaluate a career that has brought success but no joy. Or promp another to pursue more professional training. Reevaluation can lead to change and therefore risk.

But the key to develop a vision that fits your unique strenghts and gifts. In the other words, a future you can have a passion for. Ask yourself, what would I do if there were no risk of failure? What would I keep doing, even if I were not paid for the work? If you can’t decide whether to call an activity “work” or “play”, your enjoyment for the task will empower achievement and enrich your life far beyond reputation or salary.
So, think about things you enjoy doing, tasks you do well and personal work others have noticed. A good mentor then advise:
· Dream, pray and look for a vision.
· Take stock of your resources and get any needed training.
· Develop an action plan with specific goals and deadlines.
· Modify your plan as you go along.
Someone said we should look at our talents, then envision the future adorned with them. Our future is as personal and unique as our own fingerprint. It is energizing to recognize and use our true talents generously. As we do, the future can, indeed, be faced with great anticipation!

“My object in living is to unite my innovation with my vocation.” Robert Frost.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Michelle Obama's plea for education (Michelle Obama kêu gọi giáo dục)


Please click "View subtitles" in video and select the Languages of Subtitles

Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums (Cách mạng giáo dục ở khu ổ chuột)


Please click "View subtitles" in video and select the Languages of Subtitles

Friday, August 20, 2010

Similar Vietnamese- English

1. Người ta thích tiền vì tiền có thể mua được mọi thứ.
People like money because money can buy everything

2. Chúng ta cần nhạc vì nhạc có thể giúp ta thư giãn.
We need music because music can help us relax.

3. Bóng đá có thể tạo ra niềm vui, nỗi buồn.
Fooball can create fun, grief.

4. Tình yêu có thể tạo ra niềm hạnh phúc, hy vọng.
Love can create happiness, hope.

5. Tiền có thể tạo ra quyền lực chứ không phải h. phúc.
Money can create power but happiness.

6. T.dục có thể tạo ra sự phấn khích hoặc chán chường.
Sex can create excitement or boredom.

7. Học vấn có thể tạo ra tương lai và mọi thứ.
Education can create future and everything.

8. Đàn ông cần đàn bà như đàn bà cần tiền.
Men need women as women need money.

9. Trẻ con cần tình thương như người ta cần k khí.
Children need love as people need air.


10. Phụ nữ cần trang điểm như thanh niên cần rượu.
Ladies need to make up as young men need wine.

The basic element of the short story

The basic elements of the short story include
setting (time and place),
conflict,
character,
and theme.
Most stories are set in present day, but settings of place vary from rural to urban and exotic to mundane. The reader follows the main character (or protagonist) in a conflict with another character (or antagonist) or in an internal conflict with some antagonistic psychological or spiritual force.
Characters range from familiar stereotypes, such as the aggressive businessman and the lonely housewife, to archetypal characters, such as the rebel, the scapegoat, the alter ego, and those engaged in some sort of search.
The subject of a short story is often mistaken for its theme.
Common subjects for modern short fiction include race, ethnic status, gender, class, and social issues such as poverty, drugs, violence, and divorce. These subjects allow the writer to comment upon the larger theme that is the heart of the fictional work.
Some of the major themes of 20th-century short stories, as well as longer forms of fiction, are human isolation, alienation, and personal trauma, such as anxiety; love and hate; male-female relationships; family and the conflict of generations; initiation from innocence to experience; friendship and brotherhood; illusion and reality; self-delusion and self-discovery; the individual in conflict with society’s institutions;
mortality; spiritual struggles; and even the relationship between life and art.

An election in Australia

Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted
"In a different age, in a different nation, in a different time, President Barak Obama inspired a nation by saying, 'Yes we can.' I am asking you, when you vote on Saturday, to say as you cast that vote, 'Yes, we will.
Yes, we will move forward together.'
Friends, that's what next Saturday is all about and I ask you to say that we will move forward together."What voters thinkAs election day approaches, some voters appear rather underwhelmed by it all."There is nobody to take much interest in," a female voter said. "They are all saying the same things over and over and who to vote for even now a couple of days out, I do not know. Nobody really commits to anything. They try to sound like they will. I think it is too much built on personalities." Voting in Australia is compulsory. The electoral system uses both preferential voting and proportional representation for elections for the lower and upper houses of parliament.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010

Monday, August 2, 2010

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Monday, July 26, 2010

I TEACH ENGLISH 2

The simple thing that made me stupid and quit my English classes since grade 7th was how to conjugate which teacher Nghiem- at Phan Thanh Gian high school- a famous one in CanTho- made us crazy. The second thing which kept me going on the rough way was that Agriculture schools had not taught me enough English. Like all others, Teacher Thanh female or teacher Hung Dollar at Bao Loc Agriculture high school seemed to do their jobs simply well but they could never help someone who had not had a basic understanding of English. The third one was that I had learned English for some time then there came the Apr 30th Revolution. We had no English classes until we graduated in 1979. As I moved to Kien Giang to work, there was no one, nor any chance for me to think of learning English until the day I quit working for a company. It was then I would have some free time to take my first English class in April 1989 when I was 35 years old.
Recently, I have always tried to prove that we just put in some words to tell the time more clearly. When all of the teachers make conjugation complicated, I do the opposite. If they have a wish of making a lot of money from teaching, I wish to help my learners a lot and quickly. I can’t imagine the percentage of their successful learners. I can say mine is about 85%. They require their learners to remember a lot. They repeat the uncomprehensive grammartical points. I ask my learners to keep in their minds some simple things. They try to take advantage of their learners while I try to give mine the most they could never think of. They always complain that the students are stupid. I complain that my learners’ previous teachers didn’t help them much or they may have made some mistakes or they may have not found out appropriate ways of winning the hearts and minds of the learners. Despite my age, I have dedicated myself to hard work of building a better understanding of English. From the bottom of my heart, I have been trying to figure out for each of my students an individually appropriate way to go then I hope they can make progress. They treat their learners the way they were not friendily treated
by their teachers. I see my learners as my relatives. I talk to my young female learners a way a father talks to his children. I could go drinking with my male young learners as they were friends of mine. If some learners found me close to them, I made myself relaxed by letting them ask me or telling them some special things of me or my childhood. My colleagues may have thought of me as a weird guy doing some strange things or having such a style of teaching. They’ve kept on showing others the way they were taught to do. I have kept on proving everyone that I would be able to make a diference.
What concerns me is how much my learners can gain from what I’ve spent a lot of time gaining and what can best describe me is likely to be understood. The innocence of children, either the lack of understanding or misunderstanding have made me move forward. What I would like to do is frame out what I think are the key problems that all learners are facing, look at some ways and see how successful they may be at solving those problems. There is clearly an overarching goal of making the skills of speaking achievable to all English learners. So that is a relatively straightforward question, because I kind of know how to have it made.
They have to decide how much they want to do and just like me, once they do, they know how to do it.
That brings me to the second question of where they apply what they have tried.
The lesson that I take from the first issue is that it’s just not about how much they give away but how much interest they get back.
(to be continued)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

I TEACH ENGLISH

Those from Bao Loc Agriculture high school, graduating as a bachelor of teaching Agriculture rarely become teachers of English like me and those teaching English rarely think of what I am thinking.
Luckily, I was offered a job as a teacher of English after I had got A level of English as I was considered to be most valuable candidates of that time. No one could ever imagine that I had previously worked for a schoolmate, Khue Bau, in Can Tho and for only one month every night I had practiced listening to 2 tapes with his wife’s very old cassette player. As I had never been trained how to teach, I found myself a way as I taught my first class for the beginners which was tough both for those learners and for me. When I was asked to teach a group of obstetricians, I had to go on my own way. Then I was asked to teach classes for children which were more challenging and interesting. I acted like either an actor or a singer, in some cases like an actor. While teachers try to hide how they have learned and how much they have understood English, I told my learners everything I had been doing how I had been learning. The teachers apply what they were taught. I apply what I could find or have found while teaching. They try to make English complicated so they can be asked for help. I try to make it as easy as it should be so they can do it themselves. They think they understand enough to teach. I warn myself “Never stop trying to understand more, about the learners, the lessons and my own teaching approaches.”
Nothing could stop me from learning more English at the time. I went on getting B after failing once due to my under average score on listening section. Without a second to lose, I tried to get C level which was extremely difficult for me. Then I spent more than 4 years studying myself to get a bachelor degree of English from Ha Noi University-distance- education English department in 1989. I have spent all the time I could have studying, finding out ways to explain to compare and to make difficult rules simple ones. I taught myself by following VOA special English, by teaching TOEFL class and by teaching “Speaking Class” so intentionally. I have treated foreign guests as well as I could to take advantage of speaking to them and at the same time I give my learners chances to practise their English. I have listened to English tapes or radio at anytime from dusk till dawn as I realize listening is the most time-consuming task of all skills.
(To be continued)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

MANY WAYS TO REPLY 3

41. Could you be kind enough to let me rest a bit before telling you?
42. Could anyone answer the question immediately?
43. If you want me to tell you how much I feel about it, why don’t you let me have some time to think of it?
44. If I had a chance to speak to you more privately, I would do it better.
45. No one knows for sure how to say about it but all they can say is “no”
46. Nothing in the world could stop me from telling you but not now.
47. Nothing in my life is for you. It is for me.
48. Have I found a better life? Is that what you mean to ask me?
49. Have you been thinking carefully about it? Well, it is for us to say yes or no.
50. What to say doesn’t matter much to me. But how to say it does.
51. Are you trying to ask me for the same thing you did?
52. Are you asking me the question that I have never asked you?
53. Did you mean to ask me for the clearest possible statement about what’s going to happen no matter what I may think?
54. Believe me, I wouldn’t say anything if I didn’t have to but I have no choice.
55. Listen to me. This may be the last chance I’ll ever have to tell you to do anything. So I’m telling you to stop.
56. I haven’t known how to say nor how to explain.
57. I am almost speechless.
58. Neither you nor I could ever know how to deal with this kind of situation but you know I’m completely sympathetic, don’t you?
59. Never have I been asked that kind of question. So it’s tough for me to show you how I feel what I think.
60. None of human being refuses to go on, right? I wanna to jump up high but anyway I lost my way by mistake if you see what I mean.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

MANY WAYS TO REPLY

21. In my whole life, I have done what is necessary not what I want so…
22. In such a short time, how could I manage to tell you what has happened for so long that has affected me so deeply?
23. The most certain thing I do is to keep in my mind what I can’t let go.
24. Every time I meet you, I want to tell you but telling is not actually as I have thought it would be ‘cause I have a problem communicating, letting things out if you see what I mean.
25. What’s in my mind now is that you can’t share what I suffer, isn’t it?
26. What do you think is the most important thing in your life? If you could tell me that, I will in turn let you know what I think.
27. How do you keep your private matter concealed?
28. How much and why do you want to know?
29. How much and what do you expect me to say?
30. How can I tell you about what I do not really understand?
31. As soon as you have asked me, something comes up into my mind that is about…
32. As a matter of fact, I just have a question to ask you before I could answer yours.
33. As far as I am concerned, I could just say a little about it, Ok?
34. Why did you ask me what I had really wanted to ask you?
35. What a coincide! I have exactly the same question to ask you.
36. What a small world! What I’ve got here is just what you wanna see.
37. Come on! Tell me in detail exactly what you want to know.
38. Keep telling me what you mean to say.
39. I haven’t caught exactly what you really wanna ask me.
40. Could you explain a little bit about what you have said?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Have you heard

Many ways to reply

1. I can’t tell you when and why.
2. I’d like to but how I can tell you now?
3. I wish I could but I can’t.
4. I hope I could let you know one day soon.
5. If I could, I would but actually I don’t know.
6. Well, if you really want to know, I could just tell you to wait until…
7. Is it alright to talk about that now?
8. Are you serious or not?
9. Are you actually concerned about that?
10. Are there any reasons for you to know about it?
11. Are there any chances for me to tell you about it?
12. It’s said that people have their own reasons for doing what
13. It’s ok to talk about it but not now. I need more time…
14. It makes me worried that I could make you more curious.
15. It seems to me you have in mind something very private, right?
16. It doesn’t matter to talk about it but I am sure I have something to say…
17. It takes me some time to think of it before answering your question.
18. There is an old saying that goes: Seeing is believing.
19. There is something in my mind that stops me from telling you what I think of.
20. In life, we could do what we want but in reality we fail to do what we think we can, right?
(to be continued)

I have 3 men working for me

Friday, July 9, 2010

Love on the side

Love on the side
Love for fun
Love secretly
Love to love
A love
Such a love
My love
My only love
Love itself
Love which is for happiness
What a love !
Whose love ?
Love for what ?
Love ?!
A lover
Lovers
Such lovers
Loves
She loves.
She loved.
Be loved !
Have loved
She’ll be loving.
She has been loving.
She had been loving.
She is loving.
She is loved.
Loving her is hard.
To love her is hard
= It’s hard to love her.
Being loved is hard.
Love me
Don’t love me!
You don’t love me.
Don’t you love me ?
Don’t you want to love me ?
To be loved
To be a lover
To be loving
Why to love ?
Whom to love ?
She kisses lovingly.
They love each other.
They love one another.
They love step by step.
They love as they breathe.
They love although they are different.
They love to feel.
They love to love.
Those who love love with care.
Those who never love love without care.
Those who love me love my son too.
Those loving me love my past too.
I love those who love me.
Say you love me.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

SPEAK REAL ENGLISH

SPEAK REAL ENGLISH
Your Success Is Here.
You CAN speak REAL English to real native speakers.
What is real English?
It is the English that native speakers use in real conversations.
REAL English includes slang and idioms.
REAL English includes real pronunciation used by real people– not the pronunciation you hear on CNN or the BBC.
REAL English comes from real conversations.
Close your eyes. Now see yourself speaking excellent REAL English.
Imagine yourself talking to native speakers.
Imagine understanding their slang, their idioms, their fast speech.
Imagine speaking fast. Imagine using slang and idioms correctly.
Imagine speaking with excellent pronunciation.
It is possible in only 6 months!
There is a better way, an easier way to succeed.
Change your learning method to change your results.
Learn the better way to speak, hear, and understand real English easily and confidently.

7 RULES

7 Rules when you study English.

You can do it!
Remember The 7 Rules:
1. Learn Phrases
2. Don't Study Grammar
3. Focus On Listening
4. Learn Deeply (Repeat A Lot)
5. Use Point of View Stories
6. Use Only Real English Materials
7. Use Listen & Answer Stories

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Love on the side

WHAT CAN COME AFTER BE & THEIR NAMES


this pronoun
getting a loan from the bank Ing group
to keep trying harder to group
above one word modifier
The lesson will be
to her for changing her position to s.o for doing s.t
assigned by Pro. John Ed group
what is called “Do it yourself” Sub clause
costly
no longer available from now on noun group
what and W.H
how to do it better . W.H + to proup



She will be that
doing it for me
to go further
alone
through

to my Mom for caring for her
supposed to go
who is called “the best”
famous
no loger attractive to me
whom
who to do it

In what will surely be remembered

In what will surely be remembered as one of the worst calls in World Cup history, England was denied a goal against Germany on a ball that crossed the goal line by nearly a meter.-VOA-

In What I will certainly remember as one of the best things I have ever made in my life, I went back home on Jun 2, 2010 for the sake of the family reunion that my children had been wanting and so had half of others.

For what he will probably get with my help showing him what should be done what not as he is supposed to, Dr. TRI feels proud of one of his achievements to his whole family whom he has been thinking of especially his children whom I was wondering what I would do to help to him for making their English better, gaining myself better.

Listen to easier English

Saturday, July 3, 2010

OBAMA's SPEECH ON EDUCATION

OBAMA’s SPEECH ON EDUCATION

Mr Obama says he understands the tention many students face.
“The circumtance of your life- What you look like, where you come from how much money you have when you’ve got- is going on at home. None of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework and in the bad attitute in school that no excuse for talking bad to the teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for that trial.
None of it would matter unless all of you fulfill your responsible.
We can have the most dedicated tearchers, the most supportive parents, the best chool in the world and none of that matters.”

The hardest part of being a teacher

"What do you find is the hardest part of being a teacher?"
"Well, the hardest part for most of the people -- of course, it's not for me, it's not difficult for me, I have gotten used to it -- but the hardest part is that a teacher has to forget everything in his life, in his or her life, OK, before going to a class."
"Why do you say -- what do you mean by that?"
"You see, if you are sad, if you have a lot of ups and downs in your life, when you enter a class, you have to be a teacher full of energy, very happy. You have to forget about all your problems. If you just take your problems to the class, you won't be a good teacher."

IDEA ABOUT SINGING

LIDA’s idea about singing:
"There are a couple of things you can do, andhow successful you are depends to some extent on how good your ear is.
But one thing that is really, really helpful is singing.
It's very interesting, I noticed in recent years that the younger students in my classes who've grown up listening to American pop music and rap music and watching a lot of MTV, they come into class -- now, they still have the same problems with grammar and vocabulary that students have always had. But these students are coming in with a really good accent in English. And they tell me that it's as a result of the fact that they've grown up listening to American music. So, yeah, spend time listening to American music."
RS: "Or watching TV or listening to a radio broadcast."
LIDA BAKER: "I mean, I think watching and listening are helpful, but because they're not active, you're not moving your mouth. You know, it's passive."
RS: "Well, what if you would, for example, record a passage and then listen to it, understand where the intonation is and where the accents are and how the words are produced and then -- "
LIDA BAKER: "Well, sure."

Movie star-1

Listen to easier English

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Bill Clinton on rebuilding Rwanda_ Apr 2007



I thought in getting up to my TED wish I would try to begin by putting in perspective what I try to do and how it fits with what they try to do. We live in a world that everyone knows is interdependent, but insufficient in three major ways. It is first of all, profoundly unequal. Half the world's people still living on less than two dollars a day, a billion people with no access to clean water, two and a half billion no access to sanitation, a billion going to bed hungry every night. One in four deaths every year from AIDS, TB, malaria and the variety of infections associated with dirty water -- 80 percent of them under five years of age.
... tobe continues

Monday, June 7, 2010

words

Thank you for your help 1

The misunderstood expression- EXCUSE ME

To excuse means to pardon, to justify or to release from an obligation.
An excuse means an apology.
Excuse me = I apologize.
You excuse me.
If you excuse me, I will not do it again.
I apologize for doing it and I won't do it again if you excuse me.
If you excused me, I would not do it again.
If I apologized, would you excuse me.
"...If you excuse me for my father and my mother, I'd like to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true." -The greatest moment of Oscars-

Sunday, June 6, 2010

20 WAYS TO BEGIN ASKING

1. Are you aware that...?
2. Do you know that...?
3. See if there is...
4. Tell me if...
5. I wonder why...
6. Who tells you about...?
7. It's said that... what do you think?
8. There's a rumor that goes.... what do you say?
9. What is the fact that.... ?
10. What makes you believe that...?
11. Is it true that...?
12. Am I correct on assuming that...?
13. Have you ever been told that...?
14. Is there any evidence that...?
15. Have you ever asked yourself that...?
16. If you could..., what would you do?
17. Let me know what you've known.
18. Whatever you've known is whatever I also want to know.
19. How could I know this if you refuse to tell?
20. You are supposed to do this, aren't you?

Saturday, June 5, 2010

LEARNING A PARAGRAPH

When I was a child, someone gave me a microsope.
I spent hours looking through that microsope exploring nature tiny secrets.
As I grew up, I became more interested in my microscope than in people.
When I was 20 years old, my parents sent me to NY city to study medicine.
I never went to any of my classes.
Instead, I spent a lot of my time and my money trying to build a perfect microscope.
But all my experiments failed. The diamond lens- VOA- AMERICAN STORIES.
When I was a child, someone gave me a guitar.
I spent hours playing that guitar exploring its beautiful sounds.
As I grew up, I became more interested in my guitar than in girls.
When I was 18 years old, my parents sent me to HCMC city to study English.
I never went to any of my English classes.
Instead, I spent a lot of my time and my money trying to make a perfect guitar CD.
But all my effort didn't work out.

12 verb tenses in one sentence.

That she gave me what the girls' most precious thing is which I have not been expecting while I had been engaged to another who is now working in HCMC not only was proving what she had been wanting to but also has reminded me a lot of her of what her love will probably bring back to me no matter what my wife will have been doing when we start getting involved again when she will be coming home as her Dad reaches 80 will have been the point.
Rach Gia Nov 19,04

2 BEs IN A SENTENCE

English/ be/ consider/ be/ official language.
The first be must function as a helping verb to go with considered.
The second be must function as a second verb.
English is considered to be an official language.

WHEN NOT TO THINK OF VERB TENSES

I at least leave for HCMC.
I probably leave for HCMC.
I maybe leave for HCMC.
I absolutely leave for HCMC.
I preferably leave for HCMC.
I should leave for HCMC.
I must leave for HCMC.
I one hundred percent leave for HCMC.
I unquestionably leave for HCMC.
I no longer leave for HCMC.
I used to leave for HCMC.
I ought to leave for HCMC.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Sub-clause as subject-

Who invites will pay.
Who invites ought to pay.
Who invites is supposed to pay.
It's likely for those who invite to pay.
Will who invites pay?
Ought who invites to pay?
Is who invites supposed to pay?
Is it likely for those who invite to pay?

Question = Sub-clause

Who will go?
I wonder who will go.
D'you know who will go?
It's good to know who will go.
There's no way of knowing who will go.
Knowing who will go is good.
To know who will go is good.
Who will go means who will leave.
Who will go matters to me.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Someone's thought of grammar

Many English learners believe that they must memorize all or most of the rules of English grammar in order to be able to speak correctly.
Some students and teachers even think that studying grammar is a "short cut" or faster way to improve their English.
Unfortunately, this is usually not true, epecially for speaking and listening.
When you are speaking or listening , you usually don't have time to stop and think about the specific grammar rules consciously. If you did, you would have to speak ...very slowly.
Most of what we use when we communicate is "unconscious"; that is, we use knowledge that we don't have to think about or even know the rules for.
Here is a very important point to keep in mind:
The best way to be able to use good grammar is to listen and to read English you can understand.
Most native speakers of English can't explain to you the rules of grammar, but they can speak and write English without any problems.
How is this possible?
That is because they have listened and read a lot of English, and they know the rules unconsciously, without having to think of them.
For you to get this same ability, you can only need to listen and read as much as you can in English.
This is what I believe and have been doing.

ABOUT Miss America 2010

In a Lebanese TV interview, Hezbollah member of Parliament Hassan Fadlallah stopped short of criticizing the pageant, which calls for contestants to wear a bikini on stage, saying only that the way Hezbollah judges women is different from the West.

Miss AMERICA 2010- a thought-

"I'm really proud

to have grown up in Lebanon, and lived there for 18 years, suffered war

and being poor and everything, definitely builds up character and
gives me more of a drive to succeed." said Hani Nasser.


SUB CLAUSES- 2

In fact, I distinctly remember paying the fine
because when I was in the library the clerk
who took my money was someone I knew when I was a child.
TOEFL How to master skills, track 9 CD 2
In reality, I clearly remember kissing the first girl in my life
because when I was with her the situation
which I had happened to be in was something I thought of when I was young.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

CONJUGATION- a piece of cake-

Just make some changes by putting WILL, BE- ING, HAVE- ed, S and ED appropriately.
Who will call?
Who will be calling?
Who will have called?
Who will have been calling?
Who has been calling?
Who has called?
Who had been calling?
Who had called?
Who is calling?
Who was calling?
Who calls?
WHo called?

Monday, May 24, 2010

MANY WAYs TO EXPRESS

John says, "Don't be lazy." to his son.
What John says to his son is that he should be studious.
What his son should do is to be studious.
What his son hears is "Don't be lazy."
What his son keeps in his mind is that he should be studious.
His son realizes that his Dad just wants him to be studious.
He just wants his son to be studious.
What he wants his son to do is to be studious.
What he is asking his to do is that the boy should only be studious.
There is one thing that he wants his son to remember and that is he should not lazy.
Being lazy is that he doesn't want his son to do.
Being studious that he wants his son to do.
"It's good to be studious." John says to his son.
"It's bad to be lazy." his son repeats after him
"It's bad to be lazy." his son realizes after hearing him warn.
If his son wasn't lazy, he wouldn't say that.
If his was studious, he would say something different.
If there was nothing for him to complain his son, he would say nothing.
Since his son has been more or less, John just wants to remind him.
Since he has been concerned about his son's rather being lazy, he says that.
Because his son is somewhat lazy, he wants his son to change.
That his son becomes lazy makes him say that-"Don't be lazy."
That John is concerned about his son's changing makes him announce that.
Those whose sons are becoming lazy like John's often say that.
Those whose father are concerned thier sons' being lazy often hear that.
John's son's laziness makes him say that.
The sons' laziness concerns the fathers.
Anyone, including me, who has a son who is lazy often says that.
Any boys who are lazy are often warned that by their fathers.
That John says,"Don't be lazy." to his son means that he is concerned.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

A professor's talk- to a student- My talk-

"Last year, when I was working on a important paper for the university, my younger child came down with a terrible case of the flu.
My wife and I had to take turn staying up all night attending to her.
I was tired losing sleep, worrying myself sorry.
But that did not stop me from coming to class everyday teaching and seeing to my responsibilities.
What you are asking me to do is not only identical but also shows that you don't want to be an adult and take responsibilities for your own actions. " Toefl how to master skills- CD2-"

Last year, when I was teaching in HCMC, GARY-my American friend- came down with an unbelievable case of the depression.
Only I had to stay up all night attending to him.
I was tired losing sleep, worrying myself about a possibility that he would not be able to keep on teaching there.
But that did not stop me from coming to class teaching and to our Speaking club at Binh Dan hospital, seeing to my responsibilities- on behalf of him, giving the club members what we were supposed to do.
What I was asking Dr. HAU to do was not only humantarian but also showed what a friend could be for- A friend in need is a friend indeed-

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A WAY TO APPLY WHAT WE HAVE JUST READ

Ending this cycle of emigration won't be easy.
Part of the problem is that they do not have the slightest idea of the difficult situation their parents face. (TIME November 24, 2008 p. 43)

Ending the cycle of confusion won't be simple.
Part of the problem is that they do not have any ideas of why they have not got the whole picture yet why people still put it in such uncomprehensive words or another word misunderstandable ones.

A WAY TO APPLY THAT CLAUSE

I hope they ask local people what they want before they make a decision.
(From B level preparation course.)
That I hope they ask local people what they want before they make a decision means
that I care for what may happen if they don't get through the situation or they may misunderstand something.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

SUB CLAUSES

The whole country knows that last year overseas workers sent home $17 billion in cash remittances and without it they know their economy will instantly collapse.
What people don't know is that what the Philippines will look like when the millions of children these workers are leaving behind grow up.

WORDS- DESCRIBING PEOPLE

Hair: long, medium- length, short, straight, curly, wavy, blond, fair, dark, black, red,
grey, going grey, white, thinning, a beard, a moustache, bushy eyebrows.
Eyes: green, blue, brown, greenish- blue, grey.
Nose: long, turned-up, flat, broken nose,
Mouth: wide, generous, thin lips, full lips.
Chin: pointed, firm, weak.
Face: oval, round, long, high cheekbones,
Forhead: high, low,
Ears: big, small,
Shoulders: broad, narrow,
Build: thin, slender, muscular, heavily- built, plump, overweight, fat,
Height: tall, of medium, short,
Age: young, middle-aged, old, in his early thirties,
Expression: serious, cheerful, worried, friendly, gentle, elegant
General: good-looking, pretty, beautiful, attractive, plain, well- dressed, cassually- dressed.
Extinguishing feature: mole, beauty- spot, dimples, black-head pimple, scars
Can you think of any important words that have been left out?