Search results for 'tag:Essays tag:Pronunciation' matching tags 'Essays' and 'Pronunciation'

Re: Teachers Wanted in the Philippines

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:27:58 GMT

Dear Sir / Madam

I am a qualified and experienced English teacher and I have been teaching in Korea for the past two years. My command of the English language is superb, I speak with a clear accent and I am careful to pronounce and articulate with clarity when students are listening.

It is with full confidence in my talents, training, and experience as an educator that I offer this application for your sympathetic consideration. A review of the contents of my resume, my education, teaching, and employment record will assure you that I am equipped with extensive preparation and performance in the English education field.

I hold both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from accredited universities (see below). My abilities as a teacher have been honed and enhanced through over ten years of consistent practice in the field. I have meticulously prepared and delivered hundreds of lesson-plans, speeches, and lectures and have taught various age groups, ranging from children to teen-agers to undergraduate students to adults. I have taught conversation techniques and have conducted reading groups and discussion groups for children, university students and adults. I have actively engaged in children's education with a high degree of satisfaction and success. I recently taught in the government Elementary school system of Korea, and I enjoyed relating to and responding to the learning-needs of the children. I was selected to be the Head Teacher for Kaya University's English Summer Camp for Kids. My task was to teach and co-ordinate the activities of 7 other teachers at this intensive English camp for both Elementary and High School students. I am presently teaching undergraduate students at a renowned university in Daegu, Korea. Letters of recommendation are available from this Elementary School.

Along with my formal training and experience, I offer myself as an intelligent, sensitive and articulate person. My vocabulary is extensive and my pronunciation is clear and distinct. I am endowed with an innate sensitivity to the needs of others. I hail from a multi-cultural context and I have adapted to various cultures very well. I am a clear thinker, communicator, and an empathetic teacher who can identify and respond to the particular needs of individual students. I love working with children and have great energy and enthusiasm in the classroomâ¦students are very responsive and positive toward me.

I am currently teaching in Korea...but I am seeking to relocate to the Philippines. I will be available from the middle of December, this year.

I would like to send you my resume and letters of reference attached. I am happy to send you scans of my degrees, passport or any other pertinent information that you require. I also welcome a telephone interview. If you reply to me I would be happy to send you my photograph - to your personal email. Please reply to me at the following email address: mr.k.leigh@gmail.com

Here is my resume and letter of reference.

CURRICULUM VITAE: MR. KEREN M. LEIGH

Address: Apt. 6 Keimyung University            Sex:        Male
2139 Daemyung Dong, Nam-Gu                     Nationality:    South Africa
705-701, Daegu                                         Age:         38
Gyeongsangbukdo, Korea                            Race:        Caucasian

Email:  xx                   Phone:     Korea 010-6874-8642

EDUCATION QUALIFICATIONS

2003-2004    Ph.D. Candidate, University of California at Berkeley,
    Department of Near Eastern Studies
    (currently enrolled but do not wish to complete this degree)

2000-2003    Master of Divinity Degree, Golden Gate Seminary, CA.
    Graduated with honors in Theological and Pastoral studies

1988-1994    Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy and History of Art,
    University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

1987    Higher Grade Matric Certificate, Greenside High School, Jhb.

All Degree Certificates are available upon request.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

2008    English Lecturer, FISEP Department, Keimyung University, Daegu

2007    English Teacher, Daechang Elementary School, Jinyeong, Gimhae
    English Teacher, Chillam and Jangyu Libraries, Adult Classes.

2006    Assistant Manager, Pembury Hotel â Melrose, Jhb, R.S.A..

2004-2005     Self-employed, Home Construction â Sodwana Bay, Kwa-Zulu/Natal.

2003-2004    Graduate Student Instructor, University of California at Berkeley
ï· Prepared and presented course lectures for classes of roughly 150 students
ï· Conducted tutorial classes in question & answer format for classes of roughly 25 students
ï· Graded examinations and essays
ï· Conducted one-to-one student interviews

2000-2003    Senior Pastor, Hope Baptist Church, San Francisco, California
ï· Prepared and delivered messages and Bible studies on a weekly basis for congregations of roughly 50-200 people
ï· Conducted one-to-one counseling sessions with church members, including teenagers and marital counseling
ï· Managed church staff, operations, outreach and administration
ï· Trained staff and ministry leaders
ï· Chaired and set agenda for ongoing board meetings

2000-2003    Office Manager, Medical Offices of Dr. Eva Dahl, CA.
ï· Managed doctorâs calendar, patient bookings, filing systems, stocktaking and ordering of medical supplies.

1996-1999    Operations Controller, Wheel-A-Waste Recycling Company, Jhb.
ï· Managed the routing and timing of trucks
ï· Orchestrated drivers schedules
ï· Maintained customer relations
ï· Accounting, book-keeping and banking

Letter of Reference (Translated from Korean â Original Available on Request)

From:     Jinyeong Daechung Elementary School
    Gimhae Municipality
    Gyeongsangnam Province
    South Korea

Dear Sir / Madam                            6 November, 2007

Concerning: Mr. Keren M. Leigh

This person served as a Native Speaking English Teacher at our school during 2007. I was his Korean co-teacherâ¦and we worked closely together during this year.

1. He complied with all school regulations. He understood his roles and responsibilities and fulfilled all of his duties admirably.

2. He has a neat and clean appearance and dressed very well. He was professional in all of his conduct. He has a very good nature and was sensitive to our needs.

3. He was active in class-preparation and came up with many good ideas for our classes. He collaborated with me, his co-worked, to solve any problems that we encountered when students had difficulties. He did his very best to meet the needs of students and to make sure they were satisfied.

4. He dealt with the students very kindly and he was open to listening to the students and to respond to their needs. He has a very good sense of humor and all the students liked him tremendously. They were sad to hear he was leaving us at the end of the year.

5. He was very concerned that students felt they were progressing and learning every day. He taught the students using a variety of teaching styles and methods and he made each class fun and interesting. He has excellent teaching skills and achieved our class purpose, following the lesson plans and teaching objectives.

6. He has a positive attitude and put all of his effort into teaching. He tried to find studentâs strong points and to praise everyone he worked with and taught. He is kind, polite, and sociable, so he got along very well with all our other staff members, even though he comes from a culture different to ours.

These things prove his is a good teacher in terms of his teaching ability, personal nature, and the success he achieved in the classroom. Our school strongly recommends him to you as a teacher who will benefit your school.

Kim Son Hee
Korean English Teacher - Jinyeong Daechung Elementary School

I have always had a knack for relationship building and have no doubt that I will be able to foster firm and effective working relationships with my employer. I am certain that I will make a valuable contribution to the minds and lives of the young students that you entrust to my pedagogic care. Thank you for your kind consideration of my application. I earnestly await your response.

Yours sincerely

Mr. Keren M. Leigh (B.A. M. Div)

Re: How can I pass TOEFL test???

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:22:28 GMT

The TOEFL has four sections: reading, speaking, listening, writing.

The best advice: study grammar! It's true that there is no grammar section, but the TOEFL tests your grammar in other ways. For example, if you don't understand the grammar in the listening or reading, you won't be able to answer the questions correctly. This really is a tricky test!

For the speaking, I recommend focusing on pronunciation, intonation, rhythm, and stress. The key is how well you are understood, not necessarily how well you speak.

For the writing, focus on essay structure and find a native speaker to correct your essays. Also, time yourself when you write an essay Here's a good website for practicing: http://www.cz-training.com/toefl/practice.html

For reading, don't just read a lot of books and newspapers in English. Always have a dictionary by your side so you can look up every word you don't completely understand. Take notes, and pay attention to the grammar. Just sitting and reading the newspaper for fun is next to useless.

For listening, find a transcript for a TV show you like. (You can get some here: http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/) Then watch the TV show with the transcript. Make notes and pay attention to how words are linked together in English. Again, if you sit down, turn off you brain, and watch TV or listen to the radio, it's almost useless.

Hope this helps!

Re: Essay for Toefl 2

Grammar Geek — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:35:19 GMT

HI Doll,

Describe one event from your country's history, and explain why it was important. Provide clear explanations and details in supoort of your answer. (This is supposed to be a descriptive essay.)

The Gallipoli Campaign still has its memories vivid in our minds although 86 years passed ~~after it~~.It was not only important for Turkey, but also for the other countries including France, Germany, England and Italy.

Starting in 1915, the Gallipoli Campaign was one of the most bloody wars in history. Approximately 53.000 soldiers from Turkey and 111.000 soldiers from other countries fought in this war. One aspect of this war was that there were naval attacks, landings and ~~the~~ air assaults ~~were done ( can I say done~~? not really ) which meant more loss of life.

There are different reasons for the Gallipoli Campaign but ~~if we want to count,~~ the more important ones are these: ( can I count things like that in an essay? Sure) First, the Ottoman Empire had lost Trablusgarp and Bingazi and wanted to gain those lands back; second, (I have no idea about pronunciation. Is it correct? And do I have to count first, second, third respectively? Yes, first, second, third...) England and France wanted to conquer Istanbul; third, Russia needed help via the Bosphours to gain her power back; fourth, Turkey trusted Germany and her power and had high expectations ~~was in a high expectation~~ of winning the war; and finally, ~~fifth,~~ Istanbul was under attack and Turkey was in a complete danger "complete danger" doesn't work - perhaps "was facing the possibility of invasion" or something like that.

No matter what the reasons were, it had no side to be proud of perhaps "neither side could be proud of the resutls.". ~~As well as other soldiers,~~ It affected innocent civilians, not only soldiers ~~too~~. ~~Aside from the great success of soldiers,~~ Turkish civilians showed great courage ~~as well~~. Argh. I'm not sure how to rewrite that. There are too many "as well" and the soldiers are repeated twice. Maybe "The war affected others besides the soldiers -- innocent civilians showed great courage along with their military counterparts"? Even women got involved in the war volutarily. They carried heavy stones and guns on their back and they helped soldiers as snipers. When they ran out of guns, they fought one-on-one with enemies. ~~Maybe just because of this~~ For this reason alone, we can count Gallipoli ~~Campaign~~ as one of the rarest wars in this world.

Gallipoli Campaign left plight ? memories on the others too. For example, Anzacs were just the victims of destiny. This was had nothing to do with them but they had to be involved on other countries' will. Both sides lost numerous soldiers in this war and both sides were really affected badly by poverty, hunger and illnesses during the war.

As with all wars, Gallipoli Campaign has some good? positive? results too. The first of them is that the Turkish people gained courage by defeating enemies despite their poverty~~poorness~~, lack of men and guns. Second, M.K. Ataturk's celebrity and success spread all around the world;( Does it spread? yes, that's fine, but use periods not semi-colons to seperate them) Third, Istanbul wasn't conquered. On the negative side, F~~ourth, unfortunately~~ Turkey ~~gave~~ suffered a big losses and most important, it lost its brains not sure what you mean? they lost their best and brightest? Either way, end with a period. Russia couldn't get enoguh help and was deprived of its aid so she couldn't help Europe.I'm not sure about what you mean here? It left Russia in a weakened position?

The year is 2008 and the effects of the war still lingers in Gallipoli. The cemeteries of Anzacs and soldiers from Europe are now turned into an open museum and the gates of Dardanelles are open to their grandsons.

I felt a bit off-topic. Am I really? I think it would be good to talk about the effects that linger - perhaps on Turkish national identity, or what could have happened if the war had gone differently? I'm not seeing a strong connection to the current state of affairs.

I know I made a bunch of changes, but this is not very far off from what I would expect from an American student. Use more periods and fewer semi-colons! :)

Essay for Toefl 2

Doll — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:40:28 GMT

Hello everyone, it is me again. I wrote a new essay. I will be happy if someone could check it for me because I can't see my own mistakes. By the way, I still find the time insufficient and my eyes were on the clock.

-Describe one event from your country's history, and explain why it was important. Provide clear explanations and details in supoort of your answer. (This is supposed to be a descriptive essay.)

Gallipoli Campaign still has its memories vivid in our minds though 86 years passed after it.It was not only important for Turkey but also for the other countries including France, Germany, England and Italy.

Started in 1915, Gallipoli Campaign was one of the most bloody wars in history. Approximately 53.000 soldiers from Turkey and 111.000 soldiers from other countries fought in this war. One aspect of this was was that naval attacks, landings and the air assaults were done ( can I say done?) which meant more loss of life.

There are different reasons of Gallipoli Campaign but if we want to count, the more important ones are these: ( can I count things like that in an essay?) First, the Ottoman Empire has lost Trablusgarp and Bingazi and wanted to gain those lands back; second, (I have no idea about pronunciation. Is it correct? And do I have to count first, second, third respectively?...) England and France wanted to conquere Istanbul; third, russia needed help via bosphours to gain her power back; fourth, Turkey trusted Germany and her power and was in a high expectation of winning the war; fifth, Istanbul was under attack and Turkey was in a complete danger.

No matter what the reasons were, it had no side to be proud of. As well as other soldiers, it affected innocent civilians too. Aside from the great success of soldiers, Turkish civilians showed great courage as well. Even women got involved in the war volutarily. they carried heavy stones, guns on their back and they helped soldiers as snipers. When they ran out of gun, they fought one by one with enemies. Maybe just because of this we can count Gallipoli Campaign as one of the rarest wars in this world.

Gallipoli Campaign left plight memories on the others too. For example, Anzacs were just the victims of destiny. This was had nothing to do with them but the had to be involved on other countries' will. Both sides lost numerous soldiers in this war and both sides were really affected badly by poverty, hunger and illnesses during the war.

As all wars, Gallipoli Campaign has some results too. First of them is that Turkish people gained courage by defeating enemies despite their poorness, lack of men and gun; second, M.K. Ataturk's celebrity and success spread all around the world;( Does it spread?) third, Istanbul wasn't conquered; fourth, unfortunately Turkey gave a big loss and most important, it lost its brains and Russia couldn't get enoguh help and was deprived of its aid so she couldn't help Europe.

I felt a bit off-topic. Am I really?

PLZ help with primary research: Presentation Problem

fanofken4ever — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:52:46 GMT

I am an university student in Vietnam. I am studying to write primary research essay now. I alreasy choose topic: Presentation Problems because the topic must relate to culture and education subjects.

I created some questions and hope that you can help to answer it so that I can collect the data to finish the essay. if you recommend any other question, plz write down. Thank you very much in advance.

1.Do you like presenting? If yes, why? If no, why not?

2. What kind of presentation do you prefer? (informative, argumentative, etc) Why?

3. What is the most challenging part when you prepare for a presenation?

- Choose topic

- Finding material

- Generating ideas

- Rehersal

- Other? (Please clarify)

4. What is the most difficult presentation skills in your opinion?

- Body language (eyes contact, posture, gesture, etc)

- Pronunciation

- Visual aids

- Questions handling

- create audience interest

- Other? (Plz clarify)

5. How do you feel before presenting?

- Very confident

- Confident

- So So

- Nervous

- Extremely nervous

5. If you feel nervous, what do you do to gain more confidence?

- Listen to music

- Talk with friends

- Practise again

- Eat something

- Do small exercise

- Other (Plz clarify)

6. What happens when you feel nervous during your presentation?

7. Why do you feel difficult when presention in front of a group of people?

- lack of confidence about your ability to handle unexpected problem (that you think might happen when you present)

- lack of condidence about your apperance

- lack of confidence about your presentation, your preparation, your knowledge

- other (plz clarify)

Hope to recive your answer soon. Thanks again ^^

Self-Evaluation Essay

Super Sonic — Sat, 19 May 2007 22:54:48 GMT

Hi,

I had my final exam from the writing course as a home take-in, but the type of the essay sounded a little bit weird to me. Here is what my lecturer gave as information:

Writing FINAL

Write an evaluation essay on the following topic

The Self-Evaluation essay is a reflective essay assessing and describing your learning experiences. Write a self evaluation essay considering the guidelines below.
The following are guidelines for your Self-Evaluation Essay:

Include each of your learning objectives,
Describe how the learning objectives were accomplished and the steps used to complete objectives,
For objectives you did not meet, state why not. What did you learn from the failure to meet objectives? (Is this even proper English? )
What else did you learn that was not in your initial objective? Specific examples should be cited. The student should review the learning objectives set at the beginning of the term and assess what growth he or she has achieved during the term."

And here is what I have written (Could you please proofread it considering the notes above?):

This Is Only the Beginning

This is my first year in the Linguistics department of Hacettepe University. I can easily say that this university is not quite what I expected it to be. I was hoping to improve myself in many fields, but this did not happen in the first year, since I had to deal with my courses more than anything else. However, my English dramatically improved thanks to the courses. I would like to evaluate this year in terms of how I improved my English skills (speaking, writing, reading and listening), while doing nothing about the other fields I was interested in (arts and sports).

First of all, I have been able to improve my expressive English skills thanks to a native speakerâs being our lecturer, and having courses on how to express ourselves better in English. Margaret was the lecturer of our writing course. I learned many new words, idioms, grammar structures and expressions in her classes, which would have me state my thoughts in a more comprehensible way in written language. Also, both in our writing and reading classes we had discussions about various controversial subjects that helped me improve my speaking skills. We were having phonetics at the same time, and as a student trying to attend all the classes, I improved my pronunciation. So, I can say that I am grateful for my department to help me meet my objectives in expressing myself both in spoken and written language.

Secondly, my receptive skills have also improved with the help of the courses like reading, literature, and listening comprehension. Even though I did not have much difficulty in reading and understanding course books, articles, reading passages and the like, I was rather poor at literal texts, or in other words, the figurative use of English language. By the help of our literature classes, I got over this problem, and now I can mostly understand what Shakespeare or Hemingway says. My listening skills, likewise, improved remarkably after having taken the listening comprehension courses. I was unable to differentiate between the words that resemble each other like âmateâ and âmadeâ before I took those courses. I can say that listening to someone speaking English has become one of the easiest tasks ever with the help of my lecturers.

Thirdly, even though there has been a big improvement in my English skills, I have not been able to deal with arts or sports, both of which are my main interests. I was hoping to have art lessons such as painting and music. However, all the courses are academic ones. Another deficit of my department âor of the university in general- is that there are not many sports activities going on. Because of these reasons, I felt rather âantisocialâ in my first year in the university. As a result, not having done anything in these two areas is the only objective that I missed this year, but I am thinking of taking piano and karate courses next year from another university. If only my university gave more importance to these two areas!

Consequently, although I was not very content with the overall situation of the university this year, I must admit that my English skills have improved drastically within this year. I, however, still feel sad about not being able to take any courses from my areas of interest. Who knows, maybe this was only the beginning. Maybe, I am going to like this university better. Only time will show!

Thanks in advance

how to align the list?

Believer — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 06:20:06 GMT

I clicked?? on this forums' what I think is hyperlink that said "learn English Letter Writing Grammar and Pronunciation" and saw this thing pop up and upon reading it, it got me thinking how best to align that or if it is aligned in the best way possible.

pop-up:

Learn and explore the English language with topics such as poetry, stories, ..., essay composition, and general chit chat

poetry and uncountable OK

stories and a plural countable OK with uncountable nouns

essay composition as a countable noun, Not OK??

chit chat as uncountable OK

When you have a list like this, should we make every effort to align them or is there room to deviate?? like what I think is in the above case (essay composition being the one deviated)?

Re: could someone help me edit my essay, i'll appreciate.

Castellano — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 22:30:42 GMT

What is your opinion about the importance of a personâs first day of school?

Whether pleasant or terrible, almost everyone remembers their first day of school. (Do you really need the exclamation mark?) In the short story âThe First Dayâ, author Edward P. Jones narrates a little girlâs first day at school, and explores the effects of a motherâs dream for her daughter. The protagonist is a five-year-old girl (unfortunately?) from an unfortunate single family (Do you mean that the girl's family is unfortunate, or that she is unfortunate because she is in a single parent family?) who gets registered by her mother to attend the kindergarten. An ancient Chinese saying goes that âwell begun is half done.â, whereas I think this saying is all-around. (I won't do this for you, but you need to connect these sentences. You talk about a girl who gets registered for kindergarten, then you break the idea with an Ancient Chinese proverb.) Each day of school is important, because everything is accumulated little by little, step by step and day by day. (Excellent!) My own experience has also correctly proven my opinion: I attended the first Canadian school in Montreal, which was a French school. (I'm confused, how has going to the first Canadian school in Montreal proved your idea?)

The protagonist, the little girl, had a memorable first day at kindergarten. This is not only because the first day of school was one of the key moments in her young adolescence, but also because she knew more about her mother, knew more about her motherâs dream for her. (How did she know about her mother's dream, and what was her mother's dream?) On her first day of school, she wore the new clothes and brought along some school supplies. The little girl and her mother originally wished to go to the better school named Seaton Elementary just across the street from the church where the two went every Sunday. Unfortunately, their expectation came to nothing; however the protagonistâs mother didnât give up. (Why didn't the girl go to Seaton Elementary though?) They decided to settle for another school in their area, Walker Jones. In order to register, the mother had to ask for help filing out the form, because she was illiterate. Eventually, with some help, the little girl became registered for kindergarten. At the same time, the girl discovered that her mother couldnât neither read nor write so she felt ashamed for her mother. At last, the loud sound from her motherâs footsteps was imprinted in her memory mixing with the other childrenâs singing and talking all around. (Why were her mother's footsteps imprinted into her memory?)

----

I have stopped editing here, some key notes:

- Use spell check and proofread your work; a lot of the errors could have been corrected if you read over your work.

- Pellucidity! You need to explicate why things happened and why things became important to the characters. We are the readers, we probably haven't read this book so you need to explain things to usâdon't assume we read the book!

----

As I mentioned previously, my first Canadian school was a French school in Montreal. By the time I arrived in Canada, I had no clues about French so that the first day in a French school was totally horrible. I could only understand someone else called my name, whose pronunciation is exactly same as English. I could only speak one sentence, which means âI donât understandâ. Although my parents stayed with me during the whole enrollment, nothing could be changed. All they could do for me was just to encourage and console. After the convoluted speech of the principle, students were split into a few groups, and the teachers led us to the respective classroom. The bell started ringing as soon as I sat on the chair. A bald strong man with a smiled face came into the classroom. âBonjour!â he started to speak, speak a bunch of words I had never heard before. Afterwards, students began to introduce themselves. Time was quickly passing, in no time; it was my turn, but nothing in my mind. âI should say something.â I thought, âBut what? All I can say in French is âI donât understand.â Maybe for the good luck, the bell started ringing again, tediously ringing. The class was over; I could finally quit this hell! Since then, I decided to learn French well. I said it and I made it. I learnt French almost every day. Somehow my French had become better and better. Somehow I could speak more and more. If I hadnât learned French every day, I wouldnât have reached such level in French. The first day of school is not always a good memory; it could even become your nightmare. I donât have a nice first day at school, but I still learn French well. For this reason, I think the everydayness is as important as the first day of school.

Not only the first day of school is important, but also the everydayness is important. The protagonist of the short story âThe First Dayâ has learned the importance of the first day of school, which is an opportunity to get a better life. She has also realized that it is important to study reading and writing because her mother could not register for her for the kindergarten by herself. My own personal experience has proven right the second part of my opinion. It is similar to the protagonistâs experience in some ways, but different in the other ways. The first Canadian school that I attended was a French school. I didnât have a nice first day in that school because I couldnât speak any French by the time I came to Canada, however I have learned it almost every day. At the end of the school year, my French has improved a lot; therefore I think the everydayness is as important as the first day of school.

The message from the short story âThe First Dayâ is clearly that the first day of school is significant and also a good opportunity to get a better life in the future. I feel strongly that not only the first day of school is important, but also the everydayness is important. All in all, a person must deal well with whether the positive or negative feelings from their first day at school. They also need to know what they should do in the future to make their dreams come true.

could someone help me edit my essay, i'll appreciate.

Vanny90 — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:38:23 GMT

What is your opinion about the importance of a personâs first day of school?

Almost everyone has a significant memory, whether pleasant or terrible, about the first day of school! In the short story âThe First Dayâ, the author Edward P. Jones narrates a little girlâs first day at school, and explores the impact of a motherâs dream for her daughter. The protagonist is a five-year-old girl from an unfortunate single family who gets registered by her mother to attend the kindergarten. An ancient Chinese saying goes that âwell begun is half done.â, whereas I think this saying is all-around. I always believe not only the first day of school is important, but also the everydayness is important; because everything is accumulated little by little, step by step and day by day. My own experience has also proven right my opinion: I attended the first Canadian school in Montreal, which was a French school.

The protagonist in the short story âThe First Dayâ by Edward P. Jones had a memorable first day at kindergarten. This is not only because this was one of protagonistâs many first days in her life, but also because she knew more about her mother, knew more about her motherâs dream for her. The protagonist was a five-year-old girl from an unfortunate single family, and she lived in a poor neighborhood with her mother. In her first day of school, she wore the new clothes and brought some school supplies that her mother prepared for her. The little girl and her mother originally whished to go to the better school named Seaton Elementary just across the street front the church where the two went every Sundays. Unfortunately, their expectation came to nothing; however the protagonistâs mother didnât give up. They decided to settle for Walker Jones, a school in their area. In order to register, the mother had to ask for help filing out the form, because she was an illiterate. With a womanâs help, the protagonist finally got registered for kindergarten, but she also found out her mother couldnât neither read nor write. She felt ashamed for her mother. At last, the loud sound from her motherâs footsteps was imprinted in her memory mixing with the other childrenâs singing and talking all around.

contests

Teo — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 16:28:52 GMT

There are 3 kinds of contests at high schools in Taiwan. I don't know how to say them in English. Please tell me if my trnaslation is correct.

1. Have students each make a speech. Speech contest?

2. Have students each read aloud an article to see which student's pronunciation is better. (Students don't memorize the article, just look at the article and read it.) Recitation contest?

3. Have students each write an essay or an article. Composition contest?