Jorge Seguen

AT THE END OF THE DAY
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
DID YOU DO WHAT IT TOOK?

AT THE END OF THE DAY
DO YOUR MEMORIES FULFILL YOU?
DID YOU REMEMBER TO LIVE YOUR CAUSE?

AT THE END OF THE DAY
DOES THE WORLD SEEM GREAT?
DID YOU OFFER YOUR BEST?

AT THE END OF THE DAY
DO YOU FEEL BLESSED?
DO YOU ENJOY BEING YOU?

AT THE END OF YOUR DAY
WHAT DO YOU SAY?

The Soul of Night

The Soul Of Night
By Andres Fonseca

There's a lonely soul of night,
Begging for company in the dark,

Darkness falls
And she keeps up the black sky,

Stars are her only companion
because, she's a lonely soul of the night.

If I could awaken,
I would be her friend,
But I only shine in the sky of the day.

10 lesson I learned

• People are more important than things

• Leadership is more important than management

• People work harder and more effectively on their own ideas than on other people’s ideas.

• Values are more important than knowledge

• The individual is more important than the group

• Feelings are more important than facts

• Listening is more important than talking

• Giving is more important than receiving

• Developing people’s strengths is more important than correcting their weaknesses

• The walk is more important than the talk

Russian Women want to marry quickly at an early age

Read below:

The New York Times > New York Region > An Immigrant Group in a Rush to Marry Young

Transition Words and Phrases

Make copies of this website and use it as guide to teach students how to use the appropriate transition words in their persuasive essays.
Transition Words and Phrases

Commonly Overused Words

This is a useful website to get students to stop using overused words
read below:

Commonly Overused Words

ESL Standards

Revised English as a Second Language Standards Now Available
The New Jersey Department of Education has established English language proficiency standards for students. The standards, called the New Jersey English Language Proficiency Standards for English as a Second Language Students, were revised over the past year by the Department of Education’s Bureau of Bilingual / ESL Education. To review the new standards on the internet, use the following link:
www.nj.gov/njded/bilingual/resources/elp.pdf
New standards for English language proficiency were needed to conform with changes in New Jersey’s Language Arts Literacy Standards and to respond to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which states that ESL students must meet the same challenging academic standards as all students were required to meet. The new standards are revisions to standards originally adopted in 1999. In addition to conforming to requirements in the state’s academic standards and the federal law, the new English language proficiency standards reflect competencies described in the ESL Standards for pre-K-12 Students, developed by the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), a national professional organization.
Curriculum writers and teachers may use the New Jersey English Language Proficiency Standards to identify curriculum objectives and to provide practice, follow-up and assessment activities that will lead English language learners to develop native-like levels of English proficiency, thereby developing the abilities that will help students become literate English proficient adults.

Can't write a sentence

Many employees in corporate America can't write decent sentences read below

The New York Times > Business > What Corporate America Can't Build: A Sentence

Personal Narrative

MY FIRST SCHOOL DAY IN THE UNITED STATES

It has been twenty years since I attended my first school in the United States. I can remember my first day like it was yesterday. Many of the things that happened to me back then were different, but now that I think about that time, I am glad that I experienced those moments.
The first thing I remember clearly was the moment I entered the classroom. It was amazing to see children from all over the world. The teacher introduced me to the class, while my palms felt sweaty and sticky. I was relieved I did not have to shake hands with anybody. After my introduction, I was assigned a seat, which was not very comfortable. On my right, I saw a kid from Ecuador and on my left, one from Peru. From my seat, I quickly noticed that the students did not wear uniforms. I was really surprised since in my country almost everyone had to wear one.
Next, my attention was focused on the teacher and all the students who listened attentively to her. You could hear a pin drop; the silence in the classroom was terrifying! I had never seen a teacher command so much attention. After that, I started to look at everything in the classroom. I noticed a big closet in the back of the room. All the students’ coats were hanging there except for mine. I also saw something that looked like a chalkboard, but it wasn’t really a chalkboard. It had figures and drawings made out of paper on it. Later, I found out it was called a bulletin board. The chalkboard looked bigger than the ones in my country, and the windows looked as tall as skyscrapers. Against the wall, there was something that resembled an accordion, which made a piercing noise like a train was approaching its destination. Heat came out of it, and it made the room feel warm. But at that moment, I did not want to feel warm because I was perspiring profusely. I had forgotten to take off my coat.
At lunchtime, the class was taken to the cafeteria. I had never seen anything like it! My old school did not have these many tables. I never had to get on line to get food. I can’t remember exactly what I ordered, but I know someone in the class made me feel comfortable in this place. I finally had a chance to relax and talk to some of the students. I was a little shy, but they were friendly.
At the end of the school day, I was excited to go home. I wanted to tell my parents what I had experienced in my new school. I wanted to tell them everything. On my way home, I felt good that I had survived my first day of school in the United States.

Mission Statement Activity

Companies usually have mission statements which guide the way in which they carry out their business practices. In order for a mission statement to be purposeful, it needs to be based on true principles. In other words, the company has to really believe in its mission statement in order to function with integrity. In the classroom,we can teach integrity and setting goals by adopting a mission statement for the classroom or an individual one for each student. The follwing is an example of a mission statement created by an ESL student.


Mission Statement

As an ESL student, I will do the best that I can in my class. I will have a positive attitude toward my classmates and the work that I do. I will challenge myself to learn new things because learning new things will build my knowledge. Finally, the work that I do in my class will be a reflection of who I am as a student and as a person.

I will accomplish my goals by doing the following:
1. Handing my homework on time.
2. Showing enthusiasm for the work I learn in class.
3. Participating and offering opinions.
4. Helping my classmates when they need it.
5. Having pride for my work.
6. Being responsible for my actions.
7. Showing respect to my teachers.
8. Learning from my mistakes.
9. Believing that nothing is difficult.

Poetry Links

The following link will take you to great poetry websites

Lesson Plan Search: Thematic Units: Poetry

Children of Hispanic Immigrants prefer English

According to a study done by researchers at the University of New York at Albany, children and grandchildren of Hispanic immigrants prefer to speak English over Spanish.In order to read this article, you will have to register with the New York Times. Registration is free and worth the hassle.


The New York Times > National > Children of Hispanic Immigrants Continue to Favor English, Study of Census Finds

Bergenline

Bergenline
R. Milian

Bergenline Avenue is a train, which runs through many towns,
A charming tapestry of countless restaurants where pungent smells
echo the tastes of distant lands.


It is a Geography classroom where languages and cultures intersect
providing the landscape with new shades of colors.


Traffic lights hang like piñatas giving the street a sense of order as vans and buses
clash for space.

In the summertime, pedestrians walk the sidewalks sometimes smiling sometimes swaying to the rhythm of the music, which flees from cars.

On Halloween, children wearing costumes like monsters and parents looking like real ones beg the storeowners for some sweet candy.

Bergenline, a temporary heaven to recent immigrants, a hope, a new beginning like the changes of each season.

Here, lie the memories of my first aromatic cubano espresso, which I drank in my adolescence and to this day, continue to drink. Las Pupusas Salvadorenas that I started to consume in my childhood while I was in my country making their appearance, to my surprise, on this far away avenue. La Bandeja Paisa made by our Colombian friends, who traveled north and carried this fantastic dish with them.

Bergenline a memorial to those that contributed to its growth and legacy.

ESL website

This is another excellent website for lesson plans

English as 2nd Language

NCELA: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition

This is the best website that I can think of, which provides the best info on ESL and Bilingual Programs, Research, teacher info, and lesson plans check it out:

NCELA: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition

Pablo Neruda 's words

"You can say anything you want, yes sir, but it's the words that sing, they soar and descend . . . I bow to them . . . I cling to them, I run them down, I bite into them . . . I love words so much . . . The ones I wait for greedily. . .they glitter like colored stones, they leap like silver fish, they are foam, thread, metal, dew . . . I stalk certain words . . . They are so beautiful that I want to fit them all into my poem . . . I catch them in midflight, as they buzz past, I trap them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in front of the dish, they have a crystalline texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily, like fruit, like algae, like agates, like olives . . . And I stir them, I shake them, I drink them, I gulp them down, I mash them, I garnish them . . . I leave them in my poem like stalactites, like slivers of polished wood, like coals, like pickings from a shipwreck, gifts from the waves . . . Everything exists in the word."

Echo Generation

Do you want to know who represents the echo generation?
read here
Untitled

Musical genious

Last Sunday “60 Minutes” did a profile on a 12-year- old boy named Jay Greenberg. He currently studies at the famous Juilliard School. According to various musical experts, he is considered the greatest musical genius to come in 200 years. He is so talented that he has already written 5 symphonies by the age of 12. He says that he always writes down the first thing that comes to his head on paper without having to make any revisions. He says that he doesn’t have to. Sam Adler, a musical genius, made a comment on the program that Beethoven was never satisfied with what he wrote. Adler feels that if Jay Greenberg learns to do that, he will grow more in the musical field. In other words, revisions are important. We need to be humble enough to accept changes in our life and work.

500 Greatest Songs of all time

Do you agree with this list of greatest songs of all time ?

RollingStone.com: News - 500 Greatest Songs

Just Another Morning?

Just Another Morning?
R. Milian

Rainy morning walking to my car half asleep.
My memory guides me like a seeing eye dog


I balance my coffee and briefcase on one hand, as the other one
Searches in my pocket for the car key buried among candy, pens, paper clips, and coins.

Inside my car, a mood of coldness wraps me up. I stare at the lifeless street except for a bird up on a tree.

Ignoring the uninteresting day’s rhythm, it pops in and out of his tree hole carrying pieces of wood with his beak throwing them at the wind, as my mind quickly races to Bob Dylan’s famous
line, “ the answer my friend is blowing in the wind.”

Inside the car, I stare at the bird once again doing his job diligently, as I search for my answer in the wind.

Golden Oldie

Golden Oldie
Rita Dove

I made it home early, only to get
stalled in the driveway-swaying
at the wheel like a blind pianist caught in a tune
meant for more than two hands playing.
The words were easy, crooned
by a young girl dying to feel alive, to discover
a pain majestic enough
to live by. I turned the air conditioning off,
leaned back to float on a film of sweat,
and listened to her sentiment:
Baby, where did our love go?-a lament
I greedily took in
without a clue who my lover
might be, or where to start looking.

Famous

Famous
By Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to the silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it,
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men,
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it did.

Love is a Sharing

Love is a Sharing
Piri Thomas

Love is a sharing
and a caring,
Born of truth
Love is not using
Or being used
Love is not abusing
or being abused

Love is not even
Giving or taking
For that leads to
counting and accountings
of "look what I did for you?"

So, verily, merrily, I say unto you,
That love is a sharing
A caring
Born of truth.
For those are the roots
From which all us children flow.

Punto.

My Tactic and My Strategy

My Tactic and My Strategy
Mario Benedetti

My tactic is to look at you
to learn who you are and to
love you the way you are.

My tactic is to speak and to listen to you
building with words an indestructible bridge.

My tactic is to stay in your memory.
I don’t know how and under what pretext,
but to stay there is my desire.

My tactic is to be honest
without selling a simulacrum of ourselves to each other.
In that way, we won’t have a curtain or an abyss in front of us.

My strategy however is deeper and simple.
My strategy is that one day I don’t know how or under what pretext
at last you will need me.

The Complete Bushisms -

What a riot!!!
The Complete Bushisms - Updated frequently. By Jacob Weisberg