Tag: student writing

Published Writers in Our Midst

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Jose LR

A new edition of The Literacy Review is out, and the University Settlement Adult Literacy Program has four students who have their work published in it: Elia Cheng, Jesus Gomez, Xiu Lin, and Galyna Nyzhnyk.

The Literacy Review is an annual journal of writing from adult literacy programs throughout New York City. Edited by NYU Gallatin students, the book is distributed at a celebration that includes readings by the newly published writers. The faculty adviser for the Literacy Review is NYU Gallatin Professor June Foley, who also teaches an advanced writing class here at University Settlement.

Last week, our student writers were invited to the Literacy Review celebration at NYU. Jose Gomez (pictured above) read his story to everyone in attendance. You can read it for yourself right here:

A RAINY, CHILLY, BEAUTIFUL DAY

Jesus Gomez

It was Wednesday morning, a regular day, but it looked particularly beautiful to me. It was raining, and it was a little bit chilly. I took the bus to my work. The bus ran on Fifth Avenue next to Central Park. There was a lot of traffic, and the bus moved very slowly. I thought it was a bad idea to take the bus because I don’t like to arrive late for my work, but when I looked through the window, it was beautiful as I saw the rain, and the leaves from the trees turning different colors. It was amazing that for one moment I could forget I was going to work and that I was late for work.

I hadn’t felt something like that for a long time. I remembered the days growing up in Mexico when I played with my friends in the rain. Nobody cared about being wet or getting sick. After we finished playing, everybody went home, and my mother was very mad. She told me, “If you get sick, don’t tell me. I don’t want to hear that you are sick, and you don’t want to go to school.”

I told my mama, “Don’t worry. I am not going to tell you anything.” After my mama finished talking to me, I took a very hot shower. Then my mama made me hot chocolate and called me to the kitchen, where I drank my hot chocolate. I went to the living room and lay down on the sofa for hours. I felt great.

Finally, the bus started moving faster, and I could see a few people walking down the street. Everybody had an umbrella. But I saw one old lady with a little kid who started playing in the water. He opened his arms and started jumping. I said to myself: This is what I’m talking about. Sometimes you need to enjoy the day, and it doesn’t matter if it is raining, sunny, or snowing. You can enjoy every moment. This was my beautiful day. That was when I felt happy. When I remembered the day in Mexico, it was a good memory that motivated me to write this essay.

To read more, click here.

 

 

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More First Impressions of the U.S.

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Here’s another story from Class 1B about one student’s first days in the United States. Take the quiz when you’re finished to test your comprehension!

Facing the Future’s New Challenges

Esther Li

My family moved to the United States in 2012. First, I felt all things were strange. I saw the environment was beautiful, the people talked about… I didn’t understand what they said. But I was lucky because my oldest son’s English was very good. Before we came to United States, he was an international student and he lived in Arizona for five years. So as a first stop, my family chose Arizona, and my son finished his Master’s degree. He liked the United States. He didn’t want to go back to China. Therefore my family moved there.

I lived there for a while, and I had many problems because my English was not so good. And my youngest son missed his friends back in China. So life was difficult and I became bored. But I didn’t think too much. Yesterday was history – I had to enrich my life and I had to face the future’s challenges and I was a parent. So I was an example for my youngest son.

So I decided to study English. I bought some books. I learned words. I lived there for one year. I interviewed for a job and got it. I was an inventory clerk and worked in the shipping department. Every day I had to drive a car to work on the highway for forty minutes. I was tired, but I liked the job. At lunch time we talked about “the good old days.” We enjoyed our jobs.

So the days passed quickly for about two years. One day my sister invited me to come to New York. I didn’t want to move to New York. I liked Arizona; there the houses were cheaper. There was a lot of parking and I had made some friends. But in the United States I only have my sister. I had to take care of this relationship.

So, my husband and I moved to New York in 2015. I didn’t like it here at first.  There is a subway and buses, so it’s convenient. Here there are many supermarkets, clothes stores, movie theaters and people from many different countries who make me learn about cultures. I like my job, because I have time to go to school to study English. More and more I like New York. I believe in myself. I will face the future’s new challenges! Change is not merely necessary to life, it is life.

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To read more stories, click here.

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First Impressions of the U.S.

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Class 1B recently wrote stories about their first days in the United States. Read one story below and take the quiz afterwards to test your understanding!

A Memorable Day

Shelly Zhong

My husband, my son, and I came to the U.S. on September 30, 2013 because my husband said, “We  are so young. We should go to see the world outside.”

In the morning, we took three suitcases, and went to the Guangzhou Baiyun airport. The first stop was at the Hong Kong airport for one hour. After that we changed to the U.S. airplane and said goodbye to our country.

On the plane, my mood was very uneasy. I thought a lot. In China, I had a good job, but I couldn’t I do it in the U.S. because my English was very bad. Also I heard that in the U.S. it snows a lot in the winter and it’s very cold. I was very worried.

After about fifteen hours, we arrived at JFK airport. It was night. After we picked up our three suitcases, we waited for my sister.

I heard my sister call my name. We hugged. My sister helped me pull the suitcase and we walked outside and waited for my sister-in-law to pick us up.

It was raining, and I felt very cold. I didn’t see many houses or many buildings. I saw a lot of different skin colors and heard different languages.

After we got to my sister’s home, my sister prepared a hearty dinner for us. But I wasn’t in the mood to eat because I felt very tired, and I felt strange and homesick. I cried. I wanted to go back to China. My sister held me and said, “Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”

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To read more stories, click here.

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More Money, Money, Money!

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Here’s another money story from Class 3C. Remember to take the quiz afterwards to test your comprehension!

Coins

Stacy Situ

When I came to the U.S., I felt very confused about coins because in China we don’t use coins very often. We have two kinds of coins in my country. There are fifty jiao coins and one yuan coins. But in the U.S., we always use pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to pay for food or buy something.

When I first went to the supermarket to buy some food, I didn’t know what a penny was or what a nickel was. I felt confused. When I paid, I took out all my coins and counted.

The cashier looked angry because I was very slow. She said, “I can get change for you.” After that, when I went to the supermarket I only used bills, like ten dollars, five dollars or more. I had many, many coins in my wallet. It was very heavy, so I told my husband, and my husband applied for a credit card for me, so when I go to the supermarket now I just use my credit card.

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To read more, click here.

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Money, Money, Money

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Class 3C is at it again – this time they wrote about money, Read one story below and take the quiz afterwards to test your comprehension.

Lotto

Natalia Briceno

Like every week, I went to play my lotto numbers and as always I didn’t check my ticket right away.

After a few days I did and to my surprise “I won! I won! I won!” I yelled inside my apartment. I couldn’t believe my numbers appeared on the computer and I finally won!

“What can I do now? Call my family? Should I cash the ticket or should I wait for my husband?” So many questions came to my mind. “Breathe and calm down. Wait for your husband to come back from work,” I said to myself.

The time went slowly. I decided to take a nap to try to relax. A few minutes later, I had a nightmare. I was trying to find my son, who was on the street. I looked around and around. I asked so many people about him, if someone had seen him or someone had recognized him. But nobody had seen him.

I was crying and scared. I went to the police station and reported him missing.

I didn’t want to wait at home for news about my son and decided to go look for him.  A powerful force led me to go to his favorite park, the Colorado, named for its red statues.

It was dark. I walked to the playground but I didn’t find anybody. I decided to walk to the small water fountain and I saw a small shadow. My heart jumped and immediately I recognized the hair of my son.

“Mom, I’m sorry! I got lost! But look at what I found for you – maybe you can win something!” he told me smilingly and I saw that in his hands he had a paper. It was a lottery ticket.

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To read more, click here.

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Lunar New Year Explained

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Our computer class students put together a snazzy series of descriptions/explanations of Lunar New Year, often called Chinese New Year. Here’s one sample – and make sure to take the quiz afterwards to test your comprehension!

new year

Chinese New Year

Fen Fen Liang

Chinese New Year is important for Chinese people. For Chinese New Year, there are a lot of things to celebrate. Before New Year’s Eve, we usually clean the house seriously. This symbolizes throwing away bad things from the last year and greeting good things in the coming year. After we clean the house, we usually paste many spring festival scrolls on the wall, in front of the door or anywhere we want to paste them. The words on the spring festival scrolls are wishes. Spring festival scrolls are red; red means luck.

I usually have New Year’s Eve dinner with my family. I have a big family, so my mother makes a lot of food for the dinner. Before we start to have the New Year’s Eve Dinner, we need to pray. During dinner we talk about many things, about jobs, kids, studies, the last year, the coming year and so on. After dinner we set off firecrackers, and we play cards or mahjong. Children get red envelopes from their older, married relatives. Some adults give red envelopes to their elders also, like their father, mother, grandfather or grandmother.

Chinese New Year is interesting. One, two or more lions dance together. The lions are not real lions, they are people in costume. This costume is to throw out bad luck. When the lions are coming you need to give them candy, oranges, lettuce and red envelopes. Children like the lion dances, firecrackers and red envelopes.

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To read more, click here.

 

 

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More Hospitals, Doctors, and Health

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Here’s another health-related story from Class 3C. When you’re finished reading, take the quiz to test your understanding.

 

Miaoxuan Yang

Terrible Disinfectant

One day ten years ago, I was changing sheets for my mother-in-law, and put some disinfectant on the dresser. When I finished changing the sheets, I turned back to look at my daughter and she was looking at me and holding the disinfectant. She said, “Mom, why does this Coke have a different flavor?”

I was surprised. “Did you drink it?” I asked her. She nodded.

I was so frightened. I quickly got some water and had her drink it, then I called my husband. While my husband was coming home, I took my daughter outside to wait for him.

After ten minutes, we arrived at the hospital emergency room. The doctor checked my daughter’s eyes and asked her some questions. Then he had my daughter drink a bottle of water and throw up. After that, the doctor told me, “Your daughter just drank a little, not too much. Don’t worry. When you get back home, have her keep drinking more water. That will be good.”

After this incident, every time I use disinfectant it still has a shadow.

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To read more, click here.

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