Viewpoints MVLA ADULT SCHOOL ESL STUDENT MAGAZINE SPRING 2022 Painting by Aizhen, a student in the Intermediate ESL senior class
Acknowledgments First, to the students who have shared their work in this magazine: We celebrate YOU, your hard work and your progress in learning English. We returned this year to in-person classes at our school after more than a year of online instruction, and we have all been amazed by our students’ resilience and flexibility in this uncertain time. Second, we would like to shine a spotlight on ALL of the hard-working adult students who are studying at our school to improve their English language skills. This magazine represents just a fraction of them. Next, THANK YOU to the ESL instructors in our program for their dedication to our students and their help in gathering these writing samples: Dennis Bacigalupi, Florence BeGole, Helen Choy, Sandy Cutshall, Alan Duperrault, Sarah Dwight-Gilroy, Aysen Gokcen, Michelle Hardcastle, Ruth Kirby, Sarah Krajewski, Anila Mittal, and Susan Silver. Finally, a special thanks goes to MVLA Adult School Director Julie Vo for your support for the ESL program—its goals and objectives, our staff members, and especially our students. Magazine layout by Sandy Cutshall
Introduction This magazine features writing samples from students in the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program at Mountain View Los Altos (MVLA) Adult School in Mountain View, California. All of the levels we teach are represented: Beginning Literacy, Beginning Low and High; Intermediate Low and High; Advanced and SeniorFocused (Beginning and Intermediate). ESL teachers in our program submitted representative samples of students’ writing and artwork. Some of these are loosely related to the theme of “Past…Present...Future” and others explore different topics. Some of what you see here are in-class assignments; some examples are out-of-class projects or essays. You will see writing that has been through a significant revision process alongside other less polished examples of class work and general writing practice. While not every minor error is corrected, overall, these compositions demonstrate the writing progress of the English learners in our program. We hope you enjoy it!
Keila is a student in the Intermediate High ESL evening class
Frangel is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning My long term goal is getting a degree and finding my first job in the USA. In my country, I was a lawyer, but I figured out that I want to try something totally new. Currently I attend an ESL class at Mountain View Los Altos Adult School. And while I’m improving my English skills, I want to take a few different classes to see what I like most. There are many steps to achieve my goal. I want to keep attending this class and at the same time to take Introduction to the Java Programming Language at the MVLA School. Next year, I’m going to go to college for the credit ESL class. I’m also going to proceed taking different professional classes. When I’ll feel more confident of my English, I’m going to go to community college for a degree. By that time I should already know what I want to be. After my graduation, I’ll be ready for looking for my first job in the USA. If I would enjoy working in this job, I’ll be happy and proud because I was able to find myself as a professional. Tatiana is a student in the Advanced ESL morning class
Carlos is a student in the Beginning Low ESL evening class Yajing is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL morning class
Getting a GED Diploma My personal goal is to get my GED diploma because I want to increase my education level. I am currently attending an ESL class at Mountain View Los Altos Adult School. I plan to take an orientation class for GED. I am going to take a GED class at Mountain View Los Altos Adult School. Then I want to enroll in evening class in order to get a GED test. It teaches students in which class you need help. I realize that my goal takes time and hard work, but this makes me feel happy, and I hope that I have success. Yareli is a student in the Advanced ESL morning class Marcos is an Intermediate Low ESL student in the evening class
One thing I really like is to look at huge gardens with a lot of flowers. I really like to enjoy their beautiful colors, and the smell of flowers is amazing to see all those colors and all varieties of flowers. I would like to enjoy them more often, but sometimes I can’t do that because it is beautiful but that causes a lot of allergies too. Also another of my hobbies is crocheting. I really love to do that when I have free time. I really enjoy making a lot of crafts with crochet. When I have free time I do that, because I felt relaxing when I do crochet, when I’m doing crochet I don’t feel the time, in that occasion the time was flying, I enjoy my daughters faces when I finish one doll or one animal, flower or any character that they like, I like when they ask me if I can do something for a gift for their friends. Sometimes I felt very proud when they gave any of those crafts to their friends and they say my mom did it. I would like in the future to have more free time and make that every day, and why not maybe I can sell some of those crafts. But for right now those thoughts are only in my dreams. Xochitl is a student in the Advanced ESL evening class NG is a student in the Beginning High ESL morning class
Rafaela (top right) and Luis (bottom left) and Paula (bottom right) are students in the Beginning Low ESL morning class
Monica is a student in the Beginning High ESL evening class Cemal, Evelyn and Eugenia are students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the morning
Vanessa is a student in the Beginning High ESL morning class
Faya is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning My favorite thing to do when I get some time is to exercise. I really enjoy boxing and also that's how I met my wife. I love just to punch the bag and have some time to clear my mind. Doing any kind of sport is great to do, more like a reset button. The most I like about this sport I can always practice because I can share with my kids at home. Sometimes my daughter joins me and that makes it more especial. Also I love camping but lately is being hard because of work school but if I have to pick one thing to do definitely will be boxing. Probably because I can be my self by doing something that I love to do. Thank you. Rafael is a student in the Advanced ESL evening class
Jose Luis is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening Sergio is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening
Vianey is in the Intermediate Low ESL evening class
Lulu is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening Marina Marina, who I met forty years ago, is my best friend. She is the wife of my husband’s friend, who was his classmate at university. Marina is a person that has a big and kind heart. So, she has a lot of friends. She is always ready to help anyone who needs her help or attention. Also, Marina is a person who knows how to do many things. When she got a dog that needs to be groomed she learned how to do it. She knows how to sew and knit. She was doing repairs on the summer house she built with her husband. Marina is also a great grandma. She tells amazing stories to her grandchildren, plays both chess and football. Kids love her very much. Now she is living with her son’s family in Canada. But I believe that we will definitely meet in Ukraine! Nataliia is a student in the Advanced ESL morning class
Jiayan is in the Beginning High/ Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
Be A Chef My personal goal is be a chef, because I want to know how to create new recipes and new dishes. I would like to cook for share a good time with my family and friends. I hope to work as a chef some day in the future. I plan to take gastronomy classes at a culinary college. I want to learn about other cultures through their cuisine. My dream is to have my own restaurant and make people happy with my food. I want to be a chef because cooking reminds me of my childhood, makes me forget about problems. In the future I want to do something that makes me happy like being a chef. I know it’s difficult to achieve but nothing is impossible if you want it and work hard. Delia is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening Speaking English Well is My Goal My goal is to speak English well because I want to settle down in United States, and I will take care of my son better when he goes to school in the future. I currently attend ESL class at the Mountain View Los Altos Adult School. I need to learn more English in order to improve my English skills. I plan to attend again ESL class at the Mountain View Adult School and to attend non-credit ESL at DeAnza Community College next year. I’m going to attend ESL class at the Mountain View Adult School in order to speak English better. I’m going to enroll in summer school and Advanced ESL again in August at the Mountain View Adult School. And I will find non-credit class at DeAnza Community College next year. I will contact Gina in order to know information (registration process, placement test, etc.) of the DeAnza Community College. I heard Gina can help me out about DeAnza. Attending Advanced ESL class at Mountain View Adult School and non-credit ESL class at DeAnza will help me enhance my English skills and take care better when my son goes to school in the future. If I speak English better, I will be proud and comfortable. Jinseon is a student in the Advanced ESL morning class
Walter is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning Zuli is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening Shoko is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the morning
Lisa is a student in the Intermediate ESL senior class IGR is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening
Vicky is an Intermediate High ESL student in the morning class S.L. is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning
Estela is in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon Oscar, Mireya, Jose Luis, and Rigoberto are students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening
Dingan is a student in the Beginning senior ESL class These students are in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Marta is an Intermediate High ESL morning student My Hobbies I don’t have free time. Rarely, I have time and have several hobbies. First my hobby is sewing. When I was a teenager I was familiar with a girl. She went to school with me. She wanted to be a fashion designer and sewed many clothes for herself. It was my dream. I wanted to sew too. I didn’t have a sewing machine, but I sewed many things with my hands. It was an amazing time. All electronics in my country are very expensive. We moved to the US in November 2019. When I had my birthday in December 2019 I wanted to buy a sewing machine. I bought it. I was happy. Here it is really easy and cheap. I remembered the big box near my door. Now, I have a 2 weaving machine. First I bought in 2019 and second (overlock sewing machine) I bought in 2020. In the next few months I want to sew a beautiful shirt. I hope I can do it. Hah. Second, my hobby is collecting puzzles. This hobby really calms me down. I am collecting a beautiful puzzle right now. Landscape in Italy. So, it’s several of my hobbies. Thanks =) Helga is a student in the Advanced ESL evening class
Rica Rica, who lives in the same city as me, is the first friend in the U.S. for me. After I came to this area from Japan, because of the pandemic, I had difficulty with seeing new people. I didn’t have any friends who talked to me about the life in the new country. Then, I found a post that said Rica was looking for new friends on a website. I contacted her. Through exchanging messages, I found she was a Japanese woman who was the same age as me. She said she had lived here for another more year than me, and she knew a lot of things around the area. After a while, we finally met for lunch and got along with each other shortly. We had the same interests, which are music and movies, and she inspired me to try new things here. We’ve been friends for two years, and we hang out sometimes now. The other day, she said to me that she was depressed during the pandemic actually, and hanging out with me released her stresses a lot. I was really glad to hear that because I thought I was the only person comforted by meeting. Rica is more of a new friend, but I suppose we will be best friends. Natsumi is a student in the Advanced ESL morning class Evelyn is a student in the Beginning Low ESL morning class
V.T. is a student in the Beginning High ESL morning class Olga is in the Intermediate ESL senior class
Liliya is a student in the Intermediate Combo ESL senior class
My thoughts are that it all depends on the way you think, because some people can not control their lives having technology in their hands. I have seen how people waste time using technology and when we waste our time we are killing our lives. That is what I have thought since I was an adult. Life is too short to just waste it on something that does not help us to grow up as an entrepreneur. But on the other hand there is something very positive about technology because technology has come to change our lives. Technology is the best thing that we can have at this time. I love technology because wherever I am I have the world in my hands. Saias is in the Advanced ESL evening class Zhishun is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning
Eduardo (left) and Veronica (right) are students in the Beginning Literacy ESL morning class Guadalupe is in the Beginning High ESL evening class
Edgar is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL evening class Svetlana is in the Beginning High/Intermediate Low ESL afternoon class
Fany is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL morning class Francisco is a student in the Intermediate senior ESL class
Amada is an Intermediate ESL student in the morning Ezequiel is a student in the Beginning High class in the evening
Yanka is a student in the Intermediate ESL senior class Oscar is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening
Nery is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening SL is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening
Zofia, Mohamed, Zehira and Elena are students in the Beginning ESL senior class
Madhuri is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced afternoon class
Tomas is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL evening class N.G. is a student in the Beginning High ESL morning class
Delma is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon
Martha is a student in the Beginning High evening class This year has been different from the others. I started getting into things I've never thought about. I started exercising to feel healthier, and actually I'm in love with that. I like to move my body specially because it helps me to get rid of stress from tired days. I move my body every day in different ways, three times a week I lift weights (no heavier than 8 pounds haha), one day I go out for a run or jump the rope, twice a week I practice yoga (it’s so relaxing) and the last day I just stretch my body. This is an example of an ordinary week because also depends in my mood, because sometimes I don't feel craving or with many energy to lift so instead do something relaxing but the point is to move my body and my mindset is now different, because I used to think that I needed to work out 2 hours to be healthy but that is not true, because it is enough to move your body 30 minutes. Another thing I started doing is reading. I'm so happy about that decision. This year I've been reading one book each month (I'm finishing my third book) and it is something that I really enjoyed, and I like to find time to read. I like to read 15-30 min every day. This means a lot to me because I was not a person who loves to read. On the contrary I hated reading, but I think it was just because I read educational books and I didn't know that lecture is not just that because there are a lot of types of books. My new hobby I've been getting into is to journal and so far I can say that is a wonderful thing. Just 10 minutes to write about how my day was or how I am feeling, it makes me feel chilling and get new and increase my energy. Yessenia is a student in the Advanced ESL evening class
Victoria is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening Belky is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening
Viktor is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL evening class
W.C. is a student in the Intermediate Low class in the morning Yukina is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced class in the afternoon
My Life in Mountain View I've lived in Mountain View since February 2022. Living in the United States is better than Brazil, because it's safer and has more career opportunities. The first thing my husband and I did was visit Los Angeles. I thought that place was so amazing. We visited the Walk of Fame, Hollywood, Santa Monica Pier and Disneyland. The day we were at Disneyland, there was a live recording of the Super Bowl. We watched the presenters narrating the game live with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. We returned to Mountain View and I started studying English and Web Development to improve my skills and find a new job. Starting a new life with my husband in the USA was the best choice I ever made. I miss my parents, and when I can I will visit them. Karen is a student in the Intermediate High ESL evening class Martha is a student in the Beginning High ESL morning class
Hong Jun and Pei Fang are students in the Beginning Literacy ESL morning class Rigoberto is a student in the Beginning Low ESL evening class
Y.P. is in the Intermediate Low ESL morning class Brenda is in the Beginning Low ESL morning class
Kishore is in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon
Mountain View Los Altos Adult School 333 Moffett Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 940-1333 www.mvla.net/as/esl
1 Publizr