Viewpoints MVLA ADULT SCHOOL ESL STUDENT MAGAZINE SPRING 2024
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. Through all the challenges of the past several years, our students have shown amazing willingness to change and grow. Second, we would like to shine a spotlight on ALL of the hard-working adult students who are studying with 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, Sandy Cutshall, Sarah Dwight-Gilroy, Sara Dykes, Aysen Gokcen, Marilen Guilmineau, Michelle Hardcastle, Ruth Kirby, Sarah Krajewski, Anila Mittal, and Susan Silver. Finally, a special thanks goes to MVLA Adult School Director Julie Vo and Assistant Director Jonathan Fu 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. ESL teachers in our program submitted representative samples of students’ writing and artwork. 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 beside 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!
Henry and William are students in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening This “nutritional label” was made by Karen, a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning
Inha is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening Ana is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning
Vusale and Maryam are students in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening Sammy is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening Fang is a student in the Beginning High/ Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
Dance Competition in Las Vegas Las Vegas is a unique city. This city is very beautiful, especially before Christmas. The city is very elegant with Christmas toys and lights. But these days my daughter had a dance competition. She danced two parts of the Cindy is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon dance competition. The first part was the Standard and the second part was Latin. The Standard includes such dances as tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and pasodoble. The Latin includes chacha, rumba, and samba. She had spent a lot of time preparing before the championship. My daughter has two dance partners. But one of them did not work hard to achieve a result. Therefore, she was not very happy. My daughter was determined to change her Latin partner because she doesn’t like his indifferent attitude to the results. Overall, the result of these competitions was good and my daughter still performed well. After the competition, we had a little time for sightseeing. We visited Little Venice, the big Ferris wheel, the Circus du Soleil, and other beautiful places. In the circus, we watched a performance on the water. This is the only performance that doesn’t go anywhere and can only be seen in Las Vegas. It was a fantastic performance. In conclusion, I want to say that our trip to Las Vegas was unforgettable. We got good impressions and positive emotions. Viktor is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Liudmyla is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon Veronica is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening Paulino is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening
D.M. is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning A.Q. is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon
T.Y. is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon Yufen and Ai Bing are students in the Beginning ESL Senior class Henry is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening
Trip to Guanajuato Do you like strawberries? “I found the biggest and most delicious strawberries.” These words were used by my mom to try to get me up at five o'clock in the morning when I was 10 years old. Now, whenever I eat a strawberry, I remember this trip and this story. This story happened in my country, Mexico. I remember I wanted one trip like this for a long time because in this case I was going with my parents. I mean I had gone on a trip, but not with my parents together. And now we were going to visit my grandparents and other parts to the state where my dad was born in Guanajuato. We got in the car and my dad drove like three Senol is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening hours to get to our first stop: Celaya. In this state we ate a wonderful breakfast, here is very typical to have the Cajeta and Fried Pork Skin/Rind. Then we continued maybe for one hour more and we arrived in Salamanca. Here was the house of my grandparents. My grandmother had been cooking in the kitchen mole with turkey, and tortillas with cheese of a goat, and my uncle in one part of the house had made a hole and he was cooking barbecue of sheep. We stayed another two days and in those days I went with my dad to visit my other uncles and cousins. Finally, we needed to continue the adventure and we arrived in Irapuato. Here we stayed in a hotel and we were so lucky because we arrived in the moment it happened to be the strawberry festival here in Irapuato. They produce a lot of strawberries. Some of the typical food has strawberries. Actually, you can find sculpture of strawberries. They have a very famous store: “Cristalita”. Here you can buy jelly, baskets of strawberries, milk, water, yogurt, frozen sugared strawberries, and other things you can imagine with strawberries. I had never seen and eaten a lot of strawberries, never. Then, we went with a farmer to this store: “El fresal”. Here, we learned everything about all the strawberry process. Alex is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening Now, I remember this trip with some sadness because my dad is dead and I really like that more people know about my country, but more about the state where my dad was born.
Eliyer and Dionicia are students in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the evening Xiao J is a student in the Beginning High/Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
These photographs were taken by Anastasiia, a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning
Frangel, Safiye and Rafael are students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the morning
This brochure was created by students in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening Wenhui is a student in the Beginning High/Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
This poster was created by students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the morning Liubov is a student in the Intermediate Senior ESL class
Diep, Keiko, and Kateryna are students in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning
“Spring” A photograph by Xiaolu, a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning This poster was created by students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening
Hyogyeong is a student in the Intermediate High/Advanced ESL class in the afternoon Why can many people not afford housing? How can the state help to solve this problem? All over the world there are too many homeless people. They start with good education, work and they try to build their life. In a moment, everything crashes. So, they become unsuccessful, poor people, who get stuck in a vicious cycle. What is the problem they face? Affordable housing or probably shelters, where they can live. Why are these issues that we need to talk about? Statistics show that in America, probably, more than 500,000 people are homeless because of the dearth of affordable housing, lack of employment opportunities, low wages, and the alcohol and drug addiction are the most common causes of homelessness. One solution is to increase wages. There are a lot of shelters that can help homeless people, poor families, people with addictions, etc. to stay there for a while. States need to help those kinds of people. Some subsidies or benefits need to be paid. If the department of the state can not do this, how can we solve this problem? Some non-profit organizations gather donations from caring people that help them to build shelters or houses. If more and more caring people will talk about the problem to others or to the government, probably we can provide more houses and make life better for the homeless and people, who can not afford to live freely. Anastasiia is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning
. This artwork is by Dubraska, a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning
Ricardo and Melike are students in the Beginning Low ESL class in the morning The United States Healthcare System When I moved to the US and joined medical insurance, I found the US health system has good aspects but also has bad aspects. People could visit very experienced doctors and get the newest effective medicine in the world if people have terrible diseases. That is fortunate. But the bad news is that people might wait for 2 months or longer. As you know, some diseases will develop fast as time flies by. Time is life. Wasting time is a murder. The healthcare system could be improved by both government and hospitals. Firstly, the government should help to establish the digital hospital system so that doctors could get all the records from the electronic system whatever patients visit other hospitals. Patients also could get more convenience from telemedicine. They don’t need to visit doctors in person, and it also saves doctor’s time. Doctors always need to spend time on asking the past illness experiences of patients. The digital hospital system will help both doctors and patients. Also, I think if there are more healthcare assistant workers it will be more helpful to the processing of hospitals. The government should cover more percentage cost to certificated schools and give more help to people who want to be healthcare assistants. After that, there will be more healthcare workers working in the system. Therefore, if the healthcare system could be improved, people could get healthcare services faster before diseases developed, and they could use the newest technology and medicine for treatment. That would be the most advanced healthcare system in the world. Xiaolu is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning
Farah and Felicitas are students in the Beginning Senior ESL class Soledad is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening
Marcela S is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning K.T. is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning
Frandi is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning Maura is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning A.L. is a student in the Beginning High/ Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
Nina, Carlos and Adan are students in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening
Sehmus T is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning Marciano is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the evening Linlin is a student in the Intermediate High/ Advanced ESL class in the afternoon
Guo yuan is a student in the Intermediate Senior ESL class Have you told a lie with your family before? Have you ever told anyone the truth of the lie? My sister watched the movie with her boyfriend, but told my mother she needed to do school’s work with a classmate in the library. My brother bought a new smartphone for my father, but told him the wrong price. I also had experience being a cheat. I cheated my parents by saying that school supported us to go to Thailand to perform our project. It was a lie, but it was also a gift for my twenty year old birthday gift to myself. To achieve this plan, I needed to pursue my parents, earn enough money for the trip, and book all the tickets. First, I decided the topic and the place of the professional form. Of course, I used the key words “what’s the first choice to go to Thailand” and “the best route to relax in Thailand”. After I chose the place, and confirmed the schedule to fly, I copied the Thailand college’s website introduction and school building picture to create the activity information post. I also connected with my classmate to show how excited and hopeful I was to join the activity on the social media application. And then I printed the post and showed my account to my parents. My parents promised to accept the proposal. After I finished the first step, I needed to earn enough money to push my plan. To address this problem I chose to teach high school students to earn money. Unfortunately, the salary was not enough to support my trip. I needed to seek a second job, and keep my parents and their friends unknowing about it. I chose the second job which was at a neighboring site to be a shop clerk. As the time passed, I had enough money to go to Thailand. If I didn’t book the plane, it’s only a joke for myself. I applied for the passport, bought the airplane ticket and submitted the visa application. Not only did I spend money to buy tickets, but also connected the hotelier to check my order. Before I arrived in Thailand, I needed to ensure everything was on schedule. I didn’t forget to figure out the native culture, before I bought these tickets. Respect of all different cultures is more important than how much I spent. I had to prepare sufficiently to support myself to pass a wonderful trip. It was a good experience for myself. If you ask me, “Have you ever regarded it?”, I would say “Yes “. If I have one more chance to revise the problem, I would tell my parents the truth and invite them to go on the trip with me. Hana is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Dear Hiring Manager, I am interested in the position of Data Scientist, Product Analytics at the company TikTok. I have gained experience for fifteen years working at a telecommunications company. My bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and my software skills are a great match for this position. I will send you my resume, and you can see my skills. I am completing a program in Python at Michigan University. I have analysis skills. In addition, I have been taking ESL classes. Olena is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening TikTok is an amazing and respected company. I believe that is a perfect company for making incredibles contributions. I am hardworking, organized. I am a problem solver and continuous improvement, also I have communications skills. Thank you for your valuable time and consideration in reviewing my application. I look forward to meeting you and discussing the opportunity to work for TikTok. Sincerely, Marisol M— Marisol is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning Daniela is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening
Oleksandr and Aslan are students in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning Elena is a student in the Intermediate Senior ESL class
Ya jun and Tahereh are students in the Beginning Senior ESL class The Day When I Discovered a New Culture in My Own Country my own country. One day when I traveled in El Salvador to a specific town, Ataco, I discovered another language in I didn’t know about that other culture. I had never heard anything about people speaking Nahualt. I just knew of a language that was called Cacaguira. In that town all elderly people speak Nahualt. They understand a little bit of Spanish, but their kids don’t speak Nahualt: just Spanish and a little bit of English. People with ancestral roots live in Ataco. That was very interesting for me because I’ve never heard about another culture in my own country: just my common Salvadorean culture. But in this new root, I got to pray with them. The way of the prayer for them was thanks for everything, not material things. They say thanks for the sun, the moon, the earth, and for food, and they pray in the direction of four cardinal directions. The God of theirs is the Sun God. It was very introspective because you connected with yourself and with the Pachamama: the word that they use to refer to Mother Earth. I remember that I questioned: what is your temple? And they answered me, “Our temple is that the sky is our roof, our walls are trees and mountains, and our floor is the Earth”. They live with simple things. For example, they don’t have big houses or cars. They don’t live with anything like that because they say that they preferred to live with “light luggage”. They just want to live in peace with others. They don’t have police or a delinquency because they live in harmony with they themselves. They don’t have restaurants like McDonalds or another fast food. They eat plants and herbs. They have good health. For me, it was ancestral travel, but in the real life they give you a great teaching. I would like to learn their language just so that culture is not left to die. But I think it is more difficult than English or Spanish. So, meanwhile, I’ve just been learning English. Bryan is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Amy is a student in the Intermediate Low ESL class in the morning Domitila is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening
This artwork is by Chau, a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the morning Asli is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning Floral Designer Versus Fashion Designer There are two different types of jobs which I want to compare and contrast. Floral Designer and Fashion Designer have some similarities and differences despite the fact that they look totally different. In fact, both jobs require creativity. Also they can work together for theater, film studios and performing arts. You can learn skills on the job in a few months so both careers don't need experience. You need to follow recent style trends and develop your skills. Also both careers give you a chance to start your own business. On the other hand, they require different educational history. Different from fashion designer, a high school diploma is enough for being a floral designer. However you need a bachelor's degree to be for being a fashion designer. One of the biggest difference is between two jobs is that annual wage. Fashion designers expected income is $76,000 per year. In contrast floral designers expected income $33,000 per year. The jobs of fashion designer or floral designer require passion, working hard and being progressive. The most important thing is choosing the right job which makes you happy in the long term.
Wilson is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening Joselin is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening Chunxue L is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning
Ziyu is a student in the Intermediate Senior ESL class S.K.D. is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning
Chau is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the morning
Tairine is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening HOW TO TEACH A CAR TO SWIM My friends and I planned a fun day camping, but not everything was fun. One Friday, later on the job, we threw the full cooler and the camphouses into my Jeep for later jumping into the adventure. After a road full of laughter and talks, we arrived at the camping area. It was a darker night, but the light of the bonfires helped. There were a lot of people in the area, music, motorcycles and tons of bbqs. You could smell different types of food. We stopped with some friends for a while. When all turned more silent and you could hear the river from afar, we decided to go to our camp place to cook the dinner and arm the camp. For that, the fastest way was to pass over the river. So, trusting in all my skills, thanks to the alcohol, I say - “It’s a Jeep. You can do everything in a Jeep.”…Almost. We passed over the river. We jumped over a rock and the Jeep fell on the rock. It just started to rain. At the beginning, the water was in the middle of the tire. We spent a pair of hours trying everything: pulling the Jeep, jumping on the Jeep, putting some rock on the tires, making a lot of maneuvers to escape from there, but the water was up. Now, it was almost to the doors, So, I was stressed and scared, but later...the water started to move the Jeep a little!!! And like a miracle, a group of 4x4 cars passed next to us and they see us. A pair of them pulled us, and finally all was over. At the end of the night, we arrived in our area, made a delicious dinner and we had a good time. I learned that not all decisions made with alcohol are good, but with friends all is better…not for my car. Gonzalo is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Amada is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the morning
Rafael is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening Melissa is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning Amazon Delivery Driver Versus Doordash Driver Many people can’t decide which is the better option when we talk about delivery drivers, the most important for study is what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Definitely which both needed have driving experience, in like manner know how to search for locations, also have a good communication with the client, when we talk about Doordash Driver one the advantages is that you can manage your own time, similarly with Amazon Delivery Driver because you have your itinerary and can organize your day, in the same way with Doordash Driver doesn’t have any one managing the day. Although these Delivery Drivers have much in common, they also have important differences, with a Doordash Driver you will not have a fixed salary or a profitable income since your days will depend on demand. On the other hand with Amazon Delivery Driver you will be able to ensure a fixed monthly income and you will be able to generate extra earnings in overtime hours, also with Amazon Delivery Driver you will be able to have benefits, granted by the company on the contrary to Doordash that you will pay for your own insurance. In conclusion both jobs are good options, but Amazon Delivery Driver has more advantages and benefits that Doordash Driver, also can ensure better economic stability.
Q.H. is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the morning Vietana is a student in the Beginning High ESL class in the evening Elvin is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening
Amy Y is a student in the Beginning Literacy ESL class in the morning Julieta is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening Jou is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
The Story of My Jaw It was the most wonderful event of my life and I would like not to be in such a situation again. It was unforgettable for me and happened to me for the first time. I could not open my mouth for a long time. This is how the jaw story begins. I went to the dentist because I could not open my left jaw wide. I talked to the doctor and he started asking me questions. When did it start? Was it a hard hit? Do you sleep on your left side a lot? The doctor started asking similar questions. So, I got sick for two months and had a sore throat and cough. I could not open my mouth wide when I got up in the morning. I told the doctor and the doctor sent me for an MRI. Dimitre and Xiue are students in the Intermediate Senior ESL class I went to Stanford Medicine Health because I came to the MRI to check my jaw. I registered and waited for a while and the assistant took me away. The doctor asked a few questions before the examination and began to slowly insert me into some kind of apparatus, laying me down. I lay there for 40 minutes. The examination was over and I got up. The doctor said he would send the answer to my doctor and off I went. After the dentist called and said he had received the test results, I asked why. It was because there was water in the left jaw bone. They said that it should be removed. I agreed and the day of the operation was set. An hour and a half operation was performed. I opened my eyes and slowly came to my senses. The doctor told me that the operation went well. “Your jaw will be fine in a week or two. If you keep doing the exercises I told you, it will open quickly”, said the doctor. I started doing everything the doctor told me and it got better day by day. Finally, everything went well and my jaw started to open like before. I was very happy. I started eating my favorite foods. I express my gratitude to the doctors and my husband. Dilfuza is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening
Mehmet is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening The United States Healthcare Sys tem The US healthcare system has both a good side and a bad side. I had an appointment with a primary doctor here just one time. There was a great doctor and reliable healthcare so I felt comfortable with US healthcare at the time. However, it was hard to get an appointment soon. Because when you need to see your doctor, you should make sure what type of insurance you have, and which hospital could help you have a problem. And I was like, I should wait for my turn of appointment because there are a lot of people who need to help with the same doctor. It would be great if there were more doctors. Recently, I learned about the US healthcare system in this class. But I wouldn't say, now I understand… I would say I understand part of the problem in the healthcare system. In my humble opinion two of the problems are cost and lack of insurance. I believe everyone needs to access healthcare as you need it. But, what happens if you lack insurance or you don't have enough money? You may miss an opportunity to see a doctor, and it is so bad. The textbook said “We could make more people eligible for Medicaid. “I think we have great ways that came from other countries such as Singapore's ideas. All people have health insurance and basic care at a hospital is free. It would be nice, wouldn't it? Baku is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the morning
Jiayan is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the morning
Viorica is a student in the Beginning Low ESL class in the evening Jose is a student in the Advanced ESL class in the evening Mei is a student in the Beginning High/Intermediate Low ESL class in the afternoon
Nina is a student in the Intermediate High ESL class in the evening
Mountain View Los Altos Adult School 333 Moffett Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 940-1333 www.mvla.net/as
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