What's Education All About?

I've been thinking about education the last few days. School has started here in America and I've got to say that some are happy about that and some are not so. As a former teacher I'm a bit opinionated concerning what education should do for all children; So, when I found this piece today, I thought it might be something you would all relate to. It also might make a good discussion topic.

We can teach our children to count from one to ten,
to name the colors of the rainbow
and the days of the week.
We can teach them to name letters,
to write their names
and to recognize onsets and rimes.
We can teach them to line up,
to raise their hands before speaking,
to sit on a chair and stay on task.
We can teach them to recognize the phases of the moon
and continents on the globe
and the states within the boundaries of our nation,
and it will all be for nothing
if we fail to keep their basic human dignity intact.

L.L. Laminack, author and literary consultant.
`

Sahar's writing
Dear sue
I thank you for your helps.I didn't see movie, "the red violin" but I try that find it. You want to know about my favorite instrument. I mean all of instruments are pretty and it is unsqure that you choose a instrument but I play just guitar and piano.However,I like all of instruments.

Fattemeh's writing

Hi Sue
Dear friend, thank you very much for your pluperfect and complete explaining about difference of improve and progress. We read it in our class last Friday and I understood it.
Dear Sue, you asked me "Why are you studying English?"
Nearly 1 year, I went to English classes in different institutes. When I was going to those classes, I didn't like English and I wanted to learn English because good books and articles in my field are English and I must learn English for reading them. Those classes were crowd and boring, and just I was going to the classes for my requirement.
But, since I came to Mr. T's classes and I became member Mr. T and your weblog, I was interested in English and extended my mind and I understood English is very attractive. Now, I study English for itself and also I like to speak English as well as an American in the future. (It is one of my wishes and I hope that you help me until getting to my wish.)
When I was going to institute classes, I didn't read English during weak.
But now, I connect to your site several times at during weak and read its subjects. I am very happy for this my improvement.
But, I don't want to say that all institutes are bad. Some institutes work well but I don't like them.
Your friend, Fattemeh.

Faranak's Writing

Hi Sue,
Thank you very much for your voice message. We listened to it in the English class last Friday and I listened to it several times at home. It was very useful for us specially me.

Dear friend,You asked me"what kind of project did you complete?"
The program that I wrote is very simple. We have a lot of addresses with receivers names, destinations, postal codes and phone numbers. We have envelopes in different sizes,too.
The program runs on a computer and must search by receiver name then print an address, a name and other information in the right place on envelopes.

Dear Sue, you asked Mr T. about marriage age. Girls don't marry at 9.
I'm 21 years old. I and other girls who are in the site are the same age and all of us are singles. A nine year old girl is very young and she must study, play, have fun and learn a lot of things.
Most girls don't marry under coercion but in some families marriage age is lower than others. It is about 18 or 19.
Take care,Faranak

Season of Migration to the North

An excerpt from the book by Tayib Salih.

"I preferred not to say the rest that had come to my mind: that just like us they are born and die, and in the journey from the cradle to the grave they dream dreams some of which come true and some of which are frustrated; that they fear the unknown, search for love, and seek contentment in wife and child; that some are strong and some are weak; that some have been given more than they deserve by life, while others have been deprived by it, but that the differences are narrowing, and most of the weak are no longer weak."

Fattemeh's writing

Hi Dear Sue,
Iam so sorry because I am posting my letter very late.
At first, I want to thank you for posting your special message to Faranak and me. It was very nice and we read it in our class last Friday. I am sorry for friend death.
You are a good friend. You help us for improving our skill in English reading, writing and etc without any expectation and we can't repay you for what you do.
I just tell you "Thank you".
Dear Sue, when I was writing this letter, I had 2 questions. They were "what difference is between say and tell and between improve and progress?".
Please answer my question until again I learn a new thing from you.
Take care, Fattemeh.

Hi Bahman!

Thank you for answering my letter. I have a PMD dictionary but Mr T. told me that I ask you English to Persian dictionary . However thanks.. saeedeh.

Hi Bahman!

I am saeedeh.Do you have persian to english and english to persian dictionary for mobile ?

The Fast

As a Protestant Christian, fasting has been something that was not an important part of the faith, except for certain individuals or groups or churches who stressed its worth. The Christian bible speaks little about fasting except when Jesus casts out the demon and says that one cannot do this without prayer (and some sources say "and fasting.") At another point the Pharisees ask him why the disciples are not fasting and he answers that "one does not fast when the bridegroom is with you. When the bridegroom leaves is time for fasting."

Through the years, fasting was encouraged by Catholics, Mormons, Jews and others but only on certain days. Meat was not allowed at specified meals and holidays, but few religions fast as the Muslim religion does. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, is a mandatory fasting period for one full month, in which the Muslim must abstain from food, drink, smoking, profane language, and sexual intercourse from before the break of dawn until the sunset. There are other special days in the calendar year in which some Muslims observe the fast.

I wrote to my Iranian friend and asked him, as a Muslim, to explain fasting to me, a non-fasting protestant Christian. What do people benefit from this practice? In my practical Baptist/Presbyterian outlook there are reasons to keep the body fed; to feed the poor, and use one's energy to the benefit of God. As a child I learned the song, "Brighten the Corner Where You Are." My God requires much of me, but fasting is far down on the list, as I have seen it. Be well fed, love thy God with all thy heart and soul and thy neighbor as thyself--and these commands are hard enough to live by without adding fasting.

However, with Ali's friendship I have grown to respect and treasure other customs and backgrounds than my own. Fasting symbolizes something very profound: a closeness to and concentration on God, a a response to what is seen as God's direction in our lives, improvement in one's spiritual outlook, purification and freeing of the mind; it is an aid to control fleshly desires, it is a penance for sins, and a solidarity with those in need. But, to me, the main reason I would fast would be to remind me of human frailty and the need for God's direction in my life.

And then, in the midst of my quest for understanding the fast, Ali, my teacher friend in Iran, spoke to me through the magic of the internet. His answer to my question, "Why do you fast?" follows:

"Hi, Sue.

Ramadan has spread its scent everywhere around us here. About 20 years ago I saw a 105 year old man cutting wood for his winter with his ax in the middle of a summer day. I told his great grand son, "Why don't you tell him to break his fast? It is very dangerous for him." He answered, "We tell him but he says that even if he dies at this very moment he won't break his fast." And in his own way he had made it to the age of 105 years.

When explaining the Ramadan and all the reasons that make it meaningful in our eyes, I didn't mention one very important factor. It is something that can only be said to close friends. Sue, there may be a thousand and one reasons in observing the fasting, but to me the only important reason is that the Friend has asked me to do it. There may be a thousand and one reasons in reading the letters you send me like getting to know America and its culture, improving my understanding of your language and etc, but the true, main reason I do this is that a friend wants me to, that it carries the scent of a friend. Does this leave room for any other consideration, my very dear friend?

Delazin is calling in her beautiful, childish voice, "Daddy, it's the Azan. Come on and break your fast."

Time to sit on Iftar's Sofre.

Ali"

How has my friendship with Ali empowered my soul? In small ways, I know that he sees friendship beginning with God. The Friend is a way many Muslims refer to God. I think of him as The Father, and so my vision is widened. I also know that Ali treasures our "acquaintance" enough to answer my personal questions and extend his idea of friendship to me and others around him.

Delazin is Ali's small daughter and I can picture his home when she reminds him that the call to prayer (AZAN) that breaks the fast has been sung, and it is time to come to the Iftar's Sofre. (the fast-breaking meal's table.)

As our world becomes more and more secular, these symbolic tributes to something beyond us seem more and more important, but at the same time, they become more remote and less vital. As a dear friend once told me, "It's an undergirding that is so important": that, and a humbling reminder of our need and nature.

HI Dear Sue.

I study classical music. and perpose of "classical" is academic music.and classical here isn,t a particular period or particular area . Yes, I know beeth hoven and mozart and I have some knowledge about chopin , shubert , estravinsky , ... I feel music is a language that every body from each people and nation understands . and music doesn,t need translation and it is really wonderful! with T,s help.. sahar.

HI MRS SUE....

Dear sue ,Thank you for answering my letter..and I sorry answered late. I should say to your question when I finish college,I become operationroom nurse. I study many lessons in the university for example anatomy, phiziology, terminology,...and etc. about your letter , Do you like doogh.?!

Saeede

Untitled

It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.

--from Asphoidel, that Greeny Flower

A, an and the

Hi everyone,

I notice that a, an and the, called Articles in English Grammar, give all of you a lot of trouble. It is often unclear how they are used in English which makes it difficult for a learner. Here is a general guideline:

a is used in words that begin with a consonant: a book, a car, a house
an is used in words that begin with a vowel sound: an apple, an elephant, an orange.

This is not always true. One says a university, not an university,etc. So sometimes it can be frustrating.

A and an are indirect articles. They introduce something to the reader that they haven't described before: I went to a movie. I saw an elephant.

If one is talking about a known thing, one uses the: I fed peanuts to the Elephant. It is a particular elephant. The elephant. If we say an elephant we are talking about any old elephant. Without an article, elephants is a very general, and is talking about all elephants. The is a particular one. An elephant is one of the general elephants.

Practice this with words like book, school, etc.

I saw a school. The school is large. School is where I learn.

If this isn't clear write me and I will try to do a better job of explaining it.

Sue

You Owe Me?

■

Even after all this time
The Sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

--Hafiz

A Special Message to Fattemeh and Faranak:

The story of your long-term friendship touched my heart. Cherish your friends for they are the breath of life, itself. We learn from our friends, and can practice sympathy, kindness, concern, love and all those desirable human qualities on them. They accept our faults and still love us. What more can we ask from life? Here is a story I wrote about a friend I had many years ago.

Affection and caring is shown in many ways. When my two children were babies, Phyllis was my next door neighbor. As it is for most young mothers, it was a terrifically busy time for me. Phyllis was farther along in the mothering game; her children were teenagers. She was one of those super-kind people whose purpose in life is to do good, and I became embarrassed at how often she dropped goodness into my lap: a cup of tea here, a piece of pie there, babysitting for an hour, or lending me her children to entertain my babies. Phyllis was a Godsend in those busy days.
Beset with a vicious case of asthma, she never stopped using her time to the best advantage for both friends and family; there was never time to feel sorry for herself. I began to feel badly about the uneven balance of our friendship, and mentioned that I could never repay her for all she did.
Phyllis shared with me her secret of "payback", and now let me share it with you: "You don't have to pay me back," she said. "When you're able, you can lend someone else a hand and make their days easier. That's the way God's work is done." She was so right; God’s work is done in one random act of kindness at a time.
There have been three women in my life who have caused me to wish I could become more like them, and Phyllis was one. Though long gone to us physically, her lessons on life live on in my heart and I never worry about being paid back, or, on the other hand, of accepting an act of kindness with a simple, "Thank you."

Thank you, my friends in Iran, for being there.

Sue

Fattemeh's writing

Hi Dear Sue,
I'm Fattemeh Ramezani. I'm a new member of the site. I'm 20 years old. After 43 days, I will be 21 years old.
I'm university student. My field is civil engineering. My field is full of calculations and formulas but I like it very much. I have studied in the university for 3 years and I am junior. next year, I will graduate from university.
I have one sister and one brother. My sister is 15 years old and my brother is 13 years old.
Faranak is one of my best friend. Faranak and I were classmate in the high school and now we are classmate in the English class.
We are reading your writing in our English classes and they are very good and useful for me. I'm very happy that I become familiar with you.
Take care, Fattemeh.

Bahman's Writings

Dear Sue,
American popular music is good. I like Modern Talking band. Their music is very nice. They can make a beautiful music with creativity. The piece that I sent to you was a simple santour piece. I can play that piece. Payvar has a piece called Farparak. That was very beautiful. I am trying to find Farparak for you.
My father likes Elvis Prisly and a piece called Self control.
I saw a TV program about American singers. I don’t know if most of singers have not a successful life

Faranak's Writing

Dear Sue,
Sorry because of I answer late.
Today I'm very happy. I have written a program for a ministry and today it was finished.
This project is very easy for a skilled person but it was very difficult for me, it was the first project that I have written alone, I learned a lot of new things and I think it was worth.
Sue, Although written a program is very important in my course and it has a good income unfortunately, girls shows interest in writing codes less than boys in Iran. I hope that the number of girls, in this field, increase in future.

Dear friend, you asked me "Are governmental colleges actually better in Iran?"
Yes, they are really better from different aspects among training, quality, professors, etc.
Of course we have good professors and students in other universities too, but in governmental ones are more.

I have a question: Can we say to a first year student, a freshman, a second year one, a sophomore, a third year one, a junior and a forth year, a senior?

Your friend, Faranak.

A quote from Dr. Zhivago

I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.


Doctor Zhivago

Bahman's Writings

Dear Sue,
American popular music is good. I like Modern Talking band. Their music is very nice. They can make a beautiful music with creativity. The piece that I sent to you was a simple santour piece. I can play that piece. Payvar has a piece called Farparak. That was very beautiful. I am trying to find Farparak for you.
My father likes Elvis Prisly and a piece called Self control.
I saw a TV program about American singers. I don’t know if most of singers have not a successful life.

Beware beginners

There is a Persian proverb that says, "Where the eagles' wings are broken what can a tiny mosquito do?" (In Persian: Anja ke oghab par berizad / Az pasheye lagharin che khizad?)

One day you may become a national hereo.  There may be a moment in your life when literally hundreds of millions of people all over the world watch you with awe and admiration.  But if you fail to use the indefinite article "a" properly with your nouns, the sin Iranians frequently commit, you may be slashed for decades.  Here is what the media will say about you:

"Armstrong has faced his share of controversy. For decades he was thought to have flubbed his first words spoken on the moon, by dropping the "a" in speaking of a small step "for man."

It was 37 years later that an Australian expert said high-tech analysis of the static-ridden transmission found the missing adjective, and that history should remember Armstrong saying what he had intended: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

And if you don't believe me go see for yourself: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100803/ts_alt_afp/usspacemoonanniversaryarmstrong_20100803075234
T

Doogh

Sue,
Here is a perfect place for you to learn everything about the "Doogh" and other Persian dishes.  I don't think you or any other American would be able to pronounce the word precisely correctly.  Never mind! It is just the taste that matters.  See the blog and let me know what you think.

T

http://mypersiankitchen.com/doogh/

Can Anyone Help me????

Recently I visited an Iranian market here in Denver and bought some delicious treats. However, there are two things that I just don't know how to use: I bought a jar of Pickled Mangos, or, as it says, Anbeh Torshi. I know what mangos are, but how does one use pickled mangos? The other is a jar of "Yogourt Soda". Why did I buy it? I don't know. Help!
The contents say it has yogurt, salt, carbonated water and flavoring. Now what can I do with this?

Sue

By the way

July 29 was my birthday on calendars.  Real birth, however, is another story.
T

Prudish and Puritanical

Forgive me, Sue.
Whenever your time allows you I would like to ask you to explain two words you have used in your last comment to Sahar. Would you please tell us what you mean by Americans being "prudish and puritanical"?
With a lot of thanks,
T

Miss., Mrs., Ms. and Mr.

Sue,
Thank you very much for explaining so patiently the differences between these titles. If I may, I would like to continue to ask you another question. Is it correct to use any of these titles with first names in the US or England? My suspicion is that it is not accepted in formal English. If my suspicion is correct how common or accepted is using these titles with first names in informal English? I mean should we avoid it altogether?
Thank you for bestowing so much knowledge on us.
T