Faranak's Writing

Dear Sue,
Last week my aunt and her daughter, Roya and her husband came to Tehran. They live in Mashhad. It is the holy city.
Roya's wedding party is near and they came here for shopping. I went with them as a guidance.

As for learning English:
I learned English before to read scientific essays and books about my course.
After getting acquainted with Mr T. I knew life is not just studying lessons and science, there are more beautiful things in the life like Literature and having a good friend like you.
I thought we Iranians are much different than other people around the world and we just have great mystics like Hafiz and Rumi and others.
Mr T. talked about Thoreau and sometimes read his quotes in the class. Thoreau said the same things that our mystics said.

After that I knew you, a kind and wonderful woman. I think your words are like Mr T.'s speeches. I became interested in your character and like to talk you about different things and learning more but my English is week now and I spend 3 or 4 hours, sometimes more than it, for writing a letter.

After all that I knew that people are similar around the world and they are just different in their culture and human values are same everywhere.

I think learning languages specially English can help me to improve my information about my course and open my mind and expand my viewpoint.
Take care.
Your friend Faranak.

Apology from Mr. Soltani

Hi Mr. Soltani
I am so sorry that I'm answering very late.
Last week, I was very busy. Although, I know that I had to be answering to your letter on time.
I just can tell you "Excuse me".
I promise you that I will answer to your letters on time, after this.
My friend, I am very happy that I get acquainted with you. I hope that we can help to each other.
Every time you want, you can ask me your questions. I will answer them intent.
I wish best things for you.
Good luck
Your friend, Fattemeh Ramezani

Bahman's Writing

Dear Sue,
Nice to hear from you. I always enjoy your posts too.
Now, Tehran it is 5 a.m. I was in a mosque’s kitchen until now. We cooked food for people. This work is very enjoyable, but I am not a cook. I can just cook an omelet.
Oh, astronomy. I love it. I read a book about astronomy last Ramadan. Its writer is Meir Degani. Its name is astronomy made simple. Your grandson must be very happy. Astronomy is very interesting. I went to the balcony and I watched stars and moon. Abou Reyhan Bironi was an Iranian scientist in astronomy. Avicenna and Abou Reyhan Bironi were contemporaries. They saw each other. Many standards in astronomy are from Bironi’s books. For example magnitude that it shows distance of stars from earth is for Bironi.
Take care,
Bahman

Bahman's Writing

Dear Sue,
We watched an interview last Friday.
It was very interesting for me. It had an English dialect. Ali gave me a very nice dictionary that called Longman. It is supernatural.
I will go to university next month. I had lazy days in this summer. Sometimes I was in my bed. I think sleeping is the best rest.
Ali told me that we want to watch films for 2 hours after our classes. I enjoy it when Ali tells us its sentences. Some of them are very simple sentences. I must practice more than before. I tell myself, but I don’t do it. I read two section of a book from Faramarze Payvar called theoretical music book. We must ask to 105 questions after read it. Oh, Practice.
It is successfully security.
Take care,
Bahman

A letter to miss Ramezani

ِDear miss Ramezani
I am Sabber Soltani and I'm mr Taghdareh's student.I'm 18 and I study in fourth great of high school.
You do not know that how much time I have spent to find a collegian who study in Amir kabir university in my lovely subject.Yesterday suddenly I heard mr Taghdareh that you study in that university and now I'm very very happy I have found you.
I have many different question and if you help me I will be very happy.
Good luck
SABBER SOLTANI

I Envy Seas

Read the following poem from Emily Dickinson and define beauty again.  I personally define a beautiful poem as one which once you read you can not stop reading it for the rest of your life.  For me this is one of those poems.

I ENVY seas whereon he rides,
I envy spokes of wheels
Of chariots that him convey,
I envy speechless hills

That gaze upon his journey; 5
How easy all can see
What is forbidden utterly
As heaven, unto me!

I envy nests of sparrows
That dot his distant eaves, 10
The wealthy fly upon his pane,
The happy, happy leaves

That just abroad his window
Have summer’s leave to be,
The earrings of Pizarro 15
Could not obtain for me.

I envy light that wakes him,
And bells that boldly ring
To tell him it is noon abroad,—
Myself his noon could bring, 20

Yet interdict my blossom
And abrogate my bee,
Lest noon in everlasting night
Drop Gabriel and me.

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