Lauri’s Level 7 and 8–Fall, 2008

The story we read today in the It Happened to Me series shows what can happen if you don’t understand the language used in the place where you go shopping. Of course, in this example, the results were funny because the people enjoyed eating the dog biscuits that they thought were cookies. Sometimes, however, the mistakes can be more dangerous. That’s why it’s good when companies put poison labels on bottles of cleaning liquids, for example. It’s easy to misunderstand if you can’t read the labels. There are other circumstances in which people make mistakes or are misunderstood because of language problems.

I remember one time I had a low-level student who had witnessed a robbery. The court sent him notices to appear before an attorney for questioning, but he was afraid and he ignored them. Finally, he showed me a notice and I told him it was not good to ignore notifications from the court. I went with him to see what the attorney wanted. The attorney asked if I spoke my student’s language, but I didn’t. However, I said maybe I could be helpful, so he let me stay while he asked the questions. He asked English questions that were very difficult and complicated, with a large vocabulary. I don’t remember the exact questions anymore, but I will give you this as an example: At the moment of the incident, when you noticed the alleged perpetrator in the vicinity of the victim, were there any identifying characteristics you remember which would assist you in identifying him? Needless to say, my student didn’t understand anything. So I asked him, Did you see the robber? Do you know what he looks like? My student answered, No. I only saw his back. The attorney thanked us for coming and said we could go.

How about you? Have you ever had a misunderstanding or made a mistake because you didn’t know the language? Did you ever have a friend tell you about a problem he or she had because of language misunderstandings? Write about what happened.

Last Wednesday we had a discussion about animals, and today you read the It Happened to me story about The Cat. Sometimes people from other countries are very surprised at the way many Americans feel about their pets. I certainly can understand how attached people can get to their pets, but some people surprise even me. I think people who are very wealthy and leave millions of dollars so their pet can live in a big house are very strange. It would make more sense to me to give the pet to someone who could take care of it, and then use the millions for something more useful.

When I was a kid, we first had a pair of white mice as pets. They lived in a little cage. One of them was rather thin, and one day he squeezed out of his cage and got loose in the house. I remember my mother put on a big oven mitt. It looked something like this:

She went searching for the mouse and eventually found and captured it. The second mouse story I have is about the time I was at home alone and I looked at the mice in their cage. One of the mice was all bloody. I think the other one had attacked him. I started to cry. I think I was probably nine or ten years old. I cried and cried and called my father at work. I told him, “The mouse is bleeding.” He came right away, and ran into the house. He said, “Where’s your mother?” He thought I had said, “My mother’s bleeding.” He was happy it was just the mouse, but he was angry he had worried so much.

Finally, when I was a kid, we had a dog for a while. (That was after the mice!) We bought a dachshund because they were very cute. The dog looked like this:

Unfortunately, we didn’t buy a puppy. We bought a dog that someone had already owned, and apparently they didn’t treat him very well, because whenever we wanted to put him in the basement, he would cry. Dachshunds are not very calm dogs either, and this one wasn’t very friendly. One day the babysitter tried to pull him out from under my bed, and he bit her. Her hand kept bleeding so I told her to wrap it up and sit on it so the pressure would stop the bleeding. I don’t know what my parents did about paying for the doctor bills, but we got rid of the dog soon after that.

What about you? Did you ever have a pet in your country or in this country? Write something about your pet, or about how pets are the same or different in this country or in your native country. If you don’t want to write about pets, you can write about another animal topic. You can see the Animal Topics list from Wednesday at this link.

In today’s lesson, you read the story, Working at the Bank. Now it’s your turn to finish the story. You can write a paragraph or you can write a conversation to show what happened next. Ask me if you want me to check for mistakes or if you want me to type it.

Identity theft is a real concern, but you can reduce your chances if you are careful. I have been lucky so far because I haven’t had any bad problems. Once, when we were in Canada, however, the credit card company froze my account because they thought the purchases so far from my house were suspicious. I was very angry at the time, but I can understand why a credit card company would be careful. Luckily, I had a second credit card so I was still able to pay the hotel bill. Sometimes the bank calls to see if a purchase is legitimate, but of course, at the time I wasn’t home.

Once my son had his credit card number stolen. He thinks it was stolen in a Chinese restaurant. There were some charges on his account that came from overseas. However, he notified the company and he didn’t have to pay. They sent him a new credit card with a new number, too.

I try to be careful with my information. I get lots of phishing e-mails, but I just delete them. I use a paper shredder to shred anything that has an account number on it. I try to check my credit reports too, to see if there is anything strange. Once I checked my credit report and found a credit card from Macy’s on it. The only trouble was, I didn’t have a credit card from Macy’s. It turned out to be someone with the same name whose address started with the same numbers as mine. They had made a mistake and put her credit card on my report. Luckily, she paid her bill on time every month so it didn’t do anything bad to my credit.

How about you? Have you ever had a problem with identity theft? Do you shred your important papers? Did you ever check your credit report? Did you ever get a phishing e-mail?

We’ve been talking about food for a couple of weeks. There is an American saying that is something like this: “Some people live to eat and some people eat to live.” That means some people think food is an important part of their enjoyment of life, but other people don’t care about what they eat. They just eat so they will have enough energy to do the things they want to do.

I have always been in the “live to eat” group. I really enjoy food. I like to eat all kinds of food, too. I have always tried not to gain weight, but as you can see, I have failed! I remember once when I had just moved to San Francisco, and a friend of mine, who was trying to diet, had a big craving for chocolate. (A craving is a very very strong desire.) She went out and bought a chocolate cake. She brought it to my apartment, ate two pieces, and gave the rest to me. I didn’t want the cake. Well, to tell you the truth, I wanted to eat ALL of it, but I knew it wasn’t good for me, so I didn’t want it in my apartment. She knew if she took it home, she would eat all of it herself, so we finally agreed to throw it down the garbage chute. What a waste!

Nowadays, I try to be reasonable in what I eat. I pay attention to the fat and sodium content of different foods. I never add salt to anything. I don’t have butter in my house. I always drink no-fat milk. I try not to have desserts with a lot of calories, but I can’t give up dessert, so I have low-fat cookies most of the time. I try to exercise too. The exercise I enjoy the most is tap dancing. For tap dancing, you wear special shoes that make noise when they hit the floor. They look like this:

I have a one-hour tap dancing class every Monday and Friday. I know it isn’t enough exercise, but I do the best I can. How about you? Do you like to exercise? What kind of exercise do you do? Are you a “live to eat” or an “eat to live” kind of person? Are you careful about what you eat? Do you pay attention to fats and salt?

In the lesson for today, you read about the law regarding food labels, and saw what has to be included in the Nutrition Facts Panel. I always look at the labels on packaged food before I decide what to buy. I know that the serving size is very important too.

I used to like to eat all kinds of canned soup, but then I found that there is much too much sodium in many varieties of soup. In one regular-sized can that I just looked at in my kitchen, the label says there are 1090 mg of sodium, or 45% of what is considered the maximum daily amount. That is pretty bad, but what’s even worse is that you might want to eat a whole can of soup instead of half a can. If you ate the whole can–two cups of soup–you would get double the sodium, for 90% of the maximum daily amount! That’s why I haven’t had any canned soup lately.

Another food that I check is cereal. My family likes to eat different kinds of cereal, but if you check the label, you can see how much sugar is in the cereal. I will buy cereal with up to about ten grams of sugar per serving. Some servings of cereal, however, have as much as 26 grams of sugar. That is just too much sugar for me.

While packaged food has had labels for a while, on September 30, 2008, California became the first state in the nation to require some restaurants to post nutrition information for customers. The law will affect restaurants that have at least twenty locations in California, and will probably apply to about 17,000 restaurants or fast-food places in the state.

It will take two years to fully implement the law. By July 1, 2009, these restaurants will have to have brochures with nutritional information (the number of calories, grams of saturated fat, grams of carbohydrates and milligrams of sodium) available, and they will have to post calorie information on menus and menu boards by January 1, 2011.

Even when people want to choose healthier foods, it is difficult to do it without the nutrition information. In 2007, there was a poll in which people were asked to choose the healthiest item from a short list of common fast foods. Only ten percent of the people were able to choose the healthiest food. The same poll asked if people wanted to have nutritional information posted in chain restaurants (restaurants with many locations). Eighty-four percent of the people said yes.

How about you? Do you read the labels on packaged food? Do you ever change your mind or make a choice based on the food label? Do you think you would look at the nutrition information if you went to a chain restaurant or a fast food restaurant? Do you think it might help you decide what to eat?

In today’s lesson you read about some different kinds of bank accounts, credit cards and debit cards, online banking, and the three major credit bureaus.

Sometimes students ask me if I am comfortable using my computer to do online transactions. I didn’t always feel this way, but now I feel fine about it. For myself, I use the Internet to transfer money online from one bank account to the other. I also use it to pay my credit card bills by check, using the routing and account numbers. I pay my phone bill, PG&E bill, and water bill online. When it was time to renew our car registration, I did that online too. I even paid my son’s college tuition online.

I’ve shopped for some things online too, but one thing I’ve never bought online is clothing. I am afraid it would be hard to know if the clothes fit before I got them, and no one wants to spend time sending clothes that don’t fit back to the company. I bought some special candy that my mother liked and some special cough drops that my father liked online because I couldn’t find them in the stores in the city. I’ve also bought computer equipment and books online.

As for my credit card, I try to pay it off every month so I won’t have to pay any interest. Usually I am successful. Once in a great while I forget to do it, and then I have to pay a penalty. If that happens, I pay the card off and then I don’t use it for at least a month, until the bill comes back saying I don’t owe anything. Then I figure it’s safe to use again.

How about you? Do you have a credit card? Do you ever pay any bills or buy anything online? Do you think putting your money in the bank is safe or are you worried about it?

In the worksheet for today, you read about some information in American history. After you finished looking up the days that I selected, I asked you to look up your birthday and find out what happened on that day.

I will start by telling you about what happened on my birthday, January 12. John Hancock was born on my birthday, in 1737. He was the first person who signed the Declaration of Independence, and he signed it bigger and bolder than anyone else. Here is a link to a picture of his signature. He was so famous for his signature, that if we want to get someone to sign their name on something, we can ask them for their “John Hancock”. For example, “Can I get your John Hancock on this?” After the revolution, John Hancock, in his role as Governor of Massachusetts, worked to get his state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

Now it’s your turn. Make a post and tell us what happened on your birthday. Don’t copy the exact words from the webpage. Just tell us the information.

This year’s presidential election is a little different than presidential elections in the past. The Democrats have chosen an African-American as their presidential candidate, and the Republicans have chosen a woman as their vice-presidential candidate. There is a lot of interest in the election, and both parties are registering new voters. Of course, there is no guarantee that any newly registered voters will vote. The other difference is the use of the Internet to get information and to reach a lot of voters almost immediately. It’s very different from presidential elections in the past.

Voting is completely voluntary in the United States. However, you have to be registered to be able to vote. The United States Census figures show that the percentage of people registered to vote went from 69% in 1996 to 70% in 2000 to 72% in 2008. The percentage of eligible voters (those who had registered) who actually voted went from 58% in 1996 to 60% in 2000 and 64% in 2004. The majority of people vote at a polling place on Election Day, although there are different rules for getting an absentee ballot depending on where you live.

From now until Election Day on November 4, there will be a lot of information and advertising about the election. Each campaign makes commercials about their candidates, has a lot of volunteers and paid staff in different states, and tries to get the information about their candidates to the voters. The candidates go to different states to meet with voters and answer questions on different television shows.

Both candidates said they wanted to have “positive” campaigns, but recently a lot of the advertising has been negative. Political advertisements aren’t necessarily true, so sometimes you don’t know what to believe. There’s a non-partisan (not Republican or Democratic) website called Factcheck.org that checks the facts in political advertisements and explains where the candidates are misquoting or telling half-truths.

Here are some questions—you can answer some or all of them: Why do you think so many Americans don’t register to vote, or if registered, don’t vote in the presidential election? Do you think negative advertising (saying how bad the other candidate is) is the most effective? Do you think there will be a lot of people watching the presidential debates this year?

Today you’ve been looking at the Library of Congress website, Amazing Americans, which has the biographies of some famous people in American history. After you finished answering the questions on the worksheet about Thomas Alva Edison, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Duke Ellington, and George Washington Carver, I asked you to choose another person and answer some questions. Please write your answer here. (Who did you choose, what is that person famous for, and write two things you learned about that person.)

I chose the article you read today (Natural Home Cleaning) for a couple reasons. First, I think it’s interesting to see how a cooperative works. Most people are used to working for a boss. Being part of a cooperative means having more responsibility. You have to participate in the decisions; you can’t just leave them to someone else. On the other hand, you can feel proud that you are participating and appreciate when the cooperative does well. This cooperative has also given decent pay and benefits to its owner-workers.

The article also mentions that chemicals that are often used in housecleaning can smell bad and cause respiratory problems. Having to use chemicals like that can make housecleaning an unhealthy occupation. Here is the link again for the article about Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips that was in the reading.

The original article about Natural Home Cleaning appeared in the newsletter of Breast Cancer Action, a non-profit that works to give out information about breast cancer, and pushes the government and organizations to help find the causes and cures.

Write the answers to these questions on a piece of paper, get it checked by other students or by me or Crystal, and then post them here: Why do you think this article was in the Breast Cancer Action Newsletter? Do you think you would like working in a cooperative? Why or Why not? Tell me an eco-friendly tip you found out about that you didn’t know about before.

We’ve already talked about recycling as a way to reduce the amount of garbage going into landfills. When you recycle glass, paper, plastic, tin and aluminum, it can be used again to make more products. If you buy paper to use in your computer, for example, you can look for the percent of “post-consumer waste” that was used to make it. If the paper is 10% post-consumer waste, it means they used 10% recycled paper to make it, instead of using trees. A higher percent means fewer trees cut down.

People like to talk about “closing the circle” when they talk about recycling. That means you can buy and use paper and then recycle it, and it is used to make new paper which you can buy and use and recycle again. Composting is another example of closing the circle. The compost made from food scraps is made into soil that is used by farmers to grow more crops for you to buy and eat, and then recycle the scraps.

What one person recycles doesn’t really amount to very much; however, when many people recycle, the result adds up. The same thing happens when many people reduce the amount of energy and water they use. On Friday you talked about ways to reduce your energy use. Click to look at these Energy Saving Tips. Click some of the links under Browse Tips on the right side.

Another thing you talked about on Friday is how to reduce your water consumption. We need to use less water so there will be enough for healthy rivers and water environments, as well as people, farms, etc. Even small things that don’t seem to matter can add up when many people do them. For example, when you brush your teeth, do you leave the water running? Turning off the water while brushing can save water. While it isn’t a really large amount of water by itself, you can see that doing that every day would add up, and if many people do that, it will add up even more. Click to look at these water-saving Tips for the Home and read down the page to look at all the suggestions.

Finally, it’s always good to remember if you reduce your energy and water use, not only will you help the environment, but you will save some money too!

What do you already do to save water and energy? What other things do you think you can try? Did you see any new ideas on the websites?

Sometimes we read about environmental problems and they seem so complicated and difficult to fix. It seems like one person really can’t do much. However, when a lot of people start doing the same thing, it can have a big effect.

I like living in San Francisco because people here are concerned about the environment. The recycling is a good example. Not only can we recycle the usual paper, tin, glass and plastic, but we can recycle food waste as well. San Francisco’s garbage collection system of three carts reduces the amount of garbage that goes to the landfill.

In our house, we recycle as much as we can. That includes cans, bottles, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, any kind of paper, and plastic containers. We recycle so much that we don’t have much garbage, so we have a black cart that holds less and is cheaper.

This summer I cleaned out a lot of my sons’ old toys. I cleaned up and gave away the toys that were still good and I recycled the little plastic parts that weren’t useful anymore. We also save our food garbage to put in the green (compostable) bin. We sometimes keep the old food scraps in the refrigerator until we are ready to put them in the bin, so they won’t smell. Other times we put them in an ice cream container and wrap it in two plastic bags. I have a friend who puts hers in the freezer until she can recycle. I like the idea that I’m helping to turn my garbage into potting soil that will be used to grow grapes and other farm products.

There are also some other things that can be recycled in other locations. For example, if you use regular batteries, you can recycle them at any Walgreens. You can even go to this website and check out the ecofinder to see where you can recycle fluorescent lightbulbs, motor oil, latex paint, and many other things.

Some apartment buildings still don’t have recycling, however, and some people don’t pay attention to the three carts. The city of San Francisco wants everyone to recycle. They want to raise the diversion from the landfill to at least 75%, but they don’t think they can do that if recycling is voluntary. Therefore, the mayor is going to propose to the Board of Supervisors as early as September that every residence and business must have the three carts. In addition, if you fail to sort your garbage properly, you could get a warning, and after a few warnings, you might have to pay a fine. The law has not been presented or passed yet, so we will have to wait and see what changes might be added and whether or not the law will pass.

Do you have recycling carts where you live? What do you usually recycle? Do you recycle your food waste? Do you think a law that says you have to recycle is a good thing?  If San Francisco passes a law requiring you to recycle, do you think you would have any trouble doing it?

Teachers have different ideas about teaching grammar. Some teachers like to teach grammar using rules and exceptions and lots of examples. Some teachers think their students should concentrate on using the language instead of learning grammar.  

There are many varieties of English. We have Canadian, British, American, Australian, and Indian English, to name a few. There are different grammatical forms used for formal or informal occasions, by educated or less-educated people, or in written or spoken form. There are also regional variations.

Who decides which rules teachers should teach? Language rules changes with time. Some grammar forms are used less today than in the past. Some forms are slowly replacing other forms. Teachers often explain that a particular grammar point might be on a college entrance test, but if you are speaking to an American, you wouldn’t use that form. Have you ever had a teacher tell you that It is I. is the correct way to answer the question, Who’s there?  That’s what I learned in school. That is not, however, the way I would speak. My answer to that question would be, It’s me. 

Sometimes teachers try to make the grammar simpler so the students can understand. Sometimes when we do that, students learn what we teach, and then have trouble when they learn the “rule” doesn’t work any more. For example, in Level 1, we might teach that you can say, Did he go? but you can’t say, Did he went? because you can’t have two past forms (did and went). What happens when the student sees a sentence like, He went to the store and bought some bananas.? The student sometimes gets confused because there are two past forms in the sentence (went and bought).

This summer I read a book called The English Verb, by Michael Lewis, which talks about teaching grammar. One of the main points he makes is that native speakers may have several “correct” ways to say the same thing, but each choice has a little different interpretation of the situation. The speaker chooses which form to use based on the speaker’s understanding of the situation, and the speaker’s interpretation of the facts.

In trying to explain grammar, teachers often try to find examples that can explain the “rule” and try to ignore examples that don’t fit. Mr. Lewis says if the sentence doesn’t fit the rule, instead of throwing out the sentence, we should throw out the rule. He says the way we teach English makes it seem like there are many exceptions, but this isn’t true. This semester I want to use some of Mr. Lewis’ ideas to explain the English verb, and see if you think it helps you or makes you more confused!

Click on the link at the bottom of this column to post a few sentences here to answer these questions: What do you think about how to learn grammar?  Do you think it is more important to speak fluently even with some grammatical errors, or speak more slowly but more correctly?   What grammar points give you the most trouble?