culture shock; in particular; access to; make a joint effort to; strike a chord with sb. ; form close connections with; mutual benefits; window on the world; in person; can't wait to |
For Canaan Elementary's second grade in Patchogue, N. Y. , today is speech day, and right now it's Chris Palaez's turn. The 8-year-old is the joker of the class. With shining dark eyes, he seems like the kind of kid who would enjoy public speaking.
But he's nervous. "I'm here to tell you today why you should… should…" Chris trips on the "-Id," a pronunciation difficulty for many non-native English speakers. His teacher, Thomas Whaley, is next to him, whispering support. "…Vote for…me" Except for some stumbles Chris is doing amazingly well. When he brings his speech to a nice conclusion, Whaley invites the rest of the class to praise him.
A son of immigrants, Chris started learning English a little over three years ago. Whaley recalls (回想起)how at the beginning of the year, when called upon to read, Chirs would excuse himself to go to the bathroom.
Learning English as a second language can be a painful experience. What you need is a great teacher who lets you make mistakes. "It takes a lot for any student," Whaley explains, "especially for a student who is learning English as their new language, to feel confident enough to say, 'I don't know, but I want to know. ' "
Whaley got the idea of this second-grade presidential campaign project when he asked the children one day to raise their hands if they thought they could never be a president. The answer broke his heart. Whaley says the project is about more than just learning to read and speak in public. He wants these kids to learn to boast(夸耀)about themselves.
"Boasting about yourself, and your best qualities," Whaley says, "is very difficult for a child who came into the classroom not feeling confident."
On our way to the house, it was raining hard that we couldn't help wondering how long it would take (get) there. It was in the middle of Pearl City.
We were first greeted with the barking by a pack dogs, seven to be exact. They were well trained by their masters had great experience with caring for these animals. Our hosts shared many of their experiences and (recommend) wonderful places to eat, shop, and visit. For breakfast, we were able to eat papaya (木瓜) and other fruits from their trees in the backyard.
When they were free from work, they invited us to local events and let us know of an interesting (compete) to watch, together with the story behind it. They also shared with us many (tradition) stories about Hawaii that were (huge) popular with tourists. On the last day of our weeklong stay, we (invite) to attend a private concert on a beautiful farm on the North Shore under the stars, (listen) to musicians and meeting interesting locals.