What Eight-Year-Olds Wish For!

I saw an educator collecting information on what children between ages five and ten, from all over the world, wish for.  So I decided to ask my third-grade kids her question.  They are mostly eight years old, going on nine.

Her question was, “If you could wish for one thing, what would you wish for?”

In my children’s words:

I wish I had magic powers because I could do whatever I want to do.

If I had a wish, I would wish I can have everything.

I wish to be a millionaire and have the best girl on earth, and have the biggest house and to be famous and be  an actor, a singer, and business man.

I wish I would pass all my classes (as in getting good grades) and be a businessman, and marry a beautiful girl.

I wish I can wish as many wishes as I can.

The only wish is that I want a giraffe as a pet.

I wish I can be a kamikaze!

I wish I could be very intelligent.

My wish is to have a Hanah Montana room that is so, so big.

I wish to be the king of the whole world.

I wish I can be a star actor.

I wish I could be the strongest in the whole world.

I wish to have a lot of money.

I wish every day I could have a sleep-over at my best friend’s house!

I wish I get good grades.

I wish  I can have a gig machine that does all my homework!

My wish is to be the most richest fairy,  and the nicest fairy.

An airplane with a remote control.

I wish to be king of a country.

I wish I could have all the kinds of animals.

I wish I will be a nice person in life.

I wish I could work with the Mafia.

I wish no bad person can steal me away!

I would like a drum set.

My wish is to have wishes all the time, in any place.

–Posted by Eileen

Thank You, Readers!

Thank you readers, for your support and interest. OK, this blog will definitely continue, with a posting frequency of two-to-four times each month.

I hope to have the next article up in a couple days. I do have a lot more to write about, so please stay tuned!

Thank you.

Eileen

Sad Personal News – I’ve Lost My Job

I’ve lost my job. Our school is a private school undergoing big changes. A new board has come in and changed 75 percent of the staff within three months. I was in this last wave of non-renewals of contracts yesterday. No reasons were given. I think the reasons are just political, and totally beyond my control.  I think there was nothing I could have done, or not done.  The reasons are not economic, however, whatever they are.

What I’m NOT doing is sitting at home in my nightgown, moping.  I got up this morning, dressed, full makeup, and am making lists of what I need to do.

So my question to you readers, is should I continue this blog?

After two decades as a teacher in the Middle East, I will be staying here. My husband, family, and house are here. I certainly have many more useful thoughts on education, kids, and similar topics. However, I don’t have as much time for blogging, and do write several other blogs. These include a blog for expats, one on women’s issues, one on mystical subjects, one on Feng Shui, and one on lifestyle.  If anyone is interested in reading my other blogs, please write to me privately at elementaryteacheroverseas at gmail dot com. (In the future, I plan to concentrate more on my Expat, Women’s Issues,  and Feng Shui blogs.)  I may add to this blog from time-to-time.

My thoughts are this. I have no plans to take this blog down, but instead might add to it only twice a month. Is that enough to keep your interest in readership?  Would you continue subscribing if I posted regularly twice a month?  I’m trying to decide between that, and just leaving the blog up, but not continuing to add to it.

What do my readers think? Please help me decide.

–Eileen

Eyewitness Reaction to Obama’s Speech in Cairo

Obama’s Speech in Cairo (Photo by Amy Pearl)

One of my good friends (an Egyptian) was lucky enough to be among the approximately 3,000 Egyptians in the live audience for Obama’s Cairo speech.

Obama’s Cairo Speech (Photo by Ben Curtis, Associated Press)

Obama’s Cairo Audience (Photo by J. Samia Mair)

Here is what my friend had to say about Obama’s Speech:

” It was a straight pubic diplomacy speech addressed to the Muslim people. Extremely well crafted speech. Obama is a charismatic orator. It was well received in the Middle East disarming many extremists that’s why many of them tried to attack it before it st started. I loved it. I appeared on VOA TV and Egyptan radio to comment on the speech and analye its impact. It reminded me of Sadat’s peace speech befre the Israeli Knesset in 1977 breaking psychological barriers.”

He adds:

“Muslims have 3 chronic problems:1.status of non-Muslim miniorities 2.Status of women 3.Democracy . Obama’s speech dealt with the 3 problems in detail. The ball is in the Muslim court too and not only in the US and Israel. Muslim societies insulated themselves from criticism by non-Muslims. Obama ’s speech however will generate public debate all over the Muslim world. Enlightenment and self-criticism are essential.”

For an excellent in-depth reaction to the speech, including a detailed list of which statements were applauded by the audience, please see  J. Samia Mair’s excellent article at the Baltimore Muslim Examiner.

–Posted by Eileen

Reader Poll: Is Cursive Important?

American President Abraham Lincoln’s Cursive Writing

One of my readers asked if I could run a poll about whether or not it is important to learn cursive writing. In answering this poll, I’d like readers to consider these five points they may not have thought of in terms of the benefits of learning cursive.

1)  Many historical documents are written in cursive.  Those who do not learn cursive at ALL are actually unable to read it.  These members of society are then unable to read original historical documents (such as Abraham Lincoln’s letter pictured above).

2)  If a person cannot read cursive (even if he doesn’t use cursive himself) he  generally has trouble reading letters/notes from other people which are written in cursive.

3)  There are occassions in life where people do not wish to be embarrassed of their writing (whether it is in printing or cursive).

4)  People do not always have access to computers and printers for every piece of communication.

5)  Anyone who masters cursive can  write at least fifty percent faster than someone who prints (I ran several timed tests with people who are both fluent cursive writers and printers).

After marking your response in the poll, if you feel like it, please leave a comment below (in the comments section) telling us  which country or  part of the world you are from, and WHY you think cursive IS, or IS NOT important to learn.

I think many of us want to know what others think about this issue.  Thank you, readers!

–Eileen

Other Posts Written by Me:

Photo Examples of Good and Bad Cursive in Third Graders

How American Cursive Appears to the British

How Cursive Writing Is Taught Outside of the United States

How and Why I Review Printing at the Beginning of the School Year

Comments on Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 Cursive

English Grammar Mystery

It’s interesting how we often don’t notice things about our own native tongue until a foreign speaker says something that isn’t quite right.  One of my third-grade students was reading a sentence aloud containing the word have, and pronounced it with the v sound.  I realized that in this instance we shouldn’t pronounce it with a v, but instead with an f.  I had simply not noticed this before.

Several of us at school tried out a number of sentences, and here is what we found.  When have is used as a “helping” verb followed by an infinitive, it is pronounced haf.  In all other circumstances it is pronounced have.  Here are some examples (phonetic spellings):

I haf to go.

We haf to eat.

They haf to drive tonight.

Do you have any?

I have a question.

I have tables filled with food.  (This example is included to show that the reason for this pronunciation has nothing to do with the v and t phonemes appearing together, successively.)

I have also checked these pronunciations with my British friends, and found it is the same pronunciation with native English-speakers all over the world.

Can anyone out there come up with a reason why this is so?

–Eileen

Unbelievable Request from a Student!

Apparently a student in America was reading my blog entry on Marco Polo. They then sent me this request to my comments:

um…
can you paraphrase it and send it to my email???
its my school project… thank you
about marco polo

This is not the first time I have received such a request….which I usually ignore. But this was so blatant, with so much disregard for the truth, for learning, for doing any work one’s self…..this student is obviously even too lazy to plagarize….instead they as a teacher to DO their assignment FOR them?????  It’s clear the student has no morals and must cheat regularly….I hope this student is not already headed for a life of crime….

I just now read this to my teenage daughter.   Her reaction was different from mine.  She said whenever students need help, they go on Yahoo, and ask questions.  People leave a lot of comments.  She said then you just go down the line and copy people’s comments to put in your report.  She didn’t see any difference.

I told her that going to Yahoo sounds to me a bit like asking friends for help.  You still have to take other people’s ideas and work them in to the theme in your own paper.  THIS student doesn’t even do that, however!  THIS student asks me, a teacher,  to write the paper FOR them, so they themselves don’t even have to bother!

I plan to discuss this with my third-graders this morning.  I am sure that even they will be shocked!

Teachers, parents, other students?  What’s your reaction???

Eileen

What’s Usually for Dinner?

I read a very interesting post by Almost American regarding the cooking reperetoire of most British homemakers on a regular basis.  So I began to think about what I can make by heart (I’m an American expat), and most often make for my family:

–Roast Beef with Carrots, Potatoes, Broccoli

–Meat Loaf with Baked Potatato and Tossed Salad

–Moroccan Tagine (Stew) using just about any vegetable

–Baked Greek Chicken with Potatoes, with Greek Tomato Salad

–Several types of homemade soups

–Expat Version of Corned Beef and Cabbage (made without Corned Beef, but substituting the French Bacon available here)

–Stir-fired Chinese Lamb with Carrots, Chinese Corn, Mushrooms, Celery, and Cashews, served with White Rice

–Greek Leg of Lamb with Orzo, served with any number of green vegetable dishes such as Zucchini or Eggplant, or Greek Salad with Cucumbers, Green Peppers, Feta Cheese and Greek Olives

–Grilled cheese sandwiches, served with packaged mushroom soup (made with milk) and served with salad and olives

–Baked fish with brown or white rice, and broccoli

–Pizza (on prepared crust) with cooked ground beef, eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mushrooms, onion, and green pepper

–Chicken cooked in a pot with wine and garlic and served with vegetables on the side

–Homemade French Onion Soup, served in a wide bowl over toast and with grated cheese

–Chicken or rabbit cooked in Apple Juice, Garlic, and Mushrooms, in a cream sauce, over noodles

–Spaghetti (red) Bolognaise with Ground Beef and Tomato Sauce, served with a Green Salad

–Spaghetti (red) with an Eggplant/Mushroom (sometimes Zuchinni) combo in Red Tomato Sauce

–Spaghetti Carbonara (white) with Cream Sauce, and sometimes with Ham or Bacon, served with a Salad

–Fresh Squid (Calamari) sliced in rings, and Deep Fried, served on a platter with lemon wedges

–Jumbo Fried Shimp with Rrice and Salad

–Rib Steak with Baked Potato and Broccoli or Green Salad

–Egyptian Beans with chopped fresh Green Pepper and Tomato, Grated Cheese, Black Olives, and Seasoned with Cumin and Salt

So, what do other people like to make?

Eileen, American Expat in the Middle East