Garbage Truck

Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
so ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a garbage-free day!

House Buying

Everyone tells me that it is the perfect time to buy a house, but who can afford to buy one? I have numerous teacher friends, that are married to teachers, yet they can not afford to buy a house. I find it this unbelievable. This should give us all an inclination about the economy. I hope that these times do pass us as we look towards the future. If not, it looks as if I will be renting an apartment for the rest of my life.



Vocabulary
afford - verb - to be able to pay for something
numerous - adjective - a lot of something
unbelievable - adjective - not believing something; extraordinary
inclination - noun - a liking preference
economy - noun - the management of the country

Fill in the blanks

The way that the Yankees beat the Red Sox was _________________.
The previous president has ruined the ________________.
I have an _____________ that this will happen in the future.
I can not ______________ that new car.
The bad weather cause _____________ accidents.

Grammar Point

Can you tell the difference between nouns and proper nouns?
List 5 of each type.

Bloodsport

I am a huge fan of mixed martial arts and the UFC. Some people ask, "how in the world could you watch those animals beat each other up?" Well, mixed martial arts is very technical. It combines numerous disciplines; boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, judo, kenpo, kick boxing. Fighters have to be in a tremendous amount of shape to compete in these events. As far as the safety of the fighters, mixed martial arts is a lot more safer than boxing. Boxing allows you to get punched for 45 minutes and knocked down numerous times. You are still allowed to get up and participate in the fight, even if your on the verge of losing consciousness. Mixed martial arts stops the fight right away. As soon as a fighter is deemed not intelligent enough to defend themselves, the fight is stopped by the referee and is over. This dramatically lessens the chance of brain damage and death. This is why fighters have died in the boxing ring, and no one has ever died in the mixed martial arts cage.

Vocabulary
disciplines - noun - activities that improve a skill
technical - adjective - skillful
tremendous - adjective - huge
participate - verb -take part in
dramatically - adverb - greatly

List the vobualry words in alphabetical order.

Grammer Point
Adverbs - Research 5 adverbs and come up with a sentence for each word.

Mega Millions

Like most of America, I need to hit the lottery, preferably Mega Millions. I had a conversation with my girlfriend about what I would do with the money. My conclusion is, nothing. I would never work again. I would travel the world on a yacht, play poker, and occasionally work out to stay fit enough to live a long life. I would give my family and friends a nice chunk of that money. If I didn't, I know I would get a lot of phone calls. I would also donate a lot of money to cancer research and feeding the children of the world. Hopefully I would be able to help out people who are in need and not just begging for a quick hand-out. What would you do with your lottery winnings if you won?

Vocabulary

lottery - noun -gambling game

preferably - adverb - to desire

conversation - noun - to talk

yacht - noun - big boat

occasionally - adverb - from time to time

hand-out - something given away for free

Word Scramble

totlyre - ___________

taych - ____________

lylnoiacacsa - ___________

saernvcoonti - ___________

thoadnu - ______________

freylbarep - _____________

Grammar Point

nouns - Underline all the nouns in the blog.

Is it really almost Chirstmas?

I can not believe we are only 12 days away from Christmas. Working full time and going to school has really put a damper on my holiday spirits. I have not gotten any shopping done. I am usually good about that sort of thing, and have all, or close to all my shopping done by now. This year I can not find the time nor energy. When I feel like I do have some free time, I usually find myself sleeping instead of doing what I need to do in order to be productive. You have no idea of the amount I am looking forward to the end of this semester. Working full time, taking 9 credits and doing my 60 hour observations has taken a ton of energy out of me. But, I can only keep on truckin' and hopefully everything will work itself in to place. Now if I can only find a personal shopper to get my Christmas shopping done for me!

Vocabulary
damper - noun - somethign that depresses
spirits - noun - positive attitude
energy - noun - amount of power
productive - adjective - producing
semester - noun - a part of the school year

Vocabulary Word Search


s t i r i p s y h j k a l i s
k i h b b m g r d b m i i
p r o d u c t i v e k o p d
h h d i d k r e t s e m e s
e b d d w r o s d j s s m w
n o d b q e w d e r f w q d
e d l d f a p c e q a z z l k s
r m x b f m r d a k m s i
o r f e d a a s u r k d s l
y o p a s e d d i w h a

Grammar point

Types of sentences
Write one sentence for each type:
Statment
Question
Exclamatory

TESOL and the Fab Four

Uniondale recieved a grant to buy I-pods for the foreign language department. Being one to always try and incorporate technology into my lessons, I created a lesson based upon the I-pods. The lesson I created was about antonyms and was used with the third grade. Since the I-pods are internet ready, I sent them to this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zPOT8Z3UlM

Low and behold, they were treated to the sounds of The Beatles "Hello/Goodbye."
I felt that this was the perfect song to introduce the children to antonyms. After viewing the video, they were to fill in a teacher-created lyrics sheet.



You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why, and I say I don't know
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Do you say good bye
Goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye

Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello
hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello
Hello

Feel free to use this lesson with any of your students. In the worksheet I made, I deleted some of the lyrics and had the students fill them in.

Vocabulary

recieved -verb- to have something

grant -noun- a sum of money to buy something

incorporate -verb- to make two or more parts into one

technology -noun- use and creation of new things to help us through life

treated -verb- to entertain

Acitvity

Count how many syllables are in each vocabulary word:

recieved - _________

grant - ___________

incorporate - _______

technology - ________

treated - __________

Grammar Point

Creating adverbs by adding -ly to a noun.

quick - ______________

careful - _____________

correct - _____________

Vegetarian Chili

A few months back, I took a trip to my friend's Pennsylvania vacation house. Since I love to cook, I usually do all the cooking during our stays. This time, my girlfriend's sister asked if she could make a dish for dinner, in which I obliged. She said that she was going to make vegetarian chili. My first thought was that this dish was not going to turn out good. I was totally wrong. I would have never guessed that this would be one of the best chili dishes I had ever eaten. I asked her for the recipe and have made this chili on numerous occasions. I hope you enjoy!





Vegetarian Chili
1 can of black beans (drained)
1 can of white beans (drained)
1 can of kidney beans (drained)
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can of bush's baked beans
2 cans of stewed tomatoes
1 large pepper or 2 small\medium peppers (red, orange or yellow are best)
1 onion
2 jalapenos
chili powder
red pepper flakes
garlic salt (or minced garlic)
cumin
cayenne pepper
frank red hot sauce

-In a large pot, fry chopped onion in oil
-Add all cans & stir (stewed tomatoes first, and baked beans last; you can drain 1 can of stewed tomatoes to make it less watery)
-Add peppers (if you want the pepper to be mushy add with onions, add after cans have been stewing a bit if you want them crispier)
-Add spices to taste
-Let stew about 30-50 minutes
-Let stand for 20 minutes to thicken

Add shredded cheddar when serving.

You can also add about 1 - 1.5 lb of ground beef or turkey.

Vocabulary
vacation - noun - a time when you take off from work and school to relax
stay - noun - a place you visit for a short a mount of time
dish - noun - a type of food
obliged - verb - to do (say yes) with kindness
vegetarian - noun - a person who does not eat meat
numerous - adjective - having done a lot
stew - verb - slowly boil
stand - verb - to take something that is cooking off of the heat
Cloze Sentences

My ________ was for two weeks when visiting Ireland.
Let the tomato sauce ________ on the open fire.
I _______ with his request for a day off.
My sister will not eat that steak, she is a _________.
What _________would you like me to bring over for Thanksgiving?
Take the tomato sauce off the open fire and let it __________ for 15 minutes.
I am taking off of work and going on a ___________.
I have played that video game __________ times.

Grammar Point
Write 3 sentences with exclamation points. Explain why you used them.

Cool Breezes Ahead

It is that time of the year when Mother Nature decides to bring on the cooler weather. If you are anything like me, you cherish this weather. There is nothing like opening the windows a slight amount in your house and allowing a cool breeze to enter. People will argue that warmer weather trumps cooler weather, but I disagree. Here are some of the reasons that I prefer cooler weather over warmer weather.
The cooler weather provides an array of things that I personally enjoy. Sunday is one of those things, because there is football on the television all day. I also love how the leaves on the trees change color. This is one of the most beautiful sights, and luckily being from New York, trees are all around us. The fall and winter also play host to my two favorite holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Another reason for my preference of cooler weather is my love for jackets and dressing in layers. I have a lot of jackets. Ones to wear in cool weather, others to wear in the coldest of weather. They all look great, and you can wear different styles for different occasions. I have this saying, "If I walk outside in my shorts and t-shirt and it is 110 degrees out, there is no way to make myself cooler, but if it's very cold out and I am not dressed appropriately, all I have to do to stay warm is put on another layer."
Now that you know what type of weather I prefer, I would like to hear about the type of weather that you enjoy. Hopefully it's not warm weather, I don't think my allergies can take it!

Grammar Point
Style or styles?
Do you know when to use a singular or plural noun?
Write three sentences using a singular noun and three sentences using a plural noun.

Vocabulary
decides - verb - to solve
cherish - verb - to feel love for
slight - adjective - a small amount
trumps - verb - to outdo
provides - verb - to make available
array - noun - a large grouping
styles - noun - a type of fashion
occasions - noun - a particular time
allergies - noun - a bad reaction of the body to certain things

Word Scramble

galelrsie - ___________
mpurts - ____________
higlst - _____________
yrara - _____________
cacoisnno - __________
ytssel - _____________
hsechri - ____________
vdiesopr - ___________
cseddei - ____________

Post 1

The following is an assignment that I created for my 4th grade advanced level ESL class to be used after reading book Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters:

During the course of our lives, we will all have to make choices. Some choices can be considered easy, such as what we want to eat for lunch. Some choices can be difficult to decide on, such as what type of new car we want to buy.

In the book Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, the King was faced with a tough choice; who would he choose as his wife? Ultimately, the King decided on Nyasha over her sister Manyara. This was a decision that the King was carefully deciding on over the course of the book.

After reading and discussing the book, you must decide if you were the King would you have chosen Manyara or Nyasha to be your wife and what are some of the factors that led you to your decision?

Vocabulary

carefully (adverb) – to do something with skill

considered (adjective) – to decide with care

difficult (adjective) – hard

faced (verb) – to deal with

decision (noun) – to choose between two or more things

factors (noun) – elements that help you towards a final result

Use the vocabulary words to complete the following sentences:

The test was not easy, it was __________.

There were many __________ that helped the detective solve the crime.

I ask my mother for help when I am __________ with a tough choice.

When I was hungry, I had to make a _________ between fried chicken or a piece of fruit.

I moved the box filled with glass very __________.

I __________ leaving the party because I was not having a good time.

Grammar Point

Write a short paragraph using three of the vocabulary words listed in my blog.