The story of the white elephant

Some people in my class asked me to blog about the story behind the phrase "white elephant." I will try my best- here it is, to the best of my understanding, as told to me by friends in Thailand! I have checked this story out on the internet as well to make sure that it's reasonably accurate.

Background information- "white elephant" is a term commonly used in English to describe a useless gift. It is a gift that you don't really want. We sometimes have "white elephant" sales as well, which are like garage sales, where people sell all the things they don't want anymore.

The Story-

One legend associated with Buddha says that the night before his mother gave birth to him, she dreamed of a white (albino) elephant giving her a pure lotus flower. Thus, white elephants have historically been considered sacred in Thailand (which used to be called Siam). All white elephants were therefore the property of the King of Siam.

Since they were sacred, white elephants were not allowed to do any work. They had to be well-cared for, and they required a tremendous amount of resources to maintain. All white elephants were given great honor by the people.

If the King of Siam was pleased with one of his courtiers, he would give him a white elephant, along with money, land, and servants to take care of it. However, if the King was displeased with one of his courtiers, he would give him a white elephant, with no land or money to help take care of it. The courtier would then be required to care for the sacred white elephant out of his own resources. Since the elephant was sacred, the unfortunate courtier could not even put it to work in order to help earn money for its care. Because of the large amount of money required to care for the elephant, the courtier would soon be financially ruined and dishonored.

That is how the phrase "white elephant" came to mean "an unwanted gift."

Today, white elephants are still considered sacred in Thailand, and they still belong to the King of Thailand, who is also revered by the Thai people. However, the King of Thailand no longer gives the white elephants to people in order to show disfavor.

Here is a link to a video of sacred white elephants in a religious parade in Thailand. They are carrying gold Buddha statues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x59ENhwttnE&feature=related

There is also a story of a white elephant that carried the Buddha up to the site of a very large temple on a mountain near Chiang Mai. After it carried the Buddha up to the site of the temple, it dropped dead from exhaustion. Doi Suthep temple was built in its honor. Here is a link to a video about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FyOuhyw4Bs&feature=PlayList&p=9FFB04EEF91A9429&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

Vocabulary- words with negative prefixes

displeased- not pleased
unfortunate- not fortunate
dishonored- not having honor or not showing honor
unwanted- not wanted
disfavor- not having favor

Vocabulary Practice- fill in the blanks with the vocabulary words

Once, there was a colony of ants. The queen ant told all the workers to go find food. However, one worker ant decided that he would rather go bowling! When the queen ant found out, she called the worker ant. "I am very _____________ with you," she said. "You have _____________ me! Now you must leave our colony and go into exile." The _____________ worker ant left the colony and wandered around outside. Soon, he felt very hungry. It started to rain, but he had no hole to hide in. He felt very sad. "I am cold, wet, and hungry. I'm ____________ by everyone in my colony, and I have the __________ of my queen. What should I do?" he thought to himself. Suddenly, he saw a river of water rushing towards the anthill! "Oh, no! I have to save my colony!" he exclaimed. He ran to some other ants to get help. When they saw the water, they all got together and pulled a piece of wood across the path of the rushing water. The wood diverted the water away from the anthill. The worker ant was a hero! The queen let him come home, and he always did his share of the work after that.

Grammar- using 'would'

There are many ways to use the modal verb (auxiliary verb) would.

1. Use it in a conditional statement with the word if, to describe an imaginary situation:
If I had a lot of money, I would travel the world.
I would travel to Europe if I could affort to.

2. Use it without if to describe a hypothetical or imaginary thought:
I would never eat a rat!

3. Use it to refer to repeated actions or states in the past tense. (Would is only used for this when the time period is clearly established.) This is how I used would in my blog today.

He would give him a white elephant.
The courtier would then be required to care for the elephant.
The courtier would soon be financially ruined.

Grammar Practice- read the following sentences. Decide how the modal verb would is used in each sentence- is it #1, #2, or #3 (see above)?

1. I would visit Italy this summer if I had the time.
2. When I was in first grade, I would often suck my thumb.
3. I would love to be an astronaut!
4. I would never go skydiving.
5. If I could fly, I would be a superhero.
6. My sister would often tell me what do to while we were growing up.

Would you eat live bugs?

The longer I lived in rural northern Thailand, the more food adventures I had. I ended up eating many kinds of insects and every kind of animal. When I visited one family, they were having snake meat curry from a snake that they had killed, and honey comb curry with some little bees still in it! I got a serious shock once when I visited a new friend and saw a large dead field rat on the table, waiting to be cooked for dinner. Pastor Lawan especially liked a type of meat that she called "nua sawan," which translates as "heavenly meat." After I tasted it, I decided that I liked it too! Then I asked the children what kind of meat it really was. It was dog meat! People from the Akha tribe in northern Thailand believe eating meat from black dogs will give them supernatural strength. They also eat cobra meat in order to sharpen their senses. I tried a little cobra curry once, but I was afraid to eat very much.

My most memorable food adventure happened when I was visiting a new friend named Mae La in a very small village. I had already learned to do many new things with her, such as making roof thatching and brooms out of dry grass. This time when I visited her, she had just caught a basket full of large cicadas in the jungle. She asked me to help her pull the wings off them, in order to prepare for frying them. Now, the idea of pulling wings off live, squirming, noisy insects did not make me very happy, but I agreed to help her. After the first three insects I got used to the horrible screeching noise they made as I pulled the wings off. Soon, I had filled a big bowl halfway with wingless cicadas, all scratching their little feet on the sides of the bowl trying to escape.

I'll never forget what happenend next. Mae La's husband came home from the fields. He joined us on the porch, and he smiled as he watched me, an American from New York, pulling wings off the cicadas. I guess he decided that the opportunity to tease me was just too good to pass up, because he commented, "You can eat them raw, too, you know." I was so confused- I knew that the cicadas don't die until you cook them. I had eaten fried cicadas before. "You do it like this," he said, and he picked a cicada out of the bowl. It screeched and waved its six tiny legs frantically in the air as he put it in his mouth alive! That cicada was still squirming and screeching as he began to chew it! I was so shocked! I didn't know what to do or say. He laughed at the expression on my face, and tried to hand me a cicada. "You have one," he urged me. Well, what would you have done? If you would have eaten the live cicada, then you are much more adventurous than me. I didn't refuse the local people's food very often, but I knew he was just teasing me. "No, way!" I exclaimed.

Vocabulary- verbs used to denote speech/vocalization

commented (to comment)- to make a remark
said (to say)- to express in words, to utter something aloud
screeched (to screech)- to make a high-pitched noise
laughed (to laugh)- to show amusement while producing a laughing noise
urged (to urge)- to exhort, to entreat, to try to get someone to do something
exclaimed (to exclaim)- to say something with suprise or strong emotion

Vocabulary Practice- fill in the blanks with the words

One afternoon when I was about eight years old, I was walking the dog with my sister Debbie. That time, I was holding the dog's leash and she was holding the pooper scooper, which was alreay half full from the morning walk. My father used to reuse the same pooper-scooper bags all day long to save money. My sister and I were having an argument.

"Ha, ha, you're so stupid," I ____________. "Leave me alone!" she ____________. Her face was getting really angry. Suddenly, she whacked me on the shoulder with the pooper scooper! The bag exploded, and the dog poop went all over my shirt and on my shoe. I was in complete shock for a moment. Then I ran towards my house. "Mommy!" I ____________. "Look what Debbie did to me!" "Oh, my goodness! Well, calm down," my mother ________. "Aren't you going to punish her? Make her clean it up," I ____________. My mother made her clean all of the poop off my brown shoe. "At least the shoe was brown," she ___________.

Moral of the story- never tease your sister while she is holding a pooper-scooper!

Grammar- reporting direct speech

When we report someone's speech, we can do it directly or indirectly. Reporting direct speech means that we write down exactly what the person said. When we do this, we use quotes, which look like this: " "

When we report direct speech, we need to use a verb for reporting speech. Some of the most common ones are said, asked, answered, exclaimed, yelled, cried, whispered, etc.

We can put the subject and verb (for reporting speech) before or after the quote. If we put them before the quote, we use a comma before we begin the quote. Everything the person said should go inside the quotes. We put all of the capitalization and punctuation for their sentences inside the quotes, so the sentences should start with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation. All of this is inside the quotes!

Examples-
He said, "I don't feel very well."
She asked, "What's the matter?"

However, when we put the subject and verb after the quotes, the period at the end of the quotation will become a comma instead. All other punctuation, such as question marks or exclamation marks, remain the same.

Examples-
"I don't feel very well," he said.
"What's the matter?" she asked.

Grammar Practice- change the reported indirect speech to reported direct speech
Write each sentence two ways: one with the quote at the end, and one with the quote at the beginning.

example-
My mother said that I had to clean my room.
My mother said, "You have to clean your room."
"You have to clean your room," my mother said.

My sister said that she was going to have a baby.
My sister said, "I'm going to have a baby."
"I'm going to have a baby," my sister said.

Your turn!

1. My teacher said that I got an A on my English test.

2. My friend said that she is going on vacation next week.

3. My parents said that they are going to raise my allowance.

4. My brother said that I'm annoying.

5. I said that he is annoying, too.

Tuna and Jelly Sandwiches, etc.

I had a very hard time eating rice back then, since my stomach wasn't used to it, so it was tough for me to adjust to eating rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! The children always had some kind of spicy soup with the rice, but since the orphanage was very poor, it didn't have much nutrition in it. Usually, the orphanage rotated between spicy cabbage soup, spicy cucumber soup, and spicy rice noodle soup. At times they simply made boiled rice soup. Once in a while they proudly served canned sardines in spicy tomato soup (they ate the soft bones, the heads, and everything)- which I originally thought was disgusting- but after a few months of getting very little protein, I came to regard it as a special treat!

I often returned to the orphanage for lunch in the afternoon, since I was a volunteer and didn't have much money to spend on food. Usually, lunch was just rice with leftover spicy soup from breakfast. Sometimes Lawan or the staff took pity on my poor American stomach, however, and tried to treat me to something "western." I remember one of these food disasters very well- here is a paragraph from an email to my family.

"In the morning I was trying to explain to Maema in my limited Thai how, in America, we make sandwiches. They had bought me some tuna, jam, and bread, because they had seen Americans eat these things in sandwiches before. So, a little later, Maema brought me a sandwich she had made- with tuna AND jelly! I sat with Maema and Lawan and smiled as I began to eat my tuna and jelly sandwich, thinking that these two things DEFINITELY do NOT go together! Then Lawan wanted me to try a little of what she was eating- something like a roll with some sticky tan stuff inside (which I later learned was probably durian). I ate a little- and then resumed eating my tuna and jelly sandwich GRATEFULLY, because it tasted GOOD in comparison!"

Actually, tuna and jelly sandwiches would turn out to be the least of my food adventures- I would sample many more previously unimaginable foods during my 5 years there! But trying to smile through that special sandwich, and the proud look on Maema's face for making it, was something I will never forget!

Vocabulary- adverbs of manner

simply- plainly, in a simple manner, merely
proudly- with pride, in a proud manner, feeling self-respect
originally- in the first place
well- in a good or satisfactory manner
definitely- decidedly, without question or doubt
gratefully- appreciatively, in a thankful manner, with thanks

Vocabulary practice- fill in the blanks

Benny sat and stared at his homework. He felt so frustrated! His teacher had said that he must do his homework ___________, but he just didn't know how to do it. His mother came into his room. "Benny, what's wrong?" she asked. You ____________ look sad. "Mom, I have to do a good job on my homework, but I _____________ don't understand!" His mother at the work. It was a math page. "Well, I will show you how to do it," she said. Benny's mom showed him how to do the first problem, and she explained every step. Benny started to smile. "Now I understand!" he exclaimed. "I _____________ thought I couldn't do it, but now I see that it's easy!" Benny finished his homework. Then, he looked at it _____________. "Thanks, mom," he said _______________.

Grammar- adverbs of manner

Adverbs of manner tell you how something is done. They often end in -ly, but not always. You can find an adverb of manner by asking, "How did the subject do it?"

example- He hit me hard. "How did he hit me?" -hard So, hard is an adverb that describes the verb "hit."

Where to put them in the sentence-

There are a few places that you can put an adverb of manner in a sentence. Often it is placed at the end of the clause.

examples-
You spoke convincingly.
You described everything convincingly.
You described everything to me convincingly.

However, you can also place an adverb in other positions, based on what we want to emphasize. It can be placed before the subject, before the verb, or between the object and an adverbial phrase.

examples-
Carefully, she put it on the shelf.
She carefully put it on the shelf.
She put it carefully on the shelf.

In addition, if you are using a sentence with a past participle, when you put the adverb before the verb it must be placed immediately before the past participle. However, you can still put the adverb at the end of the clause if you prefer.

It had been carefully placed on the shelf.
It had been placed on the shelf carefully.

Grammar Practice-

Find each adverb of manner in my both my blog and the vocabulary practice, and identify its position in the sentence. Choose from these options:

Before the clause
Before the verb
Between the object of the verb and an adverbial phrase
At the end of the clause

Busy Days

This story is continued from my previous blogs about my adventures when I went to live in Thailand.

...Shortly after my arrival in Mae Kachan, my tiny village in northern Thailand, I got into a routine. I would wake up at 5 AM every morning with the children, since the wake-up bell clanged pretty loudly. First, I would lay sleepily in my bed, wishing I could sleep more, until I heard the children singing or doing their exercises in the meeting room at 5:15. Next, I dragged myself out of bed, got ready for the day, and had my prayer time. The breakfast bell rang at 6:15, so at that time I would head downstairs to eat with the children. They always laughed at my reaction to the food! It was very spicy for me, and my stomach wasn't used to digesting spicy food at all. Normally at breakfast time I just ate the plain white rice. I usually sprinkled on a few drops of whatever kind of spicy soup they were having for flavor.

After breakfast, the children would run around getting all their school supplies ready. The bell rang again each morning at 7 AM. At that time all the children ran to the courtyard (the meeting room if it was raining) to line up. I taught them a short English song each morning, and reviewed some vocabulary words with them. I often did a fun activity, such as "I spy" (if we were reviewing colors) or "Simon Says" (if we were reviewing actions). Then Pastor Lawan would talk to them about problems in the orphanage, discipline them, or just encourage them to be good children and good students. By 7:30 the school bus arrived, and all the children would say a quick prayer for the day and file onto the bus. I would wave good-bye to them as the bus pulled away.

After the children left for school, I would spend two hours studying Thai from my books and audio-tapes. Following my study time, I would either go out visiting in the village with Lawan, or walk around the village by myself, meeting people and practicing the Thai language. I often visited the kindergarten to teach the children there simple words and play games with them. I hadn't started teaching at the school yet, because in another week their October break would begin. (Thai school are closed in April and October because the farming season there is different from in the West.)

When the children came home from school around 4 pm, they would line up again in their groups. Pastor Lawan would check to make sure that everyone was there and review their afternoon chores. After that, the children did chores (and played when their chores were finished), ate dinner, and then began their homework. I would help the children with their English homework (and sometimes their math homework, too). We all stopped when the bell rang for the evening worship meeting or bible study groups. Finally, they would shower, iron their school clothes for the next day, and go to bed. Once they were asleep each night, I reviewed the Thai that I had learned that day, had some prayer and bible study time, and got ready for bed.

Vocabulary- adverbs of frequency

always- 100% of the time
usually- about 80-90% of the time
normally- about 80-90% of the time (similar to usually)
often- about 60-70% of the time
sometimes- about 40-50% of the time

Vocabulary practice- fill in the blanks with vocabulary words.

Bill is the best student in the class. He _____________ gets A's on his tests.
Sarah is a very good student. She _____________ gets A's, but occasionally she gets a B.
Joe is also a very good student. He _________________ gets A's, but sometimes he gets B's.
Amy is a good student. She ______________ gets A's on her tests, but she gets some B's and a few C's as well.
Tom tries hard. He's very good at some subjects, but not as good at other subjects. He _____________ get's A's, frequently gets B's and sometimes gets C's.

Grammar- using adverbs of frequency

Adverbs of frequency are often placed before the main verb. If there is an auxiliary verb (helping verb) the adverb is usually place in between the auxiliary verb and the main verb. If there are two auxiliary verbs, however, the adverb will be placed between the two auxiliary verbs.

Adverbs of frequency include all the words in the vocabulary list, plus never (0%), rarely, seldom (10-20%), occasionally (30%)

examples:
She never eats meat.
They would often eat dinner at six 0'clock.
They would often have eaten dinner before we arrived.

We can place the adverbs usually, often, sometimes, and occasionally at the beginning of a clause or sentence for emphasis.

example- Sometimes she can be really mean.

We can also place often and sometimes at the end of the clause.

example- I don't go out often.

Grammar Practice-
fill in the blanks in the following sentences, using information from your own life.

1. I ______________ exercise.
2. I ______________ eat junk food.
3. I ______________ wake up late.
4. I ______________ shower in the morning.
5. I ______________ eat breakfast.

Farang, farang!

This story is continued from my previous blogs about my time living in Thailand.

...After I "settled in" to my room by putting all of my pants in the box, hanging my shirts and dresses up on the wire, and putting my other things on the table, Pastor Lawan took me out to visit people in the village. First, I met the mayor of the village, who could speak some English. He asked me to teach English one evening a week in his house for himself, his wife, and some other government workers in the village. Next, I met some of the church members, who could not speak English at all. I sat and listened to Pastor Lawan speak with them in Thai, but I couldn't understand any of it even though I had been trying to memorize Thai vocabulary and sentences for the past few months! Finally, I met the principal of the local high school, who asked me to teach conversational English several days a week in the high school.

I soon realized that I had a new name. Pastor Lawan introduced me to everyone as Jo-ann, instead of Joan. I realized that she had been reading my name wrong for the past year that we had been emailing each other. I was really happy with the change, though, because I had learned that the word "Joan" (with a long o sound) means "thief" in Thai, and I didn't want everyone to call me a thief! So I became Jo-ann. When the children in the orphanage came home after school, I was introduced to them as "Pee Jo-ann." I discovered that this means "older sister Jo-ann." They were so excited to have an American older sister! Pastor Lawan told them that I would teach them English songs and words every morning before school, and I would help them with their homework in the evening. The children loved to play games, and I enjoyed playing tag and "Simon Says" with them until dinnertime. Their laughter made me so happy! I felt like the orphanage had suddenly transformed into the nicest place in the world to live!

During that first week, I visited many places in the village, including the kindergarten where one of my new friends (named Ranee) was a teacher. The village children weren't used to having foreigners around, and they were so adorable! Here's a paragraph from an email that I sent to my parents after the first week:

"...it is really funny because all the little children here are afraid of me and very curious about me, a "farang" (foreigner). When I go to the kindergarten to visit Ranee who teaches there, all the children yell, "farang, farang!" and run away screaming and laughing. Then I go to talk to Ranee in the room and they all peek in the windows, watching me. If I look at them they laugh and yell and run away, and then they come back to peek again. Over and over- it is so cute! Then, when I leave, they all run to the gate and watch me, waving and yelling, "bye bye!" because it is what the teachers tell them "farang" do. I love the children here so much! They are so precious!"

Vocabulary: (Transition Words)

First- before everything else; the ordinal number for one (1)

Next- immediately following something

Then- next in order of time

After- later in time than...

Finally- in the end; lastly

Cloze exercise- fill in the blanks with the vocabulary words.

It was 5:00 pm and my friend was coming over for dinner. However, I didn't have any dinner ready yet! What was I going to make? Suddenly, I had an idea. ____________, I boiled some water. ____________, I opened a box of spaghetti. When the water was boiling, I put some spaghetti in the pot. _____________, I opened a can of tomato sauce. I heated it up in a saucepan. _____________ that, I put some Italian seasoning mix, parmesan cheese, onion powder, and garlic powder in the saucepan. _______________, I served the spaghetti and spooned some sauce on top. Dinner was ready just in time!

Grammar: Using discourse markers

Discourse markers signal logical relationships and sequence. There are many kinds of discourse markers. The kinds of discourse markers that I used in my vocabulary list are used for numbering and ordering points. Other discourse markers are used for adding information, linking similar things, expressing contrast, and expressing cause and result.

Discourse markers for numbering and ordering points:

first, firstly, second, (third, fourth, etc.), secondly, (thirdly, fourthly, etc.), then, next, after that, finally, last, lastly

Using commas with discourse markers:

If the discourse marker is set apart from the rest of the sentence, or there is a pause after we read it, then we put a comma after the discourse marker.

example- "First, I met the mayor of the village." I put a comma after the word 'first' because I wanted the reader to pause, in order to set the rest of the sentence apart.

If the discourse marker is meant to be integreated into the sentence so that it is read without a pause, then no comma is necessary.

example- "Then I go talk to Ranee..." I did not use a comma after the word 'then' because I did not want the reader to pause there. I wanted the whole sentence to be read together.

Grammar practice-

Identify all the discourse markers in the following paragraph:

Every morning when my alarm sounds, I follow the same routine. First, I press the snooze button on my alarm for five minutes. I curl up and finish my dream. Next, when my alarm sounds again I press the snooze button for another five minutes. This time I turn over onto my other side. After that, when my alarm rings for the third time, I hit the off button and I roll over onto my back. I stretch a little and slowly get up. Then I go brush my teeth. Once that is done, I usually feel awake enough to choose my clothes for the day. Finally, I'm ready for my shower! Whenever I follow this routine, I start my day off on the right foot.

*note- starting off "on the right foot" is an idiomatic phrase. It means to start the day off well.

My New Home

This story about my adventures in Thailand is continued from my previous blogs

...After my memorable trip to the morning market, Pastor Lawan brought me to the orphanage. It was an old, run-down, two-story cement house with a mud yard on the side. The walls were covered in grimy blue paint, which was peeling in most places. When I walked in, I saw the center courtyard, which was open to the sky. Since it was rainy season, the circular stone tables, which the children used for eating meals, were pushed around the edges under the shelter of the roof overhang. Doors opened around the courtyard to the boys' bedrooms, and one to the kitchen. The doors for the meeting room opened towards the front of the building, and stairs ascended to the second floor on either side. I met Miwi, an energetic hilltribe girl my age who was the main caretaker for the children. She grabbed my bag and I followed her up the stairs to my room.

-In the courtyard with two kids

Upstairs, the stairway led to a homework room with tables and chairs, where the children could work in the evenings. The main hallway consisted of a rickety wooden balcony around the edge of the courtyard, which led to the girls' rooms. The girls' bathrooms were in the back of the building. In places, the wood was rotting from the constant exposure to the rain, which blew in through the courtyard side. Some leaks in the roof had caused additional damage. Miwi brought my bags into the staff room, where I would sleep for the next few years. I shared it with Miwi and Maema, who was in charge of the kitchen. They were the only staff for this orphanage of about sixty children! The three beds were side-by side, and we had a private bathroom (hooray!) on one side of the room. They had provided their best for me- a wooden bed with a thin, hard matress made of rag rolls, a big cardboard box for my clothes, a wire to hang dresses and shirts on, and a rusty metal folding table next to my bed for me to work on! They had placed a bright red cloth on the table to cover the rust spots, and given me a red plastic chair to match it. Above my bed was an open window with no glass or screen, just rusty metal bars. Green shutters could be used to close it during a rainstorm.

I went to check out the bathroom. There was a squatty (an asian toilet), a sink, a bucket and scoop for bathing and flushing the squatty with, and a round, shallow, plastic tub for washing clothes in. Miwi had been thoughtful enough to put a roll of toilet paper in there for me! (I later learned that toilet paper is not usually available in rural Thai bathrooms, since they use water.) However, when I reached out to take some toilet paper, a large cockroach crawed out of the center of the toilet paper and onto my hand! I yelped and dropped the toilet paper! After that, I always checked the toilet paper for insects before grabbing it.

Vocabulary Words: parts of a house (nouns)

Walls- the structure that forms the side of a room or building

Courtyard- an open space in the middle of a building or buildings

Roof- the cover or top of a building, vehicle, etc.

Doors- the entrance to a room or building

Stairs- a series of steps that go from one level or floor to another

Hallway- a walkway from one part of a building to another

Balcony- a raised platform on the side of a building with a railing

Window- an opening in a wall or door

Shutters- a pair of outside covers for a window that open and close

Cloze Exercise: use the vocabulary words in the blanks

Sara looked at her new house. It had brick _____________ and a tile ___________ on top. The ___________ were large, allowing plenty of light into the house. They had charming white ____________ on the outside, which could close during a storm to protect the glass. When entered her new house, Sara noticed that the front door was made of beautiful carved wood. Inside, the _________ led to the living room on the right side, and the dining room on the left side. Beyond the living room, wooden ____________ led up to the second floor of the house. Sara walked to the end of the hallway. On the other side was a beautiful __________ with flowering plants, some benches, and a stone fountain! It was surrounded by brick walls, and the sun shone down from above. To the left, glass _________ opened into the breakfast room. To the right, glass doors opened into the office. Straight ahead, in a quaint one-story brick wall, was an adorable doorway out to the garden. On the second floor there were three ____________ overlooking the coutyard and garden from the bedrooms. It was the most beautiful house Sara had ever seen- and it was hers!

Grammar Point: relative clauses

Relative clauses describe or provide information about something or someone that we have usually already specified.

Examples:

I tried to help a child who was crying. ("who was crying" is a relative clause describing the child.)

I had to translate the whole text, which was difficult for me. ("which was difficult for me" describes the task of translating the whole text.)

Relative clauses usually begin with a relative pronoun. These include: that (to describe anything), which (to describe a thing or event, NOT a person), who (to describe people), whose (to describe something belonging to a person or people), where (to describe a place), when (to describe a time).

Exercise: Each colored sentence (other than black) in my blog contains one relative clause. There are ten of them- try to find the relative clause in each one! Then, identify the relative pronoun that begins each relative clause.

Culture Shock

Story continued from my previous blog...

I arrived in Mea Kachan at eight-o-clock in the morning. I hadn't really slept in over 65 hours, and I had just shifted time zones by twelve hours. I was feeling carsick after the twisty bus ride through the mountains to this small village. When we got off at the bus stop, Pastor Lawan informed me that the children in the orphanage had already left for school. Then, she took me to the morning market to show me around and buy some breakfast.

At the market, unfamiliar sights and smells filled my senses. I walked past pig heads and intestines hanging up on hooks. Eels twisted and thrashed in barrels. There were grilled whole frogs on sticks, pickled brains, and huge cow hearts laying out on the tables. The mixed odors of fish, animal blood, and trash surrounded me. I felt sick to my stomach, and I thought, "How am I supposed to eat breakfast from this place?"

Pastor Lawan excitedly brought me to the back of the market, where an old woman was sitting behind two large bowls. When I looked in the bowls, I was horrified by what I saw! They were filled with large white grubs crawling all over each other! Pastor Lawan smiled at me and said, "Thai people like so much! You want some?" I almost fell over; I felt so weak from shock, exhaustion, and nausea. All I could think was, "Do they cook the grubs first, or eat them alive?" I tried to smile as I shook my head, but I don't think it was a very convincing smile.















a plate full of fried grubs!


Vocabulary:

Here are some vocabulary words from the blog. They are NOUNS that are PLACES.
(Remember, a noun can be a person, place, animal, thing, or idea.)

mountain- a large hill, a very high section of land
bus stop- a place where people can get on or off a bus
village- a small town with houses where people live. It is much smaller than a city.
orphanage- a house or building where children who have no father or mother (called orphans) are taken care of
school- a place where children go to learn. There are teachers and students at a school.
market- an area where people buy and sell food and other things.

Now fill in the blanks with the vocabulary words.

Hi! My name is Joan. I used to live in an ________________ in Thailand. Many children who had no parents lived there. The orphanage was in a small _____________. I used to help take care of the children and get them ready in the morning. Sometimes in the morning I went to the __________ to buy food for breakfast. Every day, the children went to __________ to learn. They rode the bus to school each morning. After school, I always met them at the ______________. After the children got off the bus, I liked to play games with the smaller children while the older children did chores. After dinner, I helped the children with their homework. I loved the evenings in the village. When the sun went down behind the _____________, it looked so beautiful. At night, I used to sing songs with the children before they went to sleep.

Grammar Point:


When you have more than one of something, you usually add s to that word. This is called plural. So for one dog, we say, "a dog." For two dogs, we say "two dogs." Do you see how I added an s onto the word dog?

Look at the words in italics in my blog. Each of them is a plural noun. I added an s onto those words because there is more than one of them. There were many mountains, there were a lot of tables, and there were several pig heads. I would say, "one mountain," and "many mountains." We say, "There is one table," and, "There are many tables." You can look at all the words in italics in my blog, and see that they are all plural (there was more than one of them).

Grammar exercise:

Directions- change the singular noun to a plural noun by filling in the blank.

1. one dog- three _________

2. a cookie- many __________

3. a book- five ___________

4. one hand- two ____________

5. one cup- four ____________

My first day!

Here is the continuation of my story from last time:


When I arrived in the Bangkok airport, my legs were shaking so much from nervousness that I thought my knees would knock together. Then I saw Pastor Lawan, and I actually recognized her! She recognized me, too. My cross-cultural adventure had begun!

I had to wait for her for a few hours while she finished a meeting. She asked me, in her broken English, "You want to take a bath?" I replied enthusiastically, "Yes!" I was picturing relaxing in some hot water, in a nice bathtub, soaking out the aches of the 28-hour airplane ride. I felt so shocked when I saw the bathroom! There was just a toilet and a spigot on the wall- no curtain, no separate shower area, and no hot water! I read a sign over the toilet instructing children not to stand on the toilet seat and squat to use the toilet. I realized then that a miscommunication had taken place- obviously, Pastor Lawan's understanding of "take a bath" was very different from mine!

After taking a cold shower and waiting for a few hours, Pastor Lawan and I boarded an overnight bus to go up north, to Chiang Mai. We sat on that bus for 12 hours, and arrived in Chiang Mai at 4 a.m. We waited for two more hours for the earliest bus up to our small village of Mea Kachan. By the time we got to Mea Kachan, it was about 8 a.m. and we were ready to start the day! I had not really slept in more than 65 hours.



To be continued...

A Thailand "Songteaw"- the kind of bus I took to Mea Kachan from Chiang Mai



Vocabulary: All verbs are in the regular past tense



Verb-

Present tense _____Past tense



arrive __________arrived

recognize ________recognized

finish ___________finished

ask ____________asked

reply ___________replied

realize __________realized

board __________boarded

arrive __________arrived

wait ___________waited



Cloze- try to use the vocabulary words to fill in the blanks



I was very excited when I _________ work on Friday, because I was going on vacation! I packed my bags and went to the airport. But when I ___________ at the airport, I ___________ that I had forgotten my passport! "Oh no," I thought, "I'll never get to my gate on time!" I hurried back home to get it and rushed back to the airport. I was in luck! My flight was delayed, so I still had time to get to the gate. I ___________ in line for the security screening. A security official _________, "Do you have any liquids in your carry-on luggage?" I _________, "Yes, I do," and I handed her my plastic bag with my contact lens solution. I got through security and dashed to my gate. I was just in time! I ___________ the plane and began my vacation. Then I got the best surprise ever! I __________ someone sitting two rows behind me in the plane. It was my best friend! She was going on vacation to the same destination as me!

Grammar:

When we talk about something that happened in the past, we use the PAST TENSE. We use PAST TENSE to describe one thing that happened and is over already. Often, there is a word that tells when it happened, such as yesterday, last night, last week, or a long time ago.

For regular verbs, we usually add -ed onto the verb. So, "walk" in the present becomes "walked" in the past. If the verb already ends in -e, we just add a -d. So, "dance" in the present becomes "danced" in the past.

I walk to the store often. (present tense verb)
I walked to the store yesterday. (past tense verb)

In this blog, I was telling a story about things that happened more than five years ago. That's why I used past tense. I wrote, "she asked me," "I replied," and, "I arrived in Chiang Mai."

Grammar Exercise:

For each sentence in present tense, rewrite it in the past tense. For example-

I laugh at funny jokes every day.
I laughed at a funny joke yesterday.

1. I paint a picture every week.

I _________________ a picture last week.

2. I type emails to my friend every day.

I ____________ an email to my friend last night.

3. I play tennis every Wednesday.

I ________________ tennis last Wednesday.

4. I dance at every party.

I ______________ at the party two days ago.

5. My parents enjoy every holiday with their children.

My parents ______________ last Christmas with their children.

Hi! For my first official English blog, I would like to start by sharing some of my own experiences learning about a different language and culture.

Moving Day!

Six and a half years ago, I began a cross cultural adventure when I moved to Thailand. I remember saying goodbye to my parents after an exhausting day of packing, tearful farewells with my close friends in Pennsylvania, a three-hour drive to New York, and an emotional dinner with my relatives. I don't remember many details about it except for the sharp pang of nervous anticipation in my gut, which was my constant companion. Finally, at midnight, I sat alone at the gate waiting to board my plane.

I switched planes three times and arrived in Bangkok twenty-seven hours later. Believe me, I hardly slept or ate at all the whole time. My stomach kept twisting and turning inside me and I felt like I had swallowed a live snake. I think I went to the bathroom every twenty minutes! When the plane landed and I walked into the airport, my legs were shaking so hard that I could hardly walk. I was so scared! I was supposed to meet Pastor Lawan there, who was the woman who ran the orphanage. I was going to be a volunteer staff and teacher at her orphanage for hill tribe children. I kept thinking, "What if Pastor Lawan doesn't recognize me? What if I don't recognize her? What if she didn't understand me when I spoke to her on the phone, asking her to meet me? She doesn't understand English very well." I felt all alone in this foreign country, unable to speak the language... (to be continued in my next blog)


Pastor Lawan with Amee and Naree
(two children in the orphanage)








Vocabulary

Did you notice the words in dark print? They are all adjectives. Adjectives are words which modify, or describe, a noun. Here are the adjectives that I used in my blog:

exhausting
tearful
close
emotional
sharp
nervous


Now, try to place the adjectives in the blanks of the following sentences:


1. Having a baby was the most ____________ experience she ever had.


2. Dan always has ____________ feelings before he speaks in public.


3. The first day of preschool, the room was filled with ____________ children who missed their mothers.


4. Beth is my very ________ friend.


5. I just finished an ______________ exercise class.


6. Be careful, that's a very ____________ knife!

Grammar


As you may have noticed, in the English language, adjectives are usually placed before the noun. That's why I wrote, "an exhausting day," because the adjective "exhausting" describes what kind of day it was. Therefore, the word, "exhausting" goes before the word, "day."


Here are some other examples:


I have a blue sweater. (blue describes the sweater)

Oh no! A wet dog jumped on me! (wet describes the dog)


Try to rewrite the following sentences using the adjective:

example- I looked up at the sky. The sky was blue. 4I looked up at the blue sky.

1. She was wearing shorts. The shorts were orange. 4________________________

2. My friend is making soup. The soup is hot. 4_____________________________

3. I am listening to music. The music is classical. 4___________________________


For more information on adjectives, you can check out this site:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

Welcome

Hi!

Welcome to my Exciting English blogspot! This blog has been created for my "Structure of American English" class. Sometimes you might be confused by the English language. For example, why did I write "be confused by the English language" instead of "The English language might confuse you?" This question (which is about the passive voice) and many other English questions might be answered in some of my blogs!

I hope you enjoy my blog!

by Joan Collison, 1/26/2010

P.S. This blog isn't for the assignment. I just did it to get my blog started.