CsernóKNÉ jezerniczky éVA

Interneten olvastam a következő történeteket. Olvassa el őket egyesével, és gyártson kérdéseket róluk a füzetébe. Amikor ezzel kész van, nézze át a kérdéseket, gondolatban válaszolja meg őket, végül pedig összefüggően próbálja elmondani a történetkéket.

Például az első történethez tartozó kérdések lehetnek a következők:
-Is the speaker’s sister older or younger than her?

-Did they get on well when they were children?

-What did her sister look like?

-Was she religious?

-Did she go to church when she turned 15?

-Who cooked on Sundays?

-Did she cook well?

-Could the speaker’s mother cook well?
1.

Before I was born, my sister was the princess of the house. She was nine when I popped on the scene and she turned into a sullen, angry child and later an unhappy adult. I was 22 before she forgave me for living. My sister was 12 years old when she confirmed in the Methodist Church in our town on Long Island. I think she looked beautiful. By the time she got to be 15 though, she didn't want to go to church anymore. So my mother said that she'd then have to prepare the Sunday midday meal, so that she wouldn't be idle. We had great dinners- she turned out to be a super cook, much better than mom.
 

 2.

 There are about more than half a dozen of pictures of me and my cousin Eric at home. He is five months older than me, and we grew up together. We played everyday in the backyard, and the big tree out there was a spaceship, a giant octopus...or whatever it needed to be to get our adventure going. He liked to punch me on the back just to see me grasp for air. I don't remember a day that he didn't make me cry. My mom scolded him, saying that that was no way of treating a lady. That was the first time that I recall being referred to as "a lady".

After our sixth birthday, Eric came to visit on weekends only. After our fifteenth birthday, I rarely saw him. He was "in a band". He never went to college. Around 20 years of age, he showed up at family parties with a different girlfriend every time, and he already had a pretty stable job at a reputable loaning agency. Eric married at age 25 to a rich girl (a co-worker), and a year later he started an independent financial consultation business, or something like that.

3.

This picture looks like my school portrait from third grade. I had a similar hairstyle, one that my mother prided herself on because she cut it herself and the blunt cut was perfectly straight. She'd sit me on the kitchen step-chair (the kind where the seat pulls up to make it a step ladder for reaching cans on the top shelf of the pantry), and she'd tell me to sit still. When the scissors tickled the back of my neck I'd squirm, only to get poked by the scissors when I moved. Like the girl in this picture, I also had a space between my two front teeth that everyone thought came from sucking my thumb, which I did until I was twelve. My mother blamed Dr. Spock for my thumb-sucking: she'd read in his book that she should take me off the bottle at one and a half, too soon she now insists. When I immediately started sucking my thumb, she turned again to Spock, but read that she should not to give in. Most of all, I remember the comfort of sucking my thumb...I couldn't go to sleep without it. But sleep-overs were tough. I'd wait until the other girls were asleep, or I'd roll over and hide under the covers. My very best friend, Roxanne, knew I sucked my thumb but she didn't care. One night my thumb didn't taste good anymore...it's as simple as that. My teeth gradually grew together and everyone in my family considered it good fortune that I didn't need braces.

4.

It's never easy, isn't it, when you're in a foreign land. I was born in UK and then moved to Singapore. I remembered the first time I came to Indonesia (I was 8 years old), people were speaking to me in Bahasa which I didn't understand at that time. Dad's Indonesian, mom's Japanese so we only speak English at home. I don't blame these people, I mean, we're Asians - mom looks like Chinese Indonesian and I look in-between the two. When we order food, dad would speak in Bahasa and when the waiter directed a question at mom and I, we would smile to the waiter and look at dad for translation. "You're not Indonesians?", that's what we always got.
I recalled telling my dad that I hate having to fit-in in school. In UK, there were only 2 Asians in the whole school. In Singapore, I was known as the Indo girl who doesn't speak Bahasa in school. What's worse is that I have to learn Bahasa Melayu as a 2nd language. It was so confusing, even dad got confused. My parents managed to change my school then where I could omit the 2nd language.
When I was in high school, I always complained to my parents that I'm tired of explaining to people at school my background. At least now I could write and speak Bahasa Indo moderately, still learning. I still have to explain to people though why I don't speak Japanese once they find out that my mom's a Jap. Well, I guess I have to learn Japanese soon! For now, I'm happy that each time I return to Jakarta, I feel a great sense of belonging.....

5.

Helm’s Bakery

For anyone who was living in Southern California prior to 1969, the Helms' man was a welcome sight. Helms' Bakery, based in West Los Angeles, sold their goods one of two ways: They had outlet stores, just like other bakeries where day-old items were sold. The other, more popular way was a little yellow panel truck that went from neighborhood to neighborhood. Inside the truck were more baked goods than one would find in a supermarket, a cash register, and barely enough room for the driver/vendor. Generally, the Helms man would arrive in neighborhoods about the time we kids were coming home from school. If we were fortunate to be at the end of the route (about 4:30-5:00 in the afternoon), and if it were hot, the driver would either sell us his doughnuts for a couple of pennies or give them away. There was no air conditioning in the truck and so he couldn't keep them (bread kept pretty well). My mom could never figure why the Helms' Thrift Shop never had doughnuts! She had the idea they were so good that they sold out quickly. Well, Mom, if you're reading this right now, I can tell you the reason why I had such a poor appetite on those hot days when I was 6-10 years old and I wouldn't eat my supper: That Helms man kept stuffing me with doughnuts! It was his fault!

6.

Some Things Don't Taste as Good Now!

Most of my memories of food during my childhood are from the times I lived with my Morgan grandparents in Vardaman. They had a garden plot and raised most of the vegetables that we ate. A small area at the end of the garden was used to raise a few chickens for their eggs. Except for meals where special company was expected, we rarely had chicken.

Although I helped plant the garden, hoe it, and pick the vegetables, I can't remember all that we grew. The main vegetables I remember were Irish potatoes, butterbeans, okra, crowder peas, blackeyed peas, tomatoes, cabbage, English peas, corn, runner beans, purple hull peas, carrots, cantaloupe, squash, and hot pepper. These must have been the vegetables that Papaw and Ninny Morgan (as we called them) were used to growing and liked. Other family gardens in Vardaman had these vegetables as well as such things as eggplant and bell pepper.

Our meals were all similar. Breakfast usually consisted of oatmeal and toast or eggs, biscuits, and gravy. The main meal of the day was dinner, served around noon. This meal always had fresh cornbread and potatoes (boiled and then thickened with flour). A couple of vegetable dishes (depending on what was in season, but usually including one pea or bean dish) rounded out the meal. The evening meal, supper, usually consisted of the left-overs from the noon meal. The cornbread would be wrapped in a moist cloth and reheated in the oven and the vegetables would be warmed up as well. If they were in season, fresh sliced tomatoes would accompany both dinner and supper.

When they first moved to Vardaman from Reid, my Morgan grandparents lived on the highway just east of the town limits and had room for a cow. This provided their milk and butter. Almost all of the milk was allowed to "sour" and was then churned. After the butter was collected, the buttermilk was saved and this was the form of milk most often drank. When they moved into town, they bought fresh milk from a family down the street who were still keeping a cow.

Vegetables that I buy in the supermarkets now just don't taste as good as the ones that I remember. The tomatoes are picked green and are forced to turn red by being exposed to a gas. Even the so-called 'vine-ripened' ones in the supermarkets are hard and have little taste.

7.

Melanie - remembers her first day:

I don't really remember walking in on my first day of school, but I do remember that I met a girl called Sophie. Sophie was really kind and we soon became best friends!! There was also a boy called Jordan who used to chase me around the classroom and in and out of the play area trying to catch me!!

I once went to Sophie's house and she had swings in her back garden, we went on the swings and I fell off, banged my knee and started crying! Overall I had a really good first day at school, and I don't remember crying!

I wasn't scared to leave my mom for kindergarten, really. I believe I was the 1st person there. I remember I had a clear & pink backpack, and a pinkish red crayon box. A pink and blue sleeping mat I also had. Mrs. Connell put me to a table in the front. More kids filled the room.

I became friends with Ashley and Peggy first. I remember sitting with a group of girls in a circle with a record player toy in front of us. This moment was when I had a terrible accident. From that moment, no one wanted to talk to me, play with me, or even be around me. This went on for 6 years.

8

First day at high school

The night before the first day of school, I couldn't sleep. I was too busy worrying.

First of all, I worried about what I was going to wear. I wanted to wear something nice, something that set the tone for the year, something that made me feel good.

But everything I tried on didn't feel right. Nothing was me.

In fact, I didn't know exactly who I was. Anymore.

I'd been away to camp all summer. I'd had really close friends at camp, friends I played all-day games of Risk with, friends who I wrote songs with, friends who I swam across the lake with.

Now I worried about who I would be friends with at home. I didn't feel close to anybody, especially not to my two former closest friends, Debbie Rose and Karen Bloom, who had spent their summer together. They'd already told me stories about the fun they'd had going water-skiing and riding their bikes to the beach and hanging out with my boyfriend, Eugene Pasillio.

I felt on the outside of things. Friendless and unsure of myself.

I worried that I would have Mr. Van den Heek for chemistry class. I'd heard that he was a hard grader and gave homework every night.

I worried about where my locker would be and where I would eat.

I worried about how I would find my classes.

My mother said: Don't worry. You'll do just fine. But I didn't feel fine.

I spoke to Eugene on the phone. He said that he wasn't worried at all about high school. One teacher was the same as another, one school as bad as the next.

But I cared. I was a good student. I wanted to enjoy high school, to do well, to feel part of things.

The next day, my teacher called me Shirley instead of Sherri.

I couldn't find the chemistry class and Mr. Van den Heek glared at me when I walked in late.

I was the last in lunch line.

Debbie and Karen ignored me.

I couldn't remember the combination to my locker.

At the end of the day, I was just happy that it was over.

I waited outside for Eugene. He walked out laughing with Debbie and Karen.

Then he took my hand.

The four of us walked together and talked about our terrible teachers.

Eugene did a great imitation of Mr. Van den Heek.

Then he turned to me. "I'm building up my shoulders," he said. "Hop on."

He squatted down and I put my legs over his shoulders and he lifted me and we walked home that way, my legs dangling over his chest.

And I forgot all about Mr. Van den Heek and the strange hallways and the locker that wouldn't open.

I forgot about feeling strange and lost and friendless.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

Miután elolvasgatta ezeket a történeteket, gondolom rájött, hogy ezekhez hasonlókat bármikor csinálhat. Mondja el, sőt, írja le milyen volt az első nap az iskolában, kik voltak a gyerekkori barátai és mit csináltak együtt, egészen odáig, hogy mi történt tegnap. Írjon, vagy találjon ki rövid történeteket. Ha van hozzá türelme és ideje, vezessen naplót angolul. Megéri, higgye el.

Most pedig folytassuk az elmélkedést az igeidőkről. Foglaljuk össze, hogy eddig mit is tanultunk!

Két jelen időt, és két múlt időt a következőképpen.

név	alak	használat	példa
Simple Present Tense	1. alak (E/3 1. alak+s) segédige do, does kérdésben, tagadásban	általános és ismétlődő cselekvések a jelenben, ami mindig úgy van	I like fish. Do you get up early every day?
Present Continuous Tense	am, is are + ige-ing	éppen most folyamatban lévő cselekvések	Are you sleeping? I am playing the piano.
Simple Past Tense	2. alak segédige did kérdésben, tagadásban	általános és ismétlődő cselekvések a múltban, logikailag egymás után következő cselekvések	I started school in 1964. He got up and went to the bathroom. Did you meet him yesterday?
Past Continuous Tense	was, were + ige-ing	éppen akkor folyamatban levő cselekvések, párhuzamosan egymás mellett futó cselekvések, az az eredeti cselekvés, amit félbeszakít valami más (ami félbeszakítja: Simple Past)	I was watching TV at that time. While she was cleaning the house he was working in the garden. The children were playing when I entered the room.