Writing Projects January 2012

Dear all,

This is an essay writing collection that students of the writing course at ICPNA RC published before graduating in January 2012. Just click on the link below to read their essays. Please write your comments here.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwaHa32OSXjpZDU2MzZmOTItYjg4Ni00Y2UwLTlkODYtYjU1NmViZWM2OGRk

Best,
the author.

Milagros Bravo - A09

SECOND EXTENSIVE READING FORM - A09

Student's name and course: Milagros Bravo Alvarez

Teacher's name: Mr. Antonio Rios                         Date: 24/01/2012

1. - Express opinions, doubts, confusions, and convictions that come to your mind as you think about what you have read. Watch and write about how these things change over time. Include title of book, article, magazine, etc. that you are reading.

·         Well, I read an interesting article which title is THE BIRD THAT DID NOT FLY, and I really enjoyed reading it because this reading has good aspects since it teaches us that we should not feel defeated when we are in trouble or when we have some adversity. On the contrary, we should overcome and move on life, so that story is about a bird which was ill-treated by its owners. They never took care of it very carefully, and the bird always had its wings clipped. For that, he wouldn't fly since he was afraid of falling and hurting itself. However, a good family found it when the bird escaped from its another owner, and it learned how to fly. That story is so touching.Something interesting I can get from this reading is that even we are facing problems; we should not worry so much about it. Since making mistakes in life are not so bad, we learn from them to improve ourselves each day.

2. - Pick out 5 lexical items (verbs, phrasal verbs, expressions, fillers, etc.) and write down examples of at least 2 different meanings of the lexical item.

Stagger / / v. to walk or move in an unsteady way, almost falling over:
I got out of bed and staggered to the window.

Staggering / / adj. very surprising, shocking, and hard to believe:
A staggering $ 3 million was spent in building the US nuclear arsenal.

1.     Restrain.–To keep control./verb/

ü  She restrained herself since she was so mad.

ü  Restrained. – adj. moderate

-          In my cousin's family, they are so restrained and people person.

2.    Stray. – to go for a different way /verb/

ü  She did not go to her house, she strayed by another.

ü  Stray.- when an animal does not have anyone to take care of it./verb/

-          My bother found a loving dog which was stray.

3.    Squint. –To close your eyes slightly and try to see something. /verb/

-          She was squinting because of the glare.

ü  Squint. –An act of closing your eyes. A quick look at something./noun/

-          I had a squint under the bed, but I couldn't find it.

4.    Rage. - Anger. /noun/

-          She was so angry and, also she could not control her rage.

-          Raging. - Adj. to be mad.

-          My friend did not go to the party, and she was raging.

5.    Host.–a person who organize something. /noun/

-    The host of TV program is a people person.

- Host. - organize. Verb

-          She will host a party to celebrate to her daughter's birthday.

My dream became my goal

My name is Lorena Patricia, I am seventeen years old. I was studying at "Andino" school, and I finished to study there last year. Now, I have to start a new stage in my life. I will study at the University this year to follow my professional dreams that are about what I am going to talk now. During my life I have had a lot of goals that I wanted to achieve, and I will do everything that I can to achieve what I set.

When I was young I wanted to become a singer or a famous actress, but whereas I was growing up I was realizing that we have to follow our objectives. Even though the majority of the persons think that the most important objective in life is to get money, I think that we have to do what we like to do, no matter how much money we gain. I know that money is important; otherwise, we could not survive. Nonetheless, we should not do whatever to gain money; we have to do what we like. I mean that in my opinion, working should not be a sacrifice, but rather it should be funny, we should enjoy working.

During the passage of the years, I was experimenting different activities, and one of my favorite ones was drawing. I decided that whatever is the carrier I choose in the future, I should draw. I enjoyed a lot drawing and painting different things, but principally clothes. In that moment I wanted to become a fashion designer. Consequently I was looking for different places to study that, there was when I saw another carrier that I liked a lot. It was Interior design. Since that moment I was dreaming of becoming a famous Interior designer.

I was investigating and I concluded that interior designers can develop their work in three main areas. The first is in shopping malls because there are shopping windows that are constantly redecorated. According to a U.S popular magazine that redecoration happens sixteen times in a year. Not only there are shopping windows but there are also stores and fast food restaurants that have to be well decorated to have more clients. Houses are another important area for interior design application because a rich person can pay millions of dollars to have nice designs in their homes. Furthermore, to make a good television show or a good movie, directors always need a interior designer to work on stage; for example, the movie “2012” invested more than a million of dollars just in scenography. If you do not want to go so far, the series “Al fondo hay sitio” in Lima or “Magaly Tv” show invest thousands of soles just to decorate their stage.(1)

As I said, for me is important to have fan working, so I will study Interior design because now, more than a dream it is a goal that I traced and I want to achieve. I think that a dream became a goal when action is taken toward to achieve it. Many told me that I have to get my economic independence; thus, with this carrier I will be happy not only because I will enjoy drawing and creating but also because I will obtain the money that I need to live.

1.Information that I obtained because I talked with the interior designer of Magaly Tv show, Advice, 2010

SECOND EXTENSIVE READING

1.- Express opinions, doubts, confusions, and convictions that come to your mind as you think about what you have read. Watch and write about how these things change over time. Include title of book, article, magazine, etc. that you are reading.

Well, I decided to read an outline story that has no author and title. This amazing story was about a woman who decided to help a poor boy giving him food and clothes for a short time. Many years later the woman was detected of cancer, so she had to take a treatment with the doctor. However, it was a surprise when she saw the doctor because he was the poor and hungry boy that she had met some years before. The doctor recognized the woman, and he decided to put all his effort to cure her. Finally, after a hard struggled the cancer had disappeared. This story taught me that when you do a good action you will be rewarded in the future we also have to think that the world is like a river always moving and changing that's why we don’t know when we are going to need of the others help, so it is important to remember that a good action can change your life in the future.

2.Pick out 5 lexical items (verbs,phrasal verbs, expressions,fillers,etc) and write down examples of at least 2 different meaning of the lexical item.
STAGGER / /v.To walk or move in an unsteady way almost falling over :I got out of bed and staggered to the window.
STAGGERING/ /adj: very surprising shocking and hard to believe :A staggering $ 3 million was spent in building the U.S nuclear arsenal

Baffle: /v/ To confuse, bewilder or perplex
H e was baffled by the technical language of the instructions.

Hall: /noun/. A passage way or area onto which rooms open .
The elevators were at the end of the hall.

Struggle: / noun/. An energetic attempt to achieve something.
After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Edge:/noun/. The boundary of a surface.
She put the book on the edge of the table.

Tear: /noun/. A drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands.
His story brought tears to her eyes.

Faith: /noun/. A strong belief in a supernatural power that controls human destiny.
He lost his faith but not his morality.

Drenched. /adj/ Wet.
She stayed there drenched by the rain.

third essay Andrea Calderon A09

MY LIFE

       It could be really diffcult about oneself because it is easier to talk about topics like global warming, corruption, etc. However, it is important to take a short moment to express our feelings. I hardly ever talk about myself because people tend to judge and evaluate others with greater certainty when they communicate something very peculiar about themselves. Although I would like to share some situations of my life .

       I born on july 15 of 1994 in the house of my grandparents.My parents are Sara and Jorge, and I am the younger sister of my two sister, Claudia and Norka, and my two brothers, Marcel and Verzier- he is de. At the age of 3, I suffered a car accident with my parents and my older brother Verzier and my sister Claudia because the car the car collided with another car. I broke my legs. My mother broke several of her ribs. My father broke his head and had other injuries. My sister hit her face against the seat and ended with a broken jaw, but my brother went through the worst part because he dead. His body ended burned because the car was on fire after my parents, my sister and I were taken off the car .Althought the firemen tried to rescue him, they could not because his body was stuck with the irons.Well, it is sad to remember those kind of things.

       I was in therapy over one year because I could not walk. Years later of this tradegy, I had problems with motor coordination in the kindergarten because I could not recognize and follow directions; for example, when someone told me to walk on the right, I went on the left. That is why a teacher recommended my parents to take ballet classes to improve my motor coordination. Having taken these classes, my motor coordination improved and a goal was born. My goal was being a good dancer. I tried to be the best even my problems made it difficult.

      At the age of 9, my ballet teacher commented to my parents how good I was at dancing, and she suggested them that I should go to Lima to iprove my skills and be trained at the Municipal Ballet of Lima. However, my father had to get me out of ballet classes because he could not pay for them. Although I stopped my classes, I trained hard by myself watching videos, but a problem made me stop dancing. I was training, and suddendly I decided to atand up over my toes without warming them up, so I broke three toes of the right foot, and it was so painful that i could not walk well. After years of therapy, I liked to train again but I could not because my legs lost energy and force after many times of therapy, so I when I trained, I really get tired. Doctor adviced me to stop training, but I did not want it.

       One day, I was going around the culture house, but sudendly I have seen a group of people who performed stunts, well-known as B-boys; they practiced break dance, so I always went there to see them.Then I met them, and they suggested me to practice break dance to strengthen my body, I did it and now I'm part of that group. The last year I applied to D1 contest to find new talents, and I won an scholarship; then I joined to the university, and now I am going to finish ICPNA courses.

       To sum up, I think that God put many obstacles to prove how strehgth I am. Things happen because of something. Although I suffered many dramatic situations, I consider myself a lucky person because I have a good family and good friends who always were with me when I had problems. I am really thankful with God to permit me to still alive and enjoy my life.

MY THIRD WRITING

  MY FAMILY

The family is the most important thing that one can have, they always are going to be with you when you need them, and they aren’t going to disappointed you. I am very grateful with God, because he gave the best family. He gave me a father who always strives to be the best, a mother that always understand me and sometimes make me realize about the mistakes that I had, and finally, God also gave me a wonderful brother who always knows how to make me smile. So, is for this reasons that in this final essay I want to share with you a little more about my family.

Well, I am going star to writing about my father. His name is José Luis, he is 46 years old and he is economist. And do you know something? I want to be as my father is, because he is a fantastic person, he is the best father. Although he didn’t have much time for us, he always cares for us, for his family. Moreover, he taught me to always strive to achieve my dreams and do not let anyone or anything stops us from achieving them.

Everybody thinks that her mother is the best one around the world, and I agree with them, because my mother is the best thing that I can have, besides to be my mother, she is my best friend, she knows everything about me. Her name is Alicia and she is 43 years old. She is the one that make me realize about my mistakes. She is the one that always give me a hug when I need it and told me “Stay calm, everything would be ok, I am here with you and I will never leave your side”. Do you see? How I couldn’t say that SHE IS THE BEST MOTHER? Well, for this and more reasons I love her a lot.

Leonardo is my brother, he is 13 years old, he is very smart, and he loves to play videogames. According to the dictionary brother means “A male having the same parents as another or one parent in common with another”¹. However, my brother and I not only have the parents in common we have many common things. So, it makes that we can understand mutually, and of this way we avoid the discussions. Furthermore, he always knows how to make me a smile when I need to do it, he always find the perfect way to make me laugh, thanks to him I a have had a lot of fantastic moments.

To sum up, my family is the most important thing that God could gave to me, they are my best gift. I know that I can count on each one of their members. They are everything to me.

¹.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

THIRD WRITING

The emblematic dance from our country is “Marinera”. It is elegant, stylized and romantic and represents a couple on a courtship; therefore, my mom took me to an academy to practice this dance.

I started to dance since I was 4 years old, at the beginning it was so hard to practice because the women have to dance barefoot and in very hot pavement or rough surfaces, we have to do all of that smiling to our couple. Another thing you should be careful is with the handkerchief, this should never stop moving or fall to the floor, and it’s only accepted if part of the choreography. On this dance you should always be upright but not stiff, in my case the teacher made me to use a cane in his arms to acquire the correct posture.

After 3 years, I told my mom that I didn't want to dance anymore, so she decided to take me to the national contest in Trujillo; this made me think about leave it or not, finally I decided to continue dancing. That year I performed in a regional competition, I had been preparing my choreography by 3 months; however, I got the second place.

My dream was to participate on the national contest and if you really want to win you have to practice at least for 3 months, November and December traveling all the weekends to Lima and January to practice all the month on Trujillo, it's so expensive and requires complete dedication, so I decided to leave it and only dance for fun.

In short, practice this dance helped me to value my culture, also to recognize ​​the sacrifice and dedication that persons must have to achieve a goal. The presentation can last 5 minutes, but the practice is really hard and consists of at least 1 year, it doesn't matter if you win or not the only think that counts are all the experiences that you had and you learned in all the road.

THIRD WRITING

THIRD WRITING

MY PERSONALITY: MY FATHER AND I

I don´t like to talk so much about me because many people think that I´m a good person; however, there are people who think that I´m kind of bad person, but I consider myself as a interesting person as my father is. Many people said that we are so similar that when people see me walking on the street with my father they say that we look like so similar. So I´m going to mention many things of me in order to describe myself and to make people know why people think that my father and I are so similar; of course, there are some differences between my father and me.

One similarity between my father and I is that we both like to do sports. For example, when I was a kid (some people say that I ´m still a kid and I don’t know why) my father took me away from home to do sport such as basketball, soccer and handball which is why when I was at the school I was a good player. Now we still doing many exercise but not too much because both my father and I, don´t have enough time to do things that we would like to do as we did in the past. However, when there is time we go to the park with his and my friend to practice sport.

Another similarity between my father and me is that we like to help people who are in trouble or have problems; many people say that we have the same feelings, which is why my family is proud of me. I always say that helping people is a way to get a space in people´s heart and last of all people will recognize you as a good person who shares what you have without thinking in the consequences.

In spite of these two similarities with my father, we both have our differences that I would like to explain.

I´m the kind of person who likes to procrastinate things until the last minute. However, my father is the kind of person who likes to have everything in order to have enough time to relax and spend time with my family and also to spend time with his family. Instead of doing my homework or many other things I like to do many things such as surfing the internet, watching movies, going out with my friends, etc. while my father likes to have everything done before doing other things.

 Another difference between my father and me is that he is more responsible than me. For example, when we both go out, what I always do is to sleep all the day, but my father does the opposite; he always gets up earlier even if he went out. He always says that we are here to do thing in order to achieve our goals not to sleep and do nothing.

To sum up, my father and I could have our similarities and our differences. However, we have too much time to improve many things, as many people say “we are not perfect but we are here to correct our defects and to achieve our goals”.

WALTER ASSINA FLORES

A09

Writing 3

Something about myself

     

     This is one of the last essays I write in the Advance course. It has to be about me, and to be  honest, I found it really hard. It is easy to talk about other topics: advantages, disadvantages, differences, controversies, etc.; but it is not so easy to talk about myself. Well, my name is Adriana, I am 16 years old and I decided to tell you about how my life has been developing until now: my childhood, puberty and adolescence.

     

     I am the third child, after Sandra, my sister; and Ricardo, my brother. I was born on August 15, exactly at 11:30 a.m. I use to cry a lot because I was hungry all time! As is common, at the age of one or two, I learned to walk and talk. In 2000, I went to Andino School, in which I still studying until now. At the same year, I got “meningoencephalitis”, a sickness which I remember very well because I almost die as a consequence of it. Then, my childhood was really beautiful; the only things I did were just playing, eating and sleeping.

   

    Psychologist Asusena Básquez says, “As children are growing, they want to have all kind of experiences; no matter if they are dangerous, they just want to have them”. When the puberty started, I also started to experience new activities. I wanted to do everything! The theater group, the volleyball team, the Leaders group, the swimming group, etc.; I joined to all of them. In this stage, what I really care were sports, theater, pool, studies and fiends.

    

     While years were passing, I started to change a lot not only physically, but also mentally. That was when I noticed that I became an adolescent. “Compared to children, adolescents are more likely to question others’ assertions, and less likely to accept facts as absolute truths. Through experience outside the family circle, they learn that rules they were taught as absolute are in fact relativistic” (Vine R.).  As a matter of fact, I have experienced what is mentioned before many times; actually, I still doing that until know. At this stage, I continue doing the activities I did; also I enrolled into new ones, as ICPNA, which i am going to finish this month. However, now I have other interests: friends, maybe boys, social meetings, and especially, university. As soon as I realized I am in 5^th grade, I started to feel a little sad and excited. I do not know what I am going to study and how the university is going to be. I admit that the idea scares me, but I hope I will surpass it. Ultimately, I have understood that my family was really important and how much I love them. Although I have some troubles, I am really enjoying this stage because I think it is the best.

     

     Well, the only thing I can say is that I am very thankful with God, my family and my friends because they made my life better. In all my life, I have learned many things, I experienced happiness, hope, disappointment, pain, anger, etc. Now I know that everything has a reason. I just hope to continue living putting in practice all what I have learned and beling the person I am: a happy, honest and persistent girl.

1)           1)Viner R., Christie. “Adolescent development”. February 2005.

THIRD WRITING ( MY EXPERIENCE IN TWO JOBS)

MY EXPERIENCE IN TWO JOBS

The first time I decided to work as a waitress I felt really nervous; I didn’t know if it was going to be an easy or a difficult experience. Although I had many doubts about working for another person, I decided to take the risk. The first day of working was very difficult because I didn’t know many things; however, day by day my boss and my coworkers helped me a lot and at the end of the year I was qualified as the best employee. It was a good experience that I always remember. On the contrary, the second time I got a job as a cashier it was a bad experience, but it taught many things that is important to consider. Although these two apparently opposite jobs had some differences, they also shared one similarity that I would like to share.

One difference was the benefits. Working as waitress allowed me to work only five hours, so I had time to study in the afternoons. Moreover, I had vacation of one month each year, and I had the opportunity to choose which month of the year I wanted to take this free time. On the other hand, working as a cashier did not gave me the same benefits. First of all, I had to work ten hours, so at the end of the day I felt very exhausted. Besides, I had to spend all the day working that’s why it was impossible to me taking a course to study.

The other difference was the workplace atmosphere. In my first job I could feel a friendly and supportive atmosphere that helped me to feel comfortable there. I made good friends in that job not only with my coworkers but also with my boss who was a supportive person that cheered me up when I had to face difficult situations. On the other hand, in my second job the workplace environment was totally different because everything was based on competition between workers, so it was really difficult to make friends there. Besides, my boss was a person who always used to scream and yell uncontrollably. He always was very angry at everything, and no matter how well I was doing my work I never was appreciated or rewarded for it.

In spite of these differences, these two jobs shared one similarity that I would like to mention.

The main similarity that these two jobs shared was the distance location of the workplace. Both workplaces were near to my house, so it was easy to me arriving on time without problems; it took me only ten minutes to get my job. Moreover, I could save money since I did not have to spend money in travelling to my job, so I could spend this extra money in other things.

In summary, I would say that both jobs taught me many things that made me a good person and no matter how different or how similar they were I learn a lot from them. However, there are some factors such as the workplace environment or the commuting distance that I am going to consider the next time that I have to choose a job.