Cosmic views mark Hubble’s 15th birthday - Space.com - MSNBC.com
Pretty, pretty pictures of the Whirlpool Galaxy and Eagle Nebula. The universe is an amazing place. What's more amazing to me is that anything we can imagine is probably already true.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Hoppy Spreing!
Here's how my beginner students described our city in a writing assignment this week.
What amuses me most is that they're calling it "hot." In April. Oh, if only they knew what they were in store for! Most of them also made some reference to it being quiet or peaceful here. In some cases that's praise, and in some cases (from students who would rather be someplace "exciting" like NYC) it's polite, veiled criticism. Students here do tend to note, though, that being in a place where there's not much going on helps them stay focused on studying.
One student refered to me as "Shengy" in his assignment. Hee. A lot of Arab students come with very, very low literacy skills in any Western language. Their education system is very much based on oral teaching, not much writing or many books. They're at the invented spelling stage, so I get words like "siven," "onkel," "rane," "hoppy," and as you can see above, "spreing."
Little Rock is...
...not very big city. But it's Beautiful and Serenity. I like here and very happy here.
...very small and very cheep. The wither naw is spreing.
...a small city but so peaceful. I like it. It's became spring. It's a fine season. The tree is coming into leaf.
...a small city. The people are big.
...a very small and calm city. It has fresh air but It's too hot weather and often change climate.
...a very small city. It's very hot now. but I'm very happy here.
What amuses me most is that they're calling it "hot." In April. Oh, if only they knew what they were in store for! Most of them also made some reference to it being quiet or peaceful here. In some cases that's praise, and in some cases (from students who would rather be someplace "exciting" like NYC) it's polite, veiled criticism. Students here do tend to note, though, that being in a place where there's not much going on helps them stay focused on studying.
One student refered to me as "Shengy" in his assignment. Hee. A lot of Arab students come with very, very low literacy skills in any Western language. Their education system is very much based on oral teaching, not much writing or many books. They're at the invented spelling stage, so I get words like "siven," "onkel," "rane," "hoppy," and as you can see above, "spreing."
Saturday, April 09, 2005
More spring break
Spring break continued to be springy and breaky. Yay! On Wednesday night we had a bonfire, which we'd tried to do in December, but everyone but me thought it was too cold. This time, it was a little windy but the temperature was just right. Beforehand, Mama and Allie and I got things ready in the pasture by marking all the potential shoe disasters (i.e. cowpies) with newspaper. Once Daddy got the fire going, we roasted dogs and made s'mores. I love our bonfires.
After heading back to Little Rock, I had two friends from Texas come to visit. We went to Hot Springs and did the spa thing, which I'd never experienced before. I recommend it, and for what it is I think the prices are pretty reasonable. I wish I could remember the name of the little Italian place we ate at afterward, because it was fantastic: the food, the wine, the atmosphere, everything. I had something that incorporated a huge portabello mushroom. I'm drooling thinking about it. It was right across from the bathhouses, that would help you find it. Our waiter tried to push the crabcakes on us, and normally we would have gone for it, but we had decided to make our own crabcakes at home the next night. We did, and they were good. As were the mangoritas. :) Good times.
Everything is flowering now. This is the Arlington hotel seen from the park across the street, the one where the hot water flows down the side of a cliff, all steamy and covered with algae, into a pool, and you can wade around in the hot water if you can stand it.
After heading back to Little Rock, I had two friends from Texas come to visit. We went to Hot Springs and did the spa thing, which I'd never experienced before. I recommend it, and for what it is I think the prices are pretty reasonable. I wish I could remember the name of the little Italian place we ate at afterward, because it was fantastic: the food, the wine, the atmosphere, everything. I had something that incorporated a huge portabello mushroom. I'm drooling thinking about it. It was right across from the bathhouses, that would help you find it. Our waiter tried to push the crabcakes on us, and normally we would have gone for it, but we had decided to make our own crabcakes at home the next night. We did, and they were good. As were the mangoritas. :) Good times.
Everything is flowering now. This is the Arlington hotel seen from the park across the street, the one where the hot water flows down the side of a cliff, all steamy and covered with algae, into a pool, and you can wade around in the hot water if you can stand it.
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