The Parrot Your ARC Newsletter by and for ESL, Multicultural, International
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The Parrot Your ARC newsletter by and for ESL, multicultural, international .. students, new Californians, and, well, anybody really. Issue # 117 Fall 2017 Ilse Powell - Heart of the ESL Center No Homework Edna: What is your fectly and then in Spain? name, Professor? I speak English pg. 11 Ilsa: Isla Powell. I and I speak some am not a profes- Spanish and a sor; I am the lead little bit of French Instructional As- and I took a Rus- sistant in the ESL sian class a long ”When there is no Center. time, but I only remember a few enemy within, the en- Edna: Where are words. emies outside cannot you from? Edna: Do you hurt you.” Ilsa: I’m from Ger- have sisters and many originally. brothers? African Proverb Edna: How many Ilsa: I have three languages do you sisters in Ger- speak? many and I have a Ilsa: I speak German pretty per- Continued on page 19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 105-year-old Frenchman rides 14 miles in an hour to Set World Record American River College 4700 College Oak Drive SAINT-QUEN- thing on a bike. Sacramento, CA 95841 TIN-EN-YVE- (916) 484-8001 LINES, France He proved that prediction -- Nearly Inside this Issue a century wrong again ago, Robert Wednesday. Too Many Students.....2 Marchand In a skin-tight Write/ Pull Teeth..........4 was told yellow and vio- by a coach let jersey, the No More Love ..............5 that he 105-year-old should give Frenchman set Factory at Fourteen.....6 up cycling Robert Marchand rode just more than 14 miles in an a world record Hard Work Pays Off......8 because he hour to set a cycling world record in the 105-plus in the 105-plus would never age category. Bubble and Squeak...14 achieve any- Continued on page 10 2 The Parrot Student Chirpings The Effects of Overcrowded Schools Undeveloped countries face the problem about the condition of schools created in Iraqi refu- of overcrowded schools. It has become for them a gee camps inside and outside Iraq? The conditions very complicated issue. Despite the efforts made to are even worse there. There are millions of refugees overcome this difficulty, the problem still persists. scattered in different camps with their children. The Many proposals have been made and adopted by number of schools are limited and the majority are different educational institutions. The results so far tents. School conditions are almost the same in any are not encouraging enough to end this suffering. refugee camps, especially in the Middle East and The overcrowded schools have a negative effect Africa. Just imagine that you have a child and he is on the school, the facing this situa- students, and the tion. How would families. you feel and what A school solution for your being overcrowd- child would you ed has its nega- look for? Would tive effect on the you blame your school itself. The child if he desert- possibilities are ed school or ran limited to provide away from home? enough space Although efforts for students. The are being made crisis intensifies to minimize the and renders the suffering as much situation in school as possible, the intolerable. A overcrowding bench and desk factor still has its can accommodate negative effect only one student. I saw on TV three Iraqi students on schools. sharing the same bench and desk. The classroom Students are, as well, negatively affected by was badly overcrowded. Being in that situation, an overcrowded school. The teacher is unable to some students sat on the floor during the whole monitor his students effectively. He is constantly school session. The situation became more con- under pressure and sometimes gets nervous and gested and there was no way to add more benches strikes students. Such behavior exposes him to and desks. In the face of this overcrowd condition, complaints from the students’ families and spoils the existing school facilities such as restrooms and the relationship between them. It renders the playgrounds are limited. Most of them are in de- students aggressive and looking for revenge on this plorable condition and cannot be used. The win- teacher. I remember a student in my city, Medea, in dows are broken and some classrooms are without Algeria.He waited for his teacher outside his school doors. The blackboards are old and they have never and struck him hard. The student was dismissed been replaced or maintained. School administra- from school and the teacher was transferred to an- tion is under constant pressure from both the other school. In view of this overcrowdedness situ- students, their families, and the teaching staff. What ation, teachers ignore taking student attendance. The Parrot 3 It is a little bit hard for them to remember all the his classmates smoking drugs. The son used to steal students’ names. The teaching period is only for less money from his father’s wallet and buy drugs. It had than an hour. The classroom is overflowing with a terrible effect on the family, especially on his fa- students. The teachers cannot spare time to check ther, who had a heart attack and became disabled. the students’ attendance. If you visit any of these The families were exposed to enormous difficulties schools, you will see that the situation is abnormal. resulting from having their son in an overcrowded Students remain under the negative effect of their school. The undeveloped countries are the most schools being affected by overcrowded. this unbear- As able phe- a final ef- nomenon. fect of this They do not unbearable have enough situation, means to students’ tackle this parents are problem. exposed to The enormous help of the difficulties. wealthy They are al- countries is ways anxious very impor- and worried tant to over- about the come this future of their critical issue. children. It is Action rather by the inter- difficult for them to monitor and keep an eye on national community in this respect is essential. The their children. Parents are busy and cannot make future of education in these undeveloped coun- themselves available for their children. The lack of tries is in danger. The overcrowded conditions of coordination between the school and the schools has a negative effect on schools, the stu- parents aggravates the situation. Parents are always dents, and their families. left in the dark, and they do not know what their students are doing there. With these overcrowded conditions, the school administration cannot ensure proper follow-up for every student and cann’t liaise with his parents. This state of delin- quency may affect students’ behavior. It could lead them to commit acts against the law. My friend had a very difficult experience with his son. The father Mohamed Benrekia used to check his wallet every morning before he ESL W50 went to work. He noticed that the amount of cash ( Cause & Effect ) he had in his wallet before he went to bed was not the same. The following day, he received a phone call from the police department asking him to re- port to their office. He was surprised to see his son in jail. The son was caught out of the school with 4 The Parrot Writing an Essay like Going to the Dentist Have you ever compared writing an essay and stomachache because you probably won’t be able to going to the dentist? I want to say how hard and ter- eat for a few hours after that. rible it is for me to do both things, but both are nec- essary because for most people going to school and Writing an essay and going to the dentist are writing an essay are part of the curriculum and also not only painful and something that most people going to the dentist is part of life. Therefore, they are don’t want to do,but it is also important to know that similar in the way that most people do not want do when you have a good result from them, you will feel them: they are painful, although they both can have happy. Because of the hard work you put in doing an great results. essay and if you use good technique, you will have a great grade. Similarly, when you go to the dentist, The first similarity between writing an essay you will be happy if the process was good and your and going to the dentist is that most people do not dentist was nice to you. Consequently, you should be want to do either. Writing an essay is boring. You able to see the good result in your teeth. have to think extra about In con- a topic and clusion, doing it takes writing an time. If you essay and want a good going to essay, you the dentist have to use have sev- good connec- eral simi- tors and tran- larities. sition words. It is very Likewise, important going to the to know dentist is that you boring. You have to have a hard be strong time think- when you ing, “Should go to the I go today or maybe tomorrow or next week?” dentist. In the same way, you have to be strong when because it is painful. Plus, it takes time to go there. In you write an essay because you have to demonstrate addition, the dentist has to use boring products like your knowledge if you want a good result. Especially dental floss to do a good cleaning. if your professor is Ms.“Dorkalisious” and you need to pass the class or if your dentist is a tough worker.