Spring!

Spring has sprung! Penny and I have been just elated with this weather and how verdant our backyard has become. Penny just loves being outside in the fresh air. She can run, jump and pounce on things without the fear of snow or hard ground and she loves it. Also, now that the grass is luscious, all of Penny's toys roll a little bit faster. I think she likes the challenge though. 

Spring has always been a time of reckoning for my family. My mother and I, who both work at an elementary school, start to slow down in the amount of work we have to do. My dad, who is a plumber, doesn't have a lot of work because most people don't use their heating systems in the spring. We have all a little bit of extra time, which is certainly nice in order to actually enjoy dinner together! It is lovely to be able to take the time to sit together and talk about the day's activities. I challenge you to sit and talk with your parents one night, sometimes they actually have interesting things to say!

Vocabulary:

Spring has sprung (idiom): Spring has begun!

Elated (verb): extremely excited for something

Verdant (adjective): green in color

Luscious (adjective): delightfully full

Reckoning (verb): reviewing your actions

Vocabulary Exercise:

The verbs and adjectives I used as vocabulary this week all have different meanings. Go to this website and use the search bar to find other meanings of this week's vocabulary. Write down the other meanings.

Grammar Point:

In this post I used parallel verb structure, meaning that all of my verbs were created the same way i.e. run, jump and pounce.

Grammar Exercise:

Describe spring activities that you enjoy doing outside. Be sure to use parallel structure when writing about these activities!

NYSESLAT exam

Dear Students,
Perhaps you have heard about the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test or NYSESLAT. This exam is taken by all English Language learners in New York state to get an understanding of how well your teacher is doing teaching you English as a second language. Although this test might seem annoying and boring, it is important that teachers acquire the knowledge of how well you might be doing in specific areas of learning as well as areas that might be challenging for you, so it is important to take these exams seriously, but most of all to try your best. Regardless of how many times a teacher might beseech you to "do your best" it is imperative to remember that during any part of your life, you should constantly be trying your best. Why waste all of that talent you have bottled up inside you? Or, even worse so, use it superfluously in situations that are not important to your life. Just like the Golden Rule, "Treat others as you wish to be treated", it is important to carry on through life trying your absolute best. With regards to the NYSESLAT, it may make you feel frustrated and upset but please do not let this exam bring you down. It is challenging mainly to figure out your level of achievement and to help teachers help you in the future. Keep your head up and continue working hard, we are in the home stretch of the year!

With a smile,
Miss Bufkins

Vocabulary:
Acquire(verb): to gain
Regardless(conjunction): in spite of
Beseech(verb): to beg
Imperative(adjective): important
Bottled up(idiom): to not let out feelings or sayings
Superfluously(adjective): unnecessarily
Home Stretch(Idiom): In the final period of time of something

Vocabulary Exercise:
Use at least three words in a sentence about the end of the year and your feelings about it.

Grammar Point: 
This post was written informally, as a letter directly to you, the student, regarding your feelings about the NYSESLAT. 

Grammar Exercise:
 Write a letter back to me about your reaction to the NYSESLAT and how you felt taking the exam.

College

One year ago this weekend, I graduated from college. It is chilling to think that it has been an entire year since I lived in Massachusetts, in a dorm room with four of my closest friends, surrounded by people I laugh, cried and had fun with.

My college roommates and I at graduation

It's funny to me to compare the 18 year old I was at the beginning of my time there to the woman I am now. It is amazing to review the journey I have taken. I think the most important part of my journey were the lessons I have learned along the way. College is a time for growth and understanding of yourself and your values. College is a time to pretend to be an adult but still have all the silly fun that young people have along the way. This is why I believe it is so pivotal to go to college. Whether it is a two year college, summer program or four year bachelors program, find a way to enjoy yourself while getting an education! There are many scholarships out there, often you must write an essay to receive one, but the money you could receive would greatly lessen the cost of attendance. In this day and age young people are expected to grow up so quickly it is astounding. Take the time to look into if college is for you! You never know what will happen if you put your mind to something!

Vocabulary:
chilling (adjective): weird, different
growth (verb): personal development
pivotal (noun): very important
Whether (conjunction): showing a choice will follow
lessen (verb): lower
astounding (adjective):amazing

Vocabulary Exercise:
Cloze- fill in the correct vocabulary word

I am taking classes for personal _____________ in the English language.
It is ______________ that you read the directions before you begin writing.
__________________ you enjoy baseball or football, being at either game is really fun.
It was ____________________ listening to the fortune teller.
Watching the man walk the tight rope high above the crowd was ____________________.


Grammar Point:
Many words used in this post are homophones, or words that when said sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. Whether is a homophone with weather. Four is a homophone with for. 

Grammar Exercise:
Use homophones in a sentence.

Brunch

I have yet to lament about how much I love to eat. I love all foods so much that it is difficult for me to narrow down what food I like the best. I suppose the best way to fully debrief you on this passion is to narrow it down to my favorite time to eat, which is brunch. Brunch combines both breakfast and lunch into a meal that happens on weekends, from about noon until 3:00pm. I enjoy this meal mostly because of the ability to choose and then switch between breakfast foods and lunch foods as often as I choose. As an adult I have only just begun to love omelets, but my fundamental love of breakfast began with pancakes.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

My first French crepe

 Oh, I love the fluffiness of the batter that makes pancakes and adding maple syrup just makes it that much better! My most favorite thing to eat for breakfast however, is almost considered a dessert because of how sweet it is. When I travelled abroad to Paris, France, I was lucky enough to eat a crepe. A crepe is an extremely thin pancake, thinner than a tortilla even, that you could put anything into to eat, many even put vegetables!  The first time I had one it was made with Nutella and whipped cream with an accoutrements strawberries. It remains one of my most favorite treats.

Vocabulary:
lament: (verb) to say in a sad way
debrief: (verb) to talk about an experience
fundamental:(adjective) the most important part of something
fluffiness:(adjective) light and airy
accoutrements:(noun) an accessory to a main outfit or dish

Vocabulary Activity:
Debrief me about an experience you have had with a fluffy food. Be sure to use at least three of the vocabulary words!

Grammar Point:
In this post I talked about my favorite meal, brunch, a compounded word, two words that are pushed together into one Breakfast + Lunch = brunch.

Grammar Practice:
Think of a compound word that you know and build a story around it. Make sure to use descriptive adjectives to add detail to your story!

Holidays

Alicia, Erica, and I on Easter

Holidays are always extremely important to my family and I. Although the majority of my family members live in New York, in fact they all live on Long Island, we do not have many opportunities to get together.  Life often gets in the way of taking a day to visit with family. Regardless of how little we see each other regularly throughout the passing months, we always take the time to celebrate Christmas Eve, Easter and Thanksgiving together. As a child I always loved Christmas Eve the most, mainly because of the gifts I received from my family. Now as an adult I am beginning to notice how important this gathering as well as other gatherings are to my family. Each of my mothers siblings, there are seven total, 12 adults with their spouses, our grandparents and all of my cousins meet at my mother's twin sister's house to celebrate. This is important to me for many reasons but primarily because this is the only time of the year that we all see each other at the same time, making our times together about more than just presents.
Easter this year was held at my house, where my family and my grandparents live. We decided to have a small affair, so my mother invited her twin and her older sister along with their families to join us for dinner. Besides my sister and I, the only other person there our age is our cousin Alicia. She is between my sister and I age wise and has been our proverbial other sister since we both can remember. Alicia is also in the process of getting her bachelors degree finished and therefore we often do not get to see each other. I just love that no matter the length of time, we can talk and laugh as if we see each other everyday.

Vocabulary:
Majority: (noun)more than half of something or some period of time
"Life often gets in the way": (idiom) day to day activities prevent you from doing something else
Primarily:  the main reason for something
Affair: event
Proverbial: relates to an idiom, meaning not real

Vocabulary Exercise:
Use each word or phrase in a sentence

Grammar Point:
In this post I talked about people in my family and gave outside information to clarify what I wanted you to know about them. Setting off information with commas in a sentence is called an appositive. Ex: My mother's siblings, there are seven in total, came to our house for Thanksgiving. Although you would still be able to understand the sentence without the information in the appositive, it helps to set the scene.

Grammar Exercise:
Write a paragraph about a holiday or event that you celebrate with your family. Use appositives to give extra information about the people in your family and to set the scene.

Sisters are friends for life

I used to think that my sister and I were two very different people. She was more introverted whereas I tended to be louder and more extroverted. It wasn't until recently I started to see how similar we in fact were. The gestures or mannerisms we use are similar and sometimes we know exactly what the other person is going to say in a specfic situation. I was almost six years old when my sister was born and because of the age difference, we were almost never in the same maturity category. She was more interested in playing with her toy horses as I was becoming boy crazy. I was applying to colleges while she was just starting seventh grade. Our life paths had not truly crossed until this year when I had moved back home. We are both older of course but we are also much more mature and rational in our decision making and emotions. Now, I consider my sister to be my best friend and confidente. I know that she is my closest pal. I love to hang out with her and to go to different events together. It is exciting to know that I will always have her in my life. I think that the bonds of family are stronger than any bond in the world.

My sister Erica and I at a Maroon 5 concert

Vocabulary
introverted (adjective)- shy, quiet
whereas (noun)- in comparison to
extroverted (adjective)- loud
gestures (verb)- using your hands to indicate an object or excentuate a point
rational (noun)- to think in a way that is calm and logical
confidente (noun)- a close friend

Vocabulary Exercise
Use two words in a sentences about a close friend.

Grammar Point
In this post I combined the past, present and future tense to tell a story.

Grammar Exercise
Write a story about a close family member or friend. Describe how your relationship was in the past, how it is now in the present, and how you think or hope it will be in the future.

Can you hear the people sing?

Although it is obvious that eventually I will become a teacher and hopefully have a successful career, I don't believe that a person's career defines them. I have come to find that most of the time a person can better be defined by simply discovering their hobbies. Not many people I have met and become acquainted with here in New York know that I am a classically trained singer and as a hobby I continue to sing in a jazz band as well as  play other gigs that I come across. I know that in life I probably won't have the opportunity to be the next Adele or Beyoncé, but singing has always been a passion of mine that continues to make me happy every single day. In college I was blessed to be a part of my campus' all female a cappella group, aptly named 'Major Treble'. With that lovely group of women we created new harmonies of old songs and combined old harmonies to create new songs. Some of my greatest memories of college took place with my a cappella group. If you would like to view my group in action please click here. 

Anything with music strums on my heart strings, especially when music is included in movies. It was a breath of fresh air this year to see that one of my favorite musical films, Les Misérables , was nominated for a plethora of awards. I was incredibly lucky to see the fantastic musical on Broadway when I was young and I had the opportunity to sing various pieces from the score over the years. Last night the Oscars had a special tribute to a majority of the Academy Award winning musicals from over the past 10 years. I was so impressed that these professional pretenders could deliver should goose bump inducing entertainment. It made me smile from ear to ear. I am so lucky to have one of my hobbies bring me such joy. Find something that gives you this same joy, it makes my life whole each day.

Vocabulary

career (noun)- the job you choose, typically after receiving higher education
hobby (noun)- interest that is not related to your job and is done during your free time
play other gigs (idiom)- to participate in other shows or events
a cappella (noun)- to sing without any background music or sounds
strums on my heart strings (idiom)- makes you happy by thinking of something you like
plethora (noun)- a lot of
Broadway (proper noun)- a street in New York City that has many different theaters holding different plays, many times musicals




Vocabulary Exercise Use each of the vocabulary words in a sentence. 

Grammar Point
This post is written in the first person, meaning that a lot of sentences begin or talk about the subject, I. 

Grammar Exercise
Write about your hobbies and interests. Talk about why you are interested in the hobby and how you came to enjoy doing the hobby.