ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Gone with the Wind - A poem 

Written by Elisa English, 版權所有

On 11/3/2010 in Minneapolis

It has been three days.  I still struggle to put all the pieces together.  I don’t know what to think, what to say or what to write.  I thought of the incident that happened roughly five years ago.  At that time, my hormone was extremely high due to pregnancy.  I simply broke down while hearing the confirmation of the death of another coworker.  I had known him for about ten months before he developed into a full blown heart attack at work while altercating with a Medco representative on the phone over the delay of his medication.  It was too late to resurrect him.  They believed that he had died on the spot.  Five years later, when you didn’t show up for work and when nobody could reach you, they decided to call your brother to check on you at home.  It was out of your character not to notify anyone of your whereabouts and not to report to work for any reason since work was your entire life.  We were shocked to learn that you were dead.    

I heard speculations of your death from some of your close friends.  Your death makes us realize how fragile life is and what our priority should be.  It is too late to say anything at this point.  However, I still want to say that there is always a way out.  I have known you for over 10 years.  Though I was not close to you nor had I worked with you, things just don’t seem the same without you.  It is somewhat hard for me to go to the funeral.  I hate the sad scene.  I am still pondering if I should go.  If you don’t see me there, here is what I have written for you.  It might be hard for you to read because I don’t understand my own mumbling either.

Lost in Translation?

A term can differ in meaning used by people speaking the same language but from different regions or in different strata.  Last Saturday was the first time I ran into a situation where the difference in usage can create such a huge misunderstanding and commotion.  Maybe I should just speak English the next time. 

A hired-gun

I can’t remember the entire story and where I read it.  What I remember is the plot that the protagonist asked his best friend to write love letters to his girlfriend on his behalf.  His best friend was also in love with that girl.  The girl was deeply touched by the love, so boldly declared in the notes.  I always wonder why some people would ask others even strangers to write love letters or love notes to their love ones.  Wouldn’t that be cheating?  Is that true love?  How strong is their love?  Why couldn’t they express their love to the ones they love so dearly?

Gone with the wind

I am kind of sad to see two of the mature evergreen blue spruce trees vaporizing in thin air.  They were planted 40 years ago to mark the borders between our house and our neighbors’.  They had grown to roughly 3 ½ stories high.  The wind on Tuesday, as strong as a category two hurricane, knocked down both trees and pulled them up from the roots.  The tree closer to our garage had a huge base in which many small animals like to hide.  We have seen chipmunks, rabbits and turtles hiding in there.  Since they were planted to mark the borders of our houses, they were owned by us and our neighbor.  One of the tree fell down on top of my neighbor’s roof and the other fell down on our drive way.  Luckily, they didn’t create much damage.    

The never ending story – Part II

The story continues and the subliminal effect carries on.  This time, the protagonist is my brother.  He was active like any typical boy, not too mischievous to be considered a bad boy, yet not diligent enough to be considered a good student.  Who would think that he would one day become a chief/senior engineer of two global top 5 semiconductor foundries!  In the eyes of his teachers, he was someone with borderline intelligence. 

It all started with a story – Part I

I did not sit there idling.  I have been thinking.  Thinking about what?  Where to start and how to start?  My mind wanders.  The subject is so broad.  How can I organize my thoughts?  What am I trying to convey?  What is the theme of my article?  How do I formulate my thoughts more cohesively so it gives you a clear picture?  Maybe it is easier to start with a story.

A Glimpse into the Life of a Happy American Elementary School Kid

Is the protagonist of my story a normal average American kid?  I would say so.  He is rather average except that he was assessed to have some developmental issue when he was three years old and had to attend speech therapy for about 1 ½ years.  He was thought to show symptoms of ADHD and autism by his aunt who is an elementary school teacher. He was thought to have dyslexia by his parents’ friends and was strongly urged to get a diagnosis.  He was suggested by his pediatricians to get evaluated by the school or to be tested by a specialist for learning disability.  With all these suggestions and pressure around him, his mom decided to give a call to the school and asked for any evaluation for learning disability.  The school advised against it for fear of the kid being labeled as something that he is not.  The only option that the school provided was an ESL program.  Is the ESL program a solution for learning disability?  Is the child really having learning disability?  Some of his parents’ friends thought that he might just be a late bloomer like Albert Einstein.  His parents or maybe just his mom thought that he is probably language challenged and that he will improve by himself as time goes by.  His mom has been criticized by her many friends for being too lax on parenting.  Maybe, it is just that his mom hates pressure and refuses to add any unnecessary pressure or burden onto her own kids.  Anyway, the parents never get the kid tested for the same fear that the school had.  This kid shows high intelligence in math but shies away from talking.  Writing math homework is his favorite.  However, he will stall for as long as he can to work on homework related to reading and writing.         

About work ethic and integrity

I am actually a person pretty easy to work with.  I would shoulder the responsibilities of most of the honest mistakes committed by my subordinates or my peers.  However, I will not tolerate gross negligence.  There are quite a few tech onshore or offshore contractors from China or India that my colleagues work with.   I am glad that I don’t have much direct interaction with these contractors.  Most of the time, I just complain to my colleagues of the poor quality of work provided by these onshore or offshore contractors from China or India.  I don’t know how many that I have let go over the years for their poor performance.  I do have to say that I am not biased.  I do agree that not all of them are bad performers.  However, the number of poor performers is alarming to me.  Since I do oversee the success and failure of a project and am responsible for it, I have to make sure that the right person with the right skill is assigned to the project. 

How English is taught in America’s elementary schools?

How is English taught in America’s elementary schools?  I can only talk about how it is taught to my son and in his school.  However, I cannot speak of how it is taught to third-graders and beyond since my son just turned into a second grader this fall.