Sowing Pearls ofWisdom Sowing Pearls ofWisdom - Literacy Suffolk

Recipe Ingredients
1 lb. of ground chicken
One green pepper
Half a cabbage (about 1 lb.)
Two carrots
Five mushrooms
A little bit of ginger
One cup of olive oil
One teaspoon of salt
1.5 tablespoons of light soy sauce
40-50 wrappers (may be purchased
at Asian stores)
Dumplings
By Yuanjian Guo
Procedure
The Things You Leave Behind
By Magna Nicotri
hen I was nineteen years old I came
to New York. It has been a long
W time for me. I miss being with my
family. There are many family events that I
cannot attend. My new life started when I
married an American man. He has always
lived in Long Island. His early life was very
different from mine. I was raised to be very
close to my family. My family has three boys
and I was the only girl. We spent a lot of time
together as children. We talk to each other
over the telephone often. I wish we lived closer
so that I could see their families grow up.
Mix ground chicken with salt, soy sauce,
ground ginger and olive oil by stirring
3 minutes. Use a knife to cut the vegetables
into small pieces and add to the chicken
mixture; stir for 5 minutes.
To fill the dumplings: put one wrapper in
your hand and put a small amount of chicken
mixture in the middle. Pinch firmly all around
the edge.
Put the dumplings into boiling water for
3 minutes; wait until the water boils again,
and add a half cup of cold water. Repeat this
step for a total of three times. The dumplings
are then ready to eat.
Sauce preparation: 1/4 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup
soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice a lot to have
a better life. My dream now is to raise my
children. They need to know how important
a family is. Hopefully, they will learn to enjoy
each other and remain close and caring.
I want to thank Literacy Suffolk for giving me
the chance to improve not only my life but
that of my two children. I want to thank
my tutor, Eve. She has been patient and
understanding.
An Important Question
By Jaroslaw Olender
y name is Jaroslaw Olender. I was
M
born and raised in a small, poor
area in the country of Poland.
When I was a little boy I always dreamed
about travel, especially about travel across the
ocean. Very often I listened to someone tell
about their travel experiences on an airplane.
When I heard those stories I was there. Often
I tried to imagine my first flight across the
ocean. One sunny day my dream came true
and my brother sent me an invitation to come
and live with him in the USA. I said “I am
going”. My dream was about to happen. I got
a visa and a ticket. I remember the day I left
my family in Poland. I felt sad, afraid, and
scared but also excited. When my father and
I drove to the airport we didn’t talk very
much. We arrived and I said to my father
good-bye and I told him everything would be
okay. I think I will never forget that I had
never traveled that far before. I had many
good and bad feelings in my moment. As I
took the seat on the airplane, I was scared and
I was worried how it would be in the new
country. On the plane I had a window seat.
Time went on and I was admiring the view
when I heard a nice voice. She asked “what
would you like to drink?” I froze! I didn’t
know what that meant. I was very confused.
Luckily a lady helped me understand the
question. It was a very big question. It also
was my reason for making a very important
decision—learn English very fast!
At the airport in New York I told my brother
about the question. He wasn’t astonished
because he felt the same way a few years
before. After I was in the USA a short time I
started to learn English slowly. I watched TV
and tried to read the paper. I also learned
from a co-worker’s seven-year-old daughter,
named Allison. I soon knew that this was too
slow and I wanted someone to help me with
my English. I asked my brother’s wife to help
me but she said I needed an ESL course.
......................
“She asked,‘What would
you like to drink?’
I froze! I didn’t
know what that meant.”
.....................
When we moved to
Shirley I filed an application
at the Mastics-
Moriches-Shirley Library
and after a few weeks
I was placed in a class
with my tutor Mrs.
Lynn. We worked hard
for the next few years. I
watched Crossroads Café
and Connect with English. I learned grammar
day by day and after all our hard work I was
able to write this article for the “Reading for
Life” journal. Now I read, write, and speak
English. I thank goodness for the question
“What would you like to drink?” It really
helped me to make my dream come true. I
hope that my story will help many people
understand how important it is to learn English.
12 READING FOR LIFE 2OO8 • Student Writing LITERACY SUFFOLK, INC. • Sowing Pearls of Wisdom 13