Friday Tutoring

Well, we're expecting 4-6 inches of snow tonight. Perfect for December!

Congratulations on your COMPASS exams! Our session today involved a lot of speaking and listening about Thanksgiving and our family gatherings. With some minor tweaking, the resume will be ready to go. Now, it's time to find those jobs. This will be difficult because jobs are hard to find for everyone. We also worked on pronunciation. This will get easier with practice. Don't worry about hurrying through Side by Side, Book 2. Comprehension is great but we need practice with speaking and reading. We'll return to Driver's License review next week.

Homework for next week:
1. Review Minimal Pairs (see YouTube videos).
2. Preview Chapter 2 in Side by Side.
3. Have fun with Coconut Cake on America's Test Kitchen. See link.
4. Send your final copy of your resume (SUPER JOB) to me.

December 2010 Calendar:
- December 3
- December 10
- December 17
- No meeting on December 24 (check email for changes)
- No meeting on December 31 (check email for changes)

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving was a very busy time for our families. I know that you were having a family reunion and that you were also taking tests at MATC. My husband and I flew to Washington D.C. and had Thanksgiving dinner with our family. We also went sightseeing and saw the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the National Archives (the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence). Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, December 3rd.

Midway Asian Food Market

After a trip to the market, think I have everything I need to make Pho.

Hmmm... my house smells so good!

Friday Frenzy

The two hours today seemed to go by very quickly. We talked about Pho, coffee, resumes, the COMPASS exams, Side by Side, and Minimal Pairs. My homework includes making more YouTube Minimal Pair videos and making Pho. Thank you so much for the Pho spice bag, coffee, and Nescafe. Can't wait to try them out.

Homework for next week includes:
1. Practice the COMPASS sample tests. Email any questions you may have.
2. Continue to work on your resume. Remember we are working on a general resume. When you are applying for a job, we will make a special resume for that particular job.
3. We will be starting Chapter 2 in Side by Side, Book 2 next week.
4. Review Minimal Pairs. (You did an awesome job this week. Your hardwork and practice have improved your pronunciation of these words.)

If you have time...
See Voice of America episodes: "Scientists Search for New Clues about Parkinson's Disease" and "Prison Program Aims to Get Teens to Avoid a Life of Crime."

Next week we will talk about Thanksgiving!

Phuong's Recipe for Beef Pho

Here is Phuong's very own recipe for Pho... Thank you soooooooo much!

Beef Pho
Noodle soup with well-done flank and beef meatballs

Ingredients:
- 4 pounds pork bones
- 2 pounds beef sirloin
- 1 roasted onion
- 1 roasted branch of fresh ginger root
- 1 spice bag (or 1 bag of spicy Pho)
- 1 bag of beef meatballs (or beef tendon meatballs)
- 1 1/2 bag of fresh rice stick noodle
- salt, sugar, fish sauce (if desired)

Topping:
- hot chili sauce (or hot pepper sauce)
- hoisin sauce
- chili garlic sauce
- thinly sliced onion and green onion
- bean sprouts (mung beans)
- sweet basil
- chopped fresh cilantro
- black pepper
- quartered limes

Directions:
1. Put the pork bones and beef sirloin in a very large pot. Season with salt, and fill pot with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 2 hours.
2. Skim from the surface of the soup ot, and add 1 spice bag (Pho), add 1 roasted onion and 1 ginger root, add to the soup. Stir with sugar, salt. Simmer over medium-low heat until meats soften. After that, place meatballs into the soup that were cut in half. At the end of cooking, taste, and add salt, sugar as needed. At last, place the soup pot to keep at a simmer until using.
3. Soak the fresh rice stick noodle into boiling water until soft.
4. Place some noodles into each bowl and top with a few beef sirloin slices, some thinly sliced onion and green onion, a few beef meatballs; sprinkle some black pepper. An then, pour the soup into the bowls.
5. Serve the hoisin sauce, hot chili sauce, bean sprouts, sweet basil, etc, fresh cilantro. Squeeze quartered lime out at the table, some slices of the hot pepper, and fish sauce if desired.

Note: Can use a few raw beef slices on top the bowl. If it is steak.

Frosty Friday

Mitten weather has arrived!
We have accomplished so much today. Think we both need to take a deep breath and let our brains rest. I'm so glad you brought up the COMPASS program at MATC. We will definitely bump this goal up to #1. Two and a half weeks is not much time to prepare for these important exams. Good for you for setting such high goals for yourself!

Here's the homework for next week.
1. Here is a pretest for Math/PreAlgebra. http://www.businessbookmall.com/Test-Prep%20Mathematics%20Pretest.htm More links are available on the blog.
2. Start collecting information for your resume. Use the following headings: (1) Contact information, (2) Objectives, (3) Career Highlights/Qualifications, (4) Experience, (5) Education, (6) Skills, and (7) References. See the link on the blog for more details.
3. Side by Side, Book 2, read page 8 and answer questions 1-9 on page 9. Also, read and answer questions on page 10c (handout).
4. Pronunciation Practice (Minimal Pairs). See YouTube video links on the blog.

If you have time…
1. Voice of America, “Scientists Search for New Clues About Parkinson’s Disease”
http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Parkinsons-Disease-106473468.html

This program is about Parkinson’s Disease. Describe the disease and its symptoms. What are some of theories about the cause of Parkinson’s Disease? What are some of the treatments? Is there a cure for Parkinson’s Disease?

After Thanksgiving
1. America’s Test Kitchen, Coconut Layer Cake
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/video/?docid=25465
I know that you have taught cake decorating. Here’s a demonstration video about baking a layered cake that you might find interesting.

Enjoy your week! Maybe we'll have snow next week!!!

November Calendar

Our meeting times:
Friday, November 5th
Friday, November 12th
Friday, November 19
No meeting on Friday, November 26th (Thanksgiving Trip)