New Words January 2020

New Words A Student Publication of Reading Works

January 2020 | VOL. 5, NO. 1

Princess Turkey Disguise

By DR

English Second Language, 1st year The teacher sends home a project for my daughter: make a turkey disguise. But I no understand the word 'disguise'.

We make the turkey. We put wool on the body and cardboard for the feathers. We work for one week this project, so the turkey looks pretty. My husband says, "This turkey looks amazing so everybody will take the turkey and prepare it for Thanksgiving." But on Sunday afternoon my husband reads the paper and says, "Uh oh! This turkey need disguise for no eat!"

I feeling frustration because I no understand the instructions very well.

So my husband and I go to the dollar store because this is more close to my house, and buy things to help me make a turkey disguise. My husband and I pray together for no have stress and I pray God for creativity and enjoy this project with my daughter.

I put on the body a doll dress and glue pearls around the dress. I cut a headband with hair. My daughter makes a braid and puts a ribbon, and I put a crown. I cut snowflakes and I put on the dress. I put strong glue on the cardboard and cut tinsel for shiny. And later, my daughter helps me cover the feathers with tulle. We put eyes and make eyelashes and put orange on the beak and a red chile for the wattle.

When finished the project, the expression of my daughter and family says, "This is a beautiful princess turkey!" The expression of my daughter says glamorous princess turkey!

When my daughter takes the project to school, people have many compliments, and my daughter says, "Mommy, the teacher liked the princess turkey disguise!"

DR: The expression of my daughter says glamorous princess turkey!

Ball and Bat

By Christopher

Basic Literacy, 2nd year

Ball

Bat

Hard white

Wood brown

Throwing catching pitching

Hitting batting dropping

Red circle

Slippery round

Ball

Bat

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NEW WORDS | January 2020

Thanksgiving Gathering By

Grooming

By SS

GED/Hi-SET, 1st year Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted to work with animals. I have always had a passion for animals, a soft spot in my heart for them.

I used to think I was an animal when I was a little girl. They used to call me Mowgli because I would run around the house acting like a character in the Jungle Book. I didn’t mind much. I thought it was cool to pretend to be an animal, especially a dog. As kids we have imaginations that are sometimes out of this world.

My mother was never a big fan of animals, but she actually let me have birds and gerbils. I remember always letting the birds out of the cage. I liked to see them fly around the house. They had beautiful colors: blue, white, and yellow. It would take hours just to catch them and get them back in the cage. My mother really didn’t like it when I did that.

My gerbils on the other hand would stink up the whole house. I started with two and ended up having thirteen of them! I eventually got rid of them. It was too much with the smell and they were messy, so I gave them to somebody who really wanted them.

When I was a little girl I always wanted a dog. My mother never let me have a dog. We didn’t have the room or the money to take care of one. She thought I was too young to take care of a dog on my own. She didn’t want to get left with the responsibility of taking care of a dog, so therefore, I never got my dog when I was a little girl.

I am now 29 years old and I finally get to have a dog! Sort of, I now work as a groomer. As a little girl, I could never have dreamed that I’d grow up and actually be grooming dogs. To me, this means a lot. Not only do I get to be around dogs every day, but I also get them to smell good and look fly. I absolutely love my job.

But, it’s not an easy job whatsoever. I get to come home covered in dog hair and smelling like a wet dog, but I don’t mind it much. The money is good and I get to be with all sorts of different dogs. To me the smaller breeds are more challenging but don’t get me wrong, you never know what kind of dog will be walking through the door. From a dog’s perspective, grooming can be very dramatic and very nerve-wracking.

Some dogs will bite, while others will pee and poop themselves. In this job you need to know a lot about your dog and the type of dog it may be.

Some dogs may have yeast infections which require a certain type of medicated shampoo, while other dogs may have more serious problems then a yeast infection. They could also have hip issues or sensitivity to certain shampoos. Grooming is more then just giving a dog a bath and a haircut. I’m still in training and seem to be getting the hang of it. There’s actually a lot more to it than most people expect.

I look forward to this being my career and I hope that one day I can start my own business. I also plan to show my girls as they get older how exciting it can be to work with animals, whether it’s dog grooming, dog training, or veterinarian work. Who knows, they might just have a passion and want to work with animals like their mother.

Basic Litera

Thanksgiving Gathering in the Past Family - In the 18th century, my great grandparents lived close together, which made it easy for everyone else to gather around together as a family.

Everyone would gather around together and start to have a decent conversation with one another. There was a lot of laughter, happiness, and joyful in the holiday gathering. Nobody would cause any problems, arguments, or negativity, and everyone would get along great. However, my great grandparents were really religious. They would go to church, pray, and read the Bible together as a family. Back then my great grandmother was the center of bringing everyone together.

Food - Owning a farm was a lot of work for my great grandparents because they had to grow their own food. They had about twenty acres or more of land to grow vegetables, fruit trees, and hay. My great grandfather was doing more labor work outdoors, and my great grandmother was in doors doing mostly the cooking and cleaning. Not only did they grow their food for themselves, but for the animals, as well. Since they were raising their own animals on their farm, there was no need for them to hunt for food. They would feed the animals with the food they grew to get them plump. So, the animals would be ready to be sacrificed to feed the family. There was only one store in town called the commissary where they bought other ingredients that they did not grow on the farm such as salt, sugar, and rice. My great grandmother did a lot of home-made cooking from scratch by growing their own food.

Everything turned a meal in to a feast for the holiday.

Technology - Technology wasn’t advanced in the past, it was more face to face communication and outdoor labor work. Back then they had horses and wagons to travel in to pick up some supplies they needed. Transportation was harder to get around back then because the horses were hard to maintain. Although, there was a train, but it was going to be a longer distance away. The women would rely on the men to gather wood for the adobe fireplace to heat the house and the cast-iron stove to cook on. My great grandparents would use lanterns for their light, since there was no electricity back then. Everything took longer to do because of the lack of technology.

Canela

By Jessica

Basic Literacy, 1st year I got a pet and she is big.

I love her so much. Her name Canela in English means Cinnamon. The Dog is a husky. She is cute, adorable and sweet and she likes to run with me.

g in the Past and Present AA

NEW WORDS | January 2020

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Christmas

acy, 3rd year

Thanksgiving Gathering in the Present Family - In the past, my family lived close to one another, now it is hard for everyone to get together around the holiday because some of them have moved or passed on. The family use to communicate face to face. Now, with face book and texting involved there is lack of communication. Half of the time, everyone hardly gets along with one another. Some times there’s negativity or arguments. Me and my family are still religious. We still go to church, pray, and read the Bible, but not as much as it used to be. My great grandmother was the center of bringing everyone together as a family for Thanksgiving holiday. Now, it is all about my grandma who is the center of bringing everyone together, not only Thanksgiving but for every holiday. If it wasn’t for my grandma being here with us, we would probably be doing our own thing for the holiday.

Food - My grandma does all the cooking and cleaning for Thanksgiving. But a few of us women offer to help because my grandma can’t do as much as she used to. Even though she is a strong and independent women, but sometimes she needs help. The men are more involved with the football games, while the women are in the kitchen cooking and preparing the food for the feast. Since nobody grows their own food anymore like they used to. Now, there are opportunities for everyone to go shopping and buy their food at a grocery store. In my family, everyone goes shopping and contributes the food and makes a certain dish for Thanksgiving feast.

Technology - The family interacts with cell phones more then with each other. Everyone communicates by text messages other than face to face communication with one another. They interact with television watching sports or the Thanksgiving parade instead of communication. However, if there aren’t any games on everybody would go outside and gather around a fire pit. They would put some music on while sitting outside and communicating with each other.

Conclusion - The changes in the past to present, my great grandparents would gather everyone together all in one big house on a farm. As well, putting the effort on homemade cooking for Thanksgiving. Now, my family and I change out at different houses to celebrate not only Thanksgiving, but other holidays as well. There is still a lot of effort from my grandmother on the homemade cooking, if it wasn’t for my grandmother everyone would go to the grocery store and buy the food. I think the future would change because if my grandma isn’t going to be with us anymore. Everyone would probably be doing their own thing on Thanksgiving or going out to a restaurant and eat a good meal.

By Maria

English Second Language, 3rd year

Paula put a christmas tree in our house for the nativity She is happy to open precents we are going to go to my brother’s House with my nieces and nephews we will eat tamales with coffee My sister in law cooks everything the adults have a gift exchange.

It’s good idea

Hectic Holiday with Baby

By SC

Basic Literacy, 3rd year Running running can’t afford to stop.

100 things to do, can I finish it all before I drop?

Need to keep going to get things done, The holidays are coming but where is the fun?

Baby is fussy and very upset.

I’m not sure if he’s teething or just plain spoild rotten but I do know one thing, he is not wet.

Dishes are stacked, laundry is piling Mama is going nuts definitely not smiling.

7 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock noon 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock bed time soon!

Yon, yon mama is tired the house is a mess but its time I get some good needed rest!

GOOD NIGHT!

Jessica: Canela in English means Cinnamon.

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NEW WORDS | January 2020

How We Celebrate Christmas

By Desiree

GED/Hi-SET, 1st year hristmas is my favorite holiday, because it's a day we get to spend as a family making new memories, enjoying each other's company and sharing laughs. We have a bit of a different tradition from others. We spend most of our day cooking tamales, and buĂąuelos with hot chocolate, and the best part of all is, we cook and prepare together as a family. Overall, our beliefs let us spend our day celebrating the birth of Jesus, our God. Knowing that everyone has and shares their own beliefs and their own traditions and ways of celebrating Christmas, I would like to share with you how my family and I celebrate Christmas in our home.

It's Christmas Eve and my kids are excited because Santa will be coming to our house. My kids and I have breakfast, as usual. This day we are eating scrambled eggs and pancakes with either orange juice or chocolate milk, nothing fancy or special. While my husband is at work, I start cleaning the house and preparing everything for when we start making the tamales. While I'm cleaning, my children are running around the house with candy canes in their hands full of joy. We listen to Christmas songs as we start the preparation of our main dish. Leah, my oldest daughter who's a tall, thin 9-year-old, seems to be the most excited of all three children. She loves cooking and helping out in any way possible. You can hear her ask with excitement from her room, "Mom! Is it time to start cooking?," and it makes me start feeling excited to hear my daughter so enthusiastic. She might not know it, but as a mother there's no better feeling than to see her this involved in anything. Now, Junior on the other hand, my little 6-year-old boy, is not quite a fan of cooking. He looks at me with a frown face, hoping I say, "not yet." He is more of a quiet little guy who loves playing video games, but who is willing to help when we ask him to. Then we have Sophia, a beautiful 3year-old who is a happy but grumpy at times girl. She loves to help out a lot, but at the same time make a mess. We gather in our kitchen as the time approaches to start making our favorite dish for the holiday, tamales. We all take a small yet very

important part in the process. While the tamales are cooking, my kids start baking cookies for Santa. They always choose chocolate chip cookies, because they say they're Santa's favorite. But, I think it's actually their favorite, not Santa's. The day goes by, the kitchen smells are amazing, and my husband arrives home. We gather at our table once again to give thanks for our blessings, and to share the meal we spent the whole day cooking. We eat, we laugh, we talk about our day and play board games. It's almost time for bed and my husband and I make sure to put our kids in bed early. We still have presents to wrap, because these can't be seen by the kids yet, since they are from Santa. But the kids are excited to put the cookies they baked along with the milk on the table for Santa before they lay their heads to rest. We tuck them in their beds, kiss them good night and we finish wrapping up the last presents. Now our big, tall colorful tree is full of presents and ready for next day.

The next morning has arrived and we hear our kids screaming; there's so much excitement in their voices as they yell, "Mom, Mom, Santa brought us presents!" I can hear them but I just want to sleep a little longer, as it's a little too early and I had a long night. I hear them again across the room screaming, "Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk!" Their voices sound amazed and that only makes my morning a whole lot more meaningful. My husband and I can barely wake up, because it's a cold morning, and all we want to do is lie in our bed. But our kids are excited and full of energy, and somehow we make our way out of the bed. We are walking to the living room and we see our tree lit up and full of presents; it's something truly beautiful. The best part of our morning is seeing the happy faces on our kids. As we start opening presents, we can see the joy in their eyes, as we pass out the gifts. They start ripping the wrapping paper off, the same wrapping paper that gave Mom so much trouble the past month.

Yet nothing beats the expressions on their precious little faces, as everybody takes a turn opening a gift. At the same time, I have my phone on hand ready to snap a picture that will last me a lifetime. As the gifts under the tree disappear, my kids jump up and run into their rooms. They are more than ready to put all their new gifts to use.

We don't have big fancy parties as other families do, and I'm sure some would think we are too simple. But what I love about this time of the year is getting to spend it with my kids and my husband. We are creating memories and they don't even know it, and that means the world to me. As some would say "It's not what's under the tree, but who's around it." And to have my amazing family around our tree, filled with joy, laughs and love makes me love Christmas so much more.

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NEW WORDS is written by students of Reading Works.

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