Writing creatively with new vocabulary

This exercise lets students write creatively using vocabulary learned and practiced in class.

by David Sanchez Redondo
TOEFL Preparation Class

A boring summer evening is the best time to rethink your life or start a new hobby. That was what Jane should have thought before opening her umpteenth can of beer. She did not even make a SUBTLE gesture of getting up from the sofa when the telephone rang, suspecting it would be her mother as it usually is every evening. The TACTICS she usually used not to speak to her were very KEEN, but deep inside she felt guilty. A few years ago, when her father passed away, she ABRUPTLY changed her personality.

Her relationships were DEBILITATING, too. She was always elusive with people and everybody thought that she was doing illicit things. Now and then, Sofia, her best friend, would try to ELICIT from her what was happening in her mind, but without success. Definitely, she had lost her SPONTANEITY and the happy personality that used to characterize her.

SUBTLE - present but not obvious
TACTIC - strategy
KEEN - sharp; strong
ABRUPTLY - happening suddenly
DEBILITATING - weakening
ELICIT - draw out; extract information
SPONTANEITY - acting without planning

News from NYLC Jackson Heights!

Would you like to improve your English writing?

Do you need to improve your writing skills to get into college?

Do you need to improve your writing in order to get a better job?

Do you need to improve your writing to write to your child’s school or teacher?

Do you need to write emails and messages to supervisors, co-workers, and clients?

Introducing NYLC’s new evening course:

Writing Essentials

Starts: August 27th, 2012

Schedule: Mon-Thurs 6-8pm

Course Length: Six Weeks

Cost: $210

*no class on Monday, September 3rd

This course reviews fundamental English skills needed for proper spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and writing. We will review and practice the following:

· Differences in writing a text, an email, a formal letter, a report, and an essay

· Cover letters and resumes

· Complex and compound sentence structures

· Using punctuation clearly and correctly (commas, semi-colons, etc)

· Writing and responding to casual emails and texts

· Writing and responding to professional emails and letters

· Paragraph structure (topic and supporting sentences)

· Essay structure  (thesis statement, introduction, support, conclusion)

· Different types of essays

· Common spelling and vocabulary mistakes and tricks to remember how to avoid them

· Achieving appropriate writing style and tone for different writing tasks

Plus, students will have the possibility of having their writing published on the NYLC Student Writing Blog!

The class is open to anybody who would like to improve their English writing.

For more information, please contact info@nylanguagecenter.com or call (718) 476-7600.

Visiting a Brooklyn art exhibit

by Marina Milone

I went to an interesting exhibition in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on Friday night, July 20. Philipp Rabovsky, a teacher at NYLC and about ten other artists were showing their paintings in their house.

Philipp in rougher times

The title of the exhibition was Sweet Fuckups and Happy Accidents. All the paintings talked about accidents in different ways. The most impressive painting was Philipp's because it showed his face when he had an accident in Budapest. The painting represented his face completely destroyed with one eye dark and closed, and he had scars with blood all over his face. When I asked him about his self portrait, he told me the story.

He was in Budapest to learn Hungarian, which he can now speak fluently, and one night, he got drunk. He was walking on the street and suddenly bumped into a group of guys who screamed at him. He instinctively gave them the finger and immediately the gang started to beat him quite violently. He had a tooth broken and suffered some internal hemorrhaging, so now when he drinks he gets a huge headache. When it happened, a friend of his took some pictures and then he was able to make the self-portrait. Now he is ok, and I think the painting is great!

Most of the other paintings talked about accidents during the process of painting. There were two curators of the exhibition. It was interesting to see a show in a real Brooklyn house, and the fact that anyone could enter the house and enjoy the exhibit was quite amazing. Actually, the door was open to everybody.  I was also thrilled that I could see an artistic lifestyle in Brooklyn.

the venue

the exhibition

Marina, who is studying journalism, is taking the TOEFL class at NYLC. She will soon take the TOEFL and travel around the U.S. before heading back to Italy. Thanks, Marina, for checking out the exhibit and for showing us Philipp's artistic side.

My favorite holiday in Kazakhstan

by Yevgeniya Khatskevich

There are many holidays in my country; among them are Easter, Trinity, New Year's Day, Christmas, Nauryz, the Feast of Unity of the Peoples of Kazakhstan, Victory Day, Day of the Capital, Constitution Day, Independence Day of Kazakhstan, International Women's Day, and Days of the Defenders of the Fatherland (on February 23 and May 7). These are formal holidays. Informal ones consist of Halloween, Valentine's Day, the Old New Year and others.

Each holiday has special meaning and reasons for celebrating. Actually, I like all holidays in my country because most of them are days off, which means that you don't have to go to work, and you can do whatever you want for fun. You can celebrate in traditional or non traditional ways. Holidays are rare times of the year when you can just enjoy life. They are times to stop and take a deep breath before work begins to drive you crazy again.

The holiday which I like more than the others is International Women's Day or the 8th of March. Of course, my first reason for loving this day is that I’m a woman. It's very pleasant to receive presents, flowers, and hear wonderful words addressed to you. In addition, you get a lot of attention from men. But hello, they do it because they have to do it, so it's no big deal.

Actually, the main reason why I like this day is my mom because it's another chance to tell her about my love and respect for her and to say thanks for having me and for raising me to become who I am today. When I was a child I made presents for my mother by myself. We did it in preschool and in kindergarten. We drew cards and made albums; we learned short poetry and read it for our mothers. All the words that we wrote in the cards or read were about love and words of thanks. It was a very beautiful time. I haven't made presents since I was a child. Instead, I buy them. But the point of my presents is still like it was in childhood: to say “I love you, mom, and thank you."

We all grow up, and our lives become very busy with all our very important to-do lists; we forget to say very important words to very important people in our lives. I think this is the point of many holidays: just to stop, take a deep breath and remember the people in our lives. The 8th of March is one of these special days.

Experiencing the High Line

Rainbow City for the children

The still undeveloped section
of High Line above 30th Street

by Sunah Park

When we arrived at 10th Avenue and 30th Street, the first thing that welcomed us was a variety of shapes: colored balloons in the shape of mushrooms, boxes, columns, and balls in a playground. A lot of children played among them with joy. It was called Rainbow City. While children were playing in the playground, adults drank alcohol like draft beer at the Lot, a huge and open bar right beside the Rainbow City. There were long picnic tables and benches. On one side, there was a bar. Everyone sat on the benches or stood at the bar and enjoyed the atmosphere freely. It was below the High Line, so it was shady and cool. One thing that caught my eye were fluorescent lamps which were suspended from the ceiling like chandeliers. These two places are said to be open only this summer.

The Lot under the High Line on 30th Street.

Going through the Lot, there was a staircase going up to the High Line. This area is the end of section 2 of the High Line, and it just opened this June. Before, I thought it would be as high as a skyscraper due to its name, High Line, and I would be able to look over Manhattan and the Hudson River as if from the top of the Empire State Building. However, once I got up, it was no higher than the 3rd floor of a building and was even surrounded by many tall buildings. I was a little bit disappointed because of the gap between my imagination and reality.