Picture no. 07

As we explained in the Welcome post, we will be posting pictures in this blog on a regular basis. As a good way of learning how to write in English, you can write descriptions, narrations, dialogue, expositions, etc based on your thoughts and feelings about these pictures. For a good discussion on how to describe pictures, please read the article “Picture Description” from http://www.ego4u.com/.

As a review, here's how you can use pictures and this blog to teach and learn the English language:

[1] You can compose short essays about any of the pictures we will be posting, e-mail them to us, and we will publish them in this blog. (You can also use the "Comments" form at the bottom portion of this post to send us your essays.)

[2] Other ESL and EFL teachers and students from around the world can then read your essays and give their comments on your grammar, coherence or unity of ideas, style of writing, and areas for improvement.

[3] We will just publish your essays without your name or e-mail address to protect your privacy and prevent spam. You can just give a general description about yourself like nickname, age or school level, gender, country, etc.

As a beginning student of the English language, you can expect to make a lot of mistakes. However through what other ESL and EFL students and teachers say about your writing, you can really learn the English language. Below is an example of how to use this blog.

The joys of photography

World literature tells us the tragic story of Faust who vowed to bargain away his soul if he could find one perfect moment of happiness. He would eternally forfeit his soul if upon finding that one perfect moment of happiness, he would utter the words, “Stay, you are so beautiful.” He couldn’t find that happiness in his relationships, in society, in achievements, but he did find it in a small village by the sea, with the sun setting down, and mothers calling upon their small children to come back to their homes. In the simple joys of these village folks, Faust found his one perfect moment of happiness. At last, he said the words, “Stay, you are so beautiful!” and his soul was eternally forfeited.

Photography has the power to capture not only our perfect moments of love and happiness, but also searing images of cruelty and poverty. It has the power to preserve in a rectangular frame the beauty of a thousand sunsets, the joys of parents seeing their child just learning how to walk on its own, the sublime happiness of students graduating after four years of hard work and sacrifice.

Unlike Faust, however, we do not have to bargain away our souls in order to capture our perfect moments of happiness. We only have to pick up our cameras, look at the world through the viewfinder, and as life passes before our lenses, capture these perfect moments of happiness on film, as we say in our hearts and minds, “Stay, you are so beautiful!”

Picture no. 06

I hate it when schooldays are over. There’s a dreariness in the air that depresses me. Even the rooms that once were filled with laughter are now empty and bare, the fine dust gathering on the wooden chairs, the windows shutting out the light from the dying sun.

Outside the once green grass now turns to deep brown in the parched ground, the trees bare of any leaves, their twisted black branches reaching upwards toward the sky in vain supplication for a little rain. The wind blows and creates swirling clouds of dust that sweep the school grounds and the empty hallways that once echoed the sounds of hurrying feet and young, excited voices.

School days are over, summer is here.

We’ve said our final goodbyes to our dear friends a thousand times, not really wanting each goodbye to be the last and final sad farewell. We cling to our friends, we hold hands tightly as we walk around the school one final time; we visit the rooms that were once our safe and secure refuge from the harshness of life.

We go through the paces of graduation practices, and laugh at the silly mistakes we make. But deep inside us, we feel a cold hand clutching our hearts, knowing that each day brings us closer to the moment when separation from our dear friends becomes inevitable, a moment steeped in profound sadness and absolute finality.

We close our eyes and hope that time can stand still; we will hold this day like a precious diamond in our hands, hold it up and reflect upon its exquisite beauty. If only time can stand still, we will forever be happy, together …

ALL ETERNITY FROZEN IN A SINGLE MOMENT OF YOUTH.