Graduation Speech

I am Becky Chen, and I come from Taiwan. I picked “Becky” as my English name due to my favorite main character in the book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, written by Mark Twain. Tom is a brave and clever boy, and Becky is Tom’s little girlfriend. That’s why I chose the Becky. As in Tom’s story, to challenge something new, I have an essential choice in my life.

Four years ago, in order to give my children a better education, I gave up current job and followed my husband to be a new immigrant of America. As a housewife, I supported my children going to a new school and taking care of them till they grew up to be teenagers. One year ago, when I signed up for ESL class and became a student again, I felt excited.

In fact, I very much enjoy lifelong learning and studying English. I appreciate that America provides adults who live in this country inexpensive English education-even free. Through studying to improve my English, I could communicate effectively in daily life, and give my children more. After wards, I probably will have am opportunity to get a good job in America as in Taiwan. But now, I will go to the high school program after my graduation, as well as learning more.

This semester, I have fortunately been studying in Ms. Perez’s class. She is an absolutely excellent teacher. She teaches us how to write an essay, how to prepare a presentation, how to speak clearly, put the right punctuation…and a lot of things which I can’t calculate. She also gives us the spelling tests, pushes and encourages us to try our best to improve. She is patient and never tires teaching us. I suppose if I have more confidence with English in such a short time that is because of her efforts.

Finally, I express thanks for many people including teachers, staffs as well as classmates. There are Ms. Perez, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Perez, Mr. Ken, Mr. Campbell, my friendly classmates, and others who teach me or give me a hand. I value their efforts and would like to say, “Thanks so much.”

A Sympathetic Letter

Dear Yung:

I was so sorry to hear about your suffering from cancer that I wrote this letter to express my heart-filled concern. I think it must be a tough time for you to fight the diseases before recoveries. But I would like you to know you are not alone because I am always with you and stand up for you.

In our church, all of the people who see you miss you very much. We keep praying for you every day and expect you to come back soon. I hope you will continue to make good progress. If there is any way in which I can help, either now or later, please let me know.

Thinking about you,

Becky

Book Report

I liked this book"The Three Strangers And Other Stories"; includes three short stories, such short stories that I relax by reading one story a night before sleeping. The writer, Thomas Hardy, draws into the inner selves of the characters well. The characters are distinguished by their particular personalities, and you can remember them easily. This book also attracts me because every story has an interesting as well as a surprising ending. Eventually, the ending always gives me an important lesson of life.

People Buy Too Many Things

In this generation, there are many, many products in our surroundings. Everywhere, you can see the words "on sale". Internet websites are also increasing that try to get people to buy things. Little by little, shopping has become a bad habit in developing countries as well as in developed countries. People buy anything which they can offer, but not because they are useful or necessary.

Typical examples include women who pay for a lot of clothes, shoes, and handbags that pile their wardrobes because of fashion or sales. If you observed and thought carefully, you would found it ridiculous that many objects you have bought have never been worn. Eventually, you throw them away or put them out for recycling, even new ones.

Also, people purchase too much food for them to eat it all. Apparently, many people have experience with that. Much food is wasted from stores or refrigerators of families due to their expiring or no longer being fresh. We are used to buying too much food, but are lacking in food management.

Now, most teenagers own personal computers just for playing games or chatting with friends online. With technology, more individual products, like iphones, DS's, and ipods, are attractive to buyers, especially young people. They never seem satisfied and continue to obtain anything that stores display, even if it is mot necessary.

There is a lot of pressure from advertisements to buy things that we don't need, so before I take something, I always ask:"Do I really need this?" Learning how to buy, what you need to buy is an important lesson.