Monday, Oct. 10

Happy Columbus Day. Never mind that Columbus didn't actually discover America. He never even got close to the United States, though he did voyage to Central and South America.

According to an article on MSNBC, another explorer, Giovanni Cabot, actually "discovered" Newfoundland (now known as the United States) and claimed it in England's name in 1497. But later, early colonists were fighting with England, so they turned to Columbus as their hero. The fact is, though, that natives had discovered the continent millenia before this, but get no credit for it.

Nevertheless, the Post Office and the banks were closed, and we flew the American flag in honor of the day.

We were up at 6:30 this morning, so I could get ready to go to water aerobics. I figured the pool would be topped off today, and it was, but contrary to my expectation that it'd be much chillier, it was actually very pleasantly warm. I thoroughly enjoyed my swim and the aerobics. Today, I learned that we will not meet for aerobics this coming Friday, because the college will be on fall break.

Back home, before I got ready for the day, Hubbie put color in my hair in anticipation of getting a haircut later this week. By the time I was ready for the day, it was already nearly noon.

After lunch, I reviewed my lesson plan for a session with my student this afternoon. I met the student at 2:30, and we had a good session. I noted to her that today is Columbus Day, and she told me that the day is also celebrated in her country, on the same date. She drew a crude map to indicate where Columbus landed in the Venezula capital city of Caracus, where she was born.

Amerigo Vespucci, who also explored the region, actually named the area Venezuela, because the houses on stilts in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded him of the city of Venice...Venezuela means "little Venice."

We then discussed the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who is ill with cancer. She said she did not vote for him. She apparently does not appreciate that he launched a Constituent Assembly in 1999 to write a New Constitution of Venezuela that would afford him twelve years as president, instead of eight.

We managed to discuss all these things despite her halting English, and my very limited Spanish.

The student also told me she is reading a history of Ellis Island, and she is reading it in English, with the help of a Spanish/English dictionary. She said she has wept at the stories of the immigrants who arrived in America in hopes of a better life. She herself is very anxious to become an American citizen.

Today, the student brought me a Ziplock bag of a half dozen peanut butter cookies. I was glad I'd brought along a new ESL book that had an attached word-builder CD that I could give to her in exchange for the cookies. I kept the book, but I thought she'd enjoy the CD.

The lesson today included prepositions of direction: "Mrs. Smith went into the house;" "She walked across the street." She also learned verbal phrases with "back." "I go to work...," "I come back...," "I gave her my book...," "She gave it back..."

Then we worked on vocabulary dealing with driving a car to work, downtown, and back home again, using the terms of passing another car, parking a car, using a parking meter, buying gas, parking in a garage, etc. We also looked at vocabulary dealing with car trouble: repair shop, flat tire, dead battery, broken windshield, and brakes that don't work. She learned the different parts of a car: trunk, hood, windshield wipers, etc.

Back home, Mother had heated the leftover spaghetti and sauce, which we had for supper, with green beans and cottage cheese. I accompanied Mother home afterward, and then Hubbie and I watched TV, including tonight's episode of "Dancing with the Stars."