Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Most Fun I Ever Had


Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Mrs. Wheeler

Writing Class

Most Fun I Ever Had

11th June, 2012

The Skyscraper City



            I have a lot of unforgettable experiences in my life, but if I have to choose one, I’ll choose, without any doubt, my last Christmas vacations. My dad and my sister came to China to visit me and we had an amazing, wonderful time travelling around. We went to the skyscraper city of Hong Kong. There, we went to the beautiful world of Disneyland, and to the best amusement park in the history of the world. It was the first time of my life that I saw such high buildings, and because I haven’t had seen my family in a long time, it was just marvelous.

            When we arrived in Hong Kong, I was a little bit deception because I could see the polluted clouds in the sky, the fog running after me like I was guilty of a crime. I felt contaminated and suffocated, the pollutes were going down my throat. However, everything changed when I saw the hotel we were staying in. It was absolutely, imaginably breathtaking. The staff was really nice and they helped us out with anything we needed, from carrying suitcases to telling us what places and restaurants we should go.

The first night, my dad told us that we should just walk around, so we did. I have never seeing a more modern city than Hong Kong. There are huge gigantic televisions in the streets. When people walk around, they stop and get entertained watching cartoons, or the news.. And the buildings, that was the best of the best. It seemed like they were touching the heavens with their proud roofs. In some, I could see myself reflected in them. The offices, shopping malls, and hotels were as beautiful and shiny as diamonds. My neck hurt after a while, because I could not stop looking at the sky. I just cold not, but I did not mind at all. I wanted to picture them in my head so I would not forget how amazed I was, and still am, about them. I was directly staring at them.  Not only the buildings were amazing, but the streets too. The streets had different smells, and different people living in them. I was surprised because Hong Kong differs so much when you are in the center, than when you are in poor markets. I begged and begged not to go back to our hotel. I wanted to walk around exploring  the city, but we had to because the next day we were going to go to Disneyland.

            We had to take a train to go to Disneyland because it was in a little tiny island far from the peninsula. I was really excited because I have always wanted to go, I almost felt like I was a little kid again. I could not stop laughing and shouting, screaming and jumping around. When I first saw the entrance I literally stopped. I have seen Cinderella’s castle a lot of times in movies, but it was just so pretty in real life. I saw Minnie Mouse in the entrance and took a really cute photo with her. She hugged me and we danced while my dad took a video. It felt like I was not in the Earth anymore. It was like I was the main character in my own story, in my own fairytale. The buildings were magical; they were enchanted with details, and details. You could find there anything you imagined, since chocolate grocery shops, to gardens filled of roses. There was a huge Christmas tree with stockings on them, too. In the afternoon, we saw a parade in which princesses and princes danced around. I could feel the music in my bones. I wanted to dance and never stop, I have no idea how people can me make feel that way. I sat on a dazzling carrousel, and in attractions for children. It did not feel ridiculous, though.  Disneyland had a romantic fragrance that I will never forget.

            While we were in Hong Kong we went to an Amusement Park. We went there for two days straight because it was overwhelming. It was also the first time I have ever gone to an Amusement Park. I have to say that I was a little bit scared when I saw the snake like roller coaster flying in the sky like they were free.” Up, down, up down”, that was my neck’s reaction when I saw them. My mouth opened in surprise, the world stopped just a minute for me to realize that I was there, and I had to try everything I could. I could hear the loud screams in the background, children crying, teenagers laughing and told myself, “Bea, you are brave, you can do this.” I rode in ten times in ten different roller coasters, in sticky water, in smelly lands, and green forests. We were exhausting, and because we needed a break, we went to a show. It was incredibly amazing. There were dolphins, seals, and even sharks! They were together, but the sharks didn’t eat the other fishes, that are a really hard training job. I clapped when the dolphins swam between electric flame arcs. I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a moment, I didn’t want anything horrible happening to them, but for everybody’s sake, it turned out all right. The sharks and seals moved elegant across the water. It was so nice. And before we went back to our hotel, we rode in a boat. Just my family and I, we sat and looked around. We were in Hong Kong! I thought that I was the most fortunate girl in the whole, entire universe.

            It was time to come back home, but none of us wanted to. After the most cheerful and joyful vacations, we had to go back home. We had to go back to our boring lives, leaving behind a city in which I dreamed. I felt as if I was as powerful as a skyscraper. As exciting as a roller coaster, as cute as a fairy tale’s character. In Hong Kong, no one could stop me, neither in the dream land, nor in the amusement park because I felt real freedom.










Wednesday, June 6, 2012


Reader’s Response:


Title: The Old Grandfather and His Little Grandson

Student’s Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 597



1.    Identify the meaning of a symbol in the story.

The wood symbolizes the meanness and selfishness with what the grandpa’s son and his wife had treated the poor old grandpa.

2.    State the theme and defend it in a paragraph.

The little grandson showed his parents what they were doing wrong by saying that he would do the same to them when they’ll grow old.

3.    Describe the main internal and external conflict.

The grandfather didn’t complain about the way he was being treated, he had an internal conflict. The grandfather was being treated

4.    Compare the lesson learned (theme) to a lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

You should treat others like you want them to treat yourself. People always hurt each other by saying jokes, but they don’t realize that some jokes are not funny.

5.    Compare a symbol in the story to a similar symbol in your life or someone you know.

Other symbol for evil is a devil; they represent everything bad that the world has: selfishness, not sharing, sadness, meanness, scaring, hazardous etc. 

6.    Compare the struggle in the story to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

Once, I got really mad because my friends were treating a boy in my class really bad. To teach them a lesson, I treated them the same way, when they realized what they were doing, they stopped. They said they didn’t want to be treated that way, so they wouldn’t treat him like that, either


Ant and Grasshopper


Reader’s Response:

Title: Ant and Grasshopper

Student’s Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 313-314



1.    Identify the meaning of a symbol in the story.

The ant is a symbol of hard-working, while the grasshopper is a symbol of laziness.

2.    State the theme and defend it in a paragraph.

In good times prepare for when the bad times come. The ant was working all the summer, so she would survive the winter. In the meantime the grasshopper was cheerful, so he doesn’t have any food or house for the winter and it is highly unlikely that he’ll survive.

3.    Describe the main internal and external conflict.

The main internal conflict is that the ant had to work while the grasshopper had fun. Still, she didn’t give up, but work harder.

The external conflict is that the grasshopper was asking for help, but the ant didn’t help him, not even a little.

4.    Compare the lesson learned (theme) to a lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

Last summer I spent a lot of time doing nothing but had fun. I didn’t study Chinese. Then, when I came here I had a horrible time because I didn’t know how to say anything. In the summer I should have studied and prepared for my Chinese.
5.    Compare a symbol in the story to a similar symbol in your life or someone you know.

The grasshopper is a symbol for laziness, another symbol for laziness could be a man lying on the sofa drinking beer while an empty pizza box lays on the ground.

6.    Compare the struggle in the story to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

We had a huge test on a Monday last year, the test was super important and everyone was studying really hard to get a good grade. Well, on Sunday evening one of my classmates call me and tells me to help him study. I tell him that there is no time and that he should have studied before. Then, next morning during the test, he asked me if he could copy and I said “no way, do you know how hard I’ve studied for this?”


Kelfalas's Secret Something


Reader’s Response:


Title: Kelfala’s Secret Something

Student’s Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 866-871



1.    Identify the meaning of a symbol in the story.

Gituyo is a symbol of power, no man or women ever killed them, neither the biggest animals in the forest.

2.    State the theme and defend it in a paragraph.

The theme in the story is that Kelfala had to trick Walmbuna because he wanted her to marry him. However, the trick didn’t go as good as he thought it would go, and he was unable to marry her.

3.    Describe the main internal and external conflict.

The main internal conflict is that Kelfala has to think of something to make her talk to him, because the first man with who she talks will be her husband.

The main external conflict is between Kelfala and his friends. When he finally tricked her, his friends said that she talked to them, too, and so she had to be their wife as well.

4.    Compare the lesson learned (theme) to a lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

Not all the tricks end up as you expected. When I was little I tricked my mom saying that I finished all my homework and when to play with my friends. The next day, I did my homework in school. I thought that no one would find out. But, I forgot that a boy in my class saw me. He told the teacher, but I showed her my homework. Despite the fact that I had my homework, she called my mom and told her that I wasn’t doing my assignments in time. Then, I got in trouble.

5.    Compare a symbol in the story to a similar symbol in your life or someone you know.

The Gituyu was a symbol of power because no one would kill it. Another symbol that represents power is a gun because you can hurt someone really bad.

6.    Compare the struggle in the story to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

Their tradition was that the first time a woman talked to a man, that man would marry the women. They had that tradition so they would separate boys and girls. Also, so that the parents would be more involved and would be able to choose who their daughters marry to.

That is the same sort of thing as arrange marriages. The parents get to choose who their daughters are married to.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Waters of Gold


Reader’s Response:
 

Title:  Waters of Gold

Genre:  Fantasy

Student’s Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Pages:  812-817



1.     Identify and explain the meaning of a symbol in the story in a complete sentence:

There are a lot of symbols in this story. Some of them are the following:

The ants, snakes, and bugs symbolize the evilness and greediness the old rich women had.  The gold symbolizes the kindness and politeness that Aunt Lily had.

The bucket of water symbolizes good against evil.  It can be used to transform into gold, or used to transform into bugs, snakes and ants.

2.     State the them and defend it in a paragraph using details:

The theme in this story is that kindness comes with no price. It means that if you do something nice for someone, you can’t expect them to return you back. You should do nice actions because your heart tells you to, not because you want the reward.

3.     Describe the main internal and external conflict:

The rich woman had an internal conflict which she learned after her punishment. Before, she only looked for money, and she was greedy. However, she changed and she learned how to be kind with others.

The main external conflict is that the people that lived in the town fought with teeth, elbows, and legs to get to the beggar. They fought because they wanted the money that the beggar had given to Aunt Lily.

4.     Compare the lesson earned in this story to a similar lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

I was walking around my city, when I saw this old lady carrying multiple bags. She seemed sick and week, but she was still carrying three full bags of food. I helped her out with the bags until we arrived in her house. She said thank you, and I went home. I didn’t tell anyone because I forgot about it. I forgot about it, until the next week when my teacher told me that the old lady wrote an article about me in our city’s newspaper saying how kind I was. I didn’t understand why she wrote it. We met for the first day that day, but my mom told me that old people are very grateful. Without expecting anything for helping her, I got an award, all the people in my “city” thought I was a very nice person.

5.     Compare the symbols in the story to a similar symbol in your life, or someone you know.

Nowadays, a snake also symbolizes poison, and evilness. It’s like in the story when the snake bit the rich old lady, giving her sicknesses.

6.     Compare the struggle in this story to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

A lot of people don’t help poor beggars in the street. They just pass away. I know that you can’t really help every poor person you see in the streets, but at least you don’t have to show them that you don’t care about them. You should feel lucky because you don’t have to live like that. However, I ‘ve seen people kicking the beggar’s bowls, or looking at them with superiority

Pumpkin See and the Snake


Reader’s Response:



Title: Pumpkin Seed and the Snake

Student’s Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 861-865



1.    Identify and explain the meaning of a symbol in the story in a complete sentence.

The gold bubbles symbolized gold, and richness, but the green bubbles symbolized evilness.

2.    State the theme and defend it in a paragraph.

The theme of the story is that no one really is who it seems to be. You have to get to know the person to judge them. You can’t judge a book by its cover.

3.    Describe the main internal and external conflict.

Pumpkin Seed has the main internal conflict because she didn’t want to marry the snake. However, her mom convinced her to and that is the external conflict.

4.    Compare the lesson learned in this story to a similar lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

Once I met a really ugly boy, none of my friends liked him. But because we were neighbors, we had to talk. My mom told me that he was really nice and convinced me to go to play with him. When I really met him, I found out that he was kind, polite and really funny. That taught me that I everybody deserves a chance to be judged.

5.    Compare the symbol in this story to a similar lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

Another symbol for richness besides gold and jewels is your heart. If you are rich, but your heart is not, then you don’t worth anything. Your heart is more important than all the richness you can obtain.

6.    Compare the struggle to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

Arranges marriages like the one between the Snake and Pumpkin Seed are going on nowadays in the world. Some of them go well, but some of them don’t. That is why I think that everybody should decide who they want to be marry with.

Monday, June 4, 2012

How Oldin Lost HIs Eye


Reader’s Response:



Title: How Odin Lost His Eye                 

Student Name: Beatriz Zambrano Serrano

Genre: Fantasy                                                      

Pages: 858 – 860



1.     Identify and explain the meaning of a symbol in the story in a complete sentence.

The symbol in this story is selflessness because Odin drak out of the water of the truth just to safe his children, humans.     

2.     State the theme and defend it in a paragraph using details and examples from the story.

The theme in this story is that if you help someone, or try to help someone or just do something nice for a person, you will be remembered by them and many other people for the rest of your life. In this story, Odin is trying to protect his children, when he goes to Mimir trying to find out what to do to save his children.

3.     Describe the main internal and external conflict in the story and explain how it helps show something about the main character.

The external conflict is that Odin wants to safe his children from the elves and the ogres. But to do so he has to give away his beautiful eyes, which had looked over all his beautiful land and showed him what was right and what was wrong.

4.     Compare the lesson learned (theme) in this story to a similar lesson you or someone you know has experienced.

I help my friends back in Spain with their English homework all the time because they say that my English is better than theirs.

5.     Compare the symbol in this story to a similar symbol in your life or someone you know.

Another symbol for selflessness is when you help people without wanting to have any prices for it. I helped my mom with housework without wanting anything back.

6.     Compare the struggle in this story to a similar struggle you or someone you know has experienced.

My sister Lucia grounded me because I was being mean to her. She grounded with what, in that time, I liked most. I was grounded with one week without being able to go out with my friends, and with no computer.