Thomas Hallie's Timeline

Thomas is from Liberia.  You can see that the last frame in his timeline is recounting starting to learn about computers.  He learned how to type in this class.  He and his brother James both would like to be doctors for careers.  I hope they achieve their goals.  Both of them are extremely polite, pleasant, intelligent, and full of energy.  Great students!  

Muthana's Timeline

Muthana is from Iraq.  He's only been here for about three weeks, but he's making very good progress with his English.  Muthana is very polite and has a very good attitude in class.  I enjoy having him in the class. 

Cecilia Hallie's Timeline

I think these pictures are just WONDERFUL! If your computer will let you, try to click on the picture to make it big. Cecilia is from Liberia. She is Jomason's wife and James' and Tomas' sister. She tells some really interesting stories sometimes about their African culture. One thing is that they have a custom where kids will cross some sticks to freeze time and, for example, prevent their parents from returning on time if they would like to carry out some minor mischief. Once in awhile if I come back late from break time, I ask her if she crossed some pencils to make me come back late.

Wah Htoo Say's Timeline

Wah Htoo Say is from Burma.  He lived for awhile in Thailand in a refugee camp.  When he was there, Angelina Jolie came there and gave him a kick ball.  Here in Chicago he takes care of his little brother who is an extremely good dancer.  We just had a party today, and he must be maybe 3 or 4 years old.  He was break dancing and that kid owned the dance floor the whole party.  It was adorable!  Wah Htoo Say is Thet Wah's brother.  

An interesting thing about Burmese names:  They really don't have a last name, but in their documents they have to break up their first names in order to fit the format here.  An example of how funny that is would be, say, if your name is  Catherine.  You would have to be Cather Ine.  So if you're married, you'd be Mrs. Ine.  If your husband's name is Brian, then he would be Bri An.  So he would be Mr. An.  

Ndarabitse Onesphore's Timeline

Ndarabitse has made some good progress in his English. He is a refugee from Burundi. He spent some time also in Tanzania. He speaks French, Kirundi, and Swahili. He's been in the US about a year and a half.  Ndarabitse is a great dancer, too.  It's a joy to watch him.  I'm always happy to see the students having a good time.  They seem to know the true meaning of celebrating.

Ndarabitse Dancing (in the red cap):

Ely Castillo's Timeline

Ely is one of our immigrant students. She's from Mexico. She is very considerate and generous in the class. She's always cleaning and bringing food for everybody. She adds so much to our class community. She's also smart and modest about how smart she is. She's married, with two children.

Thakor Patel's Timeline

Thakor Patel's timeline. He's a very intelligent, educated man with a very interesting history. He grew up in India and one thing he used to like to do was to jump into water from very tall trees. Now he helps out taking care of his grandchildren every day. His family is so lucky to have such a helpful grandfather! I'm sure he makes their lives a lot easier.

I've definitely got to get him to write more about his timeline, though. He's a very good writer. OK, here is a little writing from him. Here is a picture of Thakor.