At my school the 11th graders (juniors) were the ones who raised the money to put on the prom for themselves and for the 12th graders (the graduating seniors). The juniors, not only raised the money for the event, but they decorated, chose the theme, and put it all together. Our proms consisted of a really nice sit-down meal with a dance afterwards. However, lots of proms in the United States only have a dance and the couples go out to eat before the actual proms.

The best part of prom for me was wearing a fancy gown. I remember when I was a senior in high school. I had a beautiful black and gold dress that was short and sassy. Oh and I was Prom Queen when I was a senior. During every prom, a King and a Queen are elected by all of the people who are at the prom. I was lucky enough to be chosen! I was so excited and kind of confused because I didn’t expect it at all.

The picture shown here was at my senior prom.  I went to 3 other proms while I was in high school.  Those were some good times!

Did you have a really fancy dance like prom when you went to school? Leave a comment and let me know!

In the United States, unlike other countries there is really only 1 type of high school. There are not any tech high schools or different routes for students to take. There are a few magnet high schools for arts or sciences, but for the most part there are just regular high schools.

My high school was very small. I think there were about 24 students in my graduating class. It was kind of neat that way because I could take part in many different activities and join lots of organizations. I was a cheerleader, the vice president of my class, year book editor, hurdler, among many other things.

For the most part we all had to take most of the same subjects. 4 years of English literature, 2 years of math, 2 years of science, 2 years of PE (Physical Education), 1/2 year of health, 3 years of history, 1 year of government. The rest we could take electives. I took ‘home economics’ where you learn how to cook, sew, knit, how to raise children. We even had to carry around a 5 pound sack of flour to show us how difficult it was to be a mother. I had fun with it and decorated my flour bag to look like a real baby. I also took Spanish, art, more math, more PE and more science. In my small school there weren’t many options for classes unfortunately.

Now, leave me a comment and let me know about how your high school was.

Other countries celebrate Mother’s Day on a different day.  For example, in France they celebrate it usually on the last Sunday of May, but this year it is on the first Sunday of June.

In the United States, the usual way to celebrate Mother’s Day is for the husband and children to make a special gift for mom or if she’s really lucky maybe she’ll get some nice jewelry.  Sometimes children like to make a special Mother’s Day breakfast and serve their mom in bed.  I hope I get “breakfast in bed” this year!! There is nothing like waking up to the smell of freshly cooked bacon! YUM!

Mother’s Day is a day to honor your mother, give her extra love and spend time with her.  I hope every mother out there has a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Many people think that if you live in Texas then you must be able to ride a horse! Well in my case it is true! Although it’s not true for every Texan. Funny though, I do fit most of the stereotypes about Texas. My family owed a ranch when I was growing up. We had some horses and cows.  Yes, I wore cowboy boots on occasion to school and around town.  I didn’t; however, own a cowboy hat.   But, people note that many people in Texas live in a big city and have no access to farms or ranches.

Life in Texas is big. I hate to say this because people from other states get annoyed, but “Everything is bigger in Texas”  The state is huge.  Driving from one city to another is a long way.  The margaritas a bigger (and better).  Everything is just bigger!

Another thing about Texas is that the people are extremely friendly.  For example, if you are driving on the road and you come up behind someone who is driving extremely slow, that person will move to the shoulder of the road and let you pass if you are only on a two lane road.  This doesn’t happen much (if ever) in other states that I’ve lived in.

Oh how I miss Texas!!!  There is one negative thing about Texas, in my opinion.  The heat. It is so blooming hot in the summer!  Though after living in the cold for the last 2 years, I’d gladly trade in my winter coat for a tall glass of lemonade sitting in the summer sun in Texas!

Slang of the day:  player (There are also many alternative spellings and pronunciation like playa or playah.)

Meaning:  This word usually refers to a male who dates more than one person at time.  Usually getting a little something something from everyone he dates.

Usage:  I saw him kissing Tiff yesterday.  I knew he was a player!

Dialog:

Claire – Hey Chloe, how are things going with you and Aidan?

Chloe – Really great!

Claire – Are you sure?  I saw him getting it on with Nicki in the parking lot  yesterday.

Chloe – Oh well that’s okay.

Claire – You’re okay that he’s a player?

Chloe – We have an open relationship.  I was hanging out with Pete last night.

Claire – Oh, so you’re a player too.

Chloe – Ha! I guess so!

Claire – Whatever floats your boat!

Cool Beans!

Slang of the day:  Cool Beans!

Meaning:  This expression has nothing to do with beans.  It just means something is neat, awesome or cool.

Usage:  Cool Beans!

Dialog:

Xander – Guess what Claire!

Claire – What?

Xander – I made an A+ on my biology final exam.

Claire –  Wow, cool beans!

Xander – I know!!! Right!!

Claire – That’s so awesome! Let’s go celebrate with some pizza and root beer!

1.  I like to crochet and make teddy bears. – I find it really relaxing to just sit back and do crafts with my hands.  I like to crochet while I’ll watching TV or just having a conversation with someone.  It’s very relaxing.

2.  I like to read sci-fi and horror books. – I love reading science fiction the best, but I sometimes like to read horror as well.  I love anything to do with zombies!  I don’t love zombies per se, but I love stories about them taking over the world.

3.  I love archery. – When I was younger I won many different awards in archery.  I had so much fun learning this sport.  This will come in handy in a zombie apocalypse.

4.  My favorite type of animals are horses. – I loved going horseback riding when I was younger.  If I had more time, I would go again, but alas when you are grown up there is not as much time to do fun things like this!

5.  I hate cooking.  - I’m not sure why, but I have never liked to cook – ever!  I’m okay with baking, but I really don’t enjoy cooking at all.

Please leave a comment about five random things about you!  I’d love to read them.

In the past I’ve been making dialogs with random people’s names in order to show what different words or phrases meant.  I’ve decided to create a few characters that I will use over and over so that you can get to know these people and their personalities.  Let me introduce to you the people so far:

First we have Xander.  Xander is a sophomore in an American university.  He likes to watch football (American football) on TV on Monday nights.  He is in a fraternity and likes to drink beer with his friends.  He has an on again/off again girlfriend named Claire.  Xanders major in college is liberal Arts because he really doesn’t know what he wants out of life.  He just knows one thing right now, he is lovin’ college life!

Next, we have Claire.  As you read above, Clair is Xander’s girlfriend.  She is very attractive, but shy.  Even though she is shy, she is not bookish or too quiet.  Once you get to know her, she is quite bubbly.  Her major at the university is the MRS. degree.  Stay tuned to find out what an ‘MRS.’ degree is.

Xander – Come on sweet cakes, let’s get going!

Claire – Sure, where are we going tonight?

Xander – My frat. is having a party.  Let’s go!

Claire – I’d rather have some quiet time with you.

Xander – There will be time for that later.  Now, it’s time to get your groove on!

1.  It’s a great hobby! – People have hobbies anywhere from watching TV, to crocheting to volunteering at a soup kitchen.  I think helping people with their English makes for a great hobby!  Especially since I’m a qualified English teacher. It just makes sense!

2.  I like to meet people from around the world. – I have made a bazillion new friends since I started helping people with their English on Twitter.  Some of them are now my FB friends and I talk to them on a daily basis.

3.  I like to learn about different cultures. – I don’t know about you, but I just love learning about different cultures from around the world.  My favorite thing is when my friends from Japan tell me about different types of food they are eating and post pictures to show me.  When I lived in the USA, there were Japanese restaurants, but here in Normandy in France, there are not any Japanese restaurants, so I can at least remember Japanese food by posts and tweets from my Japanese friends.

4.  I learn about different and new technology. – I never even used Twitter before I thought about helping people learn English.  My husband suggested that it would be a good place to meet people.  So I learned all about Twitter.  Also, I’ve learned more about HTML and blogging using WordPress as well.  One day I would love to have live English lessons broadcast from my website. I’d have to learn how to do that first though.

5.  I continue to grow as an English teacher. – People ask me various English questions and this keeps me on my toes!  I’ve learned how to teach without being face to face to someone
where they can see my hands and my facial expressions. It’s difficult to do, but I think I’m learning how to do it!

So, thank you to all of my followers on Twitter, FB and on my blog.  Thank you for giving me a more fulfilling life!

Slang of the day:  It’s all good!

Meaning:  This means that you should not worry about things and that everything will be alright.

Usage:  It’s all good!

Dialog:

Brian – Oh I’m so sorry Yvonne!

Yvonne – What did you do this time?

Brian – I, um, accidentally deleted all of your files on your computer…

Yvonne – It’s all good! I have a backup drive with all of my files!

(Please note if this really happened in real life, I would not say “It’s all good!”  I would be annoyed if my husband really did delete all of my files.)