ESOL OASIS Issue 3, January 2011

Memories of my

youth

2

A Phone Call &

a recipe

3

Spa waters in

Hungary

4

A Lesson

Mystery Teacher

5

Philosophy

Time!

6

Afghanistan &

sport in Iraq

7

Forever at Home

My Impressions

8

The Turkish

Baglama

9

Beata Torz 10

Inside this issue:

Page 1

Bahari is currently study on

an NC in Graphic Design at

City of Glasgow College on

a Monday afternoon.

As you can see, Bahari is

very talented and this is only

a sample of her portfolio.

She has already sold designs

and hopes to build a career

from her artwork.

Designs by Bahareh Rajabi, Intermediate 2 AM

Prizewinner For Best Article The prize for the best article in this edition goes to

Emmanuel Tchuisseu who wrote a wonderful story

about his childhood in Cameroon (you can read his

story on page two). Emmanuel wins a £15 Tesco

voucher.

Emmanuel‟s story was one of many fantastic entries

in this edition. We have stories about UFO‟s, philoso-

phy, cake recipes, quizzes and much, much more.

Thanks to everyone who helped, and for those of you who wrote something

for this issue and it‟s not included, look out for your article in the next edi-

tion.

If you like the magazine, or you think we can improve it, please let us know.

Contact details are on the back page.

Page 2

ESOL OASIS

It‟s not without a little regret that I

have decided to write about my

childhood. It was so difficult for

teenagers to leave their parents

and go to the next village for sec-

ondary school. The school was in

Bazou, a village situated about

fifteen miles from my own town,

Balengou, in Cameroon, and it

was the only one with a secondary

school.

Rich people rented rooms for their

kids and poor children walked on

foot every morning to school. Un-

fortunately, my dad had financial

difficulties, therefore I had to walk

to school. Primary school ending

seemed to be the beginning of

trouble for the poorest families

because parents needed to think

about school fees and about how

children struggle to make it (15

miles each way from Monday to

Friday). At that time there were no

cars in the village and the roads

were very muddy during the rainy

season and very dusty during the

dry season. I shall try to bear it in

mind that many of my classmates

stopped going to school because

of the very bad conditions and

helped their father on the farm un-

til they set up their own business

in the village. Also, we had found

out some of them, in spite of it all,

are today responsible people in

society. They are managers, ac-

countants, teachers etc....

In the morning on our way to

school, sometimes we felt cold

and started to sing a song, shouted

and ran to school. We were happy

and excited about this adventure

but suffering a lot. I‟m delighted

that a lot of things have changed

in my village and people can

move more easily from one vil-

lage to another. Roads have been

built and there is no more dust

and mud. Teenagers leave the

villages when they are going to

university. Everything is normal

(electricity, water etc.). I‟m so

glad about that.

Memories of My Youth by Emmanuel Tchuisseu (Intermediate 1 PM)

B A L E N G O U

Map of Bazou region in Cameroon

Page 3

ESOL OASIS

A Phone Call by Quanhong Wu, Intermediate 2 PM It was three o‟clock in the morn-

ing when the phone rang. At that

moment I was in the middle of

my dream. It woke me up. “Hey,

go pick up the phone!” I said to

my husband. “No, you go,

please!” Unfortunately the tele-

phone is downstairs, and both of

us did not want to get out of the

warm bed. Everywhere was so

quiet, just the phone ringing

loudly. The phone ring contin-

ued. “Ok, I‟ll go!” Because I

knew there is no way my hus-

band would go and I also won-

dered who was ringing us this

late.

“Hello, who is it?”

“Hi, it‟s me, Jim” (my brother in

-law).

“What‟s up?” I asked.

“Is Tom there?”

“Yes, he is sleeping. Are you

alright?”

“Yeah, I‟m alright, but guess

what? I‟ve just seen a very

strange thing, four huge lights in

the sky, just like four moons,

form exactly as a massive square

and also the lights were moving.

I‟ve never seen things like that

before, but I‟m pretty sure it‟s not

an airplane or helicopter. I think

it‟s a UFO.”

He sounded so excited that it

made his voice sharper than

usual. “Oh, it‟s three o‟clock in

the morning and this guy is tell-

ing me this nonsense „news‟?” I

thought in my head. “Really, it‟s

true, please tell Tom.” Jim

seemed still very excited about it.

“Yeah, sure, I will, bye!” When I

went back to bed, my husband

asked: “Who was that?” “It‟s Jim.

He said he saw a UFO.” “Oh, no

way, are you joking? I think he

must be watching too many docu-

mentaries, never mind!” Seconds

later we fell back to sleep again.

Two days later, Jim came to our

house holding a piece of paper

which was cut from a newspaper.

He was so excited to show us:

“You see, I told you, it‟s true! I

knew you guys would‟t believe

me!” The newspaper wrote:

“Monday night was actually a

visit from aliens. UFOs were seen

in the North England area.” From

that day on, my life was changed.

Every night before I go to bed I

will look out in the sky, just in

case the UFO will appear again.

It‟s a very wired feeling, it‟s not

easy to describe - looking forward

or scared? I guess both. What-

ever, I am sure that the aliens are

watching us from deep space.

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar

5 eggs

3 cups (whole) milk

5 teaspoons sugar for caramel

4 teaspoons of water

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

1 cup (single) cream

1 cup of desiccated coconut

Brioche (French sweet bread)

Method:

* Mix 5 spoons sugar and 4

spoons of water and heat in a

pan on moderate heat until, it

turn dark golden brown

* Beat together eggs + sugar +

milk+ coconut+ cream and va-

nilla essence in a big bowl.

* cut the brioche bread in slices

and adjust in baking tray.

* Pour the milk and egg mixture

in the baking dish containing the

caramelised sugar.

* Put the baking dish in a shallow

roasting tray containing 1 inch

hot water. Cover the baking tray

with foil sheet.

* Bake in a pre-heated oven at

300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 to 1

½ hours. Check with a knife. If it

comes out clean, the pudding is

ready.

* Take the dish out of the oven,

let it cool, and then put in the re-

frigerator.

Enjoy!

Egg and Bread Pudding, from Sadaf Zahid, Higher AM

Hungary is a small country in

the middle of Europe but it is the

most important country for the

SPA.

The culture of bathing is 2000

years old in history. Already the

Romans discovered and used the

Hungarian thermal and mineral

waters and they built many baths

there.

Hungary is very rich in thermal,

mineral and medicinal waters and

it has more than 1000 wells

which makes it prominent in

Europe.

In the country there are 150 spas

which have very special water,

like cold and hot thermal water,

fizzy and rich in mineral. These

are good for bathing in and also

good for drinking if somebody

has one of many health problem,

from stress, heart conditions, skin

conditions to stomach or

rheumatic problem,

women's problems, etc.

The Cave Bath in Miskolctapolca

Europe’s only cave bath is in

Miskolctapolca and the best-

known hot spa (33 Celsius) is

in Heviz and lots of baths are

everywhere in the country

which are the most popular,

for example, in

Hajduszoboszlo, Gyula,

Sarvar, Visegrad, Sopron,

Parad, Balf and more.

Sarvar

Heviz

Hajduszoboszlo

Budapest (capital city of

Hungary) is almost the most

important spa city in the world.

There are 25 baths and 13 spas

there and some of them used

already in the Turkish times in

the 16th century.

Gellert Baths in Budapest

In each resort there are doctors,

nurses and masseurs who can

advise people which baths are

good or not good for them.

A lot of people in the world

travel every year to Hungary and

spend their holiday in a thermal

hotel. I hope they have good

memories from the country and

they get healthier.

So if you have any problems in

or on your body, welcome to

Hungary and become healthy

again.

ESOL OASIS

Thermal, Mineral and Medicinal Waters in Hungary by Krisztina Melinda Kas, Access 3 PM

Page 4

Student Prizegiving for 2009-2010 On the 30th of November 2010,

prizes were awarded to ESOL stu-

dents who had shown extra effort

that year to improve their English

and help their classmates.

The winners were as follows:

Access 2/1: Hazami Sharaf

Access 2/2: Adam Jabar

Access 2/3: Ashraf Moham-

madi

Access 3: Imran Ibrahim

Intermediate 1: Miroslava

Korzeniowska

Intermediate 2: Miguel Tcho-

nang

Higher: Sylvia Jedrzejczak

ESOL for Social Care: Madalena Al-

bano

ESOL Hospitality: Jana Musikava

Well done everyone!

Education is not in school,

college or university, but from

the people in the country I live

in and TV. From socialising

with people I have seen some

amazing things.

When I first came to the UK I

had an elderly neighbour who

had a dog. One day she was

very sick and she couldn’t get

up from bed. The dog opened the

door and started barking.

The neighbours came out and the

dog led the neighbours into the

house, where they saw the old

lady who was very sick.

The neighbours phoned an

ambulance and my neighbour

was taken to hospital . That is

how the old lady survived.

For me, that was a lesson.

1. What do you like to do in

your spare time? I do combat (fighting) and I col-

lect art deco and like saving and

restoring old things. I like trees,

birds and animals. I listen to mu-

sic every day.

2. Favourite food?

Turkey and vegetable stew.

3. Favourite actor/actress?

Gene Hackman and Liv Ulman

4. Favourite film?

Fanny and Alexander

5.What kind of music do you

like?

pop

6. Favourite holiday destina-

tion? Israel and the USA.

7. Funniest thing a student has

said In a role-play to a guest in her

house “Would you like to sleep

on the sofa or would you like to

sleep with me?” Shock! but the

students laughed for 5 minutes.

8. Most embarrassing moment?

When I was in Japan I went into a

café and ordered coffee and toast.

It wasn‟t a café. It was a house!

But the mum and dad and the

daughters gave me coffee and

toast anyway.

Answer to Mystery Teacher is

on the back page

Mystery Teacher!

ESOL OASIS

A Lesson by Sita Sharif, Access 2 Stage 3 AM

Page 5

ESOL Bridges Courses in Govan

The Bridges Programme which

is based at The Pearce Insti-

tute in Govan has been provid-

ing ESOL into Employment

courses for two years now and it

has been very successful in get-

ting ESOL students into volun-

tary or paid work.

The courses are available to

ESOL students studying at In-

termediate 1 and above and stu-

dents who have been granted full

refugee status. The course is not

available to Asylum Seekers, In-

ternational students or European

Union Students.

Courses offered include ESOL

for Customer Services, ESOL for

Construction Professionals and

ESOL for Social Care.

See your teacher for course

dates and more information.

‘When I was in

Japan I went

into a café and

ordered coffee

and toast. It

wasn‟t a café. It

was a house‟.

ESOL OASIS

Let‟s begin with a simple

mathematical equation on the

class blackboard: 1 + 2 = ____.

If you say the answer is as usual

3, I say „no‟ and my answer is

the answer to your question!

Can I ask how many threes we

have? I don‟t want to ask a lot,

because by asking the same

question over and over, you

would give the same answer

over and over, and each of them

would make another repetitive

question for me, and we will be

the passengers of the usual

paths. So let‟s decide to experi-

ence a new way of contempla-

tion.

Childish insight is great because

of its pureness, so it will be bet-

ter to see with our special

glasses. I recommend you not to

look with my glasses and I will

not use the teacher‟s spectacles.

At first sight let‟s redefine our

definitions because I think defi-

nitions are the best scale of dis-

tances, and they will help us to

understand the distance between

us and our grabbed reality.

Don‟t fly into a rage, I will tell

you what I mean.

A happy birthday, a cake and a

few candles doesn‟t mean

„birth‟ for me anymore. The

birth is a beginning of an ending

and an ending of a beginning. I

don‟t know why we call some-

one teacher who wants to oblit-

erate our cells with his monoto-

nous rules. Let‟s redefine the

teacher in another aspect. To-

day‟s school seems my every-

day breakfast (a cup of tea and a

slice of bread). Let‟s rebuild the

school as an academy‟s garden

that creates utopia.

A quick review of the history

and compare it with the present

day will tell us and how much

we washed out from our reality.

Our forefathers‟ paintings, win-

dows, gardens, cages and chains

were more colourful, clear,

green, varied and significant

than ours.

2011: 2 + 1 is an inconvertible

law.

The chain is made from

gold.

The cage contains a mal-

formed parrot.

The window as well as

the glass carries locks.

The garden exists with-

out any thistle

Let‟s think.

Let‟s change every inconverti-

ble law and break all ludicrous

cages.

Let the parrot be free and the

meaning of the flower will be

more beautiful with some thistle

beside it.

Let‟s make the chain from iron

and nothing will happen if we

blind the windows. Have you

read of the extent of the brain‟s

knowledge? This is a great af-

front to the brain, because the

brain is measuring everything.

So let‟s publish a book under

the title: Scale‟s Designer is the

Brain.

Let‟s look at the music dancing,

Let‟s listen to the colour sing-

ing,

Let‟s reunite with our senses,

Let‟s think we will not die never

and never,

Dying is another birth in an-

other shape.

Is your answer still 3? If so, my

question is still the answer to

your question!

My question is the answer to your question! By Soroosh Hasani Intermediate 1 PM

Page 6

Design by Amir Mehdi

Broghani, Access 2/2 PM

This is one of many designs that Amir

has created, he also, amongst other

things, designs cakes! This design is his

idea for the new college.

ESOL OASIS

Afghanistan is in Southern Asia,

north and west of Pakistan and

east of Iran. The capital of Af-

ghanistan is Kabul. Afghanistan

is the most beautiful country in

the world.

Afghanistan is a mountainous

country. 20 years ago Afghani-

stan was a very beautiful, excit-

ing country. Lots of people

come from every country to

visit Afghanistan for their holi-

days. There were a lot of his-

torical buildings, factories, hos-

pitals, cinemas, theatres and

many things. People were very

busy with work, studies,

schools, colleges, and universi-

ties.

Many people went to school and

were educated. They studied

and were very busy with educa-

tion, with no time to visit each

other. People were very busy

with education in the schools,

colleges, and universities. In

their spare time they went to the

library to study books, maga-

zines, newspapers etc.

One of the traditions and celebra-

tions in Afghanistan is New

Year. We celebrate New Year

everywhere. People go shopping

and have fun. People buy new

clothes and go to each other‟s

houses for celebrations. Children

play with each others making

fireworks and many fun things.

Teenagers go to cinemas, shop-

ping, and have fun doing many

things.

Afghan people make very deli-

cious food. The most popular

food in Afghanistan is Kabuli

palaw – rice, carrots, and raisins

- and for special parties you can

add almonds. Kebabs are usually

made from meat, dry figs, garlic,

and chilli and usually eaten with

salad.

Afghanistan was very popular

and had famous singers such as

Ahmad Zaire. He was one of the

most popular famous singers all

over Afghanistan. All people in

Afghanistan liked him and every

where his singing was listened

to and is still listened to.

Unfortunately, because of the

war coming in Afghanistan, it is

now a very poor country and

buildings, museums and uni-

versities are damaged. It is not

like before because most edu-

cated people have migrated to

European countries, to Pakistan,

Iran and may other countries.

Some people have looked for

asylum because of the war. The

schools, colleges and universi-

ties are all now closed. Woman

wear borqa (ejabs), there are no

jobs, no education, nothing.

We hope that Afghanistan will

be better, like before. We hope

the war will end and people

from other countries will help to

bring peace and then people will

go back to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan by Parveen Ali Intermediate 1 PM

The topic that I would like to

talk about is sport in Iraq, and

especially football.

This game is the most popular in

Iraq, but the game is going

through difficult circumstances

like many other things in Iraq.

Sport needs help and support

from countries like the United

Kingdom by organising training

courses for coaches as well as

calling up some good Iraqi play-

ers on loan or helping them with

professional contracts with Scot-

tish clubs and the football asso-

ciation of Scotland.

Sport is a good way to help

countries that have gone through

abnormal conditions like Iraq.

All the world saw how the peo-

ple of Iraq forgot their problems

and their differences when the

Iraqi football team won the

Asian Cup in 2002, which was

the best proof of the positive

message of sport.

Finally, I hope that my new

home, Scotland, will stand

shoulder to shoulder with the

people of Iraq by supporting

their sports and that this will be

a big influence on the develop-

ment of the friendship between

the two countries.

Sport in Iraq by Imad Al Kaabi—Intermediate 1 AM

Page 7

ESOL OASIS

As you probably know, there

are problems in Eritrea. The

most important thing one needs

to feel at home is to feel safe.

Following that, you need to feel

that you are progressing in your

life and that you can move for-

ward in this respect.

My life here is totally and ut-

terly different from the one I

lived in Eritrea. Back there I

always worried about my situa-

tion, I was not in college and I

was not expecting anything for

the future. Sometimes I used to

think that I was born in the

wrong place. I thought it was

really wrong to be born into this

world but now in Scotland I am

studying and I

have dreams

for my future. I

am really opti-

mistic about

the life I have

ahead of me.

When I left Eritrea the situation

was disastrous. I miss my coun-

try so much. Eritrea is the place

that I was born. I knew my fam-

ily and the landscape, but today

in Scotland I am a good student.

I still don‟t really know what

will happen tomorrow. I make

plans: sometimes they work out,

sometimes they don‟t.

I hope that Scotland will be my

home forever. It‟s a great coun-

try. I do know that „the more

you put in, the more you get out

of life‟ and I will push that as

hard as I can. We will see what

happens, I hope it‟s something

good.

For Ever at Home by Imran Ibrahim

Page 8

My Impressions byAnna Hamryszczak, Intermediate 2 PM

Will the world soon change into

a place where people have no

manners at all, and good behav-

iour will just be mentioned in

forgotten books? Well I hope

that will never happen but my

observations are quite discon-

certing. As it is always nice to

be nice to fellow travellers in a

bus train or any other public

transport I am finding it very

odd that the young generation is

not kind enough to give a seat to

an old or disabled person.

The worst thing that I‟ve seen is

when a pregnant woman needs a

seat on public transport or if she

needs a hand with her shopping

bags, it‟s as if she‟s grown some

kind of invisible bubble around

her. Nobody can see her or hear

her but everyone is looking

around searching for a knight in

shining armour who could help

the poor women. If that helpful

person appears then all the pas-

sengers are more relaxed and

don‟t need to worry until the

next priority person.

Is that helping others now has

become very rare or it is maybe

even a dishonour? More impor-

tantly, who is responsible for

this behaviour? We can‟t blame

politics for this. It is a society

where young people are spend-

ing most of their time on Face-

book, other computer or play

station games or watching TV.

Well then, we should act and be

nice to each other. Maybe there's

still some hope for good behav-

iour as even some buses now

have nice colourful posters with

rules for people on how to act

properly.

......and now here’s Anna’s recipe for Cheese Cookies. Yum yum! 200 grams of cheese

200 grams of margarine

200 grams of plain flour

Grate cheese (if you haven‟t

bought it already

grated )put in a mixing

bowl, add margarine,

flour and a pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together

then put on work top and

roll until there is a 5 mm

thickness and cut into

squares or you can use

funny shaped forms. On

the top you can sprinkle

some grated walnuts.

Bake for about 15 minutes in

an oven preheated to

180⁰C.

Page 9

ESOL OASIS

Karen’s Support Clinic Karen‟s support clinic has moved from room 102A to room GN24C. The new room is on the ground

floor. It is the room next to the canteen on the left.

Please remember that clinic days are Mondays and Thursdays only. So, if you need to speak to Karen

about a letter, an application form, the Home Office, citizenship or to get a new student card, only come on

Monday or Thursday. Clinic is open from 9.00am to 12.pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

If a single instrument were to

represent Turkish folk music it

would have to be the baglama.

There is no region, no village in

Anatolia which it not familiar

with this string instrument. It is

descended from the kopuz,

which is frequently mentioned in

the sagas of Dede Korkut dating

from around the 8th century. The

kopuz, a generic name for several

forms of string instrument, was

being used by the Turkish tribes

of Central Asia about two thou-

sand years ago, and was brought

to Anatolia by Turkish strolling

minstrels from the 10th century

onwards. The Shamanist Turks of

Central Asia regarded the kopuz

as sacred, and it was even said

that the warrior with a kopuz at

his waist was protected from in-

jury at enemy hands in battle.

The kopuz differs from the

baglama in having a leather cov-

ered body, a fingerboard without

frets, and two or three strings

made either of horsehair, or of

sheep or wolf gut. It is played by

beating with the fingers, rather

than being plucked with a plec-

trum.

The Turkish settlement of Ana-

tolia from the late 10th century

onwards saw the introduction of

a two-string descendant of the

kopuz, the Turkmen dutar, which

was still being played in some

areas of Turkey until recent

times. According to the historian

Hammer, metal strings were first

used on a type of kopuz with a

long fingerboard known as the

kolca kopuz in 15th century Ana-

tolia. This marked the first step in

the emergence of the cogur, a tran-

sitional instrument between the

kopuz and the baglama. According

to the 17th century writer Evliya

Celebi the cogur was first made in

the city of Kutahya in western

Turkey. To take the strain of the

metal strings the leather body was

replaced by wood, the fingerboard

lengthened and frets introduced.

Instead of five hair strings there

were now twelve metal strings ar-

ranged in four groups of three. To-

day the cogur is smaller than a me-

dium sized baglama.

Meanwhile, the five string kopuz is

thought to have been transformed

into the six string instrument

known as the sestar or seshane by

the 13th century mystic Mevlana

Celaleddin-i Romi. The word

sestar is also mentioned in the po-

ems of the 14th century poet

Yunus Emre. Evliya Celebi de-

scribes the kopuz as a smaller

version of the seshane.

Like its ancestor the kopuz, the

Turkmens of Anatolia attached

sacred significance to the

baglama, and the religious cere-

monies of the Alevi and Bektasi

sects begin by kissing the

baglama and touching it to the

head before beginning to play the

hymns which made up a large

part of the ritual. Alevi and Bek-

tasi dervishes could be regarded

as itinerant poets, and because its

small size made it easy to carry.

They usually played the cura,

which has a small body and short

fingerboard. It is played like the

long and short fingerboard

baglama, but has only six strings

in three groups.

The baglama can be played either

with or without a plectrum, in the

latter case by striking the strings

with the fingers in the method

known as selpe. Selpe has sev-

eral regional variations. For ex-

ample among the Turkmen com-

munities of the Aegean, musi-

cians bang the body of the

baglama, while among the Alevis

they strike with less force.

Electric baglamas with electric

pickups began to be made in the

late 1960s to increase the sound

volume and enable it to be used

in rock music.

Ancient Sound of the Baglama by Havite Toprak, Intermediate 1 AM

Beata Torz

We’re on the City of Glasgow

College website. Find us under

Media and Communications,

then ESOL or contact Gerry at

Gerry.gray@glasgowmet.ac.uk

or on 0141 566 1691. Mystery Teacher

This issue‟s mystery teacher is John! Page 10

It was with great sadness that we learned of the tragic death of one of our students, Beata Torz, in Decem-

ber 2010. Beata was killed in a road traffic accident. Beata was liked by everyone she met, including her

fellow students. Beata studied with us at evening classes from August 2007 and made many friends

amongst students and staff. A gathering took place on Tuesday 18th of January in the Bistro, where stu-

dents and staff shared their memories of Beata and celebrated her life. Here are some of their memories and

tributes, and some pictures from that night and from Beata‟s time at college.

Dearest Beata,

I will always remember you for

being bright, colourful and full of

fun.

You made a huge impression on all

who knew you. You were always

so full of energy, enthusiasm and

willingness to involve and include

everyone. We will all miss you-

evening classes just won‟t be the

same without you smiling, laugh-

ing and joking.

May you continue to smile down

on us and be with us as our

thoughts are with you and your

family.

Emily xx, Teacher

I didn‟t have too much time to

get to know her, but I think that

she was a really good friend and

a good person.

She was making people laugh,

and probably for that quality, no-

body who knew her will forget

her.

Descansa En Paz

Dear Beata,

I will always remember you and

your key words:

1) „Of course I can!‟

2) „Life is too short‟

Janvier, Lecturer

To Beata,

You never switched your phone

off. You spoke so much Polish! If

you were in a room, everyone

knew you were there by your

warmth and your noise and your

life. You were unique and I‟ll re-

member you forever. You were a

fantastic student with a beautiful

heart. I‟ll miss you.

Gianni x, Teacher

We will never forget you!!!

Everybody loves you!

She was a very good friend for

everyone.

She was very honest .

She was very energetic and

could manage everything.

She was very natural, she was

always spontaneous.

Chinese lanterns, with messages

written by her fellow students,

were lit after the gathering in the

Bistro.

Beata with her classmates.

Beata is third from the right.