Notes

December 14, 2012

How would you spend your time if you lived in Texas?

If I lived in Texas, I would attend football games on Friday nights, eat Tex-Mex food, and visit places like NASA and the Alamo, where Davy Crockett died in battle.  I would go to Amarillo and see the Cadillac Ranch, where eccentric Texan Stanley Marsh 3 has buried ten cars in the ground.

Where would you want to live if you were to move to Texas?

If I were to move to Texas, I would want to live in Austin, because it is a young, vibrant city with a lot of Fortune 500 companies. Businesses like Dell have their headquarters there.

I would want to live in Houston because I am interested in the Space Program. I would go visit Mission Control Center for fun. I would support the Houston Astros, the professional baseball team.

I would want to live in Dallas, because that is where the famous TV series was based. It is a mecca for shopping and dining. I would be a fan of the Dallas Mavericks, the professional basketball team.

I would want to live in San Antonio because I love basketball, and the San Antonio Spurs have won the National Basketball Championships four times. They are a strong team. I also love the arts and there are 25 art museums there.

Can you explain Texas cities’ sizes?

The cities are ranked in order of population like this: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

Houston	San Antonio	Dallas	Austin
2.1 million people	1.3 million people	1.2 million people	820,000 people

Houston is the biggest city; Austin is the smallest.

San Antonio is larger than Austin but smaller than Houston.

San Antonio falls between Houston and Austin in size.

Dallas is slightly smaller than San Antonio.

Houston is about two and a half times the size of Austin, population-wise.

Paris has 2.2 million people, so it is similar in size to Houston.

The American Dream

Different people have different ideas about what the American Dream really is. For some people it represents wealth. For others it’s fame. For some, just having a job – a good job that will always be there – is what equals the American Dream. Others simply want to have the basics like food, clean water and shelter. Freedom from political and religious strife is definition of the American .

When we think of wealthy people, Bill Gates often comes to mind. Many would say that the Microsoft co-founder is living the American Dream. He and friend Paul Allen started the business in Gates’ garage and he has built it into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are also good examples of people who have lived the American Dream. Ice cream lovers know them as “Ben and Jerry.” They opened an ice cream shop in a small city in Vermont and grew their business into one of the largest ice cream companies in the US. Cohen turned his new-found wealth and prominence toward a variety of social causes, often through the Ben & Jerry's Foundation.

The first American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, is often considered as a person who is living the American Dream now, thanks to her fame and fortune brought about by the TV program. When she was young, her family struggled financially, and after her parents divorced, music became her refuge. She doesn’t have to worry about money now. She earned $2.5 million in 2011.

Carlos Martinez is one of the first people to benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by the Obama administration. Despite having two degrees in engineering, he was unable to find a job because he did not have correct work authorization papers. His parents had brought him to the US illegally from Mexico when he was nine. Getting a job in engineering will be his dream.

In a video about Ellis Island, we saw the Hartunian family who were Armenians living in Turkey. They made their way to the United States to escape religious persecution. Their son, Vartan, was just seven when they arrived in the US. “America was paradise, the streets were covered with gold, » he said.

CNN anchor and Time magazine editor Fareed Zakaria could be viewed as living the American Dream. He left India to go to college in the United States. He attended Yale and Harvard and has established himself as one of the top journalists in the country.

We can define the American Dream in many ways. The definition depends on the person who is dreaming.

October 24, 2012

Presidential Election Quiz

1. Who are the candidates? Name their respective parties.
2. When is the election?
3. Who has been America's youngest president so far? How old was he?
4. Has there ever been a female American president?
5. Who becomes president if the president dies?
6. Give the names of two swing states.
7. How many electoral votes are needed to become U.S. president?
8. How many states don't have a "winner takes all" policy for electoral votes?