Student Voice February 2012

STUDENT
V
ICE
THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE CENTER FES
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alcfezbook.com
Volume III, Issue V
l
February 2012
Mothers
Saufiane Boughiala
Juniors 11
Zih Hanane
Advanced 4
Failure is not
the end!
Many unsuccessful people
believe that failure is the end
of success. They believe that if
they fail once or twice, life will
end and there is no way for
another chance.
What a big mistake! Who
doesn’t make mistakes? So,
we say to those people, if you
never want to fail, then don’t
do anything and stay where
you are, watching TV, eating,
drinking and sleeping.
Failure is just the beginning.
It is the start of the journey
towards success.
Does anyone know how
many times Thomas Edison
experienced failure before
inventing the electric light
bulb? Trying and failing is one
hundred times better than
doing nothing.
“The purpose of life is a life
of purpose”
Thomas Byrne.
American Author (born 1930)
One day, a professor
asked a group of youths
to do something. They
all agreed except one of
them, who discouraged the
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others, claiming it would be
boring.
The professor asked him if
he had ever tried it before.
“No I haven’t”, said the boy.
The professor replied: “How
do you know that it would
turn out to be boring?”
Let’s try.....let’s enjoy the
failure of the first experience
and the second as well as
the third before we taste the
bless of success.
As long as you are doing
your best, you won’t have any
time to think about failure.
‘Mother’ is the biggest word in
the world.To be a good mother
is difficult!
To be a good mother, a
woman has to care about her
children more than herself. She
could give her soul to save them.
She can feel if her children are
in trouble or not.
Also, children all over the
word would love their mothers
more than anything else.
Some mothers aren’t good
because they care more for
themselves than their children
and they don’t spend a lot of
time with their children.
Some children don’t have a
mother, so they don’t have love
and affection. Poor children!
Even during hard times,
children love their mothers and
regret what they say to her.
A Moroccan proverb says:
“Heaven is under your Mother’s
feet”.
This means that if you respect
and treat your mother well,
you’ll go directly to heaven.
I love my Mother!
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February 2012
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BOOK REVIEWS
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck’s Pulitzer prize-winning epic remains his undisputed masterpiece
Zineb El Kebir
Advanced 1
The story takes place during the Great
Depression in the United States in the
1930s.
At this time, unemployment was
increasing all over the States, and Americans
had to face all forms of illness, poverty and
misery. The case was worst in the South
West and especially in Oklahoma.
Indeed, they were suffering from a
lack of grain, and the land dried and
turned to dust. Consequently, it was
impossible to grow fruits and vegetables,
and the cattle started to die. As a result,
banks were obliged to force tenant
farmers off their land.
John Steinbeck chose to tell the story of
the Joad family, who were composed of
the parents and five children.
One of them had just come out from
jail on parole, and the elder girl was just
married and pregnant.
This family decided to escape the drought
and the famine of their state and take a big
journey of more than a thousand miles to
California.
At this time, California was considered to
be the Golden State, because it offered a
lot of work and in this state, people could
afford to have a decent life.
So, the family, including the grandparents,
the uncle and the preacher, filled a truck
with a lot of stuff and began their trip.
They went through ups and downs: the
grandfather died on the road and they
met a lot of other families in the same
situation.
Arriving in California, they found
themselves grouped in camps where life
was difficult and work was hard to find.
The Golden State was actually an Iron
State.
I liked reading the book because it’s
a realistic story which shows the real
situation of the United States during the
economic crisis of 1929. I think this story
would be a good example to take to
countries in order for them to understand
that when they fail economically, they
make a lot of people sink with them.
The Tales of Fez by Mohamed El Fasi and Emile Dermenghem
A collection of authentic Fassi “fairy tales”
Abderrazzak El Rharbi
Advanced 2
The Tales of Fez is an
admirable book in which he
author presents a collection of
stories from Fez.
The story that caught my
attention was The Carpenter’s
Daughter, because it shows
the intelligence of women and
how we can solve big problems
with just a wise answer.
Once upon a time, a poor
carpenter had a wife who died
in childbirth leaving a daughter
Aisha as his responsibility. But
he didn’t find any difficulty
with Aisha, because she was
protected by a mysterious
angel.
At that time, there was a
Sultan upon the throne who
asked weird questions, which
his people had to answer or
forfeit their heads. Every time
he sent for Aisha’s father and
asked him a very strange
question, Aisha, being a clever
girl, answered them.
One day the Sultan asked
Aisha to marry him.Then there
was a big problem between
two people and she found
a solution, but the Sultan
discovered she had talked with
strange people, so he decided
to divorce her.
He gave her a delay of one
day and he gave her permission
to carry away with her a single
chest filled with anything she
cared to take. So, she took him
because he was the dearest
thing to her. The Sultan asked
for forgiveness from her, and
they returned to the Castle
and lived happily ever after.
The book also gives us an idea
about the dictatorial system in
which people lived a long time
ago.
Want to read
these books?
These and many, many more
are waiting for YOU in the
ALC Bookstore and Librar y.
Bookstore prices star t from
20 Dirhams. Library star ts
from FREE!
Rather watch it?
Many books are available as
movies which you can rent
from the Computer Lab.
There are over 400 DVDs to
choose from! The Lab is open
Monday to Saturday, 9am 12pm and 3pm - 6pm.
opinions
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February 2012
Stop wasting
time!
Safae Amahrit
Juniors 11
Most people on Earth waste
time doing nothing. They forget
their real life and spend time
visiting chat websites, watching
‘cool’ videos online, reading
fashion magazines or doing
something else futile.
They don’t realise what they’ve
lost during these 30 minutes.
Sometimes a whole day can
slip by without someone being
able to feel it.
Often, it’s 20 minutes here,
half an hour there, 10 minutes
here, two hours there and
suddenly you wonder what you
did of interest during the day.
Unfortunately, you might find
the answer is nothing.
Well, for some people,
wasting time makes them feel
guilty, but for others, it doesn’t
matter because they don’t
see any difference between
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losing time doing nothing and
spending time well.
But one day, they will wake
up in a nightmare and find
that they’ve done nothing but
waste time. How do you think
they will feel? Destroyed?
Stop wasting time and
remember.....time lost
cannot be regained!
Our problem is that we don’t
look at making better use of
time.
Why do you think we always
have a brilliant student and a
lazy student in the classroom?
It’s simple. One of them
knows how to use their time
perfectly, but the other one
doesn’t and so he ends up
caught in the trap of time.
So stop wasting time and
remember....time lost cannot
be regained!
My dream home
Sofia Mohaouchane
Advanced 2
My dream home would be
a wooden house in a tropical
place, surrounded by the jungle.
There would be a river nearby
with a lot of kids swimming and
fishing in it.
There would be statues in the
garden, broken marble statues,
it’s essential that they are
broken.There would be trees of
all sorts, coconut trees, banana
trees....The garden would also
have wooden benches and
white pebbles.
The house would have three
floors, accessible from wooden
stairways that would make a lot
of noise.
The bedrooms would be on
the top floor, the kitchen and
dining room would be on the
second, and the bottom floor
would have the living room and
the library.
My bedroom would have
heavy velvet curtains and a
fake fur carpet. The walls would
be covered with artwork and
photographs and there would
be a wall made of magazines.
My bed would be on pillars.
Do you have the money to
buy such a house? If so, would
you buy it for me? Thanks!!
A sporting life for me!
Ahmed Hamza Haloui
Beginning 4
Sport is very interesting and
important in life. It makes you
happy, feel good and have a
healthy body.
For boys, soccer is the best
sport.They love it and they love
some players like Messi – the
best player in the world – and
Ronaldo who is the second
best player in the world.
Usually, girls like all sports:
soccer, basketball, handball,
volleyball and, swimming.
For me, I love swimming.
It makes me so happy. I go
swimming every night from
9pm to 11pm.
There are famous champions
like Michael Phillips and I like
him because he is the champion
of the world.
There are good swimmers
in Morocco too like Zraid
Mehdi, Amine Kaouame, Batahi
Naoumane.
I was third champion in
Morocco last year and I want
to be the first this year.
And you?
What’s your favorite sport?
f u n & games
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February 2012
Going to the
movies
alcfezbook.com
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Twilight
I like many
E n g l i s h
language
movies but I
like Twilight
the
most.
It is a very
good film. I like it because I
love science-fiction films and
vampires.
More than that, Robert
Pattinson is my favorite actor.
When I watch this film, I feel
so happy and I imagine myself
in place of Bella. But, I know it
is impossible, because he is far
away and we will never meet.
Maha Safaa Al Aabouche
Beginning 4
The Expendables
My
favorite
English language
movie is The
Expendables
because it is an
action
movie
and this is my
favorite kind of movie.
It has the most famous actors
in the world like Jason Statham
and Jet-Li. It’s a good movie which
has a team who have missions
to complete for money.
Mohammed Oualid el Bagoli
Beginning 4
The Tuxedo
My favorite
movie is The
Tuxedo. It’s a
Jackie Chan
film.
In
the
beginning of
the film, he is just a taxi driver
but after a couple of days, he
becomes the chauffeur of a
really famous business man in
New York City.
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DOWN
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__________ hearted. Sad because a
relationship has ended.
2
A celebration where two people get married.
3
Ask someone to marry.
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__________ in love. Start to love someone.
6
End a marriage.
7
Someone you are going to marry.
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People who have agreed to get married.
10 Have a __________ on someone. Be
infatuated.
13 The symbol of love.
15 __________ date. A date with someone you
have never met.
ACROSS
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A flower of love.
8
The holiday for people in love.
11 What you give someone when you get
engaged.
12 To see someone other than your boyfriend,
girlfriend, husband or wife.
14 __________ someone. Dating regularly.
15 Stop going out with someone.
16 Love at first __________.
17 Go on a __________.
ANSWERS DOWN: 1. Broken, 2. Wedding, 3. Propose, 5. Fall, 6. Divorce, 7. Fiance, 9. Engaged, 10. Crush, 13. Heart, 15. Blind.
ACROSS: 4. Rose, 8. Valentine’s Day, 11. Ring, 12. Cheat, 14.Seeing, 15. Break up, 16. Sight, 17. Date.
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“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue
growing as we continue to live” Mortimer Adler, American Philosopher
This man has a super tuxedo.
When someone wears it, it
becomes attached to their skin.
I like this movie a lot because
Jackie Chan is one of my favorite
actors.
I watch a lot of his movies like
Around the World in 80 Days.
I also like this film. It is about
a big trip that three friends
go on (Jackie Chan is one of
them) around the world to see
different cultures.
It’s really exciting to watch
Jackie Chan’s movies. I really like
them.
Amine Bennani
Junior 7
The Punisher
I am 13 years
old and I love
adventure but
when I saw the
filmThe Punisher,
I changed my
opinion.
It’s a very scary movie. It’s about
a man who wants revenge
because a gang killed his family
and it’s very hard for him.
In the end of the film this man
kills all the people in the gang.
I like it because it’s an adventure
movie and a scary movie and I
want to see the next chapter of
this film to know what he has to
do after this.
Ayoub Zoubir
Junior 7
The American Language Center, Fes l 2, Rue Ahmed Hiba, B.P. 2136, Fes l Phone: 05.35.62.48.50 l Fax: 05.35.93.16.08
Director: David Amster l Student Voice Editors: Taoufik El-Ayachi and Helen Kirkham l alcfezbook.com