Welcome to Computers and English

It's a pleasure to meet all of you! It's exciting to teach and learn with computers.

One day you will finish coming to school at City College. When will you stop? Why will you stop? Will you get a job and work on a computer every day? Maybe you will graduate and go to a different school. You can study in a technical school, for a job as an auto mechanic, for example. You can study at a university so you can be a teacher, or an accountant.

I hope you will always want to learn more English. You can study English all your life. There are many new words to learn. There are many interesting things to read. Every language is interesting, and it takes a long time to understand a new language. You can be a student all your life.

When you study, you are very busy. Most students in our school work and study. It is difficult to have time for school. Learning English opens many doors for you. Please come to school often, and read and listen outside school, too.

We will be busy together in class. It helps us work together when we know each other. Answer some questions and introduce yourself to our class. You can make comments on this page. You can read about your classmates and write to each other.

1. What is your name?
2. What country are you from?
3. What was your job in your home country?
4. Where do you work now and what do you do?
5. Where is your family?
6. What is your favorite food?
7. What music do you enjoy?
8. What do you like about computers or technology?

The Best Things in Life Are Free!

Please make a comment to answer and discuss these questions in class. Scroll down and post your ideas:

1. The Beatles sing, "The best things in life are free!" and they sing, "Money can't buy me love." Do you agree? What do you enjoy that is free or not very expensive?
2. The Beatles also sing, "Give me money! That's what I want. Love won't pay my bills!" Why do you want money? What do you want for your future?
3. Some people get in trouble with money. They spend too much and get in trouble with credit cards or loans. What do you do to be careful about money?

Of course most people say love is more important than money, and that money cannot buy happiness. Still, we need some money to take care of our lives and our families and our world.

Look at two old videos about money. Think about how you spend your money and your time. Take our survey about money! You can click here to read the lyrics for the first video.

Click here for lyrics for the second song.

Do you have a dream?

Monday, January 19, we have a holiday from school because we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was born on January 15, 1929, so we have a national holiday on the Monday after his birthday. Dr. King was an important, intelligent American leader. He taught us a lot about being kind and fair to people of every race and color. He dreamed that people of many races, religions and cultures can live together without hatred and without fear.

I think everyone agrees that it is important to be fair, but history all over the world shows us that many people are not fair or kind to others. Dr. King encouraged us to fight in strong, peaceful ways for fairness, justice, and freedom. He encouraged us to fight for civil rights, for example, the right to vote, and the right to go to school. Dr. King had many successes working for civil rights. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, an international honor, because he worked so hard and so well.

Do you want to know more about his life and work? You can read more here.


One time in Washington D.C., Dr. King made a very famous speech to 200,000 people. Click to watch some of this speech about his dream.

Click here to get a vocabulary list. These words will help you with the speech.

Listen carefully to what he dreams for his children. (You can watch the video more than once when it begins.)

Now that you live and work in the U.S., you will meet and get to know people from many races and many cultures. I hope you will enjoy meeting and working so many different people. I hope your will not need to work with a boss or co-workers that have hatred in their hearts.

• What about your home country? Do you have important civil rights leaders?
• Do you have any stories about racism or unfairness?
• Do you have a dream for a better world?

You can post a comment to our class bog. Or you can send me email at venccsf@yahoo.com