10 December 2012

Native American Legends - Leyendas Indigenas Americanas



Creation Story and The Importance Of Dreaming

An Abenaki Legend                      

The Great Spirit, in a time not known to us looked about and saw nothing. No colors, no beauty. Time was silent in darkness. There was no sound. Nothing could be seen or felt. The Great Spirit decided to fill this space with light and life.
From his great power he commanded the sparks of creation. He ordered Tôlba, the Great Turtle to come from the waters and become the land. The Great Spirit molded the mountains and the valleys on turtle's back. He put white clouds into the blue skies. He was very happy. He said, "Everything is ready now. I will fill this place with the happy movement of life."He thought and thought about what kind of creatures he would make.
Where would they live? What would they do? What would their purpose be? He wanted a perfect plan. He thought so hard that he became very tired and fell asleep.
His sleep was filled with dreams of his creation. He saw strange things in his dream. He saw animals crawling on four legs, some on two. Some creatures flew with wings, some swam with fins. There were plants of all colors, covering the ground everywhere. Insects buzzed around, dogs barked, birds sang, and human beings called to each other. Everything seemed out of place. The Great Spirit thought he was having a bad dream. He thought, nothing could be this imperfect.
When the Great Spirit awakened, he saw a beaver nibbling on a branch. He realized the world of his dream became his creation. Everything he dreamed about came true. When he saw the beaver make his home, and a dam to provide a pond for his family to swim in, he then knew every thing has it's place, and purpose in the time to come.
It has been told among our people from generation to generation. We must not question our dreams. They are our creation.
                                                   


Los verbos marcados en rojo son en forma de Past Simple.
Puedes convertirles al Infinitive? Al Past Continuous?
Por ejemplo:
Looked about - to look about - was/were looking about

saw - to see - was/were seeing


02 January 2012

Today's Key - Past Continuous











El Past Continuous se compone con
el verbo auxiliar "to be" en pasado + un verbo+ing
I was working
You/ We/They were studying
He/ She/It was playing

Anotamos que: En caso que el mismo pronombre (we)
esta haciendo varias actividades,
no se repiten los verbos auxiliares (was, were)
por ejemplo:
We were working, studying and playing at home.
She was ironning, watching TV and listening to music all at the same time.

The three of them were working, playing, studying and living together for five long years.

Usamos el Pasado Continuous para indicar:

1) acciones o actividades que estaban sucediendo en el pasado y tenian una duración. 
pero ya no están sucediendo más.

I was working on a composition while my husband was listening to music with the head phones on.  I was
trying to write about dog watchers downtown.  It was taking me a very long time because I forgot to add some important details when I was interviewing them in the park and now it was too late to find out. I remembered that Julio was taking care of 15 dogs and was making $35 per dog. But I couldn't remember if he was taking care of them every day or just for a few days a week.