My wish for Christmas

Nada, DL Teacher,
opening a Christmas present

One of the old Christmas traditions is for children to write a letter to Santa to make a wish and ask for presents, usually toys!  As adults we have our own wish lists.

A couple of weeks ago a number of columnists for the Sunday Herald were asked about their wish for Christmas.  Here is some of what they said:

"Dear Santa, could you please bring me world peace for Christmas?  If this is too tricky, I'll focus on what's possible .... My children skipping off to bed when I tell them it's bed time ... and staying in bed all night." Jessica Rowe

"I want to lose 10 kilos and grow five centimetres.  I want to have thicker hair, longer legs and fewer chins.... But as none of that is going to happen ... I want self-confidence to accept myself the way I am." Jane Caro

"I want what money can't buy: contentment, clarity, gratitude and - I dare ask? - happiness." Jacinta Tynan

"I am drowning in clutter.  Books I haven't read, CD's I no longer listen to, cupboards full of chaos.  So I don't want more stuff.  But if I could have anything for Christmas, I'd go for an extra hour in my days." Jo Stanely

What about you! What do YOU want for Christmas?  Share your wish under comments below.

As for us in Distance Learning, our wish for you is to continue to enjoy your lessons and improve your English so you could achieve your goals in Australia.  Needless to say, we also wish you a merry Christmas, a safe break and a fabulous new year.

Thank you for your participation in the DL program this year and for reading the blog.  This is our last issue for 2015 until we meet again from 4th January, 2016.  

Phuong's creative side

Phuong, DL student, Cabramatta

Hi, my name’s Phuong and I’m from Vietnam. I’ve been here for 7 months and I’ve been studying by Distance Learning with my teacher, Frank, for nearly 4 months.

When I came to Australia, I wasn’t really acquainted with life here. It’s very different to my country. It caused me to feel a little bit bored and stressed, so sometimes when I feel weary, I do my favourite activity - water colour painting.

I have liked painting since I was a little girl; however, I’ve only known about water colours for the past few years. In my opinion, water colours are very light and limpid and when I see them, I want to use them to colour in my drawings. I know I don’t have a good sense of colours. My first painting with water colours looked really terrible! I didn’t know how to control the water and the colours. But I persevered and tried to study tutorials from the internet. I practised a lot and learned from experience. After one year, my water colour paintings started to look better. My favourite type of water colour painting is portraits. Painting the outline is hard for me but I’m trying to learn and practise when I have time. Completing a painting makes me very happy and I always paint to relax after a hard working week.

These are some of my water colour portraits I’d like to share with you. Hope you like them!

    

Thanks Phuong for sharing these wonderful paintings with us and congratulations on mastering this creative new skill.

• What kind of art do you appreciate?
• Do you think being good at art is a natural gift or is it a taught skill?
• Puong found that paining is a good way to cope with boredom and stress in a new country. What helps you cope with stress?

We'd love  you to share your comments below.