Objectives

　　 To learn to write a paragraph on the subject: How ... and I became good friends

　　 Procedures

　　 ▇ Reading to warm up

　　 By Choice We Became Friends

　　 It is by chance we met, by choice we became friends...

　　 Friendship is a strange thing....we find ourselves telling each other the deepest details of our lives...things we don't even share with our families who raised us...But what is a friend? A confidant? A lover? A fellow email junkie? A shoulder to cry on? an ear to listen? a heart to feel?... A friend is all these things...and more. No matter where we met, .... I call you friend. A word so small...yet so large in feeling...a word filled with emotion.

　　 It is true great things come in small packages. Once the package of friendship has been opened, it can never be closed... it is a constant book always written...waiting to be read... and enjoyed. We may have our disagreements...we may argue... we may concern one another...friendship is a unique bond that lasts through it all....

　　 A part of me is put into my friends...some it is my humor... some it is my listening ear... some it is real life experiences... some it is my romanticism...but with all, it is friendship.

　　 Friendships forged are a construct stronger than steel built as a foundation....necessary for life... and necessary for love. Friends...you and me... you brought another friend.. and then there were 3... we started our group... Our circle of friends... and like that circle... there is no beginning or end...

　　 by Unknown

　　 ■Writing a paragraph on: How ...and I became good friends

　　 How Xu Fang and I became good friends

　　 I first met my true friend Xu Fang one June afternoon in 2005. That afternoon she came to me for some information for her report.

　　 A few days later, I called her an invite her to a dinner. She came. And we talked much over the dinner.

　　 From then on we started to see each other very often. I found that she was really nice. She is pretty, attractive, considerate and intelligent. I came to like her.

　　 We manage to meet twice or three times a week. We have lots to say and to do when we are together.

　　 Xu and I are true friends and we shall be good friends for ever.

　　 The Girl Who Never Became Our Sister

　　 by Martine Klaassen

　　 My sister and I were friends. Best friends. Where she went, I went. Where I went, she went. Together we had it all. Laughter, friendship and tears. The last thing we needed was another sister. Enter: my mother's new boyfriend. Along came Jenna- the boyfriend's daughter. Jenna was roughly the same age as us. Perhaps a few years younger, but that really didn't matter. My sister and I: we didn't need another sister, but mostly we didn't want another sister. After all we had each other and that was plenty.

　　 At first we only saw Jenna once in a while, but as our parent's courted (求爱)we saw her more and more. We hated this. We didn't want to share our cookies and Barbie dolls with this stranger. Besides why would we? Last year, there had been another little girl. Her Daddy told us that he loved our mother and one time in the yard he told my sister and I to hold hands with his little girl while he took a picture. Afterwards he laughed and said: "the three sisters on the lawn." We never saw him again.

　　 And than all of a sudden Jenna and her dad started staying over. Sometimes it was planned. Sometimes it was unexpected. Out came the blankets and the extra pillows and suddenly there was a stranger sleeping on the floor of my pink bedroom. Jenna never said much. She just slept and the next morning she would go home. My mother never asked me whether I objected.

　　 Than they discussed moving in together. It never happened. My mother explained that there was baggage. He had two children. She had three. It was just too complicated. Instead we all moved to the same street. There were exactly 16 houses between their house and our house. I liked our house much better.

　　 Sometimes we would stay at Jenna's house. I didn't like their house. All the furniture and even the carpet was blue. My sister and I would sleep in Jenna's room and play with Jenna's toys. I liked her toys. Especially her Barbie Horse. I had never seen anything like it. It looked so real.

　　 That summer we all went on vacation together. Camping. All of us in one big tent. It was so much fun. Whoever would lay the table in the morning would get an extra ice cream that day. Just imagine: two ice creams in one day. One afternoon we all went to the zoo. My sister and I liked the monkeys. So did Jenna. We became friends.

　　 When school started that fall, we would meet Jenna afterwards and play together. Not because her dad or our mom told us to, but because we wanted to. Sometimes we would play with our marbles, other times we played with our dolls. Jenna would always let me play with her Barbie Horse. We were after all almost sisters.

　　 A few years later we started our own club: The Sunshine Girls. By now my sister was in Junior High. Jenna and I envied her like crazy. Once a week we would meet, eat potato chips in the dark of the attic and tell each other our darkest secrets. Jenna told us that she was worried. Since she was living with her father, who was going to teach her how to apply make-up? It was a serious concern. We all agreed. My sister came up with the answer. We weren't surprised: she was after all older than us and knew about these things. She would teach us. She would teach us both how to apply make-up. It was genius.

　　 And than as quickly as Jenna had entered our lives she was jolted out of it. Gone. Vanished. But not really as she still lived only 16 doors away. Our parents split up. The break up was hostile. My mom told us not to speak to him again. One time we went over to see Jenna. Her father was home and looked at us real mad. We didn't stay long.

　　 I have a picture of the three of us- tucked away in one of my many albums. It was taken that first summer we all went camping. My brother and Jenna's are already asleep, but we, the girls, were old enough to stay up for a barbecue. Sitting around the grill with my mother (who looks amazingly young), we look so very happy. Almost like three sisters. Today is Jenna's birthday. She'll be 23 or is it 24? I don't remember. Over the years we have stayed in touch. Writing each other every couple of years. I know the superficial stuff about her life- she finished college and just bought a house with her boyfriend- but I no longer know what goes on inside her heart. Is she happy? Is she content? Does she ever think about the days the three of us would play together? Does she ever wonder what it would have been like had our parents stayed together and had she been our sister? I know I do.

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