Hope Rising

In my last post, I talked about goals and motivation.

An important component in reaching a goal is hope.

Wait! What is a component?

A component is a part of something.

Cars have many components. Often, they are expensive!

Also: Let's look at that sentence again:

An important component in reaching a goal is hope.

Is that normal English?

Yes and no.

Typical English is subject + verb.

So that would be:

Hope is an important component in reaching a goal.

Hope - subject

is - verb

is blah blah blah - predicate - (more information about the subject)

Every sentence has a subject and a predicate.

And a long time ago, American kids had to learn about things like that.

But now they don't.

(Is that good or bad? I'm not sure. In a way, it's a lot of time to learn about something that most people never use again. In another way, it helps you understand language in a way that you can use when you learn other languages. And it helps many people write complex English correctly. But that's life: Schools change. Rules change. Change is the only thing that stays the same.)

So back to our sentence: An important component in reaching a goal is hope.

Is it okay to switch things around like that?

Sure it is! If you know the rules, you can switch things around.

In fact, it is often a lot more interesting if you do.

(If you don't know the rules and all this feels messy and scary, keep to the easy way - subject + verb.)

But look here, I have spent all time talking about grammar, which I said don't like, and no time talking about hope. And the name of this post is Hope Rising!

So let's get to it.

The name of this post is Hope Rising because the name of a very good book is Esperanza Rising.

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan is for kids aged 8 to 11 years old - and you.

It is the story of a young girl named Esperanza who moved to the United States from Mexico in the 1930s. She meets and overcomes many obstacles.

Why is this book for you?

Because the English is not too difficult.

Because if you have kids you can read this book together.

Because it's a great story - kids like it and so will you.

Because it's inspiring.

Because we all have difficult times in our life and we all need stories of people who have overcome difficulties to help us keep going.

Because it's about the difficulties of moving to a new country.

Because it's about hope - esperanza.

Are hope and esperanza the same thing?

Ah... good question!

Esperar is Spanish verb. It means hope for and wait for and expect.

Hope and wait and expect are not the same ideas in English.

I hope to win a million dollars but I do not wait for it. And I do not expect it.

In English language cultures, we can wait and wait and wait for something -

without hope.

What does that mean?

Hmmm... interesting, eh?

Different cultures have different ideas about life.

Different people do, too.

Are hoping and waiting and expecting the same thing for your home culture?

Are hoping and waiting and expecting the same thing for you?

If you hope for something, do you expect to get it?

If you do, you understand something very powerful.

Check out Esperanza Rising and tell me what you think.

Does hope rise?

Can it lift things up?

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Note for parents: Pam Munoz Ryan's Website has many good links, including links to other authors you and your kids might enjoy. Ms. Munoz Ryan's books are very popular in schools and many children write reports on her and her books.