Feeling Like a Graceful Swan

When I was two years old, my mother and father signed me up for ballet lessons. From that point on, I became enamored with the art of ballet. One year with my dance school, I participated in The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. Dancing became a way to channel my creativity and express myself in a very unique way. Once I was old enough, I began to take point which calls for the point shoes that allow a dancer to dance on the tips of her toes. It was challenging yet extremely blissful. Whenever I put my point shoes on and began dancing, I felt like a graceful swan swimming in a lake. Unfortunately, the dance school I had attended for so many years closed. I was devastated---to say the least. I had not taken ballet for the past three years. After my dance school closed down, I tried to make the best out of the situation and attempted other dances such as International Folk Dancing and Modern Dance. Even though I found those types of dancing to be interesting, I truly missed ballet and felt that those dances could not replace ballet. At the beginning of the school year, I began tutoring at an after-school program once a week. I thoroughly enjoy it. When I filled out an application to be able to volunteer, one of the questions asked to list the hobbies I had. On the line I wrote "ballet." I had forgotten all about it. Just a few weeks ago, one of the employees at the after-school program approached me and asked if I would be interested in teaching ballet to the girls who are in the program. I accepted. Now, I am pleased to say that I now teach ballet. My students are very excited and really enjoy ballet. At the beginning of every class, I remind my students to remember that as they dance, they should feel like a graceful swan.
"Ballerina"
The tiny and elegant ballerina loves to dance. She swirls and twirls without a care.
All she can hear is the piano singing out a beautiful tune.Her mesmerizing steps, call to the  excited audience who watch her from their seats. The music plays and plays; seems endless to me. How can this wonderful ballerina end her graceful performance?
Vocabulary:
creativity: being able to create
express: to show
unique: special
blissful: full of happiness
graceful: pleasingly nice
unfortunately: not lucky
attempted: tried
replace: to take the place of
approached: to speak to
remind: to help to remember
Activity: Word Search
Directions: Look for the vocabulary words.



E  B  Q  F  R  O  R  M  I  R  Z  U C  Y  W  S  L  E  B  L  J  U  Z  H A  Y  W  S  R  S  M  M  N  I  Q  U L  T  O  E  L  G  M  I  F  B  Z  I P  I  W  R  S  A  Q  I  N  J  X  T E  V  M  P  Z  U  M  B  E  D  I  F R  I  H  X  E  W  T  I  Q  H  S  U R  T  D  E  H  C  A  O  R  P  P  A D  A  B  G  R  A  C  E  F  U  L  C V  E  A  T  T  E  M  P  T  E  D  G T  R  G  L  U  F  S  S  I  L  B  E R  C  V  K  J  P  N  X  P  K  Z  B

approached

attempted

blissful

creativity

express

graceful

remind

replace

unique

Reference:
http://www.puzzle-maker.com/cgi-bin/wswo.cgi
Grammar Point: In the poem, I highlighted the adjectives that were in the poem. This poem could be used to English language learners how adjectives are used. Poems are very fun to read and so this could make presenting adjectives interesting to English language learners.
Grammar Activity: Write a short poem using 5 adjectives.
Visit this website about the NYC Ballet. There are interesting videos on this website.
http://www.nycballet.com/nycb/home/