by Dongping Ye with Denise Heikinen
I’m happy to introduce one of our newest students in the literacy program, Dongping Ye. Dongping is from Harbin, China and has come to Houghton to live with his daughter, Xinyu, and her family. Dongping knew only a little English when he started visiting me on Friday mornings, but he has made much progress in the short time we have been working together. At the beginning of our lessons, I showed Dongping various kitchen tools and food items so he could learn their names.
After a few weeks of talking about food and cooking and watching videos of people shopping in grocery stores, Dongping shared one of his own favorite recipes.
Beef Stew with Potatoes and Tomatoes
Ingredients
1 pound of beef
2 potatoes, cut up
2 tomatoes, cut up
1 onion, cut up
1 green onion, sliced
2 cups of water
About ¼ teaspoon of salt
½ tablespoon of soy sauce
½ tablespoon of sugar or ketchup
Preparation
1. cut up the beef into small pieces.
2. Put the beef and water in a wok and cook for 60 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, tomatoes and onions and cook for 20 minutes more.
4. Add the green onions, salt, and sugar.
Serve.
While writing this recipe, Dongping learned the names of food ingredients in English as well as how procedures are organized in English. He surprised me one day when he gave me a dish of his beef stew wrapped up like a present! It was so delicious!
Dongping also likes to go to the downtown restaurant and eat steak, but he often cooks the family meals such as fried chicken, rice, and soup, at home. He goes to the grocery store to buy food and vegetables. He likes to go home and eat cake.
I enjoy my Friday morning visits with Dongping and look forward to helping him improve his English vocabulary about various topics.
Elaine Bacon Literacy Program 