Level 5

Theme for this narrative assignment:  

Lost and Found

A Wonderful Surprise

Three years ago, I had a beautiful, special surprise.  When I wanted to start my day, I left the house and went to my car.  I smelled petrichor and heard the sounds of birds.  Suddenly, I heard a soft chirp, and then I saw a small baby bird among the pink and white spring blossoms which had been scattered by the wind and rain the night before.  I tried to catch it.  When I caught it, I felt its wet feathers and shivering body.  I came back home and dried it with a hair dryer.  We didn’t have any bird food.  We just had bread, but it ate it and seemed to like it.  Later that day, I bought a cage and bird food and searched and found out that she was a cockatiel.  After a couple of days, she played and flew around our home.  She didn’t like her cage.  She has very strong hearing and could recognize the sound of my car when I came back.  She would fly and sit on my shoulder and kiss me.  She is very funny.  She is very funny.  She is living with my mother-in-law now, and sometimes I talk to her.  I feel she still remembers me.  My family and I love her very much.  She was truly a wonderful surprise in our lives.

–Alireza Ekhtiyar

Level 5 Paragraph Writing

Zoe Pa

Level 5 Writing 

May 25, 2026

The Most Helpless Day

I never forgot that day when I felt the most helpless and difficult in the USA. I remember it was the second month after we moved to America. One day, my middle school daughter came home from school feeling very sad and frustrated. She told me she could not understand her teacher and class because she did not know any English. She said that she had no friends, and she felt alone in class. Her homework also took twice as long because she needed to translate every sentence. When she finally finished her homework, she cried and said she wanted to go back to Taiwan. She said the school felt too big, the language felt too hard, and everything felt too different. I felt helpless because I could not fix her problems or make school easier for her. At that moment,  I sat beside her, holding her and crying with her. I told her that I would face everything with her. I said that we could learn English together, so she would not be alone. I told her that I would explain her situation to the teacher, and the teacher could give her more help in class. That night, we promised to work hard and believe that things would get better. Now, when I look back, I see that this difficult day was the start of our family getting stronger.

Lidia Whelan

ESOL Writing 5

May 11, 2026

Spring

The best time of the year is spring time for many reasons. First, it is the season after winter. Spring is also the season of flowers. There are many flowers everywhere because the temperature is higher than the temperature in winter, and the daylight is longer. Plants, apple and cherry trees bloom colorfully. Second, the weather is nice, dry and clean. The sunset has beautiful colors, and it lasts longer in the spring. Third, I have an old apple tree that when it is the spring season, many birds build their nests, and they’re making beautiful sounds. They came to my apple tree after migrating south to Oregon. In conclusion, spring is the best time of the year because the flowers, weather and birds return.

Manami Ono 

Level 5 Writing

6/3/2026

A Hiking Day

One of the hardest days in my life was the day I hiked Mt.Fuji. Seven years ago, I hiked Mt.Fuji with my friend. The weather was not so good, but we started hiking. We were going to stay at the mountain lodge at the eighth station and climb to the top the next day. When we arrived at the mountain lodge, the weather turned into terrible rain and strong winds. We heard a loud roar from outside and felt fear. Then, the lodge staff announced that we should cancel the climb because a few people had died near the top. We were shocked. We decided to go down the mountain and started walking. However, we soon regretted it. We should have waited until sunrise. The way down was dark and slippery. We couldn't watch our steps very well. I felt death was near me. I didn’t want to die here. We desperately climbed down for four hours and finally arrived at the trailhead. My friend and I felt relieved. We were glad that we had returned safely. I don’t think I will have a tougher hike than this experience. 

Carlos Saracay  

ESOL 152: Level 5 Writing 

May 3, 2026 

 A Sign in the Sky  

Two years ago, on one of my work trips, I had the most shocking experience that I ever had. I was 23 years old when I lived in Texas. I used to work for a roofing company that makes contracts all around the U.S. That gave me the opportunity to visit many states such as North Carolina which is where my story took place. We were mostly on a never-ending work trip. Most of the time, we were the same group of guys. But on the other hand, it was not only work. We used to hang out often, so we knew each other very well. That allowed us to work as a real team. We trusted each other while doing tasks because we all knew the safety rules. We were aware of work and weather related hazards, but one day our complacency would lead us to a near-death experience. 

 It was just another workday. We were performing our tasks as normal. We knew that it was going to rain hard later in the afternoon, but since the sky looked normal, we did not pay much attention to it. It was sunny and warm. We never expected what was about to happen that day. Suddenly the sky started turning black and a hard wind started blowing. I quickly pulled out my phone and checked the weather app. A tornado alert. The weather had changed while we were so busy with our tasks. I immediately started telling everyone, but they did not seem to worry about it. I tried to convince them how dangerous it could be, but they did not care. Not even when we were in an open space. We were on the roof. The sky was turning darker and the wind was blowing harder. I knew we were running out of time. I ran to one of my close friends and tried to convince him to stop working and get out of there. He agreed and mentioned that everyone wanted to leave, but they were afraid of losing their jobs because our boss was still there. I remember that I said – “let’s go, that doesn’t matter,” but it was too late by then. I felt that the time stopped for a few seconds and then everything turned into a disaster. I saw how everything was flying away, tools, materials, and other stuff. The roof started collapsing. The wind was ripping off the membrane on the roof where I was standing. I was levitating and the wind was blowing so hard that I could not move at all. I will never forget that a train was passing by. I heard the train horn in the background. Meanwhile I was watching everyone trying to get themselves cover under something. I was shocked, and I just thought – “Is this the end?” But for a moment, the wind stopped blowing and I could get myself covered in a corner. When it was almost over, I felt that I would be able to run, so I ran to the ladder. I came down and hid myself in some kind of porch. Eventually everyone came down. We waited until everything was over. We were all soaked, cold, and scared. The place was flooded and there was a disaster everywhere we looked. Luckily, we were all alive and no one was injured. Everyone started talking about what had just happened, regretting not having done anything before. I was thinking that we could have avoided that situation, but we were so worried about other things that, in the end, they were not important. 

That day I realized that no one has the same priorities. I learned that nothing is more important than my life. Not an opinion. Not a job. I learned that complacency can cost your life. I learned that if you see something that concerns you, you have the right to speak up. I took this experience as a sign. Something was telling me that I had to make a change, so I promised myself that if I ever find myself in another situation like this again, I will do anything to stay safe without worrying about anything else.