More Than Just Sneakers

This past weekend, I realized my shoes were making quite a noise while I walked. It was a noise almost as if I was stepping on a duck that was coming from my heel. When I stopped to look down, I saw that I had a hole in the right heel of my cherished brown converse shoes. Every time I notice a new rip in these shoes, it breaks my heart. See, I love all sneakers. Especially the array of different pairs of converse shoes that I own. However, this specific pair of brown Chuck Taylor sneakers I own is more than just a pair of sneakers to me.

This pair of sneakers have been worn by my feet for over 8 years. These sneakers have taken me through different stages of school; High School, to SUNY Cortland, to Molloy College. These sneakers have led much exploration throughout 5 countries; United States, Costa Rica, Spain, Ireland, and Italy. So, this past weekend someone told me, "Kathleen, you should really throw those shoes out. They have so many rips!" I refuse! These are more than just shoes. These are time capsules. How can you throw something away that holds so many memories?

Vocabulary

1.quite- (rather) to a considerable or great degree

2.'stepping on a duck'- in this case, this phrase is used to elude to the quacking sound a duck makes

3.cherished- to treat dear, fondly, adoringly

4.'breaks my heart'- a saying used to elude to something that makes you sad or disheartened
5.converse shoes- a popular brand of shoes which have several different styles

6.Chuck Taylors- a famous style of low top converse shoes named after an American basketball player who was famous for wearing these shoes while he played

7.refuse- to decline, deny, or renounce

8.time capsules- something that holds information or goods from a certain time period(s) that can communicate information with future times

Cloze Exercise
1. Seeing all the commercials for abandoned animals just ____________.
2. I lost my _____________ ring that was handed down to me from my Grandmother!
3. I want a new pair of shoes. I don't want Nike brand shoes, I want __________.
4. The archaeologists found an unintentional ___________ filled with past information left by the Mayan culture.
5. When I walked down the street with my old pair of shoes, it sounded like I was __________!
6. That new horror film was __________ frightening.
7. I simply ____________ to go along with this lie.
8. Jason's favorite shoes are the _______________, which are named after the famous basketball player.


Grammar Point-Present Perfect
The Present Perfect is a tense that is usually used to to describe an unspecified time before now, the exact time is not important. This tense can be used to describe an experience, a change over time, with accomplishments, an uncompleted action you are expecting, multiple actions different times, and with expressions of time. The form of the present perfect is; has/have + the past participle. You can find examples of the present perfect tense in my text. 1)"These sneakers have taken me through different stages of school." 2)"This pair of sneakers have been worn by my feet for over 8 years."

Now, I would like you to create three of your own sentences using the present perfect using the ones from my text as a guide. For each sentence, I would like you to leave a rationale as to why you used the present perfect.

1)

Rationale:

2)

Rationale:

3)

Rationale:

Link: http://www.converse.com
Here is a link to the converse shoes website. You can use this link to buy converse shoes already made, or create your own to buy! Hopefully everyone has a pair of shoes they cherish, just like me. I hope everyone enjoyed this week's blog!