by Jeremy Quinton
Home >> Uru & the Sunflowers
With a mixture of revitalising sun & sweet rain, the island offered the perfect environment in which flowers could flourish…
Uru had fallen in love with the sunflowers in the neighbour’s garden. The way they swayed in the wind and shone in the sunlight was both relaxing and enchanting. “How beautiful they areâ€?, thought Uru, full of admiration. So Uru decided to ask the neighbour, Kompei, where it was possible to find some seeds.
“Here you areâ€?, said Kompey “take theseâ€?, and handed over a bag full of small seeds. “Just put them in the ground and make sure you water them every now and again. They’ll soon grow big & strong, like in all the other gardens. It’s easy, you’ll see!â€?
That night in bed, Uru thought about Kompey’s words. “It’s easyâ€? K had said. Looking out of the house towards the garden bathed in moonlight, Uru wondered how it was possible that such beautiful flowers could grow “so easilyâ€?. Was it really so easy, in reality?
So next morning, Uru set off to visit Txinda, the wise flower chief of the village.
“You’re right young Uruâ€? said Txinda. “Many people think that it’s easy….but very few people come to talk with me & seek my adviceâ€?.
“In order to help the flowers grow well, you must create the right conditions. In order to do that, follow these guidelines. Here – take this� Txinda said softly, and then gave a bag of red petals to Uru.
On the journey back to the village Uru noticed that on each petal Txinda had written a simple piece of advice. With this advice Uru would be able to help the flowers grow.
After returning home Uru felt tired after the long journey. “Better to rest and start tomorrowâ€?. So after thinking about Kompei’s words, and about what Txinda had said too, Uru lay in bed imagining the beautiful golden flowers that, one day soon, would appear in the garden.
The next day, after breakfast, Uru took the petals and read them, one by one. By midday Uru had planted the seeds in the ground, had protected them with straw as per Txinda’s recommendations, and had watered them too, using the old & rusty watering can that had been found, by chance, on the previous day’s journey.
Time went by…
Every day Uru would walk to the river and fill the watering can. Then, Uru would return to the garden, to carefully water the seeds.
More time went by…
The seeds started to grow.
Day after day Uru returned to the river with the old & rusty watering can, and, as always, once back in the garden, Uru would water the seeds, which had now started to become small flowers.
But the flowers were small & weak, especially when compared with the flowers in the neighbour’s garden.
“What am I doing wrong?� thought Uru…
Released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriv
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
For full licence description, go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.1/es/deed.en
Posted on http://www.weeklyletter.com at 2006-07-13 11:00:00 +0200
Copyright (C) ITT (http://www.itt.es) and Planet Lingua (http://www.lingua.es)
We have more weekly letters by Jeremy
Poll for this weekly letter
Uru &The Sunflowers
Licencing
You are free to copy, distribute and display the contents of this article but you must give credit to and mention the original author. You are not allowed to use these contents for commercial purposes, and you may not modify them to make any derivative works.
(click the above link for more information)
Add a comment
Nice tale Jeremy, but it seems incomplete…
Are we supposed to imagine the end?
Regards,
Cristina
Hi Cristina,
Have you got any idea what Uru might have been doing wrong?!
Hello Jeremy,
Hmmm, since I am the first one to answer I would’t want to give the right answer, because then, no one else would have the chance to guess. Just give the solutions at the end.
OK here is my guess …may be he didn’t follow the instructions right and the sunflower plant was growing inside the straw instead of to the side of the straw. It kept growing until there was no room in the straw.
Regards,
Cristina
Maybe the watering can was too old and rusty.
Ha ha…You’re a kind person Cristina, giving other people the chance to add their own ideas!!
But Paola is on the right track…
Yep, the watering can was old and rusty, and…
Jeremy,
May be the old and rusty can had holes in it, so all the water would be lost on the way from the river to his house….
Regards, Cristina
Well,
I planted sunflowers in my garden this year. They flowered last week and stand at about 3 metres tall. Last week, my cousins came to stay and one of my cousins married a descendant of Van Gogh, I have a photo of her son next to the sunflowers.
Anyway, I didn’t water the sunflowers much and CERTAINLY not everyday but they are gorgeous – so I think Uru was a bit too enthusiastic with the water.
There is an Irish song that says that love does not change when the object of its love changes.
“No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets
But as truly loves on to the close
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she’d turned when he rose.”
Poor old Uru. I hope he did better the next year.
You can definitely overwater plants. I’m sure that in this particular story that can have a metaphorical meaning but it is literal as well. I have lots of plants. The first couple of years I lived here, they didn’t do so well. Then one I went away on a long weekend, forgetting to water the plants. I came back four days later, worried that they would all be wilted or dead, only to find that they were nicer, greener and bigger than ever. I learned that most of them only need water once or twice a week.
So, the moral I see? Too much of a good or even necessary thing can be a bad thing. Another moral? The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence (or should I say the sunflowers are always higher?). Maybe Uru shouldn’t have compared his flowers to his neighbour’s and had the patience to wait for better ones.
And what about the old, rusty water can? Uru should have gone to IKEA and gotten a plastic one like mine…cheap, cheap, cheap!
Uru should have had a real love for flowers. The reason why the sunflowers were not as expected is, i think, Uru’s lack of reality. He must read books and look for information about what to do with.
Alaz :D
Cristina…you’ve hit the nail on the head! The watering can had holes in it.
But more than a story about growing flowers, really the story is about learning a language. Any language!
Both processes have a lot in common, no?
They both require care & attention, a lot of time and a lot patience. But the procesess can be enjoyable & satsifying in their own way, regardless of the final outcome. Of course, with a language, you never “come to the end� Perhaps the never-ending nature of learning a language is a good example of one of the “realities� which Alaz points towards in the blog…
There are two main ideas that I wanted to communicate through the story.
First, whether it’s growing flowers or learning a language,a variety of different things are needed. Above all, it’s a question of creating the right conditions. “Growth�, in normal circumstances, is then a logical consequence…
But even when the right conditions are created, and the good advice is followed…the growth of the flowers or our language “level” suffers when we forget to do the most basic things!
That is the second key idea.
As a language teacher I want to help students learn. I feel frustrated when I see students who (appear to) think that the only way, or the best way, to learn is simply by spending more and more time “studying�. The frustration is really with my apparent inability to make the process of learning easier for them…
Dónal & Wesley say that it’s possible to “overwater� the flowers.
The idea in the context of languages is that you can “overstudy� (either study for periods that are too long, or have too much of one part of learning). A typical problem for many language students for example is that we “study a lot�…but “practise a little�. Both “things� are needed to learn a language well.
But even when people use a “variety of different things� (course components), we sometimes forget to do the most basic things that can make so much difference. For example, only a small number of students actively develop all four language skills. Only a small number of students ask questions when they have doubts. Only a small number of students actually record the important words, phrases and language points…and an even smaller number of students “revise� such notes from time to time. I’m not talking about being “Olympic students� here, nor about making learning a language the most important thing in your life. I’m talking about making it easier for you to “feel the progress�, and to enjoy the process.
Like Wesley said…maybe Uru shouldn’t have compared his flowers with those in the neighbour’s garden. In the context of languages, maybe we shouldn’t be too quick to draw conlusions about our progress after comparing with our neighbours or colleagues, as we all have different (& dynamic) “learning conditions”.
Alaz has also touched on a key issue : “lack of reality�. If in contrast you have a clear idea of how to learn a language, then surely you’ll be able to do it more easily/ better/ in less time/ with less headaches etc etc.
But the idea I tried to sow in the story is that even if we’ve read the “how to� books, even if we follow the advice and even if we have a clear idea…if in practice we forget to do the most basic & fundamental things as language learners, it’ll be like using a watering can with a hole in the bottom.
The summer’s here, the flowers are blooming, and talking of “the basics”, maybe now is the perfect time to have a break or a holiday from the “routine” of learning?
Cristina, Dónal & Wesley – who said “Uru� was male?! :o)
Hello Jeremy,
The tale was great but all the comments and explanations were even better.
So I’m going to check my “old and rusty” English bucket to see if I’m losing too much vocabulary and if sentences through the existing holes and cracks.
Bye, Cristina
Hello everybody!
Nice history, as student I’m agree that isn’t good to be overwater. There are a lot of different ways to learn and practise English. You are interested that we do as much as can. Sometimes is difficult to find time after work and it’s easier to say we’ll start tomorrow.
I have learnt more in these four late years than in the rest of my life. I think that small flowers will grow up in the future although we don’t notice at the present. Probably are building a big roots at the present.
Congratulations to all the teachers and special for Donal.
Cristina…if the frequency & quality of your “blog comments” is anything to go on…then I don’t think there’s anything “old & rusty” about your English!!
You appear to be doing what many people don’t or can’t…and that’s not only a question of enjoying all the benefits that reading the articles offers (and listening too perhaps!), but also using your English too on a regular basis when you respond, which is so essential for real language learning.
In one word : Congratulations!
Can I “pick your brain” though?...
What do you think are some of “the basics” that many of us tend to forget to do, when learning a language?
I’d be great to know what you think…
Dear Mariano,
Thanks to you for your time in writing.
It’s great to hear that you sound positive about the whole “learning a language” thing!
You say that sometimes it’s difficult to find time after work [to study].
I firmly believe that if I was in your shoes then I would almost always find it (very!) difficult to find time (energy etc) to study.
In fact…and I’m serious when I say it…I think that this problem is greater in Spain perhaps than in other countries. I mean that here, for many months of the year, the lovely Spanish weather gives us so many “more tempting” things to do when we finish work. In other countries, like England,it works the other way round. The weather often “invites” you to go back home (or to the pub!)... not out! And so in Spain…perhaps…this is another obstacle to “learning a language” or at least, an obstacle to the “study” bit!
Another potential obstacle (that you appear to be overcoming successfully with Dónal’s help) is that when we study at the end of the day it’s normally when our ability to focus/ concentrate is at its lowest, no? Maybe when you “practise”, as opposed to “study”, the need to be able to concentrate is not so great?
It is brilliant to hear someone say that they really are making progress.
YOU are making it possible! Great stuff!
But can I pick your brains now?!...
What do you personally think is the main role of a language teacher/ tutor?
a) to encourage the student to use their available time well/ better?
or
b) to encourage the student to spend more time?
The way I see it, they’re very different things!
P.S. I’m pleased you like the story .
Hello Jeremy!
In my opinion the main role of a teacher would be to encourage the student to use their available time well/ better. When I referred to find time I wanted to say, time to practise. It’s more entertained and useful than study.
I think that there are a lot students reading the weekly letter but to write is difficult.
I agree with you Mariano on both counts!...
Learning a language well is a question of using your _available_time as well as possible. “Quality not quantity” sums it up nicely.
What aspect/ activity/ feeling or sensation do you most enjoy at the moment…in the context of learning English?
I am learning a language and now, 3 years after learning, I’ve started to be able to understand some of the words I hear in songs on the radio. I’m delighted!!
All the best,
Jeremy
A very nice story, Jeremy, above all after adding the “second part”, in which you explain what I would call the basic errors that all of us make, and that we also know are avoidable.
I have to admit that I am identifying myself in many parts of your writing. I already was aware of most of the things you comment before, and the true about all of your it is that in the end, all of us know the mistakes we make, but we do not find the way of giving up our bad habits.
Life in general is exactly the same: we are committing errors, we know that we should have done something following another approach or we have dedicated too much time doing something we shouldn´t have to… I believe that the most importat of all is trying to find your own path, even so, we will continue trying to reach the correct formula.
But one thing is true, in life there are priorities and within your own priorities you rarely make mistakes. I love English, languages in general, and I agree with that saying that states “ knowing another language is like having another soul�. I recognize that English is not my priority at the moment, and in many senses, lack of time is to blame. Just see myself putting a comment on the Weekly Letter of last week! But PLEASE, don´t frustrate! In my personal case, I really enjoy learning and trying to express myself in English. In honour of your effort as teachers, I still will be trying to do my best to follow your suggestions.
Regards, Marian
Thanks for writing Marian!
To you & to everyone I say don’t forget to let me/ us know if there’s something specific you are concerned about or need help with. Most of the time such “problems” are shared by other students too.
Best regards,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy !
I belive that this samll story has many ends, but if we reflect perhaps in the fund, Uru-He wants to say that often we get involved that everything goes out well, but inevitable the nature is very capricious.
After all the elegant ones that Uru has wanted to give to his sunflowers, these haven’t grown as the he han wanted.
Moral: Never want to have the flowers just as those of your neighbor, perhaps in your garden you have any more sun.
Bye,
Reyes :·)
Hello Reyes!
Thanks to you for taking the time to add a comment. I agree with you when you say that nature is very “capricious”...You can try & try & try & try…and then something out of your control comes along and “boom!”...changes everything (I’m using the “impersonal you” here, by the way : “se puede…”).
But surely “nature” & the natural environment play a smaller role when it comes to learning languages, than in the context of growing flowers. (I’m “thinking out loud” / en voz alta here Reyes).
I love your moral that you include at the end of your comment! Back to the context of learning a language again, we all learn at different speeds so it’s not always helpful to compare “my level” with my neighbour’s/ friend’s/ colleague’s level.
Maybe there’s “more sun” (= contact) in my “language garden”, for example!
Talking of the sun…when are you next going to the beach??!! :o)
Bye for now,
Jeremy
P.S. The word “capricious” is much less common in English that “capricioso/a” is in Spanish.
Hello again Jeremy !
I love your comment, it is good to try to learn, but everithing needs his tme, effort and dedication, if in the end, we don’t obtain what we want, at least we have left the satisfation of having tried it.
The weeken, to the beach, of course ! with my girls !!
see you soon !
Reyes.
...no jellyfish/ medusas I hope Reyes!!!
Did you hear any English-speaking tourists or “holiday makers” on the beach down there in Andalucia?
They’re normally easy to recognise – they’re the ones who turn red like lobsters / _langosta_after an hour in the sun!! ha ha..
Best regards Reyes!
Jeremy
P.S. You make an interesting reference to “obtaining what you want”...
Do you have a clear idea of “what you would like to obtain” with you English…if only this year?
Hi Jeremy,
It’s a beautyful story. I liked it a lot. Open endings make to work our imagination. And it’s good.
I don’t know if it is too late to send a commet, but I have a question about your explanations. What do you consider the four language skills are?
Jesus.