Some of my EFL students are working on a special project called Pearl Youth Reporter News in collaboration with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from New York, USA.This is what the reporters say about the articles our ALC students wrote last week: Diana Matiescu (Advanced Conversation Class, Instructor Daniela Munca) wrote about Moldovan “mamaliga” and about an interesting story that happened a couple of weeks ago. Iana Mihailicenco (Advanced Conversation Class , Instructor Daniela Munca) wrote a beautiful piece of news about an amazing boy who makes violins. Read the stories and the comments from New York: Enjoy!

By Diana Matiescu
"Mamaliga" is a very popular national Moldovan food which according to BBC”is the version of polenta, made from yellow maize flour, and eaten with butter, sour cream and cheese. In rural areas it is sometimes made thick enough to slice and used as a substitute for bread. It can also be cooked to a softer consistency and eaten with a spoon".
A young boy of 22 years old Sergiu Terentii and his colleague of 37 years old Ghenadie Popescu , decided to transport a 120 kilos mămăliga (/mə.mə'li.gə/) from Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, to Iasi, Romania, without using any vehicle. In this interview Sergiu Terentii will tell us some details of their 7 days trip with their huge mămăliga.
Diana Matiescu : -Tell me please who came with this idea?
Sergiu Terentii: - It was the idea of Ghenadie Popescu who included me into this project. I was just asked if I am in all this and I agreed instantly (laughing).
Diana Matiescu: -How was this “mămăliga” made? Was it home made?
Sergiu Terentii: - It was not a real “mămăliga”. It was made from wood and aluminum with a hole inside it where we kept our personal things. Above it was covered with sponge and maize flour mixed with glue. It smelt like a real “mămăliga” and because of the sun it was very hot, like it was just prepared and it weighted almost 120 kilos without our personal things, with all them together it had almost 150 kilos.
Diana Matiescu: - How long took this entire trip?
Sergiu Terentii: - It took almost 5 days and a half till the custom Sculeni and because it was closed because of the floods from Romania we had to return back home for a day, while the “mămăliga” rested at the custom. The next day we continued our way, and it took almost 7 days.
Diana Matiescu: - Where did you sleep in the night?
Sergiu Terentii: - We slept in the woods, or in people’s houses if they where so generous to shelter us, one night we slept in a summer school for children. Every day we had a special bedroom (laughing).
Diana Matiescu: - Did you have any problems at the custom with this mămăliga?
Sergiu Terentii: - No, not at all because we had a special document in which it was said that this artistic object has to be carried on foot in order not to be damaged.
Diana Matiescu : - Which had to be the final destination?
Sergiu Terentiii: - The final destination had to be Cucuteni, which is 60 km from Iasi, and where this “mămăliga” had to be exposed, but because we could not continue any more, we didn’t have more power, we got till Iasi and we took a car from there to Cucuteni.
Diana Matiescu: - What was your aim by doing this insane trip with this huge mămăliga and all that on foot? Sergiu Terentii: - We wanted to prove that our culture will never die, and there are people like us that still promote it and value it. We also wanted to prove that we have enough patience like a mămăliga needs to be prepared; we had enough patience to carry it till Iasi. Their idea with this traditional Moldavian food reflects the fact that there are still people that care about their culture and want to make it known abroad by "having the patience like a mamaliga needs to be prepared, by having this immense patience to show to the others that they will always be prepared to promote it and to value it".

Hi Diana,
Since I'm American, I'm not familiar with mamaliga so I was glad that you took the time to explain what type of food it is, and how it is consumed. Comparing it to polenta was particularly useful. It 's a good idea to explain things to your audience, and not assume they know what you 're talking about. You are right- this story is a feature story! Great job understanding the difference between hard news and feature writing. Journalists do sometimes use the interview question and answer format to tell a story, but in this case I think it might be better to write a 500 word story describing what is going on, and weave in plenty of the quotes from your interview with Sergiu.
This is a really interesting story, but at the end I still wanted to know even more! If I were doing this story I would make sure I answered the five questions stories should answer: who, where, what, why and how.
I would also edit a little bit for clarity. There are two things that help me check clarity on my own stories. First, I give the story time to breathe- in other words, I finish writing it and then give it a few hours or a few days. When I come back to the story, I can more easily see what needs to be revised. The second thing I do is read out loud. Sometimes it feels silly to be reading out loud to myself, but it helps me hear where my language could be improved.
All in all, great start! Fabulous story! All the best. Let me know if you have any questions!
Reporter from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from New York, USA November 28th, 2008