Tuesday, April 29, 2008

field trip

 


I took a few of my students from my ESL class on a field trip to the Long Beach aquarium. They loooooved it. It was pretty cute seeing how excited they got. They are all international students from either Vietnam or South Korea studying abroad. Most of them hardly travel out of the areas where they're living in California, so I figured I'd show them around a bit. After the aquarium, I took them to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Pancho's, a little hole in the wall I've been going to since birth. Everything on the menu was rather foreign to them. It was good practice for them to order in English and they loved the food. It was a fun day. Pretty long, but overall it was an interesting experience. 

I'm really enjoying teaching ESL. I learn a lot from my students as well. Por ejemplo:
  1. In South Korea, all men must serve in the military.
  2. The legal number of children you can have in Vietnam is 2.
  3. Karaoke is an American-modified word derived from the Japanese words "kara," meaning empty, and "okesutora," meaning orchestra. A favorite pastime of Vietnamese and Koreans, and especially my students, is singing Karaoke. 
  4. They sure know how to pose. Especially the Korean students. I felt pretty boring with just a smile to offer up to the camera. 

    Friday, April 25, 2008

    hike day!






    The weather's been so nice lately, so we felt like being real adventurous and rode our bikes and found a pleasant little place to hike around. The El Dorado Nature center. Don't knock it 'til you try it (again). I was skeptical at first, seeing as the last time I had been there I was a five year old or so, but this nature center is not so bad. There are really pretty flowers blooming this time of year, and if you're into turtles, lizards, ducks, squirrels, bunnies, and bugs, there's lots. I give it a b+ for the peaceful trails (if you go when it's not so busy) and pretty flowers.