ELC News Fall II 2009

8/9/2019 ELC News Fall II 2009

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HappyWinterVacation! Wewillseeyouin2010!

TOEFLisJanuary5at10a.m.

Spring1classesbeginJanuary12!

THE ELC NEWSA Publication by and for Students of the English Language Center, Old Dominion University

December 2009Fall 2

AreyouonFacebook? JointheOldDominionUniversityEnglishLanguage

Centergroupandhelpplanevents,meetandtalkwithcurrentandformer

students,andseepicturesfromallofoureventsandadventures!

Why did youcome to the ELCand how longhave you beenhere?There is mycousin here at

ODU. He recom-mended me to geta degree at ODU.I have been hereabout 10 months.

Hows your classat the ELC?What do youthink is the mostdifficult to learnin English?Everythings good.Learning Englishand making lots of

different friends are always interesting things to me. Actually, ittook a longer time to get used to the American English accentthan I expected.

Who do you want to be and what do your parents expect fromyou?I hold my father in high regard and want to be like him. He is work-ing at King Abdullah University, one of the most famous universi-ties in Saudi Arabia. He has so good personality and is held ingreat esteem by his colleagues. He is expecting me to be a pro-fessor at King Abdullah University and I also want to be a profes-sor someday.

If there is anything you hope the ELC could change or im-prove, what would it be?

Absolutely, the TOEFL!! The ELC should let us enter the regularuniversity courses without the TOEFL test. And, I think it would bebetter for ELC students that the ELC had a kind of quota system.Sometimes, there are too many students from one country in oneclass.

Do you have any event in your life that changed you?

There was a really terrible car accident 1 year ago. I drove mycar too fast. My friends and I got injured, one of my friends hadhis two legs broken and the other had surgery on his arms. Wealmost died. That accident changed my life in some parts, eventhough I dont know why and how that accident affected me.After the accident, I became much more careful about myfriends.

Have you ever had cultural shock? If so, what do you thinkis the cultural difference between America and Saudi Ara-bia?A lot. Ha ha, everything is different: food, gestures, communica-tion, fashion, etc. I think Americans are generally more individu-alistic than Saudi Arabians. Sometimes it makes me feel freeand comfortable, but in Arabic culture, family comes before any-thing else. We highlyvalue the family andcaring about each othermuch more.

To be specific, whatsthe difference in the

educational systembetween America andSaudi Arabia?You know, the mostdifference is religion.Education is alsobased on strong Muslim ideas and beliefs.From middle school to high school, we have to wear schooluniforms and boys and girls are totally separated. To enter uni-versity, we take 4 exams, which are Arabic Literature, Math,Science, and English.

What do you think is good or bad in Saudi Arabian educa-tion?Um, I think English is important. So, English education is more

needed than now. The good thing is that you can invite yourteachers to your house and learn more if you want to.

What do you think is the best thing in America?America is like a melting pot. You can meet many different peo-ple from many other countries. Meeting different people andtalking about many things are very interesting to me.

From left: Advanced II students Jimmy (China),Natallia (Belarus), Janice (South Korea), and Marat

(Russia) pose with Mazin (UP, Saudi Arabia) forMazins interview.


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Two ways of teaching in the University(Alberto Moreno, Spain)

There are a lot of differences between the Spanish and American universityteaching methods. Why!? Mainly, the university chiefs and professors ofthese countries don't have a similar point of view. Both of them want to cre-ate experts in different majors, and also offer almost the same degrees, butthey obtain a dissimilar final result.

On the one hand, in the US universities, teachers split the knowledge con-cepts of the subjects in their classes, and they push their students using

daily homework. Thus, the students have a "simple" way of understandingthe complex ideas taught in these university degrees. They also examinetheir students with a lot of midterm tests. Not only this factor, but also atten-dance and participation are taken into account for the final grade.

On the other hand, in the Spanish universities it is common to have only oneexam for each subject in a semester, which accounts for almost 100 percentof the students final grade. The attendance is not mandatory, but the profes-sors make a special effort to give strong knowledge to their students. Thefreedom in these universities is greater, but they use more demanding tests.

The Americans universities teach people in order to have better personalskills like leadership or entrepreneurship. Instead of that, the Spanish onestry to obtain the maximum knowledge capacity.

Consequently, the Spanish students have to be more mature because no-

body is pressing them and at the same time they need to reach a higherlevel of knowledge by spending more of their "free" time. However, US stu-dents acquire more personnel skills that many Spanish students don't.Probably, the good solution would be a mix between these two different con-cepts of teaching.

Transportation Nowadays and in the 1950s in Kuwait(Abdulrahman Al Qahtani, Kuwait)

More than fifty years ago, people in Kuwait had no cars,

airplanes, or buses. However, they used camels, don-

keys, and ships as ways to travel or to go anywhere.

Camels and donkeys were the most popular means of

travel because theyre cheap, easy to raise, and easy to

find. Also, sailing by ships was one of the most common

ways to travel in Kuwait because Kuwait has a sea which

was the trading location between India and the Arabian

Gulf countries.

On the other hand, nowa-

days, Kuwaitis use cars,

airplanes, and buses as

transportation. They dont

use the old means of trans-

portation anymore.

WaltDisneyWorld(Taewoo Park, South Korea)

Who is your favorite Walt Disney

character? Mickey Mouse, Donald

Duck, and Woody, every character ofthis historical company has been

very famous and loved by many peo

ple, especially children. In 1971, thewhite castle appeared in Orlando. It

was the start of Walt Disney World.

Orlando is a city which creates new things every year, but before building

Walt Disney World it had been just a common city like others. Now, no one

hesitates to call it The Kingdom of the Theme Park, and it is sure that WaltDisney World is the main reason for getting that nickname.

Walt Disney World consists of 4 main theme parks, which are the

Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disneys Hollywood Studios, and Disneys AnimalKingdom. The Magic Kingdom is a cartoon world where you can see all of

the Disney characters. The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomor

row (EPCOT) is a future concept theme park. You can see a future worldand cultures of many countries such as England, China and France. In Dis

neys Hollywood Studios, there are many main characters of famous mov

ies. You can also try to visit a real movie studio there. The last main park,Disneys Animal Kingdom, is not only for real animals but also for fantastic

animals or extinct animals.

The ticket for Walt Disney World is called Magic Your Way Base

Ticket. If you add a park hopper option, you can visit all of 4 theme parks a

day, unlimitedly. Because of the fact it is well known, Walt Disney World isalways crowded whenever. However, the numbers of visitors is smaller

than others in January and February. You can also use Disneys FASTPASS,

which is the quick entrance ticket for every attraction at Walt Disney

World. This can save you time, and if you can use this well, you dont haveto spend a long time in line.

Galbi,GrilledBeefShortRibsKoreanFood(HeesookKim,SouthKorea)

GalbiismostpopularKoreanbarbecuedishmadewith

marinatedshortribs.SomepeoplesoaktheribsinSpriteor

Cokeinsteadofwaterbecauseitcanimprovethetaste.Ko

reanpeoplenormallyeatGalbiwithKimchee(spicy,pickled

cabbage),ssamjang(paste),lettuceandsteamedrice.

RecipeIngredients:

16ribs

1cupsoysauce,3/4cupsugar,1/2cupwater

1

Asian

pear,

chopped

(or

1/2

Korean

pear)

1onion,chopped

2tbspmincedgarlic

4tbspsesameoil

1tbspgroundpep

per

1tbspjuiceofgin

ger

4cupsSpriteor

Coke

CookingDirections:

1.

Washthe

meat.

Rarely,

but

sometimes,

you

can

find

tiny

bonescrapsstucktothemeat.Soaktheribsinwater,Spriteor

Cokefor1hour,thendrain.

2. Inafoodprocessor,addchoppedonionsandpears,pureefinely.Pouritoutintoalargebowl,addtheremainingingredi

ents,andstir.

3. Marinatethemeatfor810hoursorovernight.Theycookfairlyfast,23minutesononeside.

4. Traditionally,itisgrilledwithwoodcharcoal,butcertainlyyoucangrillitonagasstoveoroutdoorgrill.


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THE ELC NEWSLETTER STAFF:

ADVANCED II WRITING, FALL 2, 2009KHALID ALASSAF, FAHAD ALHEDAR, KHALID ALMUTAIRI, ABDULRAHMAN

ALQAHTANI, EUN-YOUNG CHOI, NEYSI GOMEZ, EUNJIN JEONG, NATALLIA

KAZLOUSKAYA, HEESOOK KIM, MARAT KUTEEV, EUN HEE KWON, MIHYE LEE,

HONGXIA MA, SABRINE MARSOU, ALBERTO MORENO, MARIA MORENO SANCHO, LOI

NGUYEN, TAEWOO PARK,YEYOUNG PARK, CHOR.NITHI PETPAISIT, ROKHAYA SECK,

XIN TIAN, FENGJI XIANG

EDITOR: JAMIE STURGES

PHOTOSAND PICTURES: LAURA RAY, LOI NGUYEN, NEYSI GOMEZ, TAEWOO PARK,

REHAB ALFADHEL


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Basic

What is your hobby?Writing (Alaa, Saudi Arabia)Sleeping (Yahya, Saudi Arabia)My hobby is listening music, playing tennis,swimming, and reading a book. (Blanca, Spain)My hobby is playing soccer and listening to mu-sic. (Sultan, UAE)

What is your favorite food in the United States?Why?My favorite food in the USA is cookies because

its delicious and there are a lot of kinds of cook-

ies in the USA. (Bader, Kuwait)

Bagels (and coffee: good!) I like it because there

are many kinds of bread, and a lot of cream

cheese. (John, South Korea)

My favorite food is pizza and beef hamburger.(Annie, China)

IntermediateIf you could have a special ability, what do youwant to do?Time control. I can change the worries in theworld and help people who need to help.(Mohammed, Saudi Arabia)I would like to choose disappear ability like hid-ing from people and stealing things such aselectronics. It will be awesome! (Mohammad, Kuwait)If I had a special ability: I will be able to fly around the world and take care for the smallchildren who suffer from AIDS. By one touch I can stop AIDS in the world. (Ndouba,

Ivory Coast)

What is your ideal type of partner?Thoughtful and easygoing. I dont mind a personwho is rich, smart or beautiful etc., I want to feelcomfortable. (Lisa, South Korea)An honest man who doesnt lie, is funny, hardworking, courageous, adorable, and open-minded. (Zora, Senegal)I hope to meet a girl who is smart, beautiful,polite, honest and open-minded. (Ahmad, Ku-wait)

Advanced IIf you had the solutions of every problem, whichproblem would you solve first?

I would solve the global warming problem, becauseit's getting really serious, and might destroy theplanet and cause a disaster. (Meshari, Saudi Arabia)War, because we need peace in this world to assurethe continuation of humanity, and global warming, because our environment means

our lives!! (Anass, Morocco)People in the world don't love each other. Iwould love to see people caring for eachother as one big happy family so that westop wars!! (Rashed, Kuwait)

What do you prefer in American culture?I like many things in the American culture,mainly movies and music. (Eliana, Brazil)

I prefer their way of dealing with other people. (Ahmad, Kuwait)I prefer the festival days in America because they are nice and I can go shopping dur-

ing these days. (Tianchen, China)

University PrepHow do you define wealthyand poor?The poor (homeless) wear dirty clothes, and

some smell bad. The rich are very rich, so theycan buy everything what they want to buy.

(Yurie, Japan)

Wealthy means he/she is healthy. Poor means

he/she is not healthy. (Mazin, Saudi Arabia)

Wealthy are privileged and rich people who

have the resources to share. Poor are the un-

der privilege, or needy. They are the ones that

need help. (Eugenio, Philippines)

It can be a very hard question depending on

how you think about the question. The most

important thing is how happy or satisfied you

are can really tell you are wealthy or poor.

(Youngsoon, South Korea)

Undergraduate BridgeIf you have only 24hours in your life, what wouldyou most want to do?I'll have fun with my family and friends, laugh thewhole day and go to space. (Diana, Russia)

I would like to go sky diving with my closest friendsand my mom as well, drive a fast car at a highspeed, and then go to a Paul Van Dyk concert witheveryone I know. (Tami, Saudi Arabia)

I will go to a spa, spend around 5 hours there, andthen go to do something extreme and somethingthat no one have done before. (Faza, Morocco)

I will fly a helicopter by myself, buy everything inthe mall and spend half of my money. Then, I'mgoing to give the other half of money to thepoor. (Arwa, Saudi Arabia)

Graduate BridgeWhat is your biggest goal and why?I guess that happiness. If I did everything with-

out happiness, my life would be meaningless.(Ya-Lin, Taiwan)

First of all, my goal is (I would like) to graduatewith a master's degree in Economics. Second,since I am married and I had a daughter Octo-ber 30th, I want to spend my life raising mydaughter in a good environment. Finally,achieving the highest level on my career andbeing a vice-president of a multinational com-pany. (Maan, Saudi Arabia)

The biggest goal in my life is teaching becauseit has been my dream since I was young.(Sultan, Saudi Arabia)

Documents

ELC News Fall II 2009