Dream Chaser : May 2014

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Shall we dance?

I always think that I need exercise. However, because of laziness and lacking of

will power I rarely did any exercise recently. In fact, I tried many sports:yoga,

swimming, dance, badminton etc. After all, what I found was none of exercise

last for two months. I was fond of Latin dance once. I joined the club to learn

how to dance. However, I could not overcome shyness; usually Latin dance

need a partner, so I stopped. When it comes to yoga, I really liked it because

it helped me to relax and reduced the stress. While I was doing yoga, I eager to

following the instructions but my body was not flexible enough to do even

basic steps.

Nevertheless, I will give one more try. First of all, during the vacation I will

register YMCA and I am going to join the Zumba class; in addition, I would like to

choose multiple classes. It seems to new year's resolutions. I don't want six packs

(I know it's impossible) or extreme physical changes. I just want to socialize with

someone who has similar hobbies and interests.

Second hand books

I have been living LA eight months. As an English teacher and a learner,

I am still struggling for using English and my shy children are in the same boat.

I believe that they are late bloomer due to their personality. My second

child didn't know the alphabet, and sometime he still confuses "b" and "d".

My daughter learned English at the previous school, but her least favorite subject was English.

They had never read English books before. Their previous school emphasised

importance of extensive reading, so they always read Korean books and I didn't

force to them to read English book either. Although I am not a proponent of the

critical period hypothesis, I am amazed by their English development. They are

not talkative or actively involve the classroom activity, however, they are progressing.

They became enjoy Disney and Nick channel. In addition, they could write a

short paragraph without teacher's help.

Now, I realized that my English is more urgent than my children's.

What should I do? At first, I decided to read many books, so I went to second

hand book store with my children and bought as many as we wanted. Actually,

I went there several times before. I bought the grapes of the wrath last month.

I didn't finish yet. All I want is reading for pleasure. Therefore, I chose

famous stories (John Grisham) and romance (Daniel Steel). I hope even adult

learner can be a beneficiary of the extensive reading.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Modern family and the Big bang Theory

I like watching American TV shows. They help me to understand American

cultures and they are useful materials to learn English as well. My first favorite

show was " Friends". I watched every episode from the first season and introduced

it to my husband. When the main characters were single we were single and some

of them got married and gave birth we had same experiences. After that I enjoyed

a large number of shows depending on my situations. Most of them were detective

dramas.

Now, my two favorite shows are modern family and the big bang theory.

In terms of the big bang theory, the back ground of this comedy is Cal tech in

Pasadena, nearby where I'm living. The main characters use scientific jargon most

of time.Therefore, it is almost Greek to me. However, it's so much fun to see.

Whenever I passed by Cal tech campus or the cheesecake factory, I always

look around to find people who look like Sheldon, Leonard, Howard,

Rajesh and Penny. The big bang theory seemed to led me to settle in this area.

My second favorite is modern family. In fact, until I came to here, I didn't like

that show just because of the title. What is modern family? But, once I watched

it by chance , I am hooked on this comedy. Although I don't fully understand

every small detail of situations, I could get the big picture of the main streams.

In my point of view, every character represents different life styles of modern American.
Sometimes it describes their daily lives realistically. At other times, they presented

surprising twisted plots so that I constantly wait for the new episodes.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Fun fair

Living in a multicultural society is truly blessed chance to my children.

They might acquire intercultural competence in a natural way.

Not to mention that it is worthwhile experience to myself as a language teacher.

My children's school district holds a fund raising fair , named Fun fair,annually.

This year was May 17th and 18th. Since the school promoted many times,

my children nagged me almost every day to take them to the fair.

I knew it from the Hollywood movies and dramas.

Many parents participated and prepared for this in advance.

Many families flocked and enjoying the midway rides, games, food truck and noisy(?) band.

My children looked extremely busy doing games and got the stickers from the booths.

After collecting the tickets and then they exchanged them into small toys,

which would be only short term playing things and never played again.

I think another unforgettable memories seemed accumulate to their minds.