Sunday, May 31, 2015

the best way to spend my summer vacation

I can't wait summer vacation !!  There are still two more  assignments due I haven't finished, though.
Just thinking of summer vacation makes me smile. I'm busy with planning for trips with my husband and visit to my sister in New York. However, I'd love to spend my vacation  getting exposed to engough English input. I'd like to get some chances to use English all the time. If I were stuck at home with my children , I would rarely use English just like when I was in Korea. What is the good way to spend my vacation when it comes to improving English ability? Should I find  some volunteering opportunity at nearby YMCA ? Where would be the place I could use English all the time? Please give me some brilliant ideas, you guys.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Isn't letting them enjoy themseves the best ?


When I was in Korea, I just thought my kids would have fabulous time here going to the beach , swimming and playing with kids in the park while they would be naturally exposed to English. I thought they would be free from any stress and happy with the life here .After I came here, I realized it's not the case. My kids rarely go to park during the weekdays because of their mom who's struggling to fit in  as a student and a resident in U.S. They have lots of works to catch up with their schoolwork and Korean study. I have lots of korean neighbors in my apartment unit. Most of them like me are mothers with kids. Whenever they are together, they always talk about how to get good tutors  for their children, which summer camps are good for their children's English. I wish I could let my daughter and son enjoy beautiful weather and nature here and mingle with local kids. But, more I talk to these moms , the more concerned I am about my kids English and other study stuff. Do I have to get a tutor for helping them with their English? Do I have to send them to one of the well known summer camps?  Right now, I have had so much to work on, I can't possibly concentrate onj ust one things, though. I really do hope in the summer vacation, I could enjoy the quality time with my kids  in the beautiful beach without worrying about English ,study , and anything. 

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

English game my kids came up with

   It has been 2 months since I arrived at LA. Unlike other Korean moms who are determined to expose their kids to English surroundings by taking them to English camp,and after school activities, I don't go to anywhere. My children are virtually free after school. It is simply because I am short of time and sadly money for taking them to the expensive extra curricular activities. Also, I have some belief that they will be able to pick up English so rapidly once they reach a certain level by getting enough comprehensive input.  One thing that has concerned me regarding English exposure was that my kids spend most of time hanging out with Sue's kids at home. However, I realized yesterday there is nothing to worry about, either.  When they are together, they try to come up with creative ways to enjoy themselves. Last night, they played so called English game in the car. The rule is very simple. They take turn making sentences in English. If one of them makes mistakes, he or she will lose. Of course my son is usually the loser. But, he played hard not to lose by saying something full of mistakes in English. I was surprised hearing my son's English. There was great improvement in his fluency. When children are surrounded by English friendly environment, they try to use English even though they share the same L1.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

my experience of learning English

 It has been more than 25 years since I first learned alphabet in my middle school English class.  As a learner I have used hundreds of ways to learn English from GTM  that made me almost like grammar expert to 6 month- intensive staying in English speaking country. There have been times when I was confident of my English ability and sometimes I felt depressed because of slow progress in English learning.  I think language learning is a bottomless pit.  We make every effort to learn a language such as English. After spending numerous time and money and reaching a certain level, we tend to forget it quickly unless it is used on a regular base.
 After I became an English teacher, I'm still having a hard time improving my English. That is one of the reasons why I'm here with my two kids studying at CSULA. Now We all started to learn English here from a scratch.  It seems that my boy and girl are one step ahead of me improving speaking ability.  I'm thrilled at the thought of how much my kids will develop their English two years from now.