Intensive English Center Journal - Fall 2015 by St. Cloud State University

IEC JOURNAL

FALL 2015

Transitions

Table of Contents

4-5 IEC Group Photo 6-7 Pre-Level 1 8-9 Level 2A 10-11 Level 3A 12-13 Level 3B 14-15 Level 4A 16-17 Level 4B/Interview Snapshots

18-19 Level 5 20-21 IEC CULTURE/GET 2 KNOW A TEACHER

22-23 CULTURAL EVENTS

IEC Fall

2015

Magazine Layout and Design: Askia Bilal (with help from Noha and Mariam) Staff: Askia Bilal, Ali Hassan, Shukria Omar, with help from Jeff Eudeikis and the IEC teachers

Intensive English Center Fall 2015

Pre-level one

From Saudi to America Saudia

Interac Arabia:

tions W

ith Peo

ple

Greetin t g: I a E I d L anguag say “Alsalamu o o F e: I use The d Arabic alaikum” [Pea End Co ce be u nversat pon yo io : a n i : u] b W e said “ ra ch: A n u a A i L m d . s T u e g h r g a Sa i e c n k a you” st: I ate Greetin : Breakfa en and rice. g : I say “Ho ick Langua w are y I ate ch eeseburger. g e : o I u s h e c : ju r st Engli u?” End Co t Dinne a k s it h nversat . ate k ion: I sa Snack: I er cooked. y “ T hank yo th u, have My mo e food. h t H s a y a good i u d b a r r e h day!” t a e My fat I : ch n u L . : s a e c Ameri t: I eat corn flak at pizza. s Ie Breakfa rger. Dinner: u b cheese . eat Twix I : k c a n S e food. I buy th - Nawaf

What has changed for us? People h t i W tions

. parents y m Interac h it sw my ok hand nd. I talked to o h s I : Arabia ll every weeke s once a week. a i d u a S a y friend o the m I went t verday. I met m parents y m h it family e ds w I talk ake han ry weekend. my h s t n o eet ll eve a: I d Americ n’t go to the maa week. I don’t m o s here. I d ily three time now. am friends to my f ah - Juman

Saudia

The We

ather

a sons. Fabia: Saudia A rab ll i There i s hot in Saudia ia has s no sn Arabia. ow. Americ is chilly a: USA has fo in USA. It snow ur seasons. Fa - Rayan s just in winte ll r. two sea

I Write y a W to left. t he h T g i Saudia r o d I Ea om Ar Write fr s. : I eat fa abia: I eat Kab t a i b a r lafel an ter d baker sa everyday. Saudia A t.There pital let h a g i c r y. Who o o n t t s cooks? Americ mother There i rom lef f a: I eat . e t i r W kabsa a: s. ery eve Americ ll letter a ryday. I . I eat falafel a m s d nd bakan cook fo od ev is large - Munir The Fo

- Wahab

erday.

Mythologies: Amer i c a n Versus Native Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox were American

mythical being and creature. My native mythical being was NuWa. Paul was a very tall man. NuWa had a similar face to Paul. However, NuWa was a woman with a snake tail, and she hadn’t cut trees for humans. Paul and Babe originated from North America while NuWa originated from Chinese ancient times. The purpose of Paul and Babe was to create the 10,000 Minnesotan lakes, NuWa was to created humans with mud. The purpose of Paul and Babe compared with NuWa were similar. The opinions of Paul and Babe are same as the opinions of NuWa. Both of them were good. However, people don’t believe in Paul and Babe did exist. On the other hand, most of the Chinese little kids believe NuWa did exist. The story of Paul and Babe left me feeling moved, and the story of NuWa left me feeling amazed.

by Qiuping Lin

The Easter Bunny was my American mythical creature. My native mythi-

cal beings were Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog looked like people although the other looked like an animal. The Easter Bunny came from Germany while Gog and Magog came from the Holy Qur’an. The purposes of the Easter Bunny was to bring colored eggs, candy, and even toys to children. The purpose of Gog and Magog was to create great mischief on Earth. People don’t like Gog and Magog but they believe in them. The kids in America they like the Easter Bunny and they believe in him. I believe in Gog and Magog, however, I don’t believe in the Easter Bunny. The difference between the two myths is that the Easter Bunny was not real but Gog and Magog were real.

by Sokinah Selham

Transportation in Saint Cloud by Ali Almnasef & Felipe Tofoli Who has gotten hunger after midnight, and there is no food in the house? What does a person do to buy food if they don’t have a car? What do you know about transportation in St. Cloud, Minnesota? We are, Ali and Felipe, and we are from Saudi Arabia and Brazil. We will share some information we learned about the different ways of getting around St. Cloud. In Saudi Arabia, if a person needs something to eat or to wear, or maybe to fixed some stuff in their house it is easy if they have a car. A person can go to the superstores or groceries close to them, and that isn’t different if you don’t have a car; the person can walk alone or with a friend. The cities in Saudi Arabia have stores close to their homes. It is the same in Brazil, walk alone at night is a common activity; the stores usually stay open late. Unlike Saudi Arabia and Brazil, St. Cloud’s stores can be far away; especially, if a person live around St. Cloud State University. Everything is separated by huge grass fields, rivers, parks and other things that make a person’s walk beautiful but long. If a person has a car in St. Cloud they just need to worry about the time that store closes. The stores usually close at 10 P.M., and some stores are not opened on weekends. If you don’t have a car you need to pay attention in the bus schedule. The bus system works very good in St. Cloud, and there are bus lines to almost any place. It is free to SCSU students, and the Metro Bus has stations around the city. We don’t recommend for you walk alone in St. Cloud. The crime rate is high in the downtown area, and there are police car sirens running all the time. Walking alone here is a dangerous activity because a person can get lost easily. There are no landmarks like skyscrapers to be used as references. And probably you will be lost between similar grass fields. Also, there are not very many people out walking outside so it makes it hard to ask for information. In conclusion, to get around St. Cloud there is the Metro Bus system and a person can find the bus schedules online. Minnesotans are nice people so don’t worry if you find yourself lost the first couple of weeks. They will help you. The different geography in St. Cloud can seems creepy, but after you learn how to use the transportation here, you will start appreciate the beautiful view and adapt yourself to the bus schedules.

Different Country, Different Food

by WenYue Cheng, Thra Kwas & Abdulrahman Alhajri

Each country has different eating habits. So, when we go to another country, we have problems adapting to the food there. American food and eastern food is very different. America food has a lot of oil. I am from China. My classmates Thra and Abdulla are from Saudi Arabia. When we first came to the United States we were not use to the food. Saudi Arabians like to eat rice with chicken or meat for dinner. Their traditional food is like chicken soup. Also, they eat something called shawarma; it’s chicken and bread. Thra and Abdulla said, when they came to Saint Cloud, they had a terrible time because there are no Arabia restaurant. But, after a period of time, they found an Arabia restaurant in St. Paul called NYG. They try to get there on weekends. Due to the distance to St. Paul from St. Cloud, they cook Arabia food for themselves. China has many traditional foods. Such as, dumplings, fried noodles, sweet soup balls, and Beijing roast duck. Chinese like to eat food without too much oil and salt. I found a delicious Chinese restaurant in Saint Cloud called Phoenix. The owner of the restaurant is from Hong Kong. He speaks Chinese, so I feel very comfortable. Often eating in a restaurant is too expensive, I usually cooked for myself now. We noticed in St. Cloud people like to eat American traditional food. Like hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. These foods have one thing in common, too much oil. But what is undeniable is that the food tastes very delicious. We think the diet culture of each country is very good. It is good to try different foods other than from your own country, so we can know more about other’s traditional food.

Winters in Saint Cloud

Level Three B

We are three students in Intensive English Center in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. We came from different countries—Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey. The weather in Saint Cloud is distinctive and very cold in the winter. It is not the same as our countries. Saudi Arabia has two seasons summer and a warm winter. China has four seasons like Turkey. Different parts of China have different weather in the winter. Some are warm, others are particularly cold. In Turkey there is a city that has the same weather as Saint Cloud and it called Ardahan. Saint Cloud is cold in the winter, and sometimes the temperature can to below -26 Celsius, which is too cold. We need to wear heavy clothes to stay warm when we go outside. For example, you need gloves, scarf, hats and boots. If people don’t wear these clothes the person may get sick. Sometimes the snow is three feet deep. Driving in Saint Cloud is difficult during the winter, because a person may has problems controlling a car. The street can be very slippery. A person should be careful driving during the winter. There are many funny activities in the winter; such as, snow tubing and ice fishing on a lake. For example, when a person goes ice fishing they drill a hole in the ice to fish. The lakes is frozen solid. Snow tubing is fun, but it can be cold and dangerous because there is a big hill to slide down and you are going very fast. You hang on to a rope while on the tube to get up the hill. Winters can be hard if you don’t find something fun to do. Winter is really cold in Saint Cloud. You should wear warm clothes when you go outside. Also, you need to be careful driving. It can be a fun time because there is snow to play in.

by Semiha Temur, Naif Alhajri and Zeyu Gao

From Africa to

America

by Tiawara,Magnan Cedric

There are many continents in the world, and two of them are important for me:

Africa and America. The first one is where I was born and the second is where I live now. These two continents have big history and some things in common like me. The fact that I had to leave Africa was very hard but my adaptation to American life is going well. Life in Africa is so wonderful. It’s true that Africa doesn’t have the same infrastructures like many developed countries, but the social warmth make you feel like in an inexhaustible cocoon. There I visited 2 countries. In addition to mine and I didn’t find any differences between them, all the population constitute one family. Many people in the world think that Africa is a jungle or a savannah, but that’s not true. I can’t stop talking about wonders of Africa, so now you know how it was very hard to leave my source. In my country I live with my family and some cousins in the same home, my principal activity is to play soccer and to hang out with my friends for anything in the world I will change the time that I passed there. The need to acquire more knowledge sent me to America especially in America which have according to the statistic the biggest economy in the world. I came here the month of August 2015, after a night of crying because of leaving my only home. My first impression of this country was good because there were many useful things were new for me like all the infrastructures that we don’t have in Africa. Firstly speaking English was not a habit for me so the fact that I had to learn a foreign language was very exciting. The U.S is very stressful but fortunately I’m not alone. I’m with my sister who helped my adaptation to be very easy and successful. The beginning was a little hard because of the food, house in wood, weather and the solitude. I didn’t have any friends in St Cloud before to come. But thereafter I met many good and kind people who became my friends and my English classes are going super good. There are many ways to enjoy yourself in the U.S and some people are very amazing. But the American Dream doesn’t stop me from thinking everyday about “MAMA AFRICA” (mother Africa).

Chen Jia & Ahmed Marzooq on dorm life:

“When a person lives in the dorm, it is very convenient to get to class because the dorm is on campus.” 12

Level Four A

My First Day in St Cloud State University by LIONIE SANGO It is very realistic to say that “experience is the best teacher.” Living in an environment which has a culture way different from yours is an interesting thing to experience. I lived all my life in Africa but had to move to SCSU to continue with my studies. My most favorite experience of my first day in SCSU was the fact that I looked around with mixed feelings of confusion and joy at people’s attitude towards me and at the idea of living in a dormitory. First, I was very excited about studying in America and, with that in mind; my first experience was really different from my initial thought. This day is memorable to me because I really did not understand whether I was confused, happy or sad. I saw so many beautiful structures, clean environment, nice people but I was all alone. No friends or family to share my feelings with. Secondly, I was very shocked at the people’s attitude towards me. Everyone I saw made a broad and cheerful smile at me which was something I didn’t experience in my home country. This felt like a positive, welcoming attitude, but again I still doubted everything.

Advice

IEC Students

l Make sure you have a warm coat. l Feel free to ask as many questions as you need. l Get involved in school activities, organizations and clubs. l Find out information about fun activities to do in St Cloud. l Bring traditional clothes and food from home. l Bring your country’s flag. l Try to adapt to the most popular habits in the US such as

smiling at people or using the words “Please” and “Thank you.” l Be ready to open your mind and come into contact with a diverse group of people. l Be prepared to be challenged by a new culture, by your teachers and by different sorts of people. by Sarah Hussain Aldubais, Mohammed Nasr Alfaraj, Muataz Alkhawaher, Hae Bin Lee, Cedric Ndikumasabo, Kong Meng Yang, David Ronald Dabah and Lionie Sango.

Finally, the idea of living in a dormitory sounded awkward to me. This was so strange because I never lived in a dormitory before and my first experience would happen to be in a strange land. I would have a roommate whom I see every day, talk to; and, worst of all, she ended being from another country so we have different accents. The feeling was terrible I must say. In conclusion, living in a safe environment is worth the experience. I love the fact that I had these mixed feelings and also that people’s attitude towards me made me feel comfortable. I would like everyone to have his wonderful experience.

New Experiences and Transition “I feel very excited to experience my first time in college here. I feel proud of myself; and I don’t know how I can be here. I also feel that I am more and more near making my dream come true.” -Yan Kongmeng

“I feel really excited about starting my desired program of studies next semester. It has always been my dream to attain higher level education in America and now I believe my dreams are coming true. I can’t wait for January to come so I can be another college student at St. Cloud.” - Lionie Sango “I’m an exchange student from Woosong University. When I started to study my major, architecture, I was excited about learning architectural design. But, at first, it was actually difficult to design a building. “ - Haebin Lee

Level Four B

Studying Abroad: Two Challenges “Studying in the United States gave me the opportunity to become better.” -Junwei Chen, Level 4 IEC Student

BY JUNWEI “ALLEN” CHEN Two years ago I decided to study in a different country-United States, and I have changed a lot since. Almost everything is different than my country, so I have changed to adapt. I used to have problem with the language and the life, but now, all is well.

Speaking the second language was really tough for me. After I arrived in The United States, changing my language to English was the first problem. I knew nothing about English when I just came here. Fortunately, some of my Chinese friends took care of me. I realized that I could not live under the care of others, so I started to study hard. I used to like talking with Chinese people because I was afraid of talking with people who speak English. Therefore, I changed it by talking with native speakers, and the beginning was embarrassing for me. As I have spoken more and more with native speaker, my speaking skills improved. This improvement encouraged me to keep studying. In the first month in United States, I was usually a listener and I did not like to talk to others. Now, I challenged myself successfully, and I became better than the old me.

BY SITE YIN

Does anyone think that studying in a different country is something that sounds very ex-

citing? There is no denying that it is a new and exciting experience. Still, people need to face many kinds of transitions after going abroad, such as language and native manners.

First of all, the biggest transition after going abroad is language. Language is an important and necessary tool to communicate and study. For international students, they are required to study in a second language, and second language can be very difficult for an international student to learn. If international students don’t have a good preparation in native language, they will have a great trouble in study. They cannot communicate with native people fluently and get a better understanding of the new environment. So, they will feel lonely and homesickness. For example, English is not my first language so I faced a lot of problems after I came to the USA. I didn’t know how to order food in an America restaurant, the waiter and I all felt embarrassed. Sometimes I would speak my first language unconsciously when I talked with a native speaker. The native speaker would say “what?” Another transition that cannot be neglected is native manners, because different cultures have different manners. People should respect native manners when they go into a strange environment. If people aren’t concerned about native manners, sometimes their behaviors will make native people feel confused. For example, because of the lack of American manners, I did a lot of stupid things after I came to the USA. When I was talking with someone, I didn’t know that I need to look them in their eye and keep some personal space. So, the person that I talked to felt I didn’t pay attention to them. I also didn’t know if students want to meet the professor after class, students need to make an appointment first. To sum it up, it is inevitable to meet various transitions after going abroad. Native manners and language are two of the most important transitions. Although people may face some troubles during transition period, they should learn to adjust changes; then they will have great benefits in studying abroad.

Interview Snapshot: Dr. Schwartz BY JOHN OMANDA (LEVEL 5)

John: What is the biggest challenge student’s face when they complete the IEC?

Although I have improved my English, the problem in life cannot be solved by speaking. I used to live with my parents, who took care of me. I never slept that night when I first came United States. I missed my room, my home and my family, and I felt that I lost everything. I have never thought about how I can live without family, and the answer was that I did not know how to start a day. No one prepared food for me, no one cleaned my room and no one told me what to do. I was afraid living in a different country. After I cried one night, I told myself: “after you decided to come, you already knew what you will have to face.” I became a man that night. If you overcomer you fears, you will become strong and powerful. In these two years, I have learned to cook for myself, I learned to clean my room, and I learned to do everything that I have never done when I was living with my parents. The experiences I have had taught me how to grow up.

Dr. Schwartz: The biggest challenge student’s face is the increase level of English level they experience. Most of the time when students are in the IEC they want to get out. They are in a hurry to complete the IEC to start taking major classes for their major, begin a new career, or go back home. But when they graduate from the IEC they’re hit with a significant higher level in the English language that they didn’t expect. In many times students come back to me a semester later and say we “miss the IEC, teachers were so, nice and helpful, now am in this class of 100 students and I am the only international student and the professors doesn’t have time for. They wish they had more time in the IEC.

Living in a different country is a good way to change a person, and to become more independent. Studying in United States gives me the opportunity to become better. I learned how to live alone and face problems by myself, and this is changing from a boy to a man. In my opinion, the world will not change for you, and all you can do is change yourself and adapt to this world.

Dr. Schwartz: The one advice that I can give students to make their transition from the IEC to the University is to remember that they’re still learning English. To be open to that and try to assert themselves into communities of their discipline. A good example is if a student is a business major he/she should take the business required for the major but also participate in student clubs such as the business clubs. This is where they will make their friends and support systems. From participating in these student clubs IEC students will be able to meet their classes inside the class and outside the class to build a relationship that will help them in their education and social life.

John: What advice will you give to students after they graduate from the IEC?

Level Five

The transition from IEC to college is really a big challenge. In IEC, there are many international students, some of them may have the similar background or situation as you do. Ie also focus more on language teaching in IEC. IEC students can get the conditional admission to college after they catching the GPA higher than 3.5, and passing all the examinations. Then, they are able to learn more comprehensive knowledge. IEC students might be the only international students in one class. In addition, college students should pay more attention on academic study compared to IEC. Transiting from IEC to college, you need to equip yourself much more stamina, determination, and courage. IEC students ought to be prepared for this kind of change and transition. by LIPING MA

“Above all, I think changing a country for study have totally transitioned my life, it make me think a lot and do a lot to change my life. So I like the life in Minnesota, it is very helpful and I think this experience will help me in the future, especially in some extreme cold place to work or live.” -Qian Wu on Studying Abroad 18

Transition from IEC to the University Some people think that it is difficult for students to settle down and study abroad for several reasons such as cultural diversity, different languages people use, the way people live. However, in my opinion, it could be easier if people utilize proper programs in which they could get trained to be accustomed to new environment. In this point, before getting into my graduate program, choosing IEC is the best among what I have done. This is because I have good relationships with good friends from other countries studying together, and I could learn American English usage in specific context To begin with, while I have studied, I could have good relationships with friends from other countries. To be specific, we spend at least 5hours studying together a day so that we can have lots of chances to get to know each other by doing several activities and cooperation in group works in class. Even in outside of class, we invite classmates to each of our festivals such as Chinese Moon Night, Korean Festival so on. Through the festivals we could get close each other and understand other’s cultural backgrounds diversity. For example, I was invited in Chinese Moon night festival with friends, and we had fun time watching several good shows and tasting delicious foods. Also, I could learn historical cultural background, and it was good opportunity to understand Chinese friends more deeply. On top of that, I am able to have chances to learn American English usage in specific situations. In fact, people from other countries can be good at grammatical points but they could show weakness of how grammar is combined with specific contexts. However, students could learn the way American people use English by studying and focusing on harmony between grammatical points and contexts. For example, when students use several expressions in English, those are correct in terms of grammar but they do not fit into contexts. In addition, when it comes to contexts, they have been formed in American culture for lots of years so that students could learn those spending same amount of time as American did. But students do not have enough time to do that. In that case, though IEC classes they can learn about these from experts. To sum up, before getting into university programs, experiencing IEC class is really helpful when students are in transition from culture to culture. In this regard, I think having good relationships with friends and studying American English usage could be essential part of the transition. by MAENG HYUNGSUK

IEC Culture

Get 2 Know a Teacher by NHI “JULIE” TRAN, LEVEL 4B Over the last few days, I had a chance to talk with Angelica, one of the teachers of IEC, about her experiences while studying abroad. She is the most enthusiastic and friendliest teacher I have ever known. Angelica came from Argentina, South America, and this is the third time she studied abroad. She graduated in Education and English program from a university in Argentina 5 years ago, she has been teaching English in Argentina for 3 years and teaching Spanish in the US for 2 years. And now, she is doing her masters degree at St. Cloud State University in teaching English as a Foreign Language. Angelica said since she came to the US, her English has improved a lot, because she has the pressure to speak well so her students can have a good model. When being asked about the reason why she decided to study abroad, Angelica expressed that this is not the first time she left her country for higher education. But it is still a difficult decision for her: “I am from a country where people spend a lot of time with their family. I ate my mom’s foods, and talked a lot with my sisters and friends. I really miss that.” “I love languages a lot,” she said. For her, English is very important nowadays. There are a lot of people willing to learn English to carry out their business, study and research. Therefore, helping people to solve this issue becomes her motivation to be a teacher. “I want to speak English very well, and I want to teach other people to speak English too, so they can achieve their objective.” Angelica shared that studying in the US is the most important thing in her life. While teaching English in IEC for practicing and experience, she has the opportunity to access to people from Saudi Arabia, China, and Brazil, who are international students just like her. She teaches them about English, and in turn, they teach her about their ethos. No matter where you live in this world, people express themselves in their own unique way. And that is what you have to know if you want go global. Angelica says making friend here is quite easy. Trying to talk and listen other people is a method because sometimes they do not realize that you have different ideas or point of views. On the other hand, introducing interesting things about your country is not a bad idea. “Back home, we drink a kind of tea name “Yerba Maté”. At the beginning, I am kind of scared to show it to people because it looks weird, and then I started to prepare it for my friends, and now I have American friends who love “Maté”. She also cooked a Argentina food name “Empanada” for her friends, and they like it. When she showed me pictures, books… from her city, and like she said, it fascinated me. I think studying in English in the US is amazing”, she said. “It is a challenging, but challenging is good. You have to say to yourself “I can do it, and if you are able to do it, then you feel happy. It is a reward.” Living in a multicultural environment, students should be aware that everywhere they go, things are different. So you should be ready to listen and open your mind because you are living in such a huge world.

Cultural Events

Indian Night

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween Party