Noon Concert.

I went to the Noon concert with Selda. Before I went to the concert, I had gone to Doe library. There, there were many students but most of the people slept, so there were no seats. So I just looked around the library. The library's atmosphere was so diffrent compared to my University. Although many students slept, I loved that place.
At noon, I went to Hertz Hall to see the concert. The concert was about Beethoven. First the concert started with Vilolin, Piano and Cello. After that, the singer sang with instruments. The atmosphere was quiet and the classic music made me feel calm. Actually I expected a big orchestra, but it was small. So many people were disappointed. However it was enough for me.
Wen I was a middle school student, I played cello. So this concert reminded me of that time. I was happy because I had a great time.

English class

1. My motivation to learn English
- To get a job
In Korea, English is very important to get a job.
And I want to learn English because I like studying English.

2. What focus would I benefit most from in this class?
- Actually everything is important and necessary to me.
But above all, I want speaking, pronunciation, and writing skills.


3. Goals for using English
- In Korea, we have to speak English in the job interview, so my goal is to speak English fluently.
And I'm not sure but if I study in USA for a long time, I might go to commuity college.

Classical music concert

yesterday was a fascinating day for me. First, I had a chance to go to People's cafe, and I liked it very much. It had a warm atmosphere. Second, I did something that I like. Library! I spent a half an hour at the Berkeley Library. Then, I bought some foods for my lunch, and I began to walk to go to the Berkeley Music Hall. After I found the Music Hall, I sat on a seat, and I ate my lunch.In the beginning I thought there were few people to see the concert, but many people came there soon. I listened for classical music. The concert was divided into two parts. Although I liked both parts of the concert, the second part was incredible for me, because I thought the singer sang songs very well, and her voice was very good. I was very glad to go o the concert yesterday. I advised my friend to go o U.C. Berkeley very Wednesday. Consequently, it was a good experience for me.

English classes

I want to be able to communicate with other people in English as well as I can in my mother tongue because I have plans to live in the U.S. for a while.
I would benefit most from perfecting my listening (and comprehension) and pronunciation skills as well as from learning how to say things in day-to-day life.
My main goal is both being able to understand what other people say and to say exactly what I mean in the most accurate and correct way.

About Me...

First, my motivation to learn English is that I have many dreams in the future. I think I am going to work in the U.S. as a movie director and an actor. To accomplish my dreams, I need to speak English very well. Therefore, my motivation is for my future.
Second, I would like to improve my speaking and reading skills in this class. However, I have a problem that almost books for my level are too boring to read. I am looking for a good book for me.
Finally, my goals are to communicate perfectly in English and to read philosophical books and ancient books fluently in English.

Hmmm noon concert this Wednesday...

Hi everyone again,

I'm starting to think that the concert this Wednesday might be worth our while... so maybe we can watch the movie the following week - let's have a pow wow and figure this out on Monday!

Btw - (by the way) we now have a Hertz Hall link here on our blog - check it out - so you can look at the schedule and enjoy other musical opportunities even outside of class.

See you! D

Some ideas for next week

Greetings all,

I want to thank those students who have taken the time to post on our blog. It would be really great if you could reply to each other's postings as well. I'm busy doing homework and am appreciating the lovely, balmy weather.

Reminders: this Tuesday we'll spend a little time at the Berkeley Public Library so people have an opportunity to check out some easy books to read. It's important for you to read books that don't require the use of the dictionary in order to develop fluency reading. We will go to the library after lunch.

On Thursday I am planning to show you the movie, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore. I keep referring to this movie and I would like for all of you to see it so that my references make more sense to you.

Though the music concert at U.C. Berkeley's Hertz Hall sounds amazing this week:

Beethoven, Piano Trio, Opus 70, Nº 1 "The Ghost" and Scottish and Irish folk songs for contralto and piano trio

I am not planning a field trip there this week. However, if any of you wish to go to this concert, I will mark you present for the school day, however, you will be required to write a report about your experience and bring back the program which you will have to explain to your classmates. This would not be a difficult assignment for you to do and you would be enjoying some fabulous music which would serve as some good stimulus for writing and speaking.

If EVERYONE wants to go to the Beethoven concert, then we can do so and watch the Al Gore movie the following week.

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend, see you on Monday, Denise

My Great Weekend

I went to a party and drank so much last Friday. I talked a lot with many friends there and enjoyed it very much.
I hung out with my best friends on Saturday. We went to my ex-school, Walmart, In-N-Out, Safeway, and one of m friend's apartment. Actually, I've known them only for 1 month. Since that day, I'm used to meeting them on every weekend. Finally, we became best friends Also, we plan to go to SF this Saturday with a car which is available for 8 people.But there are 7 men to go together. I think we should get one girl.

How 11th Hour effected me.

The movie 11th Hour reminded me about how important living a green life is. It reminded me what I already forgot long ago. I used to be very careful with what I ate back when I still lived with my parents in Thailand. We ate only FRESH vegetables and very little fish. My aunt who now is not alive told me that we should pick the vegetables right before we eat them. It's not only eating organic vegetables but fresh ones. And I felt a little frustrated with life style in this country. People buy too much, way too much than they really need. I went to Pak'n Save Food yesterday evening to buy some vegetables although I know that they are not fresh. I saw people carried a lot of groceries. I didn't know what was inside the bags but they were so big, bigger that the person who carried them. I wondered what 's she gonna do if she doesn't like the food she bought? Or what is she going to look like or even feel after eating it all? The food can't last that long, especially if it's good food that still has some nutrition. So thanks to her. I didn't buy much because of her. People can buy a lot if they can eat it all or if they can make sure that they won't throw away without wasting them.
I even asked my boyfriend if we can stay here for only ten more years and then move to Thailand. Thailand is not better than America except for the fact that I can grow things there myself all year long. In America, people grow things only in summer and the rest of the year they eat whatever the markets have to offer. It's not too bad but it just costs too much than humans can afford in a long term. Imported produce is not fresh. Also it takes so much energy to transport. I can talk about this for a year and still have some more to say for another year.
Yes it's not too late, we still have time even though it's so little but I'm not positive that we will make it because people DON'T CARE as long as they have enough to eat. Others don't matter. As long as they can survive, the future doesn't matter. We don't love each other enough. Not enough to bring us together and do WHAT WE HAVE TO DO. the movie didn't tell me much about things I don't know. I just wish that people who still act like global warming doesn't exist had a chance to see it and THINK.

The eleventh hour

The things that I remember most about the movie are that we, humans, have been wreacking havoc on our planet. That it is necessary to disengage from consumerism as the main avenue of experience because you can never get enough of wha you don't really want. And that we don't have much time left to make drastic changes in our behaviour towards the earth if we ant to survive as a species.

About expired visa and I-20 form.

Yesterday we had a small conversation about visa and F-1 status in the class. I guess many students don’t know the difference between visa and I-20 form. So I just want to let you know the difference.

Status and Visa are 2 different things. Visa is required only for the entry to the US. As long as your I-20 is valid your status is LEGAL. Even after your visa is expired on your passport stamp, if you have maintained the full time student status and you have valid I-20, you are not out of status (you are legal). You are still ok with your F-1 Student Status.

An F-1 visa is ONLY needed for travel. Next time when you travel outside of the US, you need to apply for F-1 Visa and get visa stamped to enter the US.

If you have any questions about this sort of stuff, just shoot me.

My future trip

I've just confirmed my flight to go back to Malaysia. The date is January 15th 2010, 100 days from today. The plane ticket only cost $300, why so cheap? Because my sister used her Asia Miles points to buy it. Maybe on the way back to Malaysia, I will stop in Taiwan. I'm looking forward to shopping there, that will be so cool. I might stay there for 2 days, I think that is enough. hehe... :)

SFMOMA

We went to the Modern Museum in San Francisco yesterday. I was surprised because there were a few students in my classroom before we left in the morning. On the second floor of the museum there was a tour guide, but I didn't join the group because I wanted to see the works with my pace. Some students who study art in college cheated from my notebooks many times so I escaped from them. On the third floor, there were so many Japanese pictures which were taken by Japanese artists. Some photographs are from 100 years ago, others are from 30 years ago. On the fifth floor, there was Avedon's section. There were a lot of wonderful photographs, and I especially liked a photo of a woman with an elephant It was beautiful. I enjoyed yesterday's feed trip very much.

MOMA

Yesterday I went with some of my classmates to the museum of modern art in San Francisco. It was an interesting field trip because there was an exhibition with Richard Avedon's photographs. I've never seen nothing from this artist before, and I liked it a lot. Avedon could transmit feelings with the expressions caught with his photographs. He took photos of a lot of famous people like Marilyn Monroe, presidents from the U.S, writers, poets, singers and unfamous people like carneys or haltlesnaker skinners. I liked the photographs of his father, because he transmitted the essence of oldness. Another interesting photograph was one of a murderer, you could see in him a strange an dark gaze through his eyes.
Ana Prats

SFMOMA this Tuesday, 10/6

Greetings!
Hope you've had a fabulous weekend - just wanted you to be prepared for our SFMOMA field trip this Tuesday!

We'll meet at school as usual at 9:00 a.m. and leave around 9:45 a.m.

For those who missed the Richard Avedon exhibition last month, here's your chance to see it - it is worth the $5.00 admission fee, FOR SURE.

For those of us who saw the Richard Avedon, there are a couple of other photography exhibitions to see, click our link to the SFMOMA for the current exhibitions (in the top right corner of our blog.) These new photography exhibitions look very interesting. Of course there is also the wonderful permanent collection on the 2nd floor.

See you soon, Denise