CESL TODAY
AE2 Project: Vol. 9, No. 3, March 1996
Americans Up Close Life in Carbondale- Interview with Mr. Braun
- A Guy from Libertyville
- The Best Students at SIU
- Interviewing about Carbondale
- House Hunting
- Dormitory
- Television Programs in American Life
- The Movies
- Let's Listen to the Dance Music
- Talking about Movies
- Interview with an American
- A Few Moments with an American
- Interview with an American Student
- My Friend
- Talking about Soccer
- What Do You Do?
- My Friend
- Americans' Leisure Time
- American Friends
- Interview with an American
- Interview
- American Activities
- A World Traveler
I asked my dormitory resident adviser, Sharon, three questions about food while in my dormitory's study room.
My first question was "What kind of food do you like?" Sharon said "Let's see. Chinese, Indian, and Portuguese food." I asked her about Portuguese food, "What is the name of the food?" and "What kind of food it is?" She answered, "The food's name is 'Bacalhau' and it is made of cod fish." Because the country of Portugal is on the Atlantic Ocean, they eat fish. The pronunciation is difficult but you can say it like 'Bacayau'.
Second, I asked her "What is your favorite food?" She answered "French-silk-pie." I asked again "What is that?" "What does it taste like?" She explained to me that the food is one kind of pie which is made with chocolate and sweet whipped cream.
My final question to the beautiful girl was, "Have you ever eaten Japanese food?" She answered "Yes." I asked, "What kind of food did you eat?" She has eaten sushi, tempura, and teriyaki-shrimp. I asked Sharon, "Do you like the Japanese food, tempura?" "Which restaurant did you go to?" "Have you ever gone to restaurant Tokyo?" She said "Yes, I have gone there."
After the interview, I knew that Sharon likes Chinese food, Indian food, and Portuguese food. And she likes "French-silk-pie." And she likes Japanese food, too. She likes tempura and teriyake shrimp, but she doesn't like sushi.
By Teppei
Mr. Mohammed Chan Salahudin graduated from SIUC in Radio-Television communication. However, he became a Muslim in 1980. His name was Henry Waller, but he changed it to Mohammed. In fact, he was Muslim by name only for a long time because he was not doing the Islam pillars : prayer, fasting, Hajj, and Zakat. But when he came to Carbondale in 1995, he went to the ICC (Islamic Center of Carbondale) and he started to learn about Islam. After that, he knew that he was not a real Muslim, and he started to change his schedule. He learned that he has to pray five times a day, to fast one month a year during the day time, and to do his Hajj once during his life. In addition to that, he started to learn Arabic in order to read and understand the Holy Qur'an.
On the other hand, Mohammed has many hobbies, the best of which is Tae kwundo. He already has a black belt. So, he is teaching the Tae kwundo in the recreation center.
By Ammer Al-Selham
I would like to introduce my American friend. His name is Louis Witerspoon. He is 24 years old. He came from Chicago to study at SIUC. He is a junior in Linguistics with a minor in Japanese in Liberal Arts. I know him from the Language Media Center because he wants to learn my language, Thai, so he wants to have a conversation partner to practice with. Would you like to be his conversation partner?
When he stayed in Chicago, most of his friends were international friends such as Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Belgium, Swedish, South American, Mexican, etc. In Chicago, he had a lot of foreign friends because it is a big city and has big areas of Korean, Thai, Chinese, etc people. Because of his black skin, he has few American friends. Then, white Americans don't understand him and they have their own group.
When he was child, he grew up in black schools, black churches, and with black friends, so he wanted to have foreign friends because he felt jealous when he saw his friends having foreign friends. His first partner was a Japanese friend because they are so interesting. He tries to practice other languages by finding a conversation partner, learning basic grammar, using practice books, and using pronunciation books. When he sees foreign students, he wants to be helpful and he has a big heart to help everybody with the English language. He helped his Vietnamese friends practice the English language until they could pass the TOEFL and speak English very well.
In the future, he will learn Japanese and Thai very well. After that he wants to learn Korean and Vietnamese because their languages are similar. When he is finished, he will leave America to learn other languages. Then, he wants to work in an Embassy and puts those languages to good use.
By Varinda
I am so glad that I have a great chance to meet an American girl in Carbondale. Her name is Beth Lair and she is 19 years old. She comes from Streator which is a beautiful small town also located in Illinois. I think it is a good place and good for your health because she has pink cheeks. How do I know this lovely girl at SIU? She is my English partner in CESL. Now, she is studying German Lingiustics at SIU.
I think the German language is difficult to learn so I wondered why she wants to study German. She likes to talk with people and likes to be with people; also that is the language she studied in high school, so she wants to be a teacher and teach either German or English.
She had a chance to go to Germany for 10 days last summer. She has a nice memory of Germany. She told me that Germany is a very beautiful and clean country. She spent a lot of time at great sightseeing points in Berlin, Munich, and Heidelberg. Likewise, Germany is a famous technological and industrial country in the world. She had a deep interest to study German, so I think she will be a good teacher in her future.
During her leisure time, she likes to play tennis, roller blade, do aerobics, and dance. But. tennis is her favorite sport because she played for 2 years in high school for exercise. She likes Pete Sampras who is a famous star and is a good tennis player and very cute.
I think it is very exciting to meet Beth when I stay here. It is a good way to know American culture and make friends with Americans. I hope this friendship will continue when I go back to my country.
By Alice Tsai
I am from Nebraska State, where I was born. Before coming to Carbondale, I was working there for an Ice Cream company named " Belle Vue. " Right now, I am working in a center for computer science in high school and I have been living in Carbondale since 1992.
Ok!, Sure!, I like Carbondale because I have friends here. About music, I can tell you that I like contemporary Christian music and also classical. Please mention the Jazz too. I have always liked music all my life. I enjoy singing and sometime playing the guitar.
I am a little particular if I say I like only two contemporary worship musicians. The first one is Tennis Jernigan and the second is Keith Green. I don't know enough about either international songs or musicians. However, I like certain songs in Spanish and Portuguese because I have been to Brazil for two months and, in another opportunity, to Guatemala for three months.
Concerning dance, I am also a very bad dancer. If I dance at a party, it is a simple pleasure for he who invites me.
Thank you Mr. Braun.
By Paul Lama
His name is Graig, he was born in Libertyville, one hour from Chicago. In 1987, after graduated from high school in his hometown, he moved to Carbondale. He studied at Southern Illinois University (SIU), and his major was Human Resources Management. He likes SIU very much as well as Carbondale.
There are many reasons why he chose and moved to Carbondale. First, because of the weather. Compared with his hometown, Carbondale has very nice weather. So, he doesn't feel cold in winter, as international students from Asia, especially from Indonesia, do. Second, he likes the outdoors. Carbondale has a lot of beautiful lakes. Sometimes he goes fishing and enjoys it very much. Third, he loves SIU very much. He said that the campus is beautiful. Many international students study here, and he has a lot of friends from different countries.
He graduated from SIU in 1992 and worked as a volunteer on campus, and for the church, for one and a half years. Now he works for Ambassador Hall as the manager, but he still works as a volunteer for his church. Every Sunday he goes to the church, and I think he is a good Christian.
Graig is a good and kind manager. He takes care of all the residents. He has twelve assistant residents who help him with his job. Ambassador Hall has 120 rooms and various residents. They come from different countries. Almost 75 percent of the residents are International Students. They come from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Spain, Kenya, Argentina, and Indonesia. So, Ambassador Hall needs a good manager, and I think the owner of Ambassador Hall had a very perfect choice hiring Graig as the manager, the kindly and helpful manager from Libertyville.
Interviewed by Truly
Before I wrote my interview questions I was thinking about who I would interview. Finally, I decided to interview a person who works for CESL's students, but we do not know about her except a little bit. I decided to interview the director of CESL, Dr. Joan E. Friedenberg.
Dr. Friedentberg is from New York City. She studied at Syracuse University, majoring in International Studies, and at the University of Illinois, majoring in Linguistics. Right now she works as the director of CESL and as a grammar teacher for the GEL class.
Dr. Friendenberg said that she loves her job teaching English as a Second language. She likes the international students. She said that CESL's students are the best at Southern Illinois University. Also, she thinks they are intelligent, interesting, and very kind students, but sometimes when the students do not come to 8 a.m. classes, she thinks they are lazy.
I asked her if there is any plan to improve CESL. She said that they always try to improve CESL. She said that they make a survey at the end of each semester to know what the students ideas are to improve CESL. Then, CESL's staff discusses all of the ideas and take the good and the possible ideas.
Dr. Friedenberg advises each of CESL's student to do seven things. First of all, to go and attend all classes, even 8 a.m. classes. Second, to do the homework that you are given in the classes. Third, to do practise TOEFL tests. Fourth, to go to bed early on the weekdays. Fifth, to eat breakfast before coming to classes. Sixth, on the weekend to go out and meet Americans. Seventh, to avoid tobacco, caffeine, and alcohol. And if she had only one thing to say to CESL's students she would say, "Appreciate studying hard. Remember that your parents or government pays your tuition not to waste your time and money but to have good education and you are here to help your country." Finally, she said that she hopes for all CESL's students to have a good life in the US, to get into a good university, and she likes all the students to recommend CESL to their friends and to be honest in that.
I asked her if she had a flower to give to one person, to whom would she give it. She said she would put it on her mother's grave.
By Adam Alamin
I interviewed an American friend about Carbondale. First, I will introduce my friend. Her name is Lori. She lives in my dormitory. She has stayed in Carbondale since 1987. She is from Carrollton in Central Illinois. She is a graduate student, and her major is speech communication.
I asked her about Carbondale's lifestyle, the merits, and the faults of Carbondale. Then, she gave me some answers. Her favorite place is China Queen. Also, she likes driving in the countryside. In addition, she usually studies at home on the weekend. I think that she likes to study, and she is a very diligent person. Furthermore, her merit of Carbondale is a lot of international students who live in Carbondale because she likes contact with them. However, her fault of Carbondale is that there are too many young people here because she sometimes can't understand them, and she feels very anxious about the differences between their communication. She wants to understand them more.
I feel that she is a very good person. She was very kind to me because she answered my questions. I enjoyed speaking with her. In addition, I understand her opinion. We must treasure communication with people. It is very important for us to understand each other. I hope to have contact with many people in Carbondale.
By Yasuko
There are problems on our campus, so students would rather stay off-campus than on-campus. According to the articles in the Daily Egyption, Feb 7, 1996, 66.6% of SIU students are staying off-campus. I had an interview with Jimmy Jones from Chicago. He stayed in a dormitory for two semesters, but now he is living off-campus.
Jim said "Facilities in the dormitory are below average, for example, I lived in Wright 2 and there is only one stove for Wright 2." Also, University Housing doesn't provide students with complete facilities. I asked Jimmy Jones about the students who are below 21 years of age who have to stay on-campus. Jimmy Jones didn't agree with that policy because some students who are below 21 are capable of living off-campus, and some students can't afford the dorm rental fees.
I asked, "Did you feel comfortable stay in the dorm?" Jimmy said "I pay less for the same condition." Jimmy Jones paid expensive rental fees for a dormitory room, but now he pays less for an off-campus room and the same facilities, so he saves a lot of money staying off-campus. I asked "When you stayed on-campus, did you have a transportation problem going to school?" Jimmy said "When I stayed on-campus, transportation to school wasn't a problem." Dormitories are very close to the school, nobody has a problem going to school.
In my opinion, international students have the opportunity to communicate with Americans to improve their English when they live in the dorms. Jimmy said "It's not necessary, some internationals can communicate with Americans without staying on-campus." My last question to Jimmy Jones was "What do you suggest to University Housing to decrease students staying off-campus?" Jimmy said "University Housing has to make the food better, offer more facilities, upgrade the dormitory conditions and charge less than off-campus housing."
In my opinion, students don't want to stay on-campus because of privacy, money, facilities, and so on. Living on-campus is exciting because there are a lot of activities, friends, and fun. The University has to change the environment in the dormitory because a good environment will make a good situation for students.
By Mohd Ridzuan Darun @Joe
I have friend whose name is Yolanda. We talked about " What are some good things and bad things, if we live in a dormitory." When I asked her about this question, I had some problems first because I didn't know how to start talking and what I should ask her. Yet, after a couple of minutes, it got better.
We talked about dormitories around the University of Carbondale. She lives at "M" dormitory. She wanted to live there because dorm has three meals a day; thus, she doesn't have to cook or clean dishes. Also that place is safer than others, like an apartment. The dorm she lives in is very safe; the door is always locked so only people who live there can get in.
The bad thing about her dormitory is that she can not play loud music. The worst problem is that there is not enough parking so some people when they get there late must park in metered spaces and pay money.
I also live in a dormitory. I think that living in a dorm is better than an apartment if you are under 21 years old. Dormitories are safer and you don't have to worry about your friends' intrusion. When we talked about all these problems, I had fun. I think the interview helped me practice English.
By Sonya Heo
TV, Movies & Music
Nowadays, most Americans have their own television at home. Furthermore, they spend a lot of time watching television programs. From the interview, I know that most of them spend their free time watching television. Now, let us discuss the television life of Amy, who I interviewed last week.
Amy is a sophomore social science student at SIUC. She came from Chicago and will go back to her hometown every holiday. However, she has to spend her weekends in Carbondale. She has a television in her own room. She spends most of her free time watching television because she thinks that is the only thing that can relax her.
According to Amy, she mostly spends around 2-3 hours watching television programs, but sometimes more than that. She likes the comedy programs and also some action programs, so she usually watches NBC, FOX and other channels depending on to the program she is interested in.
She usually watches television alone, but sometimes she also watches with her friends who visit her. She always watches television after dinner. While she watches television she will mostly eat some junk food or fruit. She thinks that watching television can increase her general knowledge, and she knows about things which happen around the world. However, she also feels that watching television is a waste of her time.
As a result, we know that watching television is the main event for some Americans. They use it as an event to fill up their free time and to relax.
By Lim
I talked to Mike Todd whose major is business. He has lived in Carbondale for about two years. He is a handsome white person whom I met in the Baptist Student Center. We talked about movies for 40 minutes. In fact, I didn't understand everything of the talk about movies with him, but he gave me straight answers. He looks like a faithful student.
Mike Todd is very interested in movies, especially action movies. His favorite actors are Robert de Niro and Al Pacino because he likes Robert de Niro's expressions and Al Pacino's nuance. Mike Todd's favorite movie is Al Pacino's "Scent of a Woman." Recently, he has seen "The Hit." He prefers going to the theater to watching video tapes in his home, because he doesn't have a VCR.
Mike cried while watching the movie. "The Champ." He thinks " The Champ" was a very sad movie. Mike Todd said, "I like movies better than my major. " However, Mike had never seen oriental movies, so I recommended good oriental movies.
By Kunsoon Kim
James Cohoon is my roommate. He was born on December 23, 1971 in Kankakee near Chicago. He is a freshman and his major is Radio-Television at S.I.U. That is what I hope to study, also. He is 6 feet and 180 pounds. On February 20, we started to talk about music and dance on the third floor in our dormitory. Why did we choose music and dance? Because it is a very interesting topic. He likes all kinds of music, especially, dance and club music. However, he likes a little country, classical, rock, and R&B. He likes dance and club music because it is really up beat and uses a synthesizer. In addition, we can dance very delightfully when we are listening to that music. That music usually has lyrics of sex or relationships between a man and a woman. His favorite group is 'Nine Inch Nails' and 'Snap' of alternative music. When he listens to music, he concentrates on the melody.
He told me about one of his favorite night clubs which is like a castle. It is called ' EXCALIBUR ' and is located in Chicago. It consists of the total third floor. The bottom floor is used for video games, pool, and a restaurant. The middle floor has light dance music; like pop music, from 1970 to 1990's, and is permitted for people over 21 years old. The top floor has more beat, faster, and mixing music like techno-music. You can see the best dancers there.
Some bad things at night clubs are spending a lot of money and seeing a drunken man who becomes violent. One more thing is a bad disk jockey. Conversely, the good things are that we can meet a lot of beautiful girls. And we can listen to good music, see the awesome lights, drink good quality drinks, play fun games, and relax.
He then recalled concerts. He has seen three concerts. His most impressive concert was the last one. That concert was " B96 Summer jam 94-95." John Secada, Salt-n-Peppa, and K7 appeared as guests at that concert. He told me that the concert was fantastic and beautiful.
If he feels bad, he will find dance music and club music to listen to or go to a great concert. And then, he feels better.
By Jay
I met my American friend in our dormitory. His name is Andy Hong. He is a junior at SIU and his major is Biology and Psychology. He became acquainted with me because his parents had immigrated from Korea. He wanted know about Korea and I wanted to know about America. We had much time to talk, so we talked about many things. We could also talk about movies because we like to go to movies together.
He likes all kind of movies such as comedies, adventure, science fiction, and so on. Especially, he likes science fiction because he enjoys playing computer games. He thinks the best movie that he has ever seen is "Braveheart." He was impressed by that movie because of the dramatic ending. Though I want to know the story of that movie, he just said that it is very hard to tell the story. It's a kind of history, but it's a made-up story. I heard that it's a life story of a hero and a kind of human drama.
The actors whom he likes are Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson. He thinks that they are good actors so he likes their movies ; Forest Gump, Apollo 13, Braveheart, Mad-max, and so on. I think that Tom Hanks' performances in his movies are excellent. Andy's favorite actress is Meg Ryan. He thinks that she is very smart and cute. I agree with him.
Concerning Hollywood movies, generally, he likes some of those, but he feels something is wrong because of director problems, wrong images, and bad ideas. I asked him about French movies because I like those. He likes French movies too, but sometimes, he gets bored with difficult messages. Also, I am always anxious to know why we cannot see a French movie in Southern Illinois. In Korea, though there are many America movies, we can easily see a French movie. He said that sometimes we could see that kind of movie, but, in fact, we rarely do because the American movie market is much bigger than the French movie market.
After we talked about movies, I understood his thoughts about movies. Also, when we talked about movies, I was not a stranger to this kind of conversation because I had seen many of Hollywood's movies in Korea. I think that it's the power of American movies.
By David Park
Culture
A German philosopher Kierkagor said " The person who gets married regrets and the person who doesn't get married also regrets." We have had many proverbs about marriage. It is to say from the old times, we have been interested in marriage. Of course, in these days, many young people also think about that, but such thinking of marriage is different from country, race, gender(sex) and the person. On that assumption, I interviewed an American male college student.
He came from Chicago and now he is an SIUC student. He is 26 years old and he also has many female friends, so he thinks about marriage very much. Because he thinks the best age for people to get married is 26 for man and 22 for women, he is exactly the age to get married. He thinks marriage is the choice of the people, so all people don't have to get married. If he gets married and chooses his spouse, character is the most important thing to him and next is intelligence, age, and so on. He also thinks positively about international or interracial marriage. The difference of parents or religions is not an obstacle in his marriage, he thinks, and after marriage, he hasn't any preference about the gender of his children. After his child is born, to the question about his wife's work, he thinks that depends on the situation. The last question was about divorce. He said that when the two people no longer love each other, he can accept it.
After the interview I deduced some information for myself. First, America consists of many people so Americans don't feel hostility about other people. Therefore, they can accept international or interracial marriages. Second, from early on, most Americans are independent of their parents, so they can choose by themselves and they don't care if their opinions are the opposite of their parents. Of course, when they are old, Americans don't depend on their children, so they don't have a high preference for male children. And the third, because character and love are very important things to them, when they don't love each other any more, they can accept divorce.
I know of course he can't speak for all American males, but through this opportunity I got know the way of some Americans' thinking and I can, a little, understand them.
By Sue
According to my interview with Miss Beat, an American lady, about the topic above, she responded to my questions by saying that, "American culture is very different from that of other countries. Every culture has its own strengths and drawbacks." She also explained that, "We can't simply go changing people's culture." But, during the interview the topics I stress were on American family relationships and the American university education system.
When I asked her about American family relationships, she said, "American family relationships are one of the biggest differences of American culture. Americans have greater respect of individuality and independent of each member of the family. Hence, American children grow up with a greater sense of responsibility and self-reliance. American children tend to be more responsible towards themselves and self-reliance." She also said that it is very common and normal for the American teenagers to start earning money at the age of sixteen.
On the American university education system, I asked her about how it helps students or individuals cope with the problems. She explained that the American university education is research-oriented, liberal, and pragmatic, it helps the students cope with the problems and challenges of an increasingly complex world.
The American tertiary education offers a dynamic foundation in the humanities plus the latest advances in information and technology. Students are encouraged to participate, question, and become actively involved in their learning. It is creative, exciting, and fulfilling because it enhances intrinsic motivation and professionalism. She also supports that the tertiary education in America combines fundamental theorical concepts with real world practice. It is academically vigorous and practical. It is career-oriented and structured, yet flexible and personal. In brief, she said "American tertiary education is comtemporary, with a view toward the future."
By Mr. AG
I interviewed one of the American students. She didn't want her name published, so I will introduce her as Jane. She studies at SIU and wants to finish her master's degree in August this year. I interviewed her about celebrating Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is new for me.
She told me, some states in the United States of America, celebrate Thanksgiving. In addition, I wanted to know more details about Thanksgiving. She narrated the short story about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a native American day and one of the special days for American people. Thanksgiving is about how the Pilgrims wanted to give thanks to the Wampanoags (Indians) because the Pilgrims had a new home, built houses, and planted corn and beans with help from the Wampanoags. This is interesting story for me, I told her.
She also told me how she celebrates that day. She told me, on Thanksgiving, she goes home and her sister and brother also go home to be together on Thanksgiving day. She always celebrates Thanksgiving with her family. She also told me that her mother is a cooker and is very busy serving lunch or dinner. Her mother cooks a lot of food like turkey, salad, potatos, vegetables, etc. She and her family eat together and one thing also new for me is that American people eat turkey. She told me that turkey is very special on their menu on Thanksgiving.
Celebrating Thanksgiving is very interesting to me and she also told me, on this day, Americans honor the Native Americans and remember the peace and friendship of the first Thanksgiving.
By Ana
Sports
The person who I interviewed was Jill. She is a sophomore at S.I.U. and her major is business. Jill likes all kinds of sports like basketball, volleyball, and scuba diving. The sport she likes and practices is cheerleading. She likes cheerleading because she can get involved with school activities, and it's fun to meet different people. Jill practices every day for two hours and usually cheers at games every weekend. Practice consists of partner stunting, pyramid building, and conditioning. In preparation for practice, the cheerleaders run and stretch to avoid injury. It's a very hard sport because it requires hard practice every day to cheer a game.
Jill also likes basketball. Her favorite team is the Chicago Bulls. She enjoys watching the games and watching all the spectacular moves of Michael Jordan. She also likes playing soccer. Last year she joined a soccer team and won first place. Her father taught her how to play soccer. She enjoys playing, but she says that it is very easy to get hurt or have an injury. Her favorite team is Milan and her favorite player is Gullit.
By Hector Flores
I interviewed an American and I talked with him for few minutes. His name is Tom. He was born in Libertyville, Illinois. He is a student at the undergraduate level. First, he finished a two year course at the undergraduate level at the College Of Lake County. Right now, he is studying at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to finish the rest of his program. His hobbies are sports, biking, shooting, etc.
I asked him about games and sports of the US. There are a lot of games and sports in America, these include soccer, football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, volleyball, etc.
Tom likes playing games. His favorite game is football which is almost like soccer. In this game, there are twenty players. They divide into two teams. One part competes against the othe team. There are four downs. The main object of this game is to move the ball down the field to get a touchdown. To stop the man with the ball, one must tackle him to the ground.
There are some differences between soccer and football. In football, players have to use their hands to play instead of their legs; on the other hand, in soccer games, players have to use their legs to play. Another difference is that, in football games, there are no goal keepers , but in soccer games, there are two goal keepers, one on each side. Also, the main element of the two games is different. A soccer ball is round shaped, but a football is not round, it looks like a lemon.
Mr. Tom likes football because, it is very active and easy to follow. Also he can watch the games on TV.
It was a great pleasure to meet with an American and discover something about the games of the US.
By Mehedi
The person I interviewed was Chet Gibbs, an undergraduate student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. His major is Finance and Administration and he has been at SIUC for two years. Chet Gibbs is from Harrisburg and it is located in midwest Illinois.
He likes sports very much and also practices sometimes. The best sport he likes is baseball. However, he likes basketball, football, and so on. For him basketball is the kind of sport he plays because he wants to stay in shape. Chet Gibb's favorite player is Micheal Jordan. He said it is very fun to watch Jordan, and Jordan was named MVP (Most Value Player) two times in the NBA.
When I ask him what is his favorite team, he smiles and tells me of course it is the Chicago White Sox. This team is Chicago's football team and among the different sportsmen he likes Frank Thomas, Team Raines, Robbin, and so on. Because of Frank Thomas and he is from Illinois, he likes this team very much. It is one part of his life he said.
According to Chet Gibbs, contacting foreign students in school is very easy. He has some foreign friends from Bolivia and Honduras. He would like to visit other countries to know about other cultures, customs, and habits. He speaks only English and he is planing, after one year, to start learning Spanish. For him, Southern Illinois University has a good basketball team because for three years they have attended the NCAA. Our conversation was very good and to end my interview, I thanked him, and he answered, "You're very welcome."
By Abdoul Latif Diallo
On February 12, I met an American student on the second floor of the Student Center. I asked "What is your favorite sport?" On this day, he became my friend. My friend is Eric who is 23 years old. He is a freshman who is studying physical therapy. He is from Texas. He has lived in Carbondale since last August. Before he came here, he belonged to the U.S. Army for 4 years. His favorite sports are grappling sports, like boxing, boxing, karate. I like these sports too. He doesn't play grappling sports, he just does exercises for them for 12 hours per week at the recreation center. His most favorite athletes are Evander Holyfield and the Gracie family. He really knows a lot about these sports.
By Taizo
The person that I interviewed is Jack. He is a senior at Southern Illinois University, and his major is Marketing. He likes sports very much, however, his favorite sport is soccer and he has his own team. Also, when we talked about soccer, I was not scared about this kind of conversation because I want to know how to play soccer. He said he never played with the Taiwanese so he asked me if soccer was famous in my country, Taiwan. I told him that the Taiwanese do not like to play soccer. Therefore, his team always plays with teams from Japan, Korea, Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia.
When he was a child, his father taught him how to play soccer. The first time he played soccer was when he was five years old. Jack said "While playing soccer, it is easy to get hurt." He always hurts his ankle and gets some bruises when he plays soccer. His team always plays on one of the fields in Murdale. Sometimes they fight with other teams because both of them enjoy soccer very much. However, they are still friends.
By Kevin
Americans and Their Leisure Activities
Last Saturday, I went to party, and I met many American people, so I thought "Now is my chance to interview." As a result, I was able to interview one of them about how to spend free time. His name is Bob, and he is from Chicago. He is a junior, and his major is Radio and TV. He always listens to music when he has free time. He especially likes punk music. In addition, I especially want to know how to spend the weekend, because I sometimes have boring weekends. So I was thinking "What does everyone do every weekend." He goes to parties every weekend, and he likes to make many friends. I also want to make many American friends. So, I asked " Why do you have many friends? I want to make many American friends, but I'm shy." He told me "You had better try to speak more, you don't need to be shy." After that, I changed my mind, and I spoke to him for one hour.
Before I interviewed him, I was so nervous because he couldn't understand what I said. However, he was a very kind person, so if he didn't understand, he asked "Could you speak again?" As a result, I had a good time, and I had the courage to try to speak to a stranger.
By Yukari
I met Margit Look at my friend's party. When I first saw her, she looked very friendly. In the beginning, I was very afraid of my English which wasn't good enough, so I wasn't going to talk with her. But she encouraged me to talk a lot if I wanted to improve my English. She told me the best way to learn English was not to be afraid of making mistakes. We started to talk with each other. She told me something about her family and her friends. She introduced some of her friends, who are American, to me. We enjoyed talking with each other. She is very nice. She gave me her phone number. When I had to find somebody to interview, she was the first person I thought of. I called her and told her what I wanted to do. She was very glad to help me do this job. I asked her questions which I had already prepared. She answered all the questions that I asked her.
She is from Montana and she likes Chinese food very much. She thinks the best traveling place is California. She went to L.A. to visit her friend last year. She stayed there for several days and her friend took her to many places, for example, Sunset strip, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Universal Studios, China town, and downtown. She thinks L.A. is very beautiful. Comparing L.A. and Carbondale, she ready likes L.A. Because she has been here for one year, she feels Carbondale is a very boring place. In Illinois, Chicago is the only place she likes. She has been to Missouri, Washington D.C., and California. She told me some famous places in those states. The most famous structure in Missouri is the Arch. There are so many famous places in Washington D.C. For example, The White House, Capital building and the mall, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. She likes these places, but the most famous place that she likes is L.A.
By Gina
On Monday, February 19, I interviewed an American student at the Student Center. My interview was about Americans' leisure time. I was nervous at the beginning of the interview because we didn't know each other. However, the interview went pretty well, and I enjoyed interviewing him because he was friendly and kind. Nevertheless, he didn't want me to mention his identity in my report.
At first, we talked about what he expected Americans to do during their leisure times. He told me, generally, American people read a book, travel, shop, fish, and hunt when they have leisure time. "And, usually, on weekends, they have a party in their house or find amusement outside such as a night club, gambling, etc" he added. Also, he told me American people want to have fun and to release their stress on weekends, so they do the things that make them have fun and be happy. I agreed with everything he said.
In addition, we talked about what he does during his leisure time. He told me he usually goes to church and then does his laundry on Sunday. However, the important thing which he does on weekend nights is find amusement such as playing pool, drinking beer, or listening music to release his tension. He likes reading a novel too, he added. Then, we talked about places where he usually goes on weekends. He told me he usually goes to Pinch-Penny or D'Tours and sometimes he goes to his friend's house when there is a party. However, that depends on how much homework he has on the weekend.
Finally, we talked about our opinions of Americans. In his opinion, American people just want to have fun and be happy to release their stress during leisure time. I agree with him because American people work hard five or six days a week, so they need to relax and to release their stress.
By Jee Hyu Syien
I really want to have an American friend. Therefore, last Sunday, February 18th, I had an interview with one of the American students at SIUC. We were talking about how I can make an American friend.
After I introduced myself, we started talking about student life at SIUC. The first thing I asked him was where he spends his time with his friends. He answered " We always meet each other and enjoy our weekend at a party that we have on Friday or Suturday night." I asked him, " Can I go to a party like that ?" He answered, "Yes you can. You only need to pay 1 dollar, and you can drink as much as you want. I tell him "Maybe I'll try to go to a party like that."
After that, I asked him about his suggestion about how to make friends in America. He smiled and said "Maybe you can go to the party and talk with them." He said again " I think you have to be friendly with your neighbors, you can make friends by introducing yourself and going to places like a coffee house. People like to study and talk there, the people are more friendly at a place like that."
"What do you value in a friendship?" was my last question. He answered, "Loyalty and individualism. I like a person or friend who won't say anything bad about me and who is also an individual. Lastly, I told him that I really appreciated his kidness for talking with me.
By Bak
A couple days ago, I interviewed an American whose name is Dave. He is an SIU student from Chicago. I met him through one of my classmates. He is younger and smarter than I am. He is studying business at SIU as a undergraduate student. After he graduates, he will study for a masters degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene. He knew about my country Malaysia because Kuala Lumpur, a capital city of Malaysia, is a major trade center in Southeast Asia. He also knew about our Kuala Lumpur Tower, which is built by steel and is the highest tower in the world. I told him my home town Penang is a beautiful place to live. Because it is an island, we can eat a lot of fresh seafood and get sun tanned on the beach. Penang also was the second largest city in Malaysia, but now is the third largest city because Johor state is near Singapore and Singaporeans are taking up the economy in Johor state. The development of Johor state is getting better and better, so the standard of living is higher than on Penang island. Although Johor state has a high standard of living, the land value of Penang island is still higher.
Dave has never been to Malaysia, but he would like to go to Malaysia sometime. He is enjoying having the Malaysia food at Justasia such as curry chicken, satay, and stuffed tofu. I told him that the Malaysian food here is different from my home town, because the food is less spicy. Dave told me he tried to eat Malaysian food with a lot spice. He told me about the most exciting game in America, football, and also about the best selling car in the United States. While it depends on what each American likes, in his opinion, Japanese cars are the best selling cars in America. We enjoyed this interview.
By Soo Keat, Lee
I interviewed an American student from S.I.U. He came to Carbondale from Chicago two and half years ago. He likes Carbondale for a student's town, but he feels that Carbondale is a little boring because there are not many exciting places. He always compares Chicago and Carbondale. He likes to party with his friends every Friday. He likes to drink every kind of liquor, such as beer, whisky, brandy, wine, and others. He had drunk Japanese liquor, sake, several times in Chicago before he came to Carbondale. Also, he has eaten sushi and tenpura in Chicago and Carbondale. He likes Japanese food, but he feels that it is more expensive than Italian and Mexican food. He usually eats a hamburger, spaghetti, and pizza, and sometimes Chinese food. Now, he thinks that he wants to travel to other countries. He said he may travel to Australia over next winter break, because his girl friend heard from her friend that there is a beautiful coral reef in Australia.
I think student life styles, between American and Japanese students, have many similar points. Many Japanese students like to drink in a pub, bar, disco, and their house. Also, the students who want to travel abroad are recently increasing. Moreover, the students who eat in fastfood restaurants are increasing. There are always a lot of students in Mcdonalds.
By Hiro
In America, people have different activities. As I found during my interview with Mrs Kim, an American lady majoring in Office Management, most Americans spend a lot of time studying and working. However, in their free time they have different leisure activities. According to Mrs. Kim, the most common leisure activities for American people are: go swimming, go shopping, going to the movies, watching TV, and travelling. They like sports too, and the most favorite sports for Americans are basketball, football, volleyball, and aerobics.
For example, Mrs Kim works as a cashier in the university student center. She chooses to work as a cashier because she likes the job, and it gives her advantages working as a cashier and studying in a college. She said that she feels honored working as a cashier.
As a principal leisure activity, Mrs. Kim watchs TV and goes to the movies. She likes to see good movies and she spends a lot of time watching TV.
She likes sports too. She practices volleyball once a week. Basketball is her favorite sport because she thinks that basketball is a challenge. Her favorite basketball player is Michael Jordan. For her, Michael Jordan is the best basketball player in the world because Michael Jordan led the Bulls to three championships.
By Bernani
I am fond of going on trips. I decided to talk to an American about traveling, then I made ten questions.
I asked an American where he had traveled in the U.S.A. He replied that he had been to 33 of his 50 states, and that his most favorite place to travel was Northern Wisconsin. When I asked, "What other countries have you been to?" I had trouble listening and taking notes. His answer was too fast for me to take a note, so I had to ask him several times to get a precise answer . He said, "I 've been to 20 different countries around the world, Canada, Korea, Japan, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, Costa Rica, France, Ireland, Monaco, Seychelles, Jamaica, Bahrain, The Netherlands, Spain...." I did not expect such a large amount of information that I could not write down. So, when he realized I was having a problem, he helped me to write the answer.
While interviewing, I was intrested in talking to him. I asked him my main question. "Where is the most attractive place you have been to?" He said, "Singapore is the most beautiful place I've been to outside of the U.S." The reason why was Singapore was beautiful was there were friendly people with weather to match. I could believe him and I added it to my list of ideal places to travel because I suppose that he is a world traveler. He said that he would like to go to some places he had not already been around the world.
He seemed willing to talk to me. I had a great time interviewing an American.
By Yoko Okuda
Newsletter Staff
AE2 - A
Editors:
- AG
- Bernani
- Jee
- Kim
- Taizo
- Lim
- Sonya
- Teppei
- Sue
- Varinda
Editors:
- Latif
- Adam
- Jay
- Joe
- Teto
- Ana
- Lama
- Yasuko
- Bak
- Alice
- Kevin
- Yukari
Editors:
- Yoko
- Truly
- Soo Keat
- David
- Chia-jung
- Ammer
- Hiro
- Mehedi
- Jennifer McCain
- Kevin Wan
Congratulations
In Advanced English
First Place
Adam Abdulkadir Alamin
Second Place
Umaro Djau
Third Place
Bak Gaga
In General English
First Place
Hung Goo Ann (Young)
Second Place
Achyut Prasad Chalise
Third Place
Ryanghood Lee
All entries were published in a special poetry edition of CESL Today.
The CESL Today Newsletter Staff wishes to thank everyone who participated in the Poetry Competition. A very special thank you goes out to our judges:
Keith Pharis
Kim Hughes Wilhelm
Michelle Lewandowski
Marilyn Rivers
Tom Laverett