Field trip to Union Station / Olevera Street

Students from NELA had the opportunity to learn much of the history and origins of Los Angeles by visiting Union Station and Plaza Olvera.

They had a chance to walk through the Christmas Festive train station halls and observe as passengers cross with luggage, or stop to admire the live music.  After, everyone walked across the street to see the oldest house in Los Angeles in Olvera Street. 

 They got to learn about the rich history of the area and the diverse groups that helped make Los Angeles what it is today.  

The trip ended at the Chinese American museum, where everyone learned about the many contributions of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles.
It was a great day filled with rich history and new experiences.  

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

 By Carlos, Program Coordinator at NELA

Tamale festival

The Tamale Festival in Placentia is an annual event that local people look forward to. It's a night filled with live music, the Christmas spirit, and delicious Tamales and other kinds of Mexican food. 

Each year the Orange County Campus of language systems take students to experience this special night. It's always very crowded and there's no parking so we took the shuttle bus from Valencia High School. 

We got to enjoy some amazing music, some wonderful food, and a lot of positive vibes. For all of the students tonight it was their first time. We are so glad our students from all over the world get to experience Southern California Christmas spirit through the Tamale Festival.

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

 By Ty, Program Coordinator at OC  

Wine tasting trip

Ten students from LSI Downtown toured the Santa Barbara Wine Country over the Thanksgiving weekend holiday on Saturday, Nov. 25th, with a wine-tasting visit to Rusack Winery & Vineyard, a picnic at Koehler Winery & Vineyard, and a walk around the quaint Danish village of Solvang with teacher John.

At Rusack, we enjoyed our own table on the oak-shaded deck overlooking the vineyard for tasting despite the more-than-usual holiday crowds.

At Koehler, students enjoyed a lunch of tacos, quesadillas, and burritos at their weekend taco stand with Koehler's amazing Reisling, Rose', Syrah, and Sangiovese.wines out on Koehler's beautiful Oak Deck. Students enjoyed unlimited tasting in the tasting room afterwards.

The wine-savvy students were impressed with the quality of the wines, and many of them used teacher John's 20% wine club discount to buy the wines they liked.

Afterwards, feeling happy, the students enjoyed exploring the shops and bakeries in Solvang, and many were seen walking around eating ice cream cones or having coffee in the famous bakery coffee shops.

All the students had a great time, with many of them asking when the next Santa Barbara trip will be...

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By John, Teacher at DTLA 

West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval

It's Halloween! The Pasadena students participated in the colorful West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval. It is considered to be the biggest Halloween party with thousands of people displaying their best costumes and dancing the night away.

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By Marco, Teacher at NELA  

Halloween 2017

It is Halloween again... The streets were full of children trick-or-treating and a lot of people were dressed up at work and schools. 

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays here at Language Systems! 

The schools were all decorated and we had candy everywhere.

It was so much fun to see everyone in costumes!

Check out some pictures from our costume and pumpkin carving contests: 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Check out our blog next month for our Thanksgiving pictures! 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

 By Ligia, Program Coordinator at DTLA  

Halloween Knott's Scary Farm

Once upon a time, a teacher and 17 students went to Knott's Scary Farm and it was super scary!  First we had to suffer the endless traffic to Buena Park in a blood-red colored van, hich took about an hour and 45 mins.  Luckily we were all prepared with great music like "Despicito"  and "I'm the One"  so we sang our way through the traffic nightmare.  Upon arriving to the park with half of our group, the next task was to find the other half somewhere near the huge line of people at the front entrance. The first group decided to enter the park, while I waited for three rest of our group to arrive! The park was so scary for the moment we stepped into the park.  

From the foggy Zombie alley, to the New Orleans Haunted House and even the very loopy, twisty, upside-downy Silver Bullet rollercoaster- we screamed for 6 hours! By the time we walked like the dead back to the van, everyone was worn out.  In the end we would all recommend Knott's Scary Farm... It's definitely the opposite of NOT scary so beware!

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By DJ, Teacher at SBLA  

Knott's Scary Farm

Last night several students from our Orange County campus visited Knott's Scary Farm for a real Halloween experience in America.  For all of them, it was their very first time. 

 A couple of them scared easily, so all the zombies and ghosts and other scary figures really tried to scar them to death.  

There were many haunted houses and scary rides.  Walking around the amusement park and hiding behind every corner was someone in a really scary costume.  They work there and it is their job to scare you as much as possible.  Some of the people had makeup on that looked like it was done by a professional Hollywood makeup artist.  Some of the students had such a good time that they are planning to go again next week!

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Free Spanish Class

Free Spanish class and quesadillas with teacher Kurt! 

Such a fun Friday! Muchas gracias!

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By Kurt, Teacher at DTLA  

Pizza Tuesday

Around 20 students from LSI Downtown joined teacher John for pizza at Pizza Rev last Tuesday night. At Pizza Rev, you can design your own personal pizza with any toppings you like for only $6.99 (Tuesdays only).

We are doing this every week, and students are finding it a good way to relax and use the English they learned in class, as well as making new friends! Why don't you join us next week?


http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By John, Teacher at DTLA  

Learning American Street Slang

Friday, Oct 20th was the first Street Slang class at LSI downtown. Several students came, all eager to learn new slang so they can use in their everyday conversations. 

Everyone had such a great time and all signed up for the next one already on Nov. 3rd.

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By Caroline, Teacher at DTLA  

Hike at Palos Verdes

Fun Fridays continue at the South Bay campus! Today, Teacher Steven took the students on a hike around beautiful Palos Verdes. 

They enjoyed stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and enjoyed a picnic at the end.

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

By Steven, Teacher at SBLA  

Fun night in Pasadena: Art Night

On Friday, October 13th the city of Pasadena opened its museums' doors to the public. 

Once a year, the city hosts a free event where everyone gets the opportunity to discover the many museums surrounding the city center. 

 Our Pasadena TOEFL students enjoyed the multiple museum locations on Art Night.

Also, Hanine, our Arabic and French speaker, and students from the downtown LA campus went to the art walk in Pasadena! They visited different museums and art galleries and had a blast! 

It was the perfect evening!

By Marco Cervantes, Teacher at Pasadena Campus 
By Hanine, Staff at Downtown Campus 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Futsal Tournament

This year’s Futsal tournament was quite competitive and filled with drama from beginning to end.  

There were some dominant teams that showed they were there to display their abilities and add points to their lead.  

Students from every campus were enthusiastic and supportive of their teams and made every effort to keep their spirit alive. 

And although not everyone can win, we all won a good time and the opportunity to meet our fellow students from other campuses and use the English abilities students came to learn.  

Torrance and OC battled it out in the end with Torrance coming out victorious.  

After the tournament, everyone was ready to take down a couple of slices of pizza and refreshments, while taking advantage of the photo booth opportunities.  

We’re sure students had a great time and made some great memories with their friends.  

We look forward to next year’s Futsal tournament and hope it will be just as fun as this year.

 By Carlos Takashima, Program Coordinator at Pasadena Campus 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Korean BBQ night

With the term coming to an end, the Pasadena evening students decided to take a rest from test preparation and spent the evening enjoying a savory meal.

The students found an all-you-can-eat restaurant to eat as much as they could. After a couple of hours of eating KBBQ, they decided to go home and recover from all the delicious food. It was a great way to initiate the weekend.

By Marco Cervantes, Teacher at Northeast Campus 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Afternoon at Mt. Sierra College's Campus

On Wednesday, September 13th, around 30 students from the Pasadena school visited Mt. Sierra College's campus, located in Monrovia. 

LSI currently has an MRP with Mt. Sierra, so LSI students finishing level 5 are able to transfer there without a TOEFL score. 

Many students signed up because they were curious to see what this college had to offer. 

The tour started out in the beautiful lobby area where students checked in and had lunch with Mt. Sierra professors and representatives. 

After lunch, the students all moved to an auditorium where Dr. Eric Tao, the President of Mt. Sierra, welcomed the students and described the benefits of its programs, including the smaller class sizes and individual attention each student receives.

Several department heads and professors also addressed the students, talking about the practicality of each program and applying what students learn in the real world. 

After the presentations, the LSI students went on a campus tour where they viewed classrooms and resources available to Mt. Sierra students. At the end of the tour, LSI students were treated to ice cream while they practiced English with Mt. Sierra representatives and professors. 

It was a pleasant and informative visit for all the LSI students!

 By Michelle Buell, Academic Director at Language Systems International

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

626 Night Market

On a Friday afternoon the Pasadena campus braved the heatwave but it turned out that it was the right atmosphere for an outing.

The students walked around from booth to booth as they enjoyed tasting and sharing the different types of street food. 

It was quite satisfying to have a "cool" drink on such a warm evening. 

After exploring the venue for some time, we sat down and enjoyed the musical acts that were part of the event. 

Overall, this culinary excursions satisfied most of the senses. 

 By Carlos Takashima, Program Coordinator at NELA 

http://lifestyle.languagesystems.edu/

Labor Day field trip

​Some students from

 LSI Downtown enjoyed a fun day in Santa Barbara with teacher John on Labor Day last Monday. 

There was no school since it was a holiday. We all bought our lunch at a country grocery store and deli, then took it up to John's favorite winery, Koehler Winery & Vineyards, to have a picnic under the trees. 

With our lunch, the students enjoyed five of Koehler's most popular wines, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Rose', Syrah, and Pinot Noir. 

For those who wanted to taste more wines, the students could take their glass into the Tasting Room and ask to try any of the other wines that Koehler makes. 

After a relaxing lunch we drove to the quaint Danish style town of Solvang for sightseeing, shopping, and sweets. 

Most students could be seen looking into souvenir shops with chocolate fudge or an ice cream cone in their hands. The beautiful weather helped make it the perfect day spent in one of the most beautiful places in California!!

By John Bury, Teacher at Language Systems International

http://languagesystems.edu/