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  

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/

August 21st Solar Eclipse

People all over the country have been looking forward to the solar eclipse taking place on Monday, August 21st. 

A solar eclipse happens when the sun and the moon are positioned in such a way that the sun's rays are blocked by the moon. 

In some parts of the US, the moon will entirely block out the light of the sun for a short time and there will be darkness. However, in Southern California, we expected only about 60% coverage of the sun. 

There was no way the South Bay students were going to miss it! Since it is extremely dangerous to look directly at the sun (and we didn't prepare by getting glasses!) Teacher Corey and Sylvia made pin-hole viewers with cereal and cardboard boxes. 

The sun's light goes through a tiny pin hole and creates a projection of the sun's shape onto a white paper. 

When looking through the pin-hole viewer at different times, you can easily see the progression of the eclipse. 

At the start of the eclipse, you could see the sun's shape with a tiny portion clearly being blocked by the sun. 

At 10:21 am, the sun was just at tiny little crescent. Some students said it looked like a tiny banana. 

Later, we met some people who let us borrow their eclipse viewing glasses. You could see the eclipse so clearly! 

It was an amazing chance for our students to experience this incredible natural phenomenon! ​​​

 By Sylvia Sunada, Program Coordinator at Language Systems International

http://languagesystems.edu/

OC Fair 2017

On Wednesday, August 10, 20 students and the program coordinator from our Orange County campus spend the afternoon and evening at the OC fair. 

This is a summer tradition in Orange County, and the fair comes to an end this Sunday, August 13. Most of us got a little wrist band for just $30 and this allowed us unlimited rides on all the roller coasters plus two free games.  

It was a bargain!  

Some of the rides were fast, and others went really high in the sky. I (the program coordinator) am actually afraid of heights, so for the ride that went super high in the air, I had to literally close my eyes.  

One big part of the fair is all the BBQ food, so one of our students tried the huge BBQ turkey leg.  It was so huge that we passed the thing around and shared it between 5 to 6 students.  We also tried the roasted corn on the cob.  

It was delicious too.  We all hung out the whole day and got to make new friends and practice English.  

At the end of the night, we got to see a few fireworks, and everyone made it home safely.  It really was an awesome trip!

For photos, please see the album I created on the LSI Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/LSIUSA/videos/1823709644313631/

The Juice Joint

Amanda, a popular ESL teacher at the Torrance campus, introduced the students to a one of a kind Open Mic Live music event called "

The Juice Joint" at The Study in Hollywood on Memorial Day 5/29/2017.

The event is unique because it is a truly open mic and invites anyone with any kind of musical or artistic talent to join the house band on stage for an improvisational challenge! 

In addition, the students enjoyed a variety of performances with American inspired music which included singing, reading poetry, dancing, and more! They also participated in interactive games that the host of the show was playing with the audience (all in English!).

By Sylvia Sunada, Program Coordinator at SB 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Field trip to Stacked

Level 7 took a field trip to Stacked at the nearby Del Amo Mall. 

There's an ongoing debate in the class about the best burgers in Los Angeles. 

One student recommends they try Stacked for "research." 

The verdict is still out!

By Sylvia Sunada, Program Coordinator at SB 

http://languagesystems.edu/ 

Visiting JPL campus by Charlotte

One has to register one month in advance before visiting JPL campus.  A passport is required if you are not a US citizen.  

It takes about 2.5 hours to visit every part of JPL which is sprawling and the tour involves lots of walking.  The commentator greeted us with warmth and delivered with passion an introduction in detail on the model exhibitions of all robotic spacecraft sent to the planetary bodies of the Solar System.  

The mission control center that monitors and manages all the space flights has become a national landmark.  Our last stop is the clean room where we saw part of the shield of 2020 Mars Rover.  

By Charlotte, Student at LSI - Northeast Los Angeles School 

http://lifestyle.languagesystems.edu/

Sriracha Factory Tour

Last February 17, NELA students took a tour of the famous Sriracha sauce factory.  I’m sure you have seen, or heard, of the famous sauce in most restaurants, as it has become quite popular in recent years.  It’s difficult to miss with its distinctive bright red color and green top.

We were very lucky to see the inside operations and workings of such a popular item.  The tour guide gave us some history about the owner and how kind he is to all his workers.  She guided us through their shipping warehouse and the processing machines.  The machines were loud and had many moving parts and processes.  It was fascinating to see how much work and effort is placed to provide the public with something we often take for granted.  The students were curious and excited to see everything put together from simple elements and ingredients. 

At the end of the tour, we were taken to their merchandise store and we were given a free, small bottle, of Sriracha.  

They were very kind and helpful to us, even though we had a torrential downpour that day.  We hope we can visit again to get the full tour, as we were given a limited one due to the rain.  It was a great experience and students enjoyed it.

 By Carlos Takashima, PC at NELA

http://languagesystems.edu/