Recently I was teaching our Level 7 Speaking class and I
asked them this question, “What is your favorite American Holiday, and why?” In
that class were students from France, Brazil, Japan, Korea, China, Thailand,
Holland, and Saudi Arabia. One student from Taiwan said, “My favorite American
holiday is Christmas because I can actually feel the ‘Christmas Spirit.’ I can’t describe exactly what I mean, but
around Christmas time I feel the warmth, the kindness, and the peace of American
people.” As an American, I knew exactly
what this student meant.
American college students like Christmas because that
usually means the end of a hard semester of reading assignments, group projects,
exams, and final papers. Christmas is the time for a break from school that can
last anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. It’s a time when students usually
return to their hometowns to spend the holidays with family and friends.
American children love Christmas time because it means Santa
Clause will be coming by their house on Christmas Eve with a bag full of
presents. One of the most exciting feelings for American children is waking up
Christmas morning, jumping out of bed, rushing to wherever the Christmas tree
is and discovering gifts of different shapes and sizes with OUR name on them. I
got one of my greatest Christmas gifts when I was about 7 years old – my very
own Red Rider BB gun! I couldn’t believe
my eyes when I saw a long skinny package under our Christmas tree. I knew
exactly what it was. The year was 1979,
and back then my neighborhood was surrounded by groves of lemon trees. I used
to run threw those lemon groves all day until it got too dark to see what I was
shooting at. I imagined myself to be some rough and tough cowboy on the western
frontier on the hunt for giant buffalo or wild turkey. I mostly ended up shooting rusty old coke
cans and cardboard boxes. Anyways, Christmas is a magical time for American
children.
But the true meaning of Christmas is not about shopping,
getting cool gifts, or taking a break from school. The heart and true meaning of Christmas can
only be discovered by looking at the birth of baby Jesus over 2000 years ago
and trying to understand what this means for the millions of Christians around
the world. For them, Christmas is a time to celebrate the wonder of Jesus’ birth.
There are many religions in the world, and there are people in America who have
no religion at all. But there are a few things that almost everybody wishes for
in life, regardless of religion or culture. These things are peace, happiness,
meaning, love and hope. These things are at the heart of Christmas, and it is
these things that create the true “Christmas Spirit.”
Author: Ty Mussack (Program Coordinator at our Orange County Campus)
Taken from our monthly e-Newsletter
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Last Saturday (January 25, 2014), LSI Teacher, Michael An'gileo, invited his students for an authentic Italian Lesson and delicious lunch at Andre's Italian Restaurant in Los Angeles (across from Farmers Market). The students feasted on large portions of spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, garlic bread and gelato. Magnifico! The Italian Lesson included ordering at a real Italian restaurant, for example, "Vorrei un piatto di spaghetti." Everyone left with a full stomach and speaking Italian. Wow, cool activity!
On January 24, eleven
students ended up attending the Griffith Observatory Hike. We all bought a
snack around the Hollywood/Western station and ate while walking up. After
walking up the trail, we arrived at around 3:00pm and 9 students decided to
wait around for the 4:15 show and were able to use their LSI student I.D. card
to get a discount ($5.00). The remaining 9 students toured the exhibits, had
coffee, relaxed on the grass, etc. until the start of the show. Right after the
show, we started back around 5pm, and were able to make it back to
Hollywood/Western Station before dark. Everyone enjoyed the activity very much,
and would like to go again for the exercise and to see a different show.
