Speaking Circle #5

On Friday, I had lunch around 1pm with my partners Ali, Vickie and Ziyi at a Japenese restaurant on Grand River Called Sushi Ya. It was Ali's first Sushi experience and we tricked him into eating Wasabi which is very hot. We discussed geography and places we've visited around the world. We also talked about driving in general and how it is much easier in Saudi Arabia to get a license than it is in China.

We enjoyed our time because we had great company and amazing food. Our Chinese partners taught us the Chinese food etiquette which is somehow the opposite of the Saudi Arabian food etiquette.

It was easy to talk to one another because we've been doing this for a while. We didn't have any difficulties speaking in English.

Report #4 Hanan Alalwan

Hanan Alalwan

SL class

Ms. Levine

Report #4

3-26-15

Team Names:

1-      Heba alkhamis

2-      Hanan Alalwan

3-      Chenyang

 

           On Thursday26 March, we decided which is my group and I to meet at Tutti Frutti on Grand River because it is a nice place, and the other reason was that Young had no tried the frozen yogurt ever, so that was a good opportunity to him. I was very excepted to know his opinion about the frozen yogurt’s flavor, and the good thing that he liked it, and he told that he will eat it again. During enjoying eating the frozen yogurt; we took about the system educations and the differences between Saudi Arabia and China. The first difference was kind of schools according to gender for example in Saudi Arabia the boys’ schools and girls’ schools are completely separated from each other. That is contrast with Chinese’s schools with gender system, so boys and girls study in the same class and same school. However, the interesting thing that Young told 50 years ago the Chinese system was different which was similar to my country system. Acutely Habe and I were very surprised, and we immediately asked why the Chinese government changed that, but he did not know why because it happened before along time acutely when his grandmother was student. After that I asked him about his language, which is Chinese, if it is difficult language because I want to learn it in the future. Young told that it is very difficult because Chinese language has a lot of words and letters, but the nice thing that most of shape words have the same shape of things for example world “Mountain” when we write in Chinese language, it has mountain shape “山” which is very inserting language. The end of our meeting, Young written our name in his language, and we did his name in Arabic letter that was pleasant.         

   

 

Speaking Circle No. 5

Speaking Circle, 5th Meeting

EAP Speaking Listening

March 25th,  2015

           After several attempt to meet last week , my group's members and me finally met on last Monday. It is nice to see them again. because we had Spring break before two weeks ago, we started our meeting by talking about our activities during that time. I would like to start with Jane trip. She went San Diego, CA with her korean girlfriend. they had such a good time, then they went Chicago.            But the rest of my group were staying in East Lansing. We also talked abut interesting topic which is the hoppy. That  topic made me surprising the whole meeting. I learned something new about my group's members, I learned how we are optimistic people. I can sort Jane as sporty person. She is interested on basketball, swimming, and tennis. She had bad experience with basketball before she came here; that made her gave up of favorite sport, which is basketball. when she was in high school, she represented her school in basketball game ; but she broken her knee at that time.  Colis likes music and singing, and she plays the piano and guitar. She loves playing the guitar because her father was playing guitar to grab her mother's attention  before they get married. Fatima likes to play table tennis.           It was a good day to have these information about my group's member. they are brave and optimistic people because they were losing somethings that they love, but they don't give up.

Thanks,
My group's members: Fatima, Jane, and Colis.
Done by Shaymah Almutairi

Speaking Circle

Chenyang Huang

Speaking Circle

EAP Speaking Listening

March 21th 2015

Spring Break

       This Friday I had an amazing meeting with Hannah and Hebe, unfortunately, Feng is not here, because his passport has some problems and he still in China right now. This meeting is the most interesting one I think, because we shared our great spring break with each other, and there are a lot of funny things.

       Heba went to Cancun with her friends during spring break, and she told us Cancun is the most amazing place she been, and she showed a lot of pictures in Cancun and strongly recommend us to visit there. Although a lot of people told she that Mexico is the most dangerous country in the world, Cancun is very safe. The beach is pretty good, but crowded, and she loves the sunshine in the beach. Also, she told us people in Cancun always drive so fast that you should careful when cross the road, maybe these driver drunk, because Mexican likes drink. Moreover, she found she likes Mexico food so much. She hopes that she can go there again in the future.

       Hannah also went to Orlando with her family, and she saw the launching of rocket in Orlando, it is awesome. She also went to the Universal and Disney World, and she really like the cartoon characters in Magic Kingdom, because she always watched cartoon in her childhood, and she felt excited when she saw the real one. The food in Orlando made her feel impressive is the Turkish food, and she likes the taste of this kind of food.

       I went to Florida with my friends for spring break, but I didn't go to the Universal in Orlando, cause the schedule had a conflicition. I went to the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, there were a lot of cartoon characters, but I just know some of them like Mickey Mouse. At night, we saw the firework at night, it is beautiful. We stayed in Orlando for two days, and then we drove to Miami. In Miami, we ate a lot of great seafood like crab and lobster, and it tasted great. The Miami beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world, but it was not crowded. The last two days, we drove almost four hours to Key West which is the most western land in America. Key West is amazing island I think, and most of the buildings are cabin. There are a lot of special restaurants in Key West, and all of them is not expansive. The most important I want to say is the highway from Miami to Key West, because the landscape on the highway is better than the Miami and Orlando. The highway is above the sea, and there are a lot of small islands are connected by the highway. When you are driving on the highway, the sea is next you, and the sky is blue with some cloud.

       All of us have a great spring break, and now we are ready for our academic classes.

5th circle meeting report

Ali, Faris, Ziyi, Vickie

Speaking/Listening 222-2

Ms. Levine

5th Speaking Circle Meeting Report

March 22, 2015

            On Friday, March 20, my group and I met at Starbucks in Wells Hall. It was the first week of school after spring break, and it was a good chance for us to talk about it. Faris went to Cancun and had fun doing many tourists things such as fishing, and surfing. He also said the weather there was so want and it was so nice to take a break from Michigan winter. Vickie talked about her trip to Orlando, FL. She and almost fifty students from MSU took a bus from East Lansing to Orlando, and it took them around fifteen hours driving. Though they had a lot of fun like visiting Universal Studio. Also, they enjoy the warmth over there. Ziyi visited her friends in Maryland for couple days. She said it was good to see and hang out with them. They did not do something special but relaxing and going out shopping and eating. Finally, it was my turn but there is nothing special about my spring break because I did not go anywhere. I spent my time in East Lansing enjoying the warm days and hanging out with my American friends.

            This meeting was so much fun for all of us because everyone talked about what s/he did and saw. Also, some of us got a brief idea about different places so they could go and visit for their next vacation. I felt we were more relaxed and happy because we just came back from a nice vacation. Though we forgot to take a picture before Ziyi leaves because she has another meeting. The meeting was more than an hour.   

            The meeting went really well. All the group members were so comfortable to speak because now we know each other better. Also, we understood each other easier than the first couple meeting. I think that because we do not have the anxiety of make mistakes anymore in front of each other. I really find those meeting are very helpful for us not just to improve our English, but also to learn how to communicate with other people from different cultures.  

Speaking Circle Meeting 5 Report

Speaking Circle Meeting 5 Report

Abdulrahman Alsafrani

Shouyou Wen

Tianzheng Gao

Chanho Lee

Summary

On Wednesday, March ,18 ,2015, right after our listening and speaking class, we met at the international Center. First of all, we were excited to listen to each other, and what every one did in the spring break. So, we spent all the time taking about the spring break.   To be specific, Lee talked about his trip to Cancun, so he went with his friends, and they had a nice time swimming in the beach and plying Volleyball and other activities. After that, he went to Chicago to meet his father for one day. Then, Sloth told us that he had a lot of fun on Orlando ,and he visited lots of beautiful places, such as Universal World and Disney Land. What is more, I talked about my trip to Orlando, so I really enjoyed with my wife. Also, we visited plenty of amazing places, such as Universal World, Disney Land, Sea World, and other beautiful places. Finally, Frank stayed in East Lansing because his friend came to meet him. They had nice parties, and they went around East Lansing.  

     Respons

Indeed, it was an amazing meeting because everyone was excited to know and tell what happened in the spring break. Moreover, it was a good opportunity to exchange experience, and practice English. I really enjoyed that meeting and experienced many things. Also, I might in the future go to Cancun because Lee recommended it as a good place to have fun and relax. Over all, I was happy to to listen to my members of speaking circle and share experience.  

 Analysis of communication

In class, we decided to meet on Wednesday, March ,18 ,2015. It was easy to communicate, and everyone came on time. In fact, I did not face a serious difficulty speaking only English because my group talked clearly, and I believe that my English language has improved over the time. Also, even if we are from different cultures, I did not have any languages ​​or culture barriers. In fact, sometimes we have some things are in 
 common, like we love to play soccer.

The Brightest Star on the Sky - Burning En...

4th MEETING

Fatima
Shymah

Colas
Jane

Summary: On Wednesday, March ,4 ,2015, right after our listening and speaking class, my group and I met at the International Center. We talked about each one plan of how she will spend the time in Spring break. Jane planned to spend the break in California, where her family’s friends live there, so she can spend some time with them. I did not have a concise plan, but I thought I might go Chicago to visit my friend who invited me many times but I didn't. Colas told to me that Chicago is a danger place. She was in Chicago visiting her friend when a gang of criminal shot people. At this point, Shymah said that all cities in Saudia Arabia are safe. Then she asked whether there are such dangerous places in China or not. Jane told us about an opponent group in west China where they have fought against the government for long time.

Response: I had nice time with my group. They are patient and polite. When we met at beginning I thought there is nothing to talk about, but once we started the time went fast, and one hour went like few minutes. Talking about our different cultures and opinions is a great experience. I learnt many things about China and Saudia Arabia during these meetings. We got know each other more and more with every meeting. Thank you for my great group and I am so sorry of being late in posting my response.

Analysis: Sometimes we face difficulties to explain some words especially when those words are related to our traditions, but usually we try hardly to make them clear by asking for help. And because two of us are Arabic speakers and two are Chinese, so we can use this help to translate words. Sometimes, we use pictures. But if we failed, we might use a dictionary.

Ad Campaign Presentation videos

Ad Campaign Presentation Heba Fatima Frankie Chan Ho

Ad Campaign Presentation Ali Abdulrahman Young Feng

Ad Campaign Presentation Hanan Shaymah Qiqi Jane

Ad Campaign Presentation Faris Sloth Colas Ziyi

4th Speaking Circle

Hello, all of you,

    This is my turn to share our group's speaking circle. We met on Wednesday 4, March, 2015 at a cafe that closes to campus.  We chose today because everyone has plans from this Friday. 

    During this time, we talked about our spring break plans. Faris is going to Cancun with his friends, I saw the pictures that my friends sent to me before, it is an amazing place to visit. Ali is not sure where he will go, but it is also a good idea to stay in Lansing for relax. Qiqi will go to Florida with her friends, they are going to drive there. It will be a long trip, but I think they will have fun. I will go back to Maryland for visiting my uncle and aunt. Everyone has a nice spring break plan.

   Beside these, we also talked about the traditional festivals in China and Saudi Arabia. As we know, Spring Festival is the most important festival for Chinese. We eat dumpling, and the youth get money from the older, it is called 'red packet' or 'lucky money', that means lucky and new year wishes. Tomorrow is a traditional festival for Chinese, too. It is called Lantern Festival, we eat rice dumpling and a big meal. These two festivals are both important to Chinese. For Saudi Arabia, I heard from Ali and Faris about their festival called Eid Festival. They separate that day in two twelve hours. First twelve hours, nobody eat meal, second twelve hours, people eat roast lamb and celebrate the festival together. It was a fun talking today, we knew the different cultures in China and Saudi Arabia. 

    Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe spring break! Thank you all!

3rd circle meeting

        At the beginning of the blog, I have to apologize for my late work, because the circle meeting of our group have done in last Wednesday. That is my fault and I am so sorry to our group members.
        In that time of circle meeting last week, we have told about our favorite food and somethings that not very specific in the international center. In general, we have chatted almost one hour and enjoy to ate our late lunch. Because we were eating at that time, we did not told a lot of information in our circle meeting.
       To talk about what kind of food we like the best, I think we have to mention Chinese food and Japanese food. In a word, all of us like to eat Chinese food. China is a country that including a lot of provinces(like states), and the type of food are different also. For instance, Sichuan food(peppery), Lu cuisine(fragrant), Huaiyang cuisine(sweet but light), and Yue cuisine(abundant) are the most typical kinds of Chinese food. Beside Chinese food, Lee would like to eat Korean food and Japanese food, Abdulrahman also like Arabic food, Korean food and Indian food(so many kinds right?), and Wen like Japanese food too. For me, I would like Chinese food and Japanese food, just as same as Wen.
        Obviously, Japanese food is the another kind of food we like (especially Sushi). For my experience, I did not like the Japanese row food until I have really visited this country because the row food in Japan is so fresh that would not makes me boom(I am the person who do not like eat the food with strange smelling ).
         We have also told a lot of things that about our daily life, just like what we have done in our free time or the Spring Festival in China, but it was too short and not specific, thus I do not write it on this blog. In general, we have spent an interesting time in this circle meeting at that time, and we really enjoy this activity.
         The picture below is about our circle meeting.

Spring Break

The exciting thing is the spring break for our school is this Friday! Everybody can have a week and extra four days as weekends for resting and traveling. Today I just had a great conversation with my speaking circle group. They shared with me their plans for spring break. Lee is going to Cancun on Friday. His trip will be fantastic because he only spend 900 bucks for everything includes airplane and hotel. I can imagine how happy he will be with the awesome sunny days and the beautiful beach. I hope he can find what he looks for in Cancun. Abdu and Sloth are going to Orlando. They didn't know they are going to the same place for this break, so it's a coincident. Both of them plan to enjoy the nice weather instead of the snow in Lansing. I believe they will have their best break in Universal Studio and the Disney Land. I have been to Orlando for once and even now I still can't forget how crazy the trip was. The roller coasters in Universal Studio made me laugh and scream till I felt my throat was burnt. The Disney Land had my entire childhood. I almost cried when I saw characters like Mickey and Snow White. Even I am an adult, those things are still have their magic to make me act like a child. For me, I plan to stay here for the whole spring break. My friend from Los Angelos will be here at Saturday and I will plan a welcome party for him. I also plan to compose some music with my band members because they also plan to stay. I believe after this spring break, our band will have a fabulous performance. After the painful midterm week, we finally can have sometime to do what ever we want. I hope everyone has a great spring break and if you like or know my band, please be prepared for our next performance. We won't disappoint you!

Third time Speaking Circle

Hi everyone,
Our group made our third time meeting in MSU art museum. This is my favorite meeting time so far.


There were three galleries open on that day which are "Future Returns: Contemporary art from

China", "Future city: Lansing" and "Fat women life". In Chinese Art session, we talked a lot about the arts. For instance, there is a art work about called "Notes from Reading". The artist uses antonyms in Chinese which were "real" and "fake" to compare with the process of sharping a knife to illustrate the violent nature of the blade and the illusory nature of the words. The more sharping of the knife, the more clear you can read the words. This is really hard to understand but I can read the Chinese introduction of this so that I can learn the artist mind. So I explained it to Fatima, she listened carefully and fall in love with this great work suddenly like me. Based on this, we talked about our views on arts and what kind of style we like. And also, there are some arts based on Chinese history such as the work called "the Silk Road". So Colas and I told our Chinese prosperous history to our friends that in the ancient time, Chinese Silk is the most representative monument that shows the cultural communication around the world during that time. Colas and I learned a lot from this, because this was our first time to talk about our such a deep history to others, even though we stopped a lot of times to check our electronic dictionary, we enjoyed in this special experience.


In a word, all of us really enjoyed this event. This helps us become closer to talk a lot in a interesting

and enjoyable way. We will keep paying our attention on the events which will be happened in next

month!

3rd speaking circle

Heba
Feng
Hanan
Young

Summary: On Friday, we meet at Shusiya restaurant on Grand River. It is a Japanese restaurant. Young has class around 12pm until 2:30pm, so we ate lunch at 2:40pm. Heba and Hanan got there earlier, however me and me and Young went there kind of late, we were really hungry at that time. It was a great time to eat lunch there.

Response: We were really do not know which restaurant to choose at the begining, and later on Heba made a descion that we were going to meet at a Japanese restaurant. The food there were really good, we enjoyed, and we talked about the food we eat in our own country, Saudi people usually eat food that kind of similar as China, it is mixed by meet and patato and rice. Chinese people's main food is depended on which  region you come from, one is noodles another one is rice but usually rice is the most common one.

Anaylsis: We were really happy to share the staff from another country, and we had this oppotunity that I have chance to know about Saudi people's habbits, Japanese restaurant also is a good pick for all of us, we talked, dicussed, and we know more about each other.

3rd Speaking Circle

Faris
Ali
Qiqi
Ziyi


Summary: Today, me and my speaking circle group went to a Korean restaurant on Grand River for lunch. Ali drove me there while our Chinese friends walked. We spent about an hour and a half there. Qiqi and Ziyi bought their Chinese friend Emma who was fun to meet. We were supposed to meet there at 1 but we all got there 10 minutes later which was a funny coincidence.

Response: We enjoyed our time there, not to mention the food. It was my first time eating at a Korean restaurant. Ali & Qiqi ordered a spicy soup which they couldn't handle. Ali and I learned how to use the chopsticks properly. We also discussed T.V. shows that we liked and revealed our plans for Spring Break.

Analysis: We understood one another while speaking English. We had no difficulties or what so ever. We teached each other how to say "Thank you & welcome" in Arabic and Chinese. It was tough for them to pronounce some Arabic letters, but we understand why.