Have you met Carmen?

When I started this job 2 months ago, I was still getting to know the staff and students. Walter, one of the staff member who is a work broker said to me one morning ‘ You have got to meet Carmen, I will book an appointment for you to meet her’. I was not sure how I would be of any help to Walter or Carmen but I said yes anyway.  When I met Carmen, she has this warm and the loveliest smile. She was likable and bubbly so it was very easy talking to her.  

According to the NZ Herald back in 2009, New Zealand was ranked the world's most peaceful country. Like many migrants who came to New Zealand, we all have hope and dream. For Carmen, her hope was to create a better future and education for her two sons. At the time, the political and economy in Venezuela was in a critical stake therefore Carmen decided it was time to leave. Leaving the rest of her family behind was not easy but she knows in her heart, it is for the better. She arrived in New Zealand in 2008 with a tourist visa but because of her skills, she was able to secure a position as a Civil CAD Operator in Kerikeri and from there, she was granted a residence visa. She was working there for 2 years then moved to Christchurch for a contract job. Due to the earthquake that happened last year, Carmen and her family moved out of Christchurch for safety reasons.   

Carmen now lives in Wellington where both of her sons attend Massey University. Carmen applied for many jobs and was called for interviews in Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton but none was successful. Why is that? Is it because of the economy? Or what is it? As of today on Seek.com, there are 125 jobs available in Wellington and 964 in New Zealand for Engineering. Surely, there must be SOMETHING.... 

The amazing fact is that Carmen has very limited ENGLISH knowledge before she even arrived in New Zealand. She learned and self taught English herself. Frankly, I do not know many people who are able to do that. Learning a language by yourself takes a lot of patient and motivation and it is different to attending a class. I admire that about Carmen and that has made her stand out from the crowd. She is very self driven and optimistic. As they say...If you have the WILL, there is always the WAY. Carmen has the WILL and is ABLE. Walter meets with Carmen on weekly basis to help and support her in finding a job. We are positive and working hard to get Carmen back in the workforce as soon as possible so she can show off her skills! 

Happy Birthday Maki!

Happy Birthday Maki! :)

Maki is one of our Japanese student....and her birthday was on Saturday. Saki, another Japanese student baked a blueberry cheesecake to share. It was very YUMMY.

Don't be shy is the key

One of the most important tip that I can give to anyone who just started to learn English is.......DON’T BE SHY. Truly.

As we get older, we tend to care more about what the society thinks and sometimes even the closest people to us.  As a result of that, it can really limit our ability to show the world what we are really capable of.

When I first begin to speak English, I struggled alot with the letter "L" and "R" ...I felt it was just impossible! One of the girl that I started making friend with, has a name that involves both L and R in her name. Her name was VALERIE. I could only pronounce it as VA-LE-LIE. Yep, that's exactly how I pronounced it.....rather embarassing really. Here I am making friend and yet I cannot say her name right.

I was very determent to get her name right so here's what I did

• I started pronouncing her name in front of the mirror everyday for the next few weeks
• I picked vocabulary that has the word with L and R in it...so like learn, Laura....etc.

One day, during lunch time I turned to Valerie and correctly pronounced her name! All those self practice in front of the mirror paid off!

So..what am I trying to say? Well, with anything in life, you can't be good at something without repeating it over and over. It takes practice and effort to get things right as well as the right attitude. So here's the formula....

                                  Practice + Effort + Attitude = Good outcome

Try it today :)

Friday the 13th, what's wrong?

We had our usual assembly that was held last Friday 13th. Instead of saying TGIF (Thank god it's friday), we now have 'Oh, it's friday the 13th!'

Did you know that we have had 3 Fridays 13th this year? One in January, April and the last one just gone. Don't believe me? Check the calender.

Here's an interesting fact: People who suffer from a fear of this day is known as 'friggatriskaidekaphobes' ...and I have no idea what is the right way to pronounce that word. Basically, this phobia prevents people from going out.

Here's ONE theory about the origins of Friday 13 (source from the dominion post, 13/7/12)
"In numerology, the number 12 is considered the number of completeness. For example, 12 months of the year, 12 hours of the clock, 12 gods of Olympus and so on...... therefore number 13 was considered irregular......."    very interesting!

Nevertheless, whether it is Friday the 13th or not...that certainly didn't have any impact on our students or staff ! We are all a bunch of happy people...aren't we? :)

                                  We have 2 Japanese students leaving us today. One is a nurse who will go back to Japan to continue with her job. Another one is looking for work around NZ.

 All the very best :)

We also have Naglaa Brikha who is looking to run her own Cafe business, somewhere in Courtenay Place. Please let us know when you have, we are very much looking forward to it!



a walk after class.

We went to the museum this afternoon. Yes...may be that may sound boring to some people but it was actually, very interesting!

We went to an exhibition at the TePapa Museum. The exhibition was called  'Kahu Ora' Living Cloaks which was located on the 4th Floor.

                                                                   Some pictures below!

 

                         

                Contemporary weavers practising a living art form in the Weavers' Studio. This guy was showing us how to make a cloak.....from scratch!

Then we went to 'The Mixing Room'on the 3rd floor. This is an exhibition of refugees who came to New Zealand to tell their extraordinary stories through art, film, poetry, performance and digital media.

This exhibition really had caught my attention. There were stories and photos displayed on the wall as you walk along. There were many stories of refugees from all over the world, most of them very touching. Then I realised how lucky and privilege I am to be in this country. Thank you New Zealand :)

what's your favourite dessert?

Pavlova.     Say what???  that's right. PAV-LO-VA!

What is a Pavlova? It is a meringue dessert with a crisp crust and soft. It is named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. It is believed that the dessert have been created in honour of Anna during her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. How interesting! What's even more interesting is that it has been argued between Russian and NZ for many years as to which country was the creator of this yummy dessert?!     

well well....formal research indicates New Zealand as the source. The Russian probably argues otherwise!

For receipe, you can click on http://www.foodlovers.co.nz/recipes/perfect-pavlova.html

I have tried many different type of Pavlova but I have to say, home made pavlova is the best!

Last sunday, I took my two mates from Auckland to STAWBERRY FARE on Kent Terrace. I was there 2 years ago and I heard their desert was very good. You probably would have guessed what I ordered. Yes, I did order a Pavlova indeed!

                             
About 15 minutes later, comes a giant Pavlova served with kiwifruit, pineapple topped with passionfruit. All for NZ$ 14.50! Definitely worth the money because it was so big!

Anyone tried this dessert or made one? Share your experience:)

Scrabble one more time!

On the third day of 'activities day', I was hoping the weather would be better but I could only hope.

Everyone wanted to stay in the school and so we did.

Well, we ended up playing Hangman for awhile and ended up playing Scrabble once again!

          As I could not find the Scrabble Board...we used the card instead, that was quite fun!

It was also Eri & Yuki last day at school :( They were so lovely and I was just getting to know them. I wish them all the very best and hope to see them sometime in the future!

Coffee Culture: Day 2!

Although the weather was blue but we are feeling cool!


Wellington is famous for its 'coffee culture' , 7 days a week! It is an integral part of its identity as a city. According to NZ History online, the culture started back in 1930s and continue on to today. It's one of the way to catch up with friends by simply asking, 


'Wanna grab a cappa?'


My favorite Cafe would have to be MOJO on Willis Street. They served the best Mocha and Hot chocolate. Why I like that place? Well it is served HOT (some places only have the coffee luke-warm). 


Well part of my job yesterday was taking the International Students to experience this culture as well as playing Scrabble! We ordered Carrot Cake and Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake. I was surprised to find that no one has tried Carrot Cake before! It is my favourite cake of all time! Moist and yummy. Everyone liked it and I must keep in mind that one day I will bake it and bring it to class. I'm pretty good at baking, although carrot cake is not an area of my expertise. Perhaps...this is a good way to challenge myself :)


SCRABBLE TIME! The students were divided into 4 teams and I have mixed all the nationalities so they can't speak their own language with each other! hah! 

                                                           Round 1 @ Expressoholic 

                                                           Few interesting words!

                                                    Round 2 # Wellington Library!




 We had to moved due to limited numbers of cakes ordered at the Cafe.....hmmm. Well at least the library was warmer! 


and......the Winner of the game was.......... Faizal and Motoko! Well done!

Out and about: Day 1

Money. An essential item in our lives. We use money everyday...but do we really know the story behind it apart from how to earn and use it? Well- I certainly don't!

Therefore today, I had a chance to take the students out to see how money works in New Zealand. Where did we go? We went to The Reserve Bank Musuem!

Look at this photo and see if you can guess how much money there is ? and the weight?

                                               (The answer will be reveal at the end of the post)

                                                    
The Curator of the museum, Mark was very helpful. He was an interpreter in Japan for 5 years so he used to speak Japanese fluently. He mentioned as well that he knows what it is like to learn another language as for him, it certainly was not easy. He showed us around the musuem and show us things such as the bank notes that was made years ago, the vault, old coins, the Moniac, etc.

Everyone looks interested!

Thank you for being such a great host that day, Mark :) We certainly know alot more than we did before!

(The answer is to the first picture is
Amount: NZ $ 1 MILLION
Weight:  20 Kilograms)

Did you get that right?

I guess the correct amount and would have got the correct weight if I hadn't change it to 25 KG later on (my first guess was 20 Kg). Mark then said, if you were sitting in exam..your first answer would always be correct therefore to always go with your first instinct. Hmmm...so right. I should have stick to my first answer! Got me wondering now how I did for my exam.......

Want to learn a new language? Take your pick!

• FRENCH?
• JAPANESE?
• RUSSIAN?
• GERMAN?
• MANDARIN?
• SPANISH?
• ITALIAN?

Want to learn a new language? Here's your chance! We are running a FREE LANGUAGE TESTER TRIAL!

You know what they say about first impressions! In this lesson, we will teach you how to introduce yourself, and make your mark.

Where?  :@ ETC- Level 2, 204 Willis St, Wellington, New Zealand

Tuesday, 10 July 2012 6pm-7pm: Chinese Mandarin, Japanese, German, Italian

Thursday, 12 July 2012 6pm-7pm: French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian

RSVP Now! http://www.euroasia.co.nz/free-language-lessons/wellington/