NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

CESL
In this issue:
Introduction Go Teacher Birthdays! Events Recap October Events Sweater Weather Go Teacher Experiences o My Summer Vacation
Paola Maldonado

The mission of the Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) at the University of Kentucky is to provide comprehensive English language instruction for non-native English speakers in a university setting. At the Center for ESL, we assist students in achieving language proficiency goals for academic, professional, and social purposes through multi-level language instruction. The Center for ESL is dedicated to promoting diversity and to providing reciprocal cultural enrichment opportunities to the University, the community, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Go Teacher Birthdays!
September
Veronica Padilla Anita Daniela Lopez Patty Salazar Lourdes Llerena Tania Rocio September 15 September 25 September 25 September 27 September 29

o Education is the Key to Success

Javier Andrande

o My Stay in Lexington, Kentucky

Luisa Angelica Martinez

o Learning is Not Only inside the Classroom

Yoconda Franco

October
Susy Gomez October 1

READ ABOUT THE LEXINGTON THRILLER PARADE ON PAGE 3!

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

EVENTS RECAP
Fall Festival at Larchmont Farm
September 14, 2013

Thanks to Karen Papp for her gracious hospitality!

Festival Latino de Lexington 2013

September 21, 2013

Great performance, Go Teacher! Check out the recording on the CESL website.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

EVENTS Halloween Costume Contest FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013

UK STUDENT CENTER

Lexington Thriller Parade

Zombies return to haunt downtown Lexington once again! Get down downtown as we celebrate Halloween by recreating Michael Jacksons groundbreaking video for Thriller. Presented by Lexington Parks & Recreation, Mecca Live Studio and WRFL, the parade will start at the Kentucky Theater and proceed along Main Street ending at Mill Street. The dance will occur repeatedly along the route followed by a Halloween parade.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013

7:00PM | DOWNTOWN LEXINGTON

Ecuadorian National Coat of Arms Day OCTOBER 31, 2013

+ MORE EVENTS POSTED ON THE GO TEACHER FACEBOOK GROUP!

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

Sweater Weather
Monthly Average Temperature

September High: 79F Low: 58F

October High: 68F Low: 47F

Its always a good idea to keep a small umbrella with you! Christy Ganchero (CESL Office Assistant)

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

MY SUMMER VACATION
BY PAOLA MALDONADO I had never been more excited and anxious in my life. I had been waiting for a long time to finish my summer classes at the University of Kentucky. The reason was that my friends and I had planned to visit some cities in the United States. We had been planning to go to those wonderful places since we had arrived in Lexington on May twenty-ninth. Personally, I had a big dream when I was a little girl; it was to visit New York City and the Statue of Liberty. I would never have imagined that my dream would come true. Now, I can tell you about my amazing summer vacation. I had the great opportunity to be in many places such as Washington DC, New Jersey, and New York. My first destination was Washington DC; however, to get to this city, I traveled by bus for many long hours. While I was traveling on the Greyhound bus, it went from Lexington to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Columbus, Columbus to Pittsburg, and finally from Pittsburg to Fredericksburg. I had a friend who was waiting for me in Fredericksburg and he drove me to Washington in his car. When we arrived in Washington, the first image that my eyes saw was the US Capitol. I was shocked; I could not believe that I was here in front of one of the principal attractions in Washington. Next, we decided to walk around the main streets. While we were walking, we saw the Washington Monument which looks like a needle. At the same time, we realized that the Lincoln Memorial was in front of us. We walked over there, and inside it was the Abraham Lincoln monument. It was so big that all the people seemed like ants near him. After that, we kept walking without a

September & October 2013

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

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My Summer Vacation, Paola Maldonado (continued) destination and suddenly we saw a lot of people who were taking many pictures near a wide black wall. This wall was the Vietnam War Memorial where all the names of those who died in the Vietnam War are inscribed. Finally, we went to our main objective which was the White House; however, before going to this place, we reached the World War II Memorial. Even though our trip was so fast, we enjoyed learning about these places. We took a hundreds of pictures in each place. We had a lot of fun in Washington, but our next target was New Jersey. Despite its beautiful landscape, we did not spend a long time here. Nevertheless, we could not go to another place without trying a delicious Ecuadorian meal. My friend knew an Ecuadorian restaurant called Cejitas, so he invited me to eat there. My first reaction was of pure happiness because I had not eaten anything from my country since I moved to Lexington. In fact, I ate a delicious arroz con estofado de pollo, rice with chicken stew, and my friend ate an encebollado, a traditional coastal dish. After we ate these two delicious meals, we felt full and pleased because of the food. I loved eating my food again. Last but not least, my final trip that was not only thrilling but also tiring. It was in New York City; the worlds capital and the city that never sleeps. I felt that this last destination was thrilling because I visited a lot of places in New York City such as the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero (9/11 Memorial), Times Square, Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building, and Madison Square Garden. Also, it was tiring because we did not stop walking for ten hours from morning to midnight. In conclusion, all of these places that I had the great opportunity to visit like Washington, New Jersey and New York were, are, and will be the most important and remarkable experiences in my whole life. I will always keep them in my heart. I love living in the United States, but I would also like to go back to Ecuador.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

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EDUCATION IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

BY JAVIER ANDRADE A few years ago, education in Ecuador was not working as it should have been. Teachers used to go late to class, some of them did not even go to class, they were not motivated, and they did not know the correct strategies and methodology to teach students. They did not care about education because the government did not invest enough money in order to improve education.

Now, this has changed for the better thanks to President Rafael Correa Delgado of Ecuador who took control of this situation because he realized that the big problem of unemployment and poverty in Ecuador was due to a lack of education. Nowadays the government is investing millions of dollars in education. He is not working alone; SENESCYT is responsible for finding solutions and strategies to improve education. They have many programs to train teachers to acquire and develop their knowledge in order to contribute to education.

One of those programs is GO TEACHER for English teachers or for those who arent English teachers but know English and want to help the country succeed. That is true in my case. I am an engineer originally. I am not and English Teacher, but I have studied English for three years with native English speakers in particular courses. Also I have taught English in a private school for ten years. These requirements gave me the opportunity to apply for the Go Teacher Program and receive a scholarship.

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Education is the Key to Success, Javier Andrade (continued) Now, I am here at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, improving my English, learning from other cultures, learning new strategies, methods and techniques to become a better teacher.

I remember the first day when I arrived at Blue Grass Airport, tired of the long hours of flying from Guayaquil, Ecuador and happy at the same time because my dream was coming true. As soon as I got off the plane, I met Kate and Jason who were waiting for me at the airport and driving me to my new house for seven months.

I was so happy to meet these nice and friendly people who were always worried about our needs. In fact, people in Lexington are the nicest and friendliest people I have ever met. I also met Yanet Perez and other program assistants who were always near to take us to the different programs and tours that Go Teacher and UK prepared for us.

The first few days they took us to look around the city and know more about their culture and their traditions. They also showed us the way to go to the different places downtown and how to take the bus in case we needed to go somewhere. These amazing people were our tour guides during those days before starting class.

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Education is the Key to Success, Javier Andrade (continued) After knowing more about the city, it was time to go to the University of Kentucky and look at the different departments and places inside UKs campus. We visited the Patterson Office Tower, the Young Library, the classrooms, and also the Kentucky Clinic in case of a medical emergency.

When the time had come to begin classes, all the Ecuadorians were excited and very happy to represent Ecuador and ready to learn new strategies, methods, and techniques to improve our English skills. We are eager to teach this knowledge to our students in Ecuador to make them more competitive. That way they can face the challenges from the world today.

Our classes were very interesting; we made a lot of friends from around the world, and we shared our Ecuadorian culture, too. I felt so proud and happy when I talked about Ecuador to my new foreign friends from Iraq, Oman, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China, Palestine, Japan, and Venezuela. Some of them didnt know anything about Ecuador, but I thought it was my responsibility to let them know about this amazing South American country.

There were always tertulia sessions every Friday to let us know about any important event or to communicate things that SENESCYT and GO TEACHER wanted us to know about. It was also a time to share and learn more about each other as Ecuadorians during the birthday celebration every end of the month.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

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Education is the Key to Success, Javier Andrade (continued) There were other important events in which we had the opportunity to teach Ecuadorian tradition and culture. At the same time it was a good chance to practice English, and learn more about American culture and traditions as well. I will share these experiences with my students in Ecuador to let them know more about these beautiful countries, and in this way encourage them to love Ecuador, and also motivate them to learn English because it is important if they want to travel someday or if they want to get a good job.

We also visited many prestigious schools in Kentucky and learned about the education systems they have. These education processes let students show and develop their potential and skills in the different subjects according to the

students ability. They are more self-confident doing what they know and what they like to do.

Finally, I must say that living here in Lexington has been the most amazing and grateful experience of my life because I have learned many things about tradition,

culture, and education, and also I had the opportunity to travel and visit many places in the USA. I went to New York City, Niagara Falls, Chicago, and other cities close to Lexington like Louisville and Cincinnati. I will never forget the amazing experience that was living in the USA.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

MY STAY IN LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY

BY LUISA ANGELICA MARTINEZ

Who said that dreams dont come true? Life has given me one of the most wonderful gifts that happen only in my dreams. Living in Lexington has been one of the best experiences in my life because I have had the opportunity to learn many things, visit some wonderful places and meet many new friends. The purpose of this scholarship is to acquire more knowledge to improve our teaching and language ability. I am very happy because every single day I receive the benefits of every opportunity that my ESL and TESOL courses at the University of Kentucky provide to Ecuadorian teachers to achieve our educative and professional goals. For example, we visit different kinds of schools, meet and interact with English speaking partners, practice speaking and listening, and also attend different events. These activities have helped us to interact in an English environment and improve our English level. Lexington is a wonderful place full of green areas. In this place I have attended different events like the Renaissance and Latino festivals. They have allowed me to talk with English speakers and feel confident about my English level. Besides that, I had the opportunity to visit Cincinnati, Washington DC and New York. It was an incredible and amazing experience because I knew them only in movies, but I was actually there - like a wonderful and exciting dream that came true.

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My Stay in Lexington, Kentucky, Luisa Angelica Martinez (continued) Finally, making new friends is another valuable experience. I met nice people; they are so kind and friendly. I have shared enjoyable times with them, created a nice friendship, and they have been with me in every moment. Now they are my family here and when I go back to my country I hope to continue our friendship. In conclusion, living in Lexington has given me the opportunity to meet nice friends from around the world, improve my English language skills, and to know a new culture and interact in a real English environment.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

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LEARNING IS NOT ONLY INSIDE THE CLASSROOMS

BY YOCONDA FRANCO When I boarded the train, I never imagined it would be so different from what I am accustomed to. The days in Lexington are so significant and unforgettable for me for three reasons that I will never forget because they include my friends, the places I have been, and the knowledge I have gained. I have had the pleasure of meeting many friends from different places with whom I can practice my speaking. Also, I have learned a little more about the culture of each of them. We have shared experiences, sorrows, and happiness here in Lexington. Learning also occurs through social interaction. I have had the opportunity to visit many places to learn more about education and culture in the United States. I had a big surprise when I visited a high school and I found the Ecuadorian Flag. I also had the opportunity to take a trip to New York. It was a relaxing time. I fulfilled a dream that I never thought would become true. Visiting new places is another opportunity to practice English.

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Learning is Not Only inside the Classroom, Yoconda Franco (continued) Another reason that Lexington will be unforgettable is the knowledge that I have acquired in the classroom. This knowledge will be put to good use in Ecuador and reproduced for my students. Our teachers have planted seeds within each of us. All the experiences inside the classroom, during each school visit, or the things shared with my friends can hardly be erased from my mind. In each of these experiences is something to learn. Finally, the learning that you receive in the environment is more important than that inside the classroom.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 NEWSLETTER

CENTER FOR ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

The link to Go Teacher Kentuckys Facebook group is on the website!

Center for English as a Second Language University of Kentucky 1673 Patterson Office Tower Telephone: (859) 257-7003 Website: http://esl.as.uky.edu