How to deal with homesickness..

How long have you been staying in America? Have you experienced homesickness recently? I’m sure that all of you international students in the United States have suffered from homesickness. Working or studying in a foreign country can be an exciting experience. But after several months of being away from home, it’s possible to become homesick. We keep thinking about family, home-cooked food, home town and friends, and the good old days!~

Especially when you are not feeling well, you can be easily homesick. Due to a bad cold, I was also in the bad mood and homesickness for the past 5 days. It seems that International students feel easily lonely and homesick when they feel down in a foreign country.   

Here are some tips for dealing with homesickness:

First of all, “Meet new people!”

Second, “Keep yourself busy!”

Third, “Stay in Touch!”

Fourth, “Taste food from your country!”

Last, “Keep a positive attitude!”

First,“Meet new people!” 
Say “Hello” and smile. That’s a very simple way of making friends! Enjoy making friends in a foreign country!

My daughter said to me one day, “Mom! American teenagers are not friendly. Maybe they don’t like people from different countries." However, I still remember during the international students orientation in FDU last year, the dean said, “American students say that international students are not friendly. Maybe they don’t like us!” I was surprised to hear that. So, I want to say to international students, “Don’t be afraid to say Hi~ and smile to people you run into on campus. That is the easiest way to show you’re friendly!~”

Second, Keep yourself busy!
Enjoy learning something new!

Channel your energy into something that makes you happy. Go out and do something new! Enroll in a fitness center! Take group classes in the gym. You can also go to a nearest park to walk or jog. Exercise helps depression and reduces stress levels. There are so many activities that you can do out there. Remember to keep yourself busy~

Third, Stay in touch with your family and friends in your home country.
Just think about how lucky we are to live in the 21^st century. It’s very convenient these days to stay connected with family and friends regardless of location and time. You can do Facebook and Twitter or internet chatting via MSN messenger or exchange emails. Stay in touch with people in your home town all the time. In this way, you can be relieved to know that you are still a part of their lives. Just also keep in mind that they do miss you too and they care and love you!

Fourth, Eat food from your country.
In the United States, you can find many international restaurants, so you can go out for lunch or dinner with your friends who have the same ethnic background as you. Having a good time over some familiar food that you used to eat in your home town will make you feel more relaxed and comfortable. It will definitely help to reduce your homesickness.

Fifth, Keep a positive attitude!
Nobody can really help you but yourself when you feel down. People can cheer you up but not all the time. So you need to decide to stay strong. Remember that even if you’re far from home, you are always a friend and a family to people in your country. Focus on your career and study goals. Remind yourself often why you came to America. It will help you stay grounded. Think that you are just staying here temporarily for your study and your career! You will go back home sooner or later! Take your experience as self-improvement. It’s part of who you are and no matter what life has to go on.

Does age really matter in language education?

The relationship between Age and

Second Language Acquisition

As I discussed in my previous article, (see my previous post,
How to pronounce English [L] and [R] better? ) “the earlier, the better!” in terms of learning a foreign language. Therefore, I would like to talk about why early childhood English education is so effective.

 

<The earlier, the better pronunciation!>

Age has often been considered a major, if not the primary, factor determining success in learning a second or foreign language. Children are generally considered capable of acquiring a new language rapidly and with little effort, whereas adults are believed to be doomed to failure.

There are some universal ideas about how children learn second languages. For example, Children learn second languages quickly and easily. And, the younger the child, the more skilled in acquiring second language. Also, all children learn second language in the same way. I want to know if this widely held belief can be proved by theoretical background.

Actually, while I have been observing my children, I have found big difference in their second language acquisition. In case of the second kid who came to America at the age of 6, she has a native-like accent only one year after she was exposed to English only speaking environment. However, my first kid still has Korean accent in speaking English since he came to America around his puberty age.

The speed of improvement in second language acquisition was miracle for my younger child. So, I became curious: What is the role of age in learning a second language? While I was reviewing many literatures, I got a general idea about the relationship between age and second language acquisition. Even though pronunciation of a language is not by any means the sole criterion for acquisition, nor is really the most important one, I cannot overlook the advantage of younger group in learning phonology because it is hard to change an accent that is already stuck after a certain age. So, I strongly feel that it would be much easier to pick up a native-like accent at early stage of development, but the other factors in learning English are not affected by age.

Most discussions about age and acquisition center on the question of whether there is a critical period for language acquisition. A biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire is not defined clearly. The classic argument is that a critical point for second language acquisition occurs around puberty, beyond which people seem to be relatively incapable of acquiring a second language. This has led some to assume, incorrectly, that by the age of twelve or thirteen you are “over the hill” when it come to the possibility of successful second language learning. Such an assumption must be viewed in the light of what it really means to be “successful” in learning a second language, and particularly the role of accent as a component of success.

There is one very important factor worth noting when we talk about the age difference. Practically it is very difficult to find an adult second language learner who has no previous exposure to the target language and is placed in the natural language environments. Adults, somehow, have previous experiences when they are ready to be placed in natural communicative settings for the target language. So, almost all the popular belief are based on the observation of the difference of achievement between adults who have received formal or informal instruction on second language and the children who are simply placed in the natural language environment without previous, perhaps distorted, non-communicative second language input.

<A natural communicative environment is important for language learning.>

The decrease of proficiency in learning foreign languages has to be blamed on something else. The conditions of exposure between children and adults are very different. Children go to school using the target language and adults can only work on what their limited language skills allow with a limited exposure to the second language. The older you are the more the first language input your get. The efficiency of young and adults depends on how dominant the target language is, immigrants who arrive younger had greater grammatical abilities in second language but also lower abilities in the first language. This starts to underlie the fact that children don’t have greater language learning abilities.  This case shows prepubescent children may attain high levels of proficiency in their second language only at the expense of their first language and that older learners tend to retain native-like proficiency in the first language at the expense of their second language.

Reviewing some research on age and accent acquisition, I think that there is a powerful evidence of critical period for accent. People who have less than perfect pronunciation but who also have magnificent and fluent control of a second language, control that can even exceed that of many native speakers.  Brown (2000) claimed “Henry Kissinger effect” in honor of the former U.S. Secretary of State whose German accent is so noticeable yet who is clearly more eloquent than the large majority of native speakers of American English. The acquisition of the communicative and functional purposes of language is, in most circumstance, far more important that a perfect native accent. Therefore, the more important thing in terms of learning a foreign language is the natural communicative environment for the target language than early language education if the pronunciation issue is not raised.

          

References

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of Language Learning And Teaching.

In case of doing outstide activities, check the time and temperature in U.S.

Check the time and temperature when you do outside activities in the United States nowadays. With the advent of autumn, the days become shorter and the temperature range gets wider.

 The galaxy saved my life…~~~

Every Saturday morning, I go to the Saddle River County Park which is about 15 minutes away from my place by car. There is a multi-use bicycle-pedestrian path: This bike and pedestrian path is approximately 6 miles in length. I like to power walk or jog on this path way. There are three ponds, tree shaded picnic areas, pavilions, playgrounds, tennis courts and athletic fields accessible along the path. We run into people in the road several times, and each crossroad shows us a different scene. Therefore, we can never be bored in the path trail.  

Today, I went there in the late afternoon. Holly and I walked, listening to music or chatting as usual. Many people passed us by, biking, roller-skating, jogging, and walking, passed us by. We also found many people in the play ground and park along the trail. We stopped walking twice to take a rest in the picnic area.

We didn’t care how long it took. (Actually, three hours had already passed…)

Also, we didn’t realized that it was already growing dark. All of a sudden, we were terrified because we were in total darkness. Besides, the cry of unknown animasl from the forest at night was horrific. My mind went blank except for thinking about running toward the exit. Needless to say, it was so scary to find ourselves in the middle of the forest with no light and people around. I couldn’t believe that the people around us had disappeared at the blink of an eye.

There was only one possible way to reach the place where I parked my car. The sign post told us that we had approximately 1.2 miles left to get to the parking lot. I even thought to myself that I might call 911 if we faced a stranger,were threatened by animals or got lost. We wished we had a flash light at least...

An idea just came across my mind at that moment. We had a Galaxy and Blackberry. I had Holly click the market menu and download a flash light for free. Wow… It’s a perfect flash light! We were running and running in the beam of the flash light… Oh my god… The Galaxy was running out of the battery… We tried to purchase the flash light through the Blackberry, but all the effort was in vain due to the lack of a memory card.. We had to run as fast as we could. In the end, the battery was totally dead when we had 0.3 miles away to reach the parking lot. It was a moment of panic itself when we ran through underpass without light. When we managed to get to the car, we almost collapsed because our legs were trembling severely out of exhaustion. We found out that our clothes were thoroughly soaked with sweat after we composed ourselves in the car. It meant that we were rushing madly at full speed. We laughed a lot, pointing at each other because we looked so silly~~~ All the stress seemed to be gone…

Looking back on this horrible experience, I got a good lesson that I have to check the time as well as the weather in the event of outdoor activities at that change of seasons. Actually, the days are getting shorter nowadays. I wasn’t careful enough to check it. Oh! One more thing, I must carry the smart phone with me at all times. Without the Galaxy, what on earth was it possible to get through this situation? I doubt it. It was a moment for me not to regret spending so much money for the internet phone.

Anyway, I cannot help but promise Holly to exchange the stupid Blackberry with a new I-phone 4 before Halloween day comes, just in case.(At least, she will be able to use the I-phone as a flash light!~~) She turns out to be a main beneficiary from this happening.

Movie “Connected”: Autoblogography about love, death & technology

Movie “Connected”: Autoblogography about love, death & technology

 I participated in a Marshall McLuhan Centenary Symposium Fordham University’s Mcnally Auditorium on September 25. There was a preview screening of “Connected” (to be released in October, 2011), a new film by Tiffany Shlain, an American filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards, and a panel discussion among media professionals followed after watching the movie.

I took my daughter, Holly, who just turned 17 years old to the symposium. It’s because I thought it would be a great opportunity for her to think about how media have changed the way we lead our daily lives. Before going there, I explained about some famous aphorisms, “The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village” and “The medium is the message.” by Marshall McLuhan. She seemed to understand that the medium has more impact than the substance of what is said, shown or written.

It was so funny that Mr. McLuhan, a metaphysician of the media, personally expressed the view that “we are fools to use radio and television in the modern world.” He added: “Only madmen would use radio and TV if they know the consequences.” In the entire movie, Tiffany, the narrator kept saying, “The more connected, the greater consequences would come.” by exemplifying World War I & II. His famous quote was proved and still holds good even after more than 40 years have passed. Tiffany even declared 21st century is the era of “Interdependence” not “Independence”. (It was ironical for me to reflect that I was so impressed by how American people weighed the value of “Independence” in their relationship and career when I first came to America. I had to experience cultural shock based on individualistic culture because I grew up totally under the environment of collectivistic society (high definition, high context) and got used to being dependent on each other. )

The movie, Connected started from Tiffany’s personal memoir about her father, Leonard Shlain, once her super hero, surgeon and author died of brain cancer and elaborately wove her delivery of second child while talking about the development of technology and media has changed the way of connection and reorganize the way of communication between people, societies, and countries. The movie was partly a portrait of her life and our times of 21^st century through the introduction of new medium such as emails, internet chatting, facebook, and twitter via smart phones beyond the limitation of time and space. In addition, all the graphics and images of being connected through new media were expressed amazingly in the movie. Had it included various storytelling episodes regarding the development of media in addition to her own memory of her father, it would have more gotten into the public, though.

         

Actually, I had a personal experience of being into facebook for about 8 months. I found myself addicted to the smart phone in order to check all the updated posts and respond to them. It was just like teenagers’ addictive properties toward personal electronic carriers such as MP3, I-pad, I-pot, I-phone and so on. I used to blame Holly for being distracted by unnecessary things while doing her homework. For example, when she is doing her homework, she’s texting her friends, checking her face book, surfing web-sites, or chatting through MSN service via her cellular phone. I’ve found that she looks irritated when she forgets to carry her blackberry.

However, my case went farther than hers. I did facebook even while sleeping. (I mean my obsession with facebook was excessive for a while.)  I’ve realized that this kind of obsessive compulsive behavior attached to mobile carriers can be easily found regardless of generation once bitten by the bug of SNS. It has been a month since I blocked my facebook wall posting. Being connected with people beyond the barriers of time and space was awesome, but it also hindered my life and my relationship here just at present. It’s ironical to find out that connecting with people in the virtual activities and communication may isolate or disconnect people who I have relationship with in real life. At the end of the movie, Tiffany also asked to herself, “Is connecting widely blocking connecting deeply?” It reminded me of Web 2.0 Suicide Machine” that allows users to permanently delete their accounts from social networking sites such as Facebook Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn. “When you make 5,000 fake virtual friends, you’ll lose your true 50 friends!” is its catchy phrase.

Actually, I was looking forward to some analysis or reflection about some side effect of new media in terms of being connected in the movie, but only it shows the phenomenon about being connected in the image of global village that McLuhan predicted about a half century ago and doesn’t go in depth while touching her personal stories regarding technology, She wanted to talk more about love through the experience of her father’s death and her child’s birth interwoven with the development of technology.

Therefore, in the academic point of view, the movie just scratched the surface of the issue, “Being connected through the internet,” and in the view point of public interest, the movie was not really attractive due to lack of dramatic stories related. In other words, to the scholars, it seems to be rather superficial, and to the public it sounds to be less fun. However, Holly simply replied to me, “Wow… It was so fun!~” when I asked directly, “How was it?”

During the panel discussion, it was exciting to listen to some panelists who stated their controversial views about the movie and the situation that new media caused. Also, we had active discussion between the audience and the panelists. Most of all, I was happy that the panelists and the audience applauded Holly when she spoke about her opinion that “the more connected may bring about the more controlled. “ It was definitely a good education for her to get a food for thought about the environment that media and technology have influence on. Actually she got a chance to think about that “media do matter!”

                                                                        

Connected... Marshall McLuhan centernary symposium

        

       I’m sure that all of you would be familiar with the sentence, “The medium is the message!” by Marshall McLuhan. He also said, “The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village” Needless to say, it is amazing that he predicted how new media would have transformed the way we live our daily lives about 30 years ago even before any technology related the internet invented. I think technology itself won’t maintain neutrality anymore. I feel like as if I have proved his words trustworthy not through witness but through real experience. It’s because I’m having the galaxy phone on my right hand and net-book on my lap all the time. “Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all?” The narration in the movie,  “Connected”, seems to talk about my life. I bet all of you guys are on the same page.~~^^ I’m going to see the preview screening of Connected, which is one of programs of “A Marshall McLuhan centenary symposium”  in Fordham University this Sunday. The panel discussion among media professionals will be followed after the movie prescreening. I’m looking forward to it. “Connected” will be released in October, in America. I’m not sure when it begins screening in Korea, though. However, I can highly recommend it to you! )

What is the purpose of learning English?

 I remember that one of my American friends said,
"Susan, if you pronounce [L] and [R] clearly, your English would be much better!” Even when I learned in a language center, I asked one of my instructors to give me a simple tip for the [R] sound. He said, "Imagine when you are really angry, and say "roar" from just like an angry lion.    

It was about 10 years ago. Nowadays, I’ve realized that my strong Korean accent never will disappear no matter what, which means English is my second language and I was exposed to learn how to speak English after the puberty period. Eventually, I came to cherish my Korean accent in English. It’s because I realized that my Korean accent tells my identity to American people as long as I speak English grammatically perfect and my word choice is classy.


The purpose of learning English as international students is not to speak like English native speakers but to communicate with American people or people from different countries. However, it cannot be over emphasized to learn to pronounce correctly in the beginning of learning English, which will affect the entire English learning process.

                                  

                     <how to pronounce the sound of [l] and [r] correctly?>

 However, you should make an effort to gain good pronunciation skills as much as you could even though you cannot speak just like English native speakers. Now, I I am able to pronounce [L] and [R] sound much better.


Just practice and practice!!!

American Dining Etiquette

How to Prepare for Dinning Interview?

When I heard from my friend that her daughter had an interview over the meal in the restaurant, I wondered why employers wanted to interview candidates in that public place instead of their office. Besides, I had doubts whether interviewing while eating could be an earnest job interview to evaluate candidate’s potential effectively. I was also interested in what an appropriate dining etiquette would be in the business setting. Based on my earlier mentioned concerns, I was naturally led to research more about dining interview and came to realize that it is one of the most widely- used meeting formats in this hospitality industry. Needless to say, job seekers should learn dining etiquette as well as establish dining interview strategy in advance.

<Dining etiquette is important in business setting>

                           

Nowadays, many employers are more likely to conduct the second or third round interviews in restaurants. It is because spending something over meals would be natural way to predict with confidence how potential employees react in a specific situation. Therefore, prospective employers are willing to pay for dinner or luncheon table in order to observe the candidate in a public setting and see our demeanor in social setting. Through the entire process of the dining interview, they eventually figure out whether the interviewee would be qualified socially and professionally. To be successful in the dining interview, table manners are fundamental.

           
I think it will be a geat chocie for  international students to learn the appropriate table manner while studying in America. Why don't you go to a high-class restaurant now and then to experience the formal dinner?

< Always begin eating with the flatware  farthest from your plate!>


Let me give you a hypothetical situation.

If the interviewer orders a glass of wine and asks if you would like one too. How would you answer? First answer, “Since the interviewer asked, you don’t want to be rude and accept his invitation and order a glass of wine as well. Second one, “Thank you. But I’ll just have water please.” Which answer will be correct?

The first one, is an improper response because having any alcohol-even if the interviewer offers is inappropriate in a job interview setting; the second one is a proper response because when it comes to alcohol, the only appropriate response in a job interview is to politely decline.

Before the dining interview, the candidate should absolutely check do’s and don’ts in terms of American dining etiquette!

For instance, never start eating before a signal from the host to do so.

Do not order too expensive dishes and choose the food hard to cut into bite-size pieces.

Don’t use your bread for dipping into soups or mopping up sauces.

Don’t make noise such as slurping and burping…

Don’t talk with your mouth full.

Don’t’ stretch across the table crossing other guests to reach food, wine or condiments… instead ask a guest sitting close to pass the item to you.

Don’t ever offer your criticism about the food…If you cannot pay any compliments, at least remain silent..

Picking teeth or licking fingers are very unattractive..

There are hundred and hundred dining etiquette tips..however, everything is based on the commonsense, right?

Although the candidate may be nervous, he/she should do the best to relax, while maintaining an assured posture throughout the interview. Also keep it in mind that elbows should be off the table all the time Based on the above recommendations, it is not surprising that the reasons why people do not get hired are from small mistakes or carelessness, such as poor hygiene, too much perfume, late for interview, and limp handshake. Therefore, candidates should pay attention to details.

After the meal, “indicate that you are finished with your meal by placing the knife and fork, on your plate following their 4 o’clock pattern. Be sure to place the napkin on the right hand side of your table setting. In case of leaving the dining table for short space of time, put your napkin on your chair.

Typically in an interview, you are the guest and so the meal is paid for by the employer whether the organization is a business, non-profit, educational institution. Remember to say “thank you.” A thank you note the same day is necessary by using E-mail and a hard copy after the interview. Follow up and follow thorough such as writing samples, references, or other proof of performance should not be overlooked. Through self-evaluation process after coming out of the interview, we can build into our strategy ahead of time to determine appropriate follow up or adapt effectively for a next interview.

The dining interview can be a great opportunity for job seekers. The meal setting makes everyone more comfortable and sociable, and some of the awkwardness of the traditional office interview can be alleviated in rather relaxing atmosphere. However, it is not an easy task to make a good impression on a hiring manager and eat simultaneously. To sum up, an interviewee should think strategically, be professionally sociable, and mind table manners during the dining interview.

A candidate invited to the restaurant can have a confidence because having a chance to the dining interview means being selected to be a strong contender for the job. Therefore, the chance of impressing the interviewer will be highly increased as long as the candidate maintains dining etiquette based on commonsense.