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Welcome to our September newsletter! We have had some exciting changes at our school recently, including saying goodbye to Mike Lewis, who was our Student Services Coordinator. Mike has moved on to go back to school, and we wish him well! We have added 2 new staff members to our team, Jennifer Kim, who is our new Student Services Coordinator, and Erika Burch, who will be with us a few hours each week as our office assistant. Jennifer comes to us with a degree in Consumer and Family Sciences from Purdue University and is excited to be working with our students. Erika is currently a student at West Los Angeles College and she chaperoned some of our summer activities before becoming our assistant. Welcome to our team, Jennifer and Erika!
This month we have been very busy as we started a new semester on June 20th, and we have also been working on putting finishing touches on all of our summer activities. We are excited to have many activities for our students to enjoy this summer including trips to Universal Studios Hollywood, the world-famous Disneyland, and of course to our beautiful California beaches to enjoy some fun in the sun!
For more information on day-to-day activities, please find LA GEOS on Facebook and “friend” us! You can also find us under our username GEOSLosAngeles on Youtube.com!
We have a few new teachers and we are excited to introduce them to you!
This month, please welcome John Cassaro, who has been teaching Integrated Skills Level 3 and Active Listening Level 5 since he joined us a couple months ago at GEOS Los Angeles – South Bay!!
Meet John: “I'm a California native and majored in English Literature with a minor in Cinema. When we cover material in class, we discuss topics using our opinions. There is a curious bi-product to this: When we express our opinions, we express our culture, our history, maybe even who we are as individuals. This is wonderful because, at a place like GEOS, students are often from all over the world. It creates a fascinating, and engaging, environment to learn.
I'm an insane foodie, and Los Angeles is no help. This city has food from everywhere, which is good for me because I like to travel and try different foods from different cultures. I have lived in four very different places over the last ten years. I'm from the west (California), but I also lived in the mid west (Kansas), the middle East (Israel) and the far east (Taiwan). There is one thing I have noticed throughout my travels, one uniting factor which seems to somehow tie humanity together, and it is this; everyone, everyone...thinks they have the best barbeque recipe.”
Stay tuned next month for a profile from another one of our newest teachers!
We have just finished up our summer programs, but there are still plenty of fun activities to participate in throughout the month of September! We have been lucky to have our student, Yeray, from Spain, provide us with Salsa dancing lessons each week. It has become a very popular event, and lots of fun! Thank you, Yeray! We also have a Korean barbeque outing planned for September, as well as our weekly Coffee Talks with Jeanne. It’s so fun to get together for coffee and treats to practice speaking English with friends
In addition, our school has been invited to attend the opening of the new art exhibit at the Torrance Art Museum! We are excited for our new and existing students to join in on all the fun!
The students asked, and we have listened! Student ID Cards are now available! Get Student Discounts on Food, Bus Rides, and much more!
Cost: $25 for the first card and $35 for replacement cards
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Currently we have 21 Nationalities represented in the school among our 133 students. We extend a warm welcome to all the students studying English with us!
Chinese: 25.6%
French: 16.5%
Saudi Arabian and Spanish: 11.3% each
Japanese: 8.3%
Brazilian: 6%
Korean: 4.5%
American, Russian, and Colombian: 2.3% each
Others: 9.6%
“I came to California 5 months ago, when I came to California I didn’t know anything about this place but now I’m so happy because I’m living here and the weather is wonderful and the people are friendly and fun.
In Los Angeles California you can see the best places in America.
California has many people from different countries. I have been studying in GEOS 5 months and I’m so happy because of that.
GEOS has the best teachers and some teachers in GEOS speak many languages. The staff is very friendly and helps all students.
I’m so comfortable in California and at GEOS.”
Abdulmohsen Abdulelah Abalkhail
Saudi Arabia
Salsa Dancing lessons from our student, Yeray, from Spain!
Universal Studios summer trip!
In September our Fall Semester will start. We will be starting new elective courses including reading, writing, and vocabulary. Our Intensive English course continues to be very popular and very full. In July we opened two additional classes. Our TOEFL program continues to be popular and students’ feedback has been very positive. We are looking forward to more students in September for the new semester.
In August we took our classes on field trips to various locations in the Torrance Area. Our Upper-Intermediate group went to the local Fire station to learn about Emergency preparedness as well as talk with the fire fighters about why they chose that job. Student really enjoyed the experience and found a new respect for the men and women who serve our community.
Our Lower-Intermediate group went to the Torrance Art Museum to explore the impact that art can have on people. They students had a guided tour from one of the museums docents as well as the museum curator. It was a very successful field trip.
Our TOEFL Preparation group were given a 4-week project to complete as part of their writing and speaking course. The students had to research and write a 10-page paper on a topic of their choice As part of their preparation the teacher took them to the local public library for a tour of the facilities and the resources available to them. In addition, our TOEFL Preparation group prepared 5 – 10 minute presentations based on their research papers. The students shared their presentations to their classmates, as well as students from other classes and staff. The presentations were excellent and really showed how good our students are.
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