Transition is a stepping stone for international students to become full-time PLU students. We are university age students from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and France. As non-natives speakers we take English at Embassy Center for English Studies and up to 6 credits of PLU classes. Our goal is to increase our English abilities to be successful as full-time PLU students. For example, we study reading, writing, speaking, and listening for 17 hours a week. In addition, we may take one 4 credit class like Microeconomics 101 and a 1 credit PE class. This is a good opportunity to prepare for university life. Our goal is to combine our first language with English to our future careers such as Business Administration, Nursing, Education, Computer Science, and Biology.
This class is nearly the same as Yoga class. First, you should bring a yoga mat with you, (it can be bought in the book store) a bottle of water, and a towel. Choose the most suitable clothes and trousers. You should listen to your own body! Do not force yourself to do something you can’t achieve. If you have some problems, you should ask Melissa as soon as possible.
There are some differences between yoga and relaxation technique class. In the relaxation technique class, we have more discussion about how to relax you. You should prepare some ideas to share with your classmates. Most of the time, you will practice by yourself. But sometimes you will work with your partner to help each other do relaxation exercises.
Another important thing is that you should attend the class!! If you missed 3 or more than 3 classes, you will get an F. However, the professor is a very nice woman, so I am sure you will enjoy your class! Good luck!
It was totally not a normal PE class. I think it was more like a research class. I feel so bad that I almost want to drop the class during the first time when I attended the class. We ran and walked all though the class. The aim is to find out your personal limit. And it is also the ultimately goal of this class: to find out your limit.
Fortunately, everything seems fine after the first week. After those suffering sports, we just do some research about our body and life styles indoor or do some light activities in gym. Actually, I learnt a lot when I was doing my essay of nutrition report. I gave myself a goal to live a healthy life.
By the way, my professor NICO WOOD was really a nice lady, especially to international students like us. The only thing you should do is try your best to make sense about everything on class. Keep listening and don’t forget to take notes. It will be useful to your final paper quiz. If you have any questions, go ahead to ask or maybe you can just borrow your classmates’ notes. The only and the biggest difference between PE100and the other PE class is you have to do more paper work.
This class is nearly the same as Yoga class. First, you should bring a yoga mat with you, (it can be bought in the book store) a bottle of water, and a towel. Choose the most suitable clothes and trousers. You should listen to your own body! Do not force yourself to do something you can’t achieve. If you have some problems, you should ask Melissa as soon as possible. There are some differences between yoga and relaxation technique class. In the relaxation technique class, we have more discussion about how to relax you. You should prepare some ideas to share with your classmates. Most of the time, you will practice by yourself. But sometimes you will work with your partner to help each other do relaxation exercises. Another important thing is that you should attend the class!! If you missed 3 or more than 3 classes, you will get an F. However, the professor is a very nice woman, so I am sure you will enjoy your class! Good luck!
The PLU class that I am taking is P.E. This class is not too difficult, if you have played volleyball before. I think it had a well-balanced ratio of males to females so we mostly helped each other when someone missed the ball or shot. The professor decides what team you belong to and how you can make good serves. The class focuses not on your skills, but on your participation and effort.
Even if you don’t play volleyball well, you do not have to worry about it too much, because the professor checks how much you try and the result or skill it is not very important as the process in PE class. Of course, attendance is necessary to get a good grade. What is more, playing sports with American students creates a bond through strong sportsmanship. Actually, I’ve met one American girl who belongs to the volleyball club and she always tries to teach me how I can make a good serve and play better.
Some people suggest that this class is hard because you have to move quickly and it is easy to get tired but I think you will enjoy playing volleyball if you like to do exercises and play sports. The professor does not require a written paper, so it is easier than other classes. I am sure that playing volleyball will make you feel refreshed and released from your tiredness of studying. Be an active international student and take PE 100: Co-ed Volleyball!!!
Study Skills is a class at PLU where we learned how to study in college from a psychological perspective. First, we learned how to increase and keep our motivation, and how to set our goals. Then we studied the consequences if we don’t manage our time. We learned how to read textbooks and increase comprehension. We learned what good notes are and how to take good notes. The professor also taught us about how to use critical to increase our memory.We learned how to learn, how to prepare for tests, and how to take tests.
In the Study Skills class there are three different assignments that are due bi-weekly. One type of assignment is Internet-based research about the particular facilities in PLU.For example, where each facility is located, what their function is, and how we can locate or find their office. The other assignment is to meet a tutor and ask the tutor questions such as, how tutors prepare for examinations and what tutors usually do for a day-off from PLU classes. The third assignment requires students to meet the professors who teach them and ask the professors what the professors expect from students, what pitfalls the professors see students most consistently fall into when the students take classes, how the professors feel about the progress of the students, and what the interests or research of the professors are.
The students have to give a presentation about what they learned. In addition, they are required to use official speaking skills in their presentation, and the contents and purposes of their presentations should be very logical. I recommend taking this class to students who are not confident about study methods or do not know how to study. This class will help you be successful in all your future PLU classes.
I don’t want to treat myself too tough, so I hope I’ll be better rather than best and I believe this is possible.
After 13 hours of flight, I arrived in Tacoma, Washington, USA which I had been dreaming about for a long time. It was a good opportunity for further education; meanwhile, it was full of challenges, for everything was new for me---new culture, new friends, and new environment.
When I first came to America, I suffered from culture shock and I couldn’t get used to the food here. One day I didn’t eat anything for the whole day, I felt hungry and homesick, but fortunately, my host mother was very kind and cooked some Chinese food for me. Most of the time, she cooked American food. Gradually, I could enjoy it, especially pizza and cookies.
There are many chances for me to meet new people at the bus station, Tacoma Mall, Embassy classes, and PLU classes. My classmates are from China, South Korea, Japan, America, Vietnam, etc. But I find it’s easier to communicate with Asians than native speakers. No matter what languages they speak or what cultures they are familiar with, it seems there’s a gap between native people and myself. Regardless of this gap, I try to make friends with them. Most of them are kind and help me a lot. I am still on the way. There’s no short-cut, but I believe it will get better.
I take Embassy and PLU classes at the same time. On the one hand, I learn my English skills; on the other hand, I practice English more in the PLU classes. I take three courses; PE 100, Math, and Volleyball. For PE 100, I always need to do many exercises. For instance, one mile walks, two mile runs, push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping. Sometimes the teacher speaks too fast and I can’t even follow her, but luckily, some kind classmates help me to understand, so I feel I am the part of them and enjoy the participation very much. The same case happens to other subjects. I feel better than my first time in the class.
I like this sentence from “This I Belief” on NPR, “I believe that if you can laugh at yourself, it probably means you like yourself, deep down inside, and you know that you’re no better and no worse than anybody else. The beginning is always hard, but compared with the past, if you do better job, you’re the winner. So take action, don’t make your dream be dream.”
By Yuka In fall term 2007, I took Personalized Fitness Program for Physical Education class. This class is the most difficult class of all PE chasses, but it is very helpful for my future at the university. I want to introduce what I did and what I learned in the class.
Generally speaking, students move and do exercises in Physical Education class such as playing basketball, dancing, and doing yoga. However, even though Personalized Fitness Program is a PE class, we have assignments like presentations, reports, and essays. I had to prepare a presentation about food nutrition labels. All students should choose one food label and check the nutrition. We searched about Recommended Daily Allowances listed on the food label and presented in front of native speaking students and teacher. Research was the easiest assignment for me. I recorded what I ate every day for a week and calculated how many calories I ate these days. The final assignment was a Personal Program which means creating my own program for making my body healthy. In the class, I had already learned exercise modalities, nutrition, and weight management, so I had to think about what I learned in this class and make personal program and write about it in an essay.
When you read what I did, I guess you feel Personalized Fitness class is too difficult to pass, but I think this class is very good for international students. In the future, we might present in front of native speakers in a more difficult class than Physical Education. If I have a presentation in business class, I might feel more nervous than PE’s presentation. PE’s vocabulary is more familiar and PE is only 1 credit. Also, it is a good opportunity to display our presentation or writing skills. We have learned in language schools how to present and write. We need to give presentations and write essays, not only in language schools, but also in the university which is our purpose to study English.
In conclusion, I learned a lot of things in Personalized Fitness class. Even though it is not so easy for us, we should be challenged to practice our skills. Although you feel you cannot do the assignments well, you can ask your kind teachers and friendly classmates for help. I also asked many questions Don’t hesitate to speak English in front of native speakers. Don’t be nervous about grammar mistakes. I believe that all students have the power to succeed. If you are interested in Personalized Fitness class, please try. I hope you can do it!!
By Izumi Our school has a Halloween party, which is a big event, once a year. Most of the Embassy students join this party. There are some interesting events, such as a costume contest, karaoke, and eating party food.
Firstly, the costume contest is the most characteristic event. We not only wore costumes but we also enjoyed face painting at this Halloween party. Actually, some of the students dressed up as clowns and others dressed up as film characters. In addition, we had a costume contest and the students chose the most striking person. Therefore, we could also call it a costume party.
Secondly, we also enjoyed karaoke at the party. This party was held in the residence of Embassy. We sang karaoke in a big room where there is a big screen like at the movie theatre. It made the people have more fun.
Finally, delicious food was served at the party. We enjoyed eating food, such as salad, chicken, and pumpkin pies. All of dishes were delicious! As mentioned above, this Halloween party was really nice and fun!! The students that went to the party, made great memories and also good friends! We had a great time on October 31st! “Trick or treat!!”
I believe in hope. Hoping will help me to have a happier life. Every single time people want to succeed in something, the first thing comes to their mind is hope. Hoping that everything will be fine when they start their business is the most familiar feeling of humans. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “Hope, in its widest acceptation, is described as the desire of something together with the expectation of obtaining it.” Every one has desires to achieve something in his or her life. If he or she does not desire to do things, it is hard for them to become a successful person. Everything needs hope. People always start to do things whenever they see there is hope in them. So hope is always with me. When I hope for something, it gives me strength to wait and keep on going.
Hope is the most important thing in my life. Since I was old enough to live my own life, I have known how things work out. With me, hope is equal to wait. But hope is more optimistic because when I hope for things, I know what I am waiting for and whether I have the chance to succeed or not. Honestly, I am not an optimistic person. I always experience disaster because everything usually turns out to be really bad. For a long time, I did give up on waiting because I thought that it was useless for me. At that time, I thought life did not like me very much. I failed in everything I wanted to. My life was really terrible.
Two years ago, I came to Lowell Catholic High School in Massachusetts. Theology is the required subject in a Catholic school so I had to take Theology for two years. At the beginning, I thought that I would not understand anything because I was Buddhist. And I felt like an alien from another planet when I attended this class. I did not get anything even though it was simple. However, I started to understand when my teacher started to talk about contemplation and hope. We prayed every morning before and after class. I was quiet in the beginning because of the prayer. My classmates started to talk about everything in life and the most impressive lesson was the role of hope in human life. After that, I began to hope and pray for things I wanted. Time has passed and hoping is one of my habits now. It changes my life a lot. Now, I hope for everything that happens in my life even love, friendship, and my family.
Life will turn out good if we always have hope. Bad and good things will come to people’s life. Also, there will be a time when people have to struggle with their feelings such as failure, sadness, and loneliness… there is nothing for people to do in those kinds of situations except hope for good things to come. People use to say “there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.” Hope is the guide of human life. Without hope, I would not be who I am today. Maybe I still would be living a terrible life like before, if I had not learned how to hope.
I love the world I live in; I love the green trees, the blue sky, the bright sunshine and everyone who passes by with smiles on their faces. This is what I believe now: no matter how hard the situation is, everything will be fine. There is always hope guiding you to the bright future.
Once I was an upset girl all day long. Everything I thought was negative. I felt my parents loved my brother more than me. I thought my friend did not help me on purpose. I thought my low scores was evidence that my teacher didn’t like me. I read bad news in the newspapers and I just fixed my eyes on sad stories. Even the weather seemed desperate at that time because it rained a lot. The sky was also crying about the dark world, I thought.
I was under the control of a depressing mood for a long time until the day I visited my aunt in the hospital. I met a girl there who changed my life. She was sitting in a wheelchair when I first saw her. The first words that came into my mind were “so sad”. However, to my surprise, the girl was so optimistic that it seemed she wasn’t disabled at all. She told me that she cherished everything in the world. She believed that she would stand up one day, so she tried her best to enjoy everyday. I was really shocked by her words, because she was disabled. Regardless, she lives so happy. I am a healthy girl. Why did I spend my whole day being depressed? Then, I began to think after I went back home. I realized those bad situations were just my own thinking. I just paid attention to all the bad things but ignored the nice things. Obviously, my parents love me so much. My friend didn’t help me because many times I could solve the problems by myself. I got low scores because I really did a bad job on the test. And if I looked back at the newspaper, I would have found many warm stories there.
I then realized that the world is still nice. The only thing I had lost is my heart and my hope. So, just bring your warm heart with you and bring hope with you. Everything will be fine.
The first music I listened to was from my mother. When I was a baby, my mother often sang songs to lull me to sleep. I can not remember which songs she sang, but I still can remember the feelings when I heard them. Her voice was soft, and the melodies were slow and lovely. My first turning point happened when I was 11 years old. My father and mother broke up, and I began to live with my father. We moved to another city and continued our new life. Everyday my father was busy with his work. We could only see each other at dinner time. Most of the time, I was alone at home. At that time, I felt very lonely and I didn’t know what to do until I started to listen to the radio. I followed the DJs and began to contact music. After a period of time, I received many kinds of music and chose the styles I liked, and then I fell in love with music.
As music became my path friend,I did nearly everything with it, including walking, sleeping and even studying. I was crazy about music. In my mind, each piece of music was a story that the singer wanted to tell. So listening to music was the same as listening to stories. These stories contained nearly everything in the world, such as love, war, the reality of society, people’s mind and so on. Through listening to music, I can know things that happened in the world. Different kinds of music also contributed to different effects. Smooth music made me feel calm and comfortable. Whenever I felt life was going too fast for me and I was tired of hustling, I liked to use this music to slow myself a little bit. Fast music made me excited. Sometimes when I felt sadness or failure, I would choose it to improve my passion and keep a good mood. The contents of songs played a crucial part to change my mood as well. Some songs told me a moving love story, and made me expect love; some encouraged me to overcome failure, and brought me self-confidence and faith; some gave me passion, and made me love and cherish my life.
Nowadays I can hear music everywhere, involving advertisements, teleplays, movies, cell phones and even alarm clocks, and my belief is that music is becoming stronger and stronger. I believe music has the magic to change the whole world. I can not image what the world would be like if there was no music in the world. This is the significance what music brings to me, and this is why I believe in music.
We should appreciate everything in our lives! I really think that I am a very lucky person because I have beautiful clothes, delicious food, a clean house, a kind family, best friends, and moreover, I am very healthy. I believe that happiness is most important in life.
First of all, I am going to talk about food, clothing, and shelter. Although I do not know how many people are satisfied with their lives, there are some people who live in poor houses which are made of soil or straw. They drink dirty water and they wear the same clothes every day. It does not mean that they are unhappy, but, in comparison, I live in really good conditions. I have never put on the same clothes more than two days, never felt too much hunger, and never slept on the ground at night. Probably, many people don’t consider how they are blessed with good living conditions. I believe that even though it is such a normal thing, we should appreciate our situation of food, clothing, and shelter.
Second, I am very happy because of my families and friends, who have given me much love. I can feel not only my parents’ but also my friends’ and my boyfriend’s love for me so much. They talk to me, they are worried about me, and they make me happy. If I have some problems, I can ask my parents or friends to give some suggestions. Humans cannot live alone, so we need someone’s help sometimes. I know some parents treat their children badly and use corporal punishment. I have got my parents’ and friends’ love and I can give my love to them in return. This is a wonderful and perfect situation to live happily.
Finally, I want to tell you about my health. There are a lot of people who are suffering from critical illness such as cancer. My friend, who was 19 years old, died of leukemia. When I went to his funeral, I was thinking about his suffering, pain, and frustration. He was supposed to live longer but his life ended. Conversely, I have no health problems. Every day, I go to school cheerfully and I talk and laugh with my friends and teachers. I have not gone to the hospital for a long time and I have never entered the hospital for a bad illness. I am gifted with a healthy body from my parents, so I cannot waste the good opportunities which I have now.
In conclusion, I realize I have a wonderful life because of my living conditions, the love that surrounds me, and my good health. If I think I have misfortune or I want to kill myself, I should be punished. I am such a lucky girl. I want to continue this happy life and I want to appreciate everything around me forever. That is why I believe in happiness.
Family is the only one that never forget you. Whenever you need a warm place to be relax, your family will give it to you. Family is like a haven. When the hurricane arrives, family will protect you away from being hurt.
During first half year of 2005, there was a big event that happened to me. At that time, I did not come home and instead I lived in my friend’s house. I wanted to forget the painful of my heart, so I drank a lot. If you saw a male drunkard limping to the dormitory every night, it might have been me. Finally, my family picked me up and talked to me a lot. They told me that anything that I lost would come back to me if I tried hard. I knew it sounded like a famous old saying, but I heard it at the right time from my family. This saying became the panacea to me.
Through the help of my family, in the later half of the year I got rid of my darkness. Before that happened, I did not get along well with my family. I hated my mother’s boring words that she told to me every day. Now, however, I spend lots of time talking with my family, because I believe their life experiences can help me. My parents forgave me for my impolite behavior. My family became more warm and sweeter than before. I believed in my family, because every time, what they do for me is advantageous for me.
The knowledge I learned cannot be stolen by any other person. These are the words that my father always says and also helps me when I cannot decide something by myself in my life. In other words, it was very important for me to learn as many things as possible when I was young. In addition, knowledge has the greatest value compared to other things, such as money and material things. Whenever I have to decide about something important, these words are really helpful for me. First, what my father said helped me to decide which major I should take in the university when I was a high school student. Although the deadline was near, I could not decide my course because I thought that English literature, which I was just interested at the time, was not useful for a job. When I told my father about that, he told me any knowledge would be useful in the future and also encouraged me to do what I want. After I heard that, I determined that I would do my best whatever I choose.
Second, thanks to his words, I had a really good experience when I was a university student. In those days, I wanted to have a part time job like many Japanese university students. However, my father told me that I could work whenever I wanted after I graduated from the university. Furthermore, he also advised me to do what I could experience only now. For the reason, I noticed the most important thing for me was to be a student at that time. After that, I studied abroad and traveled to many countries to learn English and cultures during summer and winter vacation. These experiences not only were really good opportunities for me to grow, but also caused me to decide to study in America.
Finally, these words my father always says helped me to eventually determined to go to the university in America. Although I had already decided to study abroad, I actually worried about that. Because all of my friends would work after graduation, I had no friends to share the same feeling. However, these words I remembered at that time made me determine to go abroad and widen my knowledge.
These words, the knowledge I learned cannot be stolen by any other person, are still the center of my mind. Not only do I remember what my father said, but also I have been supported by these words. I really appreciate my father who told me the words and cheered me up every time. No matter where I am, I will never forget these words.
We are loved by so many people around us. They might be our parents, friends, lovers, or mother who gave birth to us. It doesn’t matter if you are great or normal; no matter where you are, your mother is always the one who loves you so much, friends always cheer you up when you feel sad, and lovers build up a happy family with you to keep your heart warm.
My parents are the most important person to me, even though I am far away from my home. We like to talk with each other everyday. When I hear their words, I can calm down and feel safe. They gave me the chance to study abroad though they worry about me a lot. They encourage me to be a brave girl though they wish I am the little girl and the sweetheart forever. They always tell me do not worry about them even though they face so many unhappy things. My family is my precious treasure forever.
I studied in the boarding school for 5 years. My friends and I lived together nearly everyday. We knew each other very well. They were the people who always supported me and gave me so many suggestions. When I feel sad they tried their best to make me happy. When I was in trouble they showed me they would believe me forever. Friends were God’s beautiful gift to me.
I do not have a lover now, but in the future I will marry a nice man. We will spend more than 50 years together. No matter what happens, he will always be the strongest one in our family. We will live a peaceful life. No will hurt us. Nobody will disturb us. We will have 2 or 3children. They will bring us lots of happy moments.
Now so many people think that money is the most important thing in our daily lives. Sometimes that is true. If you are a millionaire you can buy whatever you want. However you must know that money can not buy happiness and love. I can lose anything, but I am sure I will not lose my love.
Does anyone believe that there are aliens in the vast universe? I believe! It is true that biology needs not only light, water, and air, but also the North and South Pole. Earth possesses all of the above, and the Milky Way Galaxy is only a part of the universe, which human beings can not explore farther. So it is 80% possibility that aliens exist. Have the aliens arrived at earth yet? This is still a mystery. Scientists have never given up exploring for aliens. There are many examples, although we do not know whether they are true or not.
Some books said that someone saw aliens, but actually they do not have evidence. Some pictures might be processed images; videos might also record natural phenomenon, and many natural phenomenon videos looked much like UFOs. But according to experts on the interpretation of these photos, they are a very common phenomenon!
I do not rule out that aliens have been to the earth. However, I believe that aliens exist. I think there is biology which can survive in the anaerobic environment. I also think aliens have observed us for a long time. When we reach a certain level of civilization, aliens will take the initiative to contact us.
I believe that meeting new people affect on our life and ways of thinking, that is, every chance that we face means changing ourselves. I have been thinking about the meeting is a fatality rather than a coincidence. I think most people try not to show up everything in their mind at first, and they gradually get to know each other what they like or interested in, so it is difficult to know his/her essential personality only by meeting several times.
I will introduce the story about my memorable meeting. I met the girl, one of my classmates in the primary school; she was so aggressive that we had been arguing the whole matter out during the class, because we had completely different ideas every time. Even though I tried not to quarrel with her, we mostly got to become emotional after all. I always felt very frustrated when she yielded me.
However, she always tried to help me out when I felt depressed or sad, so I think we were sisters rather than friends. What is more, I have noticed that her aggressive was just the observe side of her consideration. I think it is common that not every people is good at communicating. Since we grew up, our ideas have confirmed clearly, and we can recognize the situation easily, so we haven’t argued at all. But we still tease each other the time we spent time together.
In conclusion, we are likely to affect on ourselves by meeting new people and exchanging our opinions. It is obvious that sometimes you feel difficulties to understand and accept people who are different from you, but I believe that meeting changes our surroundings and minds. Therefore, I will try not to hesitate to meet people to broaden my horizon. In my long-term goal, I want to brush up my communication skills for my business and suggest my opinion clearly.
