EC San Diego English Language School

Q: Tell me about your first day in San Diego.

A:  At first, I felt embarrassed when I didn’t meet the person who was supposed to pick me up.  After 20 minutes, I finally met her.  I was so relieved!  When I stepped out of the terminal, I was surprised that the weather was so nice.  My first impression of San Diego was that of an exotic place.  It had been a long day but I knew I had a good opportunity for a new experience.

Q: How did you go about making friends?

A:  I usually took initiative to meet the other students.  For example, I would ask things like:  “Could you recommend the nice places that you know in San Diego? “  Also, I would ask my classmates to join me in local festivities.  In addition, my classmates and I would go to lunch together.

Q: I’m thinking of studying at EC San Diego. Should I stay with a host family?

A: There are many options. You can live with host family and if you do, you can experience a local family’s everyday life.  You can also try dormitory style housing, but I don’t recommend it because its too small and noisy. Another option is to live with other students. This way, you can practice and improve your English.

   If you didn’t find love this Valentine’s Day, I know exactly why. It is because you weren’t in San Diego and Cupid was!!!!!!! Better Luck Next Year!!! 

Here at EC San Diego for Valentine’s Day we dressed up in traffic light colors. If you wore GREEN it meant you were single, YELLOW meant you’re not quite sure and RED meant you are taken. We also had an awesome Valentine’s Day Party. The students here got to learn how to do a  famous American dance called the Electric Slide and eat tons of goodies. Just check out the slammin pictures!

This is Ronnel again!  I will be conducting a 2-part class for creating your very own EC San Diego profile, just like the one I made!  The first class is tomorrow, 2/19 from 3:00-4:15PM and the second is a week later on 2/26 at the same time.  Everyone is welcome to “Meet me in SUN Diego!” Space is limited so don’t hesitate to sign up at the Academic Desk.

"Hey! That's MY hamburger!"

*PING* “This is your captain speaking. We are approaching San Diego International Airport and should be landing in approximately 30 minutes. We will begin our descent shortly. Please fasten your seat belts. As you should expect, it is currently warm and sunny in San Diego with temperatures just over 75F (24C). The local time is 2PM. Thank you for flying with us and we hope you enjoy your stay.” *PING*

That’s my best pilot impression for a flight coming into San Diego! It may not be COMPLETELY accurate, but I was hoping you caught my point. Did you catch it? It was the weather of course! Or lack of weather I should say.

Anyways, I was having too much fun with this blog that I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Ronnel and I’m a teacher here at EC San Diego. I’m also a San Diego native and have lived here most of my life, so I can vouch for mostly sunny skies, average temperatures around 75F (24C), popular beaches, and a mostly relaxed atmosphere. You’ll see when you get here.

But enough about San Diego! This is supposed to be about me! MEEEE!!! Oh sorry, I got carried away again. ^_^ I’ve been a teacher here for almost a year. Prior to EC San Diego, I was living and teaching in Japan. I ended up staying for a total of 2 years. So if you do the math (let’s see, 2 plus umm, 1, equals.. 3!), I’ve been teaching for 3 years! Oh wow, has it been that long already? Time flies when you’re having fun! I mean, when you’re busy with work and teaching. Yes, that’s what I meant. Heehee.

Seriously speaking, teaching English has been very rewarding. Not only just for me of course, but most especially for my students! Besides learning English and building upon their English skill sets, they get to hang out and make friends with me! MEEEE!!! Uh oh, I apologize. There I go again! What I meant to say is, the classroom is more than just a formal setting. It’s a key to opening many doors. By being comfortable and having a good relationship with your teacher, it becomes easier to learn and boost confidence. The more confident you are, the more open you can be! I do my best to provide the students with such a positive learning environment, thus handing them the keys. All they have to do is unlock the door, open it, and walk through.

Come join me, I mean, US, in opening more doors. I’m looking forward to the day you walk through the doorway and I can say, “It’s nice to meet you.”

It’s that time of the year to find someone to cuddle with and just be happy that you are together. In the United States Valentine’s Day is very popular whether you’re single or have a significant other.  The day is used to tell the important people around you that you love them!  For couples popular activities include dinner in one of the many downtown restaurants, an evening cruise around the harbour, or taking a romantic moonlit walk along the beach.  If you’re  single and looking to meet new people head down to Pacific Beach or the Gaslamp Quarter, there’s plenty of places to hang out.   And …. join in the School’s celebrations, buy a candy gram for someone at school and have it delivered to them on Friday – keep it anonymous or send a love note the choice is yours!  Tell us who/what you love by writing on a heart and pinning it to our ‘love board’ in Reception.  On Friday follow the ‘traffic lights dress code’ and wear red, yellow or green to school.  Red if you’re taken, yellow if your not sure, and green if you’re single!  And the fun doesn’t stop there, hang out with us after school for cupcakes and punch.  Ask Lykai for more details

Get ready for one of the biggest parties in San Diego! The rules of the game are the more beads you get the better your night is. Downtown San Diego (in the Gaslamp District ) there is a huge parade and all the nightclubs are open (free admission). You only pay a one time entrance fee of $20 to get into the area and the rest of the night is just full of fun! You must be 21 + to attend  …. it’s a Huge celebration!!!!!! Entrance tickets can be purchased from the School’s Front Desk.

I wouldn’t miss it if I were you…… 

Last Saturday, 37 of our students set out on an adventure of a life time – how many of you have ever been up close to a magnificent gray whale? Well that’s exactly what our student did! December 26th – March 29th is the official whale season in California. Gray whales start traveling south to their birthing grounds in Baja California, Mexico and then return back north to their feeding grounds in the cold Arctic waters.

The group braved the slightly swelling waters, and the cold winds (thank goodness the rain had stopped) and were rewarded after about an hour into the trip with sightings of two gray whales and a number of dolphins. The boat was able to get quite close so student were able to get good views of the whales and the dolphins. Not quite like the show at SeaWorld but certainly a memorable experience. Highly recommended as one of the things to do in San Diego if you are here during whale season!

This Thursday (12th February), intermediate + level students are invited to join our Pronunciation Club with Doug. Sign up at the Academic Desk if you would like to join.