Tag: ECLA

EC Los Angeles 2019 Wrap-Up

Category: Activities, EC Los Angeles, Student Life / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

2019 was another wonderful year for EC Los Angeles because we spent it with our amazing students! If you are interested in learning English in the United States, EC Los Angeles will not only offer you valuable courses but also take you to fun activities, making your experience unforgettable. Check out some of our 2019 activities to see why we love EC Los Angeles! ONLY IN LOS ANGELES Los Angeles owns the first Universal Studios theme park and the first Warner Bros. Studios, both of which are in the home of the U.S. film industry – Hollywood. For that reason, one of our favorite activities is to go to TV show tapings! In the past year, we went to live TV shows taping at Warner Bros. Studios and saw many celebrities in person. For example, Joey Tribbiani from FRIENDS always has live shows in Studio City. And guess what: The ticket to see him is free! Besides sitcom tapings, we also went to America’s Got Talent: The Champions. That night, former winners and finalists from 194 countries and regions gathered in LA to perform the best AGT show of the year. If you are a sports fan, you are going to love LA! Lakers and Clippers for NBA, Dodgers for baseball, Rams for football, LAFC for soccer…you name it! Earlier this year, we had an All-You-Can-Eat Dodgers Game with our students. If you love food and want to catch a home run ball, then you should join us next time! The other big game that attracts people from all over the world is the Lakers game. In October, we went to see Lakers vs. Warriors. LeBron James and Anthony Davis were there! Our students enjoyed a great time watching that intense game – only at EC Los Angeles ? Do … Read more

Christmas events and activities in Los Angeles

Category: Activities, EC Los Angeles, Student Life / Tags: , , , , ,

Though Christmas is at the end of December, the holiday season starts as early as November in Los Angeles. As one of the top fashion capitals, L.A. has already dressed up in gorgeous decorations to welcome this fancy time of the year. These are some of our favorites spots.   RODEO DRIVE AND BEVERLY HILLS If you love fashion, you must know the world-famous shopping street. “Luxurious” is a word made for this place, but it is good enough of an experience to just walk around the fabulous stores – you may even run into celebrities who live in Beverly Hills! If you haven’t been there, Christmas is a perfect time to visit. Last week some of our students really enjoy our free walking tour around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. LA ZOO LIGHTS Enjoy a wild wonderland of light attending to this ticketed event at Los Angeles Zoo. Millions of colorful lights decorate a huge area surrounded by nature: Giant glittering snowflakes, Christmas trees, and the world’s largest illuminated pop-up storybook. A must-do Christmas attraction in California.   DISNEYLAND RESORT Can you imagine how the Happiest Place on Earth looks like in the happiest time of the year? If not, how do “300 Christmas trees”, “400,000 twinkling lights”, and “36 cast members decorating for 35 days” sound like? Amazing, right? You can always visit Disneyland in regular days, but this time, Mickey Mouse and his friends will be greeting you under mistletoes – that makes Christmas more magically beautiful! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD This famous theme park is not only the place where you can ride Transformers, The Mummy or Jurassic World attractions but also a place where you can create new Holiday traditions with friends and other students. With thousands of Christmas lights and many characters meet & greets, Universal Studios Hollywood offers … Read more

Movember at ECLA

Movember at EC Los Angeles

Category: Student Life / Tags: , , , ,

WHAT IS MOVEMBER? The Movember community has raised $559 million to date and funded over 800 programs in 21 countries. This work is saving and improving the lives of men affected by prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health problems. The Movember Foundation challenges men to grow moustaches during Movember, to spark conversation and raise vital funds for its men’s health programs. To date, 4 million moustaches have been grown worldwide, but we won’t stop growing as long as serious men’s health issues exist. Since relatively humble beginnings back in 2003 in Australia, the Movember movement has grown to be a truly global one; inspiring support from over 4 million Mo Bros, Mo Sistas around the world. The Movember Foundation currently runs official campaigns in 21 countries, however, we’re aware of pockets of support in virtually every corner of the world, from Moscow to Rio de Janeiro and everywhere in between. Movember’s success can largely be attributed to the strength of the global community; regardless of the city in which they live, they feel part of something bigger, united by a commitment to help change the face of men’s health. It’s about global mateship. The global expansion of the Movember campaign is not something that has been driven from within – it has been invited and encouraged. Our policy is only to enter a new market if there is an existing strong ground swell of support. Word of mouth, the movement of expats and the incredible power of the internet have all contributed to the campaign stretching out across the globe. The geographic expansion supports and delivers on our primary objective of spreading key health messages to men everywhere. The idea for Movember actually started with a conversation between mates, so there’s a nice synergy to the fact that today it’s … Read more

Ice Skating

Ice Skating….at the Beach!

Category: Student Life / Tags: , , , , ,

  Every holiday season, Downtown Santa Monica brings a little ice skating to the beach-side community.  The corner of 5th Street and Arizona Avenue is transformed into ICE at Santa Monica, a premier outdoor ice skating rink. The 8,000 square foot rink by the beach offers residents and visitors a little taste of winter without the bite. Students at EC Los Angeles had a great time skating, enjoying some of the live entertainment and food from an array of food trucks.  Just one of the many exciting activities that ECLA puts on for student’s every month.  The activities are a great way to meet new people and make new friends – and of course, to practice your English speaking skills! For more information about studying at EC Los Angeles, visit our website: English Language Center Los Angeles You can also find out more about the activites that we run by visiting our Facbook page: https://www.facebook.com/eclosangeles.school

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Category: Student Life / Tags: , , , , ,

Thanksgiving is a very popular Holiday here in the USA, but what exactly is it?  Why do we celebrate it?  Here is some information and fun facts about the origins of Thanksgiving and why it means so much to people all across America. What is Thanksgiving? Each year on the fourth Thursday in November, Americans gather for a day of feasting, football and family. While today’s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable to attendees of the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table—albeit with some updates to pilgrim’s menu. Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Native Americans that took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of a good harvest, and the local natives did participate, this “first thanksgiving” was not a holiday, simply a gathering. There is little evidence that this feast of thanks led directly to our modern Thanksgiving Day holiday. Thanksgiving can, however, be traced back to 1863 when Pres. Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since. FUN Facts! The pilgrims didn’t use forks; they ate with spoons, knives, and their fingers! Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, popcorn, milk, corn on the cob, and cranberries were not foods present on the first Thanksgiving’s feast table. The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days. Each year, the president of the U.S pardons a turkey and spares it from being eaten for Thanksgiving dinner! Wild turkeys can run 20 miles per hour when they are scared – catch it while you can! 🙂 Have left over pumpkins from Halloween?  Try this delicious recipe for the perfect Pumpkin Pie PUMPKIN PIE … Read more

Popular Languages in the World!

Category: Academic, Student Life / Tags: , , , , , ,

The most popular languages in the world! Lots of students come to the United States to learn English. Sometimes it may seem as if it was the most popular language in the world, little do you know, it’s not! Here’s a list of the top ten languages in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. 1. Mandarin Chinese – 882 million 2. Spanish – 325 million 3. English – 312-380 million 4. Arabic – 206-422 million 5. Hindi – 181 million 6. Portuguese – 178 million 7. Bengali – 173 million 8. Russian – 146 million 9. Japanese – 128 million 10. German – 96 million Do you speak any of these popular languages? Of course you do, you English speaker you! So if English is not the most used/spoken language in the world, then why should you study English? Well, if you want to get a job/live in an English speaking country or if you would like to do international  businesses such as trading, knowing English is becoming more common and EXPECTED. Although Business English courses are important if you are considering working in this field, you should also consider mastering conversational English! Why? Think about it: if you’re trying to sell a product, then the first thing to do is to build rapport (a friendly connect/relationship). When a client likes you as a person, they will likely buy the things you’re selling them! So come join us at EC Los Angeles to better your English! We offer English for Work as electives on top of our General English courses!

ECLA Teacher Feature: Lisa Gonzales

Category: Academic, ECLA Teachers / Tags: , , ,

  Meet a Teacher – Lisa Gonzales      Lisa grew up in Cerritos, California and graduated UC Davis, California as a double major in French and International Relations. She loves playing and watching ALL sports, especially softball and baseball. She loves mushrooms and cheese and sunflowers and sunsets. During her time at EC she tries to learn about different cultures. She said “You never know what class conversation will lead to, and you never know who you will meet next and what interesting fact you will learn about their culture.” She decided to do the presentation about the Philippines because she wanted to share her personal experience with what was going on over there and let the students know that it was closer to home and that it affected one of their teachers, and not just a random person they may have seen on the news. She also wanted to educate them about the actual events that transpired AND about the country itself, for those who knew little about the Philippines. On Friday, December 13, EC Los Angeles English students had a chance to learn more about the Philippines and the typhoon the hit the country. One of our teachers, Lisa Gonzales presented a impressive lecture about the typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Lisa gave a talk about life on the islands before the typhoon swept through as well as the aftermath of it. The Philippines, Lisa said, “look like an old man with a walking stick on the map”, consist of more than 7,000 islands. Typhoon Haiyan hit right through the islands about one month ago. To give you an idea of how devastating Typhoon Haiyan was, we can compare it to Hurricane Katrina: Katrina has been called the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, but Typhoon Haiyan … Read more

Free Class: Pronunciation Clinic!

Category: Academic, EC Los Angeles / Tags: , , , , ,

Many students have hard time pronouncing certain English sounds that do not exist in their native language. At ECLA, we have Pronunciation Clinic on Wednesday at 11:00 and 2:15 in room 305. If you want to practice or improve your English pronunciation, come and participate in our Pronunciation Clinic! On Wednesday, November 6, EC students have a chance to work on their pronunciation with homonyms (words that are spelled and pronounced like another word but are different in meaning) and vowels with ‘R’sound.   For example, students practice how to pronounce homonyms: Destuct – Distract Through – Threw Horse – Harse Faction – Fashion And vowels with ‘R’ sound: Heard / Sport / Beer / Hard / Pear / Later   Come and join! This is a great chance to practice your pronunciation!

Momma, why do we carve pumpkins?

Category: EC Los Angeles / Tags: , , ,

With our recent pumpkin carving contest, it would only be appropriate to explain how pumpkin carving came to be. We all know that October is mostly defined by the spooky Halloween season. This is the time where we eat candy, make costumes and trick-or-treat. But haven’t you ever wondered how pumpkin carving came to be a staple for Halloween? Well, way back when, there was something a called a Celtic Festival of Samhain. This was celebrated on the sunset of October 31st and lasted through the sunset of November 1st. The festival celebrated and honored the deceased relatives of friends and family. It was believed that this time of year was the most magical. In order to welcome the spirits and lead them to their homes, they would carve turnips, pears and veggies and put lighted coals. It was also believed that displaying these lanterns would ward off evil spirits from entering the home. Now though, we just carve pumpkins for fun, yay!

Meet ECLA’s Intern from Germany!!

Category: EC Los Angeles / Tags: , , , ,

My name’s Alex and I am 23 years old. I was born and raised not far away from Munich. I am studying BA International Business Communication in Munich and like it very much because it provides me with the best combined knowledge of languages, a wide range of business subjects from economics to marketing, HR or tourism and last but not least international communication studies. This internship at ECLA is part of my studies, it is my 5th semester. Although I have been traveling a lot through Europe- from Western- and Central to Eastern Europe this is my very first time in the US and it is sooooo exciting for me. It is a dream coming true and I really enjoy every single day I live here! The last time when I was abroad I’ve been in Russia and Turkey to visit friends of me. My languages are German (native), English and French and I am still about to improve my spoken Russian and Spanish. I enjoy listening to music and dancing. Reading is also one of my favorite hobbies; I really love “The Alchemist” from Paulo Coelho for example. But mostly I prefer spending time with persons I like and having a good time! My message for future students: You’ve made a great choice choosing ECLA for learning English! You are surrounded by a nice environment and very friendly stuff that will help you in any belongings. I am looking forward to see you and will be happy to help you whenever you need some help!