Everybody Goes to Hollywood

On Friday I went to Hollywood with a couple of friends. We had plans to hike up to the Hollywood sign but that didn't exactly happen. After the tiny hike we did walk around Hollywood. Let me tell you, I have a love hate relationship with this part of Los Angeles. But we can get to that later.

I woke up on Friday at 6:50am (sometimes it doesn't make sense the way I set my alarm) and left my house at 7:20 to pick up my friends in LA. By the time we left LA for Hollywood the sun was out and shining heavily on us. I've hiked the Hollyridge Trail up to the Hollywood sign twice before and had no trouble finding parking because we got there early enough. Friday we got there too late because there were tons of people hiking up Beachwood Dr. where they parked their cars. So I parked my car on Beachwood Dr. and then we walked up to the start of the trail. I had never really noticed a lot of the houses leading up to the trail but they are sooo beautiful! Some of them have an old world medieval feel, some of them look like little cottages and some of them are very modern. That might seem weird to have so many different styles of houses next to each other but it works for some reason. It must be that eccentric Hollywood air.The houses at the bottom of the hill have the most beautiful unobstructed view of the Hollywood sign. It's amazing. Nevertheless, I would not want to live on that particular street because it is crowded with cars and hikers. Anyway...once we finally walked up to the entrance of the trail we just went a little bit into it to see views of the city. I absolutely love views form hills and mountains! I don't know what it is but it makes me very emotional! When I lived in Germany I missed this very much because I was in a part of Germany that's very flat. Once we started travelling and we got to eastern Deutschland I saw hills and it was so amazing! It made me miss CA. So we just took some pictures and then went back down to my car to hang around Hollywood for awhile. Being us...the first thing we did was eat on Sunset. Haha. After that we walked around Hollywood Blvd. This is where my hate relationship comes in to place. Hollywood Blvd is such a tourist trap and on a Saturday--ughhhh--you have no place to walk. In the morning it's pretty much just shopping, eating and wax museum central. At night it's the same deal, the difference would be that more bars and clubs are open. I don't mind it at night but Hollywood just isn't my favorite place to be. The first time I went to Hollywood I was about 10 years old and I was so disappointed. I thought Hollywood was a place where you see celebrities and everything is beautiful and you get discovered but I was wrong. Well not totally...we saw a D lister on Friday. Basically, when I know people are coming to LA for the first time I would not take them to Hollywood first. That would be the last resort. Maybe it's because I'm not a native of the area so I clearly don't know that much about it. Maybe it's because I don't like being in such crowded walking areas where people are walking directly behind you and if you stop for a second they'll bump into you. But this won't be the last time I go to Hollywood. One day I'll figure the city out and maybe learn to sort of like it...and not only because I've been drinking :p

Observe and Report

It's been a few weeks since I started my TEFL course and this week I began my observation hours. To complete the TEFL course you have to do a practicum of 20 hours in an ESL classroom (observing, teaching and/or tutoring). Luckily there is an ESL program at the Univ. of La Verne which is less than 10 minutes away from where I work. On Wednesday I woke up at 7 (that was so difficult to do!) and ventured onto the university campus. The campus is next to a residential area SIDE NOTE: I found a small house with a porch that looks like something from the south (which is what I want)!! Most of the buildings are brick but of course the newer buildings aren't. I observed 3 classes starting at 8am. 

The first class was small, 10 people, and it was at an advanced level. Everyone understood what the teacher was saying and the people who spoke up in the class had a great grasp of the language. I sat next to a guy who did not speak up a lot in the class but when he was writing for the assignments he understood everything perfectly. I can see how even though these people are in the same class they are at different levels. Some people might find speaking the language really simple and others might find speaking difficult but writing much easier. I understand them!! When I was at school learning German I found speaking easy (even though I knew I was making mistakes) and I found writing a little harder. I learned to not be afraid of speaking the language because the native speakers would correct me if I butchered a word or sentence. But when I wrote I was thinking in English a little too much. 

The second class I observed was a lower level and I immediately saw the difference between the two classes because everyone except two students were so quiet. The whole class lecture that day was about noun clauses. Most of the students did really well on the in class assignment but none of the students (except for two) willingly spoke up. Of the two that spoke up one of them had great vocabulary but I understood why he was in this level of class. He made sense when he spoke but he would get words in the sentence mixed up. 

Finally I observed an advanced class that wasn't specifically about grammar or the English language. I think this is a class to help them with their reading because they analyzed an essay and then had a debate about a current online article. I was in a group with half of the class and noticed that they spoke freely and most of them spoke with confidence. Once in a while some of them would resort to speaking their own language together but I expect that to happen because a majority of the students were from the same country. 

By the end observing I felt like I had been the one in class all day! I really liked getting involved with the students and helping them out when they needed it. Most of all I realized that I NEED to learn more about English grammar. As a native English speaker it's so easy to speak and write but it's difficult to explain why we speak and write this way. Why do we pronounce something a certain way? Why does this word go in front of this word? Can this word also be an adverb/adjective? I'm going to need to be able to explain these things and right now I can't. That's what I'm nervous about :///// I guess I'll get to studying right now.