Students start off studying, finding their way onto Facebook instead. A middle-aged man may ask for Michael Crichton, but no one breaks the code of quiet.
Almost no one, that is. Their mother tongues may differ, but their English sharpens each time they meet. Every Monday, from 6 to p. A Cal State Long Beach faculty member and Monrovia local, Matthews has led the class on a volunteer basis since the start. With Thanksgiving: you might think, so there are pumpkins, turkeys โ what is this? We make sense of things here. Tonight, the talk is of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday.
Celebrating her first Thanksgiving since moving to the U. The class laughs knowingly. Skilled in spurring on conversation with smiles and well-timed nods, Matthews presses for details so that Xu can get more practice time in.
On this night, Matthews has brought in a print-out from the Smithsonian on the history of Thanksgiving. Like most of the students, Soto uses the conversation class to complement English classes she takes at the library and elsewhere. Soto first started attending the classes four months ago. Her newfound ease with English has been boon to her job, she says, especially since her boss expects employees to speak English exclusively.
As the clock inches toward p. Elsa Yen, a year-old Arcadian originally from Taiwan, takes a look at turkey numbers. Matthews seizes the teachable statement toward the end. By Long Beach Press Telegram presstelegram dfmdev.
