ESOL OASIS
Issue 10 April-May
Letter to the readers
In this issue:
ESOL News
2
Our College
3
Holidays
around the
6
Literature
Corner
8
Where am I
now?
9
ESOL
Activities
11
Test your
English
12
Language Cafe 14
Hi ESOL eager beavers!
Oasis magazine has reached issue 10, well done!
First of all, thank you for the overwhelming support, for every single
piece of writing that you have sent making it possible for Oasis t be
issued once again. But don’t stop there, we are greedy, we want
more from you all. You have something to say, because you are an
undercover genius or just because you want to do so! You are the
Oasis team and you are precious for us. Send us your contributions
to [email protected] and see your work published.
Outside there are fantastic corners full of history, mouth watering
gastronomy and shocking traditions. In our last edition we visited
China, for this issue Oasis has travelled to Spain and Poland; do you
want to know more about it? Look inside.
But if what are you looking for is a new challenge, adrenaline lovers
will have a last chance to submit their compositions for “Embracing
Diversity Competition 2013” by Friday 3rd May. Focus please; perhaps the £400 award has your name on it. See p. 13.
Finally, it looks like the spring has sprung, in the case of Glasgow at
least for a day, and this change of season impacts on everyone’s energy levels and self esteem. So if that sounds very similar to what
you are feeling, you should read about our former ESOL student and
her tale of success in our section Where Am I Now? Or perhaps give
a thought to A. Einstein’s words:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a
tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
By the way, in the previous issue we published the love stories written by the winners of “Love Story Competition”. For those who did
not read their stories but meant to do - do not worry, here is a tip:
http://www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk/esol-magazine. Download
everything you can read and to be up-to-date in our regular ESOL
activities.
Have fun!
Cristina Prado, Higher, ESOL Oasis Student Editor
Page 1
ESOL NEWS
Viking Visitors
12 students
from Aalborg in
Jutland,
Denmark have
just left
Scotland after
studying with the Marketing Department for three
weeks. The School of Languages and ESOL also provided 13 hours of English language training as part
of the short course.
These classes were taught by Janvier Nkirunzuza
and David Cullen. The classes focussed on developing skills for making presentations in English. The
students developed their skills in the following
areas: organisation of ideas, linking phrases, pronunciation and intonation. The students also took
part in quizzes about Scotland and the UK, which
they found very interesting.
During their stay, the Danish students went on day
trips in and around Glasgow and spent time with
Scottish Marketing students. If you would like to
meet groups of visiting students in the future,
please ask your teacher about it and email me directly to express your interest.
[email protected]
David Cullen
Head of Languages and International
Beyond language: challenging
the ‘limitation’ of the classroom
ESOL curriculum leaders Christine Palmer, Jenifer
Martin and Rosie Quin recently travelled to Liverpool
to present at the 47th annual IATEFL conference for
teachers of English as a foreign language. As part of
the conference, attended by over 2000 delegates
from all over the world, Christine, Jenifer and Rosie
delivered a talk entitled ‘Beyond Language: Challenging the ‘Limitations’ of the Classroom, to a
packed audience. During the talk they discussed initiatives like the ESOL Language Café, Student Mentoring Scheme, Reading the Waves and The NYC
email exchange and offered practical advice and
guidance to delegates who might wish to replicate
such projects in their own institutions. Christine,
Jenifer and Rosie were mentored in the preparation
for their debut presentation by renowned EFL
scholar Adrian Underhill and have since been invited
to present their ideas at a teaching conference in
Aberdeen later this year.
Page 2
They said ‘It was a great opportunity to showcase internationally the great work taking place
within the ESOL department at City of Glasgow
College’.
Rosie Quin
Curriculum Leader ESOL
OUR
This time a special guest of the issue is Gary MacLean, the
lecturer of Professional Cookery at the City of Glasgow
College. The pleasure of conducting an interview with him
had our correspondent Agnieszka Ramian, the ESOL
Higher student. We believe it's extremely important to
make connections with other departments as well as keep
ourselves up to date with what the college is involved in.
Our counterparts from Food, Hospitality and Tourism department led the college to victory earlier this year, in
March. Let's discover why we should be proud of them!
Gary MacLean and his team
First week of March was quite a challenging and
busy one for Mr. Gary MacLean and his students.
Not only had they entered and performed in a few
cooking competitions, but also won! Their victory is
the victory of the college so there are many reasons to praise for, brag about and feel pride! The
main one was the final of the Brakes Student Chef
Team Challenge, one of the biggest student competitions in Britain, and Mr McLean and his team have
been named the Best in Britain.
‘We'd been working on it since October and we
went through Scottish heats and we were the
Scottish Champions and then the National Final
was on Wednesday’ - said the proud lecturer to
explain the stages of the contest. So it wasn't just
one successful performance, but the series of battles won and continuous effort and commitment at
every stage of the contest. It's the reason why students chose to represent the college. The three
Professional Cookery students were picked wisely.
Students' approach really mattered, because they
were required to invest lots of time and only a
really keen person could handle such a commitment, not to mention the fact that attending
classes was still compulsory on top of the competition.
Page 3
Basically,
there
were 3
different
stages:
a paper
judging (October) then the best from the menus got selected to compete against others; Scottish Finals in
January and National Finals in March involved
preparation and tasting. ‘The contest was organised by Brake Brothers, which is a food company.
It's been running for a 25 years so it's a very very
well established intercollege competition’. - said
Mr MacLean to give us a handful of the event's origins. Our college has taken part in it for a few consecutive years. This is a competition we have
strived to win for a number of years. We finished
second a few times in the last few years, but we
never ever won it. - said Mr MacLean. However,
only until now as we can see, because this year our
students decided to break the habit and come first
defeating 84 different teams. The students were
evaluated on everything from techniques and hygiene to teamwork and communication. The
dishes were then marked individually for flavour,
colour, texture, technique and professionalism and
OUR
‘He enjoyed our food so we received some good
feedback on the food that was put up’. - said Mr
MacLean about meeting the world famous chef.
Asked whether it felt difficult and if the skills of
other contestants were competitive, the lecturer
said: The judge at the end said it was probably the
toughest final in the whole history of the competition and we won by one mark alone so it was a
very very tight competition. What a perfect mixture of hard work, talent and luck it must have
been to let our team to outstand!
Brakes Student Chef Team
Challenge
2013
Inspired by the Orient
Crab cake and seared scallop
with crispy prawns, cucumber pickle
Lime and coriander dressing and an Oriental sauce
The theme for this year competition was inspiration
from the world and our college team prepared the
oriental starter, Nepalese main course and the dessert that was inspired by the Ivory Coast.
Inspired by the Ivory Coast
Inspired by Nepal
Coconut mousse
passion fruit souffle and mango sorbet
Doesn't it work its magic on you? Surely judges
were impressed, especially because Nepalese cuisine is quite unusual.
‘When it comes to the competition at this level,
judges want to see something new and interesting
so everything that we've done was fairly unique,
from making our own black pudding to our desserts - there were 3 different desserts on the plate,
so there were 3 different temperatures,
Page 4
Seared fillet of pork
with confit pig cheeks, rakti sausage
smoked Aubergine and green lentil dal, grape chutney roasted vegetables
red wine sauce
OUR
3 different
techniques so
we gave the
judges a lot of
stuff that they
could mark us
on’. - said Mr
MacLean to
justify the
choice and
share with us
a probable
key to the success. We've
been wondering if the prepared food
was flawless
and if there
were any slips. From personal experience, we all
realise that food doesn't always come out as perfect as we wish it would. How did the winning team
do?
‘The team on the day were absolutely fantastic.
We'd practised a lot and that really helped. We
did lots and lots and lots of practice, so you make
all of the mistakes before you go and there is always mistakes to be made but if you can get rid of
them all and practise you don't have to do it on
the day’. - said Mr. MacLean taking our doubts
away and convincing that hard work pays out. Although not directly, our ESOL students were also
involved with the procedure. As an inspiration from
the world was the leading motive of the contest, it
was really important for the food to be as authentic
as possible.
That's why the college chef decided to approach
Ms Mary McManus, the Head of the ESOL department, so that she could possibly gather some information or ideas from our folks as ESOL students
come from all over the world. Every little helps!
‘We used some artifacts from those countries as
part of table decorations as well. We had some
wood carvings from Africa, flowers from Nepal,
that sort of thing so the whole thing kind of tied
together’.- said Mr. MacLean to conclude the topic.
Last but not least, of course we wanted to know
what the students won! ‘The prize for that particular competition is that the students get a week
work experience in London. They also get a set of
knives and obviously the City of Glasgow College
gets a British title, so we've got a trophy for the
cabinet’.- explained Mr MacLean. What is more: ‘A
main objective of every competition is the students' engagement and getting the students to try
something different and gain new experiences.
Also, these types of competitions and the level
they are, it’s on the CV so when they're going for
the job they can then say they are British Champions and it separates them from candidates from
other colleges. They've proven, they're good,
they've done fantastically well and I am really
proud of them’. - added Mr. MacLean.
'Congratulations' and 'fingers crossed' were words
coming out of our mouths repetitively, as there
were some things finished and some of them still
pending. Mr. MacLean and his students are still
waiting for some other results and they could be
going to represent Scotland in finals in the USA!
However, as the conversation rolled no signs of
anxiety or nervousness was detected; enthusiasm
and determination prevailed. As Mr. MacLean said,
our college has beaten even bigger colleges so it
has really put us on the map. Now, after all the
hard work that's been done, the winners hope they
can get a slight rest and a cup of tea. Meanwhile,
the newsletter investigators including me couldn't
resist asking for an expert's opinion and recommendation on Scottish cuisines. Surprisingly a
crown goes to the variety of seafood: shellfish, scallops, langoustines, lobsters... However, haggis remains an unconditional must-try when visiting Scotland.
Agnieszka Ramian, Higher
Page 5
Holidays
around the world
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Page 6
Holidays around the world
Easter in Spain
Easter is different all over the globe. Each country has its own traditions that heighten its
heritage and customs that mark their people’s identity. Spain does not set apart.
“Semana Santa” is the Spanish name for Easter. As a catholic country its people mourn the
death of Jesus and celebrate his resurrection during ten days. We need to go way back to
the 16th century to find out the origin. The Church installed a particular way to teach the
story of Christ’s Passion and his mother, the Virgin Mary.
Although Semana Santa is honoured across all over Spain, it seems to be Andalucia, in the
south, where celebrations are taken more intensively.
In a city such a Seville, the capital of Andalucia, flocks of flawlessly dressed people drive you
around narrow and colourful streets, gathering around exquisitely rich lifelike painted sculptures depicting scenes of the Virgin Mary and Jesus’ called “pasos”. For a week, The Holy
Week, religious brotherhoods parade the old city carrying hundred year old artworks.
These rituals implicate lot of time of preparation, effort and commitment. The carriers or
“costaleros” are trained for more than a year but first they must be elected and confirmed
by the rest the community members. To become a costalero is a great honour that younger
and no so younger people are proud to receive it.. In the streets and from balconies, audience members join the procession singing a “saeta” in the spur of the moment while the
religious floats are passing by.
Once the flamenco song has finished the cheerful audience acclaim the act saying all together at once “ole, ole, oooooleeeeeeeeeeeee”. One in a life time experience that makes
you feel goose bumps.
When the event is finished everybody are overjoyed. It is time to go for some refreshment.
Wine and tapas are consumed standing up meanwhile street singers stop by making the
supper more pleasant.
Sevile and Malaga are the most popular cities for tourist during this period of the year due
to their religious fervour and extravagance but the truth is that similar rituals are celebrated
all over the country. Regions as Castilla y Leon in centre Spain or Galicia in northwest have
their own charm. In their case is more gastronomy orientated with specialities designed for
the occasion.
While centre Spain is world known for its wines and rich roasted piglets and lambs, the
northwest gets its reputation for its seafood and white wine.
Honestly, it is not important which part of the country you visit. It is so authentic and different all over the place that it is going to be an unforgettable experience. What it does really
matter is that you go and live Spain for yourself.
Cristina Prado, Higher
Page 7
Literature Corner
Arguments
A step forward then another back
a repeated action that I used to do
since the day I met myself
we haven’t been always on the same spot
perhaps we have had
haven’t been always on the right way
as I’ve lost balance in cases of rush and teenage
rage
and haven’t been always with
sometimes I enjoy being against
when I usually follow my own
there are always arguments between myself and I
sometimes myself start the row and sometimes I
whenever my heart makes a decision
my mind unjustly turns the table upside down
and moves me from a joyous state to cry
and yet my heart naturally forgets
not even with a sign of regret
while others usually get upset
but I won’t get more than my fate
so when I am down I don’t look so down
and when I am up I am just in the middle of the
line
I leave emotions fight against emotions
sometimes the weak emotions die
and sometimes some emotions win the rest
honestly I don’t care which of them are the best
as long as they all
come from the
bottom
the same thing for feelings
as when they fight against each other
I used to stupidly react with a smile
and forget the fact that the smile isn’t always
enough
or the right thing to react with
but myself says to me why should you stay in pain
while you could simply smile and breathe
I’ve tried to run away from myself
but wisdom has never let me do so
it used to grab me from my confusion and put me
on track
then create beginnings after each end
you know last night I thought I wrote a love poem
but I woke up this morning with a fact that it was
a political poem
I don’t know what brought politics into love
I mean it all sounds complete madness
in fact I’m not even interested in politics
but as wise people said
different seeds seem always different
but they give us the same shadow despite
and today is not far different from yesterday nor
the day before
they always have the same shape
and yet we who play the rest
and to be the best in my point of view
does not mean to be better than others whilst it
means to be the best at who you are
so I always try to do the best I could
to achieve the best of me
Badradeen Mohammed, Higher
Page 8
WHERE AM I NOW?
In this section the Oasis team interview highly accomplished former students of
City of Glasgow College to share their wisdom, experience and achievements. In
this occasion our guest is the Creative Director of the Salon called Burlington
Boutique Sara Mostahiri Abid. Sara talked to us about her life in Iran, her difficult first years in Holland as an asylum seeker and what she did to change her
fate. Today Sara is a woman of success, mother of a family and has several projects in mind.
Sara tell us a little bit about yourself, your
background.
I was born in Iran in a middle class family. I
went to the university where I studied Educational Planning and Management, I always
really loved hairdressing so in my spare time I
got the certificate as well.
At the age of 19 I got married and immediately
after that my husband and I were forced to
leave Iran.
You and your husband, Arash Jamalzadeh, arrived in Holland. What happened then?
They didn’t accept my certificates because I
was from Middle East and the system in Europe
is different. So it wasn’t good news for me. I
was a little bit down then.
But I worked very hard. I wrote thousands of
letters and they told me I could do a refreshment course in Dutch language. So I did it.
In Holland we had so many problems; I had to
be away from my husband for almost two years
because of immigration matters. It was a very
difficult time for us.
When did you decide to move to the UK?
In the end of 2003 we managed to reach the UK
to be with the family. I was very happy.
We entered the UK, and two weeks later I
started to work as a stylist in London. But I didn’t get paid because it wasn’t allowed due to
my immigration status, but I was so happy to
do it because of the experience that I didn’t
mind.
Page 9
When did you move to Scotland?
A year later we came to Glasgow because I
wanted to do further education and London
colleges were so busy so I realised it wouldn’t
be possible to do it there.
We came to Glasgow in 2005, I was so happy;
people here are so welcome and friendly. Two
months later I started working as a volunteer
and soon after that I had my son.
The reason for me to work as a volunteer was
to be part of the community. I used it as a tool
to gain work experience here.
How did your life change after becoming a UK
citizen?
In 2006 I get my leave to remain in this country.
I was allowed to work, to go to university and
to do whatever I wanted.
I found a professional job as a stylist and got
paid for it. My husband started to study in this
college where he got an award in 2010. After he
went to the University of West of Scotland and
he got graduated as a Personnel Trainer.
Nowadays Arash is an entrepreneur and has his
own list of clients.
When did you start to study in City of Glasgow
College and what did you get from it?
I felt like I wasn’t moving forward, I felt that I
was a little stuck. In 2008 I started to study in
this college.
WHERE AM I NOW?
I started a refresher course of hairdressing
during the day and at night time I used to
do beauty courses. I wanted to know everything. That was me wanted to go up.
In 2009, after finishing the courses, my lecturer Alison suggested doing HNC. So I got
it. But in order to enter the Higher National
Qualifications I had to have English higher.
So I did it as well. Here it really was when I
felt my English communication skills improved very fast.
It was quite a hard year, I was working part
time, I was a mum, a wife, I had to do all my
homework, write a lot of essays but my lecturers Rosie and David were very helpful
and I’m very grateful for it. It was an amazing experience, really, really hard but I managed to get A+.
Did you get any financial help?
Of course I applied for ILA for previous
courses and for SAS in my last course. It was
fantastic. Without this support I wouldn’t
have managed to do further education in
this country.
Could you say that Glasgow has improved
your life?
Of course. Definitely.
I am quite happy I moved up to Scotland. I
think there are more opportunities to study
in the further education sector.
If you are coming from a non-European
country it is totally different and very hard.
I found myself 10 years behind. My English
was quite broken. Studying here, living here
even finding a job was easier even for me in
Glasgow.
What is your next move?
I am planning to become a lecturer in hairdressing. I’m very confident in what I am
doing.
Page 10
I have experienced everything in the field and in
very different countries. I am confident where I
am now and who I am.
Any piece of advise for those who are in the position you were in some time ago?
I am happy to tell everybody who comes to this
country that it doesn’t matter how old you are, if
you have children, if you are married, if you are a
foreigner it is difficult but please don’t push
yourself back, don’t give up. You have to think
positive. Always. You have your life. Try to make
a goal for yourself and try to push yourself as
hard as you can in order to achieve this goal.
Cristina Prado, Higher
ESOL ACTIVITIES
WRITING COURSE
WHEN?
SATURDAYS 9.30 – 12.30
WHERE?
NHS. Room 308
ESOL HELP HUB
WHEN?
For students at Intermediate 1,
Intermediate 2 and Higher levels
Learn:
Academic and descriptive writing skills
Discussion/conversation skills
Confidence in your writing abilities
Focus:
Diversity and multi-cultural issues
Many other topics
Do:
Produce articles for a magazine
Enter the Diversity Competition
MONDAYS 9.30 – 4.30
THURSDAYS 9.30—12.30
WHERE?
Room GN24C
Townhead Building
(on the ground floor next to the food court)
WHAT?
HELP WITH…
Application forms, letters, communications with
banks and other services
Page 11
TEST YOUR ENGLISH
Letter Tiles
Unscramble the tiles to reveal messages.
Glasgow
City of Glasgow College
ESOL Department
Page 12
Embracing Diversity
Competition 2013
Use your creativity to embrace diversity at City of Glasgow College.
Theme and Judging Criteria
The theme is “Embracing Diversity” and the aim is to find the most
effective expression and communication of this theme according to
the following judging criteria:
Clarity and accessibility of Diversity & Equality message.
Level of effort shown.
Originality of concept.
Quality of work.
Impact on viewer/audience.
Format
Entries can be presented in any format, including:
A record of relevant community or citizenship activity.
An engineering, energy, science, or nautical concept or project.
An event programme/concept, including community and care, hair & beauty, language, sport,
or tourism.
A building, joinery and shop-fitting, painting and decorating, stonemasonry, bricklaying, plastering, or tiling project.
A web page, interactive media, computing program, information database, or blog.
An item of cookery, baking, cake decoration, sugar-craft, or food and beverage service.
A business and enterprise proposal, event vision or logistical plan.
A poem, short story, song, news article, or film/television/radio production.
A sculpture, piece of craftwork, furniture, jewellery, glass work, ceramic, 3D design, model,
product design, or interior design project.
A piece of graphic design, painting, illustration, poster, pamphlet, banner, photograph or print.
Entering and Deadline
Students currently registered and attending a course during the 2012-2013 session can enter.
Each student can submit up to two entries: one individual and one group entry and each entry
must be an original piece of work. The piece of work may be related to your course, or may be
something completely different!
Keep your entry, but return your entry form by Friday 3rd May 2013. All entry forms must be submitted by 5pm on this date.
You are encouraged to submit an online, electronic form and save the file as Online Entry
Form_YOUR NAME, e.g. “Online Entry Form_JohnSmith”. However an alternative print copy is
available.
Electronic forms must be submitted to diversity&[email protected] and paper
copies returned to Townhead Building, room GS.
http://www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk/about-us/embracing-diversity-competition
Page 13
ESOL LANGUAGE CAFE
ESOL Language Café
is for ESOL
students and their families to relax,
practice English & make friends.
We meet at:
St.Mungo’s Museum
www.facebook.com/cogcesol
Come along to the next ESOL Café
11th May, 1-3pm.
IT’S FREE! There’s tea, coffee, juice,
snacks & activities for adults & children!
We’d love to see YOU there!
Page 14