Salmon in Curried Celery Sauce

Tastes similar to Panda express. Naughty, but pretty nice.

Beef, Pork, Tofu, or Chicken could be nicely substituted.

Ingredients:

1-stalk celery, keep leafy top

2-1 hunk salmon, cut into bite size pieces

3-1/4 small onion

4- Just enough flour to coat the salmon chunks

Seasonings

1 tsp mashed garlic, 1 tsp mashed ginger

Salt, Pepper

3 tbsp vinegar (any kind)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tbsp curry powder spices (turmeric, curcumin, fenugreek, fennel--your desired mix)

Steps:

1) Powder the salmon chunks and fill a pan with 1 cm of oil to tolerate med-high heat.

Grill until the salmon skin is crispy, or the meat is cooked through.

2) Drain oil. Reserve meat to the side.

Lightly cook the seasonings and celery in the same frypan and drizzle over the cooked meat.

I accidentally added the sauce ingredients to the meat, and the result came out ok. But it would look nicer if the sauce is made separately.

Engrish: Mood of Cleopatra Bath

I really enjoy bath salts, anywhere in the world.

This one happened to have some fun Engrish.

Cooking: Takoyaki

Max and I taught ourselves how to make takoyaki! It went well!

Hakuna Matata

Shared from a sharing on a friend's facebook:

ESL With Young Learners

That's pretty much what I do with the little ones. I try to change up the names and also incorporate storytime. Really high level students can already basically read and we practice activities that mimic spelling. They're capable of so much, it's just a matter of finding out what level the little ones are at, I feel. It's still really new to me but I think I'm doing basically the same as the guy in the video. :D

Other Helpful Sites About ESL for Young Learners:

ESL Songs and Activity Ideas: Great gathering of Resource

They are selling CDs but there are many free and helpful resources on the website.

http://supersimplesongs.com/cd3-14.html

Everything ESL.net

http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/pre_school_information_99051.php

ESL Songs and Ideas for Young Learners

Good for ideas but the sitemaster is promoting her book and CD

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/eslsongs.htm#CD1

Rong-Chang.com, ESL, EFL For Children

http://www.rong-chang.com/kids.htm

Curriculum Guidance Website:

http://www.time4learning.com/scope-sequence/preschool.shtml

This site gives some insight into subjects typically covered in Kindergarten curriculum. See how your classes' curriculum measures up to what is typically taught in kindergartens. For when you're running out of ideas, want to check progress of your students at your school, or design a curriculum.

Ontario Kindergarten Curriculum Guidance Website

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindercurrb.pdf

Words of Wisdom on the Role of Educators and Early-Childhood Educators in Students' Lives

http://www.besthomeschooling.org/

http://besthomeschooling.org/articles/lillian_jones_ps_kdgtn.html

ESL: Why Games, Stories, and Movement Activities Work

http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/Articles/Teaching_ESL_Preschool_Ideas_and_Tips_for_Successful_Classes.htm

Malia Earns her Flight Wings (Desk Apple)

I think the previous teacher wrote "Bai Bai" Actually...

And then the little black marker was a student writing...

Then I wrote (Heart) you too!

I must say, before I left the U.S. I was pondering what other jobs might be open to a Japanese speaking person with a lot of people-experience through teaching. One job I considered was Japanese speaking flight attendant for Delta. That may have been exciting, but I decided I would rather have something a little more settled that would still allow me to be in touch with Japan and seeing the world (or Japan, at least) rather than just the world's airports in the world's biggest cities.

I'm very happy with my decision.

My work started at long last, just over one week ago. (Although I came to Japan 3 weeks ago) So far so good. Funds are tight but the necessities of life are pretty affordable. I should be able to start saving in no time if I stop train-traveling around, which I find is my biggest expense.

I work at a casual small-business language school, not a chain or corporation. I'm not an ALT. So my experience is different than other bloggers out there. I'm very happy. Of course, no place is perfect, but I've found myself an excellent fit. I get to see all ages and all personalities, every one of my students is so different- there is never a dull moment at my school. I'm on my feet all day. I don't get the vacations of ALTs, or the down time in the teacher's room... And even though although maybe one day I would still like the immersion into a Japanese school, but for now I am ever grateful to my school and to the city I'm living in. It was good to me in high school when I was an exchange student and it is good to me now when I am working-same city! I'm going out with one of my host family's tonight. Their ages are very close to mine... maybe 10 years old. Only 5-7 years older than my husband. We're in the same age group. Even though I'm ineikaiwa it's not corporate. Like I said, it's a small business and exchanges with my boss and co-workers are warm. We're paid fairly and it's good to be working with happy people.

For the first week I was training under the teacher who's leaving. Since I have experience with returnee students, middle, high, college, and adult students I was able to start out in those classes on my own from the beginning. All they require is patience and skill in moving from subject to subject and keeping the students talking (and knowing when to nix the Teacher Talking Time... because Teacher already knows English ;) ) All that ended yesterday when I took the reigns and did six classes or so... all age ranges. It was just fine. First week was a lot of planning and going to school early and staying late, but I think I've more or less got the hang of it. Just need to expand my repetoire of games for the kiddos. Usually we spend the last 5 minutes of our classes playing a game to leave them with a positive memory of English class.

Anyway, one of my little girls wrote "Bai bai" to the last teacher and "Malia-Teacher" on the white board in front of our school. It was a d'aww moment and my first little kiddo note about me. The picture is in the blog.

Peace.

The Hook (Story for Discussion)

The Hook

(Source unknown, but probably an ESL resource website)

A teenage boy drove his date to a dark and deserted Lovers' Lane for a make-out session. After turning on the radio for mood music, he leaned over and began kissing the girl.

A short while later, the music suddenly stopped and an announcers voice came on, warning in an urgent tone that a convicted murderer had just escaped from the state insane asylum,--which happened to be located not far from Lovers' Lane--and that anyone who noticed a strange man lurking about with a hook in place of his right hand should immediately report his whereabouts to the police.

The girl became frightened and asked to be taken home. The boy, feeling bold, locked all the doors instead and, assuring his date they would be safe, attempted to kiss her again. She became frantic and pushed him away, insisting that they leave. Relenting, the boy peevishly jerked the car into gear and spun its wheels as he pulled out of the parking space.

When they arrived at the girl's house she got out of the car, and, reaching to close the door, began to scream uncontrollably. The boy ran to her side to see what was wrong and there, dangling from the door handle, was a bloody hook.

What is the moral of the story?

___________________

I'm not sure what to think of this story, I found this going through the ESL resources at the school I'm teaching at. Hm. Probably from Dave's ESL cafe or something... I'd love to give the original author credit though.