A little winter humor.....

Though we don't get too much snow around here in South Carolina, I thought this was funny. Do you get the joke?  What are "abs"?  Have you ever made a snowman?

A Positively Wonderful Thanksgiving Party

Last month, we finished up our cooking vocabulary and imperative grammar lessons with the most appropriate holiday of all--Thanksgiving!!! Levels 1-4 came together, bringing scrumptious dishes from around the world to celebrate. Our classroom was filled to the brim with students and family members who came to share in this American tradition. There were Haitian, Mexican, Colombian, El Salvadorean, and Chinese foods, as well as the traditional staples of turkey and dressing, made by our own  wonderful Diana! Everyone ate happily, as we discussed upcoming plans for the holiday season.  We finished the festivities with a group picture--everyone happy, smiling, and full!!

Now we have begun to study the use of adjectives and adverbs in our speech.  Notice the words in bold. Are they adjectives, or adverbs?? 

Adjectives: describe nouns by telling which one, what kind or how many. Often an adjective comes directly before the noun it describes. However, an adjective can also come after the noun it describes.

Adverbs:  describe verbs by telling how, when or where. Often an adverb comes directly after the verb it describes. However, it can also come somewhere else in a sentence.

In the comment box below, can you describe your holiday plans using adjectives and adverbs?

The Thanksgiving spread!!!!

So many wonderful students and family members to share it with!!

An incredible amount of delicious dishes

I particularly liked this Haitian BBQ chicken. Yum!

Everyone lined up to get their plates filled up!

Students taking time to converse as they fill up their plates...

More conversation and sharing....

Buffet style!!!

Seasons EATINGS!!!

In all countries and cultures around the world, eating and sharing a special meal is a common way to celebrate.  Here in Anderson ESL, we are no different!! The month of November was a fun-filled and exciting one, full of opportunities to incorporate food into our classroom.  First, we kicked off with our recipe swap in Levels III and IV. We utilized the recipe swap to incorporate cooking vocabulary, measurements, and the imperative (commands/requests) into our classes in a fun and tasty way. After 2 weeks of working on recipe words, commands, and measurements our classwork culminated in students writing a favorite recipe that they whipped up to share with the rest of the class. The result?? A tasty smorgasbord of international treats!  During the recipe swap, we placed a vote on the three best recipes.  The winners?? Reina reigned in 1st place with her awesome rice pudding, Ivonne took 2nd with her yummy flan, and Alidis pulled in 3rd with her tasty brown sugar smokies.  You can check out these recipes below!!! Give them a try, they were delicious!!

Notice the words in bold print.  Do you recognize the vocabulary?  Notice the title--it is a play on words. First, what is a "play on words"?  Do you know what phrase the title is "playing" off of? ;)
Check out the links below for helpful hints!
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+play+on+words

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_and_holiday_season

RICE PUDDING (Reina I., El Salvador)

Ingredients:

1 cup of rice

cinnamon to taste

2 cups of sugar

1/2 gallon of whole milk

Instructions:

1. Cook rice with cinnamon in large pot until rice is very very soft.

2..Add milk and stir for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the sugar and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Note: Can be served hot or cold.

As you can see, Reina's pudding was very popular!!

FLAN (Ivonne P., Colombia)

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can of 2% milk (use empty condensed milk container to measure)

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups of sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Put sugar in small saucepan. Add just enough water to cover sugar. Heat mixture and stir constantly unti sugar is dissolved and caramel colored.

3. Pour mixture into bottom of a 9 inch dish and swirl until bottom of dish is covered.

4.  Place other ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into dish.

5.  Bake for 45 minutes, cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

6. To serve, run small spatula around edge of dish. Place serving plate on top of dish and turn over, shaking gently to release.

Brown Sugar Smokies (Alidis S., Colombia)

Ingredients:

1lb bacon

1 (16oz) package little smokie sausages

1 cup of brown sugar, or to taste

1 package toothpicks or wooden skewers

Instructions:

1.  Preheat to 350 degrees.

2.  Cut bacon into 1/3 strips and wrap each strip around a sausage.  Place wrapped sausages on toothpick or skewers.  

3.  Arrange skewers on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar.

4.  Bake until bacon is crisp and brown sugar is melted. (approx. 20 minutes)

As you can see, all the dishes got eaten up!

Alidis places her vote for top 3 recipes

Reina and Joana enjoy their classmates' culinary creations!

Diana's cheese log went fast!!

See the recipes by each dish? Students were able to take the recipes they wanted to try to make at home!

Elena and Lucila look at a recipe, while Ivonne smiles for the camera!

Lara and Sarah take a break from snacking to speak some English!

Eating, sharing, and smiling!!!!

Cooking up a Storm in ESL!!

Last week Levels 3 and 4 had a blast cooking up a storm in the last hours of class! What was on the menu?? Chocolate pancakes and Mexican bean dip--yum!  So what does it mean to "cook up a storm"?  This is a common idiom used here in the United States that generally means "to make a good or great meal". Check out the link to Urban Dictionary here:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cooking%20up%20a%20storm

For the past few lessons, we have been focusing on culinary vocabulary and terminology needed in the kitchen to "cook up a storm"!  This week is going to be one of celebration and a lot of cooking and eating--starting with the recipe swap and then the Thanksgiving Day party. I'm sure many of us were "cooking up a storm" to prepare for these ESL events! After the recipe swap Tuesday, more pictures will be posted, as well as the winning recipe contest winners' recipes!! Will yours be the best?

Here's an awesome recipe for yummy chocolate pancakes like the ones we made in class:

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. white sugar
2 Tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg beaten
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips!!!
Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, egg and oil. Mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.  Add chocolate chips to batter after your pour it into the pan--yummmmy!

Disussion question for the day:  "What is your favorite Thanksgiving Day dish?"  Respond in the comment box below.

Here's some photos of Levels 3 and 4 'cooking up a storm!' It was delicious!

Adding in chocolate chips to the pancake batter---delicious!

Looking good while they wait for the pancakes to cook.

Of course there's always dirty dishes to clean up after.....

Checking to see if the pancakes are ready to flip!

Voila!! One group shows off their culinary creation of yummy Mexican bean dip.

Welcome to Our Blog!!!

Hello everyone!! This is our new blog. For our first assignment, lets brainstorm for ideas and cool things we can post, exchange and chat about on our blog. Dicussion topic: Think about a time when you couldn't get your words or images to express quite what you wanted to express. What do you think the problem was? For bonus points, try again. :)