Once again, we’ve scoured the internet to find upcoming free webinars and other events of interest to anyone who wants to study in the U.S.  This week: lots for prospective grad and undergrad applicants.

As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up:

December 2

Gallaudet University: How to Apply
More details: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dGpZZE9LSElhTTJkWHV2QXltbTlwMVE6MQ#gid=0 

December 3

EducationUSA: Applying to MBA Programs
3pm US eastern time
More details: http://www.educationusa.info/edusa_connects/

December 4

EducationUSA: Applying to Law Schools
10am US eastern time
More details: http://www.educationusa.info/edusa_connects/
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Lee Seedorff is the senior associate director of the University of Iowa’s Office of International Student and Scholar Services, a school with over 3,500 international students.  Jane Dou, a Chinese student at the University of Iowa, wanted to find out how an international advisor like Lee communicates with her many charges and what challenges she encounters in working with foreign students. 

Lee said the University of Iowa begins talking with international students before they even arrive on campus, offering pre-arrival checklists to prepare students for what they need to know to come to America, and then continuing with orientations and special programs to help international students navigate their life in the U.S.

So after all that communication experience, what does an international student advisor have to say about communicating with international students? Here are Jane’s 5 questions with  Lee Seedorff.

1. What are the most common topics during your communication with international students?

Lee: Well,  just by the nature of what we do a lot of it is immigration-related.  Students are coming in because they may need to extend an immigration document or need authorization for something, or to make sure they are following the immigration rules they are supposed to follow. Much of what we do is related to that.

But outside of that, there is still a fair amount of just personal issues. Maybe people are having conflicts with their roommates – that’s definitely a common one. Or sometimes workplace, particularly with graduate students – they’re having conflicts with their graduate advisor or lab supervisor.

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This year is my second year at Mount Holyoke College and my third year in the States. Yet even after so much time here, there are still moments when I realize how culturally different Americans are, and I feel like screaming, “I don’t belong here!”

I contacted my friend Dmitry, who is finishing his third semester as a Fulbright Fellow at Iowa State University, to ask him how he was feeling about American academics so far.

We both went to university in the same city in Russia, so I thought it would be fun to compare notes.  As it turned out, we didn’t always agree on how the American style of education is different from what we’d experienced before, or why.

Here’s our conversation on:
- Classroom behavior
- The relationship with professors
- Personal conversations
- Homework and grading
(click to jump to that section)

On classroom behavior

Anna: I will never forget when in my first year in the U.S. a girl sat next to me in the front row of a morning class and, as the professor was speaking, put her breakfast on the table and started eating. First, she peeled an egg. Then she spread jam on her toast slowly. I thought to myself: “Oh my god, I hope the professor won’t notice!”

It felt so awkward to me and all I wanted at that moment was for the professor not to notice her eating. Later I learned that in an American classroom eating and drinking are totally acceptable and it doesn’t upset me anymore when I see Mount Holyoke students eating their breakfast or lunch in class.

In one of my classes at my Russian university I felt thirsty and went to get a drink. I wasn’t even going to drink it in class; I just put it on my table. However, when the professor noticed that, she paused to scold me. Yes, right in the middle of her lesson!

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A year ago during Thanksgiving week, I was browsing the internet and randomly came across a recipe for the holiday’s most famous dish: roasted turkey. I went through the ingredients and the instructions, and after a few minutes of deliberation in my adventurous mind I decided to attempt cooking this legendary meal.

I have always loved cooking, and I never understand when people say they can’t cook. I mean, we can all read instructions and follow them, right? As long as I have a recipe, nothing can stop me. So I had no worries about attempting my first Thanksgiving turkey. Normally I try to have everything prepared and thought out ahead of time, but I wanted to cook my turkey as fresh as possible, so I decided to buy it on the very day of Thanksgiving. But little did I know…

On the fateful day of Thursday, November 24th, 2011 I slept in excessively late, enjoying my holiday break, and around 6pm my brother and I took off – driving – for “HEB,” a popular grocery store in Texas. We turned into the empty parking lot of the supermarket and made our way to the entrance, only to find that the store had closed at 3pm because of the holiday. I was not expecting this at all, but I was not giving up.

We drove to “La Michoacana,” a Mexican meat market we frequently visit. It was open, but when we got inside, the butcher informed us that he had no more turkeys left. Yikes!

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Two weeks ago, I was standing among a throng of students in Hotung Café at Tufts University—a crowd burning in anticipation to learn the outcome of the presidential election.

I had left my quiet dorm room just ten minutes before with a friend of mine, after finishing my assignments, to witness this historic moment.

The area was packed; I could only cram into the room by jostling and shoving other students aside. The predictions for most of the eastern and southern states had already been announced; Governor Romney had a marginal lead over President Obama. After a while, the emcee announced that CNN’s prediction for Ohio, one of the key swing states, was out. Breaths were held, dead silence prevailed, and all eyes were fixed on the two TV screens.

***

In my mind I was transported back to the Afghan presidential elections in 2009.

The number of candidates was 22 times the number running in the American elections – 44 candidates – yet the thrill of the election was barely noticeable. In fact, I don’t even recall following the news about it. No matter how many candidates there were to choose from, there was little faith that any of them could or would bring much change.

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Before I left for the U.S., I attended all the orientations about what life would be like there.  I heard tons of useful advice about how to prepare, what to pack, and what to expect.   And like most people, I scoffed at some of that advice.  But boy I wish I hadn’t!

Settling into Indiana was not as easy as I thought it would be, and I quickly began to regret not listening to the suggestions of what to bring with me from home.  Here are the top 3 things I really wish I had brought, and the advice you shouldn’t ignore when it’s time for your orientation.

1. Toiletries

Not packing toiletries such as lotion and soap from home was the first thing I greatly regretted. I am ashamed to say that when the helpful ladies at the EducationUSA orientation gave us this advice, I laughed at it. “I am going to America, where everyone has great skin and looks (and probably smells) good, and everything costs US$1,” I thought. “I will buy it there.”

Unfortunately, when I arrived in Indiana it turned out the supermarket is very far from where I live and only accessible by bus.

When I finally figured out the bus route and managed to get there, I was bombarded by more choices in face wash, lotions, cleansers, and all manner of soaps than I had ever seen in my life!

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The third in a series looking at U.S. life and culture through its idioms.  View previous entries.

To buckle up = to put on a seat belt

Because I teach English as a Foreign Language, and I’ve been constantly improving my language skills for over 20 years, I have always been pretty confident about my English.  But guess what? When I arrived in Pennsylvania I quickly found that my English classes back home had left me unprepared for certain tasks – like driving.

On my very first day, someone from the university had picked me and my roommates up at the airport and was driving us to Selinsgrove when I saw a big sign on the road that said “Buckle up! It’s the law.” I had no idea what buckle up was, so I asked the person who was giving us a ride. She explained it meant to fasten your seat belt.

Since then, I have found the slogan “buckle up for the next million miles” in many spots along the roads of Pennsylvania.

This was the first of many encounters with traffic signals, road signs, GPS devices, safe-driving exams and many others, all of which have proved that no matter how much I’ve studied the language, there are certain things I could never learn without living in the culture.

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It’s getting close to application crunch time, so there are lots of free, online events this week focused on completing your application to a college or MBA program. So check them out if you’re planning to apply!

As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up:

November 19

EducationUSA: The Common Application
10am US eastern time
More details: http://www.educationusa.info/edusa_connects/

mbaMission: MBA Essay Writing Workshop
12 noon US eastern time
More details: http://www.manhattangmat.com/EventShow.cfm?EID=3&eventID=11162 

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Thailand’s Songkran water festival, held in April (Photo: Reuters). Is this part of my identity?

I still remember a conversation I had with my high school friends one day, when I told them that I wanted to study in the U.S.: “I don’t think I’d ever go there,” said one of my friends. “It seems too liberal and dangerous.”

I also remember another moment, when I was at a store with my mother, and she had told the shopkeeper that I attended an international school: “Learning English is a good skill, but I don’t think I want my kids in that kind of school,” he said. “I don’t want them to be Westernized.”

Although I attended an American international school, few of my friends actually went abroad for college. Most stayed in Thailand, a handful went to colleges either in England or Australia, and I was the only one to go to the U.S. The prevailing attitude was that while, sure, the U.S. offered a good education, it was just a bit too far, too expensive, and too different. When one of my friends expressed interest in going to an American college, her parents dissuaded her, saying that they wanted her closer by.

To me, getting away was the exactly the point; staying in Thailand was the last thing on my mind. I had graduated from high school, seen all my close friends leave, and was overcome by the feeling that I was done with it all – that there was absolutely nothing left for me in Thailand, and there was nowhere to go but away.

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Earlier this week, Zita explained how Americans interpret the phrase “How are you?” and why they might react with surprise if you actually tell them how you are when they ask.  It’s not the first time we’ve heard about funny, frustrating, and even downright embarrassing English mistakes.  Take these, contributed by VOA intern Matthew Kupfer, or these, added by our readers (that’s you!). Commenter Yustina wrote in to share another one of her own:

I said to my friend, “I am boring.” I meant, I felt bored at that time. He just laughed at me and said, “Yes, you are so boring.” 

I didn’t know it was ungrammatical until one of my friend told me it was wrong. She said, “I feel bored.” When you use “I am boring” it means you are a boring person; it does not show what you feel. I said, “I have to study hard in English.”

So far I have big problems with grammar and how to make tenses correctly.  If you have some advice please tell me.

Yustina, you might want to take some of Sava’s advice for making significant improvements quickly, or Shree’s advice for making practice part of your daily routine. And check out this link for even more on learning and improving English.
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When I came to the United States, I was barely fluent in spoken English, although on paper I seemed competent in the language. In fact, it turned out the English I had learned over the course of my middle and high school years was quite different from American English.

When you’re not comfortably fluent in the language of your “new home,” a casual chat can rapidly turn into a rollercoaster of confusing words. I could barely even understand the information that the immigration officer told me when I landed in the U.S.

Now, after two years, I can proudly say that my English is lot better than it used to be, although I’m still trying to improve my speaking skills.  To get there, I had to understand that assimilating to a language is an art. You have to feel it, visualize it, and experience it yourself. It’s an art that you create, not that you learn. Here are the four ways in which I have crafted my own art of fluency.

1.     The Craft of Listening

Treatment with leeches. Woodcut from Historia Medica by W. van den Bossche.

Have you ever heard of leeches? There are slimy and tiny worm-like organisms that can suck human blood without even getting noticed. A leech will absorb as much blood as it pleases, and then instinctively lets go and begins its well-deserved digestion break.

I know, you must be wondering why I would talk about leeches in an article about learning English. But actually, those little creatures can teach us a lot about the approach to take when learning English. If you really want to be comfortable with daily spoken English, you have to start absorbing the language as much as you can.

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- How are you?
– Good. You?
– Pretty good.
– That’s good.

This was an actual exchange between two students sitting at my table in the dining hall. When I heard it, I literally burst out laughing and quipped, ”Well, that was a meaningful conversation.” Maybe I was being a bit insensitive but, although I have lived in the U.S. for more than two years and know this is a normal conversation, it still strikes me as odd.

One of the most challenging aspects of being an international student is that you not only have to master a foreign language, but also to recognize the meaning that hides behind the words.

Almost every day I am asked, “How are you?” or “How are you doing?” I’m expected to respond, “Good” or “Fine,” and ask the other person how they are, to which they will also respond, “Good.”

To this day, this style of greeting strikes me as an abuse of a question with which people show care and concern to one another in my culture. When somebody asks, “How are you?” in Hungary, I assume that person is truly interested in my well-being and wants to listen to what I have to share.

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This week we’ve found three (count ‘em, three!) virtual fairs for prospective college and grad students. Plus some MBA-themed events, as usual.

As always, if you attend any of these events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up:

November 13

EducationUSA/CollegeWeekLive: International Virtual College Fair
More details: http://www.collegeweeklive.com 
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Why might “library” be a confusing word?

this is confusing to the french speaking student, it get confusing with bookstore cause bookstore in french is “Librairie”

Indeed.  And it’s just as confusing for English speakers learning French.  So let’s clarify and put “library” into the Glossary of Confusing Words.

A bookstore is where you go to buy books.  A library is where you go to borrow books. It’s as simple as that.

On a college campus, libraries and bookstores often take on additional functions, but that core distinction remains.

In addition to being a place to borrow books, the university library is one of the most popular places on campus to study. University libraries usually have tables or cubicles where students can bring their books and computers for a quiet place to concentrate, and often have meeting rooms available for group work.

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