ELS house immerses students in American culture, language
ISSUE: 02/28/07 > FEATURES > els house immerses students in american culture,language
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Photo by Jessica Waltrip |
Five men from three different countries, whose professions include everything from football player to aspiring teacher, all live under the same roof. Most of the time, housemates like this would only be found in a joke about bars or a late night sitcom, but sometimes reality is stranger that fiction. These men are all members of the English Language School in Nashville, where they have come from all over the world to learn English.
ELS is a nation-wide program with students from over 140 countries. They come to ELS locations to learn English so they can study at an American university, become well-rounded in their businesses and learn about American culture. The Nashville ELS is located on the edge of Belmont’s campus on Compton Avenue, as is the house of Shimpei Suzuki, Jungseok Kim, Takeshi Ueda, Massahiro Ide and Basar Ozpulat.
While the house looks unassuming and much like any older house – a bit dingy, fitting in well in the eclectic Compton Avenue neighborhood – inside is a world of different cultures. The house currently has residents from South Korea, Japan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, although turnover is frequent. With so many radically different cultures under one roof, one would perhaps expect conflicts, but for the most part the men take it in stride and even laugh as they try to learn each other’s languages and cultures.
“Now I live in Korea, Japan, America, Arabia and Turkey,” Suzuki, from Okazaki, Japan, said over a table that sees dishes such as kimchi, ggakddwgi (pronounced “gock-doe-gi”), doner and katsudon on a daily basis. Suzuki came to the United States to learn English for his business future.
“I am interested in working in countries all over the world, and English is an international language,” said Suzuki, who is interested in sports business and hopes to work for Nike or Adidas in the future.
Many in ELS share the same type of goal. Kim and Ozpulat both are in ELS so they can further their studies. Kim, from Seoul, South Korea, studied architecture in Korea and wants to continue studying it in the United States. However, he has to improve his English before he can be accepted to an American university.
“I want to go to an American university or get a job in America,” Kim said. “Architecture programs and English programs in the United States are better than in Korea.”
Ozpulat needs to improve his English to be accepted in a Turkish university and says that he was not expecting to come to the United States, but one teacher in his high school, a converted monastery complete with a dungeon, failed the entire English class.
“Now we are scattered all over the world learning English so we can go to university,” Ozpulat said with a little laugh.
Ide’s ambition, much like his personality, is a bit more light-hearted.
“I want to play American football and learn about American football. I want to introduce the Japanese people to American culture.” An all-star running back from Kumamoto City, Japan, Ide started playing football when he was in college majoring in Japanese Culture.
“It is very fun. When I play football I can relax and de-stress,” Ide said. He continues to train in the United States, which helps keep his mind off missing Japan, although that does not seem to be much of a problem for him.
“ I want to introduce the Japanese people to American culture.” -Massahiro Ide |
“I miss Japanese food, because everything is so big here, and everything tastes very strong,” Ide said, thinking of Japan. “Before, I missed some girls,” he continued with a cheeky grin.
Ide’s roommate, Ueda, is from Tamana City, in the same pro
vince as Ide’s hometown. Ueda wants to be a teacher in a Japanese high school, but he has to be able to teach English to the students before he can get his teaching certificate. The thing that was most surprising to Ueda about the United States was his first sight from the plane.
“I saw so many baseball fields,” Ueda said. Ueda is also a huge fan of Elvis and doo-wop, which he likes to watch on the Internet.
“I love to check YouTube and Myspace and watch the music videos,” Ueda said.
Like the baseball fields, it is often the simple things in America that pose problems for these men.
“Tips are confusing for me,” Ide said. Ueda added that cashiers in stores were hard to understand sometimes.
“Sometimes I need help. Some people are kind, some are not. In Japan, workers have to be kind, but it’s different sometimes in America,” Ueda said. Suzuki agreed and also said that traffic rules were difficult.
Despite their problems, however, most of them are very happy to be in America, whether they plan to stay for a few months or for a longer time.
“I have had many wonderful experiences in America,” Suzuki said, adding that after he finishes his studies he wants to go back and work for his company in Japan. Both Kim and Ueda are hoping to find jobs in the United States after their studies.
“I want to stay and study more to know American slang and culture and then maybe find a job either here or in Japan,” Ueda said.
Ide, although going back to Japan soon, said he felt the same way about American culture and hoped to bring it with him back to Japan.
“I like America, and I love American culture and thinking. In Japan, we have the respect words like ‘san’ and ‘sama’ at the end of people’s names, but America doesn’t have that. I like that.”
Despite differences in culture, age and education, these five men show that when it comes right down to it, humans are the same wherever you go. Ozpulat may be from Turkey, but he also played in a band in high school, almost a prerequisite for many guys around here. Ide’s name may sound strange to Americans, but he and his friends in Japan like to hang out just like Americans. On any given day in the guys’ house, they do the same things as other guys their age. They play games online – “Starcraft” is the house favorite right now – watch TV, go down to P.M. for drinks and conversation. And of course, there’s talk about girls. “Make sure to write that I’m single,” was a common request throughout the interview process.
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