Bohol Trip

Bohol Trip
By: Kyung Mi Moon (May)

I want to go Bohol. So now, I will just try to plan for the Bohol trip. Bohol is not very far from Cebu. So, if you stay in Cebu like me, you can go to Bohol easily but you know, the security of Philippines is not perfect. So I need a companion. Fortunately, I already have my husband.

At first, I should book a ticket for the boat and hotel or a resort. I heard if you book a ticket earlier, you can get a cheaper ticket. I think cash is easier to use than others in Bohol. Philippines is very famous for water sports. Bohol is also a very good spot for that. And there you can see chocolate hills that became one of the 10 wonders of the world. In, addition there are very cute monkeys also known as TARSIERS. They are very small and interesting. I want to see dolphins, so I can go Island hopping. We can borrow a bike or car to look around Bohol and the price is negotiable. Anyway if I can go to Bohol, I really want to enjoy.

A Poem By: Moon Ji Hoon (Moon)

Throw your chest out

Throw your head back

You can see the star

But, there was no star

I want to cast a vote for my star

I can’t see the star

I believe to meet them someday

I believe them to change the world

World full of peace and love

But there was no one

I want to cast a vote

Still I can’t see

I believe to meet them someday

I believe them to change the world

A world longing for peace, unity&love

A Poem

By: Moon Ji Hoon (Moon)

CELI Presents

CELI Presents

Surfing the Net

by: Din & Justin

Poems from Literary Arts Students

Poems from Literary Arts Students




I saw the sea far from the mountains A small island appeared from clouds It was blue as her eyes It was beautiful as her face It was lonely as me Because she was far away from me Forever


* By: Le Hai Nguyen (Le)





See his strong power
See his endless depth
See his broad world
He can see my weak power
He can see shallow depth
He can see my narrow world
But he doesn’t blame
He just waits for me with a smile on his face
That’s why he makes me like him in the future

* By: Song Mi Suk (Michelle)






You look tired, see the sea!
Fish swims busily everyday
If they don’t swim, they will die.
You look tired, look at the sun!
Sun rises healthily everyday
If it doesn’t rise, you will not live



* By: Kim Hye Mi (Sandy) Lee Sang Gu (Lee)

CELI at Tambuli

CELI at Tambuli
By: Jung Young Suk (Diane)

Last Saturday all students joined activities. Actually I don’t like sports so I didn’t think of joining but I was motivated to join our activities. I arrived in Tambuli beach at 8:40 by jeepney. Jeepney always surprises me because I can ride or get off anytime, anywhere. It is small but it carries many passengers. Tambuli beach is very beautiful. Blue sea, white boats, children playing at the sea shore and people swimming. I’d like to just have a relaxing time. I walked around the beach and took pictures with Dianna, Ann, Johnny, Joy and Lynn. It was the first time I met Johnny and They’re from Taiwan. Johnny is funny and friendly.
At 10:00, the teams were called and the games started. The first game was limbo rock. All students played. And my team won two times but many other students were successful. I failed because I don’t have a flexible body. The winner for the first game was Le. Le is my teammate. The second game was touch ball. It has a different rule in Korea and Japan. In our rule, it’s ok to either catch the ball or not let the ball touch any body part. But in the Philippines, the player is out when he catches the ball. At 12:00, lunch time is on ….oh I was happy! All students cooked their traditional foods. Vietnamese students cooked the summer roll(Goi Cuon). I have eaten such in Korea. Summer roll has many ingredients but it’s delicious and a healthy food. Japanese students cooked Okonomiyaki. It’s made of pork, noodles, cabbage and cheese. It looks like pizza and it’s rich in taste and little salty. Korean students cooked Grilled Galbi, Kimbap and Jumugbap. We made a special sauce last Thursday for Saturday’s event. I cooked spinach, eggs and carrot for Kimbap. It was hard because I used a weak burner. Some students and some teachers took pictures while we’re cooking. Mostly, people were interested about Kimbap. I made Jumugbap from leftover ingredients of Vietnamese group. Edger cooked Grilled Galbi. But we didn’t show the process and we missed it.
After lunch, we took a break. Then Korean students presented Teakwondo. Teakwondo is a martial art form and sport that uses the hands and feet for attack and defense. The focus of Teakwondo is on training and disciplining the mind along with the body. And then we did seawater game. I joined the game. The rule is to use only the hands to fetch water and transfer to the basin. My team used our mouths and hands for victory. Well the winner was my team! Seawater taste was terrible! My mouth was so salty. The last game was the longest line. Each team had 5 representatives to join. I also joined and brought a shirt, pants and towel. Someone brought chairs, long string, blanket, etc. But the emcee requested us to make the shortest line. It was suprising. All players were noisy and some members were carried on the back, stood up on chairs and some just formed a line close to each other. It was very exciting! After dinner, we had performances. Vietnamese introduced their traditional dance, the Rice Drum presentation. Japanese introduced their traditional sport ‘Sumo’ and ‘Kumi Taiso’. Three Korean guys introduced the popular song, “Nobody”. They wore dresses and danced. Everyone went crazy.
It’s still fresh in my mind. I spent one month at CELI and CELI gave me a good memories. Thank you.

CELI - SPORTS

CELI - SPORTS
Shinichi Kimura - 2nd Place Winner (Yellow Team)

The things that we can benefit from sports are various. In general, many people do the sports to get good health or strengthen the body. But, in fact many sports affect the personal character without expecting. In my case, when I was a junior high school student, I went to the Karate school. Karate means that two persons compete to get the battling score like a campoo match. Karate methods make us teach how to protect and attack somebody. That training is to strengthen the muscle and stretch many body parts. We can easily get the strong body.

Besides, it is possible to get the good morale through the Karate match. In Karate match, it’s possible to admire the rival because the rival makes us do the match. In Japan, that traditional idea is very important. Spontaneously we get that good morale. In my second case, when I was a high school student, I went to the rugby school. As you know, rugby needs to run and tuckle with brave hearts. This sport is not only to strengthen the body but also enrich one’s own morale. Sometimes we advance by sacrificing our own body.
Of course, teamwork is very important. These things give me the cooperative mind. We enjoy and get good health through sports. But we shouldn’t forget the good aspects that give us good morals. In daily life, it’s difficult to get those things. Sports have possibility to affect our future by improving the mind.

Be a healthy man

Be a healthy man

Damian Lee - 3rd Place (Winner Blue Team)

There are many kinds of sports in the world. Basically, soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. We know about those pretty much and most people know how to play those sports as well. Sports are really helpful, useful… what else? Could be all kinds of good things. Sports can make us have a good relationship with somebody easily. For example, in my case I wanted to make a friend and play soccer as well when I was in university. So I joined in my university’s soccer club. And then I played soccer with club players. I made lots of friends and I really enjoyed with them a lot. It’s really easy to make friends, isn’t it?
One of the club players is really a close friend until now. I’m really happy with that. He is a close friend ever since I’ve known him in 2008. Really close…really!!! We played soccer a lot before. We could get a chance to make friends with each other easily because of soccer. I’m really thankful to soccer. Secondly, sports can make a healthy person. In my case I worked out everyday 2 years ago. Not everyday, I mean often, 5 times per week. Actually my purpose was to make a nice body at that time. So I had to work out because I had some kind of a goal or something. Anyway I worked out habitually after that I felt very good everyday. I thought. “Why am I feeling very good everyday?” The answer was very easy. Because of work out. I worked out everyday, not everyday, five times per week anyway. Actually in my case I was crazy about working out. Sometimes that is not good for health but it was okay. Maybe I am still alive you know, I mean I am writing now. How interesting, isn’t it? Sports can give us some kind of good things. We can make friends, we can make a healthy person and we can get lots of benefits from sports. Do you agree with those things I counted? In fact, many young people don’t like outdoor sports these days. They like indoor sports. For example, computer games and video games. They usually play games in their houses during their free time. It is not a good thing because many young people are getting fatter than before, getting poorer than before, I mean in studying something. So, I think parents must help their own kids play outdoor sports. That is the correct way.
Even if their kids are too young. Lastly, I hope everybody, including kids, will be healthy. If you don’t really like sports, never mind. Just go out and then do whatever you want. You’ll be a nice person. I’m really sure about it. Just do it. Nothing is impossible, you know.

Sports Festival

Sports Festival
Matt - 4th Place Winner (Red Team)

We are having sports festival nowadays. I think it is a good time for us because our body needs to exercise but unfortunately, we can’t do it here in CELI. Almost all students are busy. They have to do something. For example studying or hanging out with someone or drinking. And our life pattern is the same day by day. We always wake up in the morning, go to school, study and sleep. This is our life pattern. We are fed up with it. And we spend a lot of time with our friends but new students couldn’t do it. That’s why we need something that makes our relationship better.
In my opinion, sports festival helps our health, mind and relationship. It makes our body become healthy. We feel stressed because of our life pattern but sports festival will make our mind clear. And it will make our relationship get better. That’s why we can make new friends from the sports festival.
Now, we only have two days. After the sports festival, we have to go back to our stressful life. But please don’t forget it was a nice time and we enjoyed that time. And sports festival gave us so many good things. It seems that we learned that we can do everything and how to enjoy our life. Finally, thank you for all the CELI teachers, staffs and students. Good luck!!!

CELI Weekend Fun

CELI Weekend Fun
By: Nguyen Le Hai Last Saturday, I had a trip with my CELI teachers and friends. It was so amazing! We had breakfast early in the morning and waited for the 8:30 departure. Almost all students and teachers went to Cebu Beach Club where we had fun and did activities.
Around 10 am, we started playing some games under the guidance of teachers. There were four teams: Green (my team), Blue, Yellow and Red. My team had played fairly well, winning the most games we played. We were the champion and it’s important that no other thing is more valuable than the smiles and the united efforts we had. When the sun was high up in the sky, we began to work. Some people were cooking, some were playing volleyball on the shore and some were chatting about the evening activity. I played volleyball until it was almost lunch time. And I felt so tired. Lunch was very good. We had food from Vietnam, Korea, Japan and of course from the Philippines. Each food had different flavors and I liked them although I couldn’t take all for myself. There was no more Vietnamese food left for me. In the afternoon, my friends and I rode a banana boat. It was terrific. When I rode through the waves, I enjoyed the speed but I was a bit nervous. We fell from the boat twice and I got some wounds on my face. It looked bad but it’s ok now. The boatmen intentionally let us fall for excitement.
In the evening, the highlight of the outing took place. I was absorbed in the cultural air. The Filipinos dancing under the fire made me have a glimpse of the history of the country. The men and the women were brave and always adjusted with nature and motherland. In the later part of the dance, the beat got faster so the dancers danced faster which completely attracted me. Next was the performance of Vietnamese students and all of the other foreign students and CELI teachers. Our interest reached it’s peak when the Koreans and Japanese male students danced “Nobody”. The dance made us laugh a lot. We continued dancing and drinking and singing together. The program ended around 9 pm.Everyone loved it.

CELI Outing

CELI Outing
By: Moon Ji Hoon


Did you join last Saturday’s outing? I went to Cebu Beach Club the day before yesterday. The weather was good. And also my feeling was good. Many students participated in this festival and we gathered as one through the sports. During the event, Celians were grouped into four teams.
We had blue, green, red and yellow teams. We played four kinds of games. We had always enjoyed the game. Green team got the first prize followed by red, blue and yellow. After that Giang and I rode a jetski for thirty minutes. That was very exciting! Then I want swimming with CELI friends. Swimming pool was as deep as I liked it to be.Korean guys presented taekwando and the other guys dressed in women’s clothes danced “Nobody”. Vietnam showed their traditional dance. After dinner, we watched Philippine traditional dances. We really had great time and we became comfortable with each other. And now we know each other more.

CELI at Cebu Beach Club

CELI at Cebu Beach Club
By: Aya Sanetoh

CELI held another sports fest at Cebu Beach Club last October 10. The teachers and students were united as one. There were games played. Some did their swimming at the pool or sea. During the game the teachers and students from different teams competed with other teams for the score.

One more big entertainment was presented by each nationality. Then they introduced their traditional sport, dance, song and many more. Also they cooked traditional foods.
That made us amused!!!

A writing contest, how can we benefit from

A writing contest, how can we benefit from

In my opinion, there are a lot of benefits from sports. I think that sports gives
us many important things with regards to health.
First, you can get good health form sports activity. After sports, even during playing some sports, you can sweat a lot. Sweating leads not to remain

harmful inside your body. It is very important for you to keep your body
clean. In addition, if you are not satisfied with your body, for example, you are too heavy, you can lose weight by playing sports. Although some people try to lose weight by restricting eating food, it is not good for health.

And then, when you can join sports activity you can feel very much refreshed.Actually you have to feel some stress from society, work and relationship between other people. That results from problems for your health and mind.I believe that to be healthy is not only good condition of the body but also keeping good feeling every time. In this point, sports makes you release some stress and help you be in a good condition.

Secondly, when you play some sports you can get many friends more easily than normal living. It is because whenever you participate in a team you have to cooperate with other people. It appears that you can talk to some people who you have never talked before at sports situation.

I have good reasons for this opinion. When I was a high school student, I had belonged to a tennis club for 6 years. Of course I like tennis very much, but it was very hard for me to practice everyday. Sometimes I thought I quit taking part in tennis club and wanted to be absent. However, I was always sustained by my teammates. They noticed that I almost gave up and cheered me whenever I felt depressed. Even if I wanted to choose quitting team I could continue because of them. Moreover, I always could feel achievement after playing tennis. Having the goal of my sports made my life wealthier. As a result, I got unforgettable memory from sports.

Therefore you can accept a lot of benefit from sports. Sports is wonderful and very exciting.It is necessary for everyone to join sports.

An Unforgettable Experience to Brag

An Unforgettable Experience to Brag
By Teacher Rowena Camocamo

“Teaching is a noble task as we say.” Despite all the shortcomings I encountered as an ESL instructor, still, I could say that I am honored and fortunate to be given the opportunity to teach foreign students who are in thirst of learning English. Indeed, this experience is worth remarkable and unforgettable. Life wouldn’t be momentous with struggles. As a teacher and as a person in general, we must be optimistic even amidst the tremendous storm. Right then…you’ll just wake up with laurels on your head.

I would like to quote something, “Go far as you can see, when you are there, Go farther and reach the zenith of your dreams.”

One thing I look forward to coming to school is the meaningful friendships I’ve gained. The moment I see these people’s faces, I know I’ll get by. :-)

By: Teacher Sharon Casayan

Helpful Hints on How to Study English

Helpful Hints on How to Study English
By: Teacher Dina Lao

Learning a new language is not easy. However, if you are willing to spend enough time to do it then I know that it will be realized. I have prepared some practical suggestions for studying effectively, overcoming anxiety and practicing skills necessary for English language learning. These are:

1. STUDY everyday! I know you can do it. Hehehe…

2. DISTRIBUTE your study time. Make a study timeline and focus on a different task each time: vocabulary now, grammar next, etc.

3. ATTEND and PARTICIPATE in every class even if you are not well-prepared. The best opportunity for you to practice English is in your class.

4. Make yourself COMFORTABLE in the classroom. Get to know your classmates so with your teachers, so you will feel you are among friends.

5. LEARN GRAMMAR if you don’t know it. Grammar is the skeleton of a language; it’s the basic structure of any given language so you must study it!

6. PRACTICE for tests.

7. DEVELOP a POSITIVE attitude. Leave perfectionism at the door, give yourself permission to commit mistakes and learn from them.

8. GET HELP if you need it. Talk with your teachers. Form study groups among classmates or friends.
So, continue practicing English because practice makes PERFECT! If you have the passion and determination so you’re on your peak to SUCCESS! Soar high! Hehehe.. Aja! Gambaru! Quyet thang!

A Weekend Diary

A Weekend Diary
By: Morihiro Nakayama Last weekend, I just stayed in CELI. But today, a long weekend is ahead of me. I had decided to spend some good time in the beach. I would do scuba diving, snorkeling and island hopping. First I went island hopping with other students. We met at the lobby of the hotel then rode on a jeepney going to a resort. We took the reserved boat and went to a nearby island. It took us 30 minutes to get there. Then we did snorkeling and ate barbecue. We ate chicken, pork and fish on the boat. The food was very delicious. I thought that the boat man was very good at cooking. And we went to another island. We finally got back to CELI at 4pm. I appreciated the front office staff who helped us prepare for this activity.

CELI Experience of Kenji Mukai

CELI Experience of Kenji Mukai
By: Kenji Mukai I have improved my English skills for 2 months. When I arrived in CELI, I couldn’t speak, listen, write or read well. But now, I can though there’s still a lot of improvement needed. My purpose in coming here is to study English, so I think it’s more or less achieved. Although I must continue to study English in Japan, choosing CELI was correct. I think so. While staying in CELI I also enjoyed doing other activities like going to the beach. I haven’t been to a very clear sea before. The discovery was unexpected. Thus I have enjoyed.

The Art of English

The Art of English
by: Teacher Dave Garrison


Before you begin studying English, you should ask yourself a few questions.
• Why do I want to study English?
• What are my objectives in life?
• What do I hope to achieve by improving my English communication skills?

There could be many reasons why people choose to improve their English language skills. Is it because you want to improve your scores at school? Maybe you just want to improve your speech to make your holidays abroad more enjoyable. Or better yet, it could be because you want to improve your communication skills at work with your foreign colleagues or customers. Maybe your parents are pressuring you to study English.

Many students try to study English as if it were a science subject like mathematics or biology. In my view, they are making a big mistake. English is an art. As such, it needs to be practiced. Doctors practice medicine. Lawyers practice law. They are always practicing to improve their skills. That’s why, at CELI, classes are focused on giving students the maximum opportunity to practice using their skills in individual and small group settings. Studying grammar will give you the basic rules of how to express yourself in any language, but only practice will give you the vocabulary and confidence to improve how you use it to communicate.

Like every decision in life, practicing English must be something you want to do. If you don’t make a strong commitment to constantly practice your English then it just won’t happen.

After you have made up your mind that practicing English is something you really want to do then setting goals is easy. As an example, maybe you want to travel to an English-speaking country to study in a university. That would be great right? To achieve your goal, you should list all of the steps you need to reach your goal. The steps should be progressive from the easiest to the most difficult. Keep a record of your goals and which ones you have already achieved. For example, all students know that if you want to study at a university in America, you will need to take a TOEIC or TOEFL test and also pass an oral interview at the embassy to get your student visa. All three of these tests combine the four basic language skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students have so much stress about these tests.

To best achieve your long term goal, I recommend you practice English the natural way. The natural way would be to focus on listening, speaking, reading and writing in exactly that sequence. That is the natural way people have learnt their own native language. If you can remember back to your childhood, you will know you learnt to listen before you could speak. As a small baby, you always looked up at your mother and wondered why she was making all those strange noises. Then, when you were about 1 year old, you suddenly realized some of those sounds your mother was making actually meant something. So, you began to listen more intently to determine which sounds were related to the things you wanted until you could eventually copy those sounds and make your mother understand what you wanted.

Unfortunately, many school systems in Asia adopt a different point of view because they prefer the native language of the student to be firmly in place before teaching the child a new language.

My Hobby

My Hobby
By: Yuichiro Sawai

My hobby that I enjoy the most is playing in a band. I have a band in Japan and I play the bass guitar in this band. This band is composed of four members. Two of us are from Paraguay and the other are from Japan. We all live in Japan. The vocalist is “Gaby” who is from Paraguay. The guitarist is “Ivan.” He is also from Paraguay. Ivan is the husband of Gaby’s sister. They are brothers in-law. The drummer is “Masa” who is from Japan. He has been my friend since we were in the university. We play our original songs. It’s hard core music. Ivan, the guitarist, makes the songs. Sometimes Gaby writes lyrics. They can speak English well so they write lyrics in English. We started this band six months ago. We have five songs now. And we will make one or two more songs, then take a gig. We also play some copy songs. It’s fun, but playing our original songs is different kind of fun. I like either.
I’m looking forward to our gig. And someday, we want to play in Paraguay. It sounds so exciting. I need to study Spanish.
Chao!