Washington Academy of Languages

Wow! I’m glad to say that our on-going student activity, called “Super Surprise Thursdays,” has really been new, fun, and different lately! What a great benefit to our WAL students, and for the guests that have come and graced the halls of WAL!

First of all, in March, we hosted Thom Harp, the director and co-writer of the upcoming feature film, Fortune Hunters (here’s a shameless plug by me: www.fortunehuntersmovie.com).

Actually, many of us at WAL met Thom back in the summer of 2006 when Thom and his crew filmed the short 20 minute film version of the same name at our then-downtown-Seattle location. That was such a great experience for all, including some of us (me included) that got a short cameo appearance in the film. It was great fun! And it was also fun to meet Thom again after a few years had passed.

At his recent visit, he shared with us the ups and down of filmmaking, and gave us a preview of what the “new” Fortune Hunters movie will be like. We also shared a delicious potluck lunch prepared by our students. He was very engaging and informative, and we would love for him to come back and visit us again. Hey Thom – need any of us as extras again for your next film? Look for video of Thom’s visit and Q&A in an upcoming blog post!

Then, in a sudden burst of creative brainstorming during a recent WAL weekend trip to Snoqualmie Falls, I thought of another idea for our April surprise. Right in front of me on this trip was our new student, Julia Escolano Lanau. I recalled that her husband, Jose Maria Larrosa, is the Executive Chef for Taverna del Alabardero, a new restaurant in Belltown (check out www.alabardero.com).

Either I was really inspired at the time or just really hungry, but in any event I went ahead and asked Julia if she thought her husband would like to make a few dishes of Spanish tapas for our April Super Surprise activity. He could be our “Mystery Chef,” and we would have the students guessing all week about who the cook was going to be!! And indeed, we did keep them guessing.

Unfortunately, Jose was not able to come and cook for us in person, but he did equip his wife with a delicious selection of classic Spanish potato omelettes, a dish of hearty meatballs in tomato sauce, and a sweet dessert concoction of rice and milk for us to try and savor. What a great surprise for all of us! Big thanks to Jose for his delicious cooking, and for Julia, who helped arrange all of this, along with treating us that day to authentic Spanish music, games, and hospitality!

Hmmm… I wonder how we can top this all off for next session’s surprise? I’m waiting for that next burst of creativity… Got any ideas?

Debbie Chan, Activities Coordinator, WAL

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under WAL Info, Fun Activities, English Language Learning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.