Hello, Friends.

Many people wondered about our elections and the Electoral College. The Electoral College is defined in the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution. Each state has the same numbers of electors as it's Congressional delegation (one for each member in the House of Representatives and two for the Senators). This is allocation is based on the Census. Each candidate running for President has his or her own group of electors that are chosen by the candidate's political party. Electors pledge to follow the popular vote for their party. The Electoral College vote for each state follows the majority vote for each state. What does this mean? The Electoral College ensures that there is representation for states with lower populations. It also requires that candidates must build a popular base that is geographically broad and diverse in voters (rather than concentrating campaigns in the large cities and majority population types and ignoring minority demographics). There have only been five election of 58 elections where the Electoral College did not match the popular vote. Check out this USA Today article explains how this works in light of our most recent election.

International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100
We began our morning with some lively Election Day 2016 discussion about the best ways to research candidates' qualifications. Sometimes it's difficult to know what sources we can trust to give us the truth. Thanks be to God that He has given us the Truth about His love for us in the Bible! We continued our study of the early church in Acts 5 where the church grew. Many people were healed simply by having Peter's shadow fall on them. The apostles were jailed for preaching about the Messiah Jesus, but an angel opened the doors, let them out, and then relocked the jail! Imagine the surprise of the Jewish leaders when the apostles showed up at the temple! (Acts 5: 17-26)

November 15: Let's read the last part of Acts chapter 5.

International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-12:00, room 100
We enjoyed playing some parlor games and talked about others. We talked about elections in different countries and what it is like to vote in the United States.

November 15: Let's talk about Winter Weather and driving. We will also talk about getting ready for our Feast on November 22.

Conversation: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:00, upstairs classrooms
Following the election, we talked about elections practices in the United States and in Germany. We enjoyed exploring the new vocabulary that helps us to communicate our ideas in a productive way. We talked about the difference between arguments and debates. Do you know the difference?

November 16: Bring your newspapers. Do you have any questions?

English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-12:00
It was good to pop in and visit some of our classes. It is nice to hear what you are learning and sharpen my English skills. It was interesting to compare vowel sounds. As you learn English, compare how you think English words should sound in your home language and then compare that with the way they are pronounced in English. Can you hear a difference? Also, remembering that American English (like many other languages) has so many influences from other languages (that are pronounced in an "American" way). Listen carefully and compare how you think something should be pronounced and how it really is pronounced to quickly improve how people hear you pron

November 17: I am looking forward to visiting you classes and learning more!

allocation: share or portion
pledge: (pronounced pleg) promise
census: count of people
demographics: populations, groups of people
broad and diverse: large and very different
five of 58: five is written out but 58 is numerical, this is a rule that numbers less than 10 are always written as a word but numbers greater than ten can be written as a number
in light of: considering
qualifications: qualities, accomplishments, etc., necessary for function, office, or the like
shadow fall on them: when a shadow crosses over something
sharpen...skills: improve ability to do something
influences: something that causes change