Winds of Change: Welcome March

 Hello, Friends.

March is famous for wind! Winds of change in March bring us the hope of spring Just this last week we had an ice storm that makes us all think that spring will never come. Look closely: little buds have begun peeking out of the ground, robins are flocking. Most important I saw my first turkey vulture! Vultures are the true sign of spring in the Midwest!

The last few years have been driven by winds of change that strongly impact our society and way of life. These events introduce many new words to our English vocabulary. What events are you observing? 

The COVID 19 Pandemic

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

American elections 

COVID 19 and CDC Directives

The CDC announced changes in how we are tracking the and reacting to Covid 19. Mask and close contact restrictions and recommendations have been eased. Look at the statistics and see the charts in this article on COVID 19 Community Levels.

March Celebrations and Interesting Dates

• Mardi Gras (also known as Fat Tuesday): March 1. Feast and dance and celebrate. This holiday as its roots in the Cajin and French immigrant cultures. While it is mostly celebrated in New Orleans, we have more and more Mardi Gras events throughout all of the states. Some countries and cultures have week long celebrations.
• Lent is 40 days before Easter in the Christian church. Ash Wednesday falls on March 3 this year and is the first day. You may see people wearing ashes on their foreheads or hands as a sign of repentance. People may read special daily devotions and give something up (like coffee or chocolate or playing video games) instead of fasting throughout the 40 days.
• Daylight Savings Time Begins: March 13
• Pi Day: 3.14 is March 14! Celebrate with pie. Quiche in the morning. Hand pies for lunch. Pot pie for dinner. Don't forget dessert pies: fruit pies, sugar cream pies, merengue pies...
• Ides of March: March 15  
• St. Patrick's Day: March 17. Celebrate all things American Irish. This holiday 
• March Madness: The NCAA basketball tournament comes to the Hoosier state! Make a bracket (your best guess for the tournament winner).

Finding Fun in Indiana

As the weather warms and changes, more and more fun emerges like the groundhog.

Indiana March Things To Do: Pie Trail, Maple Syrup Festival, March Madness

Pun Fun

Here is a great pun on a vacation t-shirt! Get it?

Reader's Digest is the source for articles, jokes, stories and anecdotes. This tab leads to bad jokes and puns. Enjoy!

American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom.

We learned to sign the theme song Hey Arthur. Arthur is a popular PBS show for children. This fun reggae beat song is catchy tune that sticks in your head. This also has many words we know how to sign and make it our own.

February 28: Let's start with a sing along/sign along.

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 AM (GMT-5), Zoom

March 1: Join us reading 2 Thessalonians.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

March 1: Join the conversation about relocation.

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30 -5:30 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

March 2: Join the conversation. What do you have on your mind?

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

Grammar and poetry are excellent! If You Give A Mouse a Cookie. Great

March 3: Join us as we continue building our skills. We are learning about emotion and pronunciation and grammar.

Kid's Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30 -5:00 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

It is always good to get together and catch up. We are reading the Hobbit, Harry Potter, and music theory. We like math, lunch, English and art in school.

March 4: Bring jokes and puns to class. They can be in English or in your native language.

bad jokes: jokes that make you groan instead of laugh

catchy: snappy, memorable

flocking: birds gathering in a group

memorial: in memory of 

repentance: regret or remorse

sing along: people informally singing together

sign of: indication

theme song: a song that is associated with a person, event or

week long: lasting a week

winds of change: something that is about to happen

Classes and Meetings Cancelled

 All International Friends classes and meetings are cancelled Tuesday, February 22 and Wednesday, February 23.

Wrapping Up February

Hello, Friends.

We always welcome new friends to join us (and old friends to return after a break). Jump in any time!

If you need Zoom links, email us or click here to register.

American Sports

Daytona 500: Sunday, February 20, 2:30 PM (EST). NASCAR season is off and running! Buckle up for an exciting race! This 500 mile race is in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

More Fun Skill Building

Riddle of the Day Test your language and mental skills  

COVID-19

We are happy to begin to report some very positive news on the pandemic front. Masks optional in Carmel Clay Schools beginning February 22! 

American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

Valentine's Day and car buying got in the way of our meeting...

February 21: Join the fun! We are meeting.

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 AM (GMT-5), Zoom

We wrapped up 1 Thessalonians. There were some wonderful phrases and images. We particularly liked the poetry in verses 19-22 which deals with judging messages and not impeding the joy and enthusiasm that comes with God's message of love. 1 Thessalonians 5 gives advice for building each other in the community by respecting each other, holding each other accountable and being productive human beings.

February 22: We are reading the Thessalonians sequel. What problems are these people facing? Can they overcome?

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

It is always good to see Friends after a long time. When that happens, agendas go out the window and it is more important to catch up!

February 22: Join us. We will be talking about relocating as I help my daughter pack her home.

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-5:30 PM (GMT-5), Zoom

Catching up with each other to talk about current events in the world and at home is an important part of building personal and learning community.

February 23: Watch for our schedule. 

English Classes:  PM (GMT-5), Zoom

We had a full house Brady Bunch style. Welcome to all Zoomers from Mexico, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Brazil, and Indiana.

We provided our own edits to the Springtime poem by e.e. cummings to emphasize our interpretation and meaning. Using Cummings poetry highlights challenges to understanding written English without grammar rules. It also highlighted the ebb and flow of language and interpretation of poetry. 

Listening and speaking can be a challenge for native language speakers as well as people learning and polishing language skills. Critical listening for understanding on occurs on many levels (content, context, pronunciation, accent, body language) can help build communications skills. Building relationships are key in developing language and communication skills. Being mindful of your participation and response help you to become a better communicator.

February 24: Grammar seminar. Join us as we study our common grammar snags and work on permanent corrections. 

Kids' Conversation: Friday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

It is fun to catch up with each other. We talked about holidays and vacations. We shared our latest binges:

• On Netflix (and YouTube): Gilmore Girls and Mako Mermaids

• Books: The Treehouse Collection by Andy Griffiths (elementary level); Sleeping with the Enemy, Coco Channel's Secret War (high school and adult).

The pandemic still is affecting all of us, but effects are more positive as the cases in all of our countries is waning. 

February 25: As speaking of playing with words with playing on words, bring puns to our next meeting. Your puns can be in English or in your native language. Be ready to explain them, just in case!

The sky must be sad today because it is blue.

affecting: something that involves emotion

Brady Bunch: an American sitcom from the late '60s to early '70s 

ebb and flow: poetic way of saying how something moves

effecting: something that produces a desired result

go out the window: something is discarded or abandoned

highlights: emphasizes

holding [each other] accountable: being responsible and answerable for behavior/decisions

jump in: join

mindful: paying attention 

off and running started and continuing

overcome: succeed in dealing with something

sequel: a follow-up story

snags; places or things that 

waning: ending slowly 

Superbowl Sunday, Changing Weather, Reading and Learning and So Much More

 Hello, Friends.

We had wild weather week here. Our snow is melting fast with warm days. We had showers that are washing away the salt on our cars followed by snow again on Saturday morning. This week we will see 60 degree temperatures during the week.

Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday is one of the biggest American holidays. There was a call to have an official holiday on Superbowl Monday after to allow Americans to recover from their parties. Read more and listen to the broadcast.

Celebrate with snacks, watch the commercials (which was the best), groove to the halftime show. Who will win? Since we are in Indiana we have to root for Cincinatti! Food and Wine has a great line up of delicious and innovative snacks for game day.

Watch for American Sign Language performers during the Superbowl. Read more about the interpretation and performance from the deaf culture and language in this ABC article.

Things to do in Indiana and a Quilt Challenge for our Quilters:

• Tour the Palladium on Tuesdays. The tour is free with registration.
• More things to do in Hamilton County in February.
• Virginia Quilt Museum Mini Challenges: Calling all quilters. You can submit your mini quilt to be exhibited in this challenge. The spring topic is Flora and Fauna (flowers and animals).

Reading 

The habit to a bright future note from March 2019: If your child reads at home for just 20 minutes a day, they'll see 1.8 million words per year and will likely score in the 90th percentile in standardized tests. Reading matters!

Reading to and with your children or your friends is a great way to work together to expand your vocabulary and give everyone something to talk about.

Wanna, gonna, kinda

These "words" are more and more common in headlines or texts and casual conversation. These words stand for want to, going to (as in planning to do something: I'm gonna wear my read dress.) and kind of (almost or somewhat: I kinda like the read one better). These are not acceptable in professional or formal writing. 

American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We continue to learn and grow...

February 14: Happy Valentine's Day! Show us signs of love!

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 AM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We discussed 1 Thessalonians 4. Sexual immorality and minding your own business were topic touched on in this letter. We talked about how these topics continue to be hot topics. Sexual sins (or crimes) in our time include virtual offences when people access pornography on their computers. We talked about our role as parents and whether the schools or others have a role in leading our children in teaching our children sexual morals as well as the appropriate ages for these talks.

February 15: We wrap up 1 Thessalonians with the final chapter.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We talked about Valentine's Day customs as well as our practices.

February 15: Happy Valentine's Day. I wish we could eat chocolate in person!

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

 February 16: Join the conversation. It is always interesting.

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We wrapped up puns. Puns are good to study in a language because they inform us about the culture as it relates to the language. You may not "get" a pun. Usually, these plays on words cause us to groan like a dad joke. We talked about paying taxes in the United States and in other countries. 

We read a poem by e.e. cummings (well known for breaking punctuation conventions) called Springtime. Cummings inverts words. What are other, more common ways to say and portray what he has to say. What are the punction conventions that are being broken? What is the impact of these intentional "errors"? 

February 17: Join us for some round-robin chats and critical listening and speaking practice.

Kids' Conversation: Friday, 4:30-5:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

It was so nice to get together and see so many faces. Welcome back (even if you are on a Southern Hemisphere Summer Break). 

February 18: We will continue to share Word Clouds (use them to check your writing, too)

root for: cheer or support

A Big Snow Storm

 Hello, Friends.

We had a doozy of a winter storm this past week. In true Indiana fashion we had 60 degree weather followed by rain, sleet, wintery mix and then snow. Keeping your house winter weather ready can be a challenge when we have beautiful, spring-like days followed by snow and cold. In Indiana, homeowners are responsible for keeping the walkways in front of their homes snow free so that it is safe for people to walk. The general rule is to have them cleared within 24 hours of a snowfall. People have different strategies: some people wait until the snow has stopped, other people shovel or blow the snow from their driveways several times to lighten the load. We can complain about the cold, but just wait until July and August!

Indiana Fun

Veal's Ice Tree is a great field trip for our Friends locally.

Learn the history and details about Veal's Ice Tree from the website. 

Free Site for Reading

ZLibrary find books to borrow and read. Login and download books to a Kindle app.

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:00 AM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

1 Thessalonians: 3 emphasizes the importance of relationships and communication. At this time, letters were the media for long distance communication. We talked about succession management: which is leadership transition.

February 8: 1 Thessalonians: 4 talks about how to live a good life that is God-pleasing.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We talked about the weather. Indiana weather is changeable. 

February 8: Join us as we talk about Valentine customs and get ready to celebrate with our sweeties.

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST (GMt-5), Zoom

We had a brief chat about weather words, Ollie's, and Pop Tarts. 

February 9: Bring your questions and comments and practice free-flowing conversation to perfect your grammar and grow your vocabulary.

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We studied puns. They are a great way to understand culture as well as language. 

Subject: Puns for the Day...

1.  Dad, are we pyromaniacs? Yes, we arson.

2.  What do you call a pig with laryngitis? Disgruntled.

3.  A commander walks into a bar and orders everyone around.

4.  I’ve started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It’s all about raisin awareness. 

5.  How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced? A buccaneer.

6.  I once worked at a cheap pizza shop to get by. I kneaded the dough.

7.  When I told my contractor I didn’t want carpeted steps, he gave me a blank stare.

8.  Bono and The Edge walk into a Dublin bar and the bartender says, “Oh no, not U2 again.”

9.  Prison is just one word to you, but for some people, it’s a whole sentence.

10. I’m trying to organize a hide and seek tournament, but the best 

11. I got over my addiction to chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts. I won’t lie, it was a rocky road.

12. What do you say to comfort a friend who’s struggling with grammar? There, their, they’re.

13. I went to the toy store and asked the assistant where the Schwarzenegger dolls are and he replied, “Aisle B, back.”

14. What did the surgeon say to the patient who insisted on closing up her own incision? Suture self.

We reviewed one of the tax forms and talked about American conventions and how to fill out common forms.

February10: Join us for class. Decode the last four puns. Write two puns of your own. Review the 

Kids' Conversation: Friday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

Everyone shared their universal design discoveries. It was interesting to compare what we found as well as talk about other uses.

February 11: Create a word cloud in your home language. We will look at the words and you can tell us what the cloud is about. Find Word Cloud generators on our Meetings and Classes page or in our January 23 Update.

conventions: practices or rules

doozy: outstanding or unique

perfect (per FECT): make perfect

Japanese Valentine's Day Workshop and Wordle Help That Just Can't Wait

 Hello, Friends.

Be safe with the winter weather coming. They are predicting 6-10 inches of snow and ice on Groundhog Day. I think this should give us an early spring!

A quick note of upcoming fun and help with your WORDLE link.

Japanese American Society Valentine Workshop

WORDLE Helper