Hello, Friends.
In the United States, Easter is celebrated as a secular event with "egg hunts" and Easter baskets filled with treats and toys. Children search for candy and small gifts. Communities come together and offer Easter egg hunts. Adult hunts harken back to childhood and give adults the chance to relive those fun days. People greet each other: Happy Easter!
What We Are Watching/Reading
The Power of Voice by Denice Woods: an entertaining and practical book that coaches breathing and relaxation that teaches not only now to be heard but how to correctly pronounce and speak American English to be heard and to relax to speak.
CODA: the Academy Award winner coming of age movie about a girl whose family is all deaf. She is the translator/bridge to the hearing world. She finds her voice in song. Watch on Apple TV or in the theater.
Ip Man series: a martial arts series in Chinese on Netflix that traces the story of the grand master that trained Bruce Lee.
Rurouni Kenshin series: a Japanese live action three part series about samurai based on manga.
Wrapping Up the Year
This week was full of learning and growing together and growing together. American Accent Class met in person and went out to lunch. Our other meetings (on Zoom) see Friends from all over making transitions to summer and winter activities.
We have four more weeks to our official school year. Our last meeting/class for the year is May 13. Many of our Friends here in Indiana have become comfortable and are getting jobs and becoming involved in American life. We are always happy to hear of these success stories. We currently do not have plans for workshops or classes. We do have plans to meet up in the park. Watch for announcements.
Freedom Of Religion
In the U.S. we have laws to outline offenses against each other. We also have rights or moral and legal behaviors that are understood to be inherent and are protected. The Bill of Rights specifies these things which are understood to be human rights and are protected. In other words, these laws protect people from the government as a whole (not just individuals).
The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion. This week there are three religions observing major holy days:
- Holy Week and Easter: the Christian 40 days of Lent ends with the observance of Holy Week. This week memorializes the persecution, crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus freeing the world from sin. (Find out more and read the stories from the Bible)
- Passover: Jewish people remember when God freeing the people from slavery in Egypt. (Find out more from explanations and Bible verses)
- Ramadan: Muslims observe 40 days of fasting from sun up to sun down as a time of spiritual reflection, self improvement, devotion and reflection. (Find our more about the practice and basis of Ramadan)
Indiana Fun
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Bulletin has some very interesting articles about invasive species.
American Sign Language
We talked about the movie CODA (you can see it in the theaters and on Apple Play). Child Of Deaf Adults. These children are often hearing and experience two communities: the deaf community and the hearing community. The deaf and hearing communities are often separated by virtue of the language barrier which is physically difficult to overcome.
April 18: We continue to pursue our language and vocabulary study to fit our interest and our class.
International Bible Study
1 Timothy 2 can cause pause since there are many implications that may be read to exclude women from full participation. On closer examination, we discovered that Paul was addressing a specific audience and conveying specific opinion. We discussed the importance of instruction as direction, or detailed information of how to accomplish a goal that is specific to a leader or situation. This is very different from law that crosses all boundaries. We found that we became embroiled in debate about women's rights. Was that really Paul's intent? We know that Jesus (and God the Father) wants all people to know His love and fully participate in His kingdom. Why are women shut down and excluded? We peeked ahead.
April 19: 1 Timothy 3 addresses these concerns. There is further direction for people to demonstrate their love to one another.
International Friends
We met to dye eggs virtually. This is a fun, secular tradition for families.
April 19: We would like to get together and celebrate. See you at 11:00
Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST, Zoom
April 20: Meet at 4:30 to chat. If no one comes by 4:45, the room closes.
English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 AM-12:00 PM, Zoom
We wrapped a detailed discussion of prepositions. Staff debated what is a preposition and whether words or word groups on our list were truly prepositions. This was in lieu of lecture or discussion. Did you find yourself listening and learning to think critically about how these parts of speech are classified and used in everyday English?
April 21: Join us to play some preposition games. Bring your letters of reference (email them to us to preview). We will break into very small groups to talk about them. As usual, we will have some great conversation and spin into learning about American English casually and naturally.
harken back: remember or look back to past days
live action: not a movie, not manga
truly: actually, in fact
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