Questions and Answers

Hello Friends:

Whew! We made it through Friday the Thirteenth. 

Have you made your Halloween plans, yet? Do you have your costume ready. It is time to stock up on candy and treats. 

Geeking Out! Solar Eclipse October 14

Don't look to the skies without protection on October 14. A Ring of Fire solar eclipse can be seen in some form across the U.S., Mexico, and South America.

Annular solar eclipses are named from a ring of bright sunlight, or annulus. The “ring of fire” is visible around the moon during the maximum phase of this type of eclipse.

Visit the NASA website to learn more about where and when. In Indiana, we will have a 40-50% coverage. Look at the ground...the dapples of sunlight through the leaves show the shadow. Save the date: April 8, 2024 total eclipse is over Indiana as descibed in this article from the Current in Carmel.

A Travelogue From Our Friend Federica

I spent six days at Yellowstone National Park, with two days in the northern part, two days in the central-western section, and two days at Teton Park (located in the southern part of Yellowstone). Given the immense size of the park, I recommend staying in different locations throughout your trip and planning carefully, especially if you visit during the peak season, which is in the summer (June, July, and August).

During my visit, I had the incredible opportunity to see two bears, one grizzly bear and one black bear. The grizzly bear came exceptionally close to us, and there was a ranger present to ensure our safe enjoyment of the wildlife. At one point, he urgently exclaimed, "I want everyone in the car! Everyone in the car!" He was alarmed because the grizzly bear was getting closer and seemed intent on crossing the road right where we were observing it. My husband was so immersed in taking photos that he didn't even notice me rapidly retreating to the safety of the car. He jokingly said that I didn't even wait for him! I love my husband 🤣.

When you're in a natural park like Yellowstone, it's crucial to exercise caution around wildlife. Never feed them and avoid getting too close. I had the pleasure of seeing a couple of moose with an adorable moose calf.

There were many elks during their mating season. The male elks were making peculiar, almost angry-sounding noises in their attempts to attract females. It left me wondering if perhaps there weren't enough females to go around, leading to this unusual display of competition among them. 🦌❤️😡

Visiting Yellowstone often leads to encounters with bison traffic jams. I witnessed numerous bison, and they sometimes seem completely unfazed by your presence, standing in the middle of the road as if you're the one intruding on their territory.

Despite having three days of rain out of the six, I am absolutely determined to return to Yellowstone sometime in the near future. 🌧️🌲🏞️--Frederica Abate

Lone Elk Park: Lone Elk Park is operated by St. Louis County Parks and is located near Highway 141 and Interstate 44 in Valley Park. The park offers a close-up glimpse of elk in their natural habitat. Visitors can also expect to see deer, bison, wild turkey, waterfowl, and raccoons and other wildlife. The elk are restricted to the park by a high fence, but the wooded area lends to the wild feel of the area. There is a scenic lake, picnic pavilions, and one nice hiking trail within the park. The trail, the White Bison Trail loop, is an easy and scenic 3.2 mile hike suitable for most hikers.

Resources Friends Recommend

Commonly Confused Words in English: find word pairs that sound or look similar; be careful so your words are interpreted as intended

Arnel's Everyday English: YouTube lessons by Arnel. She has "fill in the gap" (fill in the blank) activities and small tests for you to check progress and memory.

Local Fall Fun

Fishers Fall Foliage Recommendations: Where to see the prettiest trees.

Palladiascope Light Show: Enjoy this free, one of a kind light show nightly on the Palladium in Carmel.

Sandhill Cranes are on the move: Numbers have double, although they are behind last year's statistics. Be sure to add a road trip to see these amazing birds to your fall to do list.

Words in the News

The news has been filled with these terms:

• Retribution: a judicial construct where defendants are required to give up something in return for offences given. Morals and ethics are key.
• Revenge: acts of violence or vengeance in response to a grievance
• Avenge: inflict harm (in behalf of self or someone else) in return for an injury 

Meetings and Classes Updates

Click to go to our Meetings and Classes page to learn more and register.

American Sign Language: Tuesday, 5:00-6:00 PM, Zoom

We practiced colors, numbers, and health by interpreting a table and website. We were quizzed by flash card phrases. Each card led to conversation and connections.

October 17: Tell us what is the best thing about Fall.

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 8:45-9:45 PM, Zoom

Aside from our study, we met guests from Indiana that were staying in Arizona. 

Mark's account wraped up this week. We were amazed by Simon Peter when he denies Jesus. Jesus had warned Simon Peter that this would happen and he rejects the idea. When Jesus' prediction comes to pass 

Luke's account of Jesus' life highlights some amazing observations:

• Shepherds hear from the angels that Jesus has been born and they leave the fields to go and see him (Luke 3). They leave and tell others. Shepherds are the first missionaries,
• Jesus not only has command of the wind and water, but he can command fever (Luke 4:39)
• We talked about the difference between the baptism that John the Baptist offered vs. the baptism in Christ. In the first case, John the Baptist was calling for repentance. Current baptism follows the form and people receive the Holy Spirit and cement a relationship with God.
• People as if Jesus "is willing" to help them. Jesus is willing (Luke 5:12). We observed that when we are willing, God is ready.
• Demons know who Jesus is and shouts that he is God's Son and the Savior. Jesus commands them to be quiet--they obey (Luke 4:35)
• Jesus teaches: "Do not worry." (Luke 12:22) What a large 

October 10: Join us as we continue our reading of Luke.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 9:00-11:00 AM, Zoom

Question Words: We jumped right into perplexing question forms with who/whom, whose/who's, and how's what's:

• Whom did you invite to the party? With whom did you speak at the party? (Formal)
• Who did you invite to the party? Who did you speak with at the party? (Conversational)
• Whose books are these? Those are Carolyn's books. (Possessive)
• Who's (who is) your favorite author? (Contraction)
• How's the weather? What's the weather? Are these the same or different? Is one preferred?
• How late will the plane be? How fast were you driving? How long have you lived here? (With adjectives or adverbs to measure or intensify).

We also realized that question words (interrogative pronouns that ask for information in the main/independent clause) also appear as relative pronouns to introduce noun, adjective, and sometimes adverb dependent clauses in a sentence. Welcome to English where words can have many different job descriptions! Continue to observe how you hear and read question words being used to build your own lexicon (like Alexa) and gain confidence with all the nuances.

Medical Questions and Conversations: Talking to your doctor and medical staff can be daunting no matter what the language. We shared tips and techniques to make these conversations and visits flow more smoothly and minimize our white coat syndrome,

Talking to Strangers: We covered many, many non-verbal signals that people use to encourage or discourage conversation. We discovered that there are differences between different countries and cultures. If someone is confused by your conversation, maybe he or she is misreading your body language. 

October 19:

Questioning Words: We'll review Practice 17 questions 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33 in breakout session 1. In breakout session 2 we'll practice pronunciation of contractions with question words and look at some colloquial expressions (see handouts). 

Service People: Join the discussion about asking for maintenance and repair service for your home, for your car, etc. You don't have to know the answers (that is why you hire a service person), bring problems to create a conversation and questions.

Talking to Strangers for Solutions: Learn strategies and techniques for gaining attention and gathering information from people you don't know. Practice making open ended questions that build relationships and gain more information from people you don't know. Here is an article to get you started:  71 Open Ended Questions: Examples for an Engaging Conversation.

Kids's Conversation and More: Friday, 4:30-5:00 PM, Zoom.

We met and caught up. 

October 30: Create a ghoul and a spooky story to go along with this Halloweenish time of the year.

colloquial: characteristics of the informal conversation

defendants: accused people

lexicon: dictionary, collection of related words

missionaries: a person who fulfills a particular activity often religious

stock up on: buy a large amount of something for future use