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Hello, Friends.
Spring and renewal are in the wings. People are becoming busier as daylight become longer. This short month is almost over. Time flies!
Media Recommendations:
Enjoy My Fair Lady. This musical comedy has British pronunciations and is a fun and bougie take on language and makeovers.
American English and Culture
References play a role in helping a potential employer decide if you are the right person for the job. There are personal and professional references. Character references are people who can vouch for your ethics and reliability. Professional references are people who can vouch for your skills and abilities as they pertain to the job. You may think you don't have references, but that is not likely.
Do employers call or ask for written references? Yes they do when they need additional confirmation about someone. When applying for a government job, you can be sure your references will be checked as part of the background check.
Learning Skills
This month we are focusing on building our professional vocabulary and history. Finding your words does not have to be difficult. Surf Indeed or Glassdoor or Monster to read job descriptions. Target key words and phrases in the descriptions to hone in on the language of the profession. Play with the words in a brainstorm to create your personal descriptions.
International Friends Meeting Notes
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International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom
We revisited Genesis 38 to talk about Er and Onan being "wicked in the sight of the Lord (verses 7 and 10). and the Lord put him to death." This is the first time where characters are called by name and "the Lord puts them to death" which led us to wonder at the actions of the previous people and our judgement of their behavior versus God's action. We associate God with love, infinite patience, and grace. But in these cases we see that the creator God has limits.
We continued our study with Genesis 39 and Joseph's slavery in Egypt. Joseph ends up at Potipher's. We learn more about his personality and qualities: he is handsome and well built; he is likable, open, and innocent; he is humble. Because of his appearance and qualities, he catches the eye of his master's wife...and while he does nothing wrong, he is jailed (and once again, his coat becomes the tangible evidence). Throughout his time of trial, in the beginning and at the end of this chapter (vs. 6 and 23) Joseph's slaveholder and later the warden both observe that "the Lord was with [Joseph] and gave him success in whatever/everything that he did" and Joseph is given free reign both in Potipher's household and later in the jail.
Genesis 40 continues the story of Jospeh in jail. Two of his fellow prisoners are officials in the king's (Pharaoh's) household. They had offended the pharaoh and were jailed. While they are in custody, they both dream dreams on the same night. Joseph asks why they are sad, Verse 8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” Joseph's predictions are true. Pharoah judges the men according to the predictions in the dream. Joseph asks them to remember him to Pharoah. The men are brought to Pharoah's birthday celebration: Joseph's predictions come true.
February 17: We continue with Genesis 41 and what happens next in Joseph's saga.
American English and Culture: Thursday, 9-11:00 AM, Zoom
A key factor in telling your story or telling other people's stories is having a good grasp of words to describe our work (adjectives). Members took turns describing characteristics of others as well as identifying features of our colleagues. Providing references that are appropriate and specific are often requested. We had a variety of opinions on how, when, and if personal references are contacted either in a formal or informal way. Notes and Handouts has a nice list of job description adjectives.
Interviews are a two-way decision making process. Does anyone exactly match a job description (sometimes these are boilerplate generated by the organization without specific wants/needs/desires), or can someone meet the requirements? There is often leeway in what is written and what can be accommodated because an applicant brings a greater or different level of education or expertise to the table. The interviewer questions the candidate for fitness while the candidate communicates knowledge and skills while assessing whether this position is viable.
February 27: Bring a list of your personal "professional" words to explore in grammar, context, and pronunciation. Send your resume or a list of your knowledge and skills (if you haven't, yet) and we can look at your specific professional (and personal) history. We will continue to talk about references and giving or asking for references (often people do not ask directly or formally for a reference).
American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:00 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 102
Our conversations focused around teaching (since that was the profession of the people around the table). We brainstormed teaching words and grouped and regrouped them. This is a great exercise when learning to use words: write words and phrases on separate cards and sort them into categories. See how many different categories you can make for your word/phrases. Notice where the words practiced using them in sentences.
February 27: Join us as we continue our discussions. Let's warm up with brainstorms and then move into discussions and conversations about career life from our resumes.
American English for Kids: Thursday, 4:30-5:30 PM, private Zoom
We had a very nice turn out for our meeting. We are extending our meeting time until 5:30 PM EST to accommodate another friend. The hour seemed to work well. We learned more about each other: what sports and movies we like, what video games we play, and what time we go to and come home from school. We were surprised that school is over by 12:00 PM in Brazil We talked about how stories have a beginning, middle, and end. We talked about asking each other questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why, how. These question words help us to communicate all the details.
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