Traditions of the Season and Winter Safety

Click here to go to our webpages and read the Update. Look at notes and boards.

Listen to our podcast "Sorry. What Did You Say?" on Spotify

Hello, Friends.

Look out for the snowfall on the weekend here in the Midwest. Snow. Blowing snow. Bitter cold. Windchills. Hang in there...by the mid to end of next week temperatures will spike back up into the 40s. Remember. In the United States we use Fahrenheit. Great news! It is still the autumn season! Winter officially begins Saturday, December 21 which is the solstice.

When temperatures drop, leave sink and bath water faucets dripping and cabinet doors open if the water pipes are in a wall so your pipes do not freeze. Leave your furnace on set at 62F if you leave town to protect your pipes and property. Pipes can burst and water can flood you home until you return.

Seasonal Food Traditions

The dessert, snack, meal of choice during the holiday season is cookies! Cakes are always welcome, but Christmas celebrations and lore include cookies. Nothing warms the day like a cookie. It is fun to get together and make memories with cookie making parties. A cookie walk is when friends bake a big batch of cookies. This is a popular community fundraiser where people bake and donate cookies and other treats. Choose one or two or a whole batch to create a custom cookie stash! The stars of the season:

• Candy canes 
• Gingerbread
• Hot chocolate (with marshmallows)

Other treats included fruit and nuts. Children were given oranges or nuts.

Every family serves favorites for the holiday meals. Some might have a big roast: ham, turkey, rib roast. Other families prefer ethnic favorites like pasta dishes, rice dishes, curries. Some families cook fish dishes. Families mix it up!

People may leave town and visit family, or they may take a trip to a warm destination. There is so much to see and experience.

Shopping 

Shopping is an important part of the season. It is fun to find treasures for loved ones, gift exchanges, or just to see the sights. Listen to our "Sorry. What Did You Say?" podcast conversation about shopping on Spotify as well as our conversation on please and thank you which is about to come out.

Winter Safety

Community expectations during the winter season include looking out for our neighbors. Many cities and towns have regulations for keeping the public walks clear of snow and ice. This is the responsibility of the property owners.

Lights of the Season

The Jewish eight-day festival of lights or Hannukah begins December 14. This holiday follows the lunar calendar. This  Happy Hannukah is the greeting. Families light a candle in the menorah (a candelabra). Gifts are given. Games are played. Songs are sung. Read more about this holiday.

Christians countdown to Christmas with an Advent Wreath. There are four candles. Each candle can be named hope, peace, joy or prophet, Bethlehem, shepherd. Devotions and prayers to remember or to teach the story of Jesus' coming are told.

Candlelight Concerts in Indianapolis are a big hit of the season. 

The Scottish Rite Cathedral is a recommended favorite.

International Friends Meeting Notes: One More Class Before Break

Some of our students are working out of town and cannot always make or evening meeting. We are trying setting up a concurrent Zoom to loop everyone into the meeting. Look for the e-mail. Even if you do not regularly come to this class, you are welcome to be a part of this hybrid experiment.

Join us! Click here to register.

International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom

Wow! An amazing session. There is so much in these chapters to unpack. We were able to spot so many meaningful verses. In addition, the author does a fantastic job referring his readers back to the Old Testament heroes to spark understanding of his point.

December 1: We continue to read the Letter to the Hebrews with chapter 7.

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

We had a great conversation about how Christmas is celebrated in our home countries. In many countries Christmas is a religious celebration and has many traditions that are family centric, community centric, and religious customs and practices.

We enjoyed generating phrases that ended with a preposition. The lists are in the chat.

 

December 18:  End the year with a virtual cookie party. Take your laptop to the kitchen and have a bake-along. Check out our favorite recipes and whip up a batch or two.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:30 PM, CLC, Carmel, Room 102

We had a hardworking evening. Check the Class Notes page to see the boards. We took our conversation sentences and went after them to discover errors. Most of the errors came from misplaced prepositions. These little words are always throwing a wrench in our stories. We also had fun recognizing words that become confusing to listeners when pronunciation is flipped like kitchen/chicken. The subtle tongue placement for the /k/ and /tʃ/ (ch) sounds can be tricky, especially for speakers from languages without these distinct sounds. There is also the association...we prepare and eat chicken in the kitchen (not kitchen in the chicken).

December 18: 

• Bring you preposition lists matching to who, what, where, when, why, and how. Try without a list first. Go crazy and use this list. Preposition List: No Singing
• Bring your "I'm From" personal and professional sheets filled in.
• Email Carolyn your resume and the job description.

American English for Kids: Thursday, 6:00-6:30 PM, private Zoom

No Meeting....

December 18:  Be ready to talk about what you learned instead of coming to our meeting...

Words and Phrases and Resources

batch (of cookies): 

become confused: when something that seems reasonable is not 

big hit: popular

looking out for: taking care of

lore: stories and traditions that are passed along via stories and actions

officially: 

unpack: take apart

spark: instigate

throwing a wrench: causing a problem