Back to School

Welcome to our new school year, Friends!

It was fantastic to get together. We had some great meetings and getting acquainted is always a wonderful thing.

WARNING: Back to school driving can get you into big trouble. Be sure to brush up on your school bus and school zone driving. Here is an Allstate pamphlet to help you remember. Pick up the tip cards from AAA on Tuesday or Thursday.

Nursery Notes:
Your children are welcome to bring snacks to the nursery. Please do not include snacks that include nuts or peanuts or peanut butter. Also, if you would like to contribute to our nursery, consider donating Goldfish.

Great English Question and Conundrum:
Which is correct?

• I have to pick my son up.
• I have to pick up my son.

The answer is both! There is a myth that says you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition, but this is not true. This "rule" was created to set the "educated" apart. The great speaker and Englishman Winston Churchill flaunted this convention.

Great things to do:
There are always great things to do in Indiana, but there are two particularly great things this weekend:

Grissom Air Show: It has been 15 years since Grissom AFB has had its last air show. This one will be amazing with the Thunderbirds and the Golden Knights. This show is Free!
Check out the Kokomo Perspective Article for tips and history.
Or find out from the source: Grissom Air Show.
Bring your ear plugs: Jet Noise!

Brickyard 400 is running on Sunday. There are events on Saturday. Enjoy NASCAR in Indiana in the fall. This isn't free, but it is racing! This is another ear plug experience!

International Bible Study: Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30, room 100.
We had a wonderful turnout for our first Bible Class meeting on Tuesday! It was good to be back to see old friends and to make some new friends. Our group talked about why a Bible Study class is a great place to improve our language skills.

• It's a book about love and caring for others.
• It talks about topics that have great relevance in our lives, things we all enjoy talking about.
• It reveals God’s nature and his plan for our lives.
• The culture and values of the U.S. are based on Judeo-Christian principles.
• It’s a best seller! 
• It has politics, religion, and great stories in it!
• It has been translated into many, many languages, and we can use those translations to learn more about language.
• It’s the library of God, the creator of everything.

The key message of the Bible is "God loves you!" This helps with understanding what and why in reading and discussing.

The group decided to begin our study this year by reading and discussing the book of Mark, the third book of the New Testament. If you have time, you might want to read the first chapter of Mark. ~ Jan Heimann

September 10: Please join us as we start this interesting journey through the Gospel of Mark.

International Friends: Tuesdays, 10:30-11:30, room 100.
Getting to know you was fun and delicious. An hour isn't long enough to get acquainted well. Debi's blueberry coffee cake helped break the ice. Did you know that the very best way to become proficient in a language is to practice your skill with friends when you are focusing on fun (and food, of course)? This is what International Friends is all about.

September 10: Let's plan for the year. Planning is an intensive activity, so please bring a snack to share. Working meetings that include food always seem to be more productive. Also, please bring ideas:

• what would you like to try?
• where would you like to go?
• what can you teach us?
• what speakers would you want to hear?

If you don't have an idea, you will be at my mercy! And let me tell you one thing: I have discovered the new board games! What could be better than playing Outbreak with an epidemiologist, dentist, linguist and computer scientist? Adding everyone else around the table!

English Classes: Thursdays, 9:30-11:30, upstairs classrooms
Welcome to our classes. For the next few weeks we will spend time getting to know each other. English (or any language, for that matter) is best learned by practicing listening and speaking. You can do this best in a community where you feel comfortable. Don't worry. You will get text books and more. Please get to know your teachers. We have a fabulous staff who are great teachers. Ask them their history and background...all have a great deal of experience. We all volunteer, so you are most important to us. We do this because we want you to have a great life! CLC provides the space and the childcare to us free of charge.

English for Children: Thursdays, 9:30-11:30, nursery
We are very excited to provide something more for our older children. While playing in the nursery for hours is fun, hearing stories and learning skills is a great way to keep busy and have fun with our friends. Our lessons are crafted for us by an Indiana licensed teacher with a reading specialist license and years of experience in the nursery and preschool environment. These lessons are specifically written to expose our children to common American stories and activities to encourage English language learning. Please drop your children in the nursery, we will take it from there. Since there are many material supplies, we are charging a one time fee of $65 to cover these costs.

This week we talked about going to school and being a friend.We read two great books. One you can download and read with your children using Hoopla. This is a free streaming and download service that is used with a library card from any of our local libraries. Our streaming book was: We Don't Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins. You can read or you can read along. We also read Sea Monster's First Day by Kane Messner old school style from the book.

fantastic: extraordinarily good
getting acquainted: meeting and becoming friends
brush up: renew a skill or memory
school zone: streets around a school
flaunted: display something to provoke envy or defiance
turnout: the gathering of persons who come to a meeting, exhibition, party, etc.
relevance: the condition of being connected with the matter at hand
acquainted: get to know
coffee cake: a cake eaten with coffee!
working meetings: a gathering where the point is to get some work finished
at my mercy: under someone's control
board games: games that are played on a board...like Checkers, Chess, Risk, etc.
crafted: thoughtfully designed
read along: follow a reader
old school style: traditional, approved way of doing something