Hello Friends,
It is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! We are adjusting to a New Normal, we are seeing some great new traditions being established. There are fabulous opportunities available for us to enjoy performances via our computers. We can meet and see each other across distances. Hopefully, a COVID vaccination will bring us all together face to face sooner than later. Hopefully, we can continue the new traditions and methods of greeting each other.
December 1, Advent and Calendars and the final countdown
An Advent calendar counts down the days before Christmas. You can purchase calendars that have treats behind numbered doors. These have become more and more popular in recent years. In the United States, Christmas is both a secular and religious holiday.
By secular, Christmas is a time for all people to celebrate friendship and charity and gift giving. Santa Clause is a focal character for children. It is a time to share love and joy and good will. It is a time to wear gaudy sweaters and eat cookies.
As a religious holiday, it is a time for people to anticipate and celebrate the birth of Jesus as the Son of God. The four weeks before Christmas (December 25) are marked down and celebrated. Some churches offer midweek services to prepare for Jesus' birthday. Nativity scenes that recreate the idea of the birth story told in Luke
Holiday Performances You Can Enjoy Anywhere
And yes, if you don't live in Indy, you can "attend" virtually!
- Dave Koz live virtual concert from the Center for the Performing Arts, December 12 at 8:00pm Eastern time. The $35.00 "ticket" gives access to the concert to one device and downloads of two albums. Click to reserve your "seats".
- Carmel Symphony Holiday Pops concert December 14, 7:30-9:30 Eastern time). Virtual tickets cost $30.00. Click for more information and get your pass.
- Holiday Lights by the Civic Theater
- Elf the Musical on demand December 4-December 26 or watch with others at a specific time.
- Lights Over Seminary, Noblesville, 5:00-11:00. 200 10th Street, Noblesville. Walk or drive holiday lights sponsored by Duke Energy. The article tells the history of and explains the meaning of “seminary” (not to be confused with cemetery).
- Noblesville Santa Routes: Santa is riding around the neighborhoods in Noblesville! Check the schedule to see when and where he will be ro wave hello!
More Movies
Southern Living has a list of Christmas holiday centered movies. Not everyone is nice...Die Hard, the Grinch to name two.
Being Relevant While in the United States
iWi presented a great seminar on getting yourself ready for the workforce after a gap. Sometimes your visa may not allow you to work for money while in the United States. This doesn't mean that you have to take a break from building your knowledge, skills, abilities or experience while living here. You do not have to have a gap that says you lived abroad.
- Volunteer your services with an organization to stay relevant in your field or to gain experience in a new field.
- Update or write your resume in English using the American style to help you think about your career from a new perspective.
- Participate in classes online in your field through YouTube. Many Universities have taped lectures. TED talks are another way to build your knowledge. Document your self study.
- Take an assessment to help gauge areas for improvement and then look for ways to improve. One favorite for confidence building is Brene Brown. Her webpages have assessments and workbooks to go along with her books
COVID-19 Update
Quarantine vs isolation and for how long? If you or someone in your household has been in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID -19 your household should quarantine (stay at home) for 14 days. The person who tests positive should isolate (limit contact with people in your home) for 14 days or until symptoms disappear. Rad more: When to Quarantine from the CDC.
Zoom Access Problem Resolution
If you or your family have getting into Zoom classes or meetings:
- Try a different device: your phone, tablet or lap top.
- Log all the way out of Zoom and then log in using the ID that you use for that class or meeting. Sometimes someone else is logged into Zoom and security won't let an unknown person log in.
- Restart your computer or laptop and or clear the cache. Sometimes you computer just needs to start all over again!
- And, direct from Zoom: Sign in before clicking the link (be sure you sign using the identification you use for International Friends) and open a new tab in your browser. Sign in through this link Sign In - Zoom. After signing in click the link from our email.
We enjoyed a great story. We put together shakers to dance to our fall song. Join us as we start our
December 7: Join us as we get begin to celebrate Christmas!
American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30
We have accumulated enough vocabulary to make small talk about our families and the holidays. This is after less than 10 weeks of meeting! Join us in our conversation.
December 7: Join us for a recap to converse using what we have learned.
International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30
Mark 4 is full of great opportunities for discussion. In this week's story Jesus casts a demon out of a man (in the temple on the Sabbath). We had some amazing insight leading to points to ponder:
- The world is not only physical but it is spiritual: Jesus is the authority in both realms.
- Satan needs our power...we can choose to give it to him. Jesus does not need our power.
- Why was the demon-possessed man at the Synagogue (Jewish temple)? We are reminded that everyone who is in the church is not perfect. Was he there for disruption or for help?
- Who are we to judge? What what distracts us or has our physical, mental and spiritual attention?
December 8: We will wrap up Luke 4 with a story where Jesus heals many.
International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30-12:00
We prepared for our last two meetings of the year. Usually these meetings are full of fellowship, fun and food. We will continue the tradition!
December 8: Let's talk about Christmas and holiday traditions and expectations. We may have taken some events for granted, but not anymore!
December 16: Cookie Day! Let's Zoom for a bake along. Click for the recipes to make your shopping list!
Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-6:00
We talked about home cooked meals and discovered that across most of our cultures we make puffy noodles or dumplings by making a dough of flour, water and oil or flour and an egg. The dough is dropped in boiling water or broth. This is home cooking! We talked about Chamoy and using this condiment on vegetables. We compared COVID testing and our experiences (Wow! We can and do get tested!)
December 9: Join us as we get together to recap our week and talk about what's on our mind.
English Classes: Thursday, 9:30-12:00
Every week is different and brings new challenges. Some questions are common: how to be better understood in the United States and how to improve my abilities to communicate.
Our classes are anticipating a two week winter break. That doesn't mean that you take a break from your English studies. There are some very enjoyable ways to keep moving forward that have been suggested by our students. One of them is Immersion Reading (where you read and listen at the same time). This can be a great strategy to get more than one sense involved in learning anything. You can also break this strategy into pieces to get more out of it.
- Just listen (think audiobook) but have the book on hand for support and back up. This is a great way to improve your listening skills and then check what you have heard and/or confirm what you are hearing. Sometimes your mind can wander when just listening. Fix this by speeding up the audio (or slow it down if you struggle to keep up). A downside may be that some of the cadence or song of the language might be slightly distorted.
- Listen and read along. This method involves or engages at least two senses at the same time (seeing and hearing). You can absorb vocabulary and pronunciation at the same time and build multiple paths in your brain. Physical tracking or following along with your finger can add another sense dimension. This method can be overwhelming when learning something brand new with new vocabulary because there are additional levels of translation with seeing and listening.
- Read now and listen later. Read a chapter or pages and then listen to the audio while you are driving or doing something else. You are familiar with the content and listening allow you to absorb pronunciation and cadence.
- Whispersync on Kindle through Amazon provides books in multiple formats.
- Children's sections in the library often have books matched with audio tapes.
- Use Hoopla through the library along with a downloadable ebook (a book on line) or check out the actual book.
- Watch a movie with captioning.
- Watch a TED Talk with captioning.
End of the week Conversation: Friday, 10:30-12:00
We had great discussions that included pronunciation, accent, cadence, dialect and the differences in our home languages and English. We compared what we talked about in our various classes and meetings and tried out our skills on each other.
Are you having trouble pronouncing a phrase? Turn it into a song. Many pronunciation and accent evaporate when you sing.
anticipate: look forward to
Sabbath: Jewish holy day (Saturday)
points to ponder: things to think about
disruption: something that interrupts an event or the status quo (standard operating patterns)
broth: soup
ID: Identification
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