Friday, February 12, 2021

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweeties.

Valentine's Day is for everyone! In the U.S. Valentine's Day isn't just for sweethearts. It is for families and friends. Our children exchange Valentines in school with their classmates. High School students can show their affection for friends by buying carnations or Val-ograms (notes delivered to a class) as a booster or fund raiser. You may be surprised at how many people show affection for their friends and neighbors on this day with small gifts. Nothing goes better with Valentine's Day than some romantic music or outing.

Presidents Day or Washington's Birthday

  • Officially the holiday is named Washington's Birthday honoring our first president. George Washington. Be sure to visit the links within the article. There is some great history embedded the article. 
  • Presidents Day has become the unofficial name of this holiday and often encompasses recognizing other presidents who have serve our country. This tradition came following the Civil War to honor Abraham Lincoln.
  • February 12 is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Some state and local governments officially recognize this day: Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, Ohio, Texas, California and New York. 
  • We split the difference between Washington's and Lincoln's and celebrate on the Monday that is between the two days and call that holiday Presidents Day. Other presidents
  • Monday, February 15 is a Federal holiday, so expect official offices to be closed.
  • Look for some great sales over the weekend!

Baseball Sign Ups

Youth recreation and travel baseball leagues are forming teams. Little League Baseball has been around since the 1930s. You can learn more about how to get involved nationally and locally. Because of the pandemic, many states and local governments may have restrictions, so be sure to check your local announcements. Closer to home: 

There are adult leagues for your kids at heart

Madam C.J. Walker

What better way to celebrate Black History Month than to learn about a Hoosier Heroine. Madam C.J. Walker was the freeborn daughter of slaves who was orphaned when she was seven. She was married when she was 14. She became a widow when she was 20. She was the first American woman to become a millionaire and employed tens of thousands of women selling beauty products. 

Watch: 

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker on Netflix: the biography of the first female self made millionaire in America. 

Listen: 

Read: 

Visit: 

The Madam Walker Legacy Center in the Madam Walker Theater. Go to the site and see the theatre by drone and learn more about Madam C.J. Walker and her impact on business and American culture and rights. Go to the physical building 617 Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis in person.

Study from Home

  • During the Polio epidemic children in the United States had classes from home by radio. This interesting article from the Creative Commons talks about how 
  • Jolly Phonics e-readers are available free of charge. Click on the links to download the books to enjoy on your computers, phones and tablets for on the go reading.
  • Worksheet Fun has worksheets to print and try at home (or maybe even on your tablet: take a screen shot of the worksheet and save the sheet to photos. Use the edit tools to write your answers.)

More on Fraud Protection

Indiana Identify Theft Action Steps identifies the steps you can take when your identity is compromised or stolen. Proactive steps include checking your bank account balances weekly and Social Security accounts regularly. Be aware of your bank's policy protecting what appear to be legitimate withdrawals. Who is Responsible for Fraudulent Withdrawals from a Checking Account? reminds that you are ultimately responsible for money that is drawn from your accounts no matter how it is obtained.

There is a difference between automatic bill payments and automatic debt payments. In one you authorize your bank to pay your bill. In the other you authorize the company to withdraw money from your account. This article for 2015 from the consumerfinanace.gov can give you a starting point for understanding how to set up payments.

 

English Pronunciation and Vowel Sounds

Vowel pronunciation in American English can can influence how someone hears what is being said. There are 15 vowel sounds. Long vowels. Short vowels. Other vowels that seem to be less straightforward. Be careful.


English Certification

International Friends does not offer certification. As your progress in your fluency, your skills are evident. Fluency sometimes needs to be documented. The pandemic has opened the doors to new opportunities for on-line assessments. When you need to have an official document of your ability, be sure to ask what are acceptable tests or certifications. There are many options for testing and each organization has different requirements (you can see an example and explanation on this page from NYU). Generally, here is a list of the common tests

  • World Education Services and Duolingo offers an explanation of on-line certification benefits (instigated by the pandemic, but not likely to go away any time soon) and an online option.
  • IELTS (International English Language Testing System) offers 1600 testing sites in the U.S. and sites internationally.
  • TOEFEL is from Educational Testing Service is one of the most established organizations for English certification for business and education.
  • Pearson PTE is another established service for educational institutions.
  • iTEP is another credible online testing service.
  • Cambridge Assessment (University of Cambridge and publishing) offers a number of assessments. C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency 

If you are interested in discovering where you stand, the following online test can help.

  • EF SET offers a free online and reliable (they say) English test.
If you need documentation or references, International Friends can assess you using the ESLOA and can write you a letter of reference.

Stories and More: Monday, 10:30 A.M.

We talked about Valentine's Day and how Pete the Cat thought Valentine's Day wasn't cool. Soon Pete discovers that telling people they are special is cool. Note Mrs. B's accent and pronunciation. 

February 15: 

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 A.M.

We only talked about Luke 6:12-16. In this story, Luke tells who Jesus chose to be his Apostles. What is the difference between a disciple and an apostle? Disciple follow and apostle (coming from the Greek language is "person sent") are the people who go and share. We tried to imagine why Jesus chose these very different people to serve in the role of teaching the good news.

Get to Know the 12 Apostles of Jesus provides an overview of each apostle and what we know about them. In some cases, all we know is his name! 

  • Some of these men Jesus called "The Sons of Thunder!" What a great nickname. What must they have been like?
  • Then there is Simon the Zealot. A zealot currently describes someone who is a ideological, political or religious fanatic. But Zealot (with a capital Z) was a member of a Jewish sect that resisted Roman authority and promoted Judaism as the world religion. The group ceased to exist around 70 A.D. Does this indicate Simon's work was successful?

February 16: Join us as we talk about Luke 6:17-26 and teaching called the beatitudes. In this clip Dr. Derwin Gray** talks about how we all desire happiness (Dr. Gray has a textbook, but we will stick to the 10 statements from Luke.). The U.S. Declaration of Independence states

We hold these truths to be self-evident that, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.*

Jesus once again turns over our concepts and teaches that how blessedness or happiness is pursued in adversity.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30-12:00 A.M.

We had a fabulous cook along. For anyone who had never prepared a more than a box of Jello, this complex gelatin (spelled gelatine on the packaging) dish will be delighted to know that this beautiful dish is easy! Look how beautiful they turned out:



February 16: Cleaning and organizing can be a problem or can be super fun. Bring your favorite cleaning life hacks to share and make housekeeping a breeze!

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday 4:30-6:00

Monica led us in learning to use spreadsheets and particularly the Excel version. We discovered that Apple's Numbers spreadsheet application had all the functionality of Excel packaged in a slightly different way. 

February 17: Join us as we continue to learn advanced spreadsheet applications.

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30-12:00 

 Our classes met on this very cold and snowy day. A two-hour delay of the Carmel Clay Schools didn't cancel our classes as they have in the past, thanks to Zoom! Our preliminary discussions focused on the vaccine roll out in Indiana and the strategy of age-based distribution over other demographic distribution models.

February 18: We are continuing to meet in spite of the weather. Join us as we tweak our American English Language skills.

End of the Week Conversation: Friday, 10:30-12:00

 We talked about being a a good neighbor and welcoming new people into our neighborhood. We talked about our experiences in lending a helping hand to our neighbors. Because many people don't have close family to help during emergencies and celebrate our joys. 

When we talk about paying back or paying forward we are not talking about giving money, but we are talking about returning a favor or performing an act of kindness. 

We talked about the difference between reciprocation and retribution. 

  • Retribution means to take revenge or to cause harm. Your neighbor's dog digs up your yard and so you dump trash in their driveway.
  • Reciprocation means that you show friendship, gratitude or to return a favor "in kind". If you borrow your neighbor's snow shovel, you might shovel their walk. Be careful to use the correct word.

February 19: Which way will the conversation turn? Come and share your thoughts and ideas.

* This paragraph is a quote that is longer than a line or two of text. When this is the case, the quote is separated as a block of text and the quotation marks are removed. Notice in the direct quote that the rights listed are capitalized to draw attention to them. This is not a current grammar convention or practice in document legal or otherwise.

**Fun Fact: Derwin Gray played for the Indianapolis Colts!

a breeze: easy! easy breezy

adversity: difficulties

age-based: a grouping or decision that is driven by people's age 

beatitudes: blessings

booster: show support for a team or cause

closer to home: near where we live

demographic: people groupings

embedded: contained in

endowed: given, graced, provided with

functionality: capability, features

goes better with: complements; accompanies well

in some cases: some but now all of something 

kids at heart: adults that enjoy life 

life hacks: short cuts that make daily tasks easy and enjoyable

lift your spirits: feel happy 

quirks: oddities; particular behaviors or habits

reciprocate: respond to or do the same for

roll out: distribution

show affection: demonstrate that you like or care for someone

split the difference: find a common place in between two dates, times, or costs

stick to: continue or persist

sweeties: affectionate term or name

tweak: make minor adjustments

unalienable: not able to be purchased or sold or transferred to someone else


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