Saturday, February 12, 2022

Superbowl Sunday, Changing Weather, Reading and Learning and So Much More

 Hello, Friends.

We had wild weather week here. Our snow is melting fast with warm days. We had showers that are washing away the salt on our cars followed by snow again on Saturday morning. This week we will see 60 degree temperatures during the week.

Superbowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday is one of the biggest American holidays. There was a call to have an official holiday on Superbowl Monday after to allow Americans to recover from their parties. Read more and listen to the broadcast.

Celebrate with snacks, watch the commercials (which was the best), groove to the halftime show. Who will win? Since we are in Indiana we have to root for Cincinatti! Food and Wine has a great line up of delicious and innovative snacks for game day.

Watch for American Sign Language performers during the Superbowl. Read more about the interpretation and performance from the deaf culture and language in this ABC article.

Things to do in Indiana and a Quilt Challenge for our Quilters:

Reading 

The habit to a bright future note from March 2019: If your child reads at home for just 20 minutes a day, they'll see 1.8 million words per year and will likely score in the 90th percentile in standardized tests. Reading matters!


Reading to and with your children or your friends is a great way to work together to expand your vocabulary and give everyone something to talk about.

Wanna, gonna, kinda

These "words" are more and more common in headlines or texts and casual conversation. These words stand for want to, going to (as in planning to do something: I'm gonna wear my read dress.) and kind of (almost or somewhat: I kinda like the read one better). These are not acceptable in professional or formal writing. 

American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We continue to learn and grow...

February 14: Happy Valentine's Day! Show us signs of love!

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 AM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We discussed 1 Thessalonians 4. Sexual immorality and minding your own business were topic touched on in this letter. We talked about how these topics continue to be hot topics. Sexual sins (or crimes) in our time include virtual offences when people access pornography on their computers. We talked about our role as parents and whether the schools or others have a role in leading our children in teaching our children sexual morals as well as the appropriate ages for these talks.

February 15: We wrap up 1 Thessalonians with the final chapter.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 AM-12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We talked about Valentine's Day customs as well as our practices.

February 15: Happy Valentine's Day. I wish we could eat chocolate in person!

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-5:30 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

 February 16: Join the conversation. It is always interesting.

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 AM- 12:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

We wrapped up puns. Puns are good to study in a language because they inform us about the culture as it relates to the language. You may not "get" a pun. Usually, these plays on words cause us to groan like a dad joke. We talked about paying taxes in the United States and in other countries. 

We read a poem by e.e. cummings (well known for breaking punctuation conventions) called Springtime. Cummings inverts words. What are other, more common ways to say and portray what he has to say. What are the punction conventions that are being broken? What is the impact of these intentional "errors"? 



February 17: Join us for some round-robin chats and critical listening and speaking practice.

Kids' Conversation: Friday, 4:30-5:00 PM EST (GMT-5), Zoom

It was so nice to get together and see so many faces. Welcome back (even if you are on a Southern Hemisphere Summer Break). 

February 18: We will continue to share Word Clouds (use them to check your writing, too)

root for: cheer or support

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