WELCOME BACK!

Hello, Friends.

We are so happy to be back together. Classes started and are starting on Zoom. We kicked of our American English and Culture classes with an in-person (and Zoom) meeting at Cornerstone Lutheran Church. People who made it to the meeting became our steering committee! We began plotting our course for the 2023-2024 year. Our steering committee asked for some specifics. Look for these asks to be incorporated in this Update. 

• Vocabulary phrases (not just words)
• Fancy words to grow our English articulation

If you "follow by mail" and get the Updates mailed directly to you, don't forget that we have International Friends webpages that have tons and tons of information about learning American English and American culture. There are additional resources under topic tabs as well as information about International Friends meetings. 

Our QuickStart pages offer quick information about relevant American culture events as well as language tips to help speed learning or understand and provide specific information about situations in American life (particulary pertaining to stressful or bueaurcratic events).

Bring It All Together

Context for a word, phrase, idea is so important for understanding. This ASL (subtitled) five-minute video is a wonderful musing on words in American English that have various meanings.

Clay Middle School English Language Night

International Friends is honored to be invited to meet families at Clay Middle School on Thursday, September 14 at 6:00 PM. If you are a Clay Middle School family, be sure to stop at our table and say "hi". If you are in International Friends or an alumnus and would like to meet families and tell them about Carmel and International Friends, please contact Carolyn at indyintlfriends@gmail.com.

Talking Points

When you get stuck trying to remember a word or phrase and it just won't come to you or you just can't spit it out or it is on the tip of your tongue. You can picture it in your head, describe it, know some letters or number of syllables in the word. Eventually the word appears, but it is too late (because you are already driving home or falling asleep in bed or...). This is frustrating and often leads to anxiety that doesn't help with trying to remember. As language learners, these memory lapses can have an easy cure: say the word in your home language (or a different language). This unblocks access to the word that is on the tip of your tongue, acts as a memory trigger for the word.

Get Moving in Hamilton County

Artomobilia: Enjoy the best of American Car Culture in the ART and Design District in CARmel on September 9, 11:00.

Jupiter Flights Balloon Festival at Connor Prairie: Something is in the air Friday, September 8 through Sunday, September 11. Check out the schedules for times. Friday and Saturday events and balloon glow require tickets. Saturday and Sunday morning 7:00 AM race events are free. We want to go but our plans are still up in the air.

Westfield Cuisine Connect Culture: September 16, 12:00-3:00 PM, Grand Junction Plaza in Westfield. Music, crafts, food, and dance! Can it get any better than this. See you there!

September 11, 2023

Picnic at Founders Park

11:00 AM-1:00 PM

11675 Hazel Dell Parkway, Carmel

Bring a picnic dish to share

Backup location:

Cornerstone Lutheran Church

4850 East Main Street, Carmel

American Sign Language: Tuesday, 5:00-6:00 PM (UTC 4), Zoom

September 12: Join us and practice speaking using your hands. ASL is a great way to communicate with our deaf neighbors, communicate with our children, supplement our American English language learning.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 9:30-11:30 AM (UTC 4), Zoom

We had our first meeting for the year and hashed out wants and needs as well as our strategies for teaching and learning. Our overarching strategy is to apply important American English elements (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation/accent) to interesting and useful informational and conversational topics (content and context) all using the best strategies to enhance our efficient adult brain learning.

• Zoom breakout rooms let us choose areas of interest to study each week. 
• Zoom Chat features allows us to continue the conversation off line. 
• Monthly meetings in person allow us to practice in person (if you are not in Indy, we will set up Zoom for you) and hone our face-to-face communication skills while experiencing aspects of American culture. 
• The "-IVE" assessment chart helps us to visualize and plot where we are in our knowledge, skills, and abilities. All participants need to identify where they are. This is not an optional activity!

Our steering committee identified need and interests to start teaching/leading staff was able to discover and begin to craft specific details about what and when we to cover over the next months. 

Magdalene (Cornerstone Lutheran's comfort dog) dropped in for a visit. She gave us a moment to relax from our planning work and learn a little about the work that comfort dogs do in our American communities and public life. We learned a little bit about how to act around service dogs and the differences between the jobs they fill in American life (why is that dog in the grocery store, hospital, etc. and can I pet him/her). And speaking of "pet" we talked about the sound of this word (pet vs. pat pronunciation) and the common meanings and use of this word.

September 14: Join us on Zoom as we begin our year of meeting and learning together.

9:30-10:00    Social chat focusing on getting to know each other

10:00-10:30    Tour of the International Friends pages (all the information in one place!) and Zoom features that help us learn, communicate, and connect

Break

10:35-11:15    Breakout Rooms

1. "Get" 

2. "-ive" Assessment

11:15-11:30 Wrap up

Kid's Conversation: Friday, 4:30-5:00 PM (UTC 4), Zoom

Getting back together after a break is always fun. Our Friends grow so much and do so many interesting things. 

September 15: Join us for free conversation. Be ready to ask each other questions about whatever topic comes up. We will play the question game. Everyone needs to ask questions that make the other person talk more than you!

a little bit: not much but just enough to either satisfy or to get a taste of something

alumnus: singular for alumni; former students or graduates

asks: requests

hashed out: discuss and decide 

it just won't come to you: you can't remember something

musing on: thinking or pondering for a time

overarching: comprehensive

something is in the air: people feel that something is about to happen

up in the air: not finalized