Hello, Friends
You never know what is going to happen. Even the best laid plans can become derailed. Some people see this as drama. Others see it as opportunity. What about you?
Scheduling for International Friends
November has very important dates for us in the United States. We have civic events as well as celebrate Thanksgiving.
November 2: Daylight Savings Ends. Indiana "falls back". Set you clocks back an hour. Sleep in! If you Zoom with us from a different time zone, check the class times.
November 5: U.S. Election Day: Americans vote for the next U.S. president as well as local officials.
November 12: 6:30-8:30 PM Creekside Middle School. Practice your English and tell other families about International Friends.
November 14: International Friends Feast--Meet at CLC to learn how to make a traditional turkey and pitch in feast. Bring your friends, family, and your favorite feasting dish.
November 28: Thanksgiving Day-No classes or meetings November 27-December 1.
November 29: Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season. Look for great sales and door busters. Business accounting books used to record red ink as a loss and black ink as a profit in ledgers. Black Friday was the day businesses began making a profit (often thanks to holiday shopping).
American English
Look at our Kid's Conversation to see what we are learning about some unusual singular and plural nouns. When it comes to treats, standard rules do not always apply. Can you think of other words like candy and fruit that are plural/singular? What is the grammar rationale or explanation?
American Culture
November is a month of giving. People are anticipating holidays of thanks and holidays of giving. Christmas "giving trees" pop up in churches and schools. American culture is one of volunteerism and giving.
Get Out There! What are you finding?
Christmas in October?! Not yet, but they are setting up Christkindlmarkt on Carter Green (and you can find decorations and supplies at Hobby Lobby, too).
Festive shopping at bazaars. Look for craft shows and holiday markets. These are great places to find treasures for your friends and family. Here is a link to Holiday Markets in Indiana. Maybe there is a field trip in your future.
International Friends Meeting Notes
International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom
Two of us were gathered. We caught up with each other and with the beginning of Genesis 25. Again, the genealogy was insightful to this small group. We appreciated the importance of family and roots. We appreciated that Isaac and Ishmael met together to bury Abraham (indicating a familiar and familial relationship) (25:9).
November 4: Meeting is cancelled.
November 11: Psalm 36 and Genesis 25-27. Indiana falls back. We are keeping our meeting time at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
American English and Culture: Thursday, 9-11:00 AM, Zoom
Due to downpours, we met inside to "tailgate". Only one pumpkin showed up to be carved, so that didn't happen. We had great conversations about weather and food and had a great steering committee
November 7: Meet on Zoom. Click here to see a "Where are you from?" worksheet.
American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:00 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 102
I hope you had a happy Halloween and worked on your word lists.
November 7: Let's talk about Halloween as well as other celebrations you might have in your home. Bring your "home" word lists. It doesn't matter what language they are in. We will compare them! We will continue the "where are you from" discussion.
American English for Kids: Thursday, 4:30-5:00 PM, private Zoom
Fruit/fruits and candy/candies: these words came up in our conversation. These can be misused and often are. Candy and fruit can mean one or a whole bunch (uncountable amount, like in your Trick or Treat bags). We have candy dishes and fruit bowls (How many are in there? What are the types? No one cares!) But, if you are counting, that is a different story.
- Do you want this candy?
- Do you want these candies?
Use candy (or fruit) generally. Use candy (or fruit) with much or little (How much candy did you get?) You might say candies (or fruits) when specifically talking about a number of or different types of candy (oops!)
Trunk or treat has become a world-wide answer to Trick or Treating. Our friends told us that this was how they celebrated in their American school.
Piasa birds (see this within five hours of Indy) and Windigos. These creatures are native American/American Indian folklore creatures. Windigos have become popular in American culture lately. Have you anything like this in your culture?
November 8: We "fell back" for our Friends, the time didn't change but notice that our time on Zoom is an hour earlier.
Words and Phrases
answer: solution (answer to something or answer for something)
best laid plans: most thought through and organized
came up: happened
derailed: ruined
door busters: events of special deals that are designed to bring customers into a store
familial: relating or occurring to in a family or to family members
familiar: related to a family; well known
officials: people who hold jobs supporting the state and local government
pop up: appear for a limited time
sleep in: do not get up early
used to: a practice in the past; were
volunteerism: free labor for community service
world-wide: common all around the world
