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Happy Holidays, Friends!
December in Indiana is cold and warm and cold and snowing and sunny. Midwest weather is like that! December in the United States is super festive. Be sure to celebrate the season.
Christmas is not just for Christians (even though that is the origin). In the United States we celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday.
- Gift giving: People give gifts to neighbors and friends. Gift exchanges are popular as well as white elephant parties.
- Parties: Office, organization, community, friends, family. Everyone gets into the game
- Holiday plays and programs: the Nutcracker ballet performance, Messiah performances and sing-alongs, school plays and concerts. There is so much to see and enjoy!
- Christmas Cookies: we celebrate with cookies. Each family and community has particular specialties, but old standards that are elaborately iced. These can include gingerbread, sugar, spiced, shortbread. Other trending favorites are Kiss cookies and varieties of thumbprint cookies. International Friends has had cookie making parties over the years. International Friends: Christmas Cookie Recipes.
International Friends Schedule for December
December 19: American English and Accent Meeting Christmas Parties!
No classes or meetings December 21, 2024 through January 3, 2025.
Gratitude Isn't Just for Thanksgiving
Being thankful is something we talk and do in November but practicing gratitude is good for you and people around you. Daily gratitude as a health-positive attitude from News at IU, Feb 18, 2020 offers insight. Gratitude involves two important components: intrapersonal (feeling grateful and having grateful thoughts) and interpersonal (expressing gratitude to others).
Here are some tips for cultivating gratitude:
- Focus on expressing gratitude for the little things in life that we tend to take for granted: for example, the weather, finding parking, our office, our car.
- Start a daily gratitude journal. Each day, write down three things you’re grateful and – importantly – provide a reason why you’re grateful. Providing a reason encourages us to be specific about the things for which we’re grateful.
- Each day, make it a habit to express heartfelt gratitude to someone. Don’t assume people know you are grateful to them; they can’t read our minds.
- At least once a year, write a letter of gratitude to someone important in your life whom you have not properly thanked. Explain the impact this person has had and provide specific examples of what the person did that made a positive difference in your life. Send the letter to the person and consider reading it aloud to them.
American English Tricks and Techniques
Singing erases mispronunciations and accent causing people to have the general American accent (perfect broadcaster English or the Midwestern English or sound like me (Carolyn!)). How does this happen? Melody, beat, and rhythm of as song can cancel out and inform how words are pronounced. Singing words become the natural and the easiest pronunciations. This neutral is the core of the "American" accent. So, when you sing, your English is simple, easy, and effortless.
We think that when you sing, you are focusing on the sound rather than the words. Because of this and the social aspect of matching what you hear with the sound you make.
International Friends Meeting Notes
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International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom
December 4: Celebrate the coming Messiah! We are listening to Handel's Messiah and reading along as our study.
- No. 2-Recitative for Tenor "Comfort Ye My People" Isaiah 10:1-3 (and a COVID version)
- No. 3-Air For Tenor "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted" Isaiah 10:4
- No. 4-Chorus "And the Glory of the Lord" Isaiah 10:5
- And for a summary: Chris Brunellle: Every Valley by Bob Dufford, SJ Isaiah 40:1,s3, 4, 9
American English and Culture: Thursday, 9-11:00 AM, Zoom
December 4: Bring your "I am from..." poem template (filled out). Email it to us. Do not feel tied to the prompts if they don't fit your story.
American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:00 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 102
December 4: Bring your "I am from..." poem template (filled out). Email it to us. Do not feel tied to the prompts if they don't fit you.
American English for Kids: Thursday, 4:30-5:00 PM, private Zoom
December 6: Let's talk about snow and winter and memories. What are your winter memories? Are your memories about weather, family, school?
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