Our Last Classes of the Year

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Happy Holidays, Friends!

What a beautiful day here in Indiana to end our classes for the year. Enjoy your holiday break and see you beginning the week of January 6th.

Safe travels if you are going places. Driving? Flying? What is your favorite mode of transportation? Regardless of your plans, be safe and celebrate the joy and peace and fellowship of the holiday season. Make new traditions. Make memories. Come back in January refreshed and ready.

And good news. December 21 is the darkest day of the year. It is the shortest amount of daylight and the longest amount of darkness. Beginning Saturday daylight time increases in the Northern hemisphere. Read more about the Winter Solstice in the Greenville News.

Things to Do in Indy

Indy's Child: a great resource for things to do with Children in Indiana

Indy Fuel Hockey: a fun outing for family and friends.

Hamilton County Holiday Pass: Collect memories. This is free and fun.

American Culture

States, counties, townships, cities, towns. These all name the kinds of governmental divisions we have in Indiana. Many states have the same type of divisions, although townships are not common to all parts of the country. In Louisiana, there are parishes. 

International Friends Meeting Notes

Join us! Click here to register.

International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom

We had a wonderful listen followed by discussions that sent us to the Bible to read the individual verses that Handel chose to highlight. Renewal Journal is a resource for reading the text along with clickable YouTubes of Messiah performances.

Our reflections on the readings:

• Isaiah writes, "Wonderful Counselor. Almighty God the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace". He predicts Jesus' birth when the Triune God is with us. All the aspects of God are embodied in the baby born.
• Glory to God and peace on earth. These things are mutual. The outflowing of God's glory and our peace is good will. Good will of God toward humankind. Good will between humans.
• The Lord IS with us: not was, not will be. The glory of the Lord shines around us. Look and you can see and feel.
• We read the Revelation last year. The Hallelujah Chorus transported us back in time and catapulted us forward to the visions of John. 

January 6: Let's return to Genesis 27 and pick up the story. You may want to go back a bit as a refresher.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 9-11:00 AM, Zoom

Present perfect, politics, predictions, 

Modal verbs in Grammarly guidance offers easy and extensive advice.

• can
• may
• might
• could
• should
• would
• will
• must

January 9: Start the new year talking about resolutions and turning over a new leaf. In January we turn the page and start our new chapter: Let's tell our public story.

January 16: A retrospective. What did you begin in the past and where are you now.

January 23: Write and speak your resume.

January 30: Refining your story.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:00 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 102

We had a great night of conversation and picky observation. Tiny adjustments in adding tiny words (to, from, the, a, etc.), pronunciation of similar sounding words (say, said, says, save), and not pronouncing particular letters or pronouncing them in unexpected ways (d, t) makes a big difference to other people's ears and understanding. You don't always have to change your accent and you may not change your pronunciation but knowing how you sound to common American English listeners (both native and immigrants) helps you to be understood and calms frustrations on both sides of the conversation.

January 9: Come to class. We will talk about what we did over break and work on our individual listening and speaking skills perhaps the wonderful technology that is available to us.

American English for Kids: Thursday, 4:30-5:00 PM, private Zoom

Our "I'm from...." poems are so interesting to listen to. Make sure you send me your copy.

We tried playing Monopoly. This first attempt had us winging! It worked out ok with as screen and an in person board.

January 10, 2025: Let's talk about your break and try to play Monopoly again. This time we will assign roles and responsibilities. Brush up on the rules.

Words and Phrases

beginning: We have been drilling on using "from" to start a sentence. Would it be ok to start this sentence with "from"? Could it be that we know that June 21 is coming? The word "beginning" (from) implies and ending (to). Ahhhh. A puzzle and conundrum.

brush up: refresh, study

frustrations: feeling upset or annoyed or unable to get something done

refresher: activity to revise and update skills, knowledge, etc.

tied to: restricted to a set

winging: do something without proper planning