Click here to go to our website.
Hello, Friends.
March winds blow whip the branches of the trees. Spring is slipping in. March is said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Be ready for wind, rain, snow.
March Dates and Fun and Foolishness:
March 4: Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Feast before observing the "fasts" of Lent. Many Christians give up something they like (sweets, music, etc.) or add something (exercise, saying please and thank you, eating in, reading the Bible daily). This is different from New Year resolutions in that the focus of the act is to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and the great love of God the Father rather than make a wholesale change in your life. These changes are only for Lent.
March 5: Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday begins the Christian season of Lent (40 days before Easter).
March 9: Daylight Savings Time begins. The United States will move the clocks forward one hour.March 17: St. Patrick's Day: Not just a day; a whole month of fun in Hamilton County
March 20: The First Day of Spring. Read more about spring in the Old Farmer's Almanac.
March 30: Ramadan ends.
March is Disabilities Awareness Month. Disabilities can be by CDC as physical or developmental impairments.
Carmel Disabilities Awareness Events
Carmel Clay Public Library: March Disability Awareness Book List. The library will share a list of recommended books to highlight authors with a disability or books with characters with a disability.
Hamilton County Disability Resource Fair, Wednesday, March 26, 6 - 7:30 p.m., Carmel High School
American English and Culture
Colloquialisms are informal expressions that are used in everyday conversations and not in formal writing or academic settings. Here is a good list to know.
- Hard to swallow
- Kick the bucket
- Stir up a hornet's nest
- Up for grabs
- Knee jerk reaction
- Head over heels
- Elbow grease
- Piece of cake
- Hang in there
- Hit the hay
- By the skin of your teeth
- Driving me up a wall
- Spill the beans
- Cutting corners
Questions in the News
DOGE sent an email to the government workers to list five things they did at work this week. Interesting. What are five things you did this week? The intention of that letter was to provide a "proof of life". As an alternative, thinking about five things you did during the week can help you focus on what you do and how you spend your time. How about listing five things you would rather be doing? Hmmm. Sounds like a warmup to our classes this month!
English is designated as the official language of the United States. This executive order does not change too much except to declare that the lingua franca is officially the status quo. Read the EO for yourself. It encourages people to excel and speak together and opens the door to more American English language learning opportunities. Smart phones already are the go-to tool for bridging the gap between speaking more than 350 languages. Companies and schools and other organizations are not prohibited from provide multilingual services and support but are not required to do so.
Learning Skills
Brainstorming is a great way to make connections and build brainpower. Writing and seeing the words and phrases trigger other words and phrases. Go wild. connections generate ideas and create memories.
This month we are focusing on building our professional vocabulary and history. Finding your words does not have to be difficult. Surf Indeed or Glassdoor or Monster to read job descriptions. Target key words and phrases in the descriptions to hone in on the language of the profession. Play with the words in a brainstorm to create your personal descriptions.
Observe your work. What words and phrases are important or repetitious? These are the ones to begin with, or will you naturally learn them?
International Friends Meeting Notes
Join us! Click here to register.
International Bible Study: Monday, 8-9:00 PM, Zoom
Genesis 41 tells of Joseph's success story. The Pharoah has disturbing dreams, and Joseph is called to interpret them. Joseph comes from the dungeon and first shaves and changes his clothes (14). He then goes to see the Pharoah. In verse 16 Joseph gives God the credit for the interpretation. The dreams are of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. Pharoah puts Joseph in charge of Egypt: (39) Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. The story continues with Joseph traveling the country and setting up stores. He marries and has two children. Then the famine comes and the Egyptians are starving, the people go to Pharoah. He sends them to Joseph and tell them to follow his direction. Joseph sells the grain to the Egyptians. Soon all the world comes to buy grain. God gave Pharoah dreams to provide him the foresight to see potential starvation and death. He also provided the means to avert death and disaster through Joseph. God blessed the world through Joseph. God blessed Joseph and turned what looked to be a disaster into blessing after blessing.
March 3: Genesis 42 Joseph is reunited with his brothers. What will happen?
American English and Culture: Thursday, 9-11:00 AM, Zoom
The reflection question was what "What was your most challenging job?" We broke into small groups to tell our stories and to ask open ended questions to find out more. Headlines:
- Skills and experience can cross fields and industries and be applicable in many jobs.
- Volunteering is a great way to gain experience, make connections, try out a job, a field, or an industry.
- Education and certification is necessary in any new country even if someone holds certification in another country.
March 6: We will resume our resume discussion. Email a list of your personal "professional" words to explore in grammar, context, and pronunciation. Send your resume or a list of your knowledge and skills (if you haven't, yet) and we can look at your specific professional (and personal) history. We will continue to talk about references and giving or asking for references (often people do not ask directly or formally for a reference).
We are also meeting at the Women's Day Luncheon to practice social conversation and to network.
American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:00 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 102
We started with the word SPORTS and brainstormed as a class. We came up with an extensive list of sports. You can see the board on the Notes and Handouts page. Associated with this brainstorm were asides.
March 6: Create a brainstorm of your work words and bring them to class. These words and our resumes will give us the basis for our conversations.
American English for Kids: Thursday, 5:00-5:30 PM, private Zoom
It is the last day in February. This week we will talk about school. Be ready to use adjectives or descriptive words to help us to really see and feel what is happening during your day.
No comments:
Post a Comment