After Halloween, Holidays Make the Rest of the Year Fly By

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Hello, Friends.

Halloween here in Indiana was a beautiful and fun success. Children enjoyed going door to door in costumed splendor to beg for candy saying “trick or treat”. Many adults get into the spirit and dress up, too. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. I love that friends with their growing children stop by to say hello.

This weekend we “fall back”. Yay! We gain an extra hour of sleep here in most of the United States. Most of our classes will maintain our current time to Zoom. That is, we are on Eastern Standard Time now. Our Kid's English Class begins meeting at 5:00 PM this week.

November International Friends Schedule

November 20: International Friends Feasts in person. Learn to make a turkey and sides. Bring your favorite feasting dish to share.

November 24-28: No meetings or classes. Happy Thanksgiving

November 27: Thanksgiving Day

November 28: Black Friday kicks off the Christmas shopping season.

American English and Your English: Lists and Strategies

How Many Words Does the Average Person Speak in a Day, Word Raiders

There are two components of any language: vocabulary (words) and grammar (rules). As long as you  have common words, you can communicate. What 800 or more words do you need every day? How do you prioritize them? Frequency word lists can help.

Reverse your language learning and ask, "What words are the most frequent in my preferred language?" Then compare these word lists to American English words (and maybe these word lists do not overlap because these words are not common in American English). This can help you target the words you may be using most often as well as words you may be hearing in American English. This speeds your capability to speak a common language sooner.

• Spanish with Tati has this list
• Italian 1000 words from Strommen lists by frequency of use
• Portuguese with Carla lists 1000 words grouped by color, animal, etc.
• Korean vocabulary words from Koreanling are grouped by levels as well as concept groups
• Japanese 1000 basic word list from Wiktionary also lists by classification and are mostly nouns
• Mandarin 1000 most frequent words with Mandarin pronunciation from Wiktionary

Literacy Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities sorts 1000 frequent American English words by parts of speech: verbs (action words), nouns (names of things), adjectives (descriptions that enhance things), and adverbs (descriptions that enhance actions) and prepositions. Handy check boxes:

• I know this word
• I think I know this word
• I need to know this word

If you do not think you need to know a word, you may not prioritize learning it (because adults are efficient, effective, and elegant learners). The next question to think about is whether this common word exists in your home language or better still, in your preferred language (words you use regularly). If you do not know it, you might not realize its value.

Yes, You Did Not Hear It!

As you listen through this list are you surprised at the pronunciation?

Silent Letters in English from A-Z | List of Words with Silent Letters | English Pronunciation

Review a list in our Class Notes.

International Friends Meeting Notes

Join us! Click here to register.

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

We dissected the Fifth Commandment: you should not murder. This commandment is about our care and commitment to the people around us. Murder is a premeditated act. The Bible includes many references that defines murder and the consequences. 1 John 3:15 says, "anyone who hates his brother is a murderer" and that letting anger against someone get the best of you is "murder". Revenge and justice is the responsibility and the duty of the government. The opposite of this (which is the real command) is to help and support others in every bodily or physical need. 

November 3:  Exodus 20 adultery, stealing, and coveting are the last of the commandments.

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

Making Observations and Doing your Best with VERBS:

 

You made very important observations about how you hear verbs used in the world and media around you. Your conversation about tips and trouble spots encouraged us all to keep doing our best to learn English language and culture.

 

Here are some key points:

 

•   Phrasal verbs are fun and frustrating (because multiple words make up the verb). There are thousands of them! Don’t have a meltdown, though. If you like to learn by list, do not try to learn a long list all at once. Choose a few at a time that you can practice using frequently. As you run across them out in the world, take note. Share your favorites with us.

•   Often we mix different verb tenses in the same sentence to show perspective and sequence. (Examples: I had finished my homework before I went to the party. I have gone to Japan once so far, and I’m going there next year to visit my friend.)

•   One source lists the top ten verbs in English as: be, have, do, say, go, can, get, would, make, know. Notice that these are irregular verbs that change form in the past and perfect tenses.

•   Regular verbs are easy, right? You just add -ed at the end (and sometimes a double letter). They are not always easy to pronounce, however. Look for sound cues in the word to help you choose the correct final sound:  /t/, /d/, or /id/. Find a cheat sheet in an email.

•   Ain’t is an informal expression sometimes substituted for is not, are not, am not, has not, or have not. You might hear it in idioms: (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.) or in friendly conversation, especially in the South, rural regions, and African American communities. And for sure, you will hear it in songs! Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

•   Food service has a language all its own.  There are too many choices—size, temperature, add-ons, and exceptions. To make matters worse, many restaurants have their own vocabulary and  preferred order of putting the words of your order in order to lean in to their brand (think of one famous coffee shop). We have all had “disaster stories” with ordering in a restaurant, coffee shop, or drive-through. We are always happy to role-play situations to build your confidence.

 

November 6: Homework and in class.

1. Think about the verbs make and do. Reply to the Homework for November 6 email: Write ten sentences using make and do to share in small groups next week.
2. Bring one new word, idiom, or question to share during our warm-up.
3. Be ready to use the top ten verbs (from the American English article above) in our conversations next week.

American English and Culture: Thursday, 7-8:30 PM, CLC, Carmel, room 100

We reviewed all of the 1000 Frequent Words list. Everyone listed words they were not familiar with on the board, and then we practiced using these words to make sentences. You can find our conversation boards in our Class Notes section. 

November 6: Bring your lists...I have some more!

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

Tech is tough. We met on Halloween to talk in the height of Trick or Treating. Suddenly, my screen went black! Happily, we were able to finish talking about electricity on the iPad. Thank goodness for too many ways to communicate.

November 7: In November we think about Thanksgiving. There are many ways to give thanks and reasons for being thankful. Are the reasons and ways to express thanks the same for everyone? How do you say thanks?

Words and Phrases

cheat sheet: a page of hints and answers

dissected: pick apart and examine 

for sure: definitely

handy: available quickly

get the best of you: take control of you or overwhelm you

lean in: embrace and emphasize something

realize: recognize

take note: pay attention

out in the world: in the wild; not in a domestic setting

overlap: are listed twice

top ten: the first ten or most popular ten of something. This can be written top ten or top 10. If you like these kinds of lists, then you will like The Top Tens.

trouble spots: specific difficulties