The ELI Weekly
Out and About: Busch Gardens
by the entire class of RW42
Busch Gardens is a popular theme park in Tampa, Florida. The ELI visited the park this past weekend. Five students from Reading/Writing 42 attended, and they enjoyed the trip. The most popular ride among the RW42 students was Iron Gwazi, a twisty, speedy roller coaster. Another favorite roller coaster was Sheikra, which has much wide cars, seating eight people side-by-side. The park has a wide variety of animals, including alligators, flamingos, cheetahs, penguins, elephants, and gorillas. The animals were divided into areas themed by locations, like Asia and Africa. The students in RW42 had mixed experiences with the food. While some enjoyed hamburgers and chicken nuggets, other students ate at a Chick-fil-A location inside of the park, where the food was low-quality, expensive, and the portions were small. Overall, the students concluded that, while the ticket prices were high, the experience was worth the money. Three of the students spent a bit more to purchase annual passes, which will allow them to visit several times.
CIP Weekday Activities
Weekend Events
Saturday, March 11th – No event for Spring Break
Saturday, March 18th – Midterm Welcome Picnic – 12:00-2:45pm
Meet new B-term ELI students and get free food! Enjoy the sunshine outside with ELI friends to end your spring break! Meet outside Norman Hall.
You must sign up to attend this activity: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4BA9A823A02-midterm3
Other CIP Reminders
CIP Passports
Don’t forget to get your CIP Passport hole punched from the activity leaders AT the event (not after). Redeem your completed passport for a small gift and photo for the ELI Instagram! Remember the CIP Pineapple is hidden in a new place every Monday in the CIP office. Stop by and find it for hole punches!
Conversation Partners (CPs)
Want to make a friend and speak English? Sign up for a conversation partner! Wait two weeks to be paired and then meet your new partner for one hour a week to practice conversation and make a friend! If you are a returning student and still want a CP, you should still sign up here, even if you had a partner last semester.
Sign up for a CP here: https://forms.gle/8nDmxEbrzaSP92Cj8
Remember, if you sign up, you must meet your partner at least once a week and respond to their messages. Email conversationpartners@eli.ufl.edu if you have any questions or problems.
Notes from the Office
Midterms: Midterm week is this week (March 6-10), so your teachers might have a midterm exam or project for you. Ask your teacher if you are not sure. Here are some tips to help you study: review activities in your book and on Elearning, ask your teacher questions as you review the material, and make sure you eat and sleep well!
Photo Waiver: All semester, LAs and teachers take photos of activities and classes to use in the ELI Weekly, on the ELI social media sites, or in the fantastic slide show that the CIP creates at the end of the semester. Many students signed the photo waiver at the beginning of the semester and said that the ELI cannot use a photo of them. If you are one of these students, and you want to be in the Weekly photos, ELI social media posts, and in the slide show, you need to sign a new photo waiver that says it is ok for you to be in photos. If you do not want to be in the ELI Weekly, ELI social media posts, and the slide show, please, do not get in the photos that LAs and teachers take during classes or activities.
Time Change: Daylight Savings Time begins at 2:00am on March 12th, so remember to “spring forward” by changing the time on the clocks in your house. Your cellphone should update automatically, but most electric and battery-powered clocks will not. You can check www.time.gov to make sure your time is correct.
New Students: B Term is about to begin, and you will see new students coming to the main office, in the hallways, and at activities. Please welcome and help new students as they begin to settle at UF and in Gainesville.
People Out: Christine is out of the office on Monday, March 13. Please plan around this date if you need to talk to her.
Student Voices: We love to see our students writing. Every semester, we take your writing and publish it in Student Voices. Past submissions have included paragraphs, essays, creative stories, recipes, letters, obituaries, poetry, creative stories, class projects, and other interesting works on a variety of topics. I encourage you to submit anything of your work that you wish to see published. It can be from any class or something you have written on your own but ask your teachers for help editing! You can email it to Olga (omoody@ufl.edu) or to your teacher. Please include your name and class on your submission. The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 14th .
Spring Break: March 13-17
There are no ELI classes March 13-17 for Spring Break. This is a great time to rest, travel, and prepare yourself for the rest of the semester.
Photo of the Week
Birthdays! (including Spring Break week)
Students:
- Azzam Almatrodi 3/7
- Abdulhakim Almarzuqi 3/8
- Jiyoun Jeong 3/10
- Seona Jeong 3/10
- Seoyoung Jang 3/11
- Diego Artieda Justiniano 3/12
- Mina Choi 3/15
- Yunseo Gong 3/15
- Cesar Pena Agredo 3/18
- Arnoldo Torres Juarez 3/18
Staff:
- Danielle Betancourt 3/13
- Melina Jimenez 3/17
Manners & Culture
Q: Why do some people knock on my door and try to get me to read the Bible? And why do they come so early in the morning?
A: In the southern US, including Florida, there is a strong tradition of missionary religion. This means that people from a missionary church will try to get new church members by going door-to-door and trying to get new people to join their religion.
As for your second question, how early are they coming? Normally, it is considered impolite to knock on a stranger’s door outside of business hours. This means that they should not be at your door before 9:00am or after 5:00pm. Again, this is the rule for strangers. Your friends, family, and neighbors who know you and your schedule might stop by earlier or later.
Do you know how to respond to the people coming door-to-door, who are trying to sell you something or trying to get you to join their church? If you want to talk to them, you can answer their questions, and they will keep talking as long as you continue. If you do not want to talk to them, you can say, “No, thank you,” and close your door.
Notes from the Editor
Does anyone have any interesting grammar questions? I haven’t had any for the Weekly lately. Keep those great culture questions and story submissions coming! Email Maya (mshastri@ufl.edu) with submissions.