The ELI Weekly
Out and About: A Visit to Blue Springs
by Subin (Joy) Kim, RW40
When I first came to Gainesville, I heard about the springs for the first time. I had never known about springs before, and I remember thinking, “What are the springs?” There are many springs in Gainesville. One of the springs I visited was ‘Blue Springs’. The water there is crystal clear, and it’s a great place to get a feel for nature. The peaceful surroundings made us feel like we were far away from the busyness of daily life. I went there with my friends, and we swam together and enjoyed a picnic lunch. We had a lot of fun and made wonderful memories. One thing that I didn’t expect was for the water to be so cold! Even though the weather was hot, the springs stay cool all year. It was a little hard to get used to at first.
It’s important to note that there are no restaurants near the springs, so you should bring your own lunch. Overall, I can say that my favorite place in Gainesville is the springs. I hope you visit the Springs and enjoy as much as I did!
CIP Weekday Activities
Weekend Event
There is no scheduled ELI activity this weekend since many classes will be holding Midterm Exams next week. Use the weekend to study. Good luck on your exams!
Here are some tips to help you do well on the exams and to improve your English overall.
- Review the activities in the book that your instructor assigned.
- Do activities in the chapter that your instructor did not assign.
- Find activities online. For example, if you Google “English verb tense practice,” you will get lots of results.
- Practice whatever you’re studying, but do it out loud. You can practice using pronouns in sentences, reading the newspaper and finding them there, listening for them when people talk, and writing texts to friends using them.
- Get plenty of sleep and eat well!
Other CIP Reminders
Conversation Partners (CPs)
Want to meet with a fluent English speaker and make a new friend? Sign up for a CP! If you choose to sign up, you must meet with your partner for one hour a week. It can take up to two weeks to get a partner from when you sign up. Please sign up at this link: https://forms.gle/CZoP2zQ7nxWD4wcA8
Please email Rachel at conversationpartners@eli.ufl.edu for any issues, questions or concerns or visit her in the CIP Office during office hours.
CIP Passports
Don’t forget to get your CIP Passport hole punched from the activity leaders AT the event (not after). We don’t hole punch passports after the event. Redeem your completed passport for a small gift, a photo for the ELI Instagram, and your name published in the ELI weekly!
Need a new CIP Passport? Stop by the CIP Office!
Remember the CIP Pineapple is hidden in a new place every Monday in the CIP office. Stop by and find it for hole punches!
Notes from the Office
New Students: B Term is about to begin, and you will see new students coming to the main office, in the hallways, in your classes, and at activities. Please welcome and help new students as they begin to settle at UF and in Gainesville.
Congratulations and Farewell: Be sure to congratulate our receptionist, Tatum Homer-Dibble, on her new multimedia job in the Dean’s Office of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. Stop by the ELI main office and wish her well before her last day, October 10. Even though we will not see her at the ELI every day, she has promised to join us sometimes for Tuesday volleyball, some Thursday/weekend activities, and a welcome picnic here and there!
Student Voices
Every semester, we have amazing student writers, so we take your writing and publish it in an online collection called Student Voices. In past semesters, students have written paragraphs, essays, creative stories, recipes, letters, obituaries, poetry, and more. You can see past editions of Student Voices (https://eli.ufl.edu/news-publications/, scroll to the bottom of the page) for inspiration.
We 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 Moody (omoody@ufl.edu) or to your teacher. Please include your name and class on your submission. The deadline for submissions is Friday, November 1st.
Photo of the Week: Rainbow Springs
Birthdays!
Manners & Culture
Q: What do I call Coca-Cola when I order it at a restaurant?
A: When the server asks for your drink order, you can say, “I’ll have a Coke.”
In some parts of Florida, the server might ask, “What kind (of Coke)?” They are asking this question because in the southern US, the word “Coke” can be the general word for the sweet fizzy drink. In other areas of the US, the general term for the drink is called “pop,” “soda,” or “soft drink.”
If the server asks, “What kind of Coke,” you can answer, “Just a regular Coke,” if you want Coca-Cola. Otherwise, fill in with the specific name of your drink if you want some other type: “I’d like a Sprite.” or “A Pepsi, please.”
Grammar
Q: Do I use ‘themself’ or ‘themselves’ in the sentence? “A person who sees themself/themselves as a leader is called a role model.”
A: A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that reinforces the subject of a sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns are recognized by the ending (-self or -selves) as in myself, yourself and yourselves, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves.
Traditionally, only the pronoun ‘you’ had both singular and plural reflexive forms: yourself and yourselves.
However, nowadays, that’s not quite true. As singular they becomes more widely used, the reflexive pronoun themself is also being used.
We can think about the usage of themself in terms of formality:
- A person who sees herself as a leader… (formal)
- A person who sees himself as a leader…(formal)
- A person who sees themself as a leader… (informal)
Joke of the Week
Q: Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer?
A: She kept running away from the ball!
Notes from the Editor
I would love to hear from you! Send me a paragraph about fun activities you have tried in Florida or send me a story about an interesting place in your country. Send me grammar questions, culture questions, or even jokes. Send them to mshastri@ufl.edu. Use the subject heading ELI Weekly.