The ELI Weekly
Where in the World?
This semester, the ELI has 161 students from 28 countries. Ask your classmates where they are from!
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Notes from the Office
Can F-1 students work on campus? Yes! F-1 students can work on campus. However, students cannot work more than 20 hours per week (this is true for all on-campus student employment, not only F-1 students) when classes are in session. Also, your work schedule cannot conflict with your ELI class schedule. If you are an F-1 student, you cannot change your class time for your work schedule. Also, F-1 students can ONLY work on-campus. It is illegal for F-1 students to work off-campus unless they have been approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. If the ELI knows an F-1 student is illegally working off-campus, the ELI must terminate the student’s I-20. If you have questions about where you can work or how to find a job, you can talk to Daryl in the main office.
Lost and Found: Have you lost your car keys, student ID card, driver’s license, wallet, or some other important item? Many times, when people find an item, they bring it to the office for safe keeping. When you lose something, please come by the ELI Main Office (MAT223) and see if it is in the lost and found.
Student Voices: We love to see our students’ writing published. 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 8th.
CIP Weekday Activities
Sign up for all activities here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4BA9A823A02-student22
Weekend Activity
Volunteer Weekend – It is time to help our community! Please sign up for only ONE volunteering event of the four so others have an opportunity too. You must sign up to attend one of these events and spaces are limited.
Upcoming Special Events
Basketball Tickets: Tate is selling basketball tickets for the Gator Basketball Game ELI activity happening on February 5th. Bring 20 dollars cash and your Gator 1 ID card to the CIP Matherly 211 to buy an ELI block seat ticket between 9am and 1pm Monday-Thursday. Tickets are limited!
International Mixer: The ELI is joining with the Language Studio and having a fun International Mixer on Wednesday February 2nd, where UF students will come to learn about your language and culture! This will be our evening activity and we are hoping students will come and represent their country at a country table! Just come and be ready to socialize and, if you can, bring something from your home country to show our guests! This could be a picture or traditional clothing to show or even some tea or food to try from your country. You can bring as much or as little as you like! Stay tuned for the weekly signup for next week with more details and start planning now
Conversation Partners (CPs)
Want to meet with an English speaker once a week and make a new friend?! Sign up here! https://forms.gle/k7Z826F2LU9gekrU7
Returning students who want a CP should still fill out this form, even if you had a CP last semester!
This is optional, but if you sign up, you agree to meet your partner once a week for one hour to speak English and respond to them when they contact you to make plans to arrange a meeting.
Try meeting them on campus or a coffee shop! Try chatting about your family or home country to start practice English with your new friend! CPs are excited to meet you! Wait two weeks after signing up to be paired.
Email conversationpartners@eli.ufl.edu if your partner does not respond after one week.
Remember, CPs are not tutors, they will not do your homework or teach you grammar. They are fluent English speakers who will help you speak by having one-on-one practice and being your friend!
Photo of the Week: Welcome Activity
Manners & Culture
Q: I go to restaurants a lot and I don’t understand when I should tip.
At restaurants where you have full service from a waiter like The Top or The Cheesecake Factory, you should leave between 15% to 20% of the total bill. If your bill was $25 you should leave between $3.75 and $5.00 as a tip.
Some full-service restaurants nowadays automatically include an 18% gratuity in the bill for large groups. If you’re splitting the bill and the restaurant didn’t add the gratuity, make sure you calculate it and add it.
At restaurants that have partial service like Tijuana Flats or Bento, where you order at a register and they bring the food to your table, it’s nice to leave a small amount. Here $2 is ok, usually on your credit card receipt.
Restaurants that are complete self- service like Chipotle or Leonardo’s where you order at the counter or the drive-through and then pick it up at the cashier, it’s not necessary to leave a tip. However, if they were extra friendly or helpful, it’s always nice to leave a couple of dollars for the tip.
Tipping in restaurants is particularly important here in the US; servers in
restaurants in Florida have a minimum wage of only $5.63 an hour, which is much less than the Florida minimum wage of $8.65. Also, please remember that restaurant workers have been particularly hard-hit during the Pandemic; an extra tip will be greatly appreciated.
Birthdays!
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Students:
1/27-Kwonyoung Kang 1/28-Youjin Bae |
Staff:
1/24-Lynne Clark Sorry for missing Angelica Caraballo-Santiago last week, 1/19! |
Notes from the Editor
Have you been out and about in Gainesville? Tell us about it in the Weekly! Share your stories about ELI activities, events in Gainesville, or even places we should see if we visit your country. Send 1-2 paragraphs to Maya (mshastri@ufl.edu).
Send your grammar and culture questions, and I’ll answer them in the Weekly! Send your questions to Maya (mshastri@ufl.edu).
When you email, use the subject heading “ELI Weekly.”