The ELI Weekly
Out and About: Adventures in Mexico City
by Juyeon (Andrea) Hong, RW61
Did you enjoy the spring break? I visited Mexico City alone during spring break! Before I went there, I was worried because I had a prejudice against Mexico. However, contrary to my concern, Mexico City was perfect. There are a lot of museums, beautiful architecture, and great food. You can enter most museums for free with your UF ID card. Among the places that I visited, I recommend Soumaya Museum and Metropolitan Cathedral. Soumaya museum has a magnificent appearance. Also, there are a lot of sculptures and artworks. It is free, and there is a big shopping center near the museum, so you can go shopping after visiting the museum. Metropolitan Cathedral is such a beautiful place. The place in the picture is there. You can go inside if you want. It was very impressive even though I’m not Catholic. There are also good restaurants and shops nearby, so you can buy souvenirs and eat food. Prices in Mexico are cheaper than in the US, so you can eat a lot of delicious tacos at a low price. Lastly, if you go to the Mexico City, you have to go to the Churrería El Moro! They sell delicious churros and chocolate lattes. The Mexican people are not good at English, so if you can’t speak Spanish like me, it can be a little hard to communicate. But don’t worry. People are kind, and you can use your fingers to order tacos!
CIP Weekday Activities
Weekend Event
Saturday April 1st – Spring Arts Festival – 9:30am to 1:00pm
Enjoy this annual festival that has stunning artists and artwork, live music, food trucks, and so much more, all held at Santa Fe College! Walk around and see some amazing performances with your ELI friends! Brig some extra spending money to buy art, goods, and food! Entry is free.
Meet at Norman Parking Garage
You must sign up to attend this activity, car spaces are limited: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4BA9A823A02-spring13
Selling Daytona Beach Bus Passes!
Tate is selling bus passes starting this week for our Daytona Beach bus trip happening on April 8th from 8:30am to 9:00pm. Bus tickets are 25 dollars exact cash with your Gator1 ID and can only be sold between 9am and 12:30pm in the CIP Office. Spaces are limited!
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
Teacher Workday: Monday, April 3, is a teacher workday. There will be no classes on Monday, but the main office will be open.
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 .
US Federal Tax Forms for International Students
Taxes are due on April 18th this year. Taxes are filed for the previous calendar year, which in this case is 2022. If you didn’t earn money in the U.S. in 2022, you won’t owe taxes; however, if you were an international student in a U.S. school in 2022, you must file Form 8843 for you and your dependents whether you worked at a campus job in 2022 or not.
As a UF ELI student you can use a free non-immigrant tax filing program called Sprintax to file tax form 8843. Daryl Bish emailed you how to access Sprintax. Contact him at studyenglish@eli.ufl.edu or make an appointment to talk with in 223 Matherly Hall if you did not receive information about Sprintax. You must access Sprintax through a secure portal, and you must use your Gatorlink information to enter the program.
If do not use Sprintax, you can print form 8843, complete and sign it, and mail it to the government. You can access form 8843 here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8843.pdf. Fill out the information under Part I and Part III. In 9 and 10, you need to include the information about the academic institution that you attended in 2022. You can find the address and phone number for the ELI at www.eli.ufl.edu. The name of the director of the ELI is Megan Forbes.
Mail your completed form to this address:
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Austin, TX 73301
If you had on campus employment in 2022, you will receive a form reporting your income and tax withholdings called a W-2. Because you earned taxable and reportable income and must submit a federal tax return to file your W-2. You also must file form 8843. Sprintax can help you do both.
The ELI is not permitted to assist any student with any IRS tax form preparation or give tax advice, but if you have questions about the above information, please contact Daryl Bish.
Photo of the Week
Birthdays!
Students:
- Chulalak Lueangthuwapranit, 3/27
- Pablo Orozco Quesada, 3/27
- Lucerito Datzer Pinto, 3/28
- Jihyeon Lee, 3/31
- Diana Bello Lorenzo, 4/1
Staff:
Claire Lutz, 4/2
Grammar
Q: Is the Oxford comma really important?
A: This is a hotly debated topic in the world of punctuation! The Oxford comma is the last comma in a list of items. Let’s look at an example sentence:
- I have pencils, pens, and textbooks in my backpack.
That last comma before the word ‘and’ is called the Oxford comma. Some people argue that you do not need the Oxford comma because the word ‘and’ separates the last two items in the list. This argument is valid most of the time. However, sometimes the sentences get more complicated. Here is an example without the Oxford comma:
- I like turkey, peanut butter and jelly and ham and cheese sandwiches.
Whoa! That is an awkward sentence! How many different types of sandwiches are we talking about there? There are a lot of funny memes about how the meaning of a sentence might change when you leave off the Oxford comma. The best rule of thumb is to use the Oxford comma if there is any way the sentence would be confusing or misinterpreted.
Manners & Culture
Q: Why do Americans pronounce the word ‘wanted’ without the ‘t’ sound?
A: Listen to several people say these words. Do you hear them saying the ‘t’ sound or not?
- wanted, mountain, , Atlanta, plenty, center, painter
Linguists who research phonology (the study of complex sound patterns) have noted that when a ‘t’ sound follows an ‘n’ sound in the middle of a word in American English, then the ‘t’ can be soundless. Since not everyone follows this rule of phonology, it might be a regional difference. It is not necessarily a conscious decision to pronounce or not pronounce the sound, it is just the way people talk.
Notes from the Editor
- I hope to hear from you soon. I need your grammar, manners, and culture questions to answer in the ELI Weekly
- Have you hunted for sharks’ teeth in the Gainesville creeks? Have you discovered real Florida food? Send me your stories to share with the ELI community!
- Do you know about a must-see place in your country? Tell us all about it in the Weekly!
- Send questions and stories to Maya (mshastri@ufl.edu)