Intensive English Sessions - July in San José

It's summer up North, a great time for camp, hobbies, and another fun things that aren't possible during the grind of the school year. Luckily for us, some intrepid student volunteers from Northeastern University (Boston) are going to spend part of the summer leading an English camp of their own - intensive conversation sessions - in downtown San José! We hope both new and experienced volunteers will drop by turn this month of sessions into an opportunity for Community Conversations' more permanent groups to make some progress as well. The Northeastern volunteers will be noting successful activities and ideas for addition to our Volunteer Handbook, and gathering information to help us launch new groups. So, experienced volunteers: will you drop by to share a favorite activity or suggestion with the participants, for inclusion in our Handbook? New volunteers: will you visit us so you can see how a conversation session works, and communicate with us about a schedule and location that would work for you for a weekly group? We hope to see you there! The sessions will take place at the IPEA English Center, across from Cine Variedades, from 9 to 11 am on the following dates: July 7 -8, 11-14, 18-22, 26-27. Please write to me (Katherine) at volunteer@crmultilingue.org if you would like to join us! Above: a photo from CRML-Northeastern's successful "English camp" in Desamparados in 2010.

Dear Abby...

In the latest Community Conversations Newsletter (didn't receive it? Please register!), we featured the Zapote conversation group that meets at the Food Court at Multiplaza del Este. As mentioned in the bulletin, their most recent topic was fashion - but volunteer Amanda Russell, at left in the black top, let slip another great activity they'd done in a previous session. The conversation group members turned themselves into Dear Abby-style agony columnists, responding to sticky situations - neighbor playing music too loud? in-law troubles? - with some sage advice. The activity is great for practicing "should" and "would," Amanda says. Thanks for this great suggestion! It also lends itself to reading activities before, during, or after the session, since volunteers could clip or print Dear Abby or similar columns from their favorite newspapers or magazines. Beginning English-language learners might benefit from bringing in or looking at an agony column from a Spanish-language newspaper as a reference beforehand, and then talking about the issues expressed there, in English. In short, it's an idea with lots of potential. Check out this Dear Abby archive to get started. Did you try this with your group? Write to us and let us know!

Come Read with Us!

If you receive our weekly bulletin, you have seen that we are now planning Story Hour reading sessions at our Language Corners (recently inaugurated in Curridabat, and planned for other communities soon). Our next trip to the 15 de Agosto School in Tirrases, Curridabat, is scheduled for November 24th. At least one Community Conversations volunteer, Pat MacKinnon, will be joining me (Katherine) and if anyone else would like to come along, please let me know! The kids are wonderful and I am sure they would love to see some new faces. We'll be meeting in the Zapote area in the morning and heading to the school to read some favorite books and have a good time. Contact me at volunteer@crmultilingue.org.