Skating and Debating

It has been an eventful week at Nomen Global as we have made time for both work and play. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and our topic of Civil Rights this block, we participated in a mock debate on different topics in the government today. Students of all levels had the chance to argue for their ideas in this challenging speaking and listening activity. Take a look at some of the pictures we took from our school-wide debate.

 

 

 

 

 

After the heat of the debate was over, we headed over to the Peaks Ice Arena, one of the locations for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and spend a day on the ice. While many of us enjoyed the ice on our skates, some of us experienced the ice on our backs . . . or our faces! All of us, however, had a blast with our fellow students. Take a look at some of our pictures from ice skating.

 

 

To learn more about Nomen Global and the activities we do, visit our website or 'like' us on Facebook!

Grammar Guide: Perfect Tenses

January is a month for movies! With the Sundance Film Festival taking place in Utah right now and the Academy Awards underway, people all over the world are thinking of great movies from the past, present, and future. 

Perfect Tenses

The perfect aspect of English verbs gives the action or situation a point of reference. This point of reference could occur in the present, the past, or the future. Rather than viewing the verb as a single, simple action or situation, the perfect generally emphasizes this action or situation in relation to another.

We form the perfect by using a form of HAVE + the past participle.

Present Perfect

The present perfect tense can have three meanings:

1. The action or situation has occurred in relation to the present time.

• Millie has already seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• I have never filmed my own movie before.

2. The action or situation has occurred multiple times in the past in relation to the present time.

• We have gone to the movie theater every Friday this semester.
• I have watched James Bond over 20 times!

3. The action or situation started in the past and has continued until the present time.

• John has been an actor since he was 8 years old.
• Julie has lived in Hollywood for 11 years.

Past Perfect

The past perfect shows, of two events in the past, which happened first. 

• We started watching the movie at 9 p.m. Sarah came to our party at 9:40. We had already started the movie by the time Sarah came.
• Michael did not finish writing the script for his movie. The team wanted to start filming anyway. Michael had not finished planning the script when the team started filming his movie.
• I watched The Help on Tuesday. My friends invited me to see it with them on Friday. Before my friends invited me to see The Help, I had already seen it.

Future Perfect

The future perfect shows, of two events in the future, which happened first.

• We are not finished writing our script. The other team is already filming their movie. By the time we finish writing our script, the other team will have finished filming their movie.
• Jamie has been in 9 movies. She is acting in her 10th movie right now. Jamie will have acted in 10 movies when they finish filming this one.
• We started waiting for the movie one hour ago, at 10 p.m. The movie begins in one hour, at midnight. We will have waited for 2 hours by the time the movie starts.

The following is a description of the Sundance Institute, the institute that sponsors the Sundance Film Festival. Notice how they use the present perfect to describe what they do.

• "Since 1981, Sundance Institute has evolved to become an internationally-recognized nonprofit organization that actively advances the work of risk-taking storytellers worldwide. Originally founded by Robert Redford in the mountains of Sundance, Utah, Sundance Institute has always provided a space for independent artists to explore their stories free from commercial and political pressures. By providing year-round creative and financial support for the development of original stories for the screen and stage, Sundance Institute remains committed to its mission to discover and develop independent artists and audiences across the globe."

To learn more about Nomen Global and what we teach, visit us on our website or our Facebook page!

Teacher Spotlight: Andrea Dietrich

Andrea Dietrich has been teaching at Nomen Global longer than any other teacher. She has been teaching English at Nomen Global for almost 30 years (12 of them have been at Nomen Global)! She teaches TOEFL Level Grammar, Level 5 Integrated Skills, and the Beginning Level American Culture and Novels. Andrea loves the students at Nomen Global because they always work hard to improve.

Andrea is originally from Iowa. Her greatest strengths are her patience, good sense of humor, and writing skills. Andrea has already published many poems, but she has another goal to publish a novel one day! In addition to poetry, Andrea enjoys watching movies in her free time.

Get to know Andrea and other accomplished teachers like her at Nomen Global!

Climbing in the Winter

Utah is a popular destination among climbers and hikers, but what do we do when the weather is too cold to hold onto rocks? We go to the Quarry! The Quarry is an indoor rock climbing gym located in Provo, Utah, that offers varying levels of climbing routes for all visitors.

To start off our three-day weekend last week, we ventured over to the Quarry for a day of rock climbing. Take a look at some of the pictures we took!

To learn more about Nomen Global and the activities we offer, visit our website or like us on Facebook.

Grammar Guide: Simple Past Tense

The 1960s in the United States was a pivotal decade for civil rights. Leaders like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Lyndon B. Johnson worked to bring true equal rights to the citizens of the United States. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed (see photo). This act forbade discrimination of any kind (including race, ethnicity, or gender) in public places.

Simple Past Tense
We have already discussed the simple future tense and the simple present tense. The simple past tense is used to express actions that began and ended in the past or actions that are complete. There are two different kinds of simple past tense verbs: (1) regular and (2) irregular.

Regular past tense verbs end with -ed.

• I voted for the next president.
• They asked me to speak at the conference.
• Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Irregular past tense verbs usually change spelling but may have other past tense forms.

• He ran for office, but he did not win.
• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence.
• I understood civil rights when our teacher taught our class.

The following is a description of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Notice all the examples of the simple past tense. See if you can recognize the regular and irregular verbs.

• "This act [the Civil Rights Act of 1964], signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal.
  
  ". . . President John F. Kennedy urged the nation to take action toward guaranteeing equal treatment of every American regardless of race. Soon after, Kennedy proposed that Congress consider civil rights legislation that would address voting rights, public accommodations, school desegregation, nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs, and more.
  
  "Despite Kennedy’s assassination in November of 1963, his proposal culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson just a few hours after House approval on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools."

To learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, visit the National Archives website.
To learn more about Nomen Global, visit our website or our Facebook page.

Antonio Valentin Parra

Antonio Parra is one of our new students this semester. He is from El Salvador and plans to study English at Nomen Global for 4 months. Tony is studying English so that he can improve his skills to be able to help other people! He is currently preparing to take the TOEFL in order to get into a university.

Even though Tony has been here for only one block, he already loves the schedule. He completes his 18 credit hours in the first four days of the week, then has time to explore the city or participate in school activities on Fridays. He also enjoys the way the teachers teach.

Tony has recently returned from serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also attends the after-school Institute class at Nomen Global. Tony joins other students on Fridays for a game of soccer and listens to music in his free time. He also loves sea food!

One of Tony's goals is to graduate from college. He hopes to study psychology at Brigham Young University - Idaho. While he is here, we love Tony at Nomen Global because he is always happy!

Meet Tony and other optimistic students like him at Nomen Global. Be sure to also visit our Facebook page for more information.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

While you are enjoying your day off school, take time to learn about this great man, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Grammar Guide: Simple Present Tense

Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for being a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He fought for the freedom and equality of all citizens of the United States, regardless of skin color. He delivered many famous speeches that he hoped would help end discrimination. Because of his nonviolent methods to stop discrimination, Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated, or killed. Today, we celebrate the efforts of Martin Luther King close to his birthday, January 15, each year. 

Simple Present Tense
Last week we discussed how the simple future tense is used to express actions or situations that have not happened yet. The present tense is used to describe (1) habitual or repeated actions and (2) general statements that are always true. Sometimes students make the mistake that the present simple tense is used to describe actions occurring right now, but this is not true! The words always and usually are often used with the simple present tense.

We form the simple present tense by using the simple form of the verb with first person, singular and plural; second person, singular and plural; and third person plural subjects. We add -s or -es to the end of verbs with a third person singular subject.

• We always celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the third Monday in January every year.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. inspires many people all over the world.
• They give speeches every week in their US Issues class.

The be verb is irregular. We conjugate this verb as follows:

• I am . . .
• You are . . .
• He(, she, or it) is . . .
• We are . . .
• You (plural) are . . .
• They are . . .

The following is an excerpt of Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. 

• "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"I have a dream today!"

To learn more about Nomen Global and our grammar classes, visit our website or like us on Facebook!

Student Spotlight: Carian Wu

Carian Wu is from China. She came to Nomen Global two months ago and will study English here for another 8 months. Carian is studying in the intermediate level to prepare for the TOEFL. She hopes to study at an American university after perfecting her English.

Carian is happy with her English progress so far and considers it one of the best things she has accomplished. She enjoys Nomen Global not only for her English classes but for the diversity of the student body. She has made friends from many different countries.

In her spare time, Carian enjoys her hobbies of playing on the computer, going shopping, and swimming. She loves all spicy food and fruit. In the future, Carian hopes to be the CEO of a company. The most important thing to Carian is to make everyday happy.

Get to know Carian and other happy students like her at Nomen Global.

International Food

How much do you know about Brazil? Korea? Moldova? This morning Nomen Global students got a taste of the different countries from around the world. Of course, what would an international appreciation day be without food? Take a look at some of the pictures we took this morning.

All of the students grouped themselves according to home country or region to prepare a special dish for everyone to try. We had a great time sampling all of the treats, meats, drinks, and bread from different countries. After we enjoyed our plates, we listened to country presentations from each group to learn more about them and where they are from.

To learn more about different countries around the world and to get to know our students, visit us at Nomen Global or visit our Facebook page.

Grammar Guide: Simple Future Tense

With the start of a new year at hand, many of us are looking toward the future. One popular tradition in the United States, as well as other countries, is to make new year's resolutions. A new year's resolution is something that a person decides to accomplish or achieve in the following year.

Simple Future Tense

The future tense is used to describe events that have yet to happen. A common way to express your new year's resolutions (things that you will do/have in the future) is to use the future tense.

We form the future tense by using one of several combinations: 

WILL + VERB

BE GOING TO + VERB

or other verbs with future meanings.

• I will lose weight.
• I am going to get a new job.
• I intend to graduate from a university.
• I plan on traveling to Japan.
• I want to learn English.

What are some of your new year's resolutions?

Learn more about the future tense and other grammar topics at Nomen Global!

Student Spotlight: Victor Faddoul

Who should you talk to if you want to know what studying English at Nomen Global is really like? None other than Victor Faddoul. He has been studying English at Nomen Global for over a year and will continue to study for another 4 months. Victor is from Venezuela, but he has enjoyed his experiences in Utah.

Starting in the first level, Victor has advanced through Nomen Global's program well. He especially likes his teachers and learning new words in the different languages of his international friends. He is studying English in order to get into a university one day. One of Victor's greatest accomplishments is coming to the United States. He also hopes to pass the TOEFL, earn a degree from a university, and get married.

In his free time, Victor goes to the gym or plays soccer. He has even received an award for "Best Player" in his state. He loves arepas, a dish from Venezuela, and sushi from Japan. His family is the most important thing to him.

Get to know more about Victor and other accomplished students at Nomen Global!

Getting to Know You

Welcome back, Nomen Global students! To start this new year off, we gathered all of the students in the school together for a "get to know you" activity. We lined up along both sides of a long table and were paired up with a partner. We had about 5 minutes to talk to our partners to learn about them and their country before we switched chairs to talk to someone new.

What a great way to get to know more about our classmates and other countries. One thing we love about Nomen Global is the diversity in our student body. We currently have students representing over 20 countries around the world.

Get to know more about these students by visiting our website and our Facebook page.