Happy Moon Festival ~ and Fall/Spring Equinox

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, Chuseok, Tết Trung Thu, or Tsukimi to those who celebrate. Our Duke Kunshan campus is taking a short break for the holiday. May you enjoy conversation with family or friends as well as celebrating with mooncakes, rice cakes, dumplings, and all. I hope you are well wherever you are.

Duke West Campus (photo by Rene Caputo)

Our virtual International Conversation Café has continued steadily through these unpredictable times. Participants have joined us virtually from Argentina, Singapore, Japan, India, China, Italy, Iran, Chile, Mongolia, and Korea. And participants around the U.S. ~ with homelands including France, China, Turkey, Korea, Nigeria, India, Taiwan, Japan ~ have chatted with us.

We’ve talked about lighter topics such as tv series and movies that brighten our lives as well as favorite Olympic sports to watch. We’ve also discussed global education, cooking, holidays, and current events, including pandemic challenges. Roommates, partners, and children of our participants have popped in to say hello along the way!

Our gatherings online continue. And I’m also facilitating a weekly Global Conversations group in person at our Duke Student Wellness Center. It’s great to see members of the Duke community in person as well as online.

Wishing you and yours well as the seasons change.

Rene Caputo, Duke University

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Connecting across the miles

I am in North Carolina. Where are you now? While I ride out this storm not far from Durham, our Duke students, scholars, and colleagues are scattered around the U.S. and the world. So it goes during the pandemic. Thankfully, we’ve been able to stay connected through classes, Writing Studio appointments, workshops, and other gatherings.

Spring 2020 conversation gathering ~ before we went virtual (photo: Rene Caputo)

Duke community members and I have been enjoying our International Conversation Café gatherings. And our virtual space has opened new doors. In person, we never would’ve met one participant’s sweet month-old baby or seen another’s young child pop in for a visit!

Spring flowers (photo: Rene Caputo)

We chat about what we are enjoying, what’s challenging, and what’s next. I share links to virtual Duke recreation and wellness gatherings plus streaming Duke films and performances. To free Coursera classes, trials for tv/movie streaming services, and online walking tours of worldwide cities.

Participants enthusiastically recommend favorite shows and eateries as well as places to visit. They like Durham’s Loaf Bakery and Burger Bach. Plus a donut shop on the Carolina Beach boardwalk. For NC travel, they look forward to visiting Wilmington and its nearby beaches. And further afield, Playa del Carmen, a less touristy destination than Cancún.

Wishing you and your loved ones well. I look forward to seeing some of you virtually until we can meet again. Face to face.

Rene D. Caputo
Thompson Writing Program
ESL/Multilingual Specialist

 

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April showers and local events

We’re in the final weeks of our semester at Duke. Colorful flowers and trees are painting campus in spring hues. And scattered puddles feature yellow-green swirls of pollen.

Through April 25, our International Conversation Café continues. Recent  topics raised by participants include favorite local restaurants, Middle East politics, and Amazon’s issues with worker hiring & safety. Join us at 12:30 Thursdays for lively conversation and a midday snack. Room 248 Brodhead Center, West. (photo by Rene D. Caputo)

What else might you do locally? With spring here, you can enjoy the annual Native American powwow at Duke on April 13. The traditional native dancing and music runs from noon to 5 near the Chapel (Abele quad). For spring religious holidays, the Duke Freeman Center hosts Passover events on April 19 and 20 and Duke Chapel hosts Easter services on April 21.

Elsewhere, light-hearted egg hunts for children abound. At community gatherings, children typically hunt for hidden plastic eggs filled with candy. At home, some people dye and hide hard-boiled real eggs for children to discover. A handful of local egg hunts:

Durham egg hunt for children plus crafts, games, and face painting. April 13, 10 to noon. West Point on the Eno, 5101 N. Roxboro Rd. Durham egg hunt for dogs, April 13, 1 to 2 pm, same location. Read link information on dog vaccinations.

Hillsborough egg hunt, April 20, starting at 1 pm. Children 12 and under. Burwell School, 319 N. Churton Street.

Chapel Hill downtown egg hunt, April 14, 1 to 4 pm. Children 2 to 8. 140 W. Franklin Street. Bring a basket or something else to put eggs in.

Carrboro egg hunt, April 13, 12 to 2 pm. Children 2 to 10. Anderson Community Park, 302 NC Highway 54 West. Raindate set for April 14 at same time.

Wishing you all the best this spring,
Rene D. Caputo
Duke Multilingual/ESL Specialist
Thompson Writing Program

 

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Signs of spring

(photo credit:  Rene D. Caputo)

March Madness is in the air around the country ~ and definitely here in North Carolina. Many fans are watching collegiate basketball as teams compete to be national champion. Just around the bend, the men’s and women’s tournaments will hold games featuring their Final Four teams on April 1, 2, and 3.

Another sure sign that spring has arrived in our corner of the word? Pollen’s in the air, on trees, cars, our hair, and everywhere. Clouds of yellow dust are floating through the air. The rain thankfully knocks that yellow to the ground now and then.

In addition to basketball and pollen, March and April bring the New Year to some cultures. If you are celebrating in this season, we wish you the best in your new year.

And April Fool’s Day is just around the corner. Be ready for some silly pranks on the first of April. In France, the day is known as Poission d’avril, or April Fish. Children there apparently sometimes tape a paper fish to the back of their friends’ clothes…a bit of lightheartedness in the midst of other seriousness.

Join in our international conversation gathering this Thursday. We tend to cover the spectrum from silly to serious as the hour goes by. We’ll be in the Bryan Center’s Griffith Board room starting at 12:30. See you there!

~ Rene D. Caputo, Duke University ESL Specialist

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Happy solar and lunar New Year!

(photo credit:  Rene D. Caputo)

Happy solar and lunar New Year to all!

Our International Conversation Café is back in full swing for the semester. In our two opening gatherings, topics discussed included the election, the inauguration, other current events, and New Year’s celebrations.

The tradition in the United States is to celebrate the New Year’s arrival on January 1, but for many cultures here and around the world, the year begins on other dates. Celebrants of lunar New Year (sometimes called Chinese New Year) ushered in the year of the Fire Rooster this weekend.

Duke University has some belated celebrations of the Lunar New Year in February.

Other New Year’s festivities around the world include a Sri Lankan solar festival in April, Rosh Hashanah in September/October, and Diwali in October/November.

Wishing you and yours well no matter when you celebrate.  Join us this Thursday at 12:30 in the Bryan Center’s Griffith Boardroom for our next discussion group.

~ Rene D. Caputo, Duke University ESL Specialist

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Falling leaves & conversation activities

The leaves are falling as rain showers continue here in Durham, NC. And two gas stations near Duke University show a price of $0.00 in bright numbers. No, it’s not a dream world, but instead is due to the pipeline break further south. And life continues on…

Speaking of continuing on, our International Conversation Café gathering resumes its weekly run tomorrow. Join us in Griffith Board Room, Bryan Center main floor, at 12:30!

We recently hosted 10 participants whose homelands included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, and South Korea. We chatted about the Centerfest street fair and the Durham farmers market, held year round. Duke’s own farmers market came up as well, but that’s now wrapping up for the season.

Participants traded ideas about studios offering Pilates and yoga, then discussed several beach destinations (Wrightsville Beach, Topsail Island, the Outer Banks) to consider for coastal adventures. Other topics jumped in along the way.

Upcoming conversation gatherings: Thursdays, September 22 and 29th, then October 6 and 13. Duke University students, visiting scholars and researchers, staff, faculty, and spouses are welcome.  No registration is necessary. Griffith Board Room, Bryan Center main floor, 12:30 to 1:30.  Come join us!

Rene D. Caputo, Duke University ESL Specialist
Thompson Writing Program and Writing Studio

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What does Romance Studies mean anyway?!

Our International Conversation Café got off to a great start on Thursday, with nine participants from around the world ~ plus me. What came up?

Romance Studies: A Parisian participant talked a little about his field. And about how some people were not sure what “romance studies” actually meant. Laughter ensued.

Labor Day: Participants were used to celebrating in May. And without classes! Chinese participants said that workers there would typically get one day off in addition to the weekend (and that the holiday was previously longer).

How to improve speaking & conversation skills? After various conversation opportunities were highlighted, I suggested using a Writing Studio handout I created. http://twp.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/listening-conversation.original.pdf

And how about writing skills? Two student attendees learned about Writing Studio appointments: http://twp.duke.edu/twp-writing-studio

We wrapped things up with by chatting for a bit about various street fairs and other entertainment in the area, including:

• Durham’s Centerfest on Saturday & Sunday, Sept, 19^th (10 to 6), 20^th (11 to 5) http://centerfest.durhamarts.org/general-information/
  Performances: http://centerfest.durhamarts.org/2015-performances/
• Chapel Hill’s Festifall on Sunday, October 4, noon to 6 pm  http://www.chapelhillfestifall.com/
  Three stages: http://www.chapelhillfestifall.com/mainstage/
  
• IndyWeek ~ Events calendar (music, theatre, dance & more) http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/music/Section?oid=1179032
• Duke Performances https://dukeperformances.duke.edu/
• Raleigh’s North Carolina State Fair from Oct. 16 to 25 http://www.ncstatefair.org/2015/Visitor/index.htm

  If you’re a member of the Duke community ~ student, staff, faculty, spouse, visiting scholar/researcher ~ feel free to join us next Thursday. Bryan Center’s Griffith Board Room, 12:30 to 1:30.

Happy fall semester, Rene

Rene Caputo
Duke ESL Specialist, Thompson Writing Program
Instructor, English for International Students

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Welcome back to Duke and Durham

I hope that you are enjoying the beginning of the fall semester.  The summer flew by, but with milder weather here than usual.  This time around, we  had more cool summer mornings than I remember ever experiencing in the Triangle before.

Labor Day weekend is upon us.  And for whatever inexplicable reason, in Duke’s undergraduate college and Graduate School, this means classes as usual on Labor Day Monday.  It’s an excellent time to reflect on being lucky to be employed, perhaps?!  Yes, I feel fortunate indeed, not only to be employed but also to be surrounded by talented, supportive colleagues, brilliant students, and killer staff.

If you’re a member of the Duke community, you can join me and others this coming Thursday, September 4, to talk about Labor Day, current events, culture, and other topics of interest.  Our International Conversation Café returns to the Bryan Center’s Griffith Board Room (formerly Meeting Room B) at 12:30 for our weekly hour gathering.  Hope to see you there.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Rene

Rene Caputo
ESL Specialist, Thomson Writing Program and Duke Writing Studio

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Gliding to the end of the semester

In our final International Conversation Cafe gathering of the semester, one of the main subjects for discussion was massive open online courses, known as MOOCs.  This topic was prompted by a cover story in The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper.  Below is information about major sources for such courses, which cover a wide range of disciplines.

Coursera website: https://www.coursera.org/
Free Duke online writing course begins April 21: https://www.coursera.org/course/composition

EdX website: https://www.edx.org/
Berkeley Courses:  Principles of Written English, parts 1 and 2 (archived):
https://www.edx.org/course/uc-berkeleyx/uc-berkeleyx-colwri2-1x-principles-1194#.U1akaMdRFNk
https://www.edx.org/course/uc-berkeleyx/uc-berkeleyx-colwri2-2x-principles-1348#.U1GQXcdRFNk

You might also want to do a Google search for iTunes U, as one of our participants noted, to learn about the courses offered there.

We later talked about Easter and Passover, which some of our participants were curious about. We found more than one explanation for the origins of the word Easter, including that it came from the name of a pagan goddess. If you’re interested in Easter-related events at Duke Chapel, head here:  https://chapel.duke.edu/events

We also discovered some information about Passover ~ and Duke activities related to that ~ here: http://studentaffairs.duke.edu/jewishlife/shabbat-and-holidays/passover-duke

Wishing you a good weekend and springtime, whatever you may or may not celebrate,

Rene Caputo
Duke ESL Specialist
Thompson Writing Program and Writing Studio

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Norms of retirement and drinking water around the world…

Our International Conversation Cafe group had some interesting discussions this week. Prompted by the cover story of the newest Working@Duke magazine (http://issuu.com/workingatduke/docs/w_d_april-may2014), we started out by talking about the culture of retirement in China, Japan, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. It seems that for several of the cultures represented by our group members, the retirement age for men and women was different. After talking about retirement issues a bit, we looked at a story from International Business Times that examines the expected upcoming adjustments in retirement age for U.K. workers: http://www.ibtimes.com/which-country-has-highest-retirement-age-developed-world-69-1498496  

These websites provide data about retirement worldwide:  Data on retirement ages, differences between men and women, and the question of if you have to retire at a certain age: http://chartsbin.com/view/2468  More data: http://www.oecd.org/employment/emp/ageingandemploymentpolicies-statisticsonaverageeffectiveageofretirement.htm

We next took on the subject of rain, flooding, and droughts, prompted by a Duke Chronicle story about the rainy Oregon location of a sports event and by my recent rainy visit to Portland, OR for the TESOL International Conference. From there, we turned to drinking water and the norm of boiling tap water in most of our participants’ homelands. In Turkey and Japan, participants noted, the water in the countryside would typically be of better quality than of city water. A participant from China, who was planning to send water filters home to family, noted that the Kunshan area was known for having had better water than the major cities.  Looking up Kunshan and water online, we came across this story about Kunshan’s becoming an incubator for water sensitive design and technology: http://watersensitivecities.org.au/city-of-kunshan-signs-mou-to-be-chinas-first-crc-incubator-city-for-water-sensitive-design-and-technology/    Note ~ Duke Kunshan University opens this August: http://dku.edu.cn/

An attendee mentioned a Taiwanese dance group performance, one which involves dancing with tons of rice onstage.  The first story about that dance that we found, published on April 1, 2014, sounded like a perfect April Fool’s Day tale, but it turned out to be true. Here is an excerpt from the “Song of the Wanderers” dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb3sV6J6Rr0  Longer version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH-fRHobMk4

We have two more conversation gatherings this semester, on April 10 and 17, each from 12:30 to 1:30 in the Griffith Board Room (Bryan Center). All members of the Duke Community, including spouses, are welcome.

Enjoy the springtime weather,
Rene Caputo

Duke ESL Specialist
Thompson Writing Program and Writing Studio

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