Coming Up in ELC:
Scholarship Application: Spring 2021
- Application available online HERE
- Submission Deadline: Monday, November 16 @ 5:00 pm Texas Time
- Two (2) scholarships are typically awarded: one for AEP and one for ELP
- Award will cover $2400 towards intensive tuition for the Spring 2021(15–week) session in either AEP or ELP
Continuing Student Applications
- Application available online HERE
- For Spring 2021
Upcoming Social Events:
Talk Time on Zoom
- Practice your English conversation skills with native English speakers!
- Tuesday, November 3, 2020
- 4:30 – 5:30 pm Texas Time
Blind Draw Social on Zoom
- Come play this hilarious drawing game with your friends and classmates!
- Thursday, November 5, 2020
- 5:00 – 6:00 pm Texas Time
Día de los Muertos
What is Día de los Muertos?
According to Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum, “Celebrated by Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike, as well as others in Latin America, Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead is an important religious and cultural event that synthesizes pre-Columbian traditions and Catholic Church practices. Originating in ancient Mexico, the annual celebration is increasingly observed in the United States as part of contemporary Latinx popular culture. Day of the Dead blends indigenous religious and cultural rituals with customs surrounding the Catholic holy days:
- November 1: All Saints’ Day (prayers said to saints and martyrs)
- November 1: Día de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels, dedicated to souls of deceased children)
- November 2: All Souls’ Day (prayers and offerings made to deceased relatives and friends, especially for souls in Purgatory)
During this yearly event, cemeteries are cleaned. Home and public altars or ofrendas (offerings) are built to honor the dead, who they attract with food, drink, candles, incense, marigold flowers, and objects once favored in their lives.”
The Mexic-Arte Museum of Austin:
The “Viva La Vida” is usually a parade and festival, but has moved it to a virtual layout this year-
- October 31 – November 2
- 5:00 – 6:30 pm each night
- Facebook Live or Mexic-Artemuseum.org
- Multiple DJ’s, traditional dancing, musical ofrendas, and even Austin Lowriding!
Who is la Catrina? Why do people paint their face like skeletons?
According to the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin, “The original image was created by artist Jose Guadalupe Posada in Mexico City in right before the Mexican Revolution. The Catrina is a well-dressed skeleton that pokes fun at the brevity of life, the futility of materialism, and is a commentary on both death impersonated and a historical embrace of the life/ death cycle that started in ancient Mexico.”
Learn how to do a calavera (skull) makeup look with Austin’s Mexican American Cultural Center on Facebook HERE
Austin’s Mexican American Cultural Center:
Also digital for the first time this year, this free program will include presentations, programs, and performances all relating to Day of the Dead.
- November 1 and 2
- starting 7:00 pm each day
- MACC’s website HERE, Facebook HERE, and Youtube HERE.
U.S. Presidential Election
The last day for voting is Tuesday, November 3, 2020. We may not know the result that night because so many mail-in ballots have been cast this year due to the pandemic. If you have been watching the news or plan to this week, you may have some questions about how we actually elect presidents in the US. The video below answers some key questions like:
- What is the electoral college?
- Why do we have such a thing?
- Can a president win the election while losing the national popular vote?
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