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Teachers, students, and general public willing to learn about election terminology Photo credit: Tatyana Kobzina, workshop participant
A glimpse of American Culture through ‘electionspeak’
On Friday, October 17, English Language Officer presented “Chads, Soccer Moms and Swing States: A glimpse of American Culture through ‘electionspeak’” to 75 teachers, university students and English language enthusiasts at the Chekhov Cultural Center’s English Language Evening. The full auditorium participated in pair and group activities that allowed them to explore the meaning of such expressions as ‘Rubber Chicken Circuit’ and ‘go to the Hustings’, to try using such terms as ‘gerrymandering’ and ‘push polling’, and to explore American culture through such demographic descriptors as ‘NASCAR dad’ and ‘soccer mom’. The keen crowd also learned about the English Language Office’s site uselections.pbwiki.com and asked numerous questions throughout the workshop, both about the terminology and about the elections.