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Communicative EnglishThis program is composed of Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate and Advanced courses taught in twelve levels through which students are expected to develop the four abilities of the English Language:

Listening comprehension, oral communication, reading comprehension and written expression.

The program is based on a communicative approach of learning a second language. Each course presents topics of great interest to students creating opportunities to generate discussion and promote the development of linguistic and communicative abilities.

One thing we must never forget about July is that the Lady Moon was wooed and conquered by humanity-facing an extraordinary American chevalier astronaut in helmet- thirty years ago on the 20th day of this summer month. A small step for a single man, a huge advance for mankind. Conquered in English, by the way. Was it already premonitory that this language spoken by the first man to visit the moon would be the language of the future, the lingua franca of globalization, the necessary element to add to anyone’s CV in order to garner a better life?

Many things have been said, written, joked, commercialized and filmed about this great step for humanity. Its name was even taken for a grade B film that has nothing to do with the miracles that science can perfect, although those of us who saw it shook our heads over actor Viggo Mortensen’s sad role in it. Those of us who were growing up as the first official generation of hyperkinetic kids will never forget the Moon cheese, the lunar ice cream cakes and the helmets that grew into a raging fad. We all wanted helmets, and we all sighed at the moon. After the happy results from the space program materialized. Now we had the moon in our grip.

That first step in the moon was a pivotal shift towards a different future. The astronaut´s foot that was first laid on the surface is one of the greatest footprints in history. Just as in the eighteenth century English navigator James Cook took English to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, the visit to the moon is best remembered in English too. The flag of Anglophones still waves at us from the moon. The effort of learning English is still done here on this planet, knowing that even one step.whether it is into a new language, or the first stage of a daring journey, always takes us as far as we wish to go.

CCNN Collaborator.

ONE SMALL STEP IN JULY

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Centro Cultural Nicaragüense Norteamericano

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4th of July Craft

HONEST ABE CRAFT

This is a fun and easy color, cut and paste craft that uses a toilet paper roll as a base to give the finished craft a three dimensional effect.

Materials:

toilet paper roll, 1.

printer, 2.

something to colour 3. with,

scissors, 4.

glue, and 5.

paper6.

Instructions:

Print out the template of choice.

Color (where appropriate) and cut out the template pieces. This may require an adult’s assistance.

Glue the large rectangular piece on first to cover the tube.

Glue on the head, hat, arms, and legs. (We put the legs on so it appeared he was sitting down... we folded them at the knees and dangled them over the edge of the mantle)

Templates:

Color:

h t t p : / / w w w. d l t k - k i d s . c o m / t .asp?b=m&t=http://w w w.dltk-kids.com/usa/images/clincoln.gif

Black and White:

h t t p : / / w w w. d l t k - k i d s . c o m / t .asp?b=m&t=http://w w w.dltk-kids.com/usa/images/blincoln.gif

Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

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Children learn through their own curiosity

CCNN’s prep programs for Children have been developed with the main goal of setting a strong foundation in the student’s learning process. This will be the base of aprehending more, at a greater pace, in the more demanding levels.

Programs in CCNN have been carefully designed with the purpose of integrating activities that encourage, and make the learning of a new language an entertaining experience.

Students are instructed through methods based on experimentalism and an integral approach to the English Language through reading, listening, speaking and writing.

The Experimental Method encourages children to make thier own discoveries and to advance at an individual pace, through fun class projects.

Children’s Prep Programs

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The Rundown (or Rondón) is the official Nicaribbean dish. This delicacy is an ancestral Bluefields favourite, although it has evolved and expanded: not only is it prepared and enjoyed in all of Nicaragua but in neighbouring countries as well. Although the Rundown is very rich it has no saturated fat, it is highly digestible and gives energy: many costeños believe it to be a powerful aphrodisiac.

According to Bluefields culinary historians, the rundown takes it name from when preparing the dish the chef must wait till the coconut sauce has a layer of oil on top and the original white sauce sinks slightly below. When this happens, you should

The Rundownadd tuber vegetables, in order from the ones that take longest to boil to the softer ones. If the rundown is being prepared with smoked or salted meat, then this ingredient is to be added in the beginning before the sauce “runs down.” In the case of seafood rundown, those ingredients should be added at the end once the tubers are soft, otherwise they’ll dissolve.

To prepare a rundown, all you need is:

4lbs of smoked, meat, fish, shrimp, lobster, tortoise, hedgehog (or wari) or a combination of these,

2 coconuts,

1 very potent “chile de cabro” or habanero as its called in the US (vital for authenticity)

2lbs of yucca

1lbs dasheen (or malanga) and

2lbs of quequisque (or ñamé)

½ a breadfruit

6 green bananas (patriotas and squared)

2 plantains

1 onion

1 sweet pepper

Salt

1 tsp. of black pepper

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Some people use mint leaves and oregano

If you’re making a smoked meat or wari rundown, than you should begin by boiling the meat to soften it. If you’re not, than the first step is to prepare the coconut sauce: peel the coconuts, grate the flesh of the fruit, add water and squeeze the immersed shredded coconut (you can also use a blender). Strain the mix and extract only the liquid: make sure to do this thoroughly to extract the most substance. Boil until the sauce “runs down.”

When the sauce is ready and good, a smoked meat rundown requires you to take it out of where it was boiling, discard the water where the meat was, and add the meat to the coconut sauce. With wari you add it in when the tubers are halfway cooked. If its seafood; then just add the peeled and chopped (in pieces of considerable size) yucca and the other tubers from hardest to softest.

If you don’t want the rundown to be very spicy, add the “chile de cabro” when the tubers are soft, leave it for a bit, and then take it out. If you like it hot add it at the beginning and let it dissolve. When the tubers are almost completely soft, add the onion and sweet pepper chopped in rings, salt and black pepper. If this is a fish, shrimp, lobster, or tortoise rundown; add until the seafood item(s)

is ready. My personal favourite rundown has a dried and salted fish in the beginning that dissolves and at the end I add a fresh fish.

Where to get the Rundown

In Bluefields you can always find a pot of hot rundown boiling in Lala’s Place (or Baghdad as it’s also known). Lala’s Place is located in the kriol Pointeen neighbourhood; it has a large board platform seating area on the Bluefields Bay with Lucky Dube, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Ray Mondo, Eric Donaldson, and Ivonne Curtis setting the mood. Chontá Baghdad’s official chef arrives at 7:00AM and the rundown’s ready at about 10:00 in the morning. He’s a firm believer in combining the “chile de cabro” pepper with mint leaves and oregano.

Luna Ranch in Loma Fresca is another rundown alternative in Bluefields. Carlos Eddy Monterrey’s place reserves Saturdays for the rundown. Luna Ranch is on a hilltop and has a nice breeze. The musical taste is more Latino, with Andean and folk-style testimonial music. You could say that the Luna Ranch rundown cooks in a melting pot.

In Pearl Lagoon, you walk up the dock and turn left (like you’re going to the secondary school) walk to Hotel Casa Blanca and across the street there’s a small board cottage

with seating area (this place also sells coconut bread and has an excellent breakfast). Or make friends with local youths and make a rundown together; in the Caribbean coast a rundown is the equivalent of a barbecue, it’s a socializing ritual.

In Great Corn Island, next to Hotel Paraiso on the short trail to the beach, ask for Big Foot. This tall young kriol man is extraordinarily upbeat and likes to chill with a beach bonfire rundown and friends, but find him early because the rundown takes time to prepare. Big Foot is the person who enlightened me on the use of dried fish.

Managua also has places where nostalgic costeños can enjoy some their motherland favourites like the rundown. Bello Horizonte is the little Caribbean coast of Managua; near the Bello Horizonte rotunda you can find kriol dancehalls like Mrs. Sponge and restaurants like the emblematic Club Costeño or Dexter’s. Club Costeño is a restaurant by day, a bar at night so any rundown cravings should be before 9:00PM.

Another option closer to downtown is, Caribbean Morena, owned by Gina Ogechi, an African immigrant who married a Bluefields man. Located on Altamira’s main street this place has African dishes of similar composition and cooking method.

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American Corner, EducationUSA

ACTIVITIES IN June ‘09During June 2009, EducationUSA Adviser Alejandra Alemán promoted OG and other USG funded programs in the city of León as part of the Outreach grant activities. Education USA Adviser Alejandra Alemán and Nubia Manzanares from American Corner visited Universidad de Managua’s León campus to talk to students and also mparted workshops in UNAN-León, the National University’s León Campus.

CCNN’s NewsletterGeneral Director...................Diego DelgadilloAcademic Director.....................Jorge MorenoChildren’s Program................Asdrúbal CaneloAdult’s Program........................Franklin TèllezLibrarian....................Maria Victoria MendietaAcademic Registry..................Yadira CalderónAmerican Corner................Nubia ManzanaresEdsuationUSA Adviser........Alejandra Alemán

Comments: AlvaroAVergara@gmail.com

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Activities in JulyDocumentary of the first man on the moonCentral American SchoolCalasanz SchoolGerman-Nicaraguan School

American Corner’s anniversary Auditorium LobbyCentral Bank of NicaraguaJuly 27th, 2:00 PM