In under two years, this blog has had over 20,000 hits. It is hard to believe and yet it is true. So thanks to everyone who has clicked here and here is to a continued future.
Author Archives: Jenny Léger
Today is the day
It has got to be today – that day that we hit 20,000 hits on my blog. Can you believe it ?
May 4th
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A giant water slide in the centre of Bristol
Thanks to my nephew, Jamie, in the UK, I have heard about this giant project in Bristol, whereby the street is going to be transformed into a giant water slide today. It sounds like such a lot of fun. You can read more about it here : Bristol Park Street water slide project
For one day only, the giant slide will be installed the length of the main high street and the demand for tickets has been unbelievable. For 320 tickets, almost 100,000 applications were received and so only the lucky few will actually have the chance to take to the slide. The concept is part of a project to “Make Sundays Special” and I am all for that idea.
I don’t know about you, but in our household, fun on Sundays has for a long time meant washing and ironing, catching up on homework and watching the recording of Telefoot. As an avid fan of The Archers, I listen to the omnibus every Sunday morning (or nowadays, it can also very easily be a podcast), but I am the only one in our household to do this ! The idea of hurling myself down a 90 metre water slide in the city centre may not be my idea of fun, but fun it certainly is !!
The brains behind the idea set in place a “Pianos in the City” project five years ago and that certainly would grab me. 
As the mother of pianist sons, I absolutely love the sound of the piano and when we were in Paris this weekend, we spent a while in St Lazare station, listening to the young girl who was playing on the piano installed there.
How else to make Sundays fun ? Personally I don’t consider housework and chores as falling into the “fun” category. A trip to the cinema, a bike ride, a lunch party – those are more fun. 
And, as the weather improves, hopefully a spot of gardening. Not to forget, of course, the time spent in the garden chair with a good book, because the pile of books to read never seems to diminish, does it ? So much to read, so little time to do to it in !!
For anyone who hasn’t had the thought, where is Bristol ?
It is a city in South-West England, not far from where I was born and spent the first seven years of my life, in a small town called Trowbridge. Going to the big city of Bristol was a huge treat when I was a little girl !! And there were no giant water slides in my day !!!
To complete this post, a panoramic view of the city and an example of work by the Bristol artist, Bansky.
A few days off
I’m off for a few days to get a bit of cultural enhancement !!! A long weekend and Paris in May – that sounds all rather delightful, don’t you think ? A trip to the Louvre, a bateau mouche along the Seine, up to Montmartre and taking in a show. Does that sound like a plan to you ? It certainly does to me !!
My youngest, 13 years old, is about to embark on the family cultural experience !! Last time we did this, we spent most of the day chasing around after a bag that “got forgotten” on the bus. It only contained all our electronic goods – camera, GPS, camcorder … well, the good news is that you now only need to take your phone with you, so that is progress – and surprisingly, we got our bag back intact !! The time before that, we went to see a show and our car got towed away during the evening as it was badly parked !!! We spent half the night, getting it back out of the lock-up !! Not hard to understand why our kids are slightly traumatized about going to the capital !! Still, let’s be zen and hope we will not have any disasters this time !!!
On-line play tools
I have been playing with language apps over the weekend. As you may know, if you have been on training courses with me, or in my classroom, I am an unconditional fan of Triptico.
I use it in virtually every lesson, for creating groups, for designating students, for modifying seating plans in the classroom, for testing vocabulary, for practising questions … the list is endless. I am still discovering the full potential of the package. I have also introduced it to many fellow teachers and also to our English language assistants on our training programmes. I hope that through the use of this tool, kids will be having more and more fun as they learn.
I have been playing with Quizlet over the weekend and discovering what I can do with this tool too, in ways that will be complementary to my use of Triptico. 
Quizlet is a vocabulary learning tool and it basically creates virtual flashcards which can then be accessed by others to practice the vocabulary in game form. Teachers can create card sets but also students. They can share them among themselves and when they play games, they are given a score. these scores can be collated into a table, with classifications.
There is a free version of Quizlet and a paying version. I have actually opted for the paying version because I wanted to explore the potential of the voice function, which is available in the paid version only. But that is my personal choice. If you want to know more about Quizlet, you can find some examples that I have prepared for my students HERE as part of our e-book project. If you are interested in the e-book project itself, you can click HERE. You would be welcome to visit and any feedback before I go live with the kids next week would be appreciated.
For more information on using Triptico and other tools in the classroom, you might like to check out my “Technology in the Classroom” pages HERE.
Something for the weekend, sir
Over this weekend, I have been participating in the Virtual Round Table, a series of international on-line conferences about using technology to enhance our teaching. It has been a real thrill to exchange with like-minded souls from across the globe and I have connected with people from all sorts of places that I can hardly place on a map. It is so exciting to swap ideas and tips. It makes me realize how geeky I truly am becoming and it also reminded me of this photo I spotted on Twitter or somewhere similar over the past few days. So after my plethora of Georges, it is Geeksville International for a while.
This photo below will be featuring in one of my sequences starting when school returns. Will it be your class ???
A galaxy of Georges for Saint George’s Day
As a way of celebrating the birth day of the Bard, I would recommend a compulsory dose of Shakespeare in Love.
And for Saint George’s Day, well there is the compulsory dragon, of course and another cuter George in a selection of Georges to start off the day. Can you name them all ?
I only half apologize for the presence of two photos of a certain George – if you know me, you will know why !!
A joke
Thanks to my friend, Alison, for this English teachers joke …
Howlers
Just for laughs, I have started a page of Howlers, the little gems that I have collected over the years of pupil creations, ways in which they use and abuse the dictionary for my linguistic delight. This page will be a work in progress.
To read some howlers, click HERE.
The Big English Blog 