Category Archives: Uncategorized
How many hits have I had ?
I love the number of hits and I also love the fact that so many of my students will struggle to say both the title of this post and the answer to my question. I dedicate this post to you all. Happy practising and no spitting, please !
Poppies and more poppies
A beautiful photo from my old school-friend, Linda, who has been one of the volunteers, planting the poppies at the Tower of London. Thanks to her for this lovely, vibrant picture.
Time is flying by
It is the beginning of October already and it feels like the term only began yesterday. In two weeks time, it will be the half-term break again. I wonder if the time goes by so quickly for the students ?
Special dedication
This is how I feel and I dedicate this to those who feel the same. So kick your shoes off and jump right on in !!!
Onduleurs et borniers
En réponse à une question d’élève, qui se reconnaîtra (je l’espère), voici quelques éléments de réponse :
Onduleur : j’ai trouvé UPS – uninterruptible power supply
http://www.commentcamarche.net/contents/994-onduleur
Est-ce que cela correspond ?
Bornier – je ne me souviens pas bien ce que c’est. Est-ce visible ici ?
Est-ce que l’on trouve des réponses ici :
http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/bornier.html
Can you see it ?
Image
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 !!!
My beautiful Camelia
Image
I am so proud of myself for nurturing this gorgeous Camelia all through the Winter, covering it in bubble-wrap, talking to it, remembering to water it and generally looking after it. Look at the result that was waiting for me this morning as I stepped outside the kitchen door. This glorious plant in splendid technicolour. I am feeling quite green-fingered !!
I’m walking on sunshine
For the next week, I am going to be enjoying the immense privilege of working on a training mission in Senegal. It is a joy to go out and work with such enthusiastic and sincere people. I learn as much, if not more, than I teach, each time I go. I am updating my Dakar training pages as I go. My mission this time around is to work on Listening skills, using authentic recordings and to this end, I have created on this blog a Listening data base of A1 and A2 level documents. I also am going to be working on oral skills in general, teaching through pairwork and other interactive activities. My third objective for my three day course is to wokr on CLIL, the teaching of another subject through English. I have seen this area grow in Dakar over my time there and we are now starting to really go places with it.
Working in the sunshine, with the clear blue skies and guaranteed warmth on my bones makes me feel injected with energy and wanting to grab life to the full. Staying in a hotel that overlooks the ocean, with a beach to stroll on and a pool to take a dip after a day at work, who would say no to that ? Certainly not me. These are what I call working conditions !!
The Big English Blog 