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Archive for August, 2009

Yellow jacket

Posted by Anne on August 24th, 2009

When we put away the sailboat at the end of our stay on Drummond, we managed to set the trailer right down on a nest of yellow jackets in an old rotten log – or perhaps it was a nest up in a tree, we’re not quite sure. We didn’t notice it right away. But [...]

Question: What’s your summer picture?

Posted by Anne on August 23rd, 2009

The summer break is coming to an end for us. We’re packing up and going home after our very long holiday. This picture summarizes what was nicest about the summer for me. Have you got a summer picture to share?

Was ist das Blogprojekt? Mehr dazu unter Englischlernen mit Anne! Subscribe to the Island Weekly [...]

The Shins: New Slang

Posted by Anne on August 20th, 2009

My nephew and my brother like the Shins and they’ve turned me on to them. “New Slang” is a melodious oldie from 2001.

Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth.
Only, I don’t know how they got out, dear.
Turn me back into the pet that I was when we met.
I was [...]

Question: What’s your earliest memory?

Posted by Anne on August 16th, 2009

Think back to the earliest thing you can remember: Where were you? What were your surroundings like? What do you remember most about the situation? Were you doing anything? Did you see, smell, taste, hear, feel anything? How did you feel about yourself and the world around you? Can you estimate approximately how old you [...]

Ethics for online self-study materials

Posted by Anne on August 15th, 2009

Ruminations on a rainy day, accompanied by a glorious symphony of seagulls:

Is it ethical to build “forced choice” multiple choice questions that trick students into making errors in the name of trouble-shooting?
What kind of listening and reading comprehension questions are enlightening, and which ones just reduce a learner to a maker of mistakes?
How can I [...]

Making questions

Posted by Anne on August 14th, 2009

Helmut and I are using some of my teaching materials here so he can improve his English. We’ve never spoken English with each other, because I’m an English teacher and there’s always this slight feeling of hierarchy in a teacher-student relationship, which doesn’t do a marriage any good. But here we are, and he wants [...]

Paul Bunyan

Posted by Anne on August 12th, 2009

An exercise in reading connected phrases based on the Wikipedia article:
Paul Bunyan is a mythological lumberjack
who appears in tall tales of American folklore.
He is usually believed to be a giant
as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill.
The character was first documented
in the work of American journalist
James MacGillivray.
Historically, the character has been popular
in oral histories
of the [...]