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# Anne Hodgson

## Sitemaps

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## Posts

- [Hybrid courses](https://annehodgson.de/2022/09/28/hybrid-courses/) - In the summer of 2021, I had the pleasure of attending a hybrid congress in Berlin: Die Grünen were kicking off their election campaign. The highlight of that day was to see Robert Harbeck speak, only a few meters away, of democracy and freedom for Eastern Europe. The speakers in the room stood to the
- [Hybride Kurse](https://annehodgson.de/2022/09/28/hybride-kurse/) - Im Sommer 2021 hatte ich das Vergnügen, an einem Hybridkongress in Berlin teilzunehmen: Die Grünen starteten ihren Wahlkampf. Der Höhepunkt für mich an diesem Tag war, dass Robert Harbeck nur wenige Meter on mir entfernt über Demokratie und Freiheit für Osteuropa sprach. Die Redner:innen im Saal standen links von einer riesigen Leinwand, und andere saßen
- [Saturday Night Live Minnesota News Cold Open](https://annehodgson.de/2021/04/15/saturday-night-live-minnesota-news-cold-open/) - Saturday Night Live has picked up on current political events in the USA. The comedy series opens this week’s episode with a fictional Minnesota morning show with two Black anchors, played by Ego Nwodim and Kenan Thompson, and two white anchors, played by Kate McKinnon and Alex Moffat. They begin their weekly news review by
- [Die Comedyserie SNL nimmt einen Gerichtsfall aufs Korn. Sind sich Schwarze und Weiße wirklich einig?](https://annehodgson.de/2021/04/16/die-comedyserie-snl-nimmt-einen-gerichtsfall-aufs-korn-sind-sich-schwarze-und-weisse-wirklich-einig/) - Saturday Night Live hat die aktuellen politischen Ereignisse in den USA aufgegriffen. Die Comedy-Serie eröffnet die aktuelle Folge mit einer fiktiven Minnesota-Morgenshow mit zwei schwarzen Moderatoren, gespielt von Ego Nwodim und Kenan Thompson, und zwei weißen Moderatoren, gespielt von Kate McKinnon und Alex Moffat. Sie beginnen ihren wöchentlichen Nachrichtenrückblick mit der Besprechung des Prozesses gegen
- [Relaunch](https://annehodgson.de/2022/09/03/relaunch/) - It’s the end of summer, we’re back home from long days in the sun and on the water, and it’s back to classes and many weeks full of interesting new challenges. The perfect time to relaunch this website. Thank you to Gavin Dudeney for jumping in when the website crashed back in February. He built
- [Alles neu hier!](https://annehodgson.de/2022/09/05/alles-neu-hier/) - Der Sommer geht zu Ende, wir sind zurück von den langen Tagen in der Sonne und auf dem Wasser, und es geht zurück in den Unterricht mit Wochen voller interessanter neuer Herausforderungen. Der perfekte Zeitpunkt, um diese Website neu zu gestalten.Vielen Dank an Gavin Dudeney, der eingesprungen ist, als die Website im Februar abgestürzt war.
- [P is for Pooh Bear](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/16/p-is-for-pooh-bear/) - Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne (Illustrations by E.H. Shepard) is the first book I remember having read to me. Every character rings true, every scene feels right. As a child I dragged my stuffed animal behind me just like Christopher Robin did his, and perfectly understood the “thump, thump, thump” of Winnie ther
- [Question: What do you need to create flow?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/01/question-what-do-you-need-to-create-flow/) - Flow is the state when all systems are go and you just do and forget about time. It's when you feel completely involved and concentrated on whatever you are doing. Even if the task involves a strong challenge, you feel that you are able to meet it. You're in control, yet not pushing anything. And
- [Talk at BESIG 2021 for Cornelsen](https://annehodgson.de/2021/11/13/talk-at-besig-2021-for-cornelsen/) - Managing your hybrid course with Cornelsen’s Basis for Business Summary This 30-minute talk aimed to give Business English trainers an overview of lessons learned in the “two worlds” of online and presence training. Clients and learners are now requesting courses that some participants attend physically, while others log on using a conference interface. While this
- [Vortrag bei BESIG 2021 für Cornelsen](https://annehodgson.de/2021/11/13/vortrag-bei-besig-2021-fuer-cornelsen/) - Wie geht ein hybrider Kurs mit Cornelsen's Basis for Business?Zusammenfassung Dieser 30-minütige Vortrag sollte Trainer:innen für Business Englisch einen Überblick über die Erfahrungen mit den "zwei Welten" von Online- und Präsenztraining geben. Kunden und Lernende verlangen heute Kurse, bei denen einige Teilnehmer physisch anwesend sind, während sich andere über eine Konferenzschnittstelle anmelden. Diese Flexibilität entspricht
- [Pronunciation of words](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/26/pronunciation-page-on-the-progress-moodle/) - Part 1: Individual words In English, words are rarely pronounced the way they are spelled. Here, an online teacher, Melanie (American), provides short video lessons, between 4 and 10 minutes each, contrasting and comparing words that many speakers of other languages find difficult in English. Video 1: said, suit, clothes, recipe, mountain, famous, virus Video
- [A Valentine to Animal](https://annehodgson.de/2008/02/11/a-valentine-to-animal/) - In case you're wondering, "Animal" is one of the Muppets. My favorite Muppet, in fact.
- [Margaret Thatcher – Elvis Costello: Tramp the Dirt Down](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/11/margaret-thatcher-elvis-costello-tramp-the-dirt-down/) - The death of Margaret Thatcher has led to an outburst of celebration in the UK that has been absolutely astonishing to someone like myself, who grew up in the USA and was on the outside looking in. I had no idea that her policies could excite anything like these emotions so many years later. What
- [Come, wanton spring!](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/06/come-wanton-spring/) - This has been the coldest spring on record. They say temperatures are going up to 9 degrees this week. Come, wanton spring! Talk Talk – April 5th from The Colour of Spring, 1985/6 Here she comes Silence in her sound Here she comes Fresh upon the ground Come gentle spring Come at winter's end Gone
- [When I'm gone](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/14/when-im-gone/) - You're gonna miss me I've got my ticket for the long way round Two bottles of whiskey for the way And I sure would like some sweet company when I'm leaving tomorrow - What d'ya say? When I'm gone, when I'm gone When I'm gone, when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
- [Zivilcourage tut Not](https://annehodgson.de/2021/04/26/zivilcourage-tut-not/) - In Erfurt kam es am Freitag im Zug zu einem sehr hässlichen Fall von Fremdenfeindlichkeit und Rassismus, der sich gegen einen jungen Syrer richtete. Ein deutscher Mann mit einem Fahrrad beschimpfte den Jungen zunächst verbal und griff ihn dann körperlich an, indem er ihn trat und sein Handy auf dem Boden zerschlug. Der Mann wurde
- [The need for civic courage](https://annehodgson.de/2021/04/26/the-need-for-civic-courage/) - Last Friday on the train in Erfurt there was a very ugly case of xenophobia and racism directed against a young Syrian. A German man with a bike hurled verbal abuse at the boy, and then physically attacked him, kicking him and smashing his phone on the ground. The man was later arrested, but I
- [Jonathan Winters](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/17/jonathan-winter/) - November 11, 1925 – April 11, 2013, American comedian, actor, author and artist. In this slightly surrealistic training video from the 60s, Jonathan Winters demonstrates the 5 resistances in sales to the industrial buyer: ignorance, indifference, inertia, fear (or: indecision), procrastination He also stars in this sales training video for Mobil Golden Circle – 1966
- [French and Saunders: The Lord of the Rings](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/27/french-and-saunders-the-lord-of-the-rings/) - Oldie but goodie: My favorite parody of Lord of the Rings. Brilliant French and Saunders are Bilbo Baggins aka Dildo Daggins (and later she is Frodo/ Dodo) and Grandalf aka Grand Alf. It's a long feature, 19 minutes, so get yourself cozy. I think every minute is worth it, but particularly love minute 2:30-3:00. Dawn
- [What actually happened in the USA last night – and what do we call it?](https://annehodgson.de/2021/01/07/what-actually-happened-in-the-usa-last-night-and-what-do-we-call-it/) - It’s been quite a day/night in the USA. How to characterize widespread unrest? The choice of words matters.
- [Was ist eigentlich gestern in den USA passiert - und wie nennen wir das?](https://annehodgson.de/2021/01/07/was-ist-eigentlich-gestern-in-den-usa-passiert-und-wie-nennen-wir-das/) - Was gestern in Washington vorgefallen ist, und was sich in diesem Jahr in den USA ereignet hat, ist mehr als schockierend. Und spricht man darüber, muss man sich entscheiden, wie man die weit verbreiteten Unruhen charakterisieren soll. Sind diese Ereignisse Demonstrationen, Aufstände, Rebellionen, Aufruhr, Krawalle? Waren die Menschen, die im vergangenen Sommer für Black Lives
- [John Prine: Dear Abby](https://annehodgson.de/2011/10/11/john-prine-dear-abby/) - The wonderful singer-songwriter John Prine turned 65 yesterday (thanks Eamonn)."Dear Abby" was an advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren, and was syndicated in the Washington Post. Or was it in the evening paper, the Evening Star (later the Washington Star)? We got both. I never
- [Chris Rock - Message for White Voters](https://annehodgson.de/2012/11/04/chris-rock-message-for-white-voters/) - A sketch by comedian Chris Rock. By the way, it still gets me every time that a man whose mother is white and whose father is black is automatically considered black. How racist is that? Identity is a choice.
- [Global dexterity](https://annehodgson.de/2019/09/01/global-dexterity/) - Review Andy Molinsky: Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process. Harvard Business Review Press. 2013
- [Globale Geschicklichkeit](https://annehodgson.de/2019/09/01/globale-geschicklichkeit/) - Zusammenfassung von: Andy Molinsky: Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process. Harvard Business Review Press. 2013 Sie wollen also eine echte/r "Weltbürger/in" werden? Da brauchen Sie mehr als nur Kenntnisse darüber, was sich in den Kulturen, in denen Sie sich bewegen, gehört. Es gibt einen ziemlichen Unterschied
- [Growing up in DC in the 1960s](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/21/growing-up-in-dc/) - This morning I found a newspaper clipping and a picture that took me back to my childhood, growing up in DC.
- [Softskills für Naturwissenschaftler](https://annehodgson.de/2018/09/16/softskills-fuer-naturwissenschaftler/) - Im Januar 2017 hatte ich das Vergnügen, einen zweitägigen Workshop am Max-Planck-Institut für intelligente Systeme in Stuttgart durchführen. Wir konzentrierten uns auf die Themen besser zuhören fachübergreifend erzählen Konflikte lösen das eigene Verhalten in der Teamarbeit reflektieren Hier stelle ich vor, wie wir das letzte dieser Themen bearbeitet haben. Team-Poster In einer ersten Übung hatten
- [Soft skills for natural scientists](https://annehodgson.de/2018/03/19/soft-skills-for-natural-scientists/) - In this soft skills workshop scientists explore becoming a better listener, storytelling across disciplines, dealing with and resolving conflict, and recognizing and improving how they work in teams. I describe two exercises and feedback.
- [Marlene Dietrich: Falling in Love again - Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/18/marlene-dietrich-falling-in-love-again-ich-bin-von-kopf-bis-fuss/) - Marlene in English and German and then again in English, great German accent; followed by Caroline Nin singing franco-anglo-tinged German. https://youtu.be/BEAaxWtaB7Y https://youtu.be/DGSIB-hZAiI ICH BIN VON KOPF BIS FUSS AUF LIEBE EINGESTELLT (Friedrich Holländer) Marlene Dietrich Ein rätselhafter Schimmer, Ein "je ne sais-pas-quoi" Liegt in den Augen immer Bei einer schönen Frau. Doch wenn sich meine
- [What psychologists are saying about how technology affects us](https://annehodgson.de/2012/04/25/what-psychologists-are-saying-about-how-technology-affects-us/) - Speaking about "The Secret Powers of Time", Stanford professor emeritus Philip Zimbardo (famous for the Stanford Prison Experiment) explains how various perspectives of time - past, present and future - influence our actions and relationships. There are six main orientation time zones: Past: Past positive (nostalgic), or past negative (regretful) Present: hedonistic (seeking pleasure, knowledge),
- [The Google "search stories"](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/09/the-google-search-stories/) - Google has a series of charming ads on YouTube called "Search stories" that are just perfect for English lessons. This one was broadcast on Sunday during the Superbowl. I'm going to play a few of the series in my classes tomorrow and have groups develop the profiles and tell the stories of the people doing
- [Fly tricks: Early science films](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/13/fly-tricks-early-science-films/) - Source: New Scientist Vocabulary "(Percy Smith) made a gimcrack device made up of a see-saw and two old tin cans. The tin cans slowly filled up with water, and when it would reach the bottom, clunk! it fired the shutter of the camera. And using this extraordinary home-made piece of aparatus, Percy Smith made the
- [The GoldieBlox Rube Goldberg (Anti)-Princess Machine](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/18/the-goldieblox-rube-goldberg-anti-princess-machine/) - I support GoldieBlox www.goldieblox.com, a toy startup dedicated to introducing girls to engineering through a combination of building toys and stories. That is, I bought 3 or 4 boxes of their first product from the USA on blind faith. The combination of hands-on building with hard and soft materials, abstract building materials and concrete characters,
- [The Exploratorium and the Science of Sailing](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/09/the-exploratorium-and-the-science-of-sailing/) - Before becoming an English skills trainer, I worked on exhibitions presenting cultural history. My teaching and translating work since has made me curious about science. This summer we visited the wonderful Exploratorium in San Fransisco and saw the interactive exhibit they set up for the America's Cup. That has fired my imagination and whetted my
- [Simply beautiful](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/21/simply-beautiful/) - When is the last time you went to a meeting and saw a presentation that knocked your socks off? It’s a rare occurrence, isn’t it?
- ["Mein Sohn möchte besser Englisch schreiben können" – 10 Tipps für den Anfang](https://annehodgson.de/2014/07/15/mein-sohn-mochte-besser-englisch-schreiben-konnen-10-tipps-fur-den-anfang/) - Heute fragte mich Ewa, wie ihr Sohn sein schriftliches Englisch verbessern könnte. Nun, ist die Motivation dazu da, fehlt hauptsächlich die Praxis. Gut Schreiben lernt man, indem man mit Engagement schreibt, und dann von einem interessierten Leser Feedback bekommt. Hier sind für den Anfang schon mal zehn Tipps:
- [PowerPot - An English lesson for e-lab technicians](https://annehodgson.de/2014/10/06/powerpot-an-english-lesson-for-e-lab-technicians/) - EFL lesson
- [Basis for Business wins a bronze medal at the Best European Learning Materials Awards](https://annehodgson.de/2014/10/09/basis-for-business-wins-a-bronze-medal-at-the-best-european-learning-materials-award-belma-competition/) - "Today at the Frankfurt Book Fair the Basis for Business series was awarded a bronze medal in the annual Best European Learning Materials Award (BELMA) competition. We're delighted the series has received this international recognition and would like to take the opportunity to thank you all once again for your excellent contributions to this highly
- [A Prezi to teach Cialdini's principles of persuasion](https://annehodgson.de/2016/02/24/a-prezi-to-teach-cialdinis-principles-of-persuasion/) - I normally use Powerpoint to teach Cialdini's six principles of persuasion, but find that Prezi, which lets you zoom in and out, is the better tool to combine a task and reference points in one big picture.
- [Better visuals for college presentations](https://annehodgson.de/2016/02/22/better-visuals-for-college-presentations/) - Tips for students on how to improve their presentations, use of text, and how to assess their overall quality.
- [Steven Pinker on why academic writing stinks](https://annehodgson.de/2014/10/20/steven-pinker-on-why-academic-writing-stinks/) - Most peer-reviewed scientific writing commits four sins, says Steven Pinker (link to talk at Harvard University, Steven Pinker: Stylish Academic Writing, May 20, 2013): It discusses what scientists do, rather than the phenomenon of interest. It is weighed down by unnecessary meta-discourse, i.e. sign-posts (We have just... Next,... But first...). It indulges in excessive apologising (extremely
- [Let's Talk Business workshop](https://annehodgson.de/2014/10/12/lets-talk-business/) - It was a good challenge to give a workshop on B1-C1 books to teachers whose mainstay are A1-2 learners. The teachers were great, and jumped into things. It was very interesting to me to listen to the teachers talk about the unwillingness of their students to go along with activities, even to make the effort
- [Activities to personalize topics, language, communication skills and business skills](https://annehodgson.de/2014/06/15/activities-to-personalize-topics-language-communication-skills-and-business-skills/) - The IATEFL BESIG Summer Symposium was a wonderfully intimate event with a wide range of excellent presentations. On Friday, Evan Frendo provided the excellent keynote, Exploring business English. He's got a clear vision that is enormously helpful to anyone working in the field. Then I went to Simona Petrescu's presentation on how to create a
- [Pete Seger: Turn Turn Turn](https://annehodgson.de/2014/03/26/pete-seger-turn-turn-turn/) - RIP Pete Seeger (3 May 1919 – 27 Jan 2014). He turned Ecclesiastes 3 into Turn Turn Turn. At this concert when he was 93, he said his wife Toshi had made up a few extra verses for their children. Like the rest of the song, they contain matching and contrasting words: work - play
- [David Heathfield's workshop on storytelling and mental imagery](https://annehodgson.de/2014/04/04/david-heathfields-workshop-on-storytelling-and-mental-imagery/) - I couldn't make IATEFL, so it's really great that some of the sessions are recorded and uploaded. I particularly enjoyed David Heathfield's workshop "Storytelling and Mental Imagery". The flow of the lesson he proposes is great. He has learners listening to the teacher tell the story visualizing the highpoint of the story with a partner+
- [How to die a social media death](https://annehodgson.de/2014/03/18/how-to-die-a-social-media-death/) - Countless media bloopers, some with repercussions, have caused me to die little social media deaths. By "social media death" I mean that sinking sensation that I've done something that will turn my social networks against me. When Twitter was still young, I would lie in bed at night thinking “Have I thanked XYZ for their
- [Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Twitter](https://annehodgson.de/2014/03/07/facebook-linkedin-xing-twitter/) - After a year off social media, I've rejoined Facebook because so many of my peers are networking there, and I really felt I was missing out. Things like organizing meetups are happening there, or news on who is going to which conference, but also people having children and getting married, and career changing events like
- [Business correspondence](https://annehodgson.de/2014/02/27/business_correspondence/) - A short phrasebook for secretarial business correspondence has been published in my name. I was somewhat surprised when it was brought to my attention. I'm pretty sure it extracts the key phrases from a large collection of letters I wrote about 12 years ago, edited down by the publisher a few years back to bring
- [Cornelsen Basis for Business C1](https://annehodgson.de/2014/02/20/cornelsen-basis-for-business-c1/) - How exciting – the book I worked on for a year, with Carole Eilertson writing the practice sections, has just been published. I've been lucky to work with inspiring people and a great team, with Janan Barksdale editing, and now the book is public. There will be a teaching guide by Andreas Grundtvig and a
- [Eddie Izzard is a Force Majeure](https://annehodgson.de/2014/02/03/eddie-izzard-is-force-majeur/) - Eddie Izzard is unbelievable. 8 years of French and 2 years of German in school. And after witnessing people of many nations splashing about peacefully together in Santorini and believing that languages will unite us, he's decided to do his show in various countries and languages. Standup comedy in foreign tongues, not just in French,
- [Getting real in teaching listening](https://annehodgson.de/2014/02/18/getting-real-in-teaching-listening/) - Book review: Richard Cauldwell: Phonology for Listening. Teaching the Stream of Speech. Speech in Action. Birmingham, UK 2013. ISBN 0954344723, ISBN-13: 978-0954344726. Printed on demand by Amazon. €25.68 http://www.speechinaction.com Richard Cauldwell makes a key point: Listening acquisition lags behind the acquisition of other skills, he says, because we treat listening skills as something learners will
- [State of the art: Machine translation](https://annehodgson.de/2014/01/18/state-of-the-art-machine-translation/) - In a word: Aaaaargh! The German machine translation below is complete nonsense. Lexis is far more complicated than you'd think. A word like 'searing' can be a verb, an adjective or a noun. Consider how differently 'even' can translate –'even heating' has been translated here as 'sogar Heizung' rather than 'gleichmäßige Erwärmung'. And 'seasoning' is
- [Onkel-Braesig-Strasse](https://annehodgson.de/2014/01/13/onkel-braesig-strasse/) - Scratch off the wallpaper in the front room upstairs, and out comes Taut's blue. Fantastic. I'd love to just leave it as is, but I'm worried it will be too busy. Many of the walls in this room and in others are all patched up from new wiring. So I'll make a window of sorts
- [Bella ciao, blogroll](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/25/bella-ciao-blogroll/) - I've deleted my old blogroll, which hailed from the heyday of teachers blogging (about 2009-2011). More than half of the blogs linked to were no longer being updated, and many new ones have emerged over the past year or two, some of whom have also in part given up in the meantime. I've found it
- [Our house](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/22/our-house/) - Helmut and I have decided to move to the Hufeisensiedlung / Horseshoe Estate in Berlin, a social housing estate designed in 1925-33 by architect Bruno Taut, municipal planning head Martin Wagner, garden architect Leberecht Migge and Neukölln gardens director Ottokar Wagler. It is one of the earliest such estates in Germany, a physical metaphor of
- [Hitting the books again](https://annehodgson.de/2014/01/03/hitting-the-books-again/) - Having finished Basis for Business C1, and soon to hand over ELTABB events coordination, my workload is relatively light. Next to my compact teaching sessions I'm writing teaching files: downloads to go with the Cornelsen series/ the C1 book a new course on International Competences and Communication Skills for Management Circle But overall I now
- [Kate Rusby](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/19/kate-rusby/) - Musical discovery in Chris' advent calendar (thank you!). Her Christmas albums Sweet Bells and While Mortals Sleep are taking Helmut and me both back to our roots, which is truly puzzling, because our roots are so very different and nowhere even remotely near South Yorkshire. Perhaps time to take a trip there? The carols she
- [Tag: 11 facts, questions, answers among ELT bloggers](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/22/tag-11-facts-questions-answers-among-elt-bloggers/) - I've been tagged in a Twitter-cum-teacher-blog game, and am happy to play by the rules: Acknowledge the nominating blogger. Share 11 random facts about yourself. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you. List 11 bloggers. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know
- [Earth in Progress](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/17/earth-in-progress/) - Climate scientists on site, investigating lake sediments at Lake Hämelsee for clues of climate change. This is a product of the Earth in Progress project, a cooperation between various disciplines involved in responding effectively to climate events. I've had the privilege of providing English communication skills courses to some members of the project. The film
- [Christmastime's a-comin': Bluegrass, Ska, Cajun ](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/15/christmastimes-a-comin-bluegrass-skacajun/) - Bill Monroe sings Christmastime's A-Comin' (lyrics below), then Bob Marley sings White Christmas, followed by Harry Fonteneau with a Cajun rendition of Silent Night. by Tex Logan Oh, Christmastime's a-comin' Christmastime's a-comin' Christmastime's a-comin' And I know I'm goin' home Snow flake's a-fallin' My old heart's a-callin' Tall pine's a-hummin' 'Cause Christmastime's a-comin' Can't you
- [Cassandra Wilson: Winter Solstice Nights](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/13/cassandra-wilson-winter-solstice-nights/) - Cassandra Wilson: Winter Solstice Nights Let me rest my head upon your shoulder Let me lie my body in your bed Oh, I’m longing for to see you On these winter solstice nights when the stars are shining bright Won’t you please leave on your lights of gold and red? Won’t you please leave on
- [Captain Picard: Let it Snow? Make it So!](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/13/captain-picard-let-it-snow/) - Actually, the weather is absolutely delightful. Sunny and beautiful. But snow is on the way. Someplace. Love this remix.
- [Lisa Hannigan: Have yourself a merry little Christmas](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/16/lisa-hannigan-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas/)
- [Madeleine Peyroux: The Kind You Can't Afford](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/11/the-kind-you-cant-afford/) - Don't stress out over gifts. Madeleine Peyroux - The Kind You Can't Afford Written by Madeleine Peyroux and Bill Wyman from 'Standing On The Rooftop' released 26 May 2011 You got palatial mansions, I got rented flat. You got Persian kittens, I got tabby cat. You got art collections, I got comic books. You use
- [Michael Kiwanuka: I'm Getting Ready ](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/12/michael-kiwanuka-im-getting-ready/) - A soul prayer from Michael Kiwanuka (2012). Thank you, Christoph. Oh my, I didn't know what it means to believe Oh my, I didn't know what it means to believe But if I hold on tight, is it true? Would You take care of all that I do? Oh Lord, I'm a getting ready to
- [Thank you](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/11/thank-you/) - Thank you for help with Cornelsen Basis for Business C1: Helmut Burger for being my first sounding board Janan Barksdale for being so patient and thorough and making something that seemed impossible work Carole Eilertson and the advisors Mindy Ehrhart Krull, Andreas Grundtvig, Gabi Hirthe, Marion Karg, Karen Richardson and Miriam Zeh-Glöckler for being constructive,
- [Grammar Guru: You'll want to turn left at the light](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/09/grammar-guru-youll-want-to-turn-left-at-the-light/) - You'll want to... The pragmatics of this phrase is interesting: Driver: How do I get to the lake? Pedestrian: You'll want to turn left at the light up there and then just go straight til you hit Shore Drive. Why do we consider it acceptable and polite to predict what the person we are talking
- [Yoda: A Jedi craves not these things.](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/25/a-jedi-craves-not-these-things/) - Craving Yoda's funny and wise pontifications, I went and found some quotes, with their charming and haunting backward sentence structure: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try. --- Much to learn, you still have. --- Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is. --- Ready, are you? What know you of
- [Joe South: The Games People Play](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/30/joe-south-the-games-people-play/) - Thanks to Chris's comment I listened to Joe South's song 'Games People Play' (1968) and spent time thinking about its lyrics (below). Here's also Cajun original version to dance to. We love the bass player. Oh the games people play every night and every day Never meaning what they say never saying what they mean
- [Joy. I'm done](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/06/joyimdone/) - I'm done. The book is done, as far as I am concerned. It's off to the printers on 18 December. Oh, joy. Now I'm ready for Christmas. Tracey Thorn: Joy From: Tinsel and Lights (2012) When someone very dear Calls you with the words "Everything's all clear" That's what you want to hear But you
- [Donald Fagan: Snowbound](https://annehodgson.de/2013/12/05/donald-fagan-snowbound/) - Big storm Xaver over Northern Germany is announcing it's winter. I've just moved all the plants indoors and tied things down. Hoping for snow. "Snowbound" (1993) from Fagan's second solo album Kamakiriad continues the concept story, a road trip sometime in the future. The song describes being in a city in winter weather with bad
- [Eric Berne: Games People Play](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/26/eric-berne-games-people-play/) - A seminal, very useful book is turning 50 this coming year. Published in 1964, and the best selling non-fiction book of the 1960s, Games People Play by Dr. Eric Berne introduced Transactional Analysis, which looked closely at human relationships. He opted to study interaction as transaction, since he said we communicate to get something out
- [Kurt Vonnegut on the Shape of Stories](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/27/kurt-vonnegut-on-the-shape-of-stories/) - In the Cornelsen coursebook I'm writing, and in my classes, I warn my students against turning their presentations into straight pitches. Robert McKee, the Hollywood scriptwriter, has pointed out that the audience doesn't really engage with and is not convinced by a presentation that tries to sell only strong points. People aren't dumb. They'll instinctively
- [Tomi Ungerer](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/26/tomi-ungerer/) - Tomi Ungerer has just been honored with a long-overdue homage film. I was once very close to seeing him live at an opening of his drawings in Munich, but there was a drunk down in the subway in serious danger of falling off the platform and killing himself who needed saving, so in the end
- [Testing, scheduling, resuming](https://annehodgson.de/2013/11/01/test/) - Testing. I hope to resume proper blogging when this book project is done. I've learned so much, including to love scheduling time. I think the way forward is to go back to the format I had at the beginning, which was to write once a week. That is valuable in that it allows a more
- [Presenting the speakers at ELTABB](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/18/presenting-the-speakers-at-eltabb/) - I've been volunteering as Events Coordinator for ELTABB e.V., the English Language Teachers' Association of Berlin-Brandenburg, for the better part of two years now. We have had some wonderful events recently (Andreas Grundtvig, Marjorie Rosenberg). Here's the line-up of highly respected speakers who will be honoring us with their presence in the coming year: Ian
- [Down to you, constant stranger](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/09/its-down-toyou/) - It's time for some honest self-help. Writing is extremely authoritative, it's just the writer out there, and that is truly intimidating. It's a fear of failure, the nightmare of being defenseless before a group of hostile assessors. I can hear their sneering voices in my dreams, and wake up mumbling "give me a break". I
- [Onion Talks](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/16/onion-talks/) - TED Talks have been one of the best things to hit the Internet: revelatory, accessible, and very useful in popularizing science through storytelling. But now the Onion is parodying them. Ouch.
- [Sneaker wars](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/10/sneaker-wars/) - Sifting through patent wars for the book, I'm looking at Adidas Primeknit vs. Nike Flyknit. The Nike innovation was launched a few months before Adidas stepped up, making it look like Adidas was copying the Nike idea. Adidas was stopped in its tracks by a Nike injunction. That has been reversed. But can Adidas catch
- [Flula](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/15/flula/) - Thanks to Flula Borg for deconstructing idioms and also for getting right in there with prejudices against Germans – and just dealing with them. I really like Flula being playful and silly with My Drunk Kitchen presenter Hannah Hart.
- [Nepenthe](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/09/nepenth/) - Nepenthe rises above Big Sur, a complex of buildings on the side of the mountain, with a famous restaurant and café. We had blueberries and muffins and coffee that we brought up from a roadside shop that morning, before they opened, and watched the fog lift over the Pacific. Dinner the night before had been
- [Uprooted](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/07/uprooted/) - So much has changed since Helmut and I came here from Munich three years ago. We've moved twice, and in the new year we'll be moving again. Three moves in as many years. Just a month ago we were sitting on the shore in San Francisco wishing for a real home. San Francisco felt so
- [Writer's block](https://annehodgson.de/2013/10/08/writers-block/) - How do you overcome writer's block? I didn't think it would happen to me, but here I am, stuck. The method that helped me before, writing every new bit as if it was a scene that can stand alone, is not working. I have ideas, but they're not connected, they're loosely strewn across the floor,
- [Focus](https://annehodgson.de/2013/09/20/focus/) - My overall time management has gone off in my writing project. What I have noticed lately is that I assume too much. Assume has two meanings: to think without knowing for a fact to take on as a job, task or role I do too much of both. To handle the crisis I'm in, I
- [Painting from Life](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/22/painting-from-life/) - Videos on painting from life by The Art Students' League of New York would be useful in an English course for Artists. Here I would focus on how an artist, Sharon Sprung, describes her process as she paints. Notice how difficult it is to multitask, producing both visually and verbally, and both commenting on the
- [Creatives and their art forms](https://annehodgson.de/2013/09/08/creatives-and-their-art-forms/) - English for Artists should highlight different art forms, e.g. profiling artists expressing themselves in the various media. The Thrash Lab vlog and YouTube playlist include a profile of Saber, a graffiti artist who has branched out. In this profile he describes the work that made him a name, similarities to typography, and how he reacts
- [The Abercrombie + Fitch scandal](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/22/the-abercrombie-fitch-scandal/) - We discussed the Abercrombie + Fitch scandal in a class of mine a few weeks ago, using the Interbrand blog. The reasoned response in the first video below reiterates many of the points made by the participants. They argued about whether one should simply say "live and let live" or demand civic readjustment, and whether
- [A documentary about grammar](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/21/a-documentary-about-grammar/) - David and Elisabeth O'Brien, former English teachers, have raised over 22,000 dollars through Kickstarter to make a film about grammar. Talk about geeky - but they say their film is for everyone. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter @GrammarRocks. Their blog, Grammar Revolution, features diagramming, which I would find too complicated for my German students. But maybe
- [Meg Rutherford: The Beautiful Island](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/01/meg-rutherford-the-beautiful-island/) - My favorite book, Meg Rutherford's The Beautiful Island (1969), has been filmed as a video. Can you sight-read it as the text pops up? Language points: isle - island memorials - memory - memorable, memorize / remember towers, cathedrals, palaces, church lone - lonely - alone crippled - cripple - crippling enchantment - enchanting -
- [Esperanza Spalding: Overjoyed + Can't help it](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/20/esperanza-spalding-overjoyed/) - Esperanza Spalding, wonder, covers Stevie Wonder. Followed by Can't help it (also by Stevie Wonder; Joe Lovano on sax). Over time, I've been building my castle of love Just for two, though you never knew you were my reason I've gone much too far for you now to say That I've got to throw my
- [Zara's logistics](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/16/zara/) - I'm writing a book for business English, Basis for Business C1. When I was putting the unit on logistics together, I was initially thinking of using Inditex, Zara's parent company, as the main example. But it's already been used in several other course book, including Cornelsen's Career Express, and I'm trying to be as original
- [Rob Ross: The Joy of Painting](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/14/rob-ross-the-joy-of-painting/) - No series of posts on English for artists would be complete without mentioning Rob Ross and his PBS TV series, The Joy of Painting ('83-'94). I've been fascinated watching the shapes emerge, and have laughed tears listening to the painter, all down-homey, talking about his little old messy brushes - but that's ok - just
- [Tom Keating on Painters](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/14/tom-keating-on-painters/) - Tom Keating (1917-1984) was an art restorer and a famous art forger exposed 1976, and tried and let off for health reasons in 1979. In the early 80s he had a TV series where he demonstrated the painting techniques of the old masters. Considering the art world rotten, he painted time bombs into his fakes.
- [John Myatt: Forger's Masterclass](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/12/john-myatt-mastering-the-art/) - John Myatt is known as "the master forger" and the perpetrator of the "biggest art fraud of the 20th century": "The crime: In 1986 John created a painting for (Professor) Drewe in the style of Cubist painter Albert Gleizes. Drewe called Myatt to tell him Christie’s had valued the piece at £25K..." which resulted in
- [English for Artists: Virgina Peck's Buddha paintings](https://annehodgson.de/2013/08/11/english-for-artists-virgina-pecks-buddha-paintings/) - I would love to write a course for English for Artists and Art Historians. Art was my first love, before I decided to go into history and then later into language teaching, and I still go to art galleries every chance I can. To realize my dream, I'll need to win some artists as clients
- [Nationwide protest](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/15/nationwide-protest/) - The acquittal of George Zimmerman, self-appointed neighborhood watchman, who followed and killed Trayvon Martin inside his own gated community (!) is a blatant example of racism. As has been said repeatedly, if a white 29 year old man had come up to a gated community and gunned down a 17-year old white boy, all hell
- [President Obama says "Treyvon could have been me"](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/19/president-obama-says-treyvon-could-have-been-me/) - Good for him. I know the haters are going to be out in force, but this is a heartfelt and touching speech. I love Obama when he does this. See "Fear of a Black President" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- [Designed by Apple in California ad](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/25/designed-by-apple-in-california-ad/) - In my English classes today at Metadesign, we watched and critiqued Apple's Designed by Apple in California TV ad . This ad, which I stumbled on in Fast Company's CoDesign blog, has bombed with consumers. The participants gave this feedback: It's all emotion, they could be advertising anything, which is a turn-off to the more
- [Typography](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/16/htypography/) - I'm learning about typography for a client. The first video introduces several designers. For me, Paula Scher sticks out. I particularly enjoyed learning about her work for the theater and the music industry. Follow this link to learn more about her work on Jazz and her logo for CitiCorp - Artists at Hillman Curtis. And
- [Valerie June - Workin' Woman Blues](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/08/valerie-june-workin-woman-blues/) - Debut single. Wow. Valerie June - Workin' Woman Blues (official video) from PIASGermany on Vimeo.
- [Street Aesthetics](https://annehodgson.de/2013/07/02/street-aesthetics/) - Christian Andersen http://creativefuturemag.com/ has made a beautiful series of three videos about the street aesthetics of New York, Paris and Berlin. Still thinking about city planning after last week's seminar, and where the similarities and differences in the urban experience lie. We were in Paris recently, live in Berlin and love visiting New York. Of
- [The power of vulnerability - Brené Brown, academics, and me](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/28/brene-brown-the-power-of-vulnerability/) - I was reminded, while teaching a presentations course to social science PhDs today, of the vulnerability of academics as they conduct scientific inquiry. The whole nature of science is not knowing, but wanting to find out more. Complexity generates new and interesting questions. So vulnerability is a key ingredient in academic presentation. We looked at
- [Michael Pawlyn: Using nature’s genius in architecture ](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/26/michael-pawlyn-using-nature’s-genius-in-architecture/) - I'll be teaching city planners, and so have decided to use this wonderful presentation (TED Salon 2010) by the designer of the Eden Project bubble dome, the biomimicry specialist Michael Pawlyn. The presentation is deeply architectural in nature. I'll be asking: Watch the first minutes (0:17-1:50) and answer: What examples does he begin with? What
- [Joni Mitchell CBC interview](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/24/joni-mitchell-cb-interview/) - Joni Mitchell gave an interview to Jian Ghomeshi. "If you listen to that music and you see me, you're not getting anything out of it. If you listen to the music and see yourself in it... the communication is complete." Still, it's lovely to be able to meet the artist behind the music and to
- [A natural presenter: Chris Glass, graphic designer](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/26/a-natural-presenter-chris-glass-graphic-designer/) - I'm taking a good course in Public Speaking on Coursera, recommended by Edward Tanguay (thank you!). Looking for presentations to comment on for this course, and for examples to show in a presentation seminar I'm giving on Friday, I've been watching countless ones and stumbled across Chris Glass, graphic designer. I really like the naturalness
- [Julian Treasure: 5 ways to listen better](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/24/julian-treasure-julian-treasure-5-ways-to-listen-better/) - Sound expert Julian Treasure says, "We are losing our listening... We don't want oratory anymore, we now want sound bites. And the art of conversation is being replaced – dangerously, I think – by personal broadcasting". Here he suggests five ways to re-tune our ears, and adjust the way we listen. silence - don't distance
- [Michael Wesch on... ](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/29/michael-wesch-on/) - I keep going back to Michael Wesch when I want to understand media, and have posted his work of 2009/10 here before. Here the first part of a very short talk from the same period is very engaging (especially min. 3:45-7:15). He summarizes here how in the pre-media (no-books) Papua New Guinea culture he had
- [Teaching the present perfect](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/28/teaching-the-present-perfect/) - A longstanding client of mine recently wanted to pick up lessons again with the aim of refreshing his grammar skills, to increase his confidence in using the language which he is already quite proficient in and uses on a daily basis. While I generally am more of a business and communication skills trainer, teaching the
- [Little Big Berlin](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/29/little-big-berlin/) - What is it about this film that is so enchanting? Big, bad, smelly Berlin. Charming, diverse, unmistakable Berlin. All in matchbox format.
- [Keep calm and carry on](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/04/keep-calm-and-carry-on/) - Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government in 1939, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of a German invasion. It was never used, even during the air raids, but kept for the worst case. What could be more British! The poster was
- [Branding: Smells, tastes, feels like home](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/05/branding/) - New exciting challenge. Learning about branding for a company I'll be teaching at. So here's my first exploration. Bill said: "Branding is about managing how people instinctively react to your ideas and identity." Interesting. He's sent me an ad for an insurance company that the company has branded, made by a separate agency. So one
- [Politeness the Cologne way](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/14/politeness-the-cologne-wa/) - The past few days I had the opportunity to teach a group of 13 assistants for Management Circle in Cologne. After a long trip there – floods turned the 4 hour train ride into an 8 hour odyssee – it was lovely to see the majestic Dom. It was late in the evening, and I
- [Eva / Louis: What a wonderful world](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/17/eva-louis-what-a-wonderful-world/) - My favorite rendition of this classic of 1967/68 is Eva Cassidy's last performance at the Bayou. Did you know the message was political? I was thinking of her music this past weekend, when we had the second half of our intercultural train the trainer course with Judith Mader and Rudi Camerer of ELC, and I
- [Hans Rosling's creative teaching technologies – realia, boxes, Lego](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/08/hans-roslings-creative-teaching-technologies-–-realia-boxes-lego/) - I'm thinking through how useful I find using small manipulable toys like cuisinaire rods and Lego to visualize information, to explain and teach things in a small classroom, for example in one-to-one training. Recently I've joined a group exploring the terrain of using Lego, and so I'm thinking back to how I have used these
- [Google Translate](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/16/google-translate/) - I use Google Translate in my work, and like to introduce it to advanced English students who need to do translation at work. But you need to study very closely what this great tool does and doesn't do. Based on the World Wide Web, Google Translate is really quite helpful for suggesting collocations (word partnerships)
- [Describing Germany's SMEs](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/09/describing-germanys-smes/) - This report by Margaret Warner for PBS News Hour about the Eurozone crisis (February 2012) is nice introduction into the world of German small and mid-sized industry, the companies that make "the thing that goes inside the thing that goes inside the thing." The first 2 videos are about Germany, the third is about Italy.
- [Intercultural incident? A kiss on the cheek](https://annehodgson.de/2013/03/30/intercultural-incident-kiss-on-the-cheek/) - A Ukrainian reporter caused a scene in Moscow when, as one of a crowd, he asked Will Smith for a hug. WS obliged and gave him a "man hug" (patting him on the back). The reporter responded by trying to give him kisses on both cheeks, almost kissing him on the mouth. Will Smith reacted
- [When you become a whistleblower](https://annehodgson.de/2013/06/10/when-you-become-a-whistleblower/) - Yesterday Edward Snowden came forward and outed himself as the whistleblower who leaked information about Boundless Informant. This system developed by the NSA with major corporations, enables raw data to be analyzed and processed in the cloud, including IP addresses, so sender and recipient information can be tracked to rough location. I'm not going to
- [Rhetorical styles](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/25/rhetorical-styles/) - The PhD students looked at ways of incorporating rhetorical styles into their poster presentations. They were best at using the rule of three for repetition, but clearly need lots of practice in creating shorter, more powerful parallel phrases. I demonstratrated the power of cutting out needless repetition through this correction (which is still not ideal):
- [Learning to listen to scientific lectures](https://annehodgson.de/2011/10/18/learning-to-listen-to-english-lectures/) - One of the greatest challenges for non-native academic users of English as a Lingua Franca is keeping up with what is being said in discussions to the point where they can process the information in real time and contribute themselves. In a word, the challenge is information overload. Not only are you trying to understand
- [An elevator speech format](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/23/an-elevator-speech-format/) - Today the PhD students and I did this exercise, among others, to prepare elevator speeches that will work with a wider audience. Step 1: Watch the presentation by Steven Johnson on his book, Where Good Ideas Come From. Then answer: How long have I been exploring this? Why is it relevant? What's my approach/ perspective?
- [Stuart Brown explains play](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/24/stuart-brown-explains-play/) - I used the first 10 minutes of this video, with its wonderful photos of the male polar bear and the female husky at play, as an intro to my last/ 3rd day of teaching the PhD students, as they trailed in, to attune them to the idea that play allows us to do things we
- [Elevator speeches](https://annehodgson.de/2010/10/06/elevator-speeches/) - audio: E.O.Wilson 45 second elevator speech
- [The Love Competition](https://annehodgson.de/2012/02/29/the-love-competition/) - A wonderful experiment, set up as a competition: Six people subject themselves to a brainscan while they think of someone they love. As they concentrate fully, the dopamine, the serotonin and the oxytosin wash through their brain, showing up in the scan. This is not only a beautiful study on kinds of love, it's also
- [Presenting science to your peers](https://annehodgson.de/2012/12/20/presenting-science-to-your-peers/) - I gave a morning workshop yesterday on scientific presentations to students of Geoscience and updated my approach a little. It now includes the concept of creating storytelling cycles of tension and resolution (situation, complication, resolution, example), as explained by presentation guru Andrew Abela, whose book, Advanced Presentations by Design, I have just ordered. Also see
- [Goodbye, Facebook](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/22/goodbye-facebook/) - I don't like friending. I don't like following. I don't like liking. I don't like the faceless, fake culture of having loads and loads of super duper friends, patting each other on the back and saying how fantastic everyone is. I was on Facebook for a few years and today left. The reason was that
- [Interview with an old potato](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/29/interview-with-an-old-potatoe/) - A few years ago when I was teaching English students at the LMU Munich, my students told me how in a creative writing class, Gill Woodman, head of Sprachpraxis there, had given them a bag of potatoes and told them to select one and imagine its personality, and then write its biography. Such a great
- [Herbie Hancock: Watermellon Man](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/15/herbie-hancock-watermellon-man/) - I love, love, love how Herbie Hancock tells the story of how he composed Watermellon Man. Link to Woodie Herman's hard bop version of 1962 Link to Mongo Santamaria's hit of the same year Link to Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters' funky version from the 70s The intro to that version played on a bottle,
- [Beth Hart & Jeff Beck/ Etta James: I'd Rather Go Blind](https://annehodgson.de/2013/02/09/beth-hart-jeff-beck-etta-james-id-rather-go-blind/) - This fantastic version is at the Kennedy Center Dec 26, 2012, in honor of Buddy Guy. Beth Hart's voice is like a bass. Check out all the rock royalty in the audience. (Thanks, Chris!) Beth Hart sings I'd rather go blind, girl. Contrast this version with Etta James' classic, released in 1968. Something told me
- [Space Oddity/ Chris Hadfield](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/17/space-oddity-chris-hadfield/) - Commander Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut, returned home on 14 May. He rerecorded David Bowie's Space Oddity in flight... and describes the landing. David Bowie (and Chris Hadfield's changes) Ground control to Major Tom Ground control to Major Tom Take your protein pills (lock your Soyuz hatch) and put your helmet on Ground control to
- [Hello Kitty arrested](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/29/hello-kitty-arrested/) - What's going on here? Where is this scene taking place? What time of day is it? Who's being arrested? How much do you know about 'her'? What else do you imagine about 'her'? What do you think 'she's' being arrested for? What exactly do you think happened? How? Why? What could the officers be thinking?
- [EAP 2013](https://annehodgson.de/2013/05/05/eap-2013/) - We had an EAP conference here in Berlin yesterday organized by the Humboldt University Language Centre. ELTABB, the teachers association I coordinate events with, was involved as one of the sponsors. This was the second such annual conference here in Berlin. Time will tell whether there is a need for such a conference to grow
- [Kishi Bashi](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/03/kishi-bashi/) - Wow. Kishi Bashi. I hadn't seen the ads, instead discovering him through Paste Magazine. All that attention to detail, craftsmanship and polish. Animal Collective meets Andrew Bird and classical Japanese music. They are hosting a video-based riddle contest for idioms like wearing _ _ _ _ h _ _ _ _ _ _ your _
- [Our brain on an intercultural challenge](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/26/our-brain-on-intercultural/) - This excellent animation looks at the way our brain is involved in intercultural incidents. Instinctively, the brain causes us these feelings: The early evolutionary reptilian part of our brain that rules gut feeling has 4 strategies when meeting something new, the 4fs: feeding, fighting, fleeing or f*cking. Our stone age brain is keen on cooperation,
- [Merz: The Starlight Night](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/26/merz-the-starlight-night/) - The lyrics of this marvelous song by Merz (1999), are by Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844–89, an English Jesuit and innovative poet who experimented with metre and developed what he called 'sprung rhythm', anticipating free verse. The Starlight Night Written Feb. 24, 1877. Published 1918 LOOK at the stars! look, look up at the skies! O
- [Presidents R Us](https://annehodgson.de/2013/04/25/presidents-r-us/) - The Washington Post (my hometown paper) presents the White House Correspondents' dinner, one of the biggest social events in the calendar where the presidents get to show their communication skills to the max. A nice guide to self-deprecation and humor, US-style.
- [Problems with your blackberry?](https://annehodgson.de/2013/03/21/problems-with-your-blakberry/)
- [Chilly in Berlin](https://annehodgson.de/2013/03/11/chilly-in-berlin/)
- [Top service from SurveyMonkey ](https://annehodgson.de/2013/03/11/top-service-from-surveymonkey/) - We're just organizing a conference here in Berlin, we being a group of lecturers working across institutions, using a Ning platform we've called EULEAP to connect internationally. The institution that will be hosting this conference, the Humboldt Language Centre, is directed by Cornelia Hacke and the whole project is powered by the impressive David Bowskill
- [Radiohead: Creep/ The Hollies: Air that I breathe](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/03/radiohead-creep/) - When my nephew played "Creep" by Radiohead on accoustic guitar recently, I really listened up. "Creep" (1992) tells the story of an inebriated man who tries to get the attention of a woman he is attracted to by following her around. In the end, he lacks the self-confidence to face her. Bandleader Yorke said, "To
- [Gabby Giffords](https://annehodgson.de/2013/02/02/gabby-giffords/) - Gabbi Giffords' moving speech for gun control on Jan 30 (link to her handwritten notes): Before the shooting (speaking here after a Tea Party attack on her office, 25 March 2010): Her recovery (great husband!):
- [Is privacy the new taboo?](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/26/is-privacy-the-new-taboo/) - I've been online now for just over 5 years. Recently I accidentally found the first video I made of myself, where I self-consciously wondered whether the information broadcasting movement I was about to join had any relevance, or whether it was a half-witted attempt to engage in broader but seemingly disconnected discourses, as half-witted as
- [Writing](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/22/writing/) - I've started a book project, which forces me to conceptualize something from the big picture down to the last detail. After poking around for about a month exploring the areas I have found important in my business English classes over the past years, thinking through individual features and refreshing my contact to clients who might
- [Cassandra Wilson: Red Guitar](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/20/cassandra-wilson-red-guitar/) - Cassandra Wilson Red Guitar (from: Another Country 2012) Wash my face with blue water Lay my head on white linen Morning comes, drink black coffee Then I play my song on red guitar Take my flight through blue heavens Walk my path in green gardens Drive my car on black highway Then I play my
- [Charles Ferguson](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/04/charles-ferguson/) - I watched Inside Job the other day, the Acadamy Award winning 2010 documentary about the 2008 financial meltdown, directed by Charles Ferguson, and had a bit of a meltdown of my own. As the blurb to the posted interview with Ferguson states "the film makes the powerful case that an out-of-control finance industry took advantage
- [Kickstarter](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/05/kickstarter/) - Kickstarter is a website that helps crowd-source funding for creative projects. So they invite finite enterprises with specific goals that need concrete financial backing. It's not primarily geared to companies, and it's also not for charity, it really comes down to supporting the arts, where the performance, the product or the outcome is not expected
- ["What are you selling?" "Personality"](https://annehodgson.de/2013/01/03/what-are-you-selling-personality/) - Comedian Salesman Kenny Brooks: "I've got a disease called enthusiasm". Catching! Goes into suburbia with his cleaning liquid, deals with bad attitudes, and lays his word wit on his potential customers, playing to their social anxieties ("Don't laugh too hard cause the neighbors gonna see this black kid scrubbing your windows"). My favorite one-liners: My
- [Diversity, revisited](https://annehodgson.de/2012/03/20/diversity-revisited/) - It's been a rough ride coming to terms with new reflective insights about my teaching of a culturally diverse college class this past term (some 15 nationalities in a group of 25). But I feel much more awake to and aware of the challenges we teachers face in globalized classrooms. It was clear to me
- [Ha-Joon Chang](https://annehodgson.de/2012/12/28/ha-joon-chang/) - Ha-Joon Chang, Professor of Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, explains economics very clearly and simply. In his book, 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism, he argues these 23 tenets: There is really no such thing as a free market. Companies should not be run in the interest of their
- [GoldieBlox: Engineering toys for girls](https://annehodgson.de/2012/12/30/goldieblox-engineering-toys-for-girls/) - GoldieBlox is an engineering toy developed for girls by Debbie Sterling. Kept in "girlish" colors and materials, it comes with a storybook telling of heroine Goldie and her friends, and how Goldie gets them through their adventures by engineering solutions. The story is accompanied by a platform where the children can reconstruct her building designs.
- [Sign language](https://annehodgson.de/2012/11/15/sign-language/) - If I could start all over again, could be 18 and just choosing a career, I would become an interpreter for the deaf. I've already presented an interpreter in this blog, and here are two performances I recently stumbled upon: 1. Final exam performance in a college level sign language class: 2. Mayor Bloomberg updates
- [If not us, then who? If not now, then when?](https://annehodgson.de/2012/12/23/if-not-us-then-who-if-not-now-then-when/) - Naderev Saño, the Philippines' lead negotiator, gives a brilliant, emotional 3 minute speech at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Doha, on 6 November 2012. It is enormously difficult to keep your chin up as a negotiator in such a slow and tedious process. But do you always have to keep your chin up? Can't
- [Anita Roddick: Commerce with a Conscience](https://annehodgson.de/2012/12/23/anita-roddick-commerce-with-a-conscience/) - "Start with quality and truth". Dame Anita Roddick (1942 – 2007), founder of The Body Shop, was an activist and a businesswoman. Her cosmetics company helped establish ethical consumerism, being one of the first to prohibit the use of animals and to promote fair trade. She gave this talk (just under 50 minutes) at the
- [Democratic Conventions](https://annehodgson.de/2012/09/06/democratic-conventions/) - I found Michelle Obama's speech very interesting to watch. She's an icon to professional women, and a fine speaker, obviously, and so beautiful. Her messages are reassuring, reasserting values and good, decent, community-building citizenship, telling stories to remind everyone how what Obama has achieved is based on his "down-home-and-real" deep-seated beliefs. All good. But seeing
- [Symphony of Science](https://annehodgson.de/2012/11/15/symphony-of-science/) - This wonderful video is not just a joy to ponder... It also shows perfectly, by engineering natural speech into song, how rhythmic English is, and how speakers of English in the UK, US and Down Under will stress the content words and separate what they say into phrases. This is something that my students from
- [Rachel Maddow sums it up](https://annehodgson.de/2012/11/12/rachel-maddow-sums-it-up/) - Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy I'd like to express my appreciation for Democrats Abroad. I just got Democrats Abroad Germany Chair Quaide Williams' summary of the election, including the link to this great summary. Hip hip HURRAH on this victory, and to DAG for a job very well
- [You and I: Stevie Wonder/ Marcy Gray](https://annehodgson.de/2012/11/08/you-and-i-stevie-wonder-marcy-gray/) - Marcy Gray has published a remake of Steve Wonder's "Talking Book" album, which has turned 40 – the first album I ever bought. Very interesting to listen to them together.
- [Dancing data](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/19/dancing-data/) - When I was at college, I found presentations based solely on statistics incredibly boring. I find it far more interesting to tell and to listen to stories about individual cases. Storytelling based in experience is still the easiest way to captivate an audience. But everyone appreciates how important statistics are to clarify the facts, and
- [Ian Badger on Listening, and apps for teaching](https://annehodgson.de/2012/10/04/ian-badger-on-listening/) - I had the opportunity to hear Ian Badger speak at MELTA in the mid-2000s, and even back then he was saying we should be teaching the English people need at the workplace, not the standardized language codified and prescribed in Business English course books. Now he has an excellent book/audio CD, Collins English for Business:
- [The Menopause Blues](https://annehodgson.de/2012/09/06/the-menopause-blues/) - A "taboo" topic not normally covered in course books, yet one that my generation, getting up there in years, is thinking about, even if we don't talk much about it outside of girlfriend circles. Laughter helps with pretty much anything. Comic relief for the Menopause Blues, by Cybill Shepherd: "If you're feeling dry, just make
- [2nd Presidential Debate: Answering questions in the town hall setting](https://annehodgson.de/2012/10/17/2nd-presidential-debate-answering-questions-in-the-town-hall-setting/) - In this debate, Obama was very good at answering questions. He listened very attentively, and then focussed coolly on individual aspects of the question, answering each in turn to showcase his position. He uses a relatively simple tactic in answering, namely to give highly structured and "signposted" answers - signposting meaning adding words and phrases
- [John Cleese on Humor and Creativity](https://annehodgson.de/2012/10/11/john-cleese-on-humor-and-creativity/) - Back in 1991, John Cleese gave this brilliant lecture, a compact course in enabling creativity. (It was posted on YouTube in April 2012 and subsequently widely blogged.) As he explains, "creativity is not a talent, it is a way of operating". He contrasts "closed" versus "open mode" thinking and explains (from 4:45) that creativity is
- [Anne's Minestrone col Pesto](https://annehodgson.de/2012/09/28/annes-minestrone-col-pesto/) - 6 servings 90 minutes 200g dried mixed pulses (e.g. red kidney beans, white beans, pinto beans, spelt, "green grain" (unripe spelt), red lentils, split peas, red or brown rice. I use Davert's "Bunte Minestrone/ varied minestrone" mix, art.no. 49810) 1 large white onion 1 small leek 4 small peeled waxy potatoes 2 carrots 2 parsley
- [Passive students](https://annehodgson.de/2012/06/11/passive-students/) - This semester I've had huge problems with twin classes of very passive students. These are mostly East-German adults in their twenties and early thirties who had vocational training e.g. as accountants or bankers, and are returning to college to get a BA on a part-time study program. Their English levels are very mixed, and they
- [Doobie Brothers: Long Train Coming](https://annehodgson.de/2012/07/28/doobie-brothers-long-train-coming/) - This was one of the great dance songs at my brother's 60th birthday party yesterday, and I just can't get it out of my head. The trains were running late this weekend, too, slowed down by technical trouble cased by the heatwave. Down around the corner, half a mile from here See those long trains
- [Origins](https://annehodgson.de/2012/07/13/origins/) - I'm having a series of epiphanies as I read my way through the Capital Hill History Project, an oral history of the neighborhood I grew up in for 19 years before coming to Germany. The memories of many of our old neighbors are there, going back to the the 60s, and it's simply amazing for
- [Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud](https://annehodgson.de/2012/07/02/geh-aus-mein-herz-und-suche-freud/) - We sang my mother-in-law's favorite song at her funeral: Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud, with a text by Paul Gerhardt (1656) and music by August Harder (1813). Her heaven is full of birds and flowers. Who needs angels when you have nightingales? RIP dear Heidi. Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud 1.
- [After and before](https://annehodgson.de/2012/06/13/after-and-before/) - Yesterday we had our second EULEAP meeting, and I've just put together the minutes and tried to do some more networking to get people involved. EAP practitioners are notoriously shy about networking - or could it be a lack of interest, after all? There is #EAPchat, which is connecting up many of the players, and
- [Jarle Bernhoft: Fly Away & C'mon talk to me](https://annehodgson.de/2012/03/23/jarle-bernhoft-fly-away-cmon-talk-to-me/) - My old classmate Eimert had told me about this guy, a one-man band from Norway with a warm soul voice and beautiful looped instrumentals and vocals, for real feel good music. Jarle Bernhoft will be in Berlin at Postbahnhof on 20 April. Helmut, we have the album, and tickets. C'mon talk to me and we'll
- [Jack White: Love Interruption](https://annehodgson.de/2012/04/21/jack-white-love-interruption/) - Instant classic. The first single off of Blunderbuss, Jack White's solo debut, with great Nashville musicians, features an all woman band, very stylish in this video, in long dresses and high hair, harking back to Bo Diddley's band in the 60s. The album is now out on iTunes, and expectations are confirmed: "I'm Shakin'" quotes
- [EULEAP: EUropean Lecturers of English for Academic Purposes](https://annehodgson.de/2012/05/11/euleap/) - There's a new kid on the block: EULEAP, a network of EUropean Lecturers of English for Academic Purposes. It's not incorporated officially, simply coordinated technically as a Ning social networking site, and is open to anyone who is involved in teaching English (or in teaching in English!) in tertiary education: http://euleap.ning.com/ Martin Bradbeer (TH Wildau)
- [Remembering to remember](https://annehodgson.de/2012/05/14/remembering-to-remember/) - I often struggle to remember the names of my students, especially in large classes. Like most people, using my visual and spacial memory helps. Classes with fixed seating arrangements are out because you want students to mix partners. Attendance lists are frowned upon at the institution I am currently working for. This had me in
- [Chuck Brown in Funk Heaven](https://annehodgson.de/2012/05/16/chuck-brown-in-funk-heaven/) - He's up there now, the creator of gogo, making them dance up in heaven. Bustin' Loose was the best thing on the dancefloor when I was 17. But man, did his sound age well. This sound is home. So DC. "You can't leave cause your heart is there. It's a family affair." So now he
- [Tandem teaching](https://annehodgson.de/2012/06/04/tandem-teaching/) - Could tandem teaching work as a business model? So: The corporate client books a two-day course for a large-ish group of staff and gets not one, but two trainers to come in to run the session. The trainers take it in turns: One runs an activity while the other collects vocabulary on the board and
- [Agenda-setting at a teachers' association](https://annehodgson.de/2012/02/24/agenda-setting-at-a-teachers-association/) - Exciting times for me: I'm honored to be the events coordinator for ELTABB, the teachers' association for Berlin-Brandenburg. I was only able to volunteer for this job because I can draw on wonderful teacher networks that have grown over the years. At the moment I am a classic "fast follower", looking at what other associations
- [Online tools and resources for scientific writing](https://annehodgson.de/2012/02/01/online-tools-and-resources-for-scientific-writing/) - I'm still struggling to teach scientific writing to a diverse group of PhD candidates that I only see occasionally. My latest attempt is to give them a set of online tools to analyze their genre of target texts (published works and their own work in progress), and to tell me how they like what the
- [Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks](https://annehodgson.de/2012/02/06/nancy-duarte-the-secret-structure-of-great-talks/) - In her great analysis of famous speeches, presentation guru Nancy Duarte (www.duarte.com) says that the most effective talks, the ones that make people change the way they think, move back and forth between what is and what could be. She analyzes Steve Job's introduction of the iPhone speech and shows that the way he marvels
- [Focusing on communication strategies instead of language per se](https://annehodgson.de/2012/01/26/focusing-on-communication-strategies-instead-of-language-per-se/) - Last Saturday Evan Frendo gave us at ELTABB an absolutely excellent presentation on the latest research in Business English, focusing on four key areas: English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), Communities of Practice, Intercultural Communication and Lexis and Genre/ Corpus Linguistics. His presentation and handout are here: scroll down to the bottom for all the
- [Debate and discussion](https://annehodgson.de/2012/01/24/debate-and-discussion/) - I enjoyed yesterday’s communication skills class with the Master of Public Management class at the University of Potsdam. We did discussion and debate, and I used a few resources I can recommend: After showing the students my communication triangle above (connect at the human, the community, and the (competitive, self-)marketing levels), I highlighted the skill
- [Sys admin](https://annehodgson.de/2012/01/15/sys-admin/) - We've had such bizarre trouble with our landline for weeks now, with virtual repairmen who didn't show up and left messages with the helpline hours later. My work was piling up, and my blood pressure was rising. And then the MacBook Pro had trouble with the software on the Vodafone mobile stick that I was
- [Merry Christmas](https://annehodgson.de/2011/12/24/merry-christmas/) - We're happily installed in our new nest in Berlin-Charlottenburg (thank you to Michael and Christof) and are ready to take it nice and slow for a few days. Happy holidays to all! Here is my favorite jazzification of a venerable Christmas carol, Kommet Ihr Hirten by David Gazarov. Please excuse my copyright infringement, powers that
- [Rick Perry](https://annehodgson.de/2011/12/12/rick-perry/) - Wow, what a complete idiot. But hey, the whole world is laughing. Barack, good times ahead. The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cRick Perry's Pro-Christmas Adwww.colbertnation.comColbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive
- [Cardinal sin: Time management](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/24/cardinal-sin-time-management/) - I completely underestimated how long it would take to edit and upload videos of my international students' presentations and to watch them often enough to give appropriate and useful feedback. I'm guilty of atrocious time management. Promising written feedback you just can't provide in the time they expect is a cardinal sin. When asking students
- [Chuck Berry: Sweet Little Sixteen/ The Beach Boys: Surfing USA](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/22/chuck-berry-sweet-little-sixteen-the-beach-boys-surfing-usa/) - My third and final double take is a blatant rip-off by the Beach Boys of Chuck Berry's 1958 hit, which was in fact the first Top 10 hit by a black performer. Not acknowledging copyright was both an artistic and a political issue: "The Beach Boys stole Berry’s entire tune. Surfin’ USA went on to
- [Led Zepplin: Going to California / Pearl Jam: Given to Fly](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/21/led-zepplin-going-to-california-pearl-jam-given-to-fly/) - Sometimes you hear a song and do a double take and say "wait, I know that riff". Led Zepplin wrote "Going to California" in 1971 about Joni Mitchell; Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder said "Given to Fly" of 1998, which sounds pretty similar, was about "rising above anybody's comments about what you do and still giving
- [Bon Iver: Woods / Kayne West: Lost in the World](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/21/bon-iver-woods/) - Oh, to howl with the wolves! Here is Bon Iver's magical 4-line song "Woods" to howl together in harmony, friends, as November deepens. I'm up in the woods I'm down on my mind I'm building a still to slow down the time It was sampled on "Lost in the World", a collaboration with Kayne West
- [Fleet Foxes: Grown Ocean](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/07/fleet-foxes-grown-ocean/) - Bollywood meets the Beach Boys. Off of "Helplessness Blues", released some time last spring when I wasn't paying attention. Thanks Thomas. Fleet Foxes: Grown Ocean (Robin Pecknold) In that dream I'm as old as the mountains Still as starlight reflected in fountains Children grown on the edge of the ocean Kept like jewelry kept with
- [Lisa Hannigan: Knots](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/08/lisa-hannigan-knots/) - A dark November thriller : Lisa Hannigan presents her song "Knots" in a video that picks up on the paramilitary game of Paintball to present the everyday wars fought out in a relationship gone bad. It seems also to evoke the archaic and horrorific stoning of a woman who has lost her man. The video
- [Joni Mitchell: You turn me on I'm a radio](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/09/joni-mitchell-you-turn-me-on-im-a-radio/) - Way back in 1972, Joni Mitchell introduced her brand-new song to the audience like this: "You see, I've never had a hit, so I decided that..." (Awww!) "No I haven't, I haven't had a hit, I mean, I" (I haven't had a hit!) "(laughs) I haven't had a chance to, like, watch any, like... I,
- [Bon Iver: Holocene](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/10/bon-iver-holocene/) - On Bon Iver's new album, lyrics are part of the ethereal soundscape. Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, seems to be following in the footsteps of Sigur Rós, the Icelandic post-rock band who focus on the overall sound to the point where they have developed an unintelligible language, Vonlenska (which translates as Hopelandic) that you are
- [BOY: Small numbers](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/11/boy-small-numbers/) - I have a bit of a soft spot for non-native speakers who use English to express themselves in their lyrics. Even when they are not particularly sophisticated, it's the word choice and imagery referencing different languages that engages me. BOY, a young duo comprized of Valeska Steiner from Zurich and Sonja Glass from Hamburg, have
- [iCloud: iUnderstand](https://annehodgson.de/2011/10/19/icloud-iunderstand/) - This is one of Steve Job's last presentations, still explaining "his" products with inspired simplicity and clarity. Focus with me for a moment on his metalanguage (often called signposting), that is the language he uses to take us from one point to the next. Metalanguage or signposting varies widely between presentation types, and is generally
- [Ryan Adams: Ashes & Fire](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/13/ryan-adams-ashes-fire/) - At the end of this "song week" on my blog, I'm considering our strong opinions about music. We're a discriminating lot, we like this and dislike that. I wonder: Are there any objective quality criteria we could agree on for pop music? With classical music it seems easier. Who would dare say that Beethoven wrote
- [Bill Withers: Lean On Me](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/12/bill-withers-lean-on-me/) - Universally popular songlines: We say a phrase, eyes flicker recognition and - boom! - we're sharing the whole soundtrack. Like "Don't worry, be happy," by Bobby McFerrin, from 1988. Or "Lean on me," by Bill Withers, from 1972. Songfacts.com asked Withers about his signature song, and this is what he said: "A lot of time
- [Compare and contrast](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/23/compare-and-contrast/) - Thanks Helmut. There's a personal story that goes with this, as you can well imagine. My first present from my husband was a... Blog challenge! Please join in and add two similar but different pictures to your blog! Brad Patterson had the nice idea after I'd posted this. Looking forward to seeing your pictures. The
- [Lena Meyer-Landrut: Satellite](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/31/lena-meyer-landrut-satellite/) - Good job. I like. So did the Eurovision jury. Congratulations, Lena! I went everywhere for you I even did my hair for you I bought new underwear, they're blue And I wore ‘em just the other day Love you, know I’ll fight for you I left on the porch light for you Whether you are
- [Arcade Fire: Haiti](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/15/arcade-fire-haiti/) - An empty sack cannot stand up. - Haïtian proverb Haïti was the first independent nation in Latin America, the first post-colonial independent black-led nation in the world, the only nation whose independence was gained as part of a successful slave rebellion (22 August 1791). Today it's the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas.
- [Laurie Anderson: Only an Expert](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/22/laurie-anderson-exper/) - Laurie Anderson has just released a new album called 'Homeland'. Political and classic and up-to-date as always. Dolcevita of Lesekreis calls it "Rotwein für die Seele" (red wine for the soul). You can listen to the record on NPR through today, 22 June. It's being released on Nonesuch today and will be on iTunes on
- [Eric Clapton/Lil' Son Jackson: Travelling alone](https://annehodgson.de/2011/01/14/eric-claptonlil-son-jackson-travelling-alone/) - In his new album, Eric Clapton has interpreted a wide range of great roots music. Jamie Keddie has just created a lovely lesson on his relaunched lesson site, Lessonstream, built around a song that Clapton reinterpets beautifully on the album, How Deep is the Ocean, and which Jamie uses to teach questions with. In the
- [Mike and the Mechanics: Over my shoulder](https://annehodgson.de/2010/11/07/mike-and-the-mechanics-over-my-shoulder/) - Anna Pires, who seems to share all my tastes in music, got this tip from Dave Tucker: "My students think I rock when I do 'Over my Shoulder' in class" she says. Of course! Coming up next in my backoffice skills classes too, to get people moving through that tired patch in the afternoon. Thanks
- [The Lords: Poor Boy](https://annehodgson.de/2011/05/12/the-lords-poor-boy/) - Still grinning about how wery hard life was in Berlin in 1965. The German beat band, The Lords, sing and dance "Poor boy", one of their greatest hits. Now, I'm not knocking writing and singing in a foreign language, on the contrary, it's really great! But for an English teacher like me it's fascinating to
- [Black Dub: Surely - Silverado](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/29/black-dub-surely-silverado/) - A silverado pairing, surely. Black Dub is Daniel Lanois (songwriter, producer for U2 and Dylan and others) and Trixie Whitley, she of the big, fat voice. Touching, intimate songs like Surely, a reincarnation of Amazing Grace, and funky, jazzy stuff. Got tickets for Berlin on 29 July. Coming? I think a Silverado is a type
- [Lana Del Rey: Video Games](https://annehodgson.de/2011/10/28/lana-del-rey-video-games/) - Wow. Unbelievably hypnotic. Eamonn, again. Review on Pitchfork. Swinging in the backyard Pull up in your fast car Whistling my name Open up a beer And you say get over here And play a video game I'm in his favorite sun dress Watching me get undressed Take that body downtown I say you the bestest
- [Office wanted](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/05/office-wanted/) - Teacher/translator, 49 (for another few days), seeks office companionship with other like-minded independents aka freelancers aka knowledge workers. Needs office accessible from street level and public transportation in Berlin, by those not willing to mount 5 stories to her new bird's nest. Looking for a space close to the heart of things, where minds are
- [Hasan Elahi: FBI, here I am](https://annehodgson.de/2011/11/03/hasan-elahi-fbi-here-i-am/) - "The Visible Man", Bangladeshi-born American Hasan Elahi, says that he was mistakenly included on the US government terrorist watch list — "and once you're on, it's hard to get off". (Wired) In response, he has dedicated his work to surveillance culture and has put the minute details of his life and travels online. See his
- [Marlee Matlin and Jack Jason](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/19/marleen-matin-and-jack-jason/) - An article by Nataly Kelly landed in my intray, and it was interesting to follow up: Jack Jason is actress Marlee Matlin's interpreter. Watch them interact here: Do you notice the places where she "says" nothing, but gives us this look, this fabulous body language, this space where we infer and bond and relate, and
- [What does training cost?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/11/08/what-does-training-cost/) - I just got off the phone with someone who called asking what training costs. I find the price level here in Potsdam hard to gage. On the one hand, the prices I see are in fact very similar to Munich, and our rent here is actually higher than what we paid there (we were pretty
- [Atomic Tom: Take me out on iPhones](https://annehodgson.de/2010/10/16/atomic-tom-take-me-out-on-iphones/) - This iPhone event must have been sponsored. Advertizing is generally no-go on this blog. But since my Apple gadgets have really helped me get from one home office to the other, more or less sane, I'm sharing the love. I also like the title. "Take someone out" is NOT "jemanden ausnehmen" – which in German
- [Hello](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/27/hello/) - On our first night in Potsdam it was still warm. We had the windows open, and actually had some glasses and a bottle of wine unpacked (thank you!), and I was swaying to Neil Young's Harvest Moon and then of course Van Morrison's Moondance, in view of the amazing full Harvest Moon that brought us
- [Helmut says "Goodbye Bavaria"](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/22/helmut-says-goodbye-bavaria/) - with the "juchitzer" by the alpinkatzen! Tomorrow will be our last day in Munich. We enjoyed living and working here.
- [Lullaby of Birdland](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/02/lullabye-of-birdland/) - The prolific and virtually unknown songwriter George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) penned the lyrics to this jazz standard referring to the Birdland jazz club in New York named after Charlie "Bird" Parker. The melody is by blind pianist George Shearing. It was a hit for Ella Fitzgerald in 1954, but
- [Jack Johnson: You and your heart](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/11/jack-johnson-you-and-your-heart/) - Jack Johnson has a new "feeling good" record out, "To the Sea", which sounds just right at these temperatures. I stumbled upon it because of the Eisbach thing. In a friendly interview he explains where his music comes from (his influences range from a family friend singing Cat Stevens to learning the Minor Threat songbook)
- [Janelle Monae: Tightrope](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/01/janelle-monae-tightrope/) - My exciting news this week is that we're moving to Berlin. Helmut has a new job. He told me a few years ago that he didn't want to climb the social ladder (Karriere machen), but here he is, with new challenges. So babe, this song is dedicated to you, with all of my love. Keep
- [Howlin' Wolf: Spoonful](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/10/howlin-wolf-spoonful/) - Born in Mississipi, Chicago bluesman Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett) would have turned 100 today (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976). His version of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" blues poured cocaine, love and murder into one mean, raw line: "But one spoon of little .45 save you from another man." Ok, cross out 'love'. Happy
- [A ticket to an exhibition](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/05/a-ticket-to-an-exhibition/) - Dear Bode Museum, I'd like to place a complaint. You have an exclusive ongoing exhibition, Gesichter der Renaissance/ Faces of the Renaissance, containing all sorts of famous portraits. But vexingly enough, when I tried to get tickets online, your website was down, and I couldn't get through to you for days. Then, when Helmut and
- [Pros and cons of selected apps for adult learners of English](https://annehodgson.de/2011/10/13/pros-and-cons-of-selected-apps-for-adult-learners-of-english/) - I've blogged about fun, productive apps on Ask Auntie Web, and posted a summary about technology in teaching a while ago, but check out apps all the time to ponder their overall usefulness. When assessing learner tools I ask: What does it actually require the learners to do linguistically (that they could not do equally
- [Google and Moodle](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/19/google-and-moodle/) - Dave Nagel reports that Google Apps Education Edition is coming to Moodle. Moodlerooms, a Moodle partner, is launching a new enhancement to the open source LMS in collaboration with search giant Google to provide access to the application suite using a single sign-on. Through the integration, users loaded into Moodle will be automatically loaded into
- [Dorothy Parker: Superfluous Advice](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/27/dorothy-parker-superfluous-advice/) - Ian James presented a lovely recording tool, Vocaroo, on his blog, and I'll be using it in online courses. But here on this blog, dear reader, it's an easy way to record yourself and to practice your pronunciation. Listen to my recording to help with the more difficult words. Then record yourself (you might have
- [Animoto: Men with beards](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/27/animoto-men-with-beards/) - Just testing some edutech tools this morning, this is my first attempt with Animoto, which lets you make free 30 second animated slideshows. I'm picking up on a topic I wrote about two years ago. – Do you recognize all of the bearded men in the pictures? Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com. BTW:
- [Riddles upside down](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/28/riddles-upside-dow/) - A man went on a trip on Friday, stayed for 2 days and returned on Friday. How is that possible? Answer: ¡ǝsɹoɥ ɐ sı ʎɐpıɹɟ What has 4 wheels and flies? Answer: ¡ʞɔnɹʇ ǝƃɐqɹɐƃ ɐ What did the fish say when he hit the side of his glass bowl at 50 miles per hour? Answer:
- [Phonology 101](https://annehodgson.de/2011/05/06/phonology-101/) - On our course Patricia introduced us to two great sites to help with phonology. First, there's the excellent online typewriter, the Phonemic Character Keyboard, which is based on the comprehensive IPA character picker, two tools which, taken together, are just what you need to be able to write a post like this! Then, there's the
- [Barcelona](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/30/barcelona/) - I'll be away for a month, to be assessed as a teacher and to take time out to see where I should go next. This is the longest I've been away from my husband since my dad died some 17 years ago. It's not the best time to go, either. But when is ever a
- [The future of business English trainers](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/26/the-future-of-business-english-trainers/) - I'm thinking about professional development, where the next years will take me. At the moment there is a lot of work to prepare for a few compact seminars, and more translation work for a client, so I'm not exactly unemployed. Still, having gone through the Trinity DipTESOL (still have to write up two papers, but
- [Aki Kaurismaki: Le Havre](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/25/aki-kaurismaki-le-havre/) - What a beautiful film. A social fairytale about a shoeshiner, his wife and friends in le Havre, and a refugee who happens into their midst. Breathtaking. Sidesplitting. Gentle. Melancholy. True. The news is all bad, but human nature? Slow down, and there is room for hope. When we came out of the cinema I couldn't
- [Limericks and the life of an English teacher](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/19/limericks-and-the-life-of-an-english-teacher/) - Stan Carey of the Sentence First blog and the MacMillan blog and sundry other lingusitic habitats is holding a limerick competition - yeah! - and there are some really great ones there, don't miss them. Deadline: September 21st. My contributions are a bit dour for limericks, but such is the life of an English teacher:
- [Communicative aim](https://annehodgson.de/2011/08/17/communicative-aim/) - A communicative aim in a Trinity assessed class is not the same thing as a communicative aim in real life. In real life, we might communicate with each other to get something off our chest, or to check each other out, to find areas we share interests in or perhaps just to shoot the breeze
- [Job interview](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/05/job-interview/) - For the Trinity assessed lesson, my class did job interviews. I can warmly recommend the topic to other teachers who have to do a Trinity diploma or DELTA assessed lesson, especially if your class is as motivated as ours was, and job interviews are in fact on their agenda. It obviously helps to choose a
- [Grammar Guru: is to or has to?](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/19/grammar-guru-is-to-or-has-to/) - Newspapers like the New York Times are reporting that Obama wants to introduce $1.5 trillion in new taxes to help reduce the country's debt. Combined with his new $450 billion stimulus plan, he is taking a more populist approach to confronting the nation’s economic problems. He wants to call it the "Buffett Rule" for Warren
- [Varieties of English and EIL/ELF](https://annehodgson.de/2011/08/05/varieties-of-english-and-eilelf/) - Just revising for the exam, and know I won't remember much. Mark had a funny acronym for this condition: CRS, can't remember shit. Yesterday I learned quite a lot because my concentration was up, so I got some connections that I'd missed before. But this morning, I'm having trouble remembering my middle name. This was
- [Samuel L. Jackson reads "Go the F*ck to Sleep"](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/03/samuel-l-jackson-reads-go-the-fck-to-sleep/) - Samuel L. Jackson reads the book "Go the F*ck to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach. Not in my parents' generation, and not among some of my brothers' families, but I do think "what the f*ck" and other similar phrases using "the fuck" as an intensifier are very prevalent indeed even in everyday family talk. I had
- [Finish your partner's sentences](https://annehodgson.de/2011/09/08/finish-your-partners-sentences/) - I was just on Facebook to Stew when I stumbled across a video... and bingo, here's a nice task for you learners: Tell a story about something two of you did together. OK, you don't really have to have done this, ok? You can make it up - invent it. So: It should be a
- [Hola Barcelona](https://annehodgson.de/2011/08/19/hola-barcelona/) - Patricia and I made a quick video for today's lesson on the weather. Thank you, Patricia! Handout session 13 Aug 19, 2011
- [Mind Your Language](https://annehodgson.de/2011/08/14/mind-your-language/) - I'm revising for the phonology orals now, trying to focus on typical areas that learners with different mother tongues need to work on. Had some fun with this. I was wondering whether it was offensive, but have come down on the side of funny. As one reviewer puts it "Yes, they were stereotypes, and it
- [Amy Winehouse at 19](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/23/amy-winehouse-at-19/) - Amy Winehouse, dead, at 27. This was her at 19. So sad. One more for the 27 Club. Take the box - Amy Winehouse Your neighbours were screaming I don't have a key for downstairs, so I punched all the buzzers hoping you wouldn't be there So now my head's hurting You say I always
- [Kate Nash: Foundations](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/15/kate-nash/) - Kate Nash sounds Cockney, though she certainly doesn't have a working-class background. Cockney is merging into the popular Southeastern dialect now known as Estuary English. So the way she sounds is very hip. ( See audio-article on British English in German at Wikipedia.) This songwriter doesn't mince words: "What are you being a dickhead for?" she spits out.
- [Ruby's shoes, ruby shoes](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/22/rubys-shoes/) - "The Problem We All Live With" by Norman Rockwell is currently on display at the White House, just outside the president's office. It shows Ruby Bridges, the most famous of the children who in 1960, at the age of 6, walked into an all-white school and helped desegregate the schools of New Orleans. Daddy's brave
- [Goldie Hawn's MindUP](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/02/goldie-hawns-mindup/) - I find NLP and yoga are great techniques to stay grounded and to be able to tap into your inner resources. In the process of rethinking how these practices feed mindfulness and connect to learning, I've stumbled upon a great project: Goldie Hawn, is into strengthening focus in school children, running a project that came
- [Joe Jackson and learner agency](https://annehodgson.de/2011/07/06/joe-jackson/) - Joe Jackson has a new live album out, and I've just ordered it. He lives in Berlin. I found this marvellously provocative video dedicated to him by New Yorkers who want him back: This all came out of surfing around after Ann posted something about Coney Island being the target of redevelopment, and Coney Island
- [Teaching pronunciation using jazz chants](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/23/teaching-pronunciation-using-jazz-chants/) - Carol Graham trains teachers how to use jazz chants to teach pronunciation. They're great energizers and get learners speaking faster than they can think - one of the elements of fluency. I'll be doing some jazz chants in the telephoning part of a compact course next week, first giving them some jazz chant minis (see
- [Stress and Intonation](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/23/stress-and-intonation/) - These are the videos I posted on the Moodle site for students, for self-study in intonation. All are by the same online teacher, who does a really fabulous job, taking learners into the world of stress patterns with practice sentences like this: Clients get haircuts. Clients will get haircuts. His clients will get haircuts. His
- [Midnight in Paris: Discourse markers](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/22/midnight-in-paris-discourse-markers/) - Today my main task was to find examples of discourse markers in context in a movie trailer, explaining their functions in a given utterance. I chose Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen and, because it caught my imagination, transcribed and thought through more than necessary. It's fun to examine a dialogue and make what is
- [Sound wave: Owa Tana Siam](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/21/sound-wave-owa-tana-siam/) - This brilliant sketch by the late Ronnie Barker is an eye-opener - or an ear-opener! - to how we preempt meaning when we listen. I found it on Abiloon's lovely blog - full transcript there. I would use this video to raise student awareness for the way we anticipate what the speaker will say next.
- [Practice academic writing skills 1: Parallelism](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/01/practice-academic-writing-skills-1-parallelism/) - Parallelism adds elegance to your writing: Clumsy: They work with great care and effectively. Elegant: They work carefully and effectively. Clumsy: Making contacts is as important as to give a good presentation. Elegant: Making contacts is as important as giving a good presentation. Clumsy: We analyzed the extensive data, which was highly complex. Elegant: We
- [Practice academic writing skills 2: Ambiguity](https://annehodgson.de/2011/06/01/practice-academic-writing-skills-2-ambiguity/) - One of the most important elements of good writing is clarity. Unfortunately, English has a lot of potential for ambiguity, which makes it easy to write ambiguous sentences. Great for humor, of course, but not a lot of help when it comes to writing works of science! One example is the use of prepositions. Compare:
- [Trouble with your empharsis](https://annehodgson.de/2011/05/31/trouble-with-your-empharsis/) - Hat tip to Nik Peachey. A nice little video to introduce reluctant learners to the usefulness of pronunciation practice, isn't it? I'd ask students to rank the speakers according to whom they'd have most trouble communicating with.
- [M is for the movers and shakers](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/13/m-is-for-the-movers-and-shakers/) - Movers and shakers are people who initiate change and influence events, now most often applied to the rich and powerful in politics and business. The public perception of the term began after the first performance of Sir Edward Elgar's choral work The Music Makers, in 1912. The work is a setting of Arthur O'Shaughnessy's 1874
- [Forgotten Language](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/21/forgotten-language/) - Forgotten Language by Shel Silverstein Once I spoke the language of the flowers, Once I understood each word the caterpillar said, Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings, And shared a conversation with the housefly in my bed. Once I heard and answered all the questions of the crickets, And joined
- [Gil Scott-Heron: Where Did The Night Go?](https://annehodgson.de/2011/05/28/gil-scott-heron-where-did-the-night-go/) - Gil Scott Heron (1 April 1949 – 27 May 2011) - good profile on Wikipedia. Thanks to Ann Walsh for the link to this, a quieter, more personal side to the angry granddaddy of rap. Gil Scott-Heron: Where Did The Night Go? Long ago the clock washed midnight away Bringing the dawn Oh God, I
- [Weird w](https://annehodgson.de/2011/05/10/weird-w/) - I'm having a hard time with that weird phoneme, /w/. Gerald Kelly puts it in a table (Kelly 1988:7) as both bilabial - using both lips, as with /p/, /b/ and /m/ - and velar - using the back of the tongue against the soft palate, like /k/, /g/ and /ŋ/. Bilabial, yes. But velar?
- [Unplugged teacher training](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/29/unplugged-teacher-training/) - I enjoyed an interview of Anthony Gaughan by Andi White at this year's IATEFL (online), a real conversation about whether dogme is 'enough'. Andi mentions "principled ecclectivism", essentially fitting the method to the learner. Anthony responds that a good teacher should be able to operate in a wide range of ways. Though I like the
- [The Webbies](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/28/the-webbies/) - In EFL, we are just so behind. Look at the brilliant stuff that media designers and game builders and public educators and entertainers are up to, and it makes you want to weep. I have to stop surfing now, and get back to work, but it's just too cool, all of it. A very few
- [Sue Palmer](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/27/sue-palmer/) - In her IATEFL plenary on ADHD, Asperger Syndrome and dyslexia, Sue Palmer hits home: that development happens in 'biological time', and that children are missing out on essential interpersonal learning when they have less quality face time. She refers to Peter Hobson, a specialist on autism. "In this presentation, she discusses how rapid socio-cultural change,
- [Pronunciation practice for geoscientists, 1](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/07/pronunciation-practice-for-geoscientists-1/) - As she heard the bird, it occurred to her that the word she had heard was "a third", not "a turd". (ö) Let me roast my toast, then I'll head for the coast. (long o) This plot shows the cost of lost lives in a dotted line. (short o) All fall over the clover. (short
- [Learning about learners](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/09/learning-about-learners/) - In my course we're writing essays, and I summarized some recent learnings on learners. May not make for very exciting reading, but writing it all down does clear the mind of many, many cobwebs! Essay: ‘If we can train students to record their new lexis in a more useful manner, we can do a lot
- [Elisabeth Gilbert: Stern Men](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/11/elisabeth-gilbert-stern-men/) - Ruth is back after four years of boarding school, and in fact the island of her childhood is too small for her. She needs a job, and a lover would be nice, too.
- [What's going on here](https://annehodgson.de/2011/04/05/whats-going-on-here/) - This word map summarizes recent Island Weekly posts, in case you were wondering, and shows my current academic preocupations. With essays, the diploma course forum and the teacher's diary being obligatory, it's a little quiet around these parts, frankly.
- [Learning or using English?](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/28/learning-or-using-english/) - What English course settings might a student in Germany experience? Evan Frendo's professional development session at ELTABB cleared the cobwebs on CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), a relatively new concept at the primary and secondary school level. I know it well from my own school days at The German School in Washington. Going through
- [Communicating science across fields](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/21/communicating-science-across-fields/) - Today I gave a class to PhD candidates on the challenge of communicating science to a broader audience without dumbing down. First I did a mixer where each member chose a word from their research, something that was challenging them or very much on their mind. I told them that "intelligibility" was on mine, and
- [ELF in the news](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/11/elf-in-the-news/) - I've been listening to Al Jazeera all day as the reports come in about the horrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan, 8.9 on the Richter scale, a 7 on the Japanese scale. The Japanese people are being so courageous. Thinking of them. Anyway, as I listen, it strikes me: There's been a lot of talk
- [Lee Holtz communicates science](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/20/lee-holtz/) - I'm delighted to be teaching a workshop geared to communicating science this week. Watch Lee Holtz and decide: What is his profession, and who exactly is his main audience: scientists? reviewers policy makers? the general public? What makes you think so? You'll find the answer in this blog.
- [Technology in teaching](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/10/technology-in-teaching/) - On my Trinity DiplTESOL course we write essays, and they're helpful to think things through. Here's a long one I wrote about using technology in class. It's based on my experience and is related to a talk I gave last November at BESIG, which in turn grew out of the ELTAS TechToolsDay. Louise Kennedy has
- [AnswerGarden: Spring](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/07/answergarden-spring/) - at AnswerGarden.ch.
- [Putting my brain back in](https://annehodgson.de/2011/03/04/putting-my-brain-back-in/) - Bringing together experience and theory at my old age causes all sorts of complications. Designing research of any kind to answer a question means you first need to figure out what exactly your data is going to be. What can you observe? How can you measure it? What tools can you use? What model looks
- [Observation](https://annehodgson.de/2011/02/11/observation/) - I'm looking for teachers who will be kind enough to let me observe them as a part of my diploma course. What I am supposed to do is design an observation tool, use it in class to observe teachers, and then inprove it. So the focus is not on evaluating your teaching, it's on practicing
- [Cure: Close to me](https://annehodgson.de/2011/02/06/cure-close-to-me/) - On and on about stress and anxiety and dealing with it: This is still an unbelievable video, the Cure falling off a cliff in a wardrobe. Chris mentioned it on his blog in a comment on how having limited resources increases creativity. Can you use this to teach English? Of course. But teaching in the
- [Khaled Hosseini: A Thousand Splendid Suns](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/28/khaled-hosseini-a-thousand-splendid-suns/) - When I first opened this book and started reading in the middle, there was so much brutality that I thought, no, there is no way I'm going to read this. But then I started properly at the beginning, and I fell in love with it from page to page.
- [Proverbs by first-graders](https://annehodgson.de/2011/02/08/proverbs-by-first-graders/) - First-graders were asked to complete well-known proverbs. This is what they came up with. (Thank you, Joan, for the giggles.) Don't change horses... until they stop running. Strike while the... bug is close. It's always darkest before... Daylight Saving Time. Never underestimate the power of... termites. You can lead a horse to water but... how?
- [Reading](https://annehodgson.de/2011/02/03/reading/) - The books for the diploma course have arrived, and what am I doing? After flipping through them, I go online to find lectures the authors have given. For example, I watched Stephen Pinker on Authors@Google talk about why we use swearwords. (This was to promote his book, The Stuff of Thought.) I'm procrastinating the inevitable,
- [Great expectations](https://annehodgson.de/2011/01/26/great-expectations/) - I got some great mentoring and advice from Andi White, Evan Frendo (whose professional development group at ELTABB I've joined) and Vivienne Arnold, and have decided to take the plunge and do the Trinity Diploma in TESOL. After an initial talk with Duncan Foord, I've just had my interview with Nicola Meldrum, and am very
- [First names? Last names? No names?](https://annehodgson.de/2011/01/20/first-names-last-names-no-names/) - I'm just roughing out something on how students and professors/ lecturers at college talk to each other, and am using the VOICE and MICASE online academic corpora for guidance. Dialogues will hardly contain the names of the two partners. You won't necesessarily need to use the name of the person when you first address them.
- [Refocussing with the BCG Matrix](https://annehodgson.de/2011/01/11/refocussing-with-the-bcg-matrix/) - I've given up one of my very favorite jobs, writing for Spotlight. It was a very sudden decision. I was spending too much time on each article and found that my love of writing was keeping me from dedicating enough time to teaching, which is my essential profession, to which writing is ancillary. It forms
- [BESIG 2010: Tools for tasks in blended learning](https://annehodgson.de/2010/12/09/besig-2010-tools-for-tasks-in-blended-learning/) - I gave a talk at BESIG that was originally supposed to be about creating suites of online tasks with the cool tools available online, much as suggested by the great gurus in the field like Nik Peachey. But I found as the date came closer that I felt uncomfortable dropping task suites on students, because
- [Break](https://annehodgson.de/2010/11/11/break/) - No blog until the new year. Bye!
- [Documenting takeaways on a flipchart](https://annehodgson.de/2010/11/07/documenting-takeaways-on-a-flipchart/) - Last week I experimented with glueing paper onto a flipchart. As we progressed they drew pictures and I wrote up cards as props to hold and tell stories or explain concepts. Glueing the cards in place was the last step, defining what they were supposed to take away. Then we flipped back through in sequence
- [The BE/ESP Blog Carnival ](https://annehodgson.de/2010/11/02/the-beesp-blog-carnival/) - photo: S. Hofschlaeger / pixelio.de This roundup of blog posts written by BE/ESP teachers, teacher trainers and materials writers includes personal professional blogs and regular or guest posts for a magazine or publisher. Written for two separate target groups, viz. learners vs. peers, their purpose varies widely: to reflect on personal development to share materials
- [Simplicity: Flipchart rather than pinboard](https://annehodgson.de/2010/10/28/simplicity-flipchart-rather-than-pinboard/) - In compact business seminars, the kind where the participants expect and get a full script to take home (so much for unplugged!), I usually use cards and a pinboard to collect, sort and focus the participants' ideas. But you can drive a good thing into the ground. The act of pinning the card is a
- [Dogme - Schmogme](https://annehodgson.de/2010/10/21/dogme-schmogme/) - Karenne Syvester's "Dogme challenge 1+2", infused by Candy van Olst's "CELTA -Schmelta", dampened by yesterday's "Failwhale" #Edchat, refreshed by Jeremy Harmer's "No Dogme for EFL" combine to inspire this friendly response, the title an obvious take-off. So Dogme means "emergent" and "co-constructed learning" on the one hand, and "essential bareness" on the other. It has
- [Goodbye](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/22/goodbye/) - The weather didn't make our goodbyes any easier. Until we meet again.
- [Scrap](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/20/scrap/) - Moving means looking at your own material culture. For me, the biggest change after ten years is the number and kind of books I brought with me, compared to the ones I'll be taking to Potsdam. Almost all of my art books are making the move, big, heavy, beautiful tomes that let me travel through
- [Coming up: A Business English/ ESP blog carnival](https://annehodgson.de/2010/08/05/coming-up-a-business-english-esp-blog-carnival/) - As announced by Larry Ferlazzo, coming up on 1 November, there'll be a blog carnival – that is, a round-up of posts submitted by bloggers for the purpose – dedicated to the teaching of Business English and English for Special Purposes, here on this blog. If you're a blogger, please use this form to submit
- [Question: How do two of the things you do compare?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/06/question-how-do-two-of-the-things-you-do-compare/) - We generally have more than one kind of task to do at work or at college. For instance, we might need to write up our research and then make a presentation, which are two entirely different kettles of fish ("2 versch. Töpfe mit Fischen" = 2 Paar Stiefel). Or we might need to manage a
- [For teachers only: Vocabulary](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/19/for-teachers-only-vocabulary/) - Yesterday I ran a workshop for English teachers at VW in Wolfsburg who are having trouble adapting the coursebook they are using for their mixed level courses. Before they get started on the given tasks, they have to pre-teach the more challenging vocabulary. The coursebook comes with great texts that can be exploited, along with
- [For teachers only: One to one](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/17/for-teachers-only-one-to-one/) - In a workshop that I've given for Cornelsen (and will be giving again on Friday) to promote a book on one-to-one teaching, I invite English teachers to formulate questions. Teachers at MELTA asked these questions last Saturday, and I've sorted them into three groups: 1. My role as the teacher vis a vis the student
- [Net neutrality](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/23/net-neutrality/) - It's not always easy to follow the bureaucrats, but Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined actions he says the FCC must take to preserve the free and open Internet. The FCC’s existing case-by-case enforcement of communications law is already guided by four open Internet principles that say that consumers must be able to
- [Question: What new services do we need?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/18/question-what-new-services-do-we-need/) - Last week I was getting a class ready to go to "Seven Days in the Life of Simon Labrosse", a play being presented by the BeMe Theatre. It's about a guy who has been unemployed and is trying to break back into the market (and into life, really) by inventing new and intriguing services: "emotional
- [Grammar guru: change jobs/ change the job?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/04/grammar-guru-change-jobs-change-the-job/) - Thanks to Markus' very kind recommendation on Der Englisch Blog, last week's Grammar guru question went off like a rocket: What's the best alternative to "You don't really need to register for the event"? "You don't necessarily have to register for the event." (86%, 36 Votes) "You mustn't register for the event." (14%, 6 Votes)
- [One-upmanship](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/16/one-upmanship/) - Just rereading a chapter in Peter Wilberg's great book, One to One, entitled "Your basic attitude - one-upmanship?" Is this you?
- [Agile one to one. Progress, step by step](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/26/agile-one-to-one-progress-step-by-step/) - This is how I teach. Aiming too high can cause negative stress. I've learned to break learning down into small, productive, rewarding steps. I was thrilled and very priviledged to be sponsored by Cornelsen to present this at BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group, in Poznan last weekend. It was a great event. This
- [Goodbye to "one best way" solutions](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/22/goodbye-to-one-best-way-solutions/) - Marvin Minsky of the MIT Media Lab and MIT AI Lab has a very pragmatic approach to robotic engineering and artificial intelligence based on systematic redundancy. "I've never seen any mechanical device that actually shows any thought about reliability," he says (4:40) and goes on to explain his approach (from 4:45): "My theory is that
- [Pigeon: Impossible](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/22/pigeon-impossible/) - Pigeon Impossible, the silent animated film by Lucas Martell released on 9 November that took 4 years to make, passed the 1 million views mark on YouTube after less than 2 weeks online. The film is set in the neighborhood of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., where two of my nieces and I
- [The challenge of compacts](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/01/the-challenge-of-compacts/) - My last two-day compact for PAs didn't go quite as well as they usually do, leaving me pondering what went wrong. As I'm teaching quite a number of similar ones in the upcoming weeks, I need to pause and think things through in depth, because I want the next ones to go better. The conditions
- [Grammar Guru: Similar, but different: appointment, date, meeting](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/08/grammar-guru-similar-but-different-appointment-date-meeting/) - They're similar, but different: * meeting * appointment * date Can you schedule a/an _________________ for the project team? ɯɐǝʇ ɐ ɥʇıʍ ƃuıʇǝǝɯ ɐ ǝlnpǝɥɔs I want to make a/an ___________________ with Mr Hoss to discuss the CERT project. ǝuoǝɯos ɥʇıʍ ʇuǝɯʇuıoddɐ uɐ ǝʞɐɯ Can we fix a/an ______________________ for the next meeting? ʇuǝʌǝ ʎuɐ
- [Will the real Anne Hodgson please stand up?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/09/01/will-the-real-anne-hodgson-please-stand-up/) - Ken Wilson challenged me to write something about the many Anne Hodgsons I've come across online. There are hundreds of us. It's like being a Mary Smith or Hans Müller. When I first joined Facebook, an Anne Hodgson "friended" me and immediately wanted to play some social game. She had a longish list of Facebook-friends,
- [While pornography treated flowers, emptiness remained as little as possible](https://annehodgson.de/2010/08/27/pornography-treated-flowers-emptiness-remained-as-little-as-possible/) - I'm doing what I never do, thinking about furniture and housewifey things, which is kind of a nice break. I've always liked art history, so I'm reading up on German design through the ages. The stinger so far was this online description of Biedermeier on a Russian website: Biedermeier style, brought to the bourgeois world
- [My dad](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/08/my-dad/) - My dad died 15 years ago yesterday. He came down with Parkinson and diabetes just as I was finishing school in 1981. That very long summer, from May to September, I got a job at the company he'd begun working for a few years earlier, a big computer consultancy, and had the fun of commuting
- [Heartbroken](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/28/heartbroken/) - Well, our favorite didn't work out because it was too small for guests and I would have had to explain to the tax office what our clothes and bed and washing machine and kitchen and dining area were doing in something officially declared office space. But the worst part was still to come: I fell
- [Grammar Guru: for or since?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/12/grammar-guru-for-or-since/) - I've known Theo _______ 5 years. Is it for or since? Easy: I've known him for a long time, it seems. I've known him since he showed me his collection of old records and we discovered that we share a hobby. Incorrect: I know him for a long time -> I've known him for a
- [Looking part 2](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/23/looking-part-2/) - Graffitti has many faces here. Should Helmut be here? He loves it. Yesterday we had a huge "small" breakfast for 4 euros in a really funky café with nice music and people sitting around playing board games, where we opened our office and sat for hours, getting our appointments set up. We looked at about
- [Looking for an apartment in Berlin](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/22/looking-for-an-apartment-in-berlin/) - We're looking for a new place to live and work. Today we saw the first place that was love at first sight. It's in Friedrichshain, which is hopping, not too far from where Helmut works, and we can get to by subway. The place itself is a split-level apartment out back. The graffiti outside on
- [Worldcup final ](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/11/worldcup-final/) - I didn't really mind who won, as none of my favorite players were involved. I tended towards Spain because the Barca players have such longstanding friendships, which I think is really cool, and I think it's very sexy when men can sense what other guys around them are about to do. Go ahead and groan.
- [Surfing Munich](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/09/surfing-munich/) - Chris requested a post on surfing in Munich yesterday. He's heard of the Eisbach, the "ice creek" canal alongside the Isar River, and its "Welle" near Haus der Kunst, in the English Garden. Lie by the banks of the Eisbach in the sun and it's a narrow channel indeed, but jump in and it's a
- [True confessions of a miserable teacher](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/08/true-confessions-of-a-miserable-teacher/) - I've had two classes that went completely wrong and taught me a lesson for life. Both were with teen classes where I was substituting for just that session. They were years apart. Since I'd run a teen after-school program that was rewarding for everyone involved, and had experience teaching (and reaching) adults, as well as
- [Grammar Guru: until or by?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/29/grammar-guru-until-or-by/) - You're going camping and want to borrow a friend's tent over the weekend. So you say: "Could I have it ______ Friday afternoon? We're leaving on Friday after work." Until or by? Until means from now until then. By, used for deadlines, means not later than then. By... at the latest! Imagine: If you said
- [Writing: Getting started](https://annehodgson.de/2010/07/01/writing-getting-started/) - A business English student of mine is getting into writing on his Ning and blog (yeah!), and I sent him these exercises to get him started. Freewriting This is an exercise in overcoming writers block and allows you to brainstorm. It's also a great way to avoid translating or focussing too narrowly on issues of
- [Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/30/bobbie-gentry-ode-to-billie-joe/) - A novel of a song (1967) by Mississippi songwriter Bobbie Gentry, contrasting the tragedy of suicide with banal everyday talk round the kitchen table. It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay And at dinner time we stopped and walked back
- [Remember Reagan? Seriosity plus humor](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/21/remember-reagan-seriosity-plus-humor/) - He was called "The great communicator". At the time I wasn't willing to listen to any of his speeches, because he was at the opposite end of the political spectrum, and I was out in the streets demonstrating against cruise missiles, Star Wars and all that. But I was just reading Vicki Hollett's very interesting
- [Grammar Guru: Nice meeting you/ Nice to meet you](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/20/grammar-guru-nice-meeting-you-nice-to-meet-you/) - Which of these two is correct? We say "Nice to meet you" when we meet someone for the first time, and "Nice meeting you" when we then say goodbye. "Nice meeting you" when we meet someone for the first time, and "Nice to meet you" when we then say goodbye. ˙noʎ ʇǝǝɯ oʇ ǝɔıu (s,ʇı)
- [Uwe Lena: Schland u Schland](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/16/uwe-lena-schland-u-schland/) - Und diese Woche lernen wir eben kein Englisch :-) The Island Weekly is on strike. Great links for strikebreakers on Sue's blog. May the best team win! PS: Ok, ok, Schland u Schland story in English for my English-speaking friends: Student prank becomes football's new favorite hymn lied der woche :-) wir lernen eben kein
- [Beatles: All you need is love](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/15/beatles-all-you-need-is-love/) - We talked love and the joy of committment being a vital source of energy for anything you want to do.
- [Kleiner, uralter Gott - Ancient little god](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/29/kleiner-uralter-gott-ancient-little-god/) - In a week we'll be burying my mother's ashes on Drummond. We've decided to read some of her poems, with a translation into English. She published a volume of them in the Wilhelm Andermann Verlag in Vienna in 1944 when she was 21; a miracle, since paper was so rare towards the end of the
- [Recipe For Happiness](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/22/recipe-for-happiness/) - Recipe For Happiness Khaborovsk Or Anyplace by Lawrence Ferlinghetti One grand boulevard with trees with one grand cafe in sun with strong black coffee in very small cups. One not necessarily very beautiful man or woman who loves you. One fine day. I wonder about the meaning of the last line. What do you think:
- [The Tallest Man on Earth](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/03/the-tallest-man-on-earth/) - So you see, The Tallest Man on Earth, Kristian Matsson, isn't tall at all. Swedes. Experts at dealing with bad weather. I love the way he says "daisssies" and "rossses". Naked emotion: The Tallest Man on Earth - Graceland (Paul Simon Cover) b-side single, not on album As a non-native songwriter, he uses recognizeable chunks
- [Irony and playfulness](https://annehodgson.de/2010/06/02/irony-and-playfulness/) - Just reacting to a tweet by Nergiz (about someone else) made me realize that my self-deprecating self-referential language – "grammar guru" and "method blogger" – could be taken at face value. Oops. Needless to say, I am neither a (grammar or any other kind of) guru, nor a method actor. I frankly wouldn't know what
- [#hiddengems](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/24/hiddengems/) - Darren Elliot gave us homework: Go to your favorite blogs and dig out #hiddengems for the world to see. Mike Harrison has passed this on to me - an honor, thank you very much - and to simplify things I limited myself to posts: written by EFL teachers and related to teaching but not among
- [Celebrating language blogs](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/30/celebrating-language-blogs/) - It's been a rather self-referential month in the "teaching English as a foreign language" blogosphere. I'm extremely honored to be listed by Babla and Lexiofiles among the top 100 language blogs. They put in an enormous and much appreciated amount of work. Frankly, being in that list comes as a huge surprise, considering the players
- [Angelus](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/05/angelus/) - Gertrud Berninger (written ca. 1943-5) Das Kinderzimmer gelb und blau, der Mann im Mond, die Nebelfrau und rosenrote Tapeten; zubettegehn beim Angelus den jeder Christ beten muß, den frühen und den späten. Den frühen und den späten: er ruft nicht einen Jeden, das haben wir gelernt. Die Nacht war mit Kometen, mit Glanz und Glück
- [#hiddengems part 2](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/25/hiddengems-part-2/) - I'm doing this #hiddengems homework - digging for gold in the archives of teacher blogs - in parts. Here are two more: Karenne Sylvester wrote about disappointment as a topic for an EFL lesson in "Life is no bed of roses", building around student input. An excellent business English lesson for managers. I'd update the
- [Grammar Guru: I asked her how much...](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/25/grammar-guru-i-asked-her-how-much/) - "How much do I need to pay?" I asked her how much... do I need to pay. did I need to pay. I need to pay. I needed to pay. This is reported speech and a quoted, or indirect, question. Two rules apply: Make the verb match the tense of the reporting verb, "asked" (change
- [Bettye LaVette: Love Reign](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/21/bettye-lavette-love-reign/) - Bettye LaVette is publishing her new album 'Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook' on 25 May (itunes). It includes her wonderful performance of the Who's "Love Reign" in 2008 - just watch Pete Townshend with tears in his eyes: Only love Can make it rain The way the beach is kissed by the sea Only love
- [My six jobs before becoming a teacher](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/23/my-six-jobs-before-becoming-a-teacher/) - Lindsay Clandfield on his lovely "Six Things" blog has invited us to think back to six jobs we held before becoming a teacher. Good question! None of the English teachers I know have had a straight career. Something drives us to do this crazy job, opening up to anyone and everyone as we support them
- [Podcasts are better than lectures](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/10/podcasts-are-better-than-lectures/) - Students have been handed another excuse to skip class from an unusual quarter. New psychological research suggests that university students who download a podcast lecture achieve substantially higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person. Podcasted lectures offer students the chance to replay difficult parts of a lecture and therefore take better
- [Martin Dougiamas, father of Moodle](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/31/martin-dougiamas-father-of-moodle/) - Great interview with Martin Dougiamas, father of Moodle, at Moodlemoot in Bamberg: "Moodle is really a system of control. The web 2.0 is very much about complete freedom and openness and lack of privacy. And Moodle is obviously oriented to what institutions care about, which is about walls and protected spaces, and this just allows
- [Falling from Grace](https://annehodgson.de/2008/01/07/good-intentions/) - One of the projects that has inspired me over the years is Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child.
- [Moodling through](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/26/moodling-through/) - It's been a year and a half now since I first started thinking about online learning.
- [GEZ, GEMA and the art of freelance training](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/17/gez/) - Good news for freelancers: We don't have to pay extra GEZ for our office computer. Since computers are multimedia devices, GEZ originally wanted to charge the fee levied for the use of radios and TVs on computers. The decision passed down two days ago has stopped that. But wait... Bad news for freelance English teachers:
- [Paying for Web 2.0, part 1](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/11/paying-for-web-20-part-1/) - Steve Hargadon, the man who was the consultant to the social networking service Ning in Education, is out of his paid job due to the economic downturn. (See his blogpost Thanks, Ning.) I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have taken this great service for granted, to the extent that I didn't use it nearly
- [Dalango](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/12/dalango/) - A star is born. Dalango is a brand-new web-based series of language courses (English, Business English, Spanish). 1/2 a year in the works, a major investment (so they say), Spotlight Verlag inside expertise and cool young dudes and gals bringing in new media ideas, some 300 minutes worth of good videos based on great scripts,
- [Nick Peachey on video ](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/21/nick-peachey-on-video/) - One of my favorite educators in the blogosphere has posted a series about online video and what it has to offer teachers and learners: Find out about free video editing software YouTube for IWBs with PicLens Free Educational TV Channels Open source video animation News Videos for EFL ESL Materials Design Things You Can Do
- [Wijng](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/29/wijng/) - Wijng is an emerging online platform for learning English, and currently it's free. I've looked at a few of the units, including one on skiffle, that nice music of the 50s, and here are a few thoughts: The makers of this platform are taking existing videos, e.g. on YouTube. These are not skripted or specifically
- [Moodle](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/27/moodle/) - For over a year now my dear host Christian has put up with my Moodle platform. You'll remember, I ran a few courses on it and did something for the LMU and for the VHS, and I was intending to run a train-the-trainer session for MELTA. But being hacked has come as a shock and
- [Webinar](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/15/webinar/) - I took part in my very first ever "webinar" today at http://live.classroom20.com, and just the experience of working with the conferencing interface brought home to me how very different a remote live online session is. Granted, it was great to hear and read what the other participants were saying. My mind, my eyes and my
- [Moodle for multiple choice](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/23/moodle-for-multiple-choice/) - Using ICT for communication in teaching is great, and it's what hooked me to adopting technology as a professional focus. It's the "personal" quality of Web 2.0 tools that opens up new kinds of learning. But systems really shine when they are allowed to be, well, systems. In teaching they need to be well-designed to
- [Take a walk on the wild side](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/26/take-a-walk-on-the-wild-side/) - Chris sent me a very nice, loungy, beatbox take on the Lou Reed classic by Toktoktok that had me umpty umptying around the kitchen. Thank you! My curiosity raised, I started surfing to see who else has covered this. My favorite is by the unbelievably good The Strokes. Did they ever record this, does anyone
- [The economy of gaming](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/15/the-economy-of-gaming/) - Jesse Schell, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, presented "Design Outside the Box" at the DICE Summit 2010, held February 17-19, hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. I found it through Ze Frank. First Schell explains how the new generation of online games work. He explains how surprised game designers are that non-traditional
- [Grammar Guru: Must or has got to?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/15/grammar-guru-must-or-has-got-to/) - This week's question is one of business register. From an order form: "Please note that payment for food platters ___________ be received in advance." Must or has got to? How would you say the same thing to a customer?
- [Melissa Laveaux: Scissors + Evil](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/13/melissa-laveaux-scissors/) - This mesmerizing singer-songwriter from Canada is just travelling through Europe. Here's the first song on her wonderful 2009 album, Camphor and Copper. I've included the lyrics from the booklet and added the additional third verse she sings here. If you hear different words than I did, please correct them. She's easier to understand on the
- [Lexicophiles Top 100 Language Blogs](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/14/lexicophiles-top-100-language-blogs/) - Some very kind reader has nominated the undeserving Island Weekly in the Lexicophiles Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 in the category for Language Teaching. Thank you, bless you, light of my life, and may you live forever, as they say in the best fairy tales. These friendly annual nominations are very kind pats on the
- [Grammar Guru: Mother's Day or Mothers' Day?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/09/grammar-guru-mothers-day-or-mothers-day/) - What do we say ... and why: Mother's Day or Mothers' Day? Is it the same or different in the other languages you know? Here are some great ideas for thinking about this holiday in an English class. Sean Banville has a nice holiday lesson on it.
- [America 100 years ago on film](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/07/america-100-years-ago-on-film/) - The Library of Congress a few days ago uploaded a playlist to its YouTube channel entitled America at Work, America at Leisure, containing 150 motion pictures from 1894 to 1915. "Highlights include films of the United States Postal Service from 1903, cattle breeding, fire fighters, ice manufacturing, logging, calisthenic and gymnastic exercises in schools, amusement
- [Jimmie Cliff: Sitting here in limbo](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/05/jimmie-cliff-sitting-here-in-limbo/) - My big brother Larry first played me Jimmy Cliff in 1974 after watching The Harder They Come, the movie whose soundtrack introduced so many people to reggae. His taste in music has certainly educated mine. I'm thinking of him and the situation of being in limbo in between life phases, even as we go about
- [It’s worth keeping an eye on this blog](https://annehodgson.de/2010/05/02/it’s-worth-keeping-an-eye-on-this-blog/) - Janet Biancini and Mike Harrison, two excellent bloggers and paedagogical tinkerers like myself, have to my delight included me in their lists of 10 blogs "worth keeping an eye on", an initiative originating as "Vale a pena ficar de olho nesse blog". Thank you! Now I am to continue the chain by naming 10 more
- [Natalie Merchant/ Leave Your Sleep: The Man In The Wilderness](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/30/natalie-merchant-leave-your-sleep-the-man-in-the-wilderness/) - Absolutely beautiful: The title of Natalie Merchant's new album Leave Your Sleep is taken from a Mother Goose rhyme: "Girls and boys, come out to play, The moon doth shine as bright as day; Leave your supper, and leave your sleep, and come with your playfellows into the street." In the booklet that introduces the
- [She & Him: You really got a hold on me](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/13/she-him-you-really-got-a-hold-on-me/) - What a pretty interpretation of the Beatles' classic, by She & Him. I don't like you But I love you Seems that I'm always Thinkin' of you Oh, ho, ho, you treat me badly I love you madly You've really got a hold on me (You really got a hold on me) You really got
- [Seebock](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/19/seebock/) - It's spring. Deep breath. Smile. On Sunday we built up the catamaran, our Dart 18, the Seebock. It's now sitting down by the beautiful Ammersee, ready to go. Looks good, but could use a new trampoline and some lines. The water was 7.5 degrees centigrade, brrrr, so we decided to go and have potato-leek soup
- [Grammar Guru: Needs to be done, or needs being done?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/25/grammar-guru-needs-to-be-done-or-needs-being-done/) - You can say "This laptop needs repairs" and, very elegant: "This laptop needs repairing." But which of these two is correct: "This laptop needs to be repaired." "This laptop needs being repaired." Yes, unfortunately I've worked my poor laptop so hard that it's got several hardware problems now. One key sometimes doesn't work (the 9),
- [Grammar Guru: Referring to general knowledge](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/19/grammar-guru-referring-to-general-knowledge/) - How do you refer to general knowledge? "_____________ flights all over Europe are cancelled because of the volcano." They say Something tells me One says Related news: Lufthansa is reportedly going to try to sue the German government for damages. John Cleese is alleged to have spent thousands to get from Oslo to Brussels... by
- [Grammar Guru: _______ verbs](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/11/grammar-guru-________-verbs/) - Ok, this guy's knocked out some teeth here: Danny Granger, American professional basketball player for the NBA's Indiana Pacers, famously knocked out his two front teeth in a victorious game against the Boston Celtics on 1 November 2008. You can say both of these: He knocked out two teeth. He knocked two teeth out. But
- [Feed the grammar guru](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/10/feed-the-grammar-guru/) - My favorite quote so far at IATEFL: "Do not teach things that are wrong." That's Dave Willis. And as he proves in this talk held before a room full of English teachers, it's easier said than done. We often enough do teach total malarkey, namely as soon as we teach prescriptive grammar rules that don't
- [Let down](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/09/let-down/) - The "professional development" event I was looking forward to has just been cancelled. Such a let down. The trainers needed 15 paying participants. Just 15! MELTA has about 300 members, and non-members were also invited, yet 275 Euros for three days was too much for them. Isn't that sad? Why won't freelance English teachers invest
- [Paedagogical tinkering](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/08/paedagogical-tinkering/) - Tessa Woodward used a beautiful phrase in her plenary talk at IATEFL, "paedagogical tinkering". What a great phrase! I'm a tinkerer myself (and have blogged about tinkering, too.) But what strikes me about this: She put "tinkering" in the context, not of fooling around and trying stuff out, willy-nilly, but of proper professional development, of
- [Grammar Guru: I'm used to...](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/13/grammar-guru-im-used-to/) - Last week the Grammar Guru poll result was I'm looking forward to seeing you = 4 I'm looking forward to see you = 2 The majority got it right.The other choice is an error. This week's poll is also about a typical error. For a good way to practice the correct phrase, see http://annehodgson.de/2008/10/28/im-looking-forward-to-hearing-from-you But
- [Grammar Guru: Look ____!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/06/grammar-guru-look-____/) - What do you say when you call out a warning? An essential phrase, don't you think? Now, Lily Munster (Yvonne DeCarlo) sings the southern traditional "He's Gone Away", which uses another phrasal verb, "look _____!", which is completely useless outside the realm of songs like this one, and "Dixie": He's Gone Away traditional He's gone
- [Grammar Guru: Ugh, renovation!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/06/grammar-guru-ugh-renovation/) - I hate renovating, and try to avoid it every year. So both of these options are nothing I'd look forward to. But they might be necessary. Which one uses correct grammar? If we were to renovate our flat, I'd have to take a week off. If we would renovate our flat, I'd have to take
- [Grammar Guru: Allergic against/ on/ to pollen](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/07/grammar-guru-allergic-against-on-to-pollen/) - I'm allergic _____ pollen. (against, on or to?) Sniff! Sneeze! Cough! When you have a cold, how can you tell whether it's a virus or an allergy?
- [Halleluja](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/04/halleluja/) - First of all, just to make one thing clear: I don't go to church, and I simply can't believe that Christ died for me and then came back from the dead and took the invisible elevator to a place called heaven. That said, I love my Christian heritage, I love the words of the bible
- [The Learning Funnel](https://annehodgson.de/2010/04/01/the-learning-funnel/) - The latest innovation in learning: The Learning Funnel Designed for sidesleepers, the funnel is mounted gently on your ear to allow knowledge to drip into your mind as your sleep. Just fill from that fountain of knowledge, the internet, before you go to bed for a full night's learning. Get one for yourself, and one
- [Grammar Guru: Oops!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/30/grammar-guru-oops/) - What do you say instead of "oops!" ? * There appears to have been some sort of mistake. * There appears to have been made some sort of mistake. * There appears some sort of mistake has been made. This is the silliest song Ella and Louis ever sang together, but it's great singing on
- [Right-wing hate moves into the mainstream](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/27/right-wing-hate-moves-into-the-mainstream/) - The violence against elected officials by hate groups in the USA this past week was a real shocker. Racism and homophobia are penetrating into the mainstream. "Rage on the Right" is certainly nothing new, it's long been a part of the right-wing militia movement, the militant wing of the "patriot movement" who say they are
- [WWF Earth Hour ](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/26/wwf-earth-hour/) - Tomorrow, Saturday, 8:30pm your local time, turn off the lights for an hour. Quiet time. Thinking time. Talking time. Or party time, whatever tickles your fancy. I've brought home two lovely candles for it. Earth Hour is an initiative by WWF. The local lights out? FC Bayern München will play VfB Stuttgart and then it'll
- [All the news of home just gives you the blues](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/25/all-the-news-of-home-just-gives-you-the-blues/) - WTF? "Senate Republicans succeeded early Thursday in forcing a change in a measure altering President Barack Obama’s newly enacted health care overhaul, meaning the bill will have to return to the House for final congressional approval." How is that possible? It's enacted. Something that is signed into law IS law. I just don't get it.
- [Grammar Guru: Fish – it or them?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/24/grammar-guru-fish-–-it-or-them/) - "I'm thinking about what to make for our dinner party. How about having fish?" "Nice! We could serve ______ as the main course." It or them? And why?
- [Girl games](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/20/girl-games/) - Today I'm very honored to be a visiting blogger on Chris Adam's Bits 'n Bob's Show 'n Tell, as part of his Mirror Posts/ Through the Looking Glass series. A post in his great San Francisco blog about a very surrealistic art show, "Altered Barbie", leading to an equally surrealistic day, set my imagination off.
- [Spring fashion: Alice style featurette](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/13/spring-fashion-alice-style-featurette/) - Alice in Wonderland has a sumptuous look. After Snowgeddon, spring will be a blooming affair, so this stuff will surely go into it. An interview with costume designer Coleen Atwood has good language if you like talking about clothes. Words, in order of appearance: costume designer, put it on, second fitting, coat, layers, silk, shear,
- [Grammar Guru: Stop ...!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/15/grammar-guru-stop/) - One of my dear students is having trouble with the difference between stop to do something and stop doing something. I used to use that Talking Heads film title to pound it into people (oh, you pound people too?? Nasty laughs.) But Lady Gaga is more up to date, and her "Telephone" is hot. No,
- [Altering Alice](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/14/altering-alice/) - This editing game is more 'focussed practice' than 'game': Copy the paragraph into "Comments" and change one word. A word may need to be replaced by two words (or several words may have to change together). Make every version meaningful. If someone ahead of you has made a change that you think requires another word
- [Expanding Alice](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/12/expanding-alice/) - Come play a game: Copy and paste the last version of the sentence into "Comments" and add a word or phrase to expand the sentence. You can also start a new sentence. Make each version meaningful. Don't delete anything anyone else has written. Alice in Wonderland. Alice was in Wonderland.
- [Avril Lavigne: Alice (Underground)](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/11/avril-lavigne-alice-underground/) - The magic of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland: All that wild "eat me", "drink me" growing and shrinking. Mind-bending, awareness-raising, full of wonder, essential. Alice is entertained, but completely unphased: "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" she says, and lands back in the safety of happy summmer days. In Through the Looking Glass she
- [Kathryn Bigelow](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/08/kathryn-bigelow/) - The Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker won best picture on Sunday at the Oscars, and Kathryn Bigelow won best director. Kathryn Bigelow on filming her character studies: "Hurt Locker's about humanity. It's about friendship and comeraderie in an absolutely hellish environment, and I think that's universal, that's not necessarily gender specific. I'm making a
- [Room full of testosterone](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/10/room-full-of-testosterone/) - Looking for sitcom scenes for a grammar exercise on reported speech (yeah, really), I wound up spending the morning watching selections from "Two and a Half Men". Didn’t find a scene that works perfectly for that purpose, perhaps because they’re all so good it’s hard to cut them short. The scene I'm using – it's
- [OK Go: This Too Shall Pass](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/05/ok-go-this-too-shall-pass/) - The new OK Go video doesn't have them dancing. Instead, it's all a fantastic machine of falling dominoes and rolling marbles and levers moving handles to open latches, tipping seesaws that release springs to shoot balls into the air that, falling, trigger further chain reactions, like water running through tubes and pouring into vessels that
- [The Onion Radio: Rules Grammar Change](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/02/the-onion-radio-rules-grammar-change/) - Nonsense rules!
- [Second graders](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/04/second-graders/) - Joan sent me a presentation with quotes from German second graders. Most of them are mondegreens that won't work in English, but I've translated some of the others into English for fun: Garden gnomes have red hats so they don't get mowed down. Men can't get married to men because then who would wear the
- [Joni Mitchell: Night ride home](https://annehodgson.de/2010/03/03/joni-mitchell-night-ride-home/) - Joni Mitchell: Night ride home Once in a while In a big blue moon There comes a night like this Like some surrealist Invented this 4th of July Night ride home Hula girls And caterpillar tractors in the sand The ukulele man The fireworks This 4th of July Night ride home I love the man
- [Grammar Guru: Watching an old film on TV](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/28/grammar-guru-watching-an-old-film-on-tv/) - You watch an old film on TV for the first time. Afterwards, what do you say? "This is the first time I see this film." You use the present tense because it's true now. "This is the first time I saw this film." You use the past tense because the film is over. "This is
- [Shearwater: Golden Archipelago](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/25/shearwater-golden-archipelago/) - Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater started out as a natural scientist and has reworked his travels into a very interesting concept album (and media package) on remote islands. He says he first thought he should become a scientist. "But I kept noticing that the questions that most interested me are things you can't really investigate with
- [My Brightest Diamond](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/26/my-brightest-diamond/) - Shara Worden, aka My Brightest Diamond, is my soundtrack today. Her introspective mood, soaring voice and melodies and gritty guitar are right up my alley (= exactly what I like.) She comes from opera and still records chamber music. In this interview she talks about how very different it is to write and to perform,
- [Spoon: Who makes your money](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/24/spoon-who-makes-your-money/) - Spoon "Who makes your money" from their new album "Transference" has a chorus that sounds like "Who makes you mine?" Interesting little twist. At this concert in January, lead singer Britt Daniel introduced the song to the audience, saying: "Got a new record coming out tomorrow. To-mor-row! Was a lot of work. Anybody head it
- [The switch](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/10/the-switch/) - Hey, cool: What's this? What does it do? What can you do with it? How does it work? What are its mechanical or physical properties? Created by Vancouver Film School student Zack Mathew through the VFS Digital Character Animation program. For a short interview with Zack, visit The man behind the switch Recommended by ebd35
- [R is for the 3 Rs](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/18/r-for-the-3-rs/) - The three Rs? They are "reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic". Sir William Curtis (1752-1829) called the foundations of a basic education, reading, writing and arithmetic, the 3 Rs around 1825, when he was well over 70. Was he aware of the irony of his words? Was he funny or illiterate? Sir Billy Biscuit's origins were modest.
- [Welcome, friend](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/21/welcome-friend/) - Blog conversations with blackbirds: 2009, 2008
- [Grammar Guru: will/going to](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/21/grammar-guru-willgoing-to/) - Further in my collection of posts you won't find in a coursebook, and nastiness we could do without (if it weren't funny): I've just finished writing a quiz on using future tenses, and have saved the most sexually incorrect joke I could find for you. "You're ugly." "And you're drunk." "Yes, but in the morning
- [Crying in my coffee](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/20/crying-in-my-coffee/) - Writing can be a lonely and frustrating business. Writing for online learners of English as I do is particularly tricky: I don't get much feedback from my readers. As my employers are very busy, asking them to review and edit my work is not always possible. But that means that any errors I make and
- [Animal Collective: What would I want? sky!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/09/animal-collective-what-would-i-want-sky/) - The sky's the limit. Red (sky) at night, sailor's delight. Red (sky) in the morning, sailor take warning. If the sky falls we shall catch larks. (1670 English Proverb) The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. (Two Zen
- [Charlotte Gainsbourg: Heaven Can Wait](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/16/charlotte-gainsbourg-heaven-can-wait/) - Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, won best actress Cannes 2009 for Lars van Trier's totally horrifying "Antichrist" after having gone through brain surgery (9/2007). These doubtlessly destabilizing experiences have gone into her collaboration with Beck on her album IRM. The "Heaven can wait" song video (Keith Schofield) gives us "the dregs
- [Makeshift](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/06/makeshift/) - Everything on Drummond is makeshift. Metal things rust and break, lines fray, material rots and decays, so you are forever fixing things with spare parts and tools that themselves are anything but new. There's a hardware store on the island that sells pretty much anything you need, and over on the mainland there's a huge
- [Yellow jacket](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/24/yellow-jacket/) - 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
- [Grammar Guru: 90' x 90'](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/15/grammar-guru-90-bytimes-90/) - "The boat is very simple. It's a 90 foot x 90 foot platform, trimaran, with three hulls, with a magic wing, close to 200 feet high." Read "90 by 90", "90 times 90" or "90 to 90"? In 1851, a boat named America won the 100 Guinea Cup in a race around the Isle of
- [Question: When does remixing become second-hand living?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/13/question-when-does-remixing-become-second-hand-living/) - Germany has been rocked by scandal this past week, as Helene Hegemann, the 17-year old writer of an astonishing novel called Axolotl Roadkill, has been shown up by Munich blogger Deef Pirmasens (Gefühlskonserve) to have lifted whole passages of her book from the writings of one Airen, a blogger in Berlin. Her publisher had asked
- [Ogden Nash: To My Valentine](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/14/ogden-nash-to-my-valentine/) - To My Valentine by Ogden Nash More than a catbird hates a cat, Or a criminal hates a clue, Or the Axis hates the United States, That's how much I love you. I love you more than a duck can swim, And more than a grapefruit squirts, I love you more than gin rummy is
- [Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/31/fleet-foxes-white-winter-hymnal/) - Good indie music: The Fleet Foxes (die flotten Füchse) who debuted this year with an album that sounds like the Beach Boys jamming with Neil Young and Bill Withers in a trance. "To me, the most enjoyable thing in the world is to sing harmony with people," Robin Pecknold told NPR. Stunning private session at
- [Snowclones](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/08/snowclones/) - I've just learned from Stan Carey what a snowclone is. Geoffrey Pullum developed the concept on Language Log back in 2004, for a clichéd phrasal template that gets repeated in innumerable variants. Geoffrey Pullum: "I was looking at things like "In space, no one can hear you X", where the customizability is that you get
- [Question: Why do you write? Why don't you write?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/07/question-why-do-you-write-why-dont-you-write/) - Why do you write or blog? If you don't write or blog, why not? I finally called off my blog project yesterday after reading the Pew's Report on teens not blogging and twittering. (Summary in Mashable) The reasons given for the lack of interest which I, too, have experienced in the group of people I
- [Johnny Cash/ Odetta/ Moby: Cut you down](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/06/johnny-cash-odetta-gods-gonna-cut-you-down/) - "God's gonna cut you down" is a powerful traditional song. Moralistic? Hm. I first heard it sung by Odetta on a scratchy recording from the '60s, and she made it a woman's moral fighting song. Then Johnny Cash changed it into a song to console a poor sinner (see the video with all those stars).
- [Grizzly Bear: While you wait for the others](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/03/grizzly-bear/) - Grizzly Bear's beautiful album Vekamtimest: The more I listen to it, the more it grows on me. For Shelly. Language notes: Sometimes idioms in German and English are quite similar: to leave someone high and dry - jmd auf dem Trockenen sitzen lassen to wait something out - etwas aussitzen to make your way -
- [Allison Schulnik: Hobo Clown](https://annehodgson.de/2010/02/01/allison-schulnik-hobo-clown/) - Alison Schulnik's clown reminds me of the "Fool on the Hill": "And the eyes in his head see the world spinning round." Tired eyes. The music is Grizzly Bear, singing "Why don't you do any dishes? I always clean up the kitchen fine." I think this hobo clown needs a hug and a vacation.
- [Grammar Guru: I'm lovin' it!](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/30/grammar-guru-im-lovin-it/) - Is this 'good' or 'bad' English? Do you use it? If so, where and when and how? Do you think it's ok if others use it? McDonalds. Ad. On my blog. I know. Sorry. But hey. I defended a traditional point of view here. Don't miss Mike's comment.
- [MadTV's Apple iPad](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/28/madtvs-apple-ipad/) - A: Lindsay! Great job in the sales meeting! – Hey, do you have a pad I can borrow? B: Sure! Here you go! A: No, you know, the 'other' kind of pad. B: I can't believe you still use maxipads. A: I know, I just... I have a narrow cervix, so it's painful for me
- [What could be prettier](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/29/what-could-be-prettier/) - J.D.Salinger died yesterday. "I'm not afraid to compete. It's just the opposite. Don't you see that? I'm afraid I will compete – that's what scares me. That's why I quit the Theater Department. Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about
- [Hard Times Come Again No More](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/27/hard-times-come-again-no-more/) - George Clooney's telethon to raise money for Haiti assembled top pop, and you can donate a little money by buying the record. I did, though I don't like pop. Many of the songs are sung with such pathos that you get the impression that everyone on Haiti is dead. So we're walking a fine line
- [The iThing](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/27/the-marvellous-toy/) - I broke my vow not to hang out on Twitter. Well, I had a fun conversation about the iTablet iThing Apple is unveiling today, asking what people thought it should be called. I thought iPad would work. Andy H thought they should go with iLash, or iShadow, iBrow, or iDrofoil. The iDrofoil? a waterproof version?
- [Jean-Paul Nerrier's Globish](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/26/jean-paul-nerriers-globish/) - This is a comment on a great post by The Tesla Coil on the Graddolization of EFL. David Graddol honored MELTA with a visit last summer. Thanks, Tony Watt for the Globish link: Only 4% of the people communicating with each other today in English are both/ all native speakers. Jean-Paul Nerrier wants to "make it
- [Goldie Hawn on Laugh-In](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/21/goldie-hawn-on-laugh-in/) - Let's continue our conversation about Laugh-In up here. Chris was saying that he was watching Laugh-In "from the conformity of suburban London". Well, Washington, DC was also not exactly California, either, and Laugh-In (1968-73) was a revelation to little-girl-me, too, and gave me the specific sense of humor I have. It's just hit me that
- [Dick Martin pick-up line](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/21/dean-martin-pick-up-line/) - "Hey, listen, Cathy, why don't we go up to my place tonight? You know, I'm a marvellous cook." "Really? What's your specialty?" "______________." PS: How embarassing: The name is Dick, not Dean. Thanks, Meg, for setting me straight!
- [You can subscribe to Grammar Guru](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/25/you-can-subscribe-to-grammar-guru/) - I tend to put random musings into this blog. If, dear reader, you want to subscribe just to the features you like, you can! Some of you might only like Grammar Guru, or songs, or the podcast, or the short films, or teaching. Subscribe selectively by going to these pages: Grammar Guru: http://annehodgson.de/category/grammar-guru/feed/ Question podcast:
- [THE BEAUTIFUL ISLAND, by Meg Rutherford](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/25/the-beautiful-island-by-meg-rutherford/) - Far, far away is a beautiful island of enchanting lakes and green, dreaming pastures. In other lands, the houses were lonely or crowded or crippled or else could not breathe. The birds heard their sighs, and flew to them crying: 'Travel with us to the isle of contentment.' Three little towers first had the courage
- [Anne Frank](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/03/anne-frank/) - Mashable reported that The Anne Frank House has just posted the only video footage of Anne Frank on YouTube. You see her leaning out of a second-story window as she watches a bride and groom exit a neighboring address. Here it is: The Diary of Anne Frank was my way in to German history as
- [Google Wave](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/17/google-wave/) - C'mon, Google, gimme an invite. Found through http://twitter.com/esolcourses re online class instruction
- [Margaret Atwood at Literaturhaus](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/20/margaret-atwood-at-literaturhaus/) - It's rare to come face to face with an author you admire and go away feeling as empty as I did last night. Margaret Atwood read far less from The Year of The Flood than I would have wanted. Long passages of the translation into German were "played" with spunk by a fine young actress,
- [Swabian English](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/29/swabian-english/) - What's with the politicians in Germany? Yesterday was the first day of Merkel's new government, and it includes Guido Westerwelle, who can't manage diplomacy even at a press conference, as foreign minister, and Wolfgang Schäuble, who forgot he had some of Schreiber's slush money in his drawer and thinks torture is ok to extract information,
- [The decade](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/11/the-decade/) - This is the decade according to Newsweek. Tell them what they missed! Green became cool Privacy became old-fashioned Wikipedia replaced the library ...
- [e. e. cummings: if there are any heavens](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/22/e-e-cummings-if-there-are-any-heavens/) - if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have one. It will not be a pansy heaven nor a fragile heaven of lilies-of-the-valley but it will be a heaven of blackred roses my father will be(deep like a rose tall like a rose) standing near my (swaying over her silent) with eyes which are
- [President Obama pardons Turkey](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/25/president-obama-pardons-turkey/) - Kennedy was the first president who wouldn't kill the "official turkey". Then years later Bush started the tradition of granting the turkey an official "Thanksgiving pardon"; and Obama pardoned Courage, this year's Official White House Turkey, just in time for tomorrow's celebrations.
- [Björk: Unravel](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/29/bjork-unravel/) - This quiet week there's hardly anyone spending time online visiting this blog, so I'm just going to post some stuff connected to my choice of album of the decade (drumroll:) Björk's Vespertine. While you are away My heart comes undone Slowly unravels In a ball of yarn The devil collects it With a grin Our
- [Question: Inspired by a fault?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/24/question-inspired-by-a-fault/) - Django Reinhardt was born 100 years ago yesterday. He lost the use of the third and fourth finger on his left hand when the family caravan caught fire, and as a result developed his own unique style of guitar playing. Seriously inspirational, that is. Can you remember any other artists in any genre who became
- [Grammar Guru: He's always leaving his dirty socks on the floor](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/23/grammar-guru-hes-always-leaving-his-dirty-socks-on-the-floor/) - Is this good English or bad English?
- [Tiny Tim: Tiptoe through the tulips](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/19/tiny-tim-tiptoe-through-the-tulips/) - My niece left us again today, sadly, and she left us a lovely bouquet of orange tulips. We'd talked about how valuable tulips were in the 16th and 17th century, when the bulbs that we consider commonplace were very rare and were traded for enormous sums of money. The tulip mania led to especially frenzied
- [K is for knock](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/11/k-is-for-knock/) - First on my "K" list is "knowledge". But I'm afraid I've overdosed on clever quotes and clichés for the next decade or so. Go someplace else if you want to talk about knowledge. Knock, on the other hand, is a great word. In English we knock on wood for good luck (how about you? and
- [Grammar Guru: Which tense is correct here?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/18/grammar-guru-which-tense-is-correct-here/) - Which tense is correct here? I saw Judith recently at an event held for new students. Grammar logic: The event is over. I've seen Judith recently at an event held for new students. Grammar logic: "Recently", like "this morning", is a time word connected to the present perfect. Why did you choose the one you
- [Question: Can you disengage from social networks?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/13/question-can-you-disengage-fro-social-networks/) - Late last summer Chris invited me to get on the luddite bandwaggon and drop Twitter and Facebook. Chris is a blogger and makes videos, so "luddite" is somewhat relative. But here am I, having a massive change of heart after promoting the use of online social networks to my local community of teachers. Some time
- [Grammar Guru: Which headline makes sense?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/09/grammar-guru-which-headline-makes-sense/) - Headlines are very challenging to understand, because little words are left out that help you see whether the information words are nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. Often short words are chosen to make sure the headline fits into the space on the page, which means that often less well-known words are used. Also, headlines often use
- [Art Brut: Emily Cane](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/06/art-brut-emily-cane/) - Art Brut get better with every listening. Ulrich gave me this CD almost a year and a half ago, and I still feel it's music for people about half my age. But I do have to acknowledge their genius. I was your boyfriend when we were 15 It's the happiest that I've ever been Even
- [Peter, Björn and John: Young Folks](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/06/young-folks/) - Young Folks If I told you things I did before Told you how I used to be Would you go along with someone like me If you knew my story word for word Had all of my history Would you go along with someone like me I did before and had my share It didn't
- [The Walkmen: In the New Year](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/01/the-walkman-in-the-new-year/) - I have no idea what this song is about, folks (do you?), and I'm not sure what Nosferato is doing in this strange video, but I just love the Walkmen. And I'll take the good news with the bad. I know it's going to be a good year. A happy New Year to you all!
- [Grammar Guru: Is it past or present perfect?](https://annehodgson.de/2010/01/02/grammar-guru-is-it-past-or-present-perfect/) - There is a new argument being brought in by Republican opponents of the health bill. They say the health bill will "force" individuals into a contract with a private agency. This type of provision would be new in America, they say. So what do you think these opponents are saying? In the history of this
- [Once in a blue moon](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/31/once-in-a-blue-moon/) - Once in a blue moon This "Year of Astronomy" is coming to an end with a lovely event, a blue moon. The lunar month is between 29 and 30 days long. Every two or three years there are two full moons in one month, and the second one is called "blue moon". A rare occasion.
- [Dinner for one ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/31/dinner-for-one/) - James: The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie? Miss Sophie: The same procedure as every year, James! The same procedure as every year: 11.500.000 hits on Google. 57.200 hits on German pages, alone. A sketch written by British author Lauri Wylie in the 1920s, the German TV station Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) recorded "Dinner for
- [Le Carré: A Most Wanted Man](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/30/le-carre-a-most-wanted-man/) - The road to hell is paved with good intentions. John Ray (1670) cited as a proverb "Hell is paved with good intentions." Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153): "Hell is full of good intentions or desires." On Christmas Day the 23-year-old "Underwear Bomber" tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Priviledged, rich, well-connected, educated, and
- [Björk: Cocoon](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/30/bjork-cocoon/) - Björk's most explicitly erotic song on Vespertine (video: Eiko Ishioka). The lyrics on this album were inspired by the poems of e.e.cummings. Excellent song review here. Björk Cocoon Who would have known : that a boy like him would have entered me lightly restoring my blisses Who would have known : that a boy like
- [Grammar Guru: If Congress will pass/ passes/ passed](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/27/grammar-guru-if-congress-will-pass-passes-passed/) - If Congress will pass/ passes/ passed the health care bill, US citizens will finally have universal access to health coverage. The same health care bill (Gesetzesvorlage) has to be passed by both the House and the Senate. Right now the two chambers are still working on separate bills: "Now that the Senate has caught up
- [D is for devil](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/04/d-is-for-devil/) - "I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea." When you're faced with two dangerous alternatives, you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. An earlier version of the idea of being caught between evil and the sea is found in Homer's Odyssey, where Odysseus is caught between Scylla (a six-headed monster)
- [Z is for zen](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/26/z-is-for-zen/) - Lovely snowflakes, they fall nowhere else! No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. Two Zen sayings, or two translations of one saying? When I was a little girl, taking ballet lessons at St. Mark's, my parents would take me to see the Nutcracker around this time of year. And like most girls, I would
- [Y is for Yule](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/25/y-is-for-yuletide-carols/) - Yuletide carols. Yule singing. Yule log. Yule goat. Yule boar. Yule or yuletide is a pagan Germanic winter festival later absorbed into the Christian festival of Christmas. It was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined by the lunar Germanic calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the
- [X is for exult](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/24/x-is-for-exult/) - Kiri Te Kanawa sings Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate with the Royal Opera House Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Barlow, in Greenwich. I grew up in the joyful German Christmas Eve tradition, thanks to my mother, who brought her beliefs and practices to the US. Whatever your religion and practice, peace, joy and love to you this evening
- [W is for who](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/23/w-is-for-who/) - 2 little whos — ee cummings 2 little whos (he and she) under are this wonderful tree smiling stand (all realms of where and when beyond) now and here (far from a grown -up i&you- ful world of known) who and who (2 little ams and over them this aflame with dreams incredible is) Have
- [L is for leap](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/12/l-is-for-leap/) - Look before you leap. — Augen auf beim ...! It being leap year (Schaltjahr), on-air psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane challenges everyone, himself included, to take a leap of faith (sich vertrauensvoll auf etwas einlassen, ein Risiko wagen) and do something that they have never tried before. It all goes very wrong... Frasier, Season 3, Episode 16
- [U is for understand](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/21/u-is-for-understand/) - I understand. — Empathy, part 2: an effective active-listening phrase when you don't really want to listen to somebody ("too much information"), but don't want to sound rude. Laughs c/o sitcom Two and a Half Men, 1st season, 7th episode. I put together tips and a language exercise on active listening here.
- [S is for Dr. Seuss](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/19/s-is-for-seuss/) - Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904-1991) is pronounced "Zeus" in English, like the Greek god. And he is a, if not the, godhead in the pantheon of English literacy. In a hilarious reading of Green Eggs and Ham, the Rev. Jesse Jackson called him a "latter-day saint". He was a third-generation German-American who grew up
- [Q is for question](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/17/q-is-for-question/) - I have a question. Ich hätte da mal 'ne Frage. Dear Germans, liebe Freunde, we English speakers sometimes complain that you can be so direct that it's almost rude. And yet you have the very charming habit of adding that little introductory phrase, I have a question, when you want to ask one. It's almost
- [T is for thee](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/20/t-is-for-thee/) - "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is the beginning of possibly the most beautiful love poem ever written, of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. Pity that there is no "Du" in English. The intimacy of "thou, thee, thine", the "du, dich, dein" we have lost in English, is one of the things that makes
- [V is for violin](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/22/v-is-for-violin/) - Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. — Samuel Butler (1835-1902) Here is virtuoso Itzak Perlman finding his way into Klezmer with the Klezmatics (don't miss magic minute 7): I did a fun Christmas exercise for Spotlight: A Great Christmas
- [O is for old](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/15/o-is-for-old/) - In the olden days... — The Germans say: Damals... In alten Zeiten... And that is usually the beginning of a story. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. But this man has some new tricks to teach you about how to get "old dogs" to tell you really good stories about the olden days.
- [N is for notes](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/14/n-is-for-notes/) - Love notes ... "I love you" the note informed him. However, this was no ordinary note. This piece of paper had a mind of its own and was going to do everything in its wafer-thin power to unite a slightly naive boy with an intriguing girl from the other side of the tracks. Directed by
- [J is for join in](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/10/j-is-for-join-in/) - Anytime is a time for singing, so come on, folks, join in! Benny Goodman 1946: All the Cats Join In From "Make Mine Music", composed by Alec Wilder, Ray Gilbert and Eddie Sauter Hop in the old jallop And head for the malted shop And all the cats join in Down goes my last two
- [I is for I spy](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/09/i-is-for-i-spy/) - The lower case letter "i" was going to be for those high-tech gadgets, games and gizmos that have become part of our iCulture. But I read it's now inappropriate to use the iPhone. So what about that good old, no-tech game, I spy? That's the guessing game where you say "I spy with my little
- [H is for horse](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/08/h-is-for-horse/) - "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." This saying works for me on several implied levels. First, you can't force the "horse" to do anything, so I follow that you shouldn't, even if you think it might be good. Chances are, it's horse manure anyway, at least for this
- [A is for Alpha](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/23/a-is-for-alpha/) - You women out there, do you ever wonder why you play second fiddle to the men at work? Maybe, like me, you tend to break the unwritten code of male business behavior.
- [G is for good](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/07/g-is-for-good/) - Advent Calendar Day 7 - Keep your eyes peeled for dwarves, elves and other Christmas folk! Good fences make good neighbors. (Liebe deinen Nachbarn, aber reiß den Zaun nicht ein.) This 17th century proverb is very popular in America. It means "live and let live" and "respect the privacy of others". The saying is so
- [F is for first](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/06/f-is-for-first/) - First come, first served. First things first. One German translation would be "eins nach dem anderen" — one thing after another; break it down. The other would be "das Wichtigste zuerst" — the most important thing first; prioritize. I don't think there is an equivalent phrase with both meanings in German. Wow: yet another example
- [E is for eating](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/05/e-is-for-eating/) - Nobody spotted the dwarf yesterday, eh? Pity, such a sweet little one, I wonder where George found him. Now for advent calendar day 5: "Eat your words!" (Nimm alles zurück!) ... and Milo does. The Phantom Tollbooth (1961) takes him into a parallel world where you have to eat words to use them. --- I'm
- [C is for curiosity](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/03/c-is-for-curiosity/) - "Curiosity killed the cat." This phrase has always bothered me, as I am a naturally inquisitive person. So imagine my delight in finding that the original phrase in Tudor England was in fact "Care killed the cat", meaning that worry and sorrow did the animal in. (Source) So out with worry and in with natural
- [Their wine + Bottle of wine](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/10/their-wine-bottle-of-vine/) - Siri Svegler's "Their Wine / Not Worth it" makes a good case for cultivated wine-drinking habits (though she does say it's also about addiction). I'm pairing it up with that marvellous old hobo song by Tom Paxton, "Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine". Siri Svegler: Their wine (lyrics) I try to break through that
- [Animal Collective: My Girls](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/01/animal-collective-my-girls/) - The members of this band, originally from Baltimore, love horror films and head trips, and they've got some music that gives me a headache. But then there's this soaring, let's-build-a-simple-home-for-our-children song. The lyrics don't really make much sense, after all, "status" isn't a material thing. Or am I being picky? Um, and "slats" rhyme with
- [Dear darling](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/18/dear-darling/) - Yes darling No darling Run darling Fun darling Kiss darling Miss darling Tough darling Rough darling Cool darling Hot darling Couch darling Slouch darling Night darling Dream darling Dear darling My darling
- [B is for bed](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/02/b-is-for-bed/) - "As you make your bed, so you must lie in it." Or: "You made your bed, now sleep in it." (Wie man sich bettet, so liegt man.) This is rather moralizing, don't you think? Unless, of course, you're Gianna Nannini singing Kurt Weill. Anyhow, life sometimes lets you get up and remake the bed, and
- [A is for apples](https://annehodgson.de/2009/12/01/a-is-for-apples/) - Advent is here, and here comes my advent calendar, based on the alphabet and my favorite sayings. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." This seems to be based on the olde English saying, "Ate an apfel avore gwain to bed, make the doctor beg his bread." "It's as American as apple pie." Did
- [Smigly: What's your stimulus package?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/30/smigly-whats-your-stimulous-package/) - My boss Eamonn found Smigly by Allen Mezquida. Wonderful. Great blog, too. - So what's your stimulus package? ;) Seriously, now?
- [Dog, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/27/dog-by-lawrence-ferlinghetti/) - The dog trots freely in the street and sees reality and the things he sees are bigger than himself and the things he sees are his reality Drunks in doorways Moons on trees The dog trots freely thru the street and the things he sees are smaller than himself Fish on newsprint Ants in holes
- [Question: What role do elderly parents play in your life?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/29/question-what-role-do-elderly-parents-play-in-your-life/) - My mother died last week, and I'm mourning and thinking back. When I decided to stay here in Germany, an ocean away, I automatically decided against sharing her day-to-day life and being there to help her with her big and small needs. Not being there has felt morally wrong, always. After all, you simply can't
- [Grammar Guru: Talking about plans](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/19/grammar-guru/) - I've been living in Giesing since I came to Munich. (79%, 19 Votes) I've been living in Giesing since I have come to Munich.(21%, 5 Votes) Well done! But I know how very hard this is. Explanation here. Now, I'm ready to leave to go on a trip. What do I say? I go to
- [Grammar Guru: Predictions](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/27/grammar-guru-predictions/) - Last week: I'm ready to leave to go on a trip, so I say I am going to Poznań this weekend. (80%, 16 Votes) I will go to Poznań this weekend. (20%, 4 Votes) I go to Poznań this weekend. (0%, 0 Votes) More here. This week: Which of these predictions is correct English and
- [Rocketboom: Augmented Reality](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/26/rocketboom-augmented-reality/) - Talked about Augmented Reality, a term coined by Professor Tom Caudell at Boeing, in a class yesterday. Layar, Nearest Tube, the London Underground iPhone app, and Bionic Eye, the same thing for NY, may be great, but Augmented ID freaked us out. Minority Report, here we come!
- [And when I die](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/24/and-when-i-die/) - Laura Nyro's original version is deep, but I'm posting the video of Peter, Paul and Mary singing in Sydney, instead, where the soaring camera and the sailboats out on the harbor match the uplifting harmonies. Sometimes I feel those we have lost are close by, up around our heads somewhere. Chorus: And when I die
- [Shel Silverstein: Long Scarf ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/20/shel-silverstein-long-scarf/) - Eric Anderson recites "Long Scarf", a poem from Shel Silverstein's book, FALLING UP. You ask me to take off my scarf And sit down and rest for a while? That’s sweet of you--but before I do, I’ll tell you a story, my child. Some years ago I fought a duel With the Count Doomandread, And
- [Stevie Wonder: Superstition](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/13/stevie-wonder-superstition/) - Friday the thirteenth reminds me of the first record I ever bought, Stevie Wonder's Talking Book. It was 1973, I was 11 and had just started babysitting, charging 50 cents an hour. I really liked children, playing puppet theater, "let's pretend" games and going places with them, and learned early on that it's relatively easy
- [Say, do you remember dancin' in September?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/18/say-do-you-remember-dancin-in-september/) - Earth Wind and Fire's "September" freshly interpreted by the absolutely wonderful YouTube/ real-life duo Pomplamoose (with the help of grandma and puppet). It cracks me up (bringt mich zum Lachen): You'll see them eating in practically every video they make, perhaps to remind you that musicians do, indeed, need to eat, just like the rest
- [Mr Roger's Neighborhood](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/17/mr-rogers-neighborhood/) - With all the love going to Sesame Street last week, time to remember Mr. Roger's Neighborhhood, in production from 1968 to 2001. It always started with his theme song, Won't you be my neighbor, and included a trip to the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe", with the miniature trolley that had its own chiming theme song. The
- [ Life isn't fair, but it's still good](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/17/life-isnt-fair-but-its-still-good/) - Liz, who works with elderly people, sent these wise words written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio: "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is
- [Question: Can you learn from a robot?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/14/question-can-you-learn-from-a-robot/) - I had great fun last week, exploring what it is like to talk to a chatbot. It was Shelly Terrell who originally put me up to it, advising me when I was gathering ideas for a Spotlight Magazine article edited and coauthored by Jo Westcombe on ways English learners can use the Internet. I spent
- [Grammar guru: since I have come/ since I came?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/14/grammar-guru-since-i-have-come-since-i-came/) - Last week things were very clear: at the age of 42 (92%, 23 Votes) in the age of 42 (8%, 2 Votes) However, Neal Chambers said that the Japanese have trouble with this, too, as there is only one particle in Japanese. (Comment) This week, the Grammar guru asks which one of these is correct:
- [Bhutis Blogwichteln!](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/10/bhutis-blogwichteln/) - Freu, Freu! Frau Bhuti is hosting this year's Secret Santa blogs. Blogwichteln is guest-blogging on someone else's blog secretly and them never figuring out who you are! So much fun. Last year the most charming blogger you could ever wish for gave me a delightful entry. Herr Hollemann was running the show, but he's moved
- [Question: Do you believe in learning styles?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/08/question-do-you-believe-in-learning-styles/) - In my profession there's a hot debate going on about "learning styles". You know, finding out whether you are a visual learner and need to see things to understand them, or an auditory learner who prefers to hear things, or whether you are a kinethetic learner and have to do things to really get them.
- [And the wall come a'tumblin down](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/09/and-the-wall-come-atumblin-down/) - I'll never forget the day the Wall came down. I was living in a big group house, actually a collection of six or seven group flats in a sprawling house on the edge of a small town on the German border. Our major arguments were about: The new organic hens in the garden that meant
- [Conductors are managers](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/22/conductors-are-managers/) - Helmut and I loved Itay Talgam's presentation of famous conductors and their styles, from the TED conference in Oxford. It's actually not just a mirror of styles of management, it's also a prism of culture, as control is organized in very different ways. So, which of the conductors appeals most to you: Carlos Kleiber, Ricardo
- [Grammar guru: at/in the age of 42](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/09/grammar-guru-atin-the-age-of-82/) - Last week's question caused me some worry. Up to the last day visitors to this website were split down the middle: Why did you change jobs? (52%, 11 Votes) = correct Why did you change the job? (48%, 10 Votes) = incorrect I asked my British colleagues, and they agree with me. More comments. This
- [Question: What's your summer picture?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/23/question-whats-your-summer-picture/) - 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
- [Neil Gaiman: Instructions](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/04/neil-gaiman-instructions/) - Thank you, Chris, for posting this lovely video of Neil Gaiman reading his poem "Instructions", © 2000 (from: A Wolf at the Door). It's about what to do if you find yourself inside a fairytale. Good instructions for real life, really, as Jan pointed out today. Read the complete text here. Gaiman's website is here.
- [Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/21/robert-frost-stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening/) - Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.
- [@bedtime](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/14/bedtime/) - Norman Silver: in the old old days (from Age, Sex, Location, Colchester: tXt cafe, 2006) in the old old days b4 there were mobile fones how cud a boy eva meet a person of the oppsite gender & even if they cud get acquainted wivout a mobile fone how cud they ch@ each uvver up
- [e e cummings: now is a ship](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/04/eecummings-now-is-a-ship/) - now is a ship which captain am sails out of sleep steering for dream Comment: "ee cummings is one of my most loved poets, and this poem, almost a haiku, suggests much about that other identity we carry in us and which life invites us to discover. Conventionally it would be said that we need to
- [Pink flag](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/16/pink-flag/) - red-rag and pink-flag by e e cummings red-rag and pink-flag blackshirt and brown strut-mince and stink-brag have all come to town some like it shot and some like it hung and some like it in the twot nine months young About this poem: e e cummings' satirical poem expresses his disregard for the political movements
- [Poetry and prose](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/22/poetry-and-prose/) - Elisabeth Alexander's inaugural poem was bad. She's best when she holds back and condenses. Her prosaic poetry is close to prose, her scenes spare and strong and close to home. "Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire". Wonderful! But the scenes were disjointed, and didn't stand up
- [Ogden Nash: Always Marry An April Girl ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/06/ogden-nash-always-marry-an-april-girl/) - Ogden Nash captured the quicksilver without which love is simply impossible.
- [e. e. cummings: somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/14/e-e-cummings-somewhere-i-have-never-travelledgladly-beyond/) - nobody, not even the rain has such small hands
- [The Story of Bonnie and Clyde](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/24/the-story-of-bonnie-and-clyde/) - by Bonnie Parker (herself!) You've read the story of Jesse James - Of how he lived and died. If you're still in need of something to read, Here's the story of Bonnie and Clyde. Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang. I'm sure you all have read How they rob and steal, and those
- [The lioness of Iran](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/28/the-lioness-of-iran/) - We Westerners have learned to be selective about who we empathize with, and crises like the current one in Iran are what focus our attention.
- [Seven Nation Army](https://annehodgson.de/2009/11/03/white-stripes-kate-nash-boss-hoss-seven-nation-army/) - One classic rock song and football stadium favorite (Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes 2003) in four completely different interpretations: White Stripes, Kate Nash, Vivienne Long, The BossHoss. Where does the title come from? According to Wikipedia, Jack White misheard the phrase "Salvation Army" as "Seven Nation Army". That's called a mondegreen, after an
- [BossHoss/Elvis: Wolf Call](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/19/bosshoss-wolf-call/) - The Boss Hoss from Berlin do American tunes decked out in cowboy gear. Their new album, Do or Die, contains an edgy interpretation of "Wolf Call", one of Elvis Presley's lesser known songs.
- [Mae West: I'm an occidental woman in an oriental mood for love](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/26/mae-west-im-an-occidental-woman-in-an-oriental-mood-for-love/) - Mae West (1993-1980), actress, comedienne, sex symbol. Mistress of double entendre. Her best lines: I speak two languages, Body and English. It takes two to get one in trouble. Love conquers all things except poverty and toothache. Opportunity knocks for every man, but you have to give a woman a ring. You only live once,
- [Grammar guru: must, have to, need to? ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/26/grammar-guru-must-have-to-need-to/) - Last week's question was What sounds better to you? This has to be done by Friday (88%, 7 Votes) This has to be done until Friday (12%, 1 Votes) If it is done until Friday, somebody is doing it day and night until Friday rolls around. By Friday just means it'll be ready on Friday.
- [William Hope Hodgson: The Voice in the Night](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/24/william-hope-hodgson-the-voice-in-the-night/) - Read this classic horror story of 1907 by William Hope Hodgson, a forgotten writer inspired by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle (bio) as an eBook published by the University of Adelaide. A great Halloween read! It was a dark, starless night. We were becalmed in
- [Autumn essentials](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/21/autumn-essentials/) - My essentials are: lights on my bike: headlight, taillight + wheel accessories; I wish I had these, but these are also pretty good: PS: Just saw that tire lights aren't allowed on the street in Germany. They should be, for the protection of bicyclists! a variety of gloves, mittens, scarves a tea pot and teas
- [Stephen Fry ogles college football](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/18/stephen-fry-oogles-college-football/) - Last night, Helmut and I enjoyed a great evening of Oscar Wilde with Alan Stanford. One of the highlights for me was a look back at Wilde's grand tour of America. Well, his sublimely gifted modern reincarnation, Stephen Fry, filmed his own tour of America for the BBC, and his perspective strikes quite a few
- [Who's my kitty with the big little nose?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/16/whos-my-kitty-with-the-big-little-nose/) - What is this cat really thinking? This is the one cat video on YouTube that I really like. It reminds me of Katze, the white, yellow-eyed cat who chose me as her owner when I was just 9 and she was a palm-sized kitten who had lost her mother. She sauntered up, moved in and
- [What's my line?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/15/whats-my-line/) - I have a new job, translating for an upmarket agency two days a week. I wanted to do something for my brain that involves longish trains of thought and very concise formulation, and I think this will be good for me. So Tuesday and Thursday I'm over there. Then, on Mondays I'm writing an online
- [Down with Jammern. Drunk on D.C.](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/10/down-with-jammern-drunk-on-d-c/) - Washington, D.C. is where I was born. My hometown. A most beautiful city. Warm from April through October. Hot and sticky in the summer. Lush, aromatic gardens, permeated by the song of the cicadas all night. People have this special walk in DC, an elegant, gliding thing. It's funny to hear my brother Larry say
- [Care](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/12/care/) - to care for someone/ something to take care of someone/ something to care about someone/ something to provide care to someone to be careful with to be caring caretaker caregiver a careworn face not to have a care in the world... ... hopefully
- [Coldplay: Viva la vida](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/14/coldplay-viva-la-vida/) - Pinki runs the nice group house my mother now lives in, doing a great job, too. She was wearing a Coldplay t-shirt when we first met, so this is dedicated to her: Viva La Vida lyrics Songwriters: Berryman, Guy Rupert; Buckland, Jonathan Mark; Champion, Will; Martin, Christopher A J I used to rule the world
- [Grammar Guru: I especially like/ I like especially](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/05/grammar-guru-i-especially-like-i-like-especially/) - This week's question invites discussion. It's about word order. Which one sounds better? I especially like Indian summer or I like especially Indian summer
- [Grammar Guru: This has to be done until/ by Friday](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/13/grammar-guru-this-has-to-be-done-until-by-friday/) - Last week's options were I especially like Indian summer. (7 votes) I like especially Indian summer. (0 votes) All votes were correct - so my students weren't voting ;). Adverb placement is one of the trickiest issues in English grammar. As a rule of thumb, place them before the verb, but after an auxiliary verb
- [Frankie and Johnny](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/08/frankie-and-johnny/) - The traditional "Frankie and Johnny" may have been inspired by several murders. One of these took place in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 15, 1899, when Frankie Baker, a 22-year-old dancer, stabbed (or shot) her 17-year-old lover Al Britt, who was having a relationship with a woman named Alice Pryor. Britt died of his wounds
- [Losing face in English](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/07/losing-face-in-english/) - I woke up this morning thinking about the debate on this blog on Westerwelle. It seems to me that this is an interesting case of a person losing face in public because he is being forced to speak English. BTW, I think the discussion has showed that both sides lost face: Westerwelle was most obviously
- [Elster: Fail](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/05/elster-fail/) - Elster ist ein miserables Programm.
- [Guido Westerwelle](https://annehodgson.de/2009/10/04/guido-westerwelle/) - Guido Westerwelle made the news recently as a result of the way he responded to a reporter of the BBC. Refusing to answer the question placed in English, he insisted that questions be asked in German, as this is the language spoken here. When the question was then translated, his response added insult to injury,
- [Cole Porter: Don't fence me in](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/30/cole-porter-dont-fence-me-in/) - Song of the week: The old "cowboy song" was in fact written by Cole Porter. Three versions of a great song to practice your English
- [How I learned Latin... and French](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/24/how-i-learned-latin-and-french/) - Since I grew up bilingual in German and English, Latin was the first foreign language I learned. My dad taught me Latin when I was 5, using the Nature Method, a book of texts featuring a family with kids my age on up, talking about everyday life, with a brother beating up on his little
- [Grammar Guru: Needless or needlessly?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/28/grammar-guru-needless-or-needlessly/) - Last week, 9 out of 11 chose "take a break" over "make a break". In German "Let's take a break" is "Machen wir doch mal eine Pause." When pairs of words in different languages are very similar but have different meanings, they are called "false friends". Similar collocations (or word partnerships) don't always mean the
- [Signs: On communication](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/29/signs-on-communication/) - A simple short film about communication. About the transition from writing to speaking and from virtual to face to face. Created by Publicis Mojo and @RadicalMedia. Director: Patrick Hughes, http://www.patrickhughes.com.au. A Cannes Lyons winner. Found through B. Schmidt-Hurtienne, http://twitter.com/be_es_ha.
- [Grammar Guru: make/take a break](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/20/grammar-guru-make-take-a-break/) - Every single visitor who did the "used to" poll last week got it right - congratulations! "I'm used to getting up at 6. And you?" (talking about my habits) is sometimes confused with: "I used to get up at 5, but now I sleep until 6". So I used to do something that I don't
- [Asimov deconstructed](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/25/asimov-deconstructed/) - What Is Intelligence, Anyway? by Isaac Asimov What is intelligence, anyway? When I was in the army, I received the kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the base had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a
- [Lily Allen and the big fat gay collab](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/22/lily-allen/) - Lily Allen wrote that her song "Fuck you" (2008) "is not a direct attack at anyone, it was originally written about the BNP in the UK but then I felt this issue has become relevant pretty much everywhere, we are the youth, we can make coolness for our future, it's up to us. Go green
- [Question: What risks do you like, and what's your survival kit?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/20/question-what-risks-do-you-like-and-whats-your-survival-kit/) - While I hate taking blind risks, I love taking calculated ones. I always take my survival kit with me. What's yours?
- [Adios, amigo. Patrick Swayze](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/15/adios-amigo-patrick-swayze/) - Patrick Swayze has died of cancer. Speaking to other cancer patients a year ago, he said, "I'm just an individual living with cancer." I walked out of his hit "Dirty Dancing", but was completely rivvetted by "Point Break" (1991), which got Swayze and co-star Keanu Reeves various "sexiest man alive" and "most desirable male" nominations.
- [Clara Boone, pioneer](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/12/clara-boone-pioneer/) - When I was a child in the late 60s, a family friend, a descendent of Daniel Boone, came round one day for tea. Clara Boone was a teacher at a public school in DC. The local public schools were deteriorating in those days, kids were really tough, and the teachers were struggling to adapt. We
- [Making questions](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/14/making-questions/) - 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
- [Ethics for online self-study materials](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/15/ethics-for-online-self-study-materials/) - 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?
- [The Dragons' Den: Understanding meetings](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/16/the-dragons-den-understanding-meetings/) - Want to understand what is going on in meetings? Watch the Dragon's Den, that reality show in which young entrepreneurs present their business ideas to experienced investors hoping to convince them to invest their own money. Both the Canadian and the British series contain real jewels. Last year I wrote here about the Patil children
- [British Rail and buzz](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/28/british-rail-and-buzz/) - Going to IATEFL next week, and buzzed about it, too. Yesterday I gave up trying to book a train on British Rail and decided to go by bus from Heathrow to Cardiff after all. Why? The interface kept asking me to make decisions for the system about which options were best for me. Hey, that's
- [Action enquiry: Becoming a better one2one coach](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/29/action-enquiry-becoming-a-better-one2one-coach/) - Reflecting on my EFL teaching practice in one2one courses: how to keep those courses on track.
- [Teacher training](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/17/teacher-training/) - My dear friend and mentor Elena Gallo organized a series of workshops for college teachers called kommUNIkation a few years ago at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität Fach- und Fremdsprachenprogramm. I learned there that you need to be clear about your expectations of a course in order to really get something out of it, including thinking about your
- [For all practical purposes](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/17/for-all-practical-purposes/) - For all practical purposes, it's autumn. Fall, as we say over where I'm from. Yesterday it was the fog that came rolling in, today it's the rain. I love fog, the element most closely connected with the Great Spirit, Gitche Manitou. In the religion of the Chippewa (or: Ojibwe) Indians, "manitou" is the spirit inside
- [Her morning elegance](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/16/her-morning-elegance/) - From Oren Lavie's debut album, The Opposite Side of the Sea, which was a part of my rainy summer soundtrack. It's all a bit weighty and introspective, but it's intimate, and that's why I like it. And isn't she lovely? I just think he could have alligned the movements a little more closely to the
- [Respect](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/15/respect/) - Did you follow the story this week about how Kanye West upstaged Taylor Swift as she was collecting her MTV award, and made a fool of himself in the process? Now, I happen to have have very strong feelings about excited men stealing a woman's fifteen seconds of fame, as I have four older brothers
- [On writing](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/10/on-writing/) - I'm in the midst of rethinking an academic writing class to include more fun and motivating tasks. It's a one-week course, and I want to have them do all of their writing, reading and peer feedback in class, with no additional work at home. That means a lot of clicketty click in the computer lab,
- [The real Tatort story](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/08/the-real-tatort-story/) - Opening the New York Times supplement to the Süddeutsche this week on page 4 there is a story by Michael Kimmelman on "German TV Viewers Love Their Detectives". I was thinking: Great job, NYT, you really pick up on stories quickly. Of course I was thinking of the scandal that hit the presses this weekend:
- [Jailbreaker and Hank Williams](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/08/jailbreaker-and-hank-williams-move-it-on-over/) - Write a one-sentence summary of this video. OR: Which sentence best summarizes this video for you? A sheriff manages to capture a jailbreaker. A jailbreaker meets an upright citizen who captures him. A short dog manages to outtrick a tall dog in a striped shirt. A poor fellow simply can't win against someone who is
- [Grammar Guru: Vote for the grammar of your choice!](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/05/grammar-guru-vote-for-the-grammar-of-your-choice/) - Democracy now! A new grammar quiz each Saturday. Join the fun. This week: I'm looking forward to see/seeing you.
- [A Celebration by Mar](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/05/a-celebration-by-mar/) - In Bray to the south of Dublin, Ruby dances to this pretty song by Mar just the way I did at her age. I had wings, too, but mine were covered in cream-colored lace. I still love fairs and ferris wheels and carousels and that floating feeling they give you. So: Who is coming to
- [Dan Pink: Rewards and incentives don't work](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/04/dan-pink-rewards-and-incentives-dont-work/) - At TED Dan Pink (a favorite of mine) presented surprising evidence showing that rewarding performance financially does not lead to higher productivity in competing individuals and groups when any skill at all is involved. Rewards work well enough when the competitors just have to complete a simple task quickly. But as soon as they have
- [US public holidays](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/03/us-public-holiday/) - I got the date for Labor Day wrong: It's next weekend. I should have gotten that right, because Labor Day is one of the few holidays in the States that are universally celebrated. On the other hand, it's lost the meaning it once had, marking the end of vacation and the beginning of the school
- [Scott Matthews: Fractured](https://annehodgson.de/2009/09/02/scott-matthews-fractured/) - After his ubergorgeous song Elusive, where could he go? Songwriter Scott Matthews backed a series of Foo Fighters accoustic concerts in 2006, and his newish album "Elsewhere" exudes Foo-like pathos. It's a concept album filled with longing and restlessness and a desire to hit the road or at least be someplace else - "elsewhere". He's
- [Fall fashion 2009](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/29/fall-fashion-2009/) - Fall fashion 2009? Reduced. Not humble, but beyond showing off. On a supremely beautiful body, in this age of the computer bean bag. After all, if anybody's still got a body we definitely want to see it. The looks on the runway are all virtual reality - draw a stripe across that leg, attach a
- [Junior Brown: The Highway Patrol](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/26/junior-brown-the-highway-patrol/) - Forget that Bruce Springsteen guy, Junior Brown is The Boss. Love how he gets down on his hybrid electric and lap steel guitar and makes you forget that this is, technically, country music. Here he's the Law and Order man, just a-doin' his job, he's the Highway Patrol. I'm not exactly a Law and Order
- ["Like" in spoken English](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/26/like-in-spoken-english/) - "Like" has become one of the most popular words in spoken English. It was a marker I heard frequently this summer in the States, originating in teen-talk, but now firmly established in informal language. Just listen to My Brightest Diamond singer Shara Worden making small talk with fellow musicians Lisa Hannigan and Molloy Share (from
- [Question: What's your favorite project this fall?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/30/question-whats-your-favorite-project-this-fall/) - It's Labor Day weekend in the States and back to work in earnest for many families with children after the summer break in most parts of the world, now or in the next few weeks. Perhaps you've got a lot of things on your plate. But if you look at them, which one stands out
- [My computer is killing me](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/28/my-computer-is-killing-me/) - Sometimes I feel almost chained and shackled to the computer. I've been back for 4 or 5 days and am typing away to meet deadlines, and already my feet are swollen and my body is shouting at me to go out and move. As much as I love writing and feel I'm growing in the
- [Ted Kennedy](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/26/ted-kennedy/) - Senator Edward Kennedy is suffering from a malignant brain tumor. Nevertheless, he came to the Democratic National Convention in Denver to unite the divided party, speaking out for health care as a basic right, and not a privilege. He's an inspiring old lion of a senator who has spent his political career redeeming the great
- [JFK: We choose to go to the Moon](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/17/jfk-we-choose-to-go-to-the-moon/) - In 1962, when the USA was far behind the Soviet Union in its space program, JFK held his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech. Highlights times, with text.
- [Thuja, or the White Cedar](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/25/thuja-or-the-white-cedar/) - Don took Larry and me on a nature walk on one of our last days on Drummond Island. He's a professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin and a specialist in evolution, with a special interest in how the forests are changing and what needs to be done to conserve them. He showed us
- [The Shins: New Slang](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/20/the-shins-new-slang/) - 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
- [Question: What's your earliest memory?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/16/question-whats-your-earliest-memory/) - 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
- [Paul Bunyan](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/12/paul-bunyan/) - 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,
- [George Harrison: Here comes the sun](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/12/george-harrison-here-comes-the-sun/) - So what's the weather like in your neck of the woods? Das heißt: Wie ist das Wetter denn so bei Euch? Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here Here
- [Brevity is the soul of wit](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/11/brevity-is-the-soul-of-wit/) - Shakespeare knew it. We blew it. The SMITH Magazine Six-Word memoirs restored it. Went looking for trouble, found it. (sisterpoet) Took road less traveled, got lost. (MikeMogie) Washed-up, has-been, wannabe, seeks bright future. (Moo) These short bits go deep. Handed out to sentient adults, they'll trigger personal narratives.
- [The Police: Roxanne](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/05/police-roxanne/) - They're working their butts off jamming and the audience is sitting there like so many dead ducks.
- [Fundraising](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/10/fundraising/) - We went to the annual fundraiser for the island clinic last week. The old familiar players were there. The most impressive donation every year is a quilt.
- [Question: What are you conservative about?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/09/what-are-you-conservative-about/) - I love to experiment and try things out, but there are some things about modern life that rub me the wrong way. I'm very conservative in some ways. You too?
- [The tiller is an ax handle...](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/07/the-tiller-is-an-axe-handle/) - ...and heaven help us if we lose this pin!
- [What's the story, cupcake?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/30/whats-the-story-cupcake/) - Sweet Dreams by Kirsten Lepore, Special Jury Award at SXSW 2009 Images and laughter help you learn, says Jo Westcombe, who sent this video and knows a thing or two about story telling. A fun assignment in a writing class could be to write this up in different genres: separate groups write a fairytale, a
- [Getting there](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/04/getting-ther/) - Getting to Drummond is a trip and a half, always good for a story. This time it was crossing the border from Canada in a shot up Toyota.
- [Question: So what's your island?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/08/02/question-so-whats-your-island/) - Drummond Iisand is as down home and funky as it gets. I hope my husband survives the three weeks.
- [Englischlernen mit Blogs is as easy as 1,2,3](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/29/englischlernen-mit-blogs-is-as-easy-as-123/) - If you are practicing English online by yourself, here are 3 lovely blogs to start with. Der Englisch-Blog, Bite-Sized English, Nik's Daily English Activities
- [Moon](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/17/moon/) - Can't wait to see Moon, starring the son of "Ziggy Stardust" himself. Straight SciFi in the footsteps of classics like 2001 - A Space Odyssey (1968), Blade Runner (1982) and Solaris (1972, 2002)
- [Sonic Youth: Antenna](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/28/sonic-youth-antenna/) - Surfing round re Cunningham I came across several Sonic Youth videos. These old masters have a new record out, called The Eternal. I love the intro to this. But the lyrics are awfully melancholy. Well, after all, "she's far away". my darling cruises the streets for pleasure skyscrapers in the blood red dawn throbbing blood
- [Merce Cunningham: The only way to do it is to do it](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/28/merce-cunningham-rip/) - Merce Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was a choreographer who shaped the American avant-garde arts scene for over 60 years. Cunningham worked closely with composer John Cage, his longtime partner, and with visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Bruce Nauman, designer Romeo Gigli and architect Benedetta Tagliabue. His YouTube
- [Movie questionnaire](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/28/movie-questionnaire/) - It's the summer that wasn't. So let's settle down into the movie questionnaire I found on the Army Of Dave blog. 1. Name a movie that you have seen more than 10 times. 10 times?? Maybe the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", but I wasn't counting. 2. Name a movie that you’ve seen multiple times in
- [Question: What's your summer read?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/27/question-whats-your-summer-read/) - The book I've started and that will go with me on the plane is Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". What I like about it, with a short passage from it.
- [The power of Mr. W.](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/26/mr-w/) - Happy birthday to my big, wild, fabulous brother :) Winner of the Lion d'Or at Cannes in 2007. Found through Tim Rylands on http://www.ideastoinspire.co.uk/youtube.htm
- [Lisa Hannigan: Ocean and a Rock](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/19/lisa-hannigan/) - Sea Sew by Irish singer/songwriter Lisa Hannigan is full of references to separation by the sea, and has the warmth and charm of a handknitted sweater. "Ocean and a Rock" tells how the singer's distant lover is part of her physical life, and its rhythms sound like the lapping of the waves. Some of her
- [Buffy the Vampire Slayer](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/24/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/) - Best quotes
- [Philippe Jaroussky - Ambronay 2008](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/25/philippe-jaroussky-ambronay-2008/) - A delightfully funny concert by countertenor Philippe Jaroussky to put a smile on your face and take you in paradiso. Anon: Ciaccona di Paradiso et dell'Inferno and Claudio Monteverdi: Ohimè, ch'io cado. From Isabella.
- [How to learn English: Reflective journal](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/22/how-to-learn-english-with-a-reflective-journal/) - Can keeping a reflective journal help you learn? Yes, but you need focus: good guidelines with a catalogue of questions. Feedback can be motivating.
- [United Breaks Guitars](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/23/united-breaks-guitars/) - Dave Carroll write a song and used YouTube to get customer service from United, have said they will use the incident for internal customer service training.
- [Michael Wesch and being initiated into the politics of authenticity](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/23/michael-wesch-and-the-politics-of-authenticity/) - I see a lot of similarities between the Pietist movement of the 18th century and today's movement towards blogging.
- [Fred Neil: The Dolphins](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/22/fred-neil-the-dolphins/) - This old world may never change The way it's been And all the ways of war Can't change it back again I've been searchin' For the dolphins in the sea
- [Question: What's your New Frontier?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/19/question-whats-your-new-frontier/) - Today is the 40th anniversary of Armstrong and Aldrich walking on the moon and I'm up there too today, somehow.
- [Rocketboom!](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/17/rocketboom/) - My new favorite on YouTube :)
- [Sexist quip of the day](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/17/sexist-quip-of-the-day/) - Men need space to roam. Women need a room of their own.
- [I'm looking forward to hearing from you](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/28/im-looking-forward-to-hearing-from-you/) - I’m looking forward to +ing: I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
- [Be have!](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/13/be-have/) - Children make funny mistakes as they learn to speak, and English native speakers are no exception.
- [Corporate welfare bums](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/20/corporate-welfare-bums/) - Naomi Klein ("The Shock Doctrine") wrote an article in Rolling Stone saying the bailout on Wall Street was "borderline criminal". In a recent interview on Democracy Now she says the G20 conference in Washington was an epic lost opportunity. G20 reaffirmed deregulation. Banks such as Citibank and Barkleys want to buy up Chinese and Indian
- [Question: If you were a member of a tribe, what would your name be?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/12/question-if-you-were-a-member-of-a-tribe-what-would-your-name-be/) - I were a member of a tribe, I'd be a squaw from the tribe of the Great Gap-toothed Indians and my name would be Old Can't Not Talk.
- [When Money Buys Happiness](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/02/when-money-buys-happiness/) - Do we shop compulsively, and if so, how can we stop? It seems that most of our shopping behavior is in fact quite sensible.
- [Blog carneval: No blog is an island](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/27/blog-carneval-no-blog-is-an-island/) - Though I don't make money from it and know I'm one of (and not one in) a million, blogging is as important to me as the teaching and writing I charge for.
- [John Calvin at 500](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/10/john-calvin-at-500/) - John Calvin's (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) greatest legacy today may be what Max Weber described in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. According to Weber, Calvin provided the ideological impetus for the development of capitalism. In addition, Calvin also contributed to the development of representative democracy in general and the
- [Stealers Wheel: Stuck in the middle with you](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/08/gary-rafferty-and-stealers-wheel-stuck-in-the-middle-with-you/) - Stealers Wheel sang thisin 1972, but the feeling is universal: "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am: Stuck in the middle with you!"
- [Question: Which skill would you like to develop?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/05/question-which-skill-would-you-like-to-develop/) - When you're at your most productive it's time to ask yourself what comes next. Are you thinking of skilling up?
- [To make a beeline for something](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/07/to-make-a-beeline-for-something/) - When you're going straight and fast towards a goal you make a beeline for it. And do bees make beelines, too? They sure do. This is no mean feat, but it's vitally important, because like the geese they're on a knife-edge energy budget. The straighter their beelines, the less energy they expend. Get a buzz
- [Michael Jackson: Dangerous](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/30/michael-jackson/) - Thriller was the first album I bought in Germany (for Luis), and Michael Jackson, the boy who refused to grow up and died a few days ago, is one of the reasons I spent so much time in discos back then. He may have remained a boy while we grew up (or tried to), but
- [The fourth of July](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/04/the-fourth-of-july/) - Fireworks by PES! Those poor bunnies! Happy fourth!
- [Pina Bausch: The man I love](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/02/pina-bausch-the-man-i-love/) - Pina Bausch (7-7-1940 - 6-30-2009) introduced the fragile, intense emotional nakedess of everyday gestures to dance, and had her dancers make sounds to match.
- [The Wind in the Willows](https://annehodgson.de/2009/07/01/the-wind-in-the-willows/) - A delightful read on a summer afternoon is The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. It's one of the nicest children's books there is. Just reading it puts you in a good mood. "It was a golden afternoon. The smell of the dust they kicked up was rich and satisfying; out of thick orchards
- [Question: Where and what is "home"?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/28/question-where-and-what-is-home/) - Two of the best ways into small talk are "So, where are you from?" and "Where do you live?" But even little innocent questions like that can open up a whole can of worms.
- [Susan Boyle Sings on Britain's Got Talent](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/12/susan-boyle-sings-on-britains-got-talent/) - Britain's got Talent! As for the opening act of the season, we were told as children: Don't judge a book by its cover. The old "freakshow" is alive and well, and it's still got morals for the masses. The embedded video doesn't run, so see it here. What I'm doing with this A group of
- [Bob Ross' happy little paintings](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/26/bob-ross-happy-little-paintings/) - Whatever this man was taking, I want some. Helmut thinks his paintings will be valuable one day. I'm not so sure. But his boundless optimism and general spaciness will go down in history. Bob Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was absolutely priceless. He repeatedly stated on the show his belief that everyone
- [That takes the cake](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/27/that-takes-the-cake/) - A few days ago I said that a presentation "takes the cake", meaning it was great. Now I just saw that Macmillan defines "take the cake" like this: take the cake to be the worst, most shocking, or most annoying example of something I’ve heard some ridiculous excuses before, but that takes the cake. Isn't
- [10 things you didn't know about...](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/22/10-things-you-didnt-know-about/) - Did you that paraplegics can have orgasms by stimulating other body parts? That embryos masturbate? That a woman can have an orgasm by brushing her teeth?
- [Paul Collier: Post-conflict recovery](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/26/paul-collier-post-conflict-recovery/) - Paul Collier, former director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group and current director of the the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford, gave a TED presentation at the State Department on rebuilding broken nations. He says when long conflict has wrecked a country, peacekeeping is needed to build security ad hoc,
- [Pigs and chickens revisted](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/25/pigs-and-chickens-revisted/) - My blog group is not getting off the ground. That's got me back to thinking about projects. As we learned when reading about Scrum last summer, there are various degrees of involvement in any project. There's that nice story: A pig and a chicken are walking down a road. The chicken looks at the pig
- [Michael Franti and Spearhead: Say hey](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/24/michael-franti-and-spearhead-say-hey/) - Everything is broken, from Iran ... to my bank account ... to our family summer plans ... to my teeth ... to my brain ... to the weather. Do you have days when you wish you hadn't gotten out of bed? Well, this is some sweet barefoot sing-and-dance-along music by Michael Franti to get my
- [Wailin Jennys](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/23/wailin-jennys/) - The angelic Wailin Jennys from Canada. For Neda Agha-Soltan, who studied philosophy and took singing lessons.
- [Question: Which thinker taught you to think?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/21/question-which-thinker-taught-you-to-think/) - Misguided comparisons between US 2000 and Iran 2009 made me remember Jürgen Habermas, who turned 80 last Thursday. His books influenced the way I think and live.
- [Aretha Franklin/ The BossHoss](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/09/aretha-franklin-the-bosshoss/) - "The Beauty of Anger"? These funny bad boys from Berlin really exploit every cliché, don't they, to turn Lady Soul's and Dionne Warwick's song inside out completely. What would we do without the battle of the sexes? I Say a Little Prayer For You Burt Bacharach for Dionne Warwick, 1967 The moment I wake up
- [Rachel Goodrich's sublime shake-a-billy](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/17/rachel-goodrich-shake-a-billy/) - She might become "your new favorite singer". From Miami Beach, Florida
- [Question: What do you do alone, by yourself, on your own?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/14/question-what-do-you-do-alone-by-yourself-on-your-own/) - Some things are simply better when you do them alone.
- [The stolen election](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/16/the-stolen-election/) - "Persepolis" cartoonist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi says Iranians were robbed of their votes. Along with renowned filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Satrapi asked the European Union not recognize President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. Satrapi read from a paper allegedly from the Interior Ministry in Iran that stated opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi had received 19,075,723 votes compared with 5,698,000
- [New Yorker Animated Cartoons](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/16/new-yorker/) - Rod introduced me to the New Yorker Animated Cartoons podcast. Here are a few: You can get the New Yorker Animated Cartoons as a podcast on iTunes. The iPhone app http://www.RingTales.com/iPhoneNY on my iPhone sometimes stalls - pity! But the podcast is better anyway.
- [Gender matters](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/15/gender-matters/) - Lera Boroditsky discusses her research on differences in gender stereotypes in HOW DOES OUR LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK? (www.edge.org, June 12). She asks "Do the languages we speak shape the way we see the world, the way we think, and the way we live our lives?" She thinks they do: In one study,
- [You're invited to the Island Weekly Question](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/24/youre-invited-to-the-island-weekly-question/) - Writing clears and frees up the mind. It's also a great way to improve your language skills. So I'd like to invite you to join a blogging group. Each week, you'll find a question here. Respond in your own blog and link to the question post, so that others can find your response. If you
- [PomeGranate Phone](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/13/pomegranate-phone/) - Fiddling with a video and an exercise on mobile phones, I stumbled across the PomeGranatePhone website again. This ideal smartphone can do one or two fun tricks the iPhone can't ... but only one or two. The PomeGranate ad was released in September 2008, and the iPhone apps are catching up. I think I could
- [Hey, this is just the beginning](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/12/hey-this-is-just-the-beginning/) - Kids have the tech skills that older learners need to acquire. One of the reasons I'm starting an EFL blogging group.
- [Summer fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/11/summer-fashion-2/) - Right-wing parties have won some major victories across Europe (including parts of Germany). So it's back to the old game of Us versus Them. Well, all of you politicians out there, and anyone who thinks racism is ok, we are watching you. Closely. And we are wearing t-shirts that say "Lügen haben kurze Beine": Lies
- [China 20 years later](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/04/china-20-years-later/) - Sorry to break my blog break yet again, but today is 20 years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and I can remember being glued to the TV and mourning. We can't really blame the young Chinese for their apolitical materialism, can we? Is anyone here thinking about next year, let alone 20 or 40 years
- [Madeleine Peyroux: River of Tears](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/10/madeleine-peyroux-river-of-tears/) - Every week here you will find a song and its lyrics, often in several interpretations, to improve your English
- [Starting an EFL blogging group](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/09/starting-an-efl-blogging-group/) - Are you feeling clueless about what a blog is and how to set one up to become part of the Island Weekly blogging project group? I've made a video for you. Set up your blog here: www.posterous.com or here: www.blogger.com. If you'd like to see what a Posterous blog looks like, have a look at
- [Question: What's your happy day?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/07/question-whats-your-happy-day/) - For me, happiness is a wet sailboat, or more specifically, a wet catamaran. Here you see me rigging the "Seebock", which got its name because it once threw off Helmut and sailed off alone across the lake. Listen to the podcast, and I'll tell you what exactly it is about sailing that makes me happy.
- [Melissa Laveaux: Needle in the hay](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/03/melissa-laveaux-needle-in-the-hay/) - Laveaux sings a song by Eliott Smith, a gifted, depressed songwriter addicted to drugs who killed himself, and turns it into a song of sympathy. With lyrics.
- [Off](https://annehodgson.de/2009/06/01/off/) - Sorry, I'm off this week. No blogging (except the song). Will post podcast and articles again next week.
- [Rugby Lions Training](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/29/rugby-lions-training/) - Ok, lads, you've got a big game coming up, so get your heads down and get some rest.
- [Mitchell & Webb, Armstrong & Miller: WWII Pilots](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/25/wwii-pilots/) - More on heroism on Memorial Day. This is just the intro - excellent full feature here. (Forgive me for going on about this, but I think they are just so good and funny.)
- [Jenny Holzer ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/28/jenny-holzer/) - Jenny Holzer's installations combine artifacts and running text in LEDs. The topic are often ghastly but the effect is to really you to think things through.
- [Do and make in Frankfurt](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/22/do-and-make-in-frankfurt/) - I was in Frankfurt for Management Circle teaching a course in Office Communication for Assistants, and the lovely group (hello, ladies!) decided these expressions with do and make were the most helpful ones. Some expressions included: do well = gedeihen, florieren do without = ohne etwas auskommen make do with something = mit einer "suboptimalen"
- [Vote for Beppe](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/14/vote-for-beppe/) - Italy is voting for a prime minister for the 62nd time since the end of the second world war, and unless a miracle occurs, it will elect Belusconi for a third term. Oh, Italy!
- [The 200th Daily Monster](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/03/the-200th-daily-monster-farewell-my-lovelies/) - Say goodbye to the last of the Daily Monsters by Stefan Bucher. Farewell, my lovelies! What will this interesting graphic designer do next? To me, monsters define the edges of our existence, the wonders that show us just how far we can go. If you love monsters the way I do, not just with your
- [Animating girls](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/27/animating-girls/) - Two very different scenes - street theater and pixels - and yet somehow they are mirror worlds inhabited by the same kinds of dreams. We love puppets of all kinds, don't we, especially those who seem to really come alive when we pull the strings. Who's controlling whom? A little creepy (unheimlich) and wierd -
- [Into the wind](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/02/into-the-wind/) - Sailing is my switch, my release, my heaven. A good day on the water is all I need to get back my wings, to expand my range of vision, to put things back into perspective. It’s marvelous to be suspended between the water and the air, feeling the tug of the updrift and the slap of the waves, reading the sky and the water, deep in conversation with the elements.
- [Bo Diddley: Bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp. Bomp-bomp](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/03/bo-diddley-bo-diddley/) - The "Originator" of rock 'n' roll is dead. Bo Diddley (Dec 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008) was born in Mississippi, raised in Chicago, lived in Washington, D.C. for seven years (1959 to 1966) and was a key figure in that great movement that brought black roots into the mainstream. He created the driving, syncopated
- [Maurice Sendak turns 80](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/10/maurice-sendak-turns-80/) - Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator of immortal children's books, turns 80 today. He finds that children’s experiences in particular—joy and discovery, fear and suffering—are among the purest and strongest ones there are. And children recognize that he is truly talking to them. For me, "Where the Wild Things Are" picked up where "Beauty and the
- [Habeas corpus](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/16/habeas-corpus/) - Guantanamo Bay has been a black hole for civil liberties, and last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this must change. Finally!
- [Blue Ocean](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/14/blue-ocean/) - How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
- [Red dot](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/22/red-dot/) - found on how about orange
- [Wish upon a star](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/01/solar-system/) - NASA's new image-sharing website, nasaimages.org. Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight wish I may, wish I might have the wish I wish tonight.
- [3 Quarks Daily](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/07/3quarksdaily/) - This great "filter blog" edited by S. Abbas Raza collects the writings of people in the arts and sciences. If you think the world has run out of ideas, go there. Yesterday it featured an article reporting that Iranian female students have been secretly reading Nabokov's Lolita. Habermas, Kant, Arendt, Mill, Camus are hugely popular
- [Woody Guthrie: This land is your land](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/23/woodie-guthrie-this-land-is-your-land/) - The Aimee Mann contest is over and the winner's accent reminded me of Woody Guthrie. So here he is, with our real - alternative - national anthem. This Land Is Your Land (1940; 1944) This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest
- [9/11: The falling man](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/11/911-the-falling-man/) - I've just finished Don DeLillo's "Falling Man", an alternately moving and bleak description of relationships after the attacks on the Twin Towers, focussing on a troubled marriage. When Lianne sees her estranged husband Keith, a survivor of Tower 1, come in the door covered in blood and helps him clean up, she realizes that most of
- [The heavy metal pilot](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/16/the-heavy-metal-pilot/) - "White man came across the sea..." and cured them of their misery. It was a nice bit of news for a rainy day: Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for Iron Maiden, has a day job as a commercial pilot and is one of the pilots who picked up vacationing tourists after their tour operator XL Leisure
- [You gotta read it](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/18/you-gotta-read-it/) - Found a blog activity on Dolcevita's site Lesekreis originated by Marcel of Read it! called "Stöckchen", which is basically a game of "go fetch". This time the task is to list your 10 all-time favorite books. Dolcevita had already listed Siri Huvstedt “What I Loved” und Tolkien “The Hobbit”, and Henny of Krimilady named David
- [Daily sprint backlog @ Island Weekly](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/18/daily-sprint-backlog-island-weekly/) - In eigener Sache: Im Island Weekly Blog sind Kommentare auf Deutsch genauso willkommen wie auf Englisch. Englischfehler sind erlaubt. Hier ein Blick hinter die Kulissen. Helmut (der ja auch an seinem Englisch arbeitet) und ich haben viel Spass beim Diskutieren und Experimentieren. Dabei kommen dann manchmal etwas schwierige englische Texte heraus, z.B. unsere Diskussion zu
- [Fall fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/19/fall-fashion/) - From the Obama "Runway to change". Design: Nanette Lepore. Unfortunately, no delivery outside the USA.
- [Juan and Amal](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/21/juan-and-amal/) - John Well's phonetic blog featured this ad (his photo): (noone likes...) and goes on to recount this old joke: A woman gave birth to identical twins, but unfortunately she and her husband couldn't afford to keep them, and gave the boys up for adoption. On the boys' second birthday, the couple received photos of the
- [Planet Oktoberfest](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/22/planet-oktoberfest/) - The Oktoberfest was modeled on the ancient Olympics. Today the sports involved are raising your beer, dancing on the table, finger wrestling and running hurdles
- [Joyrider](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/23/joyrider/) - Want to go for a joyride? Tech news: Wheels turn, smileys stay put. "Joyrider is a revolutionary accessory that transforms a bicycle into a moving light show using just one LED. The design evokes new rave couture, with its iconic smiley face and the strobe effect, bringing kitsch glamour to the cycling experience. The two
- [Brian Wilson @ Black Cab Sessions](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/25/brian-wilson-black-cab-sessions/) - OMG: the legend behind the Beach Boys hopped into the Black Cab Sessions, a non-profit music project, with his band and they hit it to create Chapter 59: "DEAR BLACK CABS," THE EMAIL BEGAN, "WOULD YOU PLEASE CONSIDER FILMING A SESSION WITH BRIAN WILSON (OF THE BEACH BOYS)." THEY REALLY DIDN'T NEED TO ADD THAT
- [H.L.Mencken on crooked banks](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/30/hlmencken-on-crooked-banks/) - "When five sound banks," said the Hon. Mr. Landon, "must pay the loss of one rotten one, the drain on the five necessarily impairs their strength. One of them breaks under the strain and the remaining four are weakened by the added strain, and so on." ... The federal insurance scheme has worked up to
- [Oof! Thud! Ow!](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/03/oof-thud-ow/) - A while ago I did something for Spotlight on sound words in comics. Wish I'd seen this cute strip by Matt Madden, author of "99 Ways to Tell a Story" (2005), a really interesting exercises-in-style book, in his blog beforehand: PS: Did you notice how the little girl says "falled" instead of "fallen"? See, that's
- [At the time](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/07/at-the-time/) - A favorite student of mine uses at the time when he really wants to say at the moment. Here are some correct models: At the moment I'm getting ready to teach my second compact seminar for Management Circle. The last one was in spring. I was learning to work my new laptop at the time.
- [Six Songs](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/22/six-songs/) - In The World in Six Songs. How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, Daniel J. Levitin lists six songs that inspired him in 1975 to become a musician. These are his "comfort" songs: Autobahn by Kraftwerk Beethoven's Sixth Symphony as performed by Herbert von Karajan & the Berlin Philharmonic Revolver by the Beatles (whole album)
- [Alison Krauss: Take me for longing](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/27/alison-krauss-take-me-for-longing/) - She's the one we're listening to these days, her voice is the one rocking me to sleep. This is one of my favorite bluegrass love songs, straight from the heart.
- [Question: Heroes or victims of circumstance?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/24/question-heroes-or-victims-of-circumstance/) - Island Weekly Question: On Memorial Day weekend the US celebrates the soldiers who have fallen serving their country. Heroes or victims of circumstance?
- [Men with beards](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/23/men-with-beards/) - If you ask me, Radovan Karadzic is going to give beards a very bad name. I prefer the clean-shaven look, too. But not every beard hides a war criminal. Here, in defense of the honor of men wearing beards, are the world champions in facial hair from the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Carson
- [MELTA](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/22/melta/) - Yeah! We've relaunched our website for the English language teachers' association here in Munich. Ben Davis did it for us. I've belonged to this community now for about seven years, and currently have the pleasure of being on the board. MELTA is for freelancers and schoolteachers alike, connecting us in a professional network, with workshops
- [Pretty in blue](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/12/pretty-in-blue/) - I was pretty blue a couple of weeks ago when my trusty laptop gave out on me - leaving me without equipment at a very bad time, just as I am getting ready to teach my first seminar for Management Circle.
- [Are you game?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/02/25/are-you-game/) - Computer games are intelligent reductions of reality to focus on a given challenge. Their key strength is that they allow users to learn from failure in a safe setting.
- [The Ultimate Kick](https://annehodgson.de/2008/02/04/the-ultimate-kick/) - Last year, a couple of cool dudes on hot bikes took “the long way down” from the top of Scotland to the tip of Africa.
- [We are the President](https://annehodgson.de/2008/01/14/we-are-the-president/) - Election year in the States is a lot of fun and excitement. I can’t imagine giving up my US citizenship to become German - I want to vote in the presidential elections.
- [Tinkering](https://annehodgson.de/2007/12/31/tinkering/) - A while ago we had a little domestic crisis involving our espresso machine. It had been steaming and dripping and making little explosive noises, so Helmut went out and bought an exploratory screwdriver. I was worried. "What about the warranty?" "No, let me just tinker with it and I'll find the leak myself!" Famous last
- [Green Time](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/28/green-time/) - Red TIME magazine came in green last week. It’s a “Special Environmental Issue”, and the effect of the cover in complemetary green is visually striking.
- [The pleasant poetry of Genesis](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/04/of-men-and-monkeys/) - Today many of the states in the US require public schools to teach the creation of the world according to the book of Genesis on par with Darwin's theory of evolution.
- [No liquids on board](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/21/no-liquids/) - My flight from Munich came in late in Toronto, so I didn't have time to check in my suitcase again to make my connecting flight. So I had to give up all liquids
- [Being old](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/25/being-old/) - At the moment I'm spending time with my mother. It's a rare occasion for me because Germany and the USA are still an ocean apart.
- [Bear ways](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/01/bear-ways/) - It's all my fault. We had a bear visit our cabin the other day. It was in the early evening, the sun was still up and I was down by the water when I heard some loud thumps up in the woods, and thought, "Hey, that's funny, maybe our neighbor has come back early." The
- [Things Germans say wrong](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/02/things-germans-say-wrong/) - 1. My chief is in a meeting. 2. She’s a very engaged worker. 3. I can’t understand what you’re saying. There’s something wrong with the hearer. 4. She’s a sympathetic woman, I really like her. 5. He works in the pharmaceutical branch. 6. I jobbed as a temp before I started working here. 7. I’ll
- [Billy Holiday: Fine and Mellow](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/07/billy-holiday-fine-and-mellow/) - Billy Holiday was reunited after many years with tenor saxophonist Lester Young for this recording session in 1957. Her silent response to his solo was so eloquent. This is probably the most famous "live jazz" performance in TV history. My man don't love me He treats me oh so mean My man he don't love
- [The overhead projector](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/04/the-overhead-projector/) - It's a low-tech office dinosaur of the 20th century, but I still use the OHP for teaching. It's really good for... Warm-up: Students present themselves in pictures they've drawn on a slide Images: Cartoons etc. to jump-start a topic; better than photcopies, saves paper, everyone is looking up. Text work (email, correspondence, translation): Participants hand-write
- [Overboard](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/08/overboard/) - This is an embarrassing story, but you have to make a fool of yourself from time to time. So here goes. In Croatia, I managed to go overboard in a sailboat.
- [Scrutinizing Scrum](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/15/scrutinizing-scrum/) - Scrum is a project management method which focusses completely on the customer and the quality of the product, progressing in very short cycles.
- [An ! as president](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/04/an-as-president/) - Chart: Aden Nak "The problem with Ms. Palin’s candidacy is that John McCain might actually win this election, and then if something terrible happened, the country could be left with little more than an exclamation point as president."- Bob Herbert, Palin's Alternate Universe, New York Times, 3 Oct. 2008 "Watching a woman, slight of build
- [How long have you been here?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/11/how-long-have-you-been-here/) - Management Circle offered a business communication seminar for management assistants in Frankfurt that I had the privilege to teach. They do a really professional job of organising these events. My students, Astrid, Christine, Elke, Petra, Sladana and Theresia were such a pleasure to be with. Two days are obviously very short, but I have the
- [The truth](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/29/the-truth/) - David Foster Wallace's book „McCain's Promise“ is about what makes people care about politics. According to Wallace, it comes down to straight talk.
- [My blog. Your blog?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/06/my-blog-your-blog/) - I keep my private life private. At least I used to think I did. Until I got this message from a woman in Russia who said, "Anne, do you know that your secret journal is online?"
- [Start it up](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/22/start-it-up/) - Thinking about starting up a podcast again, after a break of about half a year. There is so much to think and talk about. Will you be part of the discussion?
- [Goodbye, red marble](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/04/goodbye-red-marble/) - I hear NASA has found water on Mars (BBC)."This is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," says William Boynton, mission scientist. That's progress: Pretty marbles become habitats. Are we really gearing up to go to Mars? When my dad was a boy in the 1920s, children still thought the moon was
- [For the Leos](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/01/for-the-leos/) - An amazing number of Leos populate my world. Family and friends, colleagues and students, this one is for you: Meet Lionel, the Lion-Faced Boy, aka Stephan Bribowski from Poland, who graced freakshows at the turn of the century. He was covered in luxurious blond hair, a condition called Hypertrichosis, which according to circus lore was
- [John McCain: Thanks for the question, you little jerk](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/29/john-mccain-thanks-for-the-question-you-little-jerk/) - mccain-vanityfairThis fake cover made fun of things Senator McCain is, whereas the famous New Yorker cover made fun of things Senator Obama is not.
- [Obamania in Berlin](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/24/obama-in-berlin/) - The main event (see 3 min. video on BBC): "Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century Americans and
- [Obama jokes](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/24/obama-jokes/) - Have you noticed how few jokes there are about Obama? A man you cannot make fun of has a definite problem. He needs change! If you hear or read an Obama joke, please post it under comments. German, French, Arabic, Kisuahili, etc. welcome. We know the battle to find humor in Obama will be long,
- [The Obamas on the New Yorker](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/18/the-obamas-on-the-new-yorker/) - The liberal New Yorker tried its hand at satire this week. Michelle in combat fatigues, Barack dressed like bin Laden and a picture of same on the wall, as the stars and stripes burn in the Oval Office fireplace. The liberal part of the blogosphere is not laughing. Should we lighten up? I don't know.
- [Sailing](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/12/sailing/) - Bring your sunglasses and your hat, because we're going sailing. Is this your maiden voyage (Jungfernfahrt)? Then watch this video by Mahalo Daily to learn how to hoist the mainsail (Groß hochziehen), use the tiller (Pinne) to steer the boat, come about (wenden) ... and watch your head when the boom (Baum) comes across. Ready?
- [Summer fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/08/summer-fashion/) - This stupid T-shirt showing Obama as Curious George got a lot of excited coverage. It's so 19th century. After Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of the Species" was published in 1859, racists looking for the "missing link" between man and monkey settled on blacks. No human rights for slaves and ex-slaves, then. I'm amazed that
- [Jack Johnson: Upside Down](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/08/jack-johnson-upside-down/) - Curious George was one of my favorite children's books series. A monkey who gets in and out of trouble? A monkey who, strangely enough, lacks a tail? Now that is something a child can identify with. The series was written and drawn by Hans A. Rey and Margret Rey, Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who
- [Aloha Hawaii](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/08/aloha-hawaii/) - Aloha in Hawaiian means affection, love, peace, compassion and mercy. Since the middle of the 19th century, it also has come to be used as a greeting to say goodbye and hello. Hawaii was annexed to the USA on July 7th, 1898 - ah, our glorious colonial past! - and became the 50th state in
- [Margaret Atwood: Moral Disorder](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/07/margaret-atwood-moral-disorder/) - Since it's summertime, I thought maybe you're looking for something to read. I'm going to read you a selection from a book that I've been reading.
- [Batmobile](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/03/batmobile/) - BMW has come out with a very cool concept car called GINA that looks like it should be sold in a sexshop. Watching the videos loving the skin on this transformer car, I was reminded of Batman, a favorite of the latex scene. As kids, we used to drape blankets over our shoulders and run
- [Mugabe](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/01/mugabe/) - Now Zimbabwe urgently needs sorting out. See Eamonn's editorial about Zimbabwe in Spotlight Online and find out about the dark humor that is keeping Zimbabwe going.
- [Michelle, ma belle](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/30/michelle-ma-belle/) - Michelle Obama is very good at the difficult political wife routine - she sounds about as grounded and real as you can sound if you have to be everything to everybody.
- [WALL-E](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/12/wall-e/) - 700 years into the future, mankind has left Earth to live in outer space. But before leaving we built and left behind a robot to clean up after us. WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earthglass, as the advertisement by the (fictional) Buy-n-Large Corporation, the producer of the handy robot, explains. "So sit
- [Public viewing](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/09/public-viewing/) - I know that any spectator sport is all about loving and supporting your local team long-term, especially in football (or “soccer”), but I simply can’t get into our local club, 1860.
- [NYT TimesMachine: History for everyone](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/24/nyt-timemachine-history-for-everyone/) - Thanks to Lesekreis for the tip: The New York Times has opened its vaults and put its historic issues online: "TimesMachine can take you back to any issue from Volume 1, Number 1 of The New-York Daily Times, on September 18, 1851, through The New York Times of December 30, 1922. Choose a date in
- [Going Pink](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/05/going-pink/) - Daniel Pink has just published a career guide called “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko”, and it’s a manga comic that tells the story of how one man learns to thrive in the world of work.
- [Nobody's perfect](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/07/nobodys-perfect/) - I was walking through the TUM the other day when I saw a label above a nice architectural exhibit showing a building project.
- [A Stroke of Insight](https://annehodgson.de/2008/03/31/brain-science/) - At the age of 37, at the height of her career, brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor had a stroke. She witnessed the functions in her left brain hemisphere shutting down.
- [Peace](https://annehodgson.de/2008/03/24/peace/) - Easter has been connected with the peace movement ever since people first went on a 50 mile "Easter March" from London on Good Friday in 1958.
- [No Genius](https://annehodgson.de/2008/03/17/no-genius/) - Math! It seems to me that no subject (except maybe English) can frustrate so many learners.
- [Pizza EU](https://annehodgson.de/2008/03/10/pizza-eu/) - If this petition is accepted, the pizza service I use will no longer be able call its pizza a "Pizza Napolitana". But frankly, who cares?
- [Blackbird Singing](https://annehodgson.de/2008/03/03/blackbird-singing/) - I find myself at 4am sitting by the open window with a soothing cup of tea and listening to the blackbirds singing. There are two of them, and they sing at intervals.
- [Do it Right](https://annehodgson.de/2008/02/18/do-it-right/) - It’s great fun to teach English to people who apply their minds to developing interesting concepts -- for example, that buildings have “skin”.
- [Drifting on Music](https://annehodgson.de/2008/01/28/drifting-on-music/) - I guess in my life it’s always been the guitar player who gets the girl.
- [Art for Navigators](https://annehodgson.de/2008/01/21/art-for-navigators/) - Julian Schnabel, artist and filmmaker, has just opened a new exhibition entitled "Navigation Drawings" at the Sperone Westwater gallery in New York.
- [Zoning in](https://annehodgson.de/2007/12/28/zoning-in/) - while it does feel as if I've read the whole novel, it’s been a messy, haphazard process
- [Patti Smith: Horses](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/22/patti-smith-horses/) - She's a giant, punk stands on her shoulders. I drove my dad absolutely crazy playing "Horses" ("that's pornography!" "no, that's art!") and her version of "Gloria". When I tried to convince him that she was a poet and an intellectual, he said, "How can she hear herself think?" Actually, I think the performance comes after
- [Sex and ... grammar?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/21/sex-and-grammar/) - I've got a fun job, writing an exercise a week for learners of English. We think up a topic related to the magazine and a grammar issue that should be addressed, or a set of vocabulary items and an approach to learning them, and then I'm off and running. It's funny: The more bizarre the
- [Rabih Abou-Khalil: Lewinsky March ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/21/rabih-abou-khalil-lewinsky-march/) - Happy Father's Day, you marvellous men! :) My brother Christoph introduced me to the music of Rabih Abou-Khalil years ago. Going to see him - Chris! - soon
- [Zap targets bullying among boys and girls](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/19/zap-targets-bullying-among-boys-and-girls/) - Zapdramatic is an interactive roleplaying game series for practicing and discussing communicative behavior. Michael Gibson, the mastermind behind the series, is planning a slow reveal of his relaunched Zap site. He wrote to me that they are "looking for new users to help support our new projects." I'm a member of Zapdramatic because it gets
- [Lev Ylmaz: Procrastination](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/20/lev-ylmaz-procrastination/) - This is pretty much exactly how my day went yesterday, except that you can replace "shopping" with "lining up the apps I need" and "watching the Twilight Zone marathon" with "playing all of my favorite music to Helmut". So I've got to buckle down and really get my stuff done today. From Levni Ymaz's "Tales
- [Eddie Izzard on the history of the English language](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/20/eddie-izzard-on-the-history-of-the-english-language/) - Found on mPulse, the new Macmillan Dictionary blog, posted by Jonathan Cole.
- [Comics](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/18/comics/) - I've stuck a comics widget onto this page (Flash Player needed), because maybe like me you love comics. The comics page was the second page I read in the Washington Post after glancing at the headlines. I think my favorite has always been B.C., maybe because I like the idea of philosophical cavemen. Bill Waterson's
- [Macmillan Dictionary gadget](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/15/macmillan-dictionary-gadget/) - What do you think of the Macmillan Dictionary gadget on the right? It provides definitions in English and sample sentences to see the words used in another context. You can even listen to them. If a word you look up is a "red" word, you'll know it's one of just 7,500 words that speakers of
- [Breakfast](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/12/breakfast/) - I've decided to slow down for balance - and to delay breakfast to mid-morning (for a proper break between dinner and breakfast). I currently have the great luxury of being able to decide when to work and when to take breaks. So these days I'm doing yoga and getting some exercise in the early morning
- [Niche](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/13/niche/) - I teach mainstream business English, and will certainly continue. Sure. But I'm curious about whether I can also expand into areas that mean a little more to me. That means thinking about "niches". If you have a service that fits a small, but select group perfectly, that will get you places. What is a niche?
- [Perelucci](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/11/perelucci/) - I just got mail from Uesa Robinson, who has a vintage clothes shop on Capitol Hill. She researches her clothes, and one of them is a dress that has a label from Perelucci's, my mother's (Gertrud Hodgson's) clothes boutique. How marvellous! The Perelucci name and logo was my father's, made out of my mother's nickname
- [Emmylou Harris: Calling my children home](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/11/emmylou-harris-calling-my-children-home/) - Just about to book my trip to visit my old mother. Not having children of my own, I can only imagine what it must have meant to her to watch her sons and then me go off oversees. Here is a song I found after my brother Chris sent me another great link of Emmylou
- [Hinteregg, near Solothurn](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/11/hinteregg-near-solothurn/) - Friends of ours are tenants of a mountain pasture for cows at 1000 m in the Swiss Jura at Hinteregg. They run a nice restaurant and bed and breakfast, where they offer hikers, bikers and climbers excellent whole food cuisine, including anything from the beef of cows they raise themselves to French patisserie. Annette learned
- [Wellness](https://annehodgson.de/2009/05/08/wellness/) - Funny, we don't use the word "wellness" in English. We speak of well-being, relaxation, of going to a spa or resort. But wellness (like "handy") is a very nice word invention, after all, hotels promoting wellness aim to make you well. I went to a "wellness hotel" this week, a place I wouldn't have dreamt
- [Hari and Uli forever](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/30/hari-and-uli-forever/) - Bild: www.pixelio.de, Jürkas So schaut Euer junges Bäumchen dann eines Tages aus :) Take me home (Tom Waits) Take me home you silly girl/boy put your arms around me take me home you silly girl/boy all the world's not round without you I'm so sorry that I broke your heart please don't leave my side
- [The language of bacteria](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/30/the-language-of-bacteria/) - Yesterday at Morphosys we had an interesting discussion based on the TEDTalk by Bonnie Bassler on how bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks by recognizing "self" and "other". I asked the course how she "hooks" her listeners, and they said one of her main
- [Florence Foster Jenkins](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/28/florence-foster-jenkins/) - She kept us in stitches at college. You haven't heard of Florence Foster Jenkins? She couldn't sustain a note, and her sense of pitch and rhythm was off, but she was totally sincere about loving music and had loads of fans attending her recitals. Wikipedia writes: "After a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she
- [Brigitte](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/29/brigitte/) - My dear friend, mentor, dance partner, swimming mate. She wanted strong, intellectual, emotional, free women, green students and a self-sufficient third world. How come she was always so sure of what was right and what was wrong? For all her ideals and fans and disciples she drank and was lonely. When I gave up on
- [Quiet, please](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/29/quiet-please/) - Yesterday one of the hundreds of tweets I read showed me that a new generation of interactive exercise widgets has arrived (Create quizzes at ProProfs.com). Anyone can use them and embed them in their blog or wiki to start producing sophisticated webpages for learners for free. I knew it was coming, but I just didn't
- [My wing](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/26/my-wing/) - Happy anniversary sweetheart! Never mind the pictures, the blurb on YouTube says this is Monte Montgomery's version of Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing, played on an Alvarez-Yairi DY-62c acoustic/electric guitar.
- [Natalie Cole: Paper Moon ](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/22/natalie-cole-paper-moon/) - I love paper. I was one of those kids who couldn't get enough of scissors and crayons and folding things. Origami paper awakens my fingers and my inner child. My favorite school project was building a stage set from cardboard. I also love the paper. I love paper, or rather the paper, so much ...
- [Running on empty](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/23/running-on-empty/) - It's been a bit of a Formula 1 week and the race isn't over yet. But I've just enjoyed a pitstop to plan and book a few days outside the circuit. Need to refuel properly and spin my wheels before I cruise back into the action. Quiet pitstop musings: A pretty clip from "What Dreams
- [Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-19](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/19/twitter-weekly-updates-for-2009-04-19/) - von wegen #Strandfigur: Writing makes you fat. I'm turning over a new leaf. Have to loose the equivalent of a miniature dachshund. Groan! # Who can recommend a DVD ripper for Mac? My DVDs are driving me crazy - I can't use them in seminars, they stall - so I need mp4s. Tips? # Learning
- [The pledge of allegiance](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/19/the-pledge-of-allegiance/) - When I went to St Peter's Parochial school in Washington we said the "Pledge of Allegiance" every morning: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." When I'm old and gray and
- [The bare necessities](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/14/the-bare-necessities/) - The students at the biotech company I teach at work veeeery hard, and I'm just translating a study on biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in Munich that is super interesting, so you'd think that's what we'll be discussing next lesson, right? Wrong. There was a request, you see, to compare the German and the English text of
- [Pink Frank](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/16/pink-frank/) - Funny fashion for a cool and hardworking dude. Thank you, Frank. Better luck next time. - But honestly, guys, you wouldn't be caught dead wearing pink !?!
- [Peace! and laughter](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/11/peace-and-laughter/) - Easter is traditionally associated with peace. Here's a wonderful old news reel. It's September 1943, in the middle of WWII, and Mrs. Eleanore Roosevelt, the First Lady, is standing on a stage, in uniform, telling a humanitarian joke. http://www.archive.org/details/1943-09-30_Mrs_FDR_Tells_One "Just as the Marines were in order to leave Guadalcanal, an officer found a private (Gefreiter),
- [Pub talk and Lisa Hannigan](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/10/pub-talk-and-lisa-hannigan/) - I know you need it to break the ice but... I hate small talk. I love pub talk. Life is jut too short to waste on banal subjects, and it is just so marvellous to meet people and find common interests. That's why I enjoy going to the pub to meet friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Eamonn
- [We are stardust](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/05/we-are-stardust/) - Joni Mitchell is my favorite songwriter. She and Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics that, when I was a teenager trying to make sense of the world, made me love English for being both evocative and concise. Playful. Evolving every day. This image of us, mankind, as stardust, caught in the devil's bargain, trying to get
- [Merz](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/01/merz/) - Merz, aka Conrad Lambert, is an English folk singer/songwriter with an electronic experimental side. Ulrich gave me his new album, Moi & Mon Camion, which is simply exquisite, with natural vocals, accoustic and electric instruments and electronic ambience building epic soundscapes on the quiet melancholy of the lyrics. It's all about being uprooted and on
- [The origins of acceptance speeches](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/08/the-origins-of-acceptance-speeches/) - Armstrong and Miller What I'm doing with this My business English class tonight will get this video and the "Cromagnon English" text below and use it as a scaffold (Gerüst) to give a speech on something they have accomplished with their team. We give thanks to mighty warrior Ug, - Slayer of cave beast -
- [Myers-Briggs Type Indicator](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/09/myers-briggs-type-indicator/) - Feeling a bit out of sorts with your job or looking for orientation? That's a good time to do a questionnaire like MTBI, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. That's a test HR managers and headhunters love to use. It's based on C. G. Jung's analysis of how we make decisions, with its opposite pairs: thinking
- [The origins of small talk](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/06/the-origins-of-small-talk/) - Armstrong and Miller
- [Teacherz and football](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/02/teacherz-and-football/) - It's springtime in Cardiff. We had lunch on the lawn outside City Hall, not too far from a fetching medieval castle. The daffodils are out, seagulls are everywhere. We weren't here for the the recent rugby game where 100,000 people watched Ireland win, but did see Germany beat Wales yesterday in the half empty, really
- [Men and women: Dressing the part](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/05/men-and-women-dressing-the-part/) - Women's clothes seen in Cardiff: sleeveless, backless, strapless, halter-top, low-cut, skin-tight, hip-hugging, gathered, sashed, studded, with rhinestones, spangled.
- [Spring fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/05/spring-fashion/) - Seen in Cardiff: Tulip colors on Doc Martens. It's going to be a colorful spring.
- [Out of juice](https://annehodgson.de/2009/04/02/out-of-juice/) - No more posts on this trip. Can't find a plug for my laptop, which has a German plug. Got a plug set for the iPhone but that won't fit the laptop. Grrr. Now, though the phone is great, I hate blogging from it. Next blogpost on Sunday.
- [Lost on games or just sold on Zapdramatic?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/30/lost-on-games-or-just-sold-on-zapdramatic/) - All you need to feel like an old fart is to spend a few hours spread over a few days trying to imagine what learners of English could get out of playing online games. This is really quite hard for me, just learning to move around and react to virtual surroundings makes me feel like
- [Why do you take pictures?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/30/why-do-you-take-pictures/) - The Wind Blows It All Away from bob sprankle on Vimeo. I've stopped taking pictures, let alone putting them in an album the way I used to. Are blogs and photostreams etc. the new photoalbums? But isn't having pictures on the computer very different? How do you keep and look at your pictures? Source: twitter
- [Hot rod](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/27/hot-rod/) - Thanks, Rod, for this video about a new kind of hot rod (hehe, sorry, couldn't resist), the fastest street-legal electric car. "The beamer (=BMW) lost against the zombie." I just wonder: this racing uses up a lot of electricity, so it's not the "greener" car at this speed, is it? PS: This is a great
- [Flash fiction](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/16/flash-fiction/) - Sorry, folks, I'm using this blog to think through some stuff today. I'm Moodling again, at least theoretically, to prepare for an upcoming workshop. Can't show off old user content anymore since I deleted all former users and their work as an antivirus precaution, and don't want to do what I did before because I've
- [iphone](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/20/iphone/) - It's a little embarassing to have and use an iphone if you're not big on gadgets. But I've got one and use it all the time now... for everything ... From Ian, thanks:
- [He loves Brazil](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/27/he-loves-brazil/) - I saw a dear friend today who travelled to Brazil with her 10-year old son late last summer. One of the stories she told has added a bounce to my step all day: When they landed and wanted to go through customs, there wasn't a guard in sight anywhere. So they settled down for a
- [Two Englishmen are standing on a corner...](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/26/two-englishmen-are-standing-on-a-corner/) - ... when a woman drives up. She asks, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" "No, sorry, I don't." "¿Habla español?" "I'm afraid not, sorry." "Parlez-vous français?" "Unfortunately, no, not a word." Frustrated, she drives off. So one guy says to the other, "Hey, maybe we should learn a foreign language." "What a waste of time," says the other.
- [Avoiding swearwords](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/26/avoiding-swearwords/) - I did a controversial exercise for Spotlight Online the other day, and now I wish I'd done one on the words we Americans use in polite company to avoid swearwords. Heck! (hell) Shoot! (shit) Fudge! (fuck) Gosh! Golly! (God) For crying out loud! (for Christ's sake) Gee whizz! Jeepers! (Jesus) Darn (damn) Doggone it! (damn
- [Learning or using?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/24/learning-or-using/) - What comes first: Learning how something works or using it without really having a clue? It's always using, for me. And it's getting worse (or better, depending on your perspective) every day. I can hardly sit still long enough to hear someone out or live through the whole experience without wanting to apply that new
- [sweet spring is your](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/22/sweet-spring-is-your/) - "sweet spring is your" by e e cummings from 1x1 (1944) is under copyright, so here are just the first two verses: "sweet spring is your time is my time is our time for spring time is lovetime and viva sweet love" (all the merry little birds are flying in the floating in the very
- [Spring is here. Tauben and pigeons beware](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/21/spring-is-here-tauben-and-pigeons-beware/) - OK, so it's still cold out, but spring is here. Along with blackest humor. "Taubenvergiften im Park" was written by Georg Kreisler, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" was penned by Tom Lehrer. So: Did Lehrer steal the song from Kreisler, or was it the other way around? Lehrer had more chutzpah, and thanked Kreissler for
- [Wake Up, springtime is here](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/17/wake-up-springtime-is-here/) - I have to admit that I first heard Arcade Fire, the great indie band from Montreal, through their quirky elevator video, Neon Bible in 2008. But "Wake Up" from Funeral, recorded in 2005, is what put them on the map, and is clearly the song that has earned them a huge and loving following. It
- [Ask Auntie Web](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/14/ask-auntie-web/) - At MELTA, the Munich English Language Teachers' Association that I'm a part of, there are many teachers who are very frustrated about new media. There it is, they can see it, they can smell it, they can taste it, but they just can't get their hands on it. There are techie blogs out there, sure,
- [How to kill a blog?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/12/how-to-kill-a-blog/) - Take it off Google. The stream of accidental visitors has stopped completely. If you're here, it's probably because you know me personally. Or is twitter your router? Thanks for dropping by. :)
- [twitter](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/10/twitter/) - Now even my husband is on twitter, though he says he just wants to be left alone. Hey, Helmut, this is 2009. Noone can have it all, social networks with the latest news AND privacy. You have to choose. Are you going to be the last man standing when everyone else is running? It all
- [The sixth sense](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/10/the-sixth-sense/) - MIT's Pattie Maes presents Pranav Mistry's Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. The geniuses at MIT have turned your hand into a computer interface. Do I want to read the tags from someone's blog projected onto that person? Well, no, not really. Like
- [Our little celebration](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/03/our-little-celebration/) - go, baby, go Eamonn, Udo, Anita and the gang. Not a good photo op, just for me.
- [Mashup: 15 steps & take 5](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/08/mashup-15-steps-take-5/) - Now, that is jazz. Dave Brubeck would have liked this.
- [Song for Bayern-München](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/08/song-for-bayern-munchen/) - This Smokey Robinson and the Miracles song is for those lazy boys who showed that they can play as a team when they stop being d...heads and follow the philosophy of their brilliant trainer: "it's my philosophy that... If you can want, you can need & if you can need, you can care If you
- [Learning English with The Wrestler](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/05/learning-english-with-the-wrestler/) - I really like "The Daily English Show", presented by Sarah, a New Zealander based in Niseko, Japan. It has its own blog (Englishlernen online: Daily English Show). The latest edition features "The Wrestler", or rather that nice scene where he breaks down her defenses and they have a beer together. The focus of the lesson
- [What is work?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/06/what-is-work/) - When does work start, when does it end? Is life compartmentalized into "work" and "play"? I mean, apart from private "downtime", of course, which is nobody's business. But what about thinking, reading, talking, surfing? When I'm surfing, am I doing so as a private individual or as a business woman? This blog is a product,
- [Doitcha shpraka](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/05/doitcha-shpraka/) - I hate translating complicated inversions from German into English. German academics love them, probably because it proves that they can juggle an idea in the air for minutes on end. Ok, guys, yes, you are geniuses. Can we go home now? You see, then a poor translator gets it, and those academics need the translators
- [Jill Tarter: A young science in an old universe](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/03/jill-tarter-a-young-science-in-an-old-universe/) - Writing something on astronomy for Spotlight (dort Englischlernen). Ever since, as a child, I sat gazing at the August night sky on Drummond Island with those "10 to the 22" (=10 hoch 22) stars above me, I've always loved them. Isn't it marvellous to think that what you see up there is history, fossilized astronomy,
- [Spring cleaning](https://annehodgson.de/2009/03/01/spring-cleaning/) - The birds are twittering away, and my running shoes are wet. Spring is coming. We went to the beergarden in Menterschwaige today and sat in a big puddle - or was it a small lake? - for our first outdoor beer of the season. Bliss! Through the windows we saw a woman busily washing the
- [I'm in the doghouse](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/28/im-in-the-doghouse/) - I'm in the doghouse with Google - they've taken my site off for 30 days because it was hacked and so I don't meet their standards. My personal Lent - at least it's not 40 days :-) Englisch lernen/ BC: animated explanation of the idiom "I'm in the doghouse" here. Why are poor outsiders called
- [Testing after the hack](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/26/testing-after-the-hack/) - Will you accept a post, dear blog? The hackers came in through Moodle. Fuckers. Thanks Christian.
- [Survey/Stöckchen: Which podcasts do you listen to?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/25/surveystockchen-which-podcasts-do-you-listen-to/) - Hört Ihr Podcasts auf Englisch? Wenn ja, welche? Ich schreibe einen Artikel für Lehrer/Lehrerinnen und würde mich über Eure Erfahrungsberichte freuen. Do you listen to any podcasts? If so, which ones? Please feel free to pass the question on. I'm writing something for MELTA News about good listening on the internet.
- [Blue Thunderbird](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/25/blue-thunderbird/) - Rod sent me this: "BTW -- the gold Cadillac is beautiful and there are an amazing number of wonderfully restored US vintage cars around Munich. They show up at various shows from time to time. The blue T-Bird was on Theresienwiese last June along with hundreds of other wonderful pieces. Got a bit nostalgic." Wow,
- [One trick pony](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/24/one-trick-pony/) - We were thinking of a few people we love as we watched "The Wrestler" tonight. Bruce Springsteen wrote the touching title song for Mickey Rourke. The Oscar? Who cares, said Mickey. “You can’t eat it, you can’t fuck it, and it won’t get me into heaven.” Have you ever seen a one trick pony in
- [Gold Cadillac](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/23/gold-cadillac/) - Detroit is going down. The whole rescue package is just so hopeless. I remember when American cars were still attractive. Cadillacs were the family car, my dad's one life-long fetish, bought used for second-hand glamor. That was until the oil crises hit, when he got sensible and we got a VW beetle and then later
- [Japanese banking issues & winter fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/12/japanese-banking-issues/) - Joan sent me this: "Following the problems in the financial sector in the US, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days the Origami Bank has folded, the Sumo Bank has gone belly up and the Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that the Karaoke
- [Bad pink: Keyboard for blondes](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/22/bad-pink-keyboard-for-blondes/) - A keyboard for blondes with a key that says "Oops!" and a "Somewhat useless key"... Joan... thanks... augh... this hurts my eyes.
- [The Wrestler](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/21/the-wrestler/) - Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (Rourke) is a pro wrestler who has spent decades slicing himself open in choreographed fights while adoring crowds roar. When a heart attack forces him to retire and reconsider his life, he strikes up a romance with an aging stripper and does his best to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Yet
- [Rebecca Casati is the best](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/21/rebecca-casati-is-the-best/) - Hey, you English speaking learners of German - read the best German lifestyle journalist around, Rebecca Casati. Just the intro to her interview of Mickey Rourke in today's Süddeutsche Zeitung is so nice: "Er stemmt sich aus der Couch, bis er seine beeindruckende Bärenstatur erreicht hat. Langsam fährt einem eine Art Hand entgegen. Die Finger
- [How big is the Gulf between us?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/20/how-big-is-the-gulf-between-us/) - Margaret Atwood is protesting the censorship of a book by Geraldine Bedell by the Emirates and will not attend the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (26th February to 1st March 2009). The book in question: Geraldine Bedell's The Gulf Between Us has been turned down for potential offence to "cultural sensitivities" due to its
- [Slumdog Millionaire](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/19/slumdog-millionaire/) - The Island Weekly is going to see "Slumdog Millionaire" at the Cinema on 18 March, 8pm (20 Uhr). This film by Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, is about Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who gets lucky. It's bound to win the Oscar for top film
- [Lucy does it](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/19/lucy-does-it/) - Lucy got her own dessous shop going on 14 February. Online, by appointment only. Small beginnings, big dreams. Go, girl! Hope you get lots of customers interested in your fine funky fashion! For more, look here: www.tantalize.de
- [Stop whispering](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/12/stop-whispering/) - The end is near. Today I was walking around the office with a cup of tea, checking on everyone. It's been a while since I saw people instead of tasks. We're almost done, the rest is details, of course there are plenty of those, and I do feel responsible for them, no question, and will
- [Matt and Kim: Daylight](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/18/matt-and-kim-daylight/) - This exhuberant, high energy couple from Brooklyn jumped right out of the screen at me when I dropped by Aurgasm. More of their happy noise on myspace.com/mattandkim. Video directed by Micah Perta. DAYLIGHT we cut the legs off of our pants threw our shoes into the ocean sit back and wave through the daylight sit
- [The International](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/19/the-international/) - Saw this with my Morphosys group last night: An INTERPOL agent (Clive Owen of the kissable chin) teams up with a New York District Attorney (Naomi Watts of the perfect hair) to bring down a corrupt bank in Tom Tykwer’s The International. The film's centerpiece is a shoot-out at the Guggenheim Museum that D.H. Schleicher
- [Elisabeth Gilbert, storyteller](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/16/elisabeth-gilbert-storyteller/) - How to deal with the pressure of being expected to repeat an inspired performance? Elisabeth Gilbert, author of the international bestseller Eat, Pray, Love and the lesser known, but delightful Stern Men (my review and podcast), says divine inspiration may or may not come again, but that shouldn't trouble you. "Just continue to show up
- [Proofreading](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/17/proofreading/) - Thanks, Silke :-)
- [Facebook owns you. Forever.](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/16/facebook-owns-you-forever/) - "Facebook's terms of service (TOS) used to say that when you closed an account on their network, any rights they claimed to the original content you uploaded would expire. Not anymore. Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later.
- [IT and content](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/15/it-and-content/) - It's very interesting working as an intermediary between the low-tech EFL teaching and writing world and the high-tech IT world. Very different things are important to the people working on either side of that great divide, and they have little understanding or patience with the concerns of the other side. I think the people in
- [It's your lucky day](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/13/its-your-lucky-day/) - "To All Staff Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of the economy in the country since last Christmas, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years of age on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early). Persons selected to be
- [Hunger](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/12/hunger/) - Helmut took out the trash a few days ago and said that a little old lady with a flashlight came round to the trash can and started poking through the trash he had just dumped. Man, this is Munich, one of the richest cities in one of the richest countries in the world. I was
- [Happy Darwin Day](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/12/happy-darwin-day/) - Charles Darwin was born 200 years ago today. Great site: www.darwinday.org I think I like Darwin so much because he was so surprized by his own discovery, and in fact was not thrilled by it. He enjoyed his garden and his insect collections, but not elaborating theories into the realm of speculation. It was Herbert
- [Morgan Freeman gets his radio head](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/05/morgan-freeman-gets-his-radio-head/) - Perfect video for this song, "15 Steps" from Radiohead's "In Rainbows". The title refers to the rhythm. They've been making music for 15 years now, too. This video is a mashup of the movie, "Seven". http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? Won't take
- [Rich woman](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/09/rich-woman/) - Sorry, honey, not sure I'll ever be a rich woman. Alison Krauss & Robert Plant took five (count 'em) Grammies including record of the year. "Rich Woman" took top pop collaboration. Good old Americana, but top record? How conservative. Boring Coldplay won bigtime while hot Radiohead got nothing. That was to be expected.
- [Wonder warehouse 1962](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/10/wonder-warehouse-1962/) - "TOMORROW: Use no hands! For in this magic warehouse, orders fill themselves electronically." From a 1956 Ad for GE Ball Bearings. Illustrated by Fred McNabb. Uploaded to Flickr by Funhouse
- [May you never lose your temper](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/07/may-you-never-lose-your-temper/) - What we're singing at home these days: John Martyn's (RIP) beautiful May you never May you never lay your head down, without a hand to hold. May you never make your bed out in the cold. You're just like a good, close brother to me, you know that I love you true. You never talk
- [Temper, temper](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/07/temper-temper/) - I lost my temper twice yesterday and once today. Always at the wrong people. OK, they didn't do what I needed them to do at that moment. And I'm under massive pressure to get things done, so anything or anyone standing in my way gets bulldozered. I feel really bad about it, too. Even counting
- [Cheap, cheap, cheap](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/04/cheap-cheap-cheap/) - The world's cheapest computer, the Sakshat, which translates as "before your eyes", is being developed in India. It's supposed to cost 1000 Rupees (16 Euros) initially and to come down to 500 Rupees (8 Euros) through mass production. It's a joint project of the Vellore Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore,
- [Radiohead: House of Cards](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/04/radiohead-house-of-cards/) - Radiohead probably won't win a Grammy, but they should. If you haven't heard "In Rainbows", give it a listen. Hot ice. This song video was made without lights or cameras. Geometric technologies were used to capture 3D images. Radiohead took this siren song to a cold, electric place where nerve ends tingle and feelings go
- [New tools](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/03/new-tools/) - http://www.savethewords.org/ Supporting a web relaunch is making me think what a language learning website should look like in a perfect world. Give me a couple of hundred thousand euros and I'll get my act together ;-) For the time being I'm enjoying the new ideas out there. My favorites are interactive videos that speak to
- [The canon. The beautiful basics of science](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/03/the-canon-the-beautiful-basics-of-science/) - Once in a while you stumble upon a book that will change the way you see and approach things. This is one of them. Natalie Angier, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the NYT (booksite), has written a book for those of us who need beauty, involvement and lateral thinking to get into science. It's all
- [Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/03/charles-darwin-and-the-tree-of-life/) - "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life" aired on 1st February 9pm on BBC One. In this one-hour special David Attenborough shared his personal view on Darwin's controversial idea: "Darwin has shown us that we are not apart from the natural world. We do not have dominion over it. We are subject to its laws
- [Up to Speed](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/14/up-to-speed/) - Carole Eilertson & Louise Kennedy have just published their lovely EFL coursebook Up to Speed (Cornelsen) for business professionals who want to fine-tune their upper-intermediate English skills. Geared to one-to-one learners (and small groups), their book focusses on day-to-day operations, teamwork, meetings, presentations, networking and project management. What I like about their approach is a
- [David Sedaris: Santaland Diaries](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/04/david-sedaris-santaland-diaries/) - Production of the Santaland Diaries at Flashpoint Theater David Sedaris suffered through a season of being an elf at Macy's SantaLand. His story, read on NPR, launched his career. Listen to the whole thing here.
- [Logic](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/09/logic/) - I teach essay writing, and have found the following summary to be very helpful in getting students to think about their arguments: Fundamentals for logical analysis 1. Always remember never to say always and never (and all and none, and everyone and nobody). Reasonable thinking should be reflected in reasonable language. All-inclusive statements can rarely
- [Lisa's popup book](https://annehodgson.de/2009/02/01/lisas-sea-song-pop-up-book/) - OK, still listening to Lisa Hannigan (myspace), since I can take lots of melancholy when I want to relax. But I'm posting this because of her beautiful popup book (by Jamie Hannigan and Maeve Clancy). Lille He went to sea for the day He wanted to know what to say when he's asked what he'd
- [Crows and finches](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/31/crows-and-finches/) - Crows and finches provide the caw-caw and pip-pip soundtrack to the frozen landscape, here in the English Garden. Hardly any snow this year. We're both up to our eyeballs in work, so we're not even getting out to the mountains on the weekends. Never mind. I love the crystal air of the mountains, but the
- [Online paper 1981](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/31/online-paper-1981/) - “Imagine, if you will, sitting down to your morning coffee, turning on your home computer to see the day’s newspaper. Well, it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem.” Video of a 1981 KRON report predicting the rise of news reporting on the internet. My eyes hurt just from watching the film, those screens -
- [Didn't leave nobody but the baby](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/30/didnt-leave-nobody-but-the-baby/) - Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris sing a capella in the style of Appalachian gospel. Three women together - a Maria tryptich. Outside my window a blackbird is singing as I put the last words into this post. It's going to be a good day. go to sleep you little baby go to sleep you
- [Women want bonobos?](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/29/women-want-bonobos/) - Meredith Chivers is an expert on what women want. She says there's a total disconnect between what a woman says she thinks is sexy and how her body reacts. In this study, women were physically aroused by almost everything, including bonobos having sex. Chivers explains that female sexuality is deeply divided: "physiological arousal reveals little
- [First songbird](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/26/first-songbird/) - It's like this every winter: One day suddenly I hear the first "pee too... pee too" and I know spring is not far off. Yesterday, locking up my bike at Gasteig I heard it. I think it's the tit that sings like that, but I'm not sure.
- [Mike Seymour hands out the list of villains](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/27/mike-seymour-hands-out-the-list-of-villains/) - For several years now I've been on the mailing list of an English trainer whom I have never met. From one of my students I've heard he is excellent. I understand he's from Leeds and takes his clients there for unforgettable trips. As for me, I have enjoyed his emails and his website, www.mikeseymour.com, where
- [Des'ree: You Gotta Be](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/05/desree-you-gotta-be/) - This smooth motivational soul song by Des'ree from 1994 became a hit three times in the 90s and was later used to advertise the Ford Focus and an Australian bank. Now, Des'ree is not known for deep, intelligent lyrics ;-) and, in fact, she won a BBC contest for the worst song lyrics of all
- [The owl and the pussycat](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/24/the-owl-and-the-pussycat/) - One of my favorite poems of all time is Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat", who sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose Nonsense is medicine, love lifeblood.
- [Borrowing money in plain English](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/23/borrowing-money/) - Lee Lefever has a really good thing going.
- [Simple Gifts](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/21/simple-gifts/) - What a lovely "coronation hymn". Maestro John Williams wrote a piece based on Aaron Copeland's arrangement of the old Shaker Tune "Simple Gifts" in "Appalachian Spring". Yo-Yo Ma performed along with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet. "Simple Gifts" is an 1848 Shaker song by Elder Joseph Brackett.
- [Inauguration](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/20/inauguration/) - Obama said it's the risktakers, the doers, the makers of things that are responsible for our current prosperity (and we are still the most prosperous society). He said "we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start rebuilding America." He talked about government programs needing to be analysed for whether they work. And he
- [The Eagle Nebula](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/20/the-eagle-nebula/) - Today is the big day. To celebrate a president we can be proud of and who allows us to dream of a more humane world, have a look at the beautiful Eagle Nebula, described as follows: From afar, the whole thing looks like an Eagle. A closer look at the Eagle Nebula, however, shows the
- [The Raven](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/18/the-raven/) - Wonderful, brilliant, romantic, funny, thrilling, naughty Poe. Our greatest classic writer. Happy birthday, bicentennial poet. Vincent Price reads:
- [Andrew Bird: The Master Swarm](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/16/andrew-bird/) - If anyone can get the birds to come back, Andrew Bird's the one. His instruments are the violin, the mandolin, his voice and his whistle. "Without words": "As much as I sometimes downplay the importance of lyrics I can’t seem to resist writing them. I think I only pretend to disrespect words so I don’t
- [Pink elephants](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/15/pink-elephants-on-parade/) - Dumbo (Disney 1941) drinks from a water barrel filled with champagne by mistake and starts seeing pink elephants on parade. Pink elephants? The Veuve Clicquot must have been exceedingly good that year. A certain lady who really likes that particular kind of champagne is celebrating her birthday today ... so happy birthday, dear Dolcevita! Truly
- [Pink by Aerosmith](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/14/aerosmith-pink/) - A pink song of the week? I could have posted Pink's "Dear Mr President", but I don't even want to think about the guy. Pink Floyd? Too serious. But Aerosmith's Pink is old and it's still nice. Back in 1997 when this was a hit I was writing about freaks and monsters. It must have
- [Pink Panther](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/13/pink-panther/) - I didn't realize that The Pink Panther had returned soooo many times. I prefer Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau (I like his dry style), but Steve Martin had an immortal scene with his language coach. A new film is due in February 2009. Trailer 1962 Steve Martin would like to buy a 'amburger
- [Pink Moon](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/12/pink-moon/) - 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and I'd like to kick it off with "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake (1948-1974). The moon becomes pink during a lunar eclipse, traditionally considered a bad omen. Drake's depression was his personal "pink moon": I saw it written and I saw it say Pink moon is on its
- [Arlo Guthrie: I'm changing my name to Chrysler](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/10/arlo-guthrie-im-changing-my-name-to-chrysler/) - Some things just don't change. Except the figures, of course. In this old song, just exchange "million" for "billion" or "trillion". And, ok, ok, it's all about jobs. Still, not a good move, this rescue. I'm changing my name to Chrysler I am headed for that great receiving line So when they hand a million
- [Pink bath](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/11/bathtime/) - Mhmmmmmmm Vintage ad from SA Steve collection on Flickr.
- [Internet for everyone](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/08/internet-for-everyone/) - The USA ranks 15th in broadband adoption, which is key to getting more access for rural areas. Germany, where I live, has dropped from rank 10 to 14. The table is from a publication by InternetforEveryone.org called One Nation Online. Also see the OECD report, The Future of the Internet Economy. Of course, the US,
- [My generation of dummies](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/22/my-generation-of-dummies/) - I'm an early Generation Xer, born 1961. Like Obama. Neil Howe compares us very unfavorably to the Millennials (those born in the 1980s and 1990s). He calls us "The Dumbest Generation: The Kids are Alright. But Their Parents...." According to Howe, we "have performed the worst on standardized exams, acquired the fewest educational degrees and
- [Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/18/happy-birthday-mickey-mouse/) - Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, 18 November 1928: Mike Pilewski's history of cartoons, including Mickey's first film, half a year before Steamboat Willie: Plane Crazy.
- [The tilt-shift harbor](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/09/tilt-shift/) - Tilt-shift photography makes life-sized locations or subjects look like miniature-scale models. The ultra-short depth of field tricks the eye into thinking that the shot was taken with a macro lens, or close-up filters. Here is a video by Keith Loutit using tilt shift shot in time lapse that makes a busy harbor look like a
- [Anne in Wonderland](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/01/anne-in-wonderland/) - You simply must see the great Disney exhibition at Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich, which traces the European images that inspired the look of Disney's films. I had some surprising insights. And the gauches, pastels, oils and paintings on celluloid produced in the Disney Studios are just delightful. (Exhibition through 25 January 2009.) As I
- [Donald's Snow Fight (1942)](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/19/donalds-snow-fight-1942/)
- [Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/24/plutos-christmas-tree/)
- [Goodbye Peter Rühmkorf ](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/09/goodbye-peter-ruhmkorf/) - Peter Rühmkorf (25.10.1929-8.6.2008): Idealist, romantic, left-wing ironist. RIP, great poet. Surfing around the internet I'm stunned: Rühmkorf has not been translated into English?! OK, here goes nothing: Nothing but love Transient home this, my garden abode where I gaze at the evening, beautiful to be able to say, still: 's beautiful here, as the sky
- [rt 2 live](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/06/rt-2-live/) - we talk only w/ppl who accept R rt 2 live David Saranga, Cons. Gen. of Israel in New York, on Hamas, using Twitter (SZ, 5/6 Jan 2008) Stop for a moment and look at Boston.com's Big Picture series on Israel and Gaza. Goddamn it all. Healing gypsy music from Titi Robin, Dino Banjara and La
- [Enough, already, Obama!](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/04/enough-already-obama/) - This past month I have found message after message from the Obama team asking for donations and providing various objects bearing the message of Hope. Gail Collins' fun "Year-End Quiz" at the New York Times (thanks Joan!) hits the nail on the head in question 8: Which of the following has Obama for America NOT
- [Your brain on Google](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/05/brain-on-google/) - Gary Small, a neuroscientist at UCLA in California, has found through studies that Internet searching and text messaging has made the brains of "digital natives" more adept at filtering information and making decisions. The thinking part of the brain can be trained by surfing, which is scanning for the next bit of new information and
- [Cues from the internet](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/03/cues-from-the-internet/) - Chris Anderson's "long tail" theory, the idea that the internet would transform our buying habits and give fringe products (and companies) a chance, providing diversity and giving capitalism a more human face, seems to be overly optimistic. Statistics show that blockbusters are getting almost all of the online business, at least in terms of percentage. Recommendation
- [David Crystal: Keep your English up to date](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/24/david-crystal-keep-your-english-up-to-date/) - David Crystal has a lovely series of short and amusing talks about words that are popular but not yet in the dictionary, such as "hoodie" and "get a life" and "in your dreams" and "wired" and "gobsmacked" and "clueless" and "wannabe" and "blog"... so all of my favorite words, actually. Includes audio, pdf lesson plan,
- [sleep tight](https://annehodgson.de/2009/01/02/sleep-tight/) - I'm off to bed. Tokyo is asleep, too. Photostream found through the wonderful engrish brog, my absorute favolite. And here's something from a blog dedicated to cute things falling asleep. No! Yes! The things people blog about!
- [Janelle Monae](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/28/janelle-monae/) - Hot stuff. Beautiful jazz voice. Quirky imagination. Playing a robot in love and singing about "the walking dead", Janelle Monae is anything but robotic. She comes from a family that suffered from crack addiction, so she's got a good attitude about keeping her head straight. Coming from the underground scene, she counts Prince among her
- [2000 year old computer attributed to Archimedes](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/28/2000-year-old-computer-reconstructed/) - The Ancient Greeks were even more technologically advanced than previously thought. The Antikythera mechanism, a geared device found in a shipwreck a century ago, has been recreated. Gears turn hands (or pointers) on dials, and the device is driven by a hand knob. The computer predicts the movement of the planets and is now being
- [Engrish forever](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/30/engrish-forever/) - I love www.engrish.com.
- [The Obama campaign, first half](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/04/the-obama-campaign-first-half/) - Dark clouds are gathering: While Karl Rove, the architect of Bush's success, has joined the McCain team, which means the campaign is going to turn very dirty, Barack Obama is making statements that can only alienate his supporters. Obama did so well in the first half of his campaign, but the presidency is his to
- [Tori Amos: Winter](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/20/tori-amos-winter/) - Sweet but edgy, emotional but fearless, and so personal: Tori Amos performing her masterpiece "Winter" at Montreux in 1991, before "Little Earthquakes" was released. This song about how the bond between a father and a daughter changes as she grows up moves me to tears. Her early concerts were released in September on CD: Live
- [Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Up Above My Head](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/25/sister-rosetta-tharpe-up-above-my-head/) - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the first great recording star of Gospel music in the late 1930s. Merry Christmas! Up above my head I hear music in the air I really do believe there's a heaven somewhere All in my room there is music everywhere I really do believe there's a heaven somewhere Variations I really do
- [Christmas spirit](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/14/christmas-spirit/) - The MELTA Christmas party yesterday was so nice! If you're teaching English this week, try this activity: A running "pictionary". Divide the class into teams. Each team has to send one person to you to pick up a card with a word on it that they have to draw and let their team guess. No
- [Germany vs. USA: Phones](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/23/germany-vs-usa-phones/) - Alex (from Germany) and Jim (from the USA) have a nice vodcast called "Germany vs. USA" where they talk about cultural differences and similarities between the two countries. Here they compare etiquette on the phone. I'm having trouble with phones, skype and co. Can't find my cellphone, which has stopped bleeping for a recharge, which
- [Theresa Andersson](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/13/theresa-andersson/) - One woman wonder Theresa Andersson (Swedish, living in New Orleans) loops her instruments and samples herself using her feet, creating spontaneous yet choreographed performances. She recorded her album "Hummingbird, Go!" including "Birds fly away" in her kitchen, and the album, though it's not her first, might be the first to really make a mark. It's
- [They may take our lives...](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/12/they-may-take-our-lives/) - ... but they'll never take our ... Independence Day.
- [Back office business grammar](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/02/backoffice-business-grammar/) - From my back office compact course: Susan is interviewing Karin about her job. Help them with their language. Mouse over but don't click on the highlighted text in the version you think is correct. If you see "yes" you have got it right. Susan: What do you do / do you work? Karin: I’m a
- [Christmas cow](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/18/christmas-cow/) - Almost an ox or even a bull (hello Taurus), if it weren't for her udder. From a great stand just off Marienplatz, where I had fun bargaining with the salesman and came home with a bag of treasures. Now officially in a Christmas mood. If you need more snazzy stuff than cows to spend your
- [Creatures of the night](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/30/creatures-of-the-night/) - Campy creatures of the night: Restrained Edward (Robert Pattinson/ Twilight) has replaced unrestrained Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry/ Rocky Horror Picture Show). Poor Edward: a brooding, earnest, long-suffering teenager without the relief of being able to laugh himself out of his addiction. No, give me liberating camp any day. Read Susan Sontag's "Notes on
- [Gifts men make](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/15/gifts/) - Dave Barry collects gifts "For the Naughty" (Washington Post, 30 November 2008) - gifts to end gift-giving - and writes: But it is a fact that as the holiday season approaches, women are overpowered by the biological urge to buy bulk quantities of gifts, often without any clear idea whom a specific gift is for.
- [Blogwichtl aka Secret Santa](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/17/3211/) - I found the following very charming "Secret Santa" or "Wichtel" in my in-box. Thank you so much, Unknown Wordler and Help-Shift-Happener (and thank you, Hollemann, for running the show): Liebe Anne, or should I say dear Anne? Your lovely Blogwichtel war ja schon ein bisschen estonished, als mir Dein Blog - I have to admit
- [Looking for online game plugins: Hangman and crossword](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/16/looking-for-online-games/) - Hello, game builder. I'm looking for two very nice open source plugins for games to build into our CMS. I've seen Crossword Compiler, which would be perfect (fresh look, a pdf printout version and a user-friendly interface) if it didn't cost €1500. Can anyone provide or recommend games for less (like: much less), at least
- [wordle](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/12/wordle/) - "Wordle" processes all of the words in a text - in this case a blogpost of mine - and presents them based on how often the words appear. Fun software for a language lover! Try the app at www.wordle.net yourself. Copy in a text of your own and see if you like being confronted with
- [Raconteurs](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/10/raconteurs/) - The storytellers brought together very different sounds on their second album "Consolers Of The Lonely" ('08, RS review), nominated for a Grammy, including the pretty "Old enough", now out in a nice bluegrass version. "Salute your Solution" rocks harder, and Jack's white noise would give me a headache if he weren't so brilliant. What a
- [Of cats, moons and water](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/11/of-cats-and-moons/) - Another beautiful animated film discovered by Belli. Pedro Serrazina won three prizes for Estoria do gato e de lua, which he made in 1994 (5:24). Animation: Yann Thual. Music: Manuel Tentugal. Narrator: Joaquim de Almeida. My only criticism: Cats may be fascinated by water, but they don't swim at all! How does the cat survive that lunge
- [Blogwichteln bilingual](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/09/blogwichteln-bilingual/) - If a blogwichtel kommt daher and reads this blog and thinks "o, jemine, o graus, das ist ja ois änglisch" please don't worry, I can also read German. Or Frankonian or Bavarian or Suebian. Whatever. Now, as for me, o jemine, o graus, jetzt muss ich allerdings dorten auf Deutsch schreiben, sonst fliegt das ja
- [Plant + Krauss = Raising Sand](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/18/plant-krauss-raising-sand/) - Raising Sand is a duet collaboration between rock legend Robert Plant and country/bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss. The brains behind the project is T Bone Burnett, who explains: “The idea was to take them both out of their comfort zone – to take us all out of our comfort zones” (5:30) Here’s a video about the
- [Kings of Convenience: Know-how](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/08/kings-of-convenience-know-how/) - Accoustic samba from the Kings of Convenience, two indie Norwegians. Calm, subtle music to beat the seasonal ho-ho-ho madness. You have to know how. Riding on this know-how. Never been here before. Peculiarly entrusted, possibly that's all. Is history recorded, does someone have a tape? Surely, I'm no pioneer, constellations stay the same. Just a
- [Escape Christmas](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/08/escape-christmas/) - We can't escape Christmas, can we? Wait, maybe we can, by staying locked in this room. Try this game from Silke's email advent calendar. And tell me if you find a way out ;-)
- [The animator](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/06/the-animator/) - Belli recommended this charming stop motion animation short film by Nick Hilligoss retelling the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, with God as a puppeteer. (2007, 3:42 min.)
- [Obama acceptance speech](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/05/obama-acceptance-speech/) - NYT interactive site: speech with script
- [RIP Odetta](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/05/rip-odetta/) - Odetta Gordon, known simply as Odetta (31 Dec. 1930-2 Dec. 2008), is rockin' with the angels.
- [HWGSATQ](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/05/hwgsatq/) - Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the curator of Dokumenta 13 in 2012, answered the question where she was from by saying "HWGSATQ - How would Gertrude Stein answer that question?" and then explained that she was conceived in Italy, grew up in Richmond and "returned" to Italy later in life. "Heimat ist eine multiple Erfahrung und Simplifizierungen erscheinen
- [Java Jive](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/03/java-jive/) - I love this animation by Kristyna Baczynski. This little java bean is from Brazil, not from Java. But then, in the US any good cup of coffee is "a cup of java". The Ink Spots The King Sisters The Manhattan Transfer I love coffee, I love tea, I love the Java Jive and it loves me Coffee
- [Dylan's ballads and blues](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/31/dylans-ballads/) - Dylan has written moving love ballads that avoid all clichés. Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased, 1989-2006 is now available for free online listening. (Thanks, Eamonn.) Here are gorgeous Red River Shore and Mississippi, a perfect blues song, with the lyrics and a few translations (mouseover the blue words): Mississippi Every step of the way
- [Kings of Leon: Arizona](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/26/kings-of-leon-arizona/) - The Kings of Leon from Tennessee are three brothers and their cousin who have hit the big time, especially in the UK. Arizona recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo comes closest to their Southern roots. It tells a story about meeting a girl, picking a fight with her date, ending up in bad shape and "too drunk
- [She's back](https://annehodgson.de/2008/12/01/shes-back/) - Speaking of camp: Hillary is back, with the campy Clinton baggage. My favorite quote about them: If you lie down with the Clintons, you're going to get fleas. (The original saying is about dogs, of course.) I admire Hillary, a tough woman who can fight. Annie Leibovitz portrayed Hillary Clinton with her marble showing. This
- [Cassandra Wilson: Death Letter](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/27/cassandra-wilson-death-letter/) - "The blues is the healer", sang John Lee Hooker. Well, jazz witch Cassandra Wilson casts a healing spell in "Death Letter" - a powerful womanly take on Son House's raw blues classic. It's about hearing that the man/woman you love is dead and being faced with the dead body and the funeral. Listen to that
- [Purcell: Dido's Lament](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/04/purcell-didos-lament/) - Dear Senator Clinton, Life goes on. We will have a Madam President one day. I certainly would have liked it to be Hillary Clinton. So here is the ultimate woman's lament. Left behind, Queen Dido cries her heart out. Sing along and have a good, angry cry. Don't just hop onto Senator Obama's vice-presidential ticket
- [Mumbai](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/29/mumbai/) - How tenuous our grip on peace is. Continue to believe in the brotherhood of mankind. Fear kills. Love empowers.
- [Good gig](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/28/good-gig/) - Never thought I would stay overnight in the red-light district of Frankfurt. Hotel Nizza is absolutely charming. Beautiful ceiling and bathroom fixtures, excellent bed, rugs, wooden floors, antiques, wireles LAN. A little roof terrace looks up onto the majestic skyscrapers. I checked in just before midnight in front of, what, an actress, probably, with a
- [Bring home the bacon](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/27/bacon/) - It's Thanksgiving? Forget turkey. Bacon is better. Bacon? Have a closer look. Dolce tipped me off to The iPhone Bacon Case. It's hand-felted in one piece and is available on dawanda.de, a site that lets artisans sell their handiwork as presents. Handmade, homespun, unique, precious, affordable, marvellous, well-designed. Maybe the Bacon Case is no longer
- [Phillip Toledano: Days with my father](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/25/phillip-toledano-days-with-my-father/) - Beautiful, touching photos and text. Also see Phillip Toledano's website. This makes me think of my father. And my mother. Would be great to portray her. I still have my dad's old Voigtländer. Lots of guesswork, but it gets beautiful results. I've shied away from digital cameras because of the wait between click and snap. OK,
- [It's love, boys](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/23/its-love/) - Happy news deserves a serenade. R & J are getting married. So I'm celebrating with Carmen Borgia and his ukelele (3:25). marriage=love²: it's love to the power of two when it's based on true love, love squared when it's not. You don't get my love² nonsense? Sorry. Here's a guide to reading exponents: x² is
- [Knigge and me](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/12/knigge-and-me/) - It's pretty funny to find yourself being quoted on the internet. I've written articles for the Sekretärinnen Handbuch, and the academy run by Claudia Hovermann and her team has become an important partner for compact seminars. Now a Google Alert tells me that tips I wrote for them have been quoted in Der Große Knigge.
- [The Spoken Web](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/24/spoken-web/) - Isn't he lovely? Photo by Jurec, who found this Buddha "who really listens" in a Tempel in Hangzhou, China. www.pixelio.de Asia is listening as IBM India Research Laboratory tests the World Wide Telecom Web (WWTW), a network of VoiceSites you access by phone. In this alternative to the WWW, users record a description and phone
- [Blogwichteln: Secret Santa blogs](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/24/blogwichteln-secret-santa-blogs/) - A Mr Hollemann - Nice to meet you, I'm Anne - is organizing "Blogwichteln", a blog Secret Santa. You write an entry for another blogger, and someone else does the same for you. Interesting bloggers are involved, and it's a lovely challenge, so I've been boldfaced enough to sign up. You too? Register by 8
- [The Moth Ball](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/21/the-moth-ball/) - The Moth Ball (video report NYT) is an annual benefit evening for the Moth, a NY-and-LA-based organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling. Several times a month there is an event in some bar, café, community center, and people from all walks of life are invited to tell a true story. The Moth Ball,
- [Down with TV](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/22/down-with-tv/) - When I was a kid my dad was against TV, so I went over to Sarah and Nicki's house to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. I still adore cartoons and the BBC, and I have a sentimental love for Tatort, but otherwise I hate TV, so I don't have one. Luca has written a great
- [Anne Enright](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/16/anne-enright/) - Anne Enright will be reading from The Gathering, which won the Booker Prize 2007, with Katharina Thalbach at Literaturhaus on Wednesday, 19 November 2008 at 8pm. (See Dolcevita's announcement for details in German.) Tickets: 089 / 291934-27. Anne Enright has the most amazing view of the world. Down-to-earth. Physical. Womanly. Just read her short article
- [Bicycling in DC](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/17/bicycling-in-dc/) - Biking is still dangerous in Washington, especially with the huge cars that take up so much of the street, but it's nice to see this project. Smartbike DC is the first public bike rental service in the USA. It's available by subscription, with docking points around the city. Clear Channel first initiated a program like
- [Collective Obamism](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/20/collective-obamism/) - "Each writer, each publication, seems to reach for more eye-popping superlatives. "OBAMAISM -- It's a Kind of Religion," says New York magazine. "Those of us too young to have known JFK's Camelot are going to have our own giddy Camelot II to enrapture and entertain us," Kurt Andersen writes. The New York Post has already
- [Things we say wrong](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/30/things-we-say-wrong/) - Can you pronounce these words and spell them from memory: either, protein, caffein ... height ... neighbor, weight, freight ... foreign ... human being? English is hard for native speakers, too. Many Americans, including Bush and Palin, say "nucular" instead of "nuclear". But that's just the tip of the iceberg. "What you ought to know
- [Hockey mama](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/30/hockey-mama/) - Oh god, do I love youtube :-) dipstick = Arschgeige
- [On? In!](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/02/on-in/) - Q. My colleagues are divided in their opinions about “storing data in a computer” versus “storing data on a computer.” Which is correct? Thanks. A. You can do either, but I would store the data in the computer. It used to be easy to store stuff on a computer, but now with flat screens and laptops it
- [David Crystal on Obama's rhetorical style](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/15/david-crystal-on-obamas-rhetorical-style/) - David Crystal has analyzed Barack Obama's acceptance speech for rhetorical style in his blog, showing how Obama used the "rule of three" (creating vibrant triptychs), pairing, repetition, structural parallelism and the "rule of seven" (a memory-friendly number of details) to create the rhetorical drama needed to extend his listeners' attention span and build excitement. Thanks,
- [The top 25 mistakes Germans make in English](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/17/the-top-25-mistakes-germans-make/) - 1. I am born in Berlin. 2. We are meeting us next week. 3. I am living here since 1998. 4. I moved here for 6 years. 5. I have lived in Halle until 1997. 6. We have often meetings in Frankfurt. 7. We have opened in Potsdam our new headquarters. 8. Can you borrow
- [The president-elect weekly address](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/15/the-president-elect-weekly/) - US President-Elect Barack Obama will be recording a video address each week which will be available on YouTube. This will replace the president's weekly radio address of the past. Here's no. 1. and it's about the economy. (3:34): YouTube: ChangeDotCom
- [NYT Breaking News: July 4th, 2009](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/14/nyt-breaking-news-july-4th-2009/) - The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia This special edition of The New York Times comes from a future in which we are accomplishing what we know today to be possible. Thanks Beatrice & Beatrix :-) Download a pdf version here.
- [Munich concert tonight: Rose of Sharon](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/13/munich-concert-tonight-rose-of-sharon/) - The Phoenix Ensemble Munich will be performing a program of 18th and 19th century American Music tonight Bayerisches National Museum, Prinregentenstrasse 3. Introduction to the music at 6 p.m. Concert at 7 p.m. Tickets at the door. Background (in German): Der 1778 von William Billings (1746-1800) für The Singing Master’s Assistant bearbeitete Bibeltext Salomons Hohes
- [I want to fly into your airspace](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/13/i-want-to-fly-into-your-airspace/) - I'm going to miss the Sarah Palin jokes. Here's a twist: Q: What's closer to us, the moon or Moscow? A: The moon, of course. After all, Sarah Palin got it wrong. We can't see Moscow. (Thanks for the joke, Kathrin!)
- [Angels only need apply](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/13/angels-only-need-apply/) - Thinking about applying for work in the Obama administration? Go to Change.gov, but make sure your halo is brightly polished. The questionnaire being sent to hopeful candidates is the most extensive ever used by a new administration in Washington. (See article in the New York Times) Excerpts: "(3) Please provide the names of all corporations,
- [An inside job](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/10/an-inside-job/) - The election is over and it's red wine in the evening and discussing the important things of life. I read a nice article in TIME by Nancy Gibbs about the temperament of past presidents where she contrasted McCain with Obama, and said the latter won "on style and disposition". Well, I've paired up some of
- [BigDialog: Ask the President-Elect](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/12/bigdialog-ask-the-president-elect/) - http://www.BigDialog.org, a cross-partisan partnership of academics, bloggers, and e-communities invites President-Elect Barack Obama to answer the people's questions. The eCitizen Foundation (a Massachusetts non-profit) along with its partners and supporters, including Bill Mitchell of MIT and Lawrence Lessig of Stanford, are asking people to pose and prioritize text and video questions for Mr. Obama. The
- [White House online](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/25/white-house-online/) - Aren't they lovely? The average campaign donation for Obama was 83 dollars. This time you know who the money came from. The picture is ripped from the print edition of the article "Young and Restless" in the Financial Times of 24 October, which sweetened my ride home last night. Here is one section that will
- [The Verve: Bitter Sweet Symphony](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/12/the-verve-bitter-sweet-symphony/) - An indie anthem from another era, written and sung by by the Verve's Richard Ashcroft, with a strings loop sample from an orchestral version of the Stone's "The Last Time". Ashcroft sings "I'm here in my mold / I can't change my mold". His wife Kate Radley has a walk-on part in the video: As
- [David Sedaris ex post](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/11/david-sedaris-ex-post/) - A wonderful evening at Literaturhaus. Sedaris is not only a masterful comic writer, he is also charming, approachable, real. And he loves to autograph books. He read from his newest one, "When You are Engulfed in Flames" (also available as an audio book or in German, "Schöner wird's nicht"), which I can warmly recommend. What
- [Alice Walker: An open letter to Barack Obama](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/09/alice-walker-an-open-letter-to-obama/) - from The Root, Nov. 5, 2008 Dear Brother Obama, You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others
- [Drumroll](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/08/drumroll/) - www.rootsyrecords.com
- [Stevie Wonder: Signed, Sealed, Delivered](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/05/stevie-wonder-signed-sealed-delivered/) - Michelle's favorite, the 2008 election song by Stevie Wonder, here with Beyonce. The important words? "Unterschrieben, zugeklebt, abgeliefert, ich gehöre dir!" Mike Pilewski's election analysis, Eamonn Fitzgerald's ultimate Obama quiz, and the Obama Soundtrack: Spotlight today.
- [Financial crisis: reading](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/06/financial-crisis-reading/) - One of the many things on my to-do list is getting a better understanding of economics and how the financial system works. It can't be totally incomprehensible, can it? Here's a reading list of blogs: The Big Money Andrew Leonhard/ Salon's How the World Works Calculated Risk The Big Picture Portfolio's Felix Salmon Naked Capitalism NPR's Planet Money
- [Michael Crichton RIP](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/06/michael-crichton-rip/) - Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was a great science fiction thriller writer (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park) who criticized politicizing science to manipulate the public. He advocated fighting the "fear of unproven danger" and "pseudo-religious environmentalism" (see his website) as harmful misinformation. His position can be and has been abused by ideologues on
- [Sedaris at Literaturhaus](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/04/sedaris-at-literaturhaus/) - David Sedaris has been tickling my funny bone since I first heard him read from the SantaLand Diaries on NPR. The man is brilliant, and even if we listeners (or readers, of course!) are basically witnessing his life-long self-therapy, I simply can't imagine anyone more enjoyable to support in this way ;-) ... If you,
- [Get in the groove to vote](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/04/get-in-the-groove-to-vote/) - Michael Hussein Gregory lyrics here Free stuff being donated to get out the vote today: Krispy Kreme is donating a donut krispykreme.com Shop at a discount in NYC... racked.com ...and get a free vibrator in NYC or Seattle ;-) babeland.com Or how about free body piercings in Missouri? ktvo.com
- [A neat cave of my own](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/20/a-neat-cave-of-my-own/) - Things are changing. I used to have a very regular schedule connected to weekly classes that allowed me to organize myself. It was Monday? OK, so I had my MVHS evening classes - that was a regular slot for about 5 years - and one, two or three one-to-one clients during the day, who would
- [My hometown celebrates](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/05/my-hometown-celebrates/)
- [:-D](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/05/d/) - Barack Obama had saved his biggest Virginia rally for last. For his conclusion, he told one of his favorite inspirational stories. It's about a long drive, a rainy day and how one person can make a difference. It ends with Obama leading a cheer of "Fired up, Ready to Go!" Democracy won. Americans were voting
- [Going out to the theater](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/27/going-out-theater/) - I've always felt that if you're learning English, you should take your learning outside the classroom. If you live in Munich or other major cities in Europe, there are quite a number of events in English in the fall and winter. I used to take people out to the movies regularly at the Cinema on
- [Life is a zoo](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/02/life-is-a-zoo/) - There are lessons to be learned at the zoo, especially from our new favorite animal, the tapir. Ms. Tapir tries to turn on her honey with high pitched squeals and a delicate spray of urine which she shoots straight out from her surprising rear atomizer. Each to his own. We were charmed by the gay ducks,
- [There's noone as Irish as...](https://annehodgson.de/2008/11/03/theres-noone-as-irish-as/) - I'm playing hooky today but will be back next week with a podcast on our new president. Until then please enjoy this: Thanks, Silke :-)
- [Lima calling](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/30/lima-calling/) - Nice to hear you, how are you? Not bad, thanks, I’m muddling through. And how are things at your end? Very busy, bills to send. Is your boss at work today? Can I help in any way? Could I leave a message, then? Sure, hang on, I’ll get a pen. I’m with Löwe in Peru
- [MC Yogi: Vote for Hope](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/31/mc-yogi-vote-for-hope/) - Vote for best Obama videos on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish.
- [Kenge Kenge: Obama for change](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/31/kenge-kenge-obama/)
- [Halloween](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/30/halloween/) - Halloween is a wonderful celebration for young people. But in Ireland, where it originated, and in the States, guys, not here in Germany. Here, it sucks. There is no tradition, and it just doesn't work. My mother sewed me my first costume at age two, and I went as a green Peter Pan. At four
- [Alicia Keys/Jack White: Another Way To Die ](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/29/alicia-keysjack-white-another-way-to-die/) - Minimalist raconteur Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs) wrote this for the new James Bond, A Quantum of Solace and teamed up with Alicia Keys for a surprising duet. This Bond is all about emotional ambiguity, whom you can trust and whom you can't. Bang, bang, bang, bang! Helmut, we're going, OK? I've also reserved 3
- [Election Party](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/21/election-party/) - I still haven't received my ballot from D.C., so I may have to vote by emergency write-in ballot, which was made possible by Democrats Abroad and the site they created, Vote from Abroad. Election Party Munich Hosted by: Democrats Abroad When: Tuesday, 4 November 2008, dinner 7-10pm How much: €10 entrance plus menu Where: Busching-Garten
- [Verhörhammer](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/28/verhorhammer/) - Hee hee hee hee, it sounds like Kate Bush sings "Ich steh' im Café und hab Hunger" (listen to it: Bayern3) and ACDC sing "Mach ma n Kreis" (listen Bayern3). And in reality? Supposedly Kate sings "It's me, I'm Cathy. Come home. I'm..." and the boys sing "My mind raced". Kann ja jeder sagen.
- [2008 ballot](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/26/2008-ballot/) - Yeah, I've got mail! The Washington, DC ballot (you see just a cutout) is rather short. No sheriff. But we do vote for the city council, a senator and a representative, members of the school board and a neighborhood advisory commissioner (responsible for traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection,
- [Sarah Silverman and the Great Schlep](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/25/sarah-silverman-and-the-great-schlep/) - To schlep is Jiddish and, yes, it comes from "schleppen" and means a long and difficult journey. The Jewish Council for Education and Research got comedienne Sarah Silverman to create this brilliant video to get young liberal Jews to convince their old conservative grandparents in Florida who think he is Muslim to vote for Obama.
- [Mike Scott: Bring 'em all in](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/22/mike-scott-bring-em-all-in/) - I've been reading Daniel J. Levitin's stimulating book, The World in Six Songs. How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, in which he explores how we co-evolved with the music we make. He comes up with six categories of song: Friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love. These songs, he says, have been sung for
- [SAP stock down 16%](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/07/sap-stock-down-16/) - This news article contains a lot of financial bad news vocabulary we will unfortunately be confronted with in the coming year or so. I guess it's not a bad idea to get used to using it correctly. Note the false friends: English German stark = ungeschönt stark = strong loan = Darlehen Lohn = salary
- [Wired](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/18/wired/) - Thanks, Uli. Das erklärt ja einiges ;-)
- [Joe the plumber](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/16/joe-the-plumber/) - "Joe the plumber" was the hero of this debate. McCain said, "A couple days ago Senator Obama was out in Ohio and he had an encounter with a guy who's a plumber, his name is Joe Wurzelbacher. Joe wants to buy the business that he has been in for all of these years, worked 10,
- [Do you feel lucky?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/17/do-you-feel-lucky/) - Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got
- [The end of Bush](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/18/the-end-of-bush/) - "Can you sense it? Do you feel the deep tingle? Because amid the fiscal meltdown and Obama's stunning poll numbers and the stress of the election, this staggering fact: George W. Bush is nearly done. He will soon be gone forever, America's most spectacularly incompetent footnote, the oily residue left on the pavement after his
- [McCain and Obama ](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/19/mccain-and-obama/) - Here the two candidates are, battling for the presidency, and they can joke about all of it. It's the ultimate test. Listen to them roast each other at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner on 16 October 2008: I found this at 3quarksdaily, where Abbas Raza commented, "I liked both of them a lot. It
- [Math in Munich](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/18/math-in-munich/) - A consortium of educational institutions here in Munich host the annual "Wissenschaftstage", this year featuring mathematics. The enormous program includes some 50 lectures about the history, development and applications of math, but also exhibitions, tours, workshops for adults and for children, films and concerts beginning today and lasting through Tuesday. Here is a paragraph taken
- [Neil Young/Cassandra Wilson: Harvest Moon](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/15/niel-youngcassandra-wilson-harvest-moon/) - The "Harvest Moon" was believed by the Norsemen to be the most powerful of the full moons, granting Loki's blessing for a bountiful harvest. The Harvest Moon is the one closest to the equinox that marks the beginning of fall. Our current beautiful full moon is actually not the "Harvest Moon", which was last month;
- [John Cleese on Sarah Palin](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/15/john-cleese-on-sarah-palin/)
- [Useable](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/13/useable/) - Notice anything different about this site? Christmas came early this year, when Christian moved my site domain to http://annehodgson.de, installed an updated version of WordPress, and migrated my content into it. I then spent the weekend trying things out and putting in the tags and categories you see on the right. What do you think?
- [Kat Flint: Go Faster Stripes](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/08/kat-flin-go-faster-stripes/) - Kat Flint, Scottish singer/songwriter, has just released her album "Dirty Birds", the recording of which was entirely fan-funded. Go faster stripes are racing stripes, and the song is, as her press release tells us, “a tale of impatience, disasters and happy accidents”. She says, "I write lyrics about junkyard prostitutes, life in the fearsome crowd
- [Electronic election machine nightmare](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/06/our-nightmare/) - This leaked clip from an upcoming episode of The Simpsons features Homer Simpson attempting to cast a vote for presidential candidate Barack Obama using an electronic machine. After switching his vote repeatedly to Republican nominee John McCain, the machine devours Homer. Executive producer Al Jean told reporters in late September that the episode wasn't an
- [Grammarians R Pissed](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/28/grammarians-r-pissed/) - English teachers and writers, this one is for you: From 3:40: "You know, it's not even a matter of semantics. Using simplistic, good versus evil rhetoric to obfuscate (verdunkeln) really complex situations... I mean, he talks at us like we're kindergartners. It's no wonder people misunderestimate (!) him." Language focus: good language
- [Sarah Silverman](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/20/sarah-silverman/) - Comedienne Sarah Silverman is as politically incorrect as it gets. In the States she's famous for the way she breaks taboos in stories centering on herself. Her video "I'm f***ing Matt Damon" has just won her a Creative Arts Emmy award. From October 23rd on, her sitcom on Comedy Central will be shown in German
- [No drama Obama](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/12/no-drama-obama/) - At the 2nd Presidential Debate on October 7, 2008, Barack Obama was in top sparring form. Go, go, go!
- [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The shockwave](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/06/martin-luther-king-the-shockwave/) - This is an extra edition, as I am thinking a lot of those days 40 years ago when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and all hell broke loose. He was and is a true giant, and it is still sobering to discuss race and and inequality and how much further we need to go.
- [I will survive](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/24/i-will-survive/) - "I will survive" as performed by Gloria Gaynor was an OK dance song in 1978/9 (if you liked disco), but it's truly brilliant when the words are sung with meaning - especially by Cake (what a marvellous video, with the little animals made of glass) - or parodied by the likes of musical comedians Igudesman
- [Paul Newman RIP](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/28/paul-newman-rip/) - Grace. Intelligence. Sex appeal. Edge. Humor. Utter physical beauty. He had it. Paul Newman died on Sept. 27 at his home in Westport, Conn., at 83. New York Times tribute page, New York Times audio slide show Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) - Maggie and Brick More of Newman's classic scenes and the
- [Oops, did we forget one?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/17/oh-dear-not-another-internment-camp/) - Speaking of camps.... the Onion, "America's Finest News Source" ;-), does it again: "U.S. Finally Gets Around To Closing Last WWII Internment Camp. White House Press Secretary Debra Browning reminds reporters that there were 26 other camps that the U.S. successfully closed on time." U.S. Finally Gets Around To Closing Last WWII Internment Camp Um...
- [iPhone blues](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/11/iphone-blues/) - The Onion, that great fake newspaper, reports on some of iPhone 3G's most highly anticipated features: Nanotechnology enables it to reassemble itself when thrown against a wall An exclusive link to Google Street View lets you watch yourself using your iPhone at all times The iPhone takes Polaroids When moved from hand to ear, it
- [RIP George Carlin](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/23/rip-george-carlin/) - Another one bites the dust. Comedian George Carlin (May 12, 1937- June 22, 2008) was a very funny guy who hated bigotry. The first host of Saturday Night Live, he said, "I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately." Noone understood better
- [Bob Dylan wins Pulitzer Prize](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/10/bob-dylan-wins-pulitzer-prize/) - "A Special Citation to Bob Dylan for his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." (Pulitzer) A good excuse to listen to some of his best performances. Here is magic from the young romantic: "Mr. Tambourine Man" Hey! Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,
- [PostSecret](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/14/post-secret/) - PostSecret is a collaborative art project by Frank Warren, who invites you and me, anyone and everyone to share a secret, written and drawn and sent in anonymously on a postcard, which he posts in his blog and turns into art exhibits. Every card tells a story in a nutshell. Here is his latest video describing the project, entitled
- [Paris Hilton for President](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/07/paris-for-president/) - I, like, totally stole this from Spotlight.See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.com "Barack wants to focus on new technologies to cut foreign-oil dependency (Abhängigkeit), and McCain wants offshore drilling (Ölförderung in Küstengewässern). Well, why don't we do a hybrid (Mischform) of both candidates' ideas? We
- [Nellie McKay](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/17/nelie-mckay/) - Nelli McKay, comedienne, singer-songwriter and actress, has a sharp wit (viz. Mother of Pearl) and a romantic soul. She sings about her dog and interprets all sorts of stuff, including jazz standards (viz. If I had you). For Belli. Mother of Pearl Feminists don't have a sense of humor Feminists just want to be alone
- [Sly and the Family Stone: Thank you](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/25/sly-and-the-family-stone-thank-you/) - This tune by Sly and the Family Stone from 1970 marked a turning point in music. The band had played inspirational pop songs in the 1960s, but then after 1970 things got very funky. "Funky" has many meanings: earthy, soulful, natural, unconventional. But originally it meant stinky, anxious and fearful, without style. Today funk is
- [Gershwin: Summertime](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/30/gerschwin-summertime/) - Summertime is an aria by George Gershwin from his opera, Porgy and Bess, first performed in 1935. I saw the Houston Grand Opera's production of Porgy and Bess in 1976/7 which revived Porgy and Bess as a complete opera. This lullaby unites the original Ukrainian folk melody with jazz and opera. Here are a few
- [The Obama stampede](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/31/the-obama-stampede/) - Frank Rich has written a brilliant, analytical editorial describing the stampede to join the Obama camp in "How Obama Became Acting President" (NYT 27 July 2008). McCain has lost a lot of ground this month as Obama turns, more and more, into the man of the moment. Here's an extract with translations (mouseover the highlighted
- [Heath Ledger: The Joker](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/07/heath-ledger-the-joker/) - When Heath Ledger (April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008) died, the world lost one of its most exciting dramatic actors. In The Dark Knight he gave a chilling, spot-on performance of the Joker, a character who kills for pleasure, and said it was the role he'd had the most fun ever playing. Fun? The
- [Christopher Cross: Sailing](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/13/christopher-cross-sailing/) - This softest of easy-listening songs, a no. 1 hit in 1980 and later covered by N'Sync, is an anthem for people who love the sport. I'm in Croatia with ABC Wassersport this week, so I thought this might be a fitting message to you. It's not far down to paradise At least it's not for
- [Tom Waits: Hold on](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/20/tom-waits-hold-on/) - One of my favorite songs of all time. Tom Waits can't sing worth a dime, but man, can he tell a story! Bittersweet and poignant, his songs leave almost everything to your imagination, just like the video he made up for this song. They hung a sign up in our town "If you live it
- [Moon River](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/02/moon-river/) - Home from the Isar, this song still on our lips. Audrey Hepburn sang "Moon River" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", the film based on the book by Truman Capote. Mercer and Mancini wrote the song for her limited vocal range — which is why we can sing it together. Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, the glittering socialite,
- [Where on Earth will you vote?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/04/where-on-earth-will-you-vote/) - Democrats Abroad sent me this motivating video. If you're a US citizen, register here: www.votefromabroad.org.
- [The Walkmen](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/05/the-walkmen/) - The Walkmen from New York have just made their latest album, You & Me, available in an exclusive charitable pre-release on indie music website AmieStreet.com. It costs $5 on this site, with the proceeds from each sale being donated to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. These guys definitely have something to say. If you've
- [The Staple Singers: I'll take you there](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/15/the-staple-singers/) - One of the classic bands to come out of Stax Records, the Staple Singers had a no. 1 hit with this song in 1972. This is the real stuff. Take me there. Sorry, no video with moving pictures that runs without interruption for this song. I know a place Ain't nobody cryin' Ain't nobody worried
- [Catherine Russell sings the blues](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/17/catherine-russell-sings-the-blues/) - Oh, for a Friday night out listening to the blues sung with real class! Catherine Russell grew up in New York in a musical family (her father collaborated with Louis Armstrong, her mother is a singer, too) and has been a backup vocalist for big pop and jazz acts for years. But she's got her
- [Aimee Mann: Freeway](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/24/aimee-mann-freeway/) - Aimee Mann delivers deadpan songs with intelligent irony on "@#%&! Smilers". She takes a dim view of our materialistic world: "You got a lot of money, but you can't afford the freeway." Bouncy, in a downbeat sort of way. Listen: You got a lot of money, but you can't afford the freeway The road to
- [Stevie Wonder: Free](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/30/stevie-wonder-free/) - In the late 1980s it felt as if the world was sorting itself out. The Berlin wall came down in 1989, and Nelson Mandela was released after 21 years in 1990. Mandela turned 90 this past week, so here is Stevie Wonder's pretty gospel song "Free" of 1987 in a video that seems to be
- [Spring fashion](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/13/spring-style-advisory/) - What should you wear to the Olympics? Easy: your chic little black t-shirt. From Reporters sans Frontières. Criticize China by standing with them, not against them China is under a lot of fire at the moment. This Chinese-American, interculturally sensitive college student is currently living in Hongkong. He says we should be aware of human
- [Lhasa de Sela, Travelling](https://annehodgson.de/2008/06/15/lhasa-de-sela-travelling/) - Lhasa de Sela (born 1972), better known as Lhasa, is a true nomad. She was born in Big Indian, New York, of a Mexican father of Panamanian-Polish-French-Spanish descent and an American mother of Lebanese-Scottish-Russian-Jewish descent. After being raised in Mexico and the United States, she spent several years in France – she loves Marseille -
- [Tinariwen, Justin Adams, Juldeh Camara](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/23/tinariwen/) - Tinariwen is a band from Mali whose music has become "the soundtrack for a whole generation of exiled Touareg youth, living a hand-to-mouth existence in exile in Algeria and Libya." Their signature sound comes from transposing traditional Touareg melodies on the electric guitar and mixing in blues, rock, pop, berber and arabic sounds. They have
- [Crosby, Stills, Nash: Suite Judy Blue Eyes](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/31/crosby-stills-nash-suite-judy-blue-eyes/) - A highlight at Woodstock (1969) was the performance of "Judy Blue Eyes" by the choirboys themselves, penned by Steven Stills for beautiful Judy Collins - the classic break-up song. At the end of this live performance Stills admitted, "This is only the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless."
- [iGoogle Artist themes launched](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/17/igoogle-artist-themes-launched/) - A launch party on the streets of Manhattan: Google took their new product, featuring visuals by big name designers from Jeff Koons and Philip Starck to Dolce & Gabbana and Akira Isogawa, to one of the most interesting areas of New York, the Meatpacking District, and projected the artwork onto the buildings. What a nice
- [Miller auditions](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/23/miller-auditions/) - "Selling yourself" is extremely embarrassing and humiliating, right? This poor bear sure thinks so. See the Miller Audition ad by Spike Jonze (spoofing the Budweiser ads that used animals). If you're "just" interviewing for a job, hey, at least you're not auditioning as an animal actor.
- [Art is...](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/20/art-is/) - For laughs: Aardman of Creature Comforts collects comments on art from the artistes and connaisseurs on the street. As he has his Hawaiian chameleon say, "If you can bring laughter into this world, that's a form of art."
- [Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/22/chuck-berry-johnny-b-goode/) - This song written and performed by Chuck Berry is not only the most influential song in the history of rock and roll, it is also an icon of the "American Dream", of going from rags to riches (vom Tellerwäscher zum Millionär). This performance was on American Bandstand in 1965. Chuck Berry is still performing this
- [Flying with the Penguins](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/28/flying-with-the-penguins/) - "Last winter, I found a penguin," explains the storyteller. He says that the penguin knew how to fly until "he met some other birds. They said, 'Penguins can't fly.' And he thought, 'They're right.' That's when he crashed." Lots of coaching follows, but the penguin just can't do it. Then, incredibly, he sees a flock
- [john.he.is](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/21/johnheis/) - Our bottom up, viral election year. Giving it to John McCain. "Will.i.am totally stole this idea from us, we've been thinking for a long time that earnest people reacting to a candidate is the future of music video." - Election 08 On YouTube, presented by The Public Service Administration (Andy Cobb et. al.) "The work
- [3 in the Mourning](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/23/3-in-the-mourning/) - It’s over, Senator Clinton. So Senator Clinton, with regard to your campaign, You seem smart & nice. Your health care plan seems to have a lot of merit. But you know it’s over and the news is not good: You are toast. We can tell - we can do math. At least stop dumping manure
- [Dragon's Den: Rasam Soup](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/14/dragons-den-rasam-soup/) - In this episode of The Dragon's Den, a reality TV show that airs (gesendet wird) in many countries - here in Canada (CBC) - the Patil children are selling a stake (Anteil) in their father's recipe for Rasam soup to the Dragons, a panel (Podium) of venture capitalists who invest their own money in the
- [Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/30/joni-mitchell-big-yellow-taxi/) - Here's Joni Mitchell's lovely eco-yodel of 1970: They paved paradise And put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique And a swinging hot spot Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot They took all
- [Duffy: Mercy](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/13/duffy-mercy/) - Duffy's song is my dancefloor ear candy of the year. Yeah Yeah Yeah I love you but I gotta stay true My morals got me on my knees I'm begging please stop playing games I don't know what this is But you got me good Just like you knew you would I don't know what
- [The Job](https://annehodgson.de/2008/05/06/the-job/) - "The Job", a short film by Jonathan Browning, Screaming Frog Productions 2007 takes a fresh new look at the immigrant labor debate: "A deliciously surprising short, which upends our expectations as a bunch of urban professionals find themselves on the receiving end of a cultural stereotype." - Ron Cowan, Salem Film Festival "... a three-minute
- [Alanis Morissette: Hand in my pocket](https://annehodgson.de/2008/04/16/alanis-morissette-hand-in-my-pocket/) - Woke up this morning to hear this song unplugged on Bayern 3, where Alanis was plugging her upcoming album (will be out in Germany on May 31). Nice interview there with her. "Hand In My Pocket" I'm broke but I'm happy I'm poor but I'm kind I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah I'm high but
- [Me for president?](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/19/anne-for-president/) - LOL. Thank you, Christian :-D ! Do it yourself.
- [Time for some campaignin'](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/24/time-for-some-campaignin/) - In conservative heartland USA, folks, it's time for some campaignin'! A new original by the JibJab brothers: About Evan and Gregg Spiridellis Based on The times, they are a'changin' (Bob Dylan)
- [Western Spaghetti](https://annehodgson.de/2008/07/22/western-spaghetti/) - Written and Directed by PES What cooks do: light, fill, boil, salt, add, stir, slice, dice, chop, mash, heat, fry, simmer, drain, grate, grind, serve. Do it yourself: Write a recipe for Western Spaghetti Click here to learn how to cook pasta Click here for a food quiz "'Tis an ill cook that cannot lick
- [Michelle rocks Denver](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/26/michelle-rocks-denver/) - On the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama did an impressive job of coming across as soft-spoken, middle class, blue collar and very patriotic indeed, to appeal to the average American (whoever that elusive character may be). She has an amazing physical presence, a marvelous voice, and a good story to tell.
- [Hillary: No way, no how, no McCain](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/27/hillary-no-way-no-how-no-mccain/) - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke to unite the Democrats at the DNC. She referred to the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution that gave women the right to vote in 1920 and quoted Harriet Tubman, the anti-slavery activist who began the Underground Railroad and told the fugitives, "Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a
- [She moved through the fair](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/27/sinead-oconnor-simple-minds/) - "She moved through the fair", a traditional song from the Westcoast of Ireland that may well date back to medieval times, was first published in 1909. Here is a spine-tingling rendition by Lorenna McKennett in the Alhambra, where she resurrects the Eastern influences in Celtic tradition. The Simple Minds in 1989 recorded a song called
- [Obama commits a faux pas](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/29/obama-commits-a-faux-pas/) - Senator Barack Obama accepted the democratic nomination "with great humility" ... on a stage with a rather grandiose ancient Greek colonnade. It was supposed to be reminiscent of MLK's "I have a dream" speech held in Washington on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial 45 years ago to the very day, and quite generally to
- [Barack Obama acceptance speech](https://annehodgson.de/2008/08/29/barack-obama-acceptance-speech/) - The New York Times has a great interactive site dedicated to Senator Obama's brilliant, content-rich and highly motivating speech, with the video and the text side by side. Oh, man: Politics has never been more exciting.
- [Flip your chart](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/02/flip-your-chart/) - September is often a time of preparing for trade fairs. How about surprising your audience by using a flip chart instead of a Powerpoint presentation? It can add a more personal touch. And it is much easier to involve your audience in your presentation. Especially if the group is not too big and you are
- [Crisis explained](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/07/crisis-explained/) - Paddy Hirsch gives a bubbly explanation of collateralized debt obligations, i.e. the financial instruments that got us into this financial mess. Found on Presentation Zen, a site dedicated to good presentations. Source: Marketplace Financial Crisis 101.
- [Taking a gamble on Sarah Palin](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/04/taking-a-gamble-on-sarah-palin/) - Noone could accuse McCain of not having courage in his choice of VP. Riding on his heroism in Vietnam, he's an unconventional conservative who acts like he's not a politician at all. Everything he says seems unstudied, inviting trust. Too bad that although his style is liberal and he can't stand Bush, he would essentially
- [Food Fight](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/19/food-fight/) - Food animation by Stefan Nadelman representing the wars America has been involved in, from WWII to today, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. 1. The World 2. WWII - Holocaust / French surrender / London Bombing / Pearl Harbor / Battle of Midway / D-day / fall of Berlin / Hiroshima 3.
- [My name is Lisa](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/21/my-name-is-lisa/) - Today is World Alzheimer's Day. "My Name is Lisa" is a prize-winning short film about Alzheimer's Disease, which causes gradual memory loss and is still without a cure. The filmmakers say 250,000 children, age 8-18 are caregiving for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia. It's very hard on kids, though my nieces and nephews will probably
- [Love in a Backward World](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/05/love-in-a-backward-world/) - This five-minute film tells the story of a couple who spot each other on a crowded street and fall in love. Although everyone else in the world around them moves backwards, they move forward, and so find each other. For Angela & Ulrich. Written & Directed by Chris Vincze. Produced by Wendy Bevan-Mogg
- [Job description: Community organizer](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/06/job-description-community-organizer/) - The SZ yesterday translated "community organizer" as "Sozialarbeiter", i.e. a social worker. Sorry, but that's wrong. The mistake is common because, first of all, the term is hard to define even in English, and secondly, Germans don't have a grassroots democracy or the vocabulary to go with it. Politics in Germany are mostly party-based and
- [Joshua Harris: Inflatable sculpture](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/07/joshua-harris-inflatable-sculture/) - Harris makes moving street art from plastic shopping bags and trash bags which he attaches to the subway exhaust shafts in New York. Watch the ephemeral creatures come to life and die as they inflate and deflate, controlled by the winds generated by the passing trains:
- [Pretenders: Brass in Pocket](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/10/pretenders-brass-in-pocket/) - Listening to Radiohead's "Creep" and the singer's wish to be "special" kept reminding me of Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders, their breakthrough hit of 1979. Bandleader Chrissie Hynde said that she was initially reluctant to have the song released: "When we recorded the song I wasn't very happy with it and told my producer
- [The computer whisperer](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/12/the-computer-whisperer/) - My dear laptop, a trusty companion that went across the Atlantic with me and helped me get my work done far away from home, is on the blink. First it started freezing on me, and then it wouldn't start. The trouble seems to be the graphics card (thanks, Alex, for figuring it out). And not only MacBook Pros seem to
- [Fashion week](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/13/fashion-week/) - Watch a wonderful slide show overview of fashion weeks all around the world, from the New York Times - link here. What a diversity of looks! I love the culture and imagination that goes into these creations. When I was a girl, I used to sit in my mother's boutique and read Vogue Magazine cover to cover and dream
- [She's not ready](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/18/shes-not-ready/) - "While watching the Sarah Palin interview with Charlie Gibson Thursday night, and the coverage of the Palin phenomenon in general, I’ve gotten the scary feeling, for the first time in my life, that dimwittedness is not just on the march in the U.S., but that it might actually prevail. How is it that this woman
- [Listed](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/19/listed/) - What an honor, and what fun: Island Weekly is on WE Magazine's list of 101 Women Bloggers to Watch in Fall 2008. WE magazine for Women is an International Digital Business & Lifestyle Magazine for "women who want to explore great destinations, improve their outlook on life, learn quick and easy ways to get and
- [Barack to the future](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/23/barack-to-the-future/) - Back to Barack Obama's humble beginnings sweeping the floor at a diner in Hill Valley... Grammar, anyone? Remember this grammar point from school? We discussed talking about the future in an English class yesterday: "One day I'm going to be president." = Ich habe vor, eines Tages Präsident zu werden. Or: Es ist völlig klar:
- [The Royal Society and Creationism](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/24/the-royal-society-and-creationism/) - The story that God created the world in six days is enjoying a renaissance in the UK, just as the world is getting ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's publication of the theory evolution in 1859. Though his head is on the back of a 10 pound note, Darwin's theory is no
- [McCain + Palin](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/25/mccainpalin/) - McCain + Palin = McPain
- [Just show up](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/26/just-show-up/) - "The golden rule of language learning: Absolutely any method of language learning, as long as it includes regular exposure to the target language, will eventually yield fluency if followed faithfully enough. ... Some methods of language learning may be better or worse than others, but there is no "wrong" method. ... It's like the saying
- [Holding hands](https://annehodgson.de/2008/09/27/holding-hands/) - Ze Fred had readers contribute to a collection of videos that make you feel better, and of the beautiful contributions, this one of otters holding hands (Vancouver Aquarium) was my favorite:
- [How to stop a row in 30 seconds](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/05/how-to-stop-a-row-in-30-seconds/) - The summer is over, your stress level is up, and it's easy to get into a fight. Nip that row in the bud. Thank heaven for Video Jug, and that very cute couple with their tips for all lovers: Dating Humor: How To Stop A Row In 30 Seconds Actors: Ben Neale and Sarah Coyle.
- [Stiglitz](https://annehodgson.de/2008/10/07/stiglitz/) - Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist, is famous for his analysis of information asymmetry, a phenomenon which causes markets to be inefficient because the players have incomplete and therefor insufficient information to make the best choices. A completely deregulated free market is not a good thing, he says; markets can benefit from wise government

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- [Communication Coaching](https://annehodgson.de/communication-coaching/) - Communication Coaching Confident professional Communication It takes more than a common language to communicate effectively in view of global diversity and when faced with complex, uncertain, ambiguous situations. Build your soft skills to get the hard work done. Soft skills for professionals Workshops for teams at the customer-facing front of your organization, as your company
- [Homepage](https://annehodgson.de/homepage/) - Englischkurse Kommunikation Blog Zu mir Systemisches Coaching Teamentwicklung Willkommen! Aufgewachsen bin ich in Washington DC, wo wir zuhause und an der Schule Deutsch und Englisch sprachen. Seit 1998 bin ich als Kommunikationscoach tätig. Von Berlin aus unterstütze ich Menschen, die internationalen Berufen in Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft nachgehen. Wie kann ich Sie auf Ihrer Sprachreise unterstützen?
- [Teamentwicklung](https://annehodgson.de/teamentwicklung/) - Teamentwicklung mit Fierce Was heißt "fierce"? "Fierce Conversations" ist ein praktischer Methodenkoffer, um Probleme kreativer zu lösen, mit schwierigen Menschen souveräner umzugehen, Prioritäten zu setzen und ein hohes Arbeitspensum effizienter zu bewältigen. Als Ansatz der Gesprächsführung hilft Fierce Führungskräften, leistungsstarke Teams zu entwickeln und eine Kultur des Vertrauens zu schaffen. Fierce heißt soviel wie furchtlos,
- [Lektorat und Übersetzung](https://annehodgson.de/lektorat-und-uebersetzung/) - Lektorat & Übersetzung Reden und Präsentationen Vorbereitung Ihrer Ansprache vom ersten Entwurf bis zur ausgefeilten Endfassung unter Verwendung der Wörter, die Sie gut beherrschen und die Ihnen leicht von der Zunge gehen. Finden Sie Ihre Stimme auf Englisch. Wissenschaftskommunikation Wir unterstützen Sie bei der Überarbeitung Ihrer Forschungsergebnisse für die Veröffentlichung. Dabei bleiben wir dem Originalwortlaut
- [Editing & Translation](https://annehodgson.de/editing-and-translation/) - Editing & Translation Speech Revision Preparing your speech from first draft to final polished version using the words you feel comfortable with and that will roll off your tongue. Find your voice in English. Science Communication Supporting you as you adapt your research for publication. Respecting the original wording that expresses unique experiences in order
- [About Me](https://annehodgson.de/about-me/) - About Me Anne Hodgson September 16, 2018
- [Systemisches Coaching](https://annehodgson.de/systemisches-coaching/) - Systemisches Coaching und Mediation Gespräche über Führung und Kommunikation Wie kommunizieren Sie im Beruf? Was kommt in Ihrem Umfeld an? Gibt es etwas, das Ihre Botschaften verwirrt und Sie daher beruflich und persönlich zurückhält? Vielleicht sind nicht Ihre Sprachkenntnisse das Problem. Coaching hilft Ihnen, ein Gespräch mit sich selbst zu führen, um zu beleuchten, was
- [Language Training](https://annehodgson.de/language-training/) - Language Training One-to-one Coaching for English at work You use English to communicate with colleagues and business partners from all over the world and want to get your work done in the best possible way. I understand high-stakes communication in English, a language you may feel familiar with but not get right. Let me support
- [Career Coaching & Mediation](https://annehodgson.de/career-coaching-and-mediation/) - Career Coaching and Mediation Conversations on Leadership and Communication How do you communicate on the job? Is something muddying your messages and keeping you back professionally and personally? Perhaps it is not the language as such. Coaching will help you have a conversation with yourself to identify and question any issues that are keeping you
- [Fierce Team Development](https://annehodgson.de/fierce-conversations/) - Fierce Team Development What does "fierce" mean? Fierce Conversations is a practical communication tool set that allows people to solve problems more creatively, deal with difficult people more confidently, and prioritize and manage a heavy workload more efficiently. It helps leaders to develop high performing teams and create a culture of trust within an organization.
- [Englischkurse](https://annehodgson.de/englischkurse/) - Englischkurse Einzeltraining für den Arbeitsplatz Sie sprechen mit Kolleg:innen und Geschäftspartner:innen aus aller Welt und wollen Ihre Arbeit bestmöglich erledigen - und zwar auf Englisch. Ich weiß, was das bedeutet: Englisch ist Ihnen schon irgendwie vertraut und Sie können sich einigermaßen durchschlagen, aber Sie holen sich dabei gelegentlich ein blaues Auge. Sie wissen also, Sie
- [Kommunikation](https://annehodgson.de/kommunikation/) - Kommunikation Selbstbewußt und professionell Es bedarf mehr als einer gemeinsamen Sprache, um angesichts der globalen Vielfalt und komplexer, unsicherer und mehrdeutiger Situationen effektiv zu kommunizieren. Entwickeln Sie Ihre Softskills, um die harten Nüsse zu knacken. Softskills für den Arbeitsplatz Workshops für Teams an der kundenorientierten Front Ihrer Organisation. Ihr Unternehmen expandiert und wird vielfältiger und
- [Kontakt](https://annehodgson.de/kontakt/) - Kontakt Bitte nutzen Sie dieses Kontaktformular. Ich melde mich baldmöglichst bei Ihnen. Ihr Name Ihre E-Mail Ihre Nachricht Senden
- [Blog](https://annehodgson.de/blog/) - Blog courses Hybrid courses In the summer of 2021, I had the pleasure of attending a hybrid congress in Berlin: Die Grünen were kicking off their election campaign. The Read More » September 28, 2022 No Comments Unkategorisiert Hybride Kurse Im Sommer 2021 hatte ich das Vergnügen, an einem Hybridkongress in Berlin teilzunehmen: Die Grünen
- [Masthead and Privacy Policy](https://annehodgson.de/masthead-and-privacy-policy/) - Masthead & Privacy Policy Masthead Anne HodgsonOnkel-Bräsig-Str. 49D-12359 BerlinPhone: 0179/ 46 86 249Email: hello@annehodgson.deWebsite: https://annehodgson.de Copyright All texts, images and sound files on this site are copyrighted worldwide. The use of the contents of this site requires written permission from the person responsible for this site. The product names or company names mentioned on this site are
- [Blog](https://annehodgson.de/blog/) - Blog courses Hybrid courses In the summer of 2021, I had the pleasure of attending a hybrid congress in Berlin: Die Grünen were kicking off their election campaign. The Read More » September 28, 2022 No Comments Unkategorisiert Hybride Kurse Im Sommer 2021 hatte ich das Vergnügen, an einem Hybridkongress in Berlin teilzunehmen: Die Grünen
- [Contact](https://annehodgson.de/contact/) - Contact Me Please use this form to contact me. I will get back to you as soon as I can. Your Name Your Email Address Your Message Send
- [Impressum und Datenschutz](https://annehodgson.de/impressum-und-datenschutz-2/) - Impressum Anne Hodgson Onkel-Bräsig-Str. 49 12359 Berlin Telefon: 0179/ 46 86 249 E-Mail: hello@annehodgson.de Website: https://annehodgson.de UST-ID-Nr. DE 225812920 Finanzamt Berlin Urheberrechtshinweise Alle Texte, Bilder und Tondateien auf dieser Site sind weltweit urheberrechtlich geschützt. Die Verwendung der Inhalte dieser Site bedarf einer schriftlichen Genehmigung durch den Verantwortlichen dieser Site. Die auf dieser Site genannten Produktbezeichnungen

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- [bloggers](https://annehodgson.de/tag/blog-group/)
- [grammar guru](https://annehodgson.de/tag/grammar-guru/)
- [advent](https://annehodgson.de/tag/advent/)
- [teacher training](https://annehodgson.de/tag/teacher-training/)
- [prezi](https://annehodgson.de/tag/prezi/)
- [powerpoint](https://annehodgson.de/tag/powerpoint/)
- [visualization](https://annehodgson.de/tag/visualization/)
- [training](https://annehodgson.de/tag/training/)
- [workshop](https://annehodgson.de/tag/workshop/)