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 […]
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
