Varieties of English and EIL/ELF
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 […]
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 […]
Marlee Matlin 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 […]
Joe Jackson and learner agency
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 […]
Samuel L. Jackson reads “Go the F*ck 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 […]
Goldie Hawn’s 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 […]
Pronunciation of words
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 […]
