Monday 31 March 2014

Another day gently fades away.

                                                      First lonesome boat of the year:)

Wonderful combination  today of a fascinating story of adventure and high jinx in Brazil from Onestopenglish. It is a great combination of listening and a worksheet that will combine to be both educational and fun at the same time for the younger classes. This will also include some of the culture and photographs of Brazil from Google. It is great when the students can free their minds and use their imaginations and learn and use English in an atmosphere that lifts their barriers and lets them really take part fully in the lesson.
Another lesson will be for a group of young teenagers who must plan, choose the clothes and styles and then run through how a fashion show would look if they were in charge:) Fortunately they cannot look to me for  fashion tips in the classroom!

Sunday 30 March 2014

Where a ship would end up if I were the captain!
View from a coffee.
A much needed bridge:)
We went for a long, beautifully sunny walk today through town and down by the lake. And for  the first time this year sat outside with the sun on our faces, drinking coffee, eating cake and admiring the stunnning view of one of Mazury's beautiful lakes, Lake Niegocin, which with the sunshine glinting of its placid surface was the perfect backdrop. It is the seventh largest lake in Poland, covering just over 26 square kilometres, which explains why I don't swim across it:) That coupled to the fact that I swim like an anchor!
  What a perfect way to enjoy the day, now what day is it tomorrow?
Sopot
                                                                           Gdansk

                                                                          Gdansk

                                                                      Gdansk
A tomato is a tomto is a tomato, except when it is a tomato bought and eaten in England, sad to say.The word itself dates from around 1600 AD and derives from the Spanish tomate and from the Aztecan tomatl. Interestingly the tomato has been linked with libido enhancing qualities, borne out by the original meaning of "the swelling fruit," or to "to swell."

But I digress, a tomato can be a revelation, no really! When I first visited Poland I ate tomato, but what a tomato. It looked good, easy to achieve in a GM world, it was packaged correctly to suit modern purchasing sensibilties, however the flavour was fantastic, simply a full, fresh tomato unlike the wishy washy offerings in England.

And what goes better with tomato in a sandwich than ham, well many things according to personal taste, but for me it's ham. This word has its derivation in meaning the “inner or hind part of the knee, ham”.
 
Again in Poland this was a delightful rebirth of my jaded taste buds.Ham here has a really great flavour, and this extends to sausages and to the most wonderful pate (pasztet). which unlike a brown buttery substance in the UK, but something you can cut off in chunks and consume with relish:) Sometimes some of it even survives long enough to be put on a slice of bread or a roll!


And what rolls they are, really the upper crust of rolls and bread as well, which I consumed then and now with gusto and without really needing anything else! All of this has left me hungry, so now it's time for breakfast.

The source of the word breakfast is from Latin admorsus, which is the past participle of admordere "to bite into," and "to bite.. Which is exactly what I am going to do with my brekkie now. Smacznego:)


Saturday 29 March 2014

One difference with living abroad which is simple but noteable. For instance, I spent a pleasant afternoon in a nice restaurant with a lovely view on a beautifully sunny afternoon. Time to pay the bill, allways a sad but essential part of the dining experience, unless you are very fleet of foot. Dutifully one hands over the cash and waits patiently for the change.
 This is where the difference comes into play: the change is in the hands of the waitress, I can see it, I know it is coming, I hold out my hand in anticipation of being handed the pittance owed me. And then the money goes past my hand and onto the table for me to scrape up of the tablecloth! Please just put the money, as pitifully small amount as it might be, into my hand.
Everyday I hear how difficult English is to pronounce so  here are a few words from other languages, just to give you food for thought, eyes down and try these:)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch, which is a place name from Wales, of which they are justly very proud.

Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, yes it is as easy as it looks! This is the name of a lake in Massachusetts. Maybe easier to say after wetting your whistle!

Muckanaghederdauhaulia is a town name in Ireland. Literally the ‘pig-shaped hill between two seas’.



TAUMATA­WHAKA­TANGI­HANGA­KOAUAU­O­TAMATEA­TURIPUKAKA­PIKI­MAUNGA­HORO­NUK from New Zealand. An easy to roll of the tongue Maori name, and for those who must know it means: the summit of the hill, where Tamatea, who is known as the land eater, slid down, climbed up and swallowed mountains, played on his nose flute to his loved one. 
Nice.

After such tongue twisting honorificabilitudnitatibus it's time for breakfast.
              


            





Friday 28 March 2014

Again pronunciation is paramount. When asked what she was doing for the weekend a young woman answered ''going where the cows meet''.
By way of confirming that she meant cows in a field I made the traditional action of a cow being milked by pulling on pretend udders.
''No, no'' she replied.
I am going where the 'scouts' meet! With blushing cheeks the lesson came to an end:)


Another weekend can be glimpsed over the horizon from our Friday viewpoint, named after Frigg who we are reliably informed was a Norse goddess, and must have been a jolly soul!. Thus with much thanks to Frigg we have a genially happy day before the weekend. Especially as this particular fellow does not have to go to work tomorrow.

Lessons today range from a huge circle of picture cards and a large multi-coloured furry dice, with the added ingredient of a noisy  group of enthusiastic children. All the way to specific English for legal purposes.My only hope is that the time does not fly by as if it were the wind itself. For me, the tables will be turned and I must study Polish: at home:) I feel a long walk by one of our beautiful lakes is beckoning to me, and I will be actually able to stretch my legs, not literally as they are a fairly good length and standard issue, but you get the idea.
Amazing how a lesson can be enlivened by the introduction of the concept of making money. Take two teams and give them a series of financial propositions for the opposing side to sift through. Instead of drudging through the exercise they become enthused and want to see their money total accumulate on the board. Inhibitions about English fade into the background as they simply seek to negotiate, hustle and win in English.


Thursday 27 March 2014

Returning to the thorny issue of my interaction with all things technical, and by way of an observation with my current abode. Electrical wall sockets, there I have said it, and now I feel better. What can be the problem with something as seemingly benign as a wall socket, well not much until you bring a plug into the equation, or a large bucket of water and a desire to electrocute yourself.

For some reason plugs and sockets and me just cannot find a happy medium. Now here's the rub, when I retire for the evening, being somewhat old school, I do have a tendency to remove the plugs from the sockets. I admit it, I do this. But does this mean I have to face a continual battle when withdrawing the plug of actually taking the entire wall socket with it! Maybe the wall socket is lonely and just wants to cling to the plug, but whatever the reason, it happens to me a lot.
Accent and pronunciation are such vital issues when both teaching and learning a language. Take for instance the outcome of a role play scenario earlier this year.

A group of ladies were given different cards with different events and functions. The idea is for the members of the group to circulate and invite other people to say whether they would, or would not want to go the particular event.

Because there was an uneven number of ladies I took it in turns to speak with each one, and they duly invited me to their restaurant, club, show or exhibition. One lady had a card for a restaurant entitled 'Ali's Restaurant', and the key was that I could eat or have all I wanted. Now here is where the issue of accent, and pronuncation becomes vital.

She looked me square in the eye, but instead if inviting me to come to Ali's restaurant, she invited me to an 'Arse' restaurant. Needless to say this resulted in laughter and a few red cheeks, if you'll pardon the pun, and a lesson in accent and  pronunciation that will not be forgotten.  Sadly I forgot to ask the address of the restaurant!
Mr Putin is a gentlemen much in the news of late, and living where I live his actions, and intentions are of a heightened interest for me. I would ask that he stops doing a passable impersonation of  Mr Hitler, annexing a part of a sovereign state on the grounds that he is riding to the aid of a beleagured ethnic group of the same, or very similar ethnicity. What a sham to see him abide by a vote within that foreign  state, the result of which was a foregone conclusion, so now we know why he actually recognised such a  democratic process. One sham being recognised by another sham.
He has calculated, as did Mr Hitler, that the world will not plunge into war on account of his minor rearrangement of states and borders. But sad to say it was also, at best hollow and at worst treating the public as if they have no memory of anything beyond a few months ago, to see and hear Mr Kerry denouncing the annexation, invasion or rescue according to your viewpoint. How does the US expect to be taken seriously after rewriting the international book of law to suit its own geopolitical goals and aims.Add another sham to the list, I don't mind if I do, and half a lager and a packet of crisps, please! Talking of food, it is time for breakfast.

Tuesday 25 March 2014

It is both edifying and highly interesting the way that some lessons can wend their way through a seemingly myriad avenues of discussion. Take for instance a group of guys who are interested in technology. So with this in mind I chose an article about nanotechnology, and with handouts in hand, sortied into a subject which opened the door to a fascinating conversation.
A great thing about my work is that I am always learning something new, take for  instance that liquid can contain nanotechnology, and that minute nanotechnological factories can build and replicate themselves,seemingly until the end of time. The concept arose that they could actually act act a cellular level and develop a form of collective intelligence, and thus they would ultimately supplant us from our position at the pinnacle of the current foodchain. This in turn gave way to the notion that we do not live according to a sustainable societal system, and that in fact our parasitical existence on our planet must and most probably will be superceded by a system or entity spawned by our very own technology. This then moved into the area of intelligence, and then onto policemen, but that is another subject for another day:)
It might be obvious to some of you, but I am not the most technical person in the world, and I'm not just being modest or understating something in a British stiff upper lip kind of fashion.
Really, technical things are alien to me. A student has just whisked me through some of the blogging information and screen changes and search engines and the structure of sub-atomic physics whilst helping me with my blog.
I find myself agreeing with every change, confirming my agreement that I know exactly what this widget, and thingy does...but truly I am none the wiser. But very grateful for the help young sir:) Now where do I find the log out button?

Monday 24 March 2014

What happened to the weekend? As usual the hours flew past at a velocity unknown to humankind during the working week:) The rain is pouring and the clouds are low, but are our spirits low, of course not as every day is truly a holiday as long as we have love in our hearts and our health.

Today will see my lessons range from the most basic, up to and including those happy people preparing for an exam, and ranging out to an adults group who will discuss the fundamental principles of what constitutes a free society. That should set the cats among the pigeons:)

Thursday 20 March 2014

Reading through some back issues of the Daily Mail I was left at somewhat of a quandary.
The article is about 800,000 year old footprints found on the shores of Britain at Happisburgh, in fact the oldest ever footprints found outside of Africa. The scientists were in a hurry to record this momentous find because '' the tide was washing them away as quickly as it had exposed them.'

But excuse me, they had been there for about 800,000 years and now they are being washed away?

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Apart from urbane and witty observations on everyday life, or possibly not according to your opinion. I want to recall and go over the seemingly wondrous range of mistakes and pitfalls of both teaching and learning a new language, both in and out of class on a daily basis.

This will be my window on the world, a portal to vent my spleen or to sing out loud according to how life is treating me. I want to share my experiences of living and teaching abroad, and the plain, everyday mundane tasks that can assume mammoth proportions when performed in another langauage.


So here it is, my first post and attempt at blogging as an Englishman living and teaching abroad!