You may know that a blurb is any text on the back cover (or occasionally inside the dust jacket) of a book. The word is generally associated with quotes from authors or reviewers praising the book, but it can also refer to any text, like a plot summary, author biography, or information about the series the book belongs to. Continue reading
Un non-magique, apparently.
Before I go any farther, I should explain that I’m talking about Harry Potter.
What do you need to teach a language lesson? Some students of course, and preferably a whiteboard, or a flipchart at a pinch. And, probably, a textbook, or an extract from one. A textbook is something that both students and teachers often take for granted. Many students like to have a trusted source of exercises to improve their English, and provide them with lots of new vocabulary and grammar rules. New teachers often cling to a textbook as a crutch. It’s comforting to know that you’ve got some interesting activities to keep the students busy, and save you having to find different exercises and figure out how they work together. And it helps to get rid of that awful fear newer teachers have that they’ll run of material long before the end of the lesson. Even if you finish your planned exercises before the end of the lesson, a few more pages in the book can feel like a welcome safety net. But how much do you really need a textbook? Continue reading
I’ve been deeply honoured to have been given this tag by grevisangel73. I highly recommend her blog for some great poetic adventures. And thank you also to ayunda at teanandpaperbacks.com for creating the tag.
The Questions: Continue reading
Any list of recommendations for Hallowe’en reading would seem incomplete without an entry from Stephen King. I’ll forego some of the more obvious choices from among his novels though, and instead choose one of his shorter short stories: “Gramma.”
The premise is very simple: 10-year old George Bruckner lives with his 14-year old brother Buddy and their single mother Ruth. Staying with them is Ruth’s ancient, senile, bedridden grandmother. When Buddy breaks his leg playing baseball, Ruth goes to the hospital out of town to see him, leaving George alone to look after Gramma. Continue reading
I’ll get straight into today’s post, as part of the 3 Days 3 Quotes Challenge as suggested by Fatma:
https://aminfatma.wordpress.com/
A reminder of the rules of the challenge:
Today, I really felt like sharing something about books: Continue reading
—Have you seen the new Monkey Planet film?
—The what?
—Monkey Planet! You know the ones with the talking monkeys. That guy’s in this one, what’s his name, James Franco. It’s pretty good.
—Monkey Planet!?
—Yeah, you know the first one, it’s from the 60s, with the astronauts and they crash land on a planet with talking monkeys!
—Are you ok?
—Monkey Planet, it’s a classic, how do you not know it!
—You’re talking nonsense, I’m leaving!
—Monkey Planet!! Ah, putain, attend, en anglais c’est Planet of the Apes!
Monkey Planet. Beneath the Monkey Planet. Escape from the Monkey Planet. Conquest of the Monkey Planet. Battle for the Monkey Planet. Tim Burton’s ill-advised Monkey Planet remake. Rise of the Monkey Planet. Dawn of the Monkey Planet. Untitled Monkey Planet Sequel.
How many of these films would you like to see (Battle for the Monkey Planet sounds like it could be good fun to be honest)?
They might all sound like fun, but aren’t they lacking the grativas of the title Planet of the Apes? It’s a good thing that the film’s producers went with that title then. But that wasn’t always the case… Continue reading
English-Language Thoughts 