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Tingo!

Are there any words that exist in your language which you can't find a good English translation for?

Are there words or expressions you've learnt in another language which you particularly like and which don't really translate into your language?

What are some of your favourite 'sounding' words in English or your own language?

What does the word onomatopoeic mean? Do you know any onomatopoeic words in English or your own language?

To read more about this new book, click here.

The Straight Man

BBC - What's On - Programme Information for The Straight Man: "Nicholas Parsons presents a potted history of the 'straight man' or 'stooge' in comedy double acts. "

An interesting way to get students to think about relationships, ways of interacting with others. In their friendships: who is the 'straight man' or 'stooge'? Do friendships often need a chalk and cheese element: one outgoing personality who wants to yak, another who's happy to listen?

Always connect

Could this Guardian Unlimited | Microsite | Always connect be used as a way of creating shared-writing in
class?

Your homework for this week

Right. We need more stuff on the class blog to read. So far, I've received a few poems, but I want ALL your poems.

This weekend, please select one of the following writing exercises to do. Either send it to me on email (beingsteve@hotmail.com), or if you're a member of the blog (for membership details, see me) you can post it onto the blog directly yourself.

Writing ideas:

1) Write about a contentious issue you feel strongly about (cf Jeremie's essay on downloading)
2) Post a poem
3) Write about a change in your life that had repercussions for you in the future.
4) Write 'in character' about your experience on Faking It. (Pretend you're either Alex, or one of the other characters.)

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies

This week in class, we've been watching a documentary called 'Faking It' about a geeky Chemistry student who goes to London to see if he can pass himself off as a bouncer in the toughest nightclubs of the city. It got me thinking about the notion of change -changing ourselves, changing the world, trying to change other people- and these are some quotes I like, all found on the internet.

“If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.” Read the quotes below and decide what ARTICLES to use in the spaces provided (a, an, the, or zero article)
 
 
Alfred North Whitehead:
___ art of progress is to preserve ____order amid ____ change and to preserve ____change amid ____order.
 
 
American proverb:
It doesn't work to leap ___ twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps.
 
 
Anais Nin:
Life is ___ process of becoming, ____combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect ____ state and remain in it. This is ____ kind of death.
 
 
When we blindly adopt ____ religion, ____ political system, ____ literary dogma, we become ____automatons. We cease to grow.
 
 
Epictetus:
It is impossible for ___ man to learn what he thinks he already knows.
 
 
Henry David Thoreau:
___things do not change, we change.
 
 
Heraclitus:
You cannot step twice into ___ same river, for other waters are continually flowing in.
 
 
Heraklietos of Ephesos:
Whosoever wishes to know about ____ world must learn about it in its particular details.
____knowledge is not ____intelligence.
In searching for ___ truth be ready for ___ unexpected.
___ change alone is unchanging.
___ same road goes both up and down.
___ beginning of a circle is also its end.
 
 
Lance Armstrong
___hard work, ____sacrifice and _____focus will never show up in tests.
“If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.” Read the quotes below and decide what ARTICLES to use in the spaces provided (a, an, the, or zero article)
 
 
Caroline Schoeder
Some people change when they see ___ light, others when they feel ___ heat.
 
 
I. Krishnamurti
The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called ___love and feel ___ depth, ___ delight, ___ ecstacy of it, you will discover that for you ___ world is transformed.
 
 
Thomas Fuller
Nothing is easy to ___ unwilling.
 
 
Heraclitus
There is nothing permanent except ____change.
 
 
James Hillman
If you are still being hurt by ___ event that happened to you at ___twelve, it is ___ thought that is hurting you now.
 
 
Mahatma Gandhi
You must be ____ change you wish to see in ___ world.
 
 
James Baldwin:
For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; ___ earth is always shifting, ___ light is always changing, ___ sea does not cease to grind down ___rock. ___generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are ___ only witnesses they have. ___ sea rises, ___ light fails, ____lovers cling to each other, and ____children cling to us. ___ moment we cease to hold each other, ___ sea engulfs us and ____ light goes out.
 
 
Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that ___ small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change ___ world. Indeed, it is ___ only thing that ever has.
 

David SedarisI haven't got the slightest idea how to change ____people, but still I keep ___ long list of ___ prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.

Thank God For Friday (Tests)

It's Friday!
 
Which means a lovely test of all the groovy stuff we've done this week.
 
Today's test is divided into two sections, and designed to be done with a partner. 
 
SECTION ONE: What areas of your grammar do you still need to work on?
  
Please follow this link and carry out the Online Diagnostic Test with your partner. At the end make a note of the grammar areas which you'd like to focus on next week. 
 

SECTION TWO: Writing/Posting on a blog
 
Work with your partner to create a blog 'post' on Me Talk Pretty One Day just like the one you're reading. Use your arguments discussed in class about your 'ISSUE' to write a short, discursive piece around the topic.
 
Begin the post: 'We believe that...' Make it as contentious as possible. You want people to read it and reply, don't you?
 
Have fun!