Superheroes

When Laura was a little girl we lived in Florida. She went to the Montessori Kindergarten in Merritt Island in the afternoons and when she got home she could hardly wait to turn on the TV and watch "Superfriends".

Don't you just love Superheroes? I especially like the capes.

We could have done with Superhero several times this week; lots of things going wrong, misunderstandings - and the dreadful news from Borneo that a disgruntled employee had poisoned the water treatment system with cyanide: many fish died.

But we never let our heads hang and in the Quest to improve your English I have found the answer:

GRAMMARMAN

http://www.grammarmancomic.com/

It's great!

The last roses of summer

Good afternoon all, slightly later today as we whizzed to the fleamarket in Thedinghausen to buy games for your lessons - successfully I'm glad to say.

The news is so weird these days, isn't it? Single persons make strange pronouncements which are then flashed around the world, causing chaos and mayhem.

Anyway, good old VOA will certainly help you improve your English. Visit and explore this site, you will find links to grammar/vocabulary sections as well as interesting news stories.

www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home

Back now to the Thanhäuser Markt (this time by bike), promised His Nibs a Currywurst...

The Battle of Britain

Oh gosh, had the website chosen and the text partly written (mentally at least) for you this morning - when we listened to BBC Radio 4 while munching our broetchen. The news from the UK has been full of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain the last week or two, and today seems to be The Day. So, still in my slumberwear, I leapt to the laptop to quickly find some info for this week's students.

I stumbled upon

http://vimeo.com/cambridge

And wow wow wow!

Vimeo is a video-sharing site and lo and behold Cambridge University has a portfolio of fascinating videos there, you can even download them...

Have a great week!

Guten Appetit!

Well to keep you busy right from the start, I just read and loved:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05gilbertson.html?ref=world
It's a great article about what different countries troops take with them to eat. You can click on Great Britain, Germany, Ukraine... fascinating.

Some weeks ago Laura-on-Borneo told me she was leaving work early to fetch Anya from Kindergarten, "To avoid the Ramadan traffic jams". Sabah is of course part of Malaysia, an Islamic state. Sabah itself has a mix of Islam, Christianity, and all sorts of other religions who all seem to get along just fine.
This week Ramadan was brought a bit closer to me when I was bleating in one group about not being able to drink tea or coffee in the morning (due to Lyme Disease medication) and one especially dear student looked at me. In that moment I remembered she is Moslem and asked if she is fasting. What a silly question, of course she is. In discussions this week à propos Thilo S., it struck me that I really do not know very much about Islam, or Islamic beliefs or customs.
So, for a tiny introduction I took a look at


http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/religion/Islam.htm





... maybe you will enjoy that too.

Back again

It may still be August but when I look out of my window I know it's autumn - which must mean that everyone is back at work and eager to resume normal service.
So welcome back to The Penguinet.
I've been absent for some weeks - firstly looking after my Mum, then in the UK - and then, strangely for me, having little energy, falling asleep on my feet. Turns out I have Lyme disease, borreliose to some of you. So now am on antibiotics and feeling much better, thank you. Hope this continues as, despite head-to-toe protection working in my garden, I found a tick firmly embedded yesterday evening and this morning two bites.
Oh well, let's hope for the best.
A highspot with some groups this week will be prepositions of place, so those of you who would like to practice will enjoy this page:
www.english-4u.de/prep_of_place.htm

And PS, yes, Val & Tracey had a lovely wedding!

What a scorcher!!!

Yesterday record temperatures in Yeovil, 27°. Ha! We laughed merrily, topping that easily in downtown Morsum. The people who built our house all those years ago knew what they were doing thank heavens and inside it is still quite cool. From time to time I wander out and chat to my roses, which are having a good year.

Rcently surfing, I chanced on this, which I thought might amuse you:

www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/lj/

Happy 4th!

I had forgotten, but when you have an ill person at home, life gets a completely different rhythm. And when you have got over the first panic, and the patient seems to be on the mend, it's quite nice. All the normal rushing around just doesn't take place. You provide regular and nutritious meals and do all sorts of things like cutting people's toenails, which you wouldn't normally do. Small signs of progress cause great joy... such as my Mum just now wanting to go into the garden to see the roses, which she managed with the help of her Rollator.

Anyway, in the midst of all these warm feelings let's not forget today is the 4th of July - visit

www.usa.gov/Topics/Independence_Day.shtml

and find out more:)