A Colourful World

It's the first Sunday in Advent, and how beautiful the world looks - white and crispy and sparkling!

It's such a joy for me to unpack all my Christmas decorations and decorate the house, deciding which ornaments get their turn this year and which need a rest. And of course, there are always a few new beauties to join the gang.

Those of you who were already with The Penguinet last year will remember Woodlands School's Advent Calendar: it's a tradition worth keeping, so here you are again:

www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar

New photos have been flying in from Borneo, and I must share these coloured chickens with you. Now, it's Borneo, and there are animals of untold colours and forms there and so Omi politely enquired what type of chickens these are... to get the answer they are perfectly normal chickens, who had been coloured by their market vendors with food colouring.

Wow.

In a complete lather

That was a surprise: on Tuesday afternoon the fourth group of the day marched in, looking pleased with themselves. They had exciting news and so I invited them to tell me... you could have knocked me down with a feather when they told me about the Royal Engagement. Not, you understand, that the engagement itself was a surprise, just that my students knew before I did.
I am so thrilled. Think of the lessons we can enjoy together next year. Princess of the Week! Royal Weddings of the Past! The mind simply boggles.
I can't wait.
Visit http://www.royal.gov.uk/

Burning the midnight oil

Gosh I was so busy yesterday morning, I forgot to write the new blog! I hasten to say it was busy-ness for the students as this week's lessons involve tons of preparations, websit-visiting, youtube-searching etc.

Waking at just after 5am this morning I had that funny feeling of forgetting something - and remembered The Penguinet.

We're coming to that time of year again where people start to bastel. I am sure there is no English equivalent of this as in my opinion, w don't do it. Or at least, not well. I attended Bastel classes at the VHS with my children when they were little. It was a nightmare. The German Moms produced pieces to die for, whilst my efforts were, well, an embarrassment.

Anyway, for all thos Bastel Kings and Queens out there, try this, it was found by Laura who is planning activities for Aquarium visitors. :

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/

If you do that...

It's been a tough week for the students: so many of them struggling with 'If' clauses. It's not on my list of serious mistakes (you'll still be understood), but when I hear this particular mistake on a regular basis I know it's time to do something.

One of my psychologists said something this week which made me think (actually they all do, always); that I teach through enabling my students to experience. So I'm not into exercises, I can't see the connection to Real Life and I know that getting 10 out of 10 in a test does not mean a person has really understood what is going on.

Nevertheless, I know some students love exercises - so for those of you wishing to practice your "Ifs" - here you are:

www.testyourenglish.net/english-online/grammarquiz/ifsquiz.html

Zipping in my speedy car from one group to the next, I nearly choked on my banana: the news came through of the sad demise of Paul the Octopus.

Some insiders may know that my relationship to these animals has been tricky. For many years I had an octopus-phobia. Really. I mean, how on earth could that happen? It was so bad that I could not even stay in a room with a picture of one - in a magazine for instance - let alone be anywhere near a real octopus.

Well, living in Morsum means I don't get close and personal with Octopi all that often, so I just lived with this quirk. But then my daughter turned into a marine biologist, and the symbol of Aquatica was - you guessed - an octopus.

So I decided to fight my phobia, starting with a cuddly octopus toy from Ikea. How brave I was to push that around Ikea in a shopping trolley. Then it sat around the biggest room in our house, with me giving it a wide berth. In the meantime, I kpt hearing what marvellous and wonderful creatures they are.

And then Baby Johann - after his Mom had checked with Omi - arrived for a breakfast date wearing an outfit with an octopus embroidered on the front. What could I say?

So now I don't exactly love them, but they no longer give me the screaming heebie-jeebies. And when I heard that Paul had died, I was really sad.

Find out more on: http://www.octopus.com/

A history of the world...

... in a hundred objects.

Many of you are already tuning in to wonderful BBC Radio 4, and in that cas you will know about the series "A History of the World in 100 Objects". It's a magnificent row of 15-minute talks describing 100 objects which can be found in the glorious British Museum. Members of Staff there chose objects which they considered vital steps in World History. You can still download the podcasts, but why not visit the British Museum Site and find out even more:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/

The picture on the left shows one of the objects, a plate commemorating the Russian Revolution.

Writing this has ben unusually tiresom, as the letter "e" keeps getting stuck on my laptop. I think this is a consequence of eating toast too close. Or too clos.

Hav a good wk:)

When the autumn leaves fall...

Good morning all from beautiful autumnal Morsum.

Isn't that word "autumn" wonderful? Of course, our US cousins call this "The fall". Last week when I was in beautiful Maryland, people often said to me, "I love your accent!" "You're the one with the accent," I thought privately. But on that I'm not quite right. In many cases - and autumn is one - it's the US word which is the original, it's the Brits who changed - in the case of "autumn" during the 18th century when all things French became very fashionable.

Try this quiz to find out how bilingual you are:)

www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz113979dOe8bO.html