My three and a half year old son has been saying 'Voglio un papa Italiano' recently - this means 'I want an Italian dad'. He still wants me to be his dad, luckily, but he would prefer me to be Italian, which is a little difficult seeing as I'm English and all that. What he really means is that … [Read more...]
Skeletons
November 29, 2006 By Leave a Comment
While walking down my street I notice them tied to lamp posts or fixed to the upside down U shaped things designed to stop people from parking on the pavements. Some appear to be in perfect condition. But the poor objects seem to have been forgotten, no longer cherished, but abandoned by their … [Read more...]
Language level test
November 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Quite a while back I cooked up a 90 question multiple choice test to help me divide groups of between 30 and 50 people into two or four sub-groups. My test has proved to be very effective and certainly speeds up the process of dividing classes into groups.The test attempts to assess both grammar … [Read more...]
When banal is good.
November 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment
I spoke to someone who complemented me on my work website - englishisin.com. She said that although the advice on it was 'banale' it actually made sense. The part she was referring to was my technique for training your mind to think in English. The method I propose is to start by looking … [Read more...]
Antique terms
November 27, 2006 By Leave a Comment
My other half, who works in the antiques trade, often sends me texts to translate, check and correct. The only trouble is that I am not all that hot on expressions such as bombature, rocailles, modanate and baccelliere (this last one is 'bachelor' sometimes...). But I got 'ebanistici' to be … [Read more...]
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