This phrase has come up a few times recently in different contexts and it’s one I’m interested in: a language teacher, you’d be forgiven for presuming, would tend to concentrate on the ‘outer’ voice. Continue reading
Doing presentations with the pre-sessional students is difficult online. For an in-person presentation we could check the students’ notes. Online there is a greater temptation for students to read from a script. Continue reading
This year we’ve started using Academic Reading Circles. They’ve really worked. Not just in training students to read texts more carefully but in giving them the opportunity to participate in seminar-type discussion afterwards. The students really enjoy them. Continue reading
British Novels Which Have Added To The English Language
No. 10 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
This is the last in my series of British novels and it is by far the most recent. As this book (the first of seven) was only published in 1997, it would be surprising that it has already given a word to the language were it not such a hugely popular series.
British Novels Which Have Added To The Language
No. 9 Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
This is a much-loved children’s classic about a boy, a bear, a little pig and various other animals who live in a wood. It has been translated into many languages since it was written in 1925 so, chances are, you already know the characters and stories.
British Novels Which Have Added To The Language
No. 8 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift
Gulliver goes on a series of sea voyages. On the first trip he’s shipwrecked and ends up on the island of Lilliput where he is imprisoned by tiny little people who are at war with their neighbours over which end of a boiled egg is the correct end to crack. After he escapes and returns home he goes on a second sea voyage. This time his shipmates abandon him on the island of Brobdingnag, an island of giants. On Gulliver’s third sea voyage his ship is attacked by pirates and he visits four more fictional places and Japan, he meets magicians, ghosts of famous historical figures and an Emperor. Undeterred by his previous misfortunes, once Gulliver returns home he decides to go to sea again. He is given the post of ship’s captain but his crew mutinies and abandons him on an island ruled by talking horses and peopled by deformed savage humans called ‘Yahoos’. Eventually he returns home where he spends the rest of his days talking to his horses. Published in 1726. You might like to try an abridged version as the language is rather archaic (see excerpt below).