This Interested Me

"If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. " Over at Chez  Cratchit, Bob is whistling a different tune.

listen to ‘The Titanic: First Class First?’ on Audioboo This short talk about social class on Titanic has reached 1000 plays on audioboo.

Event on Pre-Conference/Associates Day (Monday) gets my attention - my  Fred & Rita series mines this territory: Fred & Rita are college students. Their conversations are a fun starting point for language learning activities. Here Rita is looking for a phone for her ten-year-old sister. More about Fred & Rita with samples here . The Fred & Rita Teaching Pack  contains all the scripts, plus reading, listening and speaking activities. Tthis short screencast explains how the teaching pack can be used with students Download the  Fred & Rita Teaching Pack  (£2.25)

It has doubled over the last century . For language learners this poses an obvious hurdle ('why are there so many words!) but it also demonstrates the increasing internationalisation of the language.  All of the new verbs are regular and much of the vocabulary shared via the Internet.  In other words, L1 and L2 speakers share the same struggle to deal with the flood of new vocabulary

Henry Hitchings (yes, that's Hitchings not Higgins) has ruffled many feathers with his  The Language Wars: A History of Proper English . As his near-namesake in Pymalion/My Fair Lady points out, when one Englishman opens his mouth it sure to offend another one. Like David Crystal, Hitchings takes a relaxed view regarding the alleged decline in standard. He points out that bitter protests about the misuse of English have been a running theme since the 18th century. And the impact of texting on the writing habits of young people has been wildly exaggerated. Teenagers know that it's not wise 4u2 put emoticons in your job application letter. Nonetheless, it is striking is how the range of widely used formal vocabulary has narrowed dramatically in recent years. To take just one example, only a small minority recognise biblical references which would have been universally familiar fifty years ago. While it's true that the internet and other new spheres of activity have intr...

I like to print articles I find online but many of my students don’t. “It’s easier to read on the screen,” they say. “And printers are always breaking down.” True enough, though staring at a screen for extended periods is no fun either. Nor is wading through a sea of extraneous material like adverts, banners and buttons. One solution is PDF files – but they can be a chore to produce and involve downloads, special plug-ins and other complications. What is needed is something that cuts down the work for everyone. Here are a couple of free options: Readability  “a simple tool that makes reading on the Web more enjoyable by removing the clutter around what you’re reading.” (Source: Arc90.com) That’s a big claim, but it’s justified. Readability is becoming a standard option on most browsers - really easy to install, too. You can see how it works and download from here Evernote Clearly The new form of the old Readable App which had a small but devoted user base. If you ...

My daughter is very fond of jumping on unclear usage of personal pronouns: 'Who is she ?' she demands triumphantly, 'The cat's mother?'. Of course she learned this put-down from her parents - so no complaints. But as Jessica Love points out in this entertaining essay ,  pronouns are tricky customers.