LEARNING ENGLISH

 

A COMPARISON THAT MAKES A POINT!

I found this very interesting post on a blog.

I thought it was a great comparison between

learning Yoga and a second language!

So here it is in it’s entirety from Jane

(I ignore her last name).

 YOGA and LEARNING ENGLISH

Has it ever occurred to you that there is a relationship

 between yoga and learning English? Most people are very self-conscious when they learn a new language. When they are speaking, they are self-conscious about how they sound, about whether they are making grammatical mistakes, and whether the other(s) can understand them, and more.

Some also worry about sounding stupid. Mispronouncing or having a strong accent. Worrying about how you sound almost seems to be an intrinsinc part of learning another language - because you want the other person to understand you. 

In a yoga class, the teacher says, "Don't look at the person next to you."  In a yoga class, the teacher tells the class to "have your own practice".  The teacher says to her students, "Don't think about how you look, or whether you look beautiful or as good as the person that you've seen in the yoga magazines."

I think there is something here for anybody learning English, or learning any other language. When you are trying to speak, do you focus on the negative and worry so much about how you sound, or whether you are making mistakes, that you can't get the words out? Learning a language and making grammatical mistakes go hand in hand.  It takes a while to learn the new system, and the old (your native language) wants to impose itself on the new. 

It takes a long time to learn the new system, and to develop a separation between your first language and your next language. And if you are learning English (or any other new language), feel good about your undertaking this very worthwhile and rewarding experience.

 

And I might add as your ESL teacher:

“Be proud that you have decided to learn … PERIOD!!”

Don’t forget next time you are in class…

SUZANNE

 

 

 

ENJOYING THIS WONDERFUL DAY…

 

 

Greetings to you all!

 It's Saturday morning and it's going to be

such another gorgeous sunny fall day! 

 

 

I'm writing this with mixed emotions:

So so sorry and so so sad to be leaving

this amazing northern wonderland...

It's my last day 'in the woods'

which means the end of my summer holidays.

It always surprises me as TIME FLIES.

One morning you wake up and it’s the first of May,

then you turn around… it's the end of September!

Today (and right now) is also my last day volunteering

at the town hall where I have had access to WiFi and

where I spent every Saturday morning volunteering,

opening the door to the residents at their Internet Café. 

But I digress… back to the moment… with the sorrow

also comes the excitement of a new journey!

I am looking forward to seeing your familiar faces again

and also super excited to getting to know

and meet all you new English students!!!

I am eager to start and offer you

all my new beginner’s content. I have the feeling

you are all going to enjoy learning English!! 

Finally I am really thrilled to be able to say

for once in my life: I’m the boss!

It’s a great feeling to be able to choose

 to be independent and to be able

 to craft and create a brand new product!

So I am really looking forward, as we say in English,

LOOKING FORWARD to a great session and

towards what I wish to be a pleasurable experience!!

 

Thanks for coming back and

Thanks for your confidence and support! 

SUZANNE

 

 

 

Up the stairs for the last time this year...

 

 

Today... a FEW QUOTES

Hi! there

Today a few quotes from Eleanar Roosevelt.

I thought they were significant!

Today I feel really HAPPY because my friend,

 Sylvie has come to visit me at the lake.

Beautiful weather and beautiful friends!!

 

“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,

but beautiful old people are works of art. ”

"Friendship with oneself is all-important,

because without it one cannot be friends

 with anyone else in the world."

― Eleanor Roosevelt

RAIN, its VOCABULARY and the SOUNDS it makes.

RAIN RELATED VOCABULARY

and a very very creative video to watch

but especially to listen to.

For the full effect, CLOSE YOUR EYES!!

There are tons of ways to express the fact that there is moisture in the air in English, whether it be rain, snow, sleet, hail, humidity, etc. It seems there are even more ways to describe the types of rain alone that we experience. Is it showery, rainy, drizzling, or what out there? If one doesn't speak English as a first language, differentiating between the various types of rain can be a bit daunting.

Rain vocabulary seems to revolve around whether the rain is coming down a lot, a little, or somewhere in between the two.

Some rain-related phrases and words

 that are helpful for English language learners

 to know are:

 

drizzle/drizzling   thunderstorm   flood out   flood   showery/shower

raining cats and dogs   downpour   heavens opening   heavy/light rain

soft/hard rain

An activity to help explain the different types of rain one might experience is to watch this video where people make the sounds of rain with their bodies. They proceed through the various stages of a rainstorm from beginning to end. You can identify what type of rain you think each section of the presentation is representing. Can you imitate the sounds to represent the words that recreate the "drizzle, "showery," "downpour," and "heavy/light" rain.

If you feel like it you can write a short text, a writing activity where you can re-use the vocabulary to describe your favorite type of rain, or perhaps to tell a personal narrative (anecdote) about a time you were caught in the rain. Then you can send it to me and I will correct it.

 

Ironically I have the time…

Because it is raining all the time

and there is nowhere to go!!!’

 

Have a great day… malgré tout!

SUZANNE

 

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain rain go away,

Please go far far away

Please come back another day

and come back in November as this way

I can play with my friends these summer days

When they come to see me for a few days.

 

Here's hoping that your immersion stay

will not be 'rained out'

 

Suzanne 

When life gives you LEMONS make LEMONADE

Hi! there...it's been a while! 

When life serves you LEMONS you can always make LEMONADE!

This is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism

and a can-do attitude  in the face of adversity or misfortune.  

The 'acidity' of lemons versus the 'sweetness' of lemonade.

 

No... I'm not going to elaborate on this phrase

nor give you a recipe...

although today is the first day of summer

 and who doesn't like to have a fresh glass

of homemade lemonade  in the summertime!!  Right!

 This phrase came to mind as I was translating a text

from Danie Beaulieu's book I'm working on.

It surely 'rang a bell' with me and had an impact also,

especially thinking back to the unfortunate circumstances

in which we all went through in April

 concerning the ESL classes.

I thought I would share it with you today!

So here a great little story which ends

in a very positive note and has a great outcome!

ENJOY! and have a great weekend.

Don't fret, summer is really on ts way :)

Suzanne
 

THE OLD MULE WHICH WAS DOOMED TO DIE.

There once was a farmer who owned an old mule. One day the mule fell to the bottom of the well and the farmer heard the mule begging him to come rescue him. After carefully studying the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule for a moment and decided that neither the mule nor the well were worth the trouble of keeping so he wasn’t going to make an effort to save them. At that point he called all his neighbors, told them what had happened and enlisted their help to transport and dump enough soil filling the well and burying the old mule, thus resolving the problem.
At the beginning of the operation, the mule was downright hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors shoveled the earth into the well and onto its back, the mule was suddenly struck by an idea. He decided that whenever a shovel-load of earth landed on his back, he could shake it off and get up on it! So this is what he did, repeating to himself with courage shovelful after shovelful:  «Shake it off and shake it off ... and get back on top of it! » Without worrying about the pain of the blows on his back and as distressing as it may have seemed, the old mule fought his panic and continued shaking off the earth and getting up on top of it.  It was not long before the old mule, crippled and exhausted, reached the top and finally stood triumphantly on the edge of the well! What could have buried him alive proved to be precisely what saved him, using his misfortune to his advantage.
Such is life! If we face our problems and we decide to solve them constructively, refusing to panic, being bitter nor dwelling in self-pity, we will then see how adversities that "should" overwhelm us have within them the potential and the opportunity to be used to our advantage. Never fear trying something new!

 

  

 

A TOUCHING STORY ABOUT FAMILY

We all have our own 'definitons' of FAMILY.

We also have our own EXPERIENCE of familly.

Here is the first from Wiktionary:

 A father, mother and their sons and daughters;

 also called nuclear family

Now here a more general and 'modern' definition:

A group of people related by blood, marriage, law, or custom.

 

In Diane's text that follows you will find another definition

and also Diane's EXPERIENCE of family

which puts the HEART into the definition.

Enjoy!

Suzanne

 

 

I’m not going to speak about my wedding or

 when my sons or my grandchildren were born. 

No! My title is : FRIDAY THE 13th, SEPTEMBER 1963.

 My parents wanted four children.  Ten months after their wedding, they had my sister.  In those days everyone around them counted!  Ouf, it was OK.  Four years and half later, I arrived!  But after perfection, ooops me… nothing. Nine years later, they decided to adopt another girl.  They followed the procedure and the HAPPY day arrived: Friday the 13th! They had to choose a baby to adopt and they came back home with her.

They were in Nicolet.  It was inside the hospital and the crèche had a maximum of 22 babies.  They had selected five before for my parents arrived.  The babies were sitting in highchairs with pretty dresses on.  But one baby was on the floor, only wearing a camisole.  She had a sore throat and a runny nose.  My parents saw her and at that moment said “That’s our girl!” Johanne became my sister.

While this was happening, I was at school.  After class, I went to my friend’s.  I must have called home every fifteen minutes.  Finally my father answered!  I could go home and see my sister for the first time.  We lived in Victoriaville.  I had my bicycle.  I had to take a street, because there was a crescent, I had to pass through a field on a little path and finally to my backyard.  The kitchen had a Bay Window and I saw the highchair with a little head on the side.  I pedaled faster and faster and I rode up the hill.

I can’t tell you how much that day meant for me, I can only tell you that I tried to go up that hill many times after that day and I never ever succeeded again.