Every Single Person Matters

Hello everyone,

It's been a while since my last video post. This is a video sent to me by a student earlier this year (Thanks Daniel!) and I promised him I would post it. It's a very moving video and serves as a reminder that everyone matters--everyone is important. When you look at someone, make the effort to look beyond their outer physical appearance and see the deeper humanity within. It may require effort at first but, like everything else, it'll get easier and easier with time. It is that deeper level of humanity that links us ALL together...that, in fact, links everything together. Remember it's not called the UNIverse for nothing!

Spring Fête 2010--HEROES...Just for one day...

The Spring Fête is CAFLI's annual event! It is always a huge success and this year was no different. No, I am NOT tooting my own horn at all, since the success of the Spring Fête does not depend on me, but rather on everyone who participates: the teachers, the students and, of course, the audience. So congratulations to them.

The theme this year was "heroes" and everyone proved to be a hero in their own right and in their own way. Here are some pictures:

More action, fun and comedy..........next spring! Hope you can be there too!

The Probabilistic Nature of English

Hi Everyone,

For a number of weeks I've been going on and on about the probabilistic nature of English. How when we teach something like "you are," we are only teaching the most probable form of the 2nd person (singular or plural) form of the present simple of the verb "to be." Standard English is what most speakers agree as the most probable form. There are other forms. Some people call those sub-standard, I prefer the term "non-standard" or "extra-standard"to avoid a certain condescension on less probable forms. All forms should be welcome and all forms have a place--after all language is something we should all feel free to play with. It is one of our inalienable rights!! To demonstrate this point I have added a video this week by the late, great Frank Zappa.

Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is
Enviado por goldrausch. - Veja mais vídeos de musica, em HD!

Accents of English

Hello

One of the things I love the most about the English language is the fact that it is an "open source" language. That is, no one owns it...no one governs it. It just is. Despite this, the language has not disintegrated. Even as it fragments, grows and evolves around a core of language that people recognise as "good" or "proper" or even "standard" English. Nevertheless, varieties emerge and die out and the language becomes stronger. Some of those new variations make their way to the mainstream, others don't. In that sense, I often say English is a probablistic language. What I mean by this is that there is a given probability of hearing or reading something in English. So-called "standard" English would be the most highly probable, then other variations would have a greater or lower probability. This probablistic nature also changes with place and time. The word "groovy," would have a very high probability in certain circles in the 60s and an extremely low probability today.

All of this is to introduce this week's video which celebrates many different English accents. As you watch, notice how Amy's facial expressions and attitude change with the different accents. Is there one or more that you particularly like? Tell me about it in the "comments." For now, enjoy the video and have a great day!

The New World Hero

Here is an example of someone we can look up to and admire! The Swedish people consider this person the new world hero. Watch the video and see if you agree with their choice:

I've noticed the video is clipped just follow this link to see the video fully!

GrVj - Extreme Sports

Hello, This week we started a unit on extreme sports in the Gr Vj class. Well, sports don't get much more extreme than what this guy is doing in this video. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! Hope you enjoy the video!

Video - Descente de cote en BuggyRollin

Guy Fawkes--The Gunpowder Plot--Bonfire Night

I was very surprised today when my students told me that they didn't know about Guy Fawkes Day, especially considering how much importance their state schools place on British culture. Here is a video recounting the story of the Gunpowder Plot, which happened in 1605 and is still celebrated today. Find out how English people still celebrate the events of 5 November 1605. You can also watch the related videos. Bonfire Night is a lot of fun in England!