Back in the Saddle...Again!

It's hard to believe that nearly 3 years have gone by since I last wrote! At the time I didn't get much feedback from friends and family so I thought I was writing for nothing. Lo and behold I just took a look at my google stats and was shocked to discover that, feedback or no, people have at least been looking at this blog all over the world!!!

I guess I really didn't get this whole "global" thing...or "global village" as we used to say. Needless to say, I have found new impetus and will continue to write until my keyboard wears out at which time I'll get another one and keep on keeping on!

So, world, stay in tune...I'm BAAAACK!

Sunday: Football!!!

Hi Everyone,

American football is played during autumn. The season begins in September and ends in January and between September and January everyone is glued to their tvs to watch this exciting sport. There are 60 minutes of play but the game can last up to THREE HOURS!!! because the game constantly starts and stops. This gives the television network an opportunity to show us commercials and it gives us a chance to go to the kitchen for snacks!!

So you can see commercials are a big part of football and below is a video which shows that football is also a big part of tv commercials...as is humour!!! Enjoy the commercials, use the Net to learn more about the great game of football and even to watch the game!

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!

Hello Everyone,

And here is my first post for the new school year...yes, yes, I know, it's already November....

I've been promising my Grade III class that I would post this for a couple of weeks so here it is. It is one of my favourite sayings in English: Thank God It's Friday!!! So you can see I really had to wait for a Friday in order to post it...I hope that serves as an excuse.

So that's it for this time...short and sweet!

Have a great weekend!

Summer Course Promotion

Hello Everyone,

We're gearing up for our summer courses. This summer I've decided to extend a promotion we had earlier this year: Bring a Friend! For each of your friends who enrolls in one of our summer courses we will give you a €10 FNAC gift certificate. This offer excludes the free infantil courses obviously. Pictured below is Luis Diogo Outeiro receiving his gift certificate for the friend he brought to CAFLI in January! Everyone at CAFLI knows how fantastic our school is....now you will benefit from telling your friends.

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
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