tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60947693430490381262024-03-13T17:13:52.004+00:00Citizen WombatI'm just a two foot tall wombat, living his life and travelling the world. I started out scouring the city of London for a positive news story... I gave up! We live in a world where Ricky Martin has more followers than the Dalai Lama! This is truly an unjust world! So I became the sort of English teacher who saw himself as a wombat dressed like Che Guevara and started writing a blog of gripes, political problems and general stories...which is sort of a diary I suppose.... sort of.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-82624307176416001872018-11-28T14:24:00.000+00:002018-11-28T14:24:03.536+00:00Want to Learn English for FreeHey guys,<br />
<br />
How are you all? I have a new channel on YouTube where I'm teaching English. There's a new video every Thursday and you can head there with this link:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishRightNow" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/c/EnglishRightNow</a><br />
<br />
I hope you enjoy it. Please subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications to keep up to date.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lot's of love, RoyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-19291680553966022582016-02-05T16:23:00.002+00:002016-02-05T16:23:22.284+00:00Help with English... As most people know, I am an English teacher and while I do it for a job, I also think there should be a lot of free help and advice online. Things like articles and videos, and to be honest there are many, but some people can't find them. I set up my website a while back to link people with resources and helpful advice.<br />
<br />
Please visit my website at <a href="http://www.englishrightnow.co.uk/">www.englishrightnow.co.uk</a><br />
<br />
I have also set up a group on Facebook for people to share their experiences and help with many different people. Please join and help others with their learning. Thank you so much, Roy<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1562607060727608/">Facebook Online Meet-up group</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-23197122442308742312015-12-06T22:41:00.003+00:002015-12-06T22:41:32.643+00:00If there are no guns....After the recent spate of shootings in the news in the US, one thing struck me....<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If there were no guns, there would be no gun crime.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now this has obviously escaped the attention of many politicians... but look, I'll put it in an easy equation,...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Guns = Possible Gun Crimes</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
while</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>No Guns = No Possible Shooting</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
and look if we remove the word gun it looks like this</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>= no possible shootings...</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<img src="http://i1.wp.com/www.backtobuckley.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/banksy-in-london-banana-gun.jpg?resize=600%2C253" /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bananas would make life so much better than guns, think you can still go all Mario Kart and make people slip up... food for thought I think...</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-27295125043514032802015-02-25T15:01:00.000+00:002015-02-25T15:01:10.358+00:00Please help me... I'm working on a novel and I'd appreciate help in two ways... number one... like the Facebook page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/taintednovel">click here</a><br />
<br />
And number 2, if you're anywhere near please bring me some coffee cause I'm dying haha<br />
<br />
About the book :<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Tainted is a novel set around the lives of several characters in the wake of an apocalyptic event living, or surviving, on t</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">he east coast of the former USA. Trapped behind walls of fire to keep out the outsiders, the infected and the ghouls, those tainted by the virus are forced to live like second class citizens while the pure breed for the continuation of humanity. The virus causes what can only be described as mind convergence leaving the infected going slowly more and more insane, until the point of death, but this is not the end of the infected, driven with a desire to spread the virus, the dead don't always stay dead... these however, could be the lucky ones as those uninfected are forced to breed in a world where women's rights are a thing of the past. The story starts with Dr Harold Carver, a tainted from England, who helps the pure women to come to terms with their fate; with their selected partner and teaches them how to live in an unjust world, but Dr Carver's life is about to change forever.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-42901642310433254292015-02-22T17:54:00.001+00:002015-02-22T17:55:05.776+00:00A group of images that sums up life!Check out this link for a series of great images about everything that's wrong with modern life..<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/these-disturbing-pictures-expose-everything-wrong-with-modern-society/">Everything wrong with modern society</a><br />
<br />
I particularly liked this one:<br />
<img src="http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/hormones.jpg" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-72233851420651434932015-02-21T17:52:00.000+00:002015-02-21T17:52:23.929+00:00Writing a novel... My god!Hi there,<br />
<br />
It's been a while! I've been working on my novel and I'm pleased to say it's halfway through... seems I might be competing with Tolkein for length of novel at this rate.<br />
<br />
It's been one of the strangest experiences, because it's amazing to put your thoughts on to the paper, but you also find yourself cut off from the world... Anyway I was going to ask for your help. I am going to be running a lot of competitions over the coming months (like for free copies (when it's finished in May) and even to get a character named after you etc.) So I was hoping that you could help me and like the page. It will keep you up to date and also encourage me to write more! Thanks everyone in advance.<br />
<br />
Finally i think my book is halfway there... wo oh... living on a prayer (actually coffee)<br />
please follow this link and like it...<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/taintednovel?ref=ts&fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/taintednovel?ref=ts&fref=ts</a><br />
<br />
Thanks!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-21776847338506153342014-09-18T11:36:00.001+01:002014-09-18T11:36:37.603+01:00Scotland's liberal backersI was not going to say anything, but too many so called left-Wing liberals are declaring Scotland's potential yes vote as a victory for the left and it's driving me crazy! In what way is a political movement based on nationalism left wing? It has become an us and them debate - based on anti English rhetoric in the name of Westminster, run by a man who longs for power and to write his name in history books as the man who 'liberated' Scotland. Channel 4 putting on brave heart, a famously anti English film was a final slap in the face. Further more an irony is steeped in the fact that if Scotland splits on the back of a fierce nationalistic drive is that the right wing conservatives will have fewer opposition seats and therefore be almost guaranteed to win the elections.... as Scotland has a large number of left wing voters. Yes a true victory for the liberal lefties. surely they should be promoting co-operation, not separation! countries should want to unite and work together... when a neighbour has troubles we run away now do we, not help? people need to stop comparing it as well to other countries problems such as Belgian, italy and Spain with Barcelona. These are different things in different countries with different circumstances... I could sit here and compare nationalism to nazism (national socialism) but I won't as it's crude and untrue here.... but this one size fits all policy of labelling everything the same is bollocks. Finally I want to say that all this fucking referendum has done is served to divide and rip the people of Scotland apart. if it's yes, thousands of unionists will flood south, and if no they nationalists will feel bitter and this divide will last a lifetime. on a lighter note it's going to fucking ruin the aesthetic beauty of the flag.... with blue taken out it's going to look a bit... red and white.<br />
<br />
on the last note I just hope that Scotland says, for the sake of the lovely blue on the flag and liberalism... if not we will miss you greatly and when we are splitting our CD collection and fighting over the kids just know you've given us so much culturally and thanks for being there.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-42771784498086647722014-07-12T14:19:00.001+01:002014-07-12T14:19:16.994+01:00The power of a pause<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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In a somewhat '<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357413/" target="_blank">Anchorman</a>' like way this news reporter seemingly reads his auto-cue without a necessary pause, completely changing the meaning of his introduction. Did they forget to write a comma on what he was reading or it this man just letting us in on a bit more information about his life than we were expecting. Nevertheless the slip highlights two important points;</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
1) The power of a pause in the English language when speaking can change everything...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
2) The question: 'Do all news anchors all read exactly what is written on the tele-prompter, no questions asked?' </div>
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<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/COeOQba9m_k/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/COeOQba9m_k&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/COeOQba9m_k&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-53556941104079291892014-07-08T11:09:00.002+01:002014-07-08T11:09:23.770+01:00Pictures that show you all that's wrong with the world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://inspireamaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/11135-934x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://inspireamaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/11135-934x.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></div>
So I came across a site with 29 pictures that show you what's wrong with the world and I wanted to share them with you all... I hope you love them as much as I did. They are all incredible images and to the right you can see of my favourites...<br />
<br />
Please check them out following the link below and write on the posts below which inspired you the most!<br />
<br />
Click <a href="http://inspireamaze.com/these-29-clever-drawings-will-make-you-question-everything-wrong-with-the-world/" target="_blank">here to see all 29</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-57495029200755465382014-06-27T10:24:00.000+01:002014-06-28T10:24:51.529+01:00Live your life like you're going to die<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Please, watch this video and comment below... </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Work work work work work... it's what we were born to do... to be a slave to a system created by those who don't want to work as hard as us... </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
but the most liberating idea is that we will die... and living longer is not cheating death.. it's merely not living fully in the time that we have... </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/U2XwB5poCWo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
If the video doesn't show up follow this link...<br />
<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U2XwB5poCWo<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-82285873896452368452014-04-12T16:16:00.003+01:002014-04-12T16:16:52.630+01:00Public Hospitals in Brazil <div class="MsoNormal">
The other night I experienced the most shocking moments of
my life. <br />
<br />
I am currently on holiday in Brazil with my girlfriend, seeing the sights and
hitting the beach, soaking up the sun and eating as much food as is possible
before I head back to delights of the UK. Three days ago we went on a tour into
the Atlantic forest of Brazil, containing jungles and filled with dangerous
snakes like the corral, spiders and jaguars, panthers and other creatures you
don’t normally see on your average daily commute in London. Towards the end of
the trip we went to visit a waterfall known locally as Paraiso (Paradise)
falls. It was a paradise and I went for a swim in the lagoon beneath. It was
stunning, the only problem was the mosquitoes… I can only say that I was bitten
to shit, I and my girlfriend looked a little like we had been to war with these
creatures and I am itching now as I write this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Itching is an issue, but the major problem that my
girlfriend had underplayed just how allergic she was to these bites. To give
you an example of how aggressive these things are I felt one bite me and it
felt like a needle going into my arm and when I swatted it off, the wound
gushed with blood. <br />
<br />
We returned to the house where we were staying and ate dinner. My girlfriend’s
bites were less, but now much larger than mine yet looked like nothing serious
at this point. We went to bed and I slept like a baby while she, however, did
not.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She woke me a few times complaining of feeling ill and
suffering from a fever, but when I touched her she felt normal. After an hour
or so at 4.30 she said to me “Help me, I’m dying” I touched her forehead and
she was burning up. We went to the living room and looked for a local hospital
(she has private medical care here in Brazil) but found that in the local areas
there were only public, free hospitals. With experience of the NHS I thought
that it couldn’t be that bad. There are two types of hospital in Brazil,
Private (UPS) and Public, much like the UK. We caught a taxi and she was admitted at 5 am
in the morning. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On arrival it looked like any standard hospital. She saw a
woman who looked like a nurse who took her blood pressure which was critically
low. (80/50!) My girlfriend was unresponsive and couldn’t speak or stand and
could only lie down as the allergic reaction took hold of her. She saw a doctor
(which later I found was a fucking miracle to actually be seen by a doctor) who
sent her round to back sounding like he was almost doing her a favour. <br />
<br />
We went to a room with 6 chairs, 3 each side facing other, all filthy. My
girlfriend was sweating with fever while the rest of her body was freezing and
sat opposite a woman covered in her own vomit. The room stank of shit and vomit
and there was dry blood on one of the chairs. There were two women in the room who looked
like nurses, yet later I found out they were ‘technicians’ or orderlies as we
call them in the UK. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My girlfriend was whiter than a sheet of A4 paper, her lips
were white and her hand was freezing and couldn’t grip mine. I sat there
wanting to cry, I knew I had to be strong but seeing the person you love,
slipping further and further away into lifelessness. She later admitted she too
thought she was going to die. The orderly then took an IV and inserted it into
her arm, but too my horror she did not drain it and the long tube was full of
air. I have seen enough medical dramas to know that you shouldn’t put too much
air into the bloodstream and I shouted in Portuguese for her to drain it,
release the air, which the woman promptly did and got rid of most of the air
and then re-inserted the tube. She then started the first of three drips going
in to her arm and I watched in horror as some air bubbles entered her system. I
noticed it was only hydrocortisone to rehydrate her and she slipped further and
further. I even started praying at this point. The second drip started about 20
minutes later with no sign of improvement, now we were onto our 4<sup>th</sup>
new person in the room, all of the previous signing off and the girl opposite
had left 5 minutes before, yet her vomit bin still remained. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My girlfriend asked for some bread and I dutifully fetched
some from local kiosk and fed it to her piece by piece as she was too weak to
hold the bread or take bites. The second drip finished at 6.30 in the morning
and my girlfriend showed no sign of improvement. She then asked for a bin and
was given a new bin covered in blood. I think the food started to take effect
and did as much good as the drips had. She started her third drip and this had
some anti-allergy solution put into it (A second miracle). The room at this
point was full and stank of sweat and other bodily products. The old woman next
to my girlfriend turned to her and said “If you can go somewhere better, go,
because my son died here 15 days ago from being misdiagnosed” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My girlfriend started to look better, and started saying to
me she wanted to leave. Then to my horror the orderlies said something I have still
got a hard time believing “There are no doctors or nurses here, what are we
meant to do”. My girlfriend then heard them say they were preparing an
injection of something that would lower her blood pressure further. Now I am
not a doctor and neither were they, but to lower someone’s blood pressure which
is already critically low is not a good idea, right? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I picked her up and we walked out, escaping at 8 in the
morning, the vomit bucket still in the room, that had just been moved by
someone with no glove on. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have never seen anything like that before… <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So to summarise. I went to a hospital with:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->barely any medicine<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->no doctors<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->no nurses<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->blood stained chairs and a high mortality rate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->6 changes of staff in three hours and they only
passed on instructions verbally as they couldn’t write it down<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">No machines, not even the ability to do blood
tests</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> * </span></span><!--[endif]-->And no-one to check where I was taking a patient
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So why do I write this… they tried to pass a law to make up
public servants use public hospitals… but the law wasn’t passed… when Dilma and
Lula had cancer.. where did they go? Private care, and who can blame them? They
wanted to live! I can’t blame the hospital or the staff, they were doing
their best with untrained staff and no equipment, so I must rest this one with
the government</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the World Cup… imagine this, a football fan has too much
to drink and collapses with dehydration… where do they go? Be very very fucking
careful….I fear the number of people being admitted to hospital along with the
numbers of those successfully treated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So my advice:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->11)<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->Buy the very best travel insurance or health
care you can<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->22)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Always check there is a private hospital nearby<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->33)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Do not put yourself in any danger through your
own actions ie excessive drinking<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span><!--[endif]-->Never ever criticize the NHS… it might be a bit
ropey… but they have doctors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Oh and to let you know… my girlfriend went the next day to a
private hospital and was given treatments galore and now looks to be on the
mend! If you're coming... good luck :) <o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-13769962219123819472014-02-09T00:23:00.001+00:002014-02-09T00:23:33.101+00:00So what I do when I get boredWell recently I've taken to thinking about Music, and the point at which music's soul crawled up it's own arsehole and died...<br />
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I think that was probably about the time Rick Astley cut a record and shortly before people started buying his shit...<br />
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I got into a moment with a student the other day. She said that Justin Bieber was not her favourite, but that he was good, sort of ok, that he made some catchy tunes...<br />
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I have always felt that music without the musicians taking some form of high was a little on the lightside, then Bieber comes out as a drug taker and I jump on the deport him bandwagon...<br />
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I started to think, maybe I am being too hypocritical, maybe I should give the wee guy a chance, that he might not be that bad. Maybe just maybe the fact that my student was his age and I grew up with the Prodigy and Oasis that I was missing something... I got into this deep moment of thinking that maybe I have gone passed the age where I can appreciate 15 year old men children singing about love and that maybe it was time to accept I no longer got... then I realised something...<br />
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LED ZEP, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix... these people knew how to fuckin rock... I was right and my student us firmly wrong. The new music these days is everything that's wrong with the world... we tolerate mediocrity as if it is acceptable to be shit...<br />
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So I wrote this..<br />
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enjoy <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/the-10-most-annoying-songs-ever">the-10-most-annoying-songs-ever</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-49464622488664089522014-02-03T14:48:00.000+00:002014-02-03T14:48:00.065+00:00The proof I'm a coffeeholicI thought I want to back up claims that I am in fact a coffeeholic.<br />
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I wrote an article a year ago about the best ways to make coffee...<br />
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Here is the link <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/5-ways-make-coffee">5-ways-make-coffee</a><br />
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So feel free to know, yes, I do have, or did have, or will have again very soon.. a massive problem to coffee... but then it's better than crack...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-72767385715458155262014-02-02T19:24:00.000+00:002014-02-02T19:24:00.066+00:00The Conclusion of the Coffee ChallengeWhen I accepted the challenge from my student Marc of giving up coffee for 7 days I thought to myself there will not be a problem. That it would be rather simple and that I wouldn't really miss it... how wrong I was....<br />
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The first day of the challenge was a little boring and nothing really happened apart from a throbbing headache, which to be honest I thought could have been caused by something else. It pissed me off that Starbucks decided to give out some free tasters on the same day I'd vowed to give up, but I stayed strong and decided not to neglect my challenge in the same way they felt about paying taxes to the UK.<br />
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I even scored some Camomile tea left behind by another ex-student called Mabel, so that kind of substituted my need for a hot drink. I usually drink 8 or 9 cups a day between lessons so I found myself looking for things to do and wandering aimlessly in my breaks.<br />
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It was not until the second and third day that I started to feel the bad shit rising. As I sat there at work I found myself getting irritable, irate and pissed off for no reason. On the brightside I was no longer getting my daily bloodshot eyes and palpitations in my chest... so every cloud and all.<br />
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On thursday I fell asleep while chatting on Skype and woke 30 minutes later with the imprints of keys in my forehead. I have felt moody, exhausted and angry! To make matters worse I kept running into coffee such as the charming person who left 'free coffee for everyone' on a bag at work. Nice, but why this week?<br />
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I have found myself eating more chocolate, fast food and drinking more alcohol this week than in months... I had strange almost pregnant like cravings combined with the anger of Jack Nicholson..<br />
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Tomorrow I will kick the alcohol and go back to my coffee... but maybe only one cup a day... just so I never have to feel this shit again!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-54516106236721136972014-01-27T22:52:00.001+00:002014-01-27T22:52:37.009+00:00The Coffee Challenge: Day 1Technically today I finished my vegetarian challenge and to be honest, aside from not having many options for my meals, it wasn't that difficult. Paul McCartney would be proud of me. It's even at the point where today I didn't bother eating meat, I just didn't feel the draw of it, so I went about my Tofu curry and bagels for sustenance.<br />
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I had planned to give up alcohol for the week, but then my ex-student Marc suggested that I should give up something I really love... coffee...<br />
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Let's put it this way - I am addicted to coffee... it feeds me and in some ways I can't live without it... in fact it shapes my day. I go to work and having had a coffee before I left. I get to work and have a coffee, then every break and gap I have one and make another ready for the start of the next class.<br />
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I'm not sure whether a good day would be classed as a day where I have a lot of coffee, or as few cups as possible, but I would say on a good day (few) I have 5 cups and on a bad day 8 or 9. In fact the other day I had so many cups that I couldn't stop my hand tapping on the board while I was writing.<br />
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So I've given it up, and I decided to not substitute it with tea cause it's still caffeine. It's the hardest thing I've ever given up so far and it's only day one. I didn't feel this bad when I gave up smoking and I used to smoke 40-50 a day. I have a headache from hell and I can't really concentrate. I found myself looking for coffee or sniffing at other peoples. I think the point to life is everything in moderation, but right now I have 6 more days to get through before I can taste this brown nectar again! I predict tomorrow will see the shakes and more crashing. I feel like Bear Grylls on his greatest challenge. In fact I've decided to record a video of my crashing..<br />
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Oh and to make matters worse... on my first day I walked up to work on Oxford Street and Starbucks were having a discount day on all coffee and they were offering free lattes - this is the first time I have ever seen this! Oh and if you're wondering, I resisted the offer!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-87034048146946020352014-01-26T23:47:00.000+00:002014-01-26T23:47:58.552+00:00Vegetarian for a week... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Somehow this week I found myself going for an entire week without eating a single piece of meat or fish, which for me is a bit weird. I wasn't sure I was even doing it till about Thursday. At the start of the week I went shopping and I thought 'I know, I'll buy some Cheese, jam and porridge rather than my usual selection of Iberian hams and German sausage (I feel like making some crude sexual reference here, but seeing as I survived a week without meat I am an adult now) </div>
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The problem is that I usually throw so much meat down my throat (I can almost hear the jokes about sexual contact with men coming from my more juvenile friends) that I found it difficult to think of what to eat. As you can see below from my 'healthy living' selection from Ireland of pies and sausage rolls there was bugger all on offer anywhere.</div>
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The only really tough day was Friday. I usually eat so much fucking takeaway that part of me being good to myself was to cut out Wasabi, Starbucks, Costa, Pret, Nero, Subway and every other fastfood joint on Oxford street where the people seemingly know me enough to use my first name and wave when I come in.<br />
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So without these options I realised two things. 1) I don't like Tofu, it's not chicken, it's more like cardboard that is soggy and 2) Vegetarians have shit choices... or they need to share their secrets.<br />
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The only benefits to being a vegetarian I found were making comments full of innuendos like 'I used to love packing back a lot of meat' and 'crikey, what I'd do for a Spanish sausage' along with trying to ruin other peoples more fun dinners by saying 'meat is murder'.<br />
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These 'perks' did not do it for me... but one thing... my body started to feel better... so... I've made a choice... I'm going to give up something I love doing each week to try living without it. It will only be non-essential things... so not water, air, mobile phone or money (sadly) but things like coffee, meat, be a vegan, alcohol. I would welcome your suggestions as to what I should give up...<br />
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Next week I'm back to meat and off the booze... this could be fucking hard...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-53235737283735646502014-01-25T13:36:00.001+00:002014-01-25T13:36:29.010+00:00The Birth of Troy SpiterThe other day I went to Starbucks to buy a coffee. As I ordered my medium cappuccino I reached into my pocket discovering, to my horror, that I had left my wallet in the school. Luckily one of my students was also in the cafe and offered to pay for me... a little embarrassing, but hey I am an English Teacher so I'm always happy to receive hand-outs.<br />
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The girl behind the counter asked for my name to which I responded 'Roy' - I said this as this is my name. I suddenly caught sight of what she had written and asked her to confirm. She showed me 'Troy' to which I chuckled. I love living in London, cause the amount of people from other countries who don't understand me always make me feel like I'm on a permanent holiday. Only the other day I had to try and communicate in Italian to ask whether the Burritos come in different sizes. I do not speak Italian, but a blend of Spanish, Portuguese and a few words I did know accompanied by a few mines seemed to do the trick.<br />
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So here I was confronted with the wrong name on the coffee cup and the girl behind the counter staring at me as to how to continue. I decided to break the tension with a light comment:<br />
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"Troy, well that's ok, I mean it's an ancient civilization so that's cool, like Sparta"<br />
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In a moment of confusion the girl began to scribble on my cup again, but instead of Sparta she wrote Spiter... so when my name was called I had to respond to Troy Spiter, a man with a superhero porn star name.<br />
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The only thing that worries me is Spiter is quite close to Spit or Spitter, which I hope was not a call to arms for her colleagues to give me 'an extra shot' in the coffee of the man creating all the fuss about his name. Anyway, it tasted good, so who gives a fuck... plus now I have a new character to write a short story about.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-89295126647766284862014-01-24T11:47:00.000+00:002014-01-24T11:47:01.287+00:00'Sleeping' on the tube!Sometimes on the tube it's bloody hard to get a seat, particularly when it's peak time and overcrowded, so one must, in my humble opinion, always make the most of it when the opportunity of another's arse leaving the chair arises.<br />
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So today I was at Earl's Court when the chance came my way. A man left his seated position and disembarked the tube. I moved with all the grace of an elephant with no co-ordination as I sprung into action. I took the seat and placed myself next to a man who appeared to be fast asleep and instantly took my phone out of my pocket and read some irrelevant news about something I wasn't really interested in. I did this as to avoid making contact with the other competitors who I had beaten to the prize, in fact during the whole 'taking' process I look straight down at the floor because any contact of eyes can mean my 'British politeness' kicks in and I have to forgo my challenge.<br />
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Now the other problem is the envy of others, and being a man I am often expected to give my seat up before a female. This is a lasting effect of sexual discrimination that has carried over from previous generations. In my opinion able-bodied females and males are equal in their ability to stand and therefore should both be expected to stand - you see... I believe in equality.<br />
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Now I looked at this man to my right and saw his eye open at every station to check where he was. The cheeky bugger was fake sleeping to make as to avoid the awkward glances from others who wished to accuse him of seat stealing. So I decided to join him. <br />
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I placed my phone in my pocket and closed my eyes. It is the second time I have fake-slept on the tube. The first is when I actually ended up falling asleep after closing my eyes and then woke up two stations after mine and arrived at work 25 minutes late. This time I promised it would not happen again so I would keep mentally active.<br />
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As I was reciting the Portuguese I remembered something happened. A pregnant woman got on the tube two stations after I started to fake sleep. To my horror I realised I was sat in the disabled seat you must give up for someone who needed it. To be honest I would have, and have many times in the past, given up my seat even if I wasn't in the 'special' seat. This time however it was an obligation. <br />
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I pretended to wake up, looked around, noticed the woman and said 'ohhh'. It was so fake that even I was cringing. I offered my seat and then stood up. All the other people on the tube looking at me in disgust as I slinked to the corner to avoid the glances. It was only as I vacated my seat though that I noticed a girl, about 10 years my junior, looking at me with a wry smile of victory sat in the opposite 'obligation' seat. Why was everyone staring at me to move? why not her who was younger? Is it because I'm a man, or because I was fake sleeping? I am happy to stand for anyone who needs it, but come on...<br />
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The moral of the story... I will never ever ever fake sleep again.. till next time, cause I look like a dick when I wake up and look straight at the person who wants to sit... there will be no Oscar for my this time.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-73154007306620580822013-10-12T13:30:00.003+01:002013-10-12T13:34:20.443+01:00The ‘World Famous’ Zombie Lesson – EFL lesson for English language students<div class="MsoNormal">
Being an English teacher can be difficult and sometimes when energy is low in the class I feel this lesson really helps to bring the levels right back up. It's great for General English and I have mainly done it with upper-intermediate and advanced students but the truth is this lesson has so much scope and depth for language learning that you can add to it and take as much from as you want.... so ladies and gentlemen I give you the world famous Zombie lesson invented by myself (because I love zombies and you should always use your passions and interests to re-enforce your lesson cause I believe if you love it, your students will too)... and it is my proudest achievement so far to date in the English language learning world. <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></div>
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Introduction – I usually start with the topic of zombies – 'what they are' etc to illicit the vocabulary that they will need such as – death, re-animation (this one can be tough), zombie, walking dead etc. I also ask them if they have watched ‘The Walking Dead’ as this can scupper the gist task 2... so you need to establish who has seen season one of AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’ and who has not. Once you feel you have enough vocabulary feel free to move on.</div>
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Gist Task 1 – I show them the first of two videos. The first is the longer version of the season one trailer for ‘The Walking Dead’ and takes about four minutes. I ask them to watch so they can tell me what is happening in the trailer.<br />
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After watching the above trailer the students will then quickly talk in pairs and discuss what they saw. What you can teach here is passive and active voice such as ‘the car was being chased by the police’ against ‘the police were chasing the criminal’ or ‘the policeman was shot’ and ‘the criminals shot the policeman’</div>
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You also want them to tell you what happened in the trailer – you can watch it above to list your own objectives. I usually use it to teach present continuous with present simple or past continuous with past simple (interrupted past). I will usually have taught this structure in a lesson before. So for example ‘the police were chasing the car when it rolled over’ or ‘the Sheriff was riding a horse when he bumped into a horde (crowd could be more useful <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>) of zombies. They should also mention the fact that the policeman is looking for his wife and son.</div>
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Follow-up to Gist task 1 - I usually get them to write up the story of the trailer to re-enforce the grammar and vocabulary used. (You can already see how many different points you can focus on in this lesson)</div>
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Gist Task 2 - So now I show them the second, slightly shorter, 2 minute trailer and this is the point you need to have established who has watched the show or who not. This second one is similar but just more concise. What I get them to do is watch the video and then in pairs make predictions about what will happen during the season. I give them the protagonists name (Rick) to make it easier for them. If there are people who have watched the season I always put them together with people who haven’t to ask them questions. 'What do you think will happen to Rick?' etc. </div>
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Here you may need to pre-teach how to express opinions such as ‘I think, believe, feel (teach them as synonyms in certain cases and that in these cases think and feel are not used in the continuous tense), reckon and even hope etc along with making predictions such as ‘I think Rick will find is family’ or (using evidence in the present) ‘I feel we are going to see a lot of zombies being killed’ (again passive voice).</div>
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Follow-up Task – Well here you can do a few things such as make a presentation about what they think will happen or again a writing task to re-enforce the language or just leave it as a speaking task and report back to the class.</div>
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Main Task (option 1) – Here is where things get a little more fun and I teach ‘making suggestions and expressing opinions or negotiation skills’ which could be the main aim of the lesson (it usually is with mine). I set a scenario of a zombie apocalypse and tell that, in my case, zombies are all over London and on Oxford street but they have not yet entered our building. That it is just us left and for the exercise imagine that their families and friends are safe. Tell them that we need to escape before the zombies come in and kill us all.</div>
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Before I give them this task I usually pre-teach modals and grammar structures such as:</div>
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‘Need’ for necessity</div>
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‘Must and Have to’ for obligation and very strong suggestions</div>
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‘Should and Ought to’ for strong suggestions</div>
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‘Could and can’ for possibility and ability</div>
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‘Second conditional’ (If I were you...) to make suggestions</div>
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Etc... </div>
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there is so much language that can be taught here. You can also re-enforce that when acting as a modal ‘have and ought’ need to have ‘to’ or the ‘infinitive with to’ while the other modals use the ‘infinitive without to’ except for ‘need’ which uses the ‘infinitive with to’ or a noun. You can also show them that second conditional to make suggestions usually uses ‘were’ and not ‘was’ so ‘If I were you’ not ‘If I was you’ but you can teach them neither is wrong in reality, just that ‘were’ seems to be preferred.</div>
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After this I get them to write down a few ideas with a partner such as ‘we need to take water with us’ or ‘we should make a weapon’. After a few minutes I split the room into groups and get them to make a plan of how to escape so ideas like ‘build a ladder’ or ‘steal a car’ (you can talk about the alarm attracting the attention of the zombies) or ‘run for your lives’ have all been ideas I have heard. When they have created a plan I get them to tell the room their plans. Then I tell them they all need to agree on one plan. Here they should use comparatives such as safer and better or superlatives. When they agree on something I get them to report the final idea and the lesson could be/is over and ‘we escape’.</div>
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Main Task 2 – this is an alternative or an extra depending on how long your lesson is or how you feel <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>. It is a writing task.</div>
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I ask the students to write a story. This is creative writing so you need to ask them to decide in pairs the characters and the setting for the zombie apocalypse. I get them to write a 180 – 250 word short story. In this they will use ‘past perfect, past simple and past continuous’ among other tenses and get them to read it back to the classes. This only works if you’ve pre-taught the tenses.</div>
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Again the scope from here is limitless as sometimes I get the students to choose their favourite and then tell them Steven Spielberg has bought the rights to the movie so now they need to write a scene from it and then get them to act it out... oh and specify that all students must be human, being a zombie just allows them to avoid using English haha.</div>
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Conclusion... well I hope you love my Zombie lesson as much as I do... and I am sure there is so much more scope to be had from it so I would welcome any ideas you all may have. It has always been a success in class and raised the energy levels and trust me when I say I have done it quite a few times <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>.</div>
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Thank you for reading and let me know how it goes.</div>
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Roy<br />
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PS thanks to AMC for giving me something so amazing to teach :) </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-85634783930467841702013-07-14T22:40:00.000+01:002013-07-14T22:41:15.722+01:00The party never dies... ish<br />
So this weekend my friends and I wandered off for the weekend to Chatham-del-Sol in sunny Kent... possibly - not really sure where the hell it is to be honest... but it does have an island where they used to build nuclear submarines and now you can't plant root vegetables cause of the nuclear waste - which is exciting as there is a distinct possibility that the first wave of X-Men may now be living in a town south of London... or many people could be suffering radiation poisoning, which is not so exciting - so I prefer to live in the belief of X-Men.<br />
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That said we did go kayaking and then went for a little party... This video was inspired by my Spanish students who love that song that says 'I went to Spain', 'What the fuck' and 'La genta esta muy loca' and may I say the party never dies ... ish (its possibly time for me and my friends to be put out to graze... but I have no intention of going out gracefully - not when I've got these silky dance moves)<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-85306891558741201162013-05-13T21:52:00.001+01:002013-05-13T21:52:09.229+01:00The birth of a new word! As an English teacher it is my duty to educate my students how to speak English grammatically correctly and also to be able to identify the correct adjectives and vocabulary to use in an everyday life...<br />
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My job does not include the creation of a brand new word... however...<br />
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I have a student in my morning class by the name of Alvaro from Spain who enjoys extreme sports and is what most people would refer to as an outdoor type of person. Somewhere along the line during class joking and conversation Alvaro came to be regarded by the class as something close to the Spanish Chuck Norris.<br />
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It was in this mornings class that we were talking about adjectives to describe personality including words like calm, bossy and adventurous.<br />
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It was upon this word I took to the board and wrote this as a joke...<br />
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<b>Alvarious (adjective)</b><br />
<b>/<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: medium;">æl-v</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: medium;">ɑr-i-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: medium;">əs/</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode'; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span>
<b>- used to describe someone who is exceptionally adventurous </b><br />
<b>- a person who laughs in the face of danger </b><br />
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<b>"I'm feeling very alvarious tonight"</b><br />
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<b>"He must be incredibly alvarious if he wants to jump out of that moving plane without a parachute"</b><br />
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I had forgotten the influence of the board and upon turning round at least one student was faithfully copying down the new adjective. Ben Parker's words "with great power, comes great responsibility" that he said to Peter Parker sprung into my mind and while the majority of students had already grasped it was a joke I explained that this wasn't a real adjective... or was it? Technically any word that gets used is a word, even if it is not official in the Oxford dictionary, and that is the clincher. If a word is used by enough people to enter the common speech of the population it will become an officially recognised as a word. Therefore from this day forward the word alvarious will be used on a daily basis for it already is a word and the birth of that word was today.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-78808841325009374892012-11-16T20:59:00.001+00:002012-11-16T20:59:14.489+00:00The latest of the English Idioms... Well so I thought I would share some of the articles I have been writing to help people on here as well ...<br />
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so here goes...<br />
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Here is the latest one I wrote on the origin of the phrase <a href="http://roywoodhouse.hubpages.com/hub/The-bees-knees2">The Bee's knees</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-83614542849301470352012-11-15T14:34:00.000+00:002012-11-15T14:34:41.143+00:00Where has the wombat been?For those of you wondering where all the posts and blogs have wandered off to, be not alarmed... I have been occupied on trying to help people...<br />
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I know... crazy right? In a time where money is tight and gives us an excuse to say 'charity begins at home' with a little more conviction, there are a lot of people trying to do something. By trade I am an English teacher so I gained a knowledge of grammar and my first language. I also saw how important it was to help people who are trying to learn. The English that is not spoken around the world contains many words from different languages and it is no longer the same language that left these shores in the time of colonialism. In fact, I believe in the future it will evolve even more, very quickly, into something barely recognizable to what we speak today. There are words like Shampoo (of Hindu origin), Potato (from Spanish) and Kindergarten (German) already firmly planted in the language. In fact it has roots from Latin (words like prefer and adore), Germanic (Hound and Land) with many other major contributors (Nordic adds many words, usually in the form of words beginning with kn, like knife).<br />
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This is only going to increase in the future, and it will serve to bring our broken world further together and allow is to communicate in a common language.<br />
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The one thing I noticed is that English relies heavily on idioms and phrases, in fact there are over 25,000 of them and that number grows everyday. Therefore, I decided to write a definition a day for many of idioms to help English language learners around the world. I also decided to include the origins of these phrases for people who already know them and wish to see where they came from.<br />
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I put all of the links to each article on this blog...<br />
You can click on the 'help with english link' above or just paste the link below:<br />
http://citizenwombat.blogspot.com.br/p/help-with-english.html<br />
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I hope you enjoy :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-47164730873832586812012-10-27T16:31:00.001+01:002012-10-27T16:32:23.065+01:00Silvio Berlusconi Strikes backA day after Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to four years, reduced to one, he has decided to reassure the fans of bunga bunga parties the world over that he will stay in politics.<br />
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Determined to 'right the wrongs' in the justice system he will make sure that what happened to him won't happen to other 'innocent' citizens...So let me get this straight... he feels aggrieved, hard done by and like the Erin Brockovich of Italian politics... </div>
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This is a man who is also being investigated for soliciting sex with a underage girl, a man who has been charged with numerous allegations and always walked away.. the man is a legal teflon. Sometimes he has not got off due to acquittal but rather that the trial exceeded a time period and the case was dismissed automatically. So now I ask you, while some celebrate the victory of a conviction what has actually been achieved?</div>
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Well he was sentenced to four years - that was immediately reduced to one through some amnesty law that only the Italian judicial system can seem to understand and ordered to pay 10m euros in damages... for what amounts quite simply to tax evasion... so has he been carted off to the lock up? of course not, cause he's appealing... and the appeal process that could take several years, which on a probable note means he will never serve the sentence... Also he was banned from office for 5years... but does this mean that this ban is also suspended? could he realistically return to office, where the Prime Minister cannot be found guilty of any crimes and get off again? It seems that in Italy the Magna Carta was never translated!</div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Silvio_Berlusconi_(2010).jpg/220px-Silvio_Berlusconi_(2010).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Silvio_Berlusconi_(2010).jpg/220px-Silvio_Berlusconi_(2010).jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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So what we have now is a man, who has been found guilty, probably not going to serve his sentence and being encouraged to re-enter politics to right some wrong he feels he has been served? He feels he has been persecuted by the judges that tried him... which I'm pretty sure is how anyone feels when they get sentenced to jail. </div>
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The only brightside I can see to this is that without a man like Berlusconi, the only clowns left to blog about would be in the circus.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6094769343049038126.post-84888903962652259552012-10-18T18:24:00.001+01:002012-10-18T18:24:46.532+01:00Weekly Wombat (Since last time to 17/10/12)So it's been another period of time since the last weekly wombat and here goes...<br />
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In the news this week Police taser a blind man while looking for a samurai, a man cooks a squirrel burns down a block of flats and Obama gets some balls!!!<br />
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1) In a time in England where the police needs a bit of a PR boost after the controversies of the cover-ups of the Hillsborough disaster and the apparent reports of Jimmy Saville's pedophilic activities not benig followed up the police needed a positive story ... so when reports of a samurai pacing the streets of Chorley in north west England came through the police burst into action. What they didn't need was to end up tasering a 61 year old blind man mistaking his white stick for a samurai sword...<br />
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If it wasn't so tragic you'd laugh... however what ended up happening was so distressing that it defies any possible belief... a man, who has suffered two strokes and cannot see anything was suddenly struck by something he described as feeling like a shock from an electric pylon, was tasered by a police officer who could not distinguish the difference between a sword and a white stick!!!<br />
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later a man was arrested for carrying the sword... but seriously... can we start testing for common sense soon?<br />
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2) and now in America... continuing the theme of animals from last week and common sense - a man found some roadkill in the form of a squirrel and thought 'waste not want not' therefore deciding to take the rodent home and grill it... he used a propane blow torch to singe the fur but instead set fire to his apartment and damaged a total of 8..<br />
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in a time of austerity and financial constraints I'm sure everyone in that block of flats was delighted to see the 'new gordon ramsey' save the pennies, grab a dead rat thing and set fire to their homes...<br />
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I now endorse McDonalds over roadkill... and that's saying something<br />
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3) And finally, if the reports are to be believed, the man we know President Obama decided to turn up for his second presidential debate... After Romney stormed it in the last it's nice to hear the Barack realised his 'I'm an insurance man and don't really care' routine wasn't working and decided to fight...<br />
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I was not polarised in this situation at all... until Romney started speaking and then I thought, wow... I really don't want to see America go back to the blunders of Bush or Righteous Regan eras...<br />
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I did however love Romey's 'binders full of women' comment - I love the idea that in his office Romney has binders full of women... what the fuck was he talking about? and where does he come up with this material? Cause he should bottle it and send it to some comics if he really is serious about being the President of the States...<br />
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I think... if Romney and Obama were in a head to head to see who could be the new Stand-Up sensation, then I'm afraid to say rollover Seinfeld... Romneys in town, Barack... you should just stick at being president... it's what you do best<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08280373617051149217noreply@blogger.com0