Friday, February 24, 2012

Juan Antonio's Imaginary Adventure


Juan Antonio's youngest son loves to kitesurf, so dad fly to the other side of the world to visit the best kitesurfing location-- in the Philipines. It is an imaginary adventure but a nice piece of writing from a great student! Thanks for this work, Juan Antonio.


A Postcard for my youngest son
                              
                         Boracay  Island-Filipinas 21st February, 2012
  Dear Alberto, Having a lovely time in the Philipines, at Bolabag  beach, to be precise. I arrived at Luzon Island last Friday from Dubai and at this moment I’m on Boracay Island, situated to the southeast of Manila. Boraca is a small island of this archipelago where people can practise your favourite outdoor activity,  kitesurfing. In fact I miss you kitesurfing among them. Bolabag is easily the best place in this country for practising it because there is always windy weather. As you can see in this postcard it’s very sunny, too.  Now I’m reading a nice book called “Sonrisas de Bombay” while enjoying a wonderful sunset reclining in a comfortable rocking chair. See you soon,  Dad
 


 

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Frab: a worthless word!?

For years I have subscribed to a word service called Worthless Word for the Day. Sometimes the entries are truly worthless but mostly they are fun to discover. Today I found frab in my mailbox and had to share it with you. Apparently this is a British verb which means to harass, scold or nag. They also mention its onomatopoeic quality and that it is "dialect" but not necessarily a regionalism. Now that is not much help. Many of the WWFD stuff comes from regions of Britain which might have been isolated like Northumbria or parts of Scotland.WWFD always provides a quote or two which put the new word in context. These examples are sometimes not worthless but wonderful!

"I was not kind to you. I frabbed you, and plagued you from the first." - E.C. Gaskell, Ruth (1853)

"But dinna frab yerself. Ye be na trouble to us." - Ellen Howard, The Gate in the Wall (1999)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day

Our star student Rafa, the school psychologist, has suggested we learn the love song "Annie'sSong" for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, time ran out and we have not been able to rehearse. We will be performing this tune in class on Thursday (two days late...but better late than never!). So get practicing now!

Annie's Song (by John Denver)

You fill up my senses like a night in a forest,
Like the mountains in springtime,
Like a walk in the rain, like a storm in the desert,
Like a sleepy blue ocean.

You fill up my senses, come fill me again. Come let me love you, let me give my life to you,
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms.
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

Let me give my life to you,
Come let me love you, come love me again.


You fill up my senses like a night in a forest,
Like the mountains in springtime,
Like a walk in the rain, like a storm in the desert,
Like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.
(John Denver's Annie's Song)