I spent last Friday and Saturday in Bologna, Italy, where I was talking at an excellent conference for English-language teachers. In one of the talks that I saw, a teacher was describing a one-week summer school course for kids that she'd helped organise.…
Posts Tagged ‘English vocabulary’
From a trickle to a flood: water metaphors and their emotional pull
One of the most depressing things about British politics right now – and trust me, there are plenty of things to get depressed about – is the fact that there aren't really any mainstream politicians who're willing to be honest…
Everyday English drawn from Greek mythology
A while back, I wrote a blog post about words and expressions that come from literature, but which have passed into everyday use. Today, inspired by a recent conversation with my daughter, who's currently obsessed with Greek mythology, I wanted…
Literary figures in everyday speech
In one of my recent classes, we were discussing the way in which the use of social media inside authoritarian countries like Russia, China and Iran is almost always monitored, and how posting something that's deemed to be subversive or…