INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Seeing this rose in my garden reminds me of the process of learning and improving our competence in any language. We learn one language word by word, step by step, layer by layer, just like these rose petals overlay each other. Another point of similarity: as these petals are relatively small, the slow […]
Lesson #109: Steps for Enriching Your Writing with the Right Vocabulary Read More »
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Sharing a short poem that I memorised in my childhood: O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. – William Blake, ‘The Sick Rose’ (1794) Have you
Lesson #108: Why Reading Classic Poetry is Important: Blake’s ‘The Sick Rose’ Read More »
ADVANCED LEVEL For this post, I will focus on the second half of the long sentence found in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 9: 📘 ‘…and towards one of these hills did Marianne and Margaret one memorable morning direct their steps, attracted by the partial sunshine of a showery sky, and unable longer to
ADVANCED LEVEL When you live in the countryside, you have a tendency to pay attention to the weather. Your mood and plans for the day can be affected by it. Today, my morning walk was put on hold (suspended) because of the sporadic (sudden, unpredictable) showers. A passage in Jane Austen’s first published novel, Sense
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Mini-lesson Monday continued (part 2): This is a demonstration of how I approached the opening line of Edna St Vincent Millay’s ‘The Fawn’ in one of my English language lessons. I took a few simple steps to help with text comprehension, and it only took a few minutes. I’m going to tell you
Lesson #106: Mini-lesson Monday (Part 2): Comprehending ‘The Fawn’ Read More »
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Mini-lesson Monday! (part 1) I would like to share with you the opening lines of one of my favourite poems: ‘The Fawn’ by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). ‘There it was I saw what I shall never forgetAnd never retrieve.Monstrous and beautiful to human eyes, hard tobelieve,He lay, yet there he
Lesson #106: Mini-lesson Monday (Part 1): Reading ‘The Fawn’ Read More »
ADVANCED LEVEL While walking in our garden this morning, these russet leaves reminded me of another Jane Austen classic, Persuasion (1818). Have you read it or seen a movie version of it? Anne Elliot, the main character, is both attentive to others and sensitive to the beauty of nature. In this symbolic passage, she walks
Lesson #105: Reflections on nature (and literature) in Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ Read More »
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) is regarded as one of the most beloved classics in English literature. It is also a favourite of mine – I have re-read it yearly since 2010! But it is not limited to the English version only … I have read French translations several times, because I
Lesson #104: Favourite English Classics (in English and other languages) Read More »
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL I was going through some of my handwritten notes on the origin of the English proverb, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’ ✍️ This is a common saying that stresses the importance of eating fruit regularly, especially apples. It seems that the saying originated from Pembrokeshire, a region known for its
Lesson #103: ‘An apple a day …’ An English Idiom and its Origin Read More »
ADVANCED LEVEL More autumnal fruits from the garden! I hope to make applesauce by peeling these apples, chopping them into small chunks, then placing them in a saucepan with a little water and allowing them to simmer for about 10 minutes while stirring them gently. It reminds me of how the British novelist George Eliot
Lesson #102: Enjoying Autumn Fruits with George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’ Read More »
October is here! A beautiful, transformative season, as described by 19th-century poet John Keats: ‘Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core…’ –
Lesson #101: Seasonal words from British poet John Keats Read More »