Teaching Idioms, Learning Slang Teaching idioms (a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., raining cats and dogs, see the light ) (from Google) is one of the more difficult lessons to teach in English language tea
December Traditions from Around the World This year I started working at an international school in Vancouver. In September the Mexican students celebrated Mexican Independence day. At around the same time, students from China celebrated the Harvest Festival. The holiday celebrations
The language of Genghis Khan I have been reading and loving a biography of Genghis Khan that came out in 2015 by Frank McLynn. Did you know that Mongols tamed snow leopards and used them for hunting? And that they fetishized small noses? And that Genghis Khan, when he was about thirte
As we enter into the fall, I offer you this evocative poem from the Turkish poet Hilmi Yavuz, entitled “Eylül”, or “September”. I translated it a few years ago in a creative writing class at UBC, and I acknowledge the likelihood of mistakes. See what you make o
Inhotim, que lugar é esse? A pequena Brumadinho, cidade de 30 mil habitantes no estado de Minas Gerais, abriga um dos mais importantes acervos de arte contemporânea do Brasil. Atualmente o Instituto Inhotim é considerado o maior centro de arte ao ar livre da América Latina. Numa relaç
July 1st was Canada day and, for the first time (maybe ever), I was feeling very proud to be Canadian. Being Canadian, for years, was just about my passport and where I grew up. But things have changed. My partner just moved over from London, UK two days after Brexit. We’ve been
Significado de Impeachment Processo político-criminal que se instaura contra uma autoridade (o presidente da República, um governador, ministro do Supremo Tribunal ou procurador-geral da República), com o fim de impor-lhe a pena de destituição do cargo, por delito de responsabilidade
Na minha opinião, uma das grandes qualidades dos brasileiros é a criatividade. E certamente é por conta dessa qualidade que criamos peças de propaganda tão atraentes. Sem falsa modéstia, somos muito bons nisso. Hoje o Brasil é considerado uma das maiores potências em termos de criação
Beyond language acquisition As I embark as the coordinator of a new nine-week exchange program with Arabic and English speaking women, with some anxiety about exactly how we will introduce Arabic with seven different Arabic-speaking countries represented in the room, and how we will i
One of many languages in the Sandcastle Girls My mom recently passed on to me the Sandcastle Girls, a novel set during the Armenian Genocide around 1915, when Armenians were deported en masse from the Ottoman Empire and over a million people were killed or died of diseases, starvation
