UPDATE: Talking to my favorite storyteller

As some of you might know (hard not to, since I keep talking about it), I've had the distinct honor of doing an hourlong phone interview with Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, for my little Internet radio show. The German translation was picked up (in two parts) by Corona magazine, which you can download for free
h e r e and h e r e.
The English original, on the other hand, can be found
r i g h t  h e r e.
UPDATE: The whole show is now available for streaming on MixCloud!
Photo: Tachyon Publications

That Yoda Guy

If you're in 10th grade or up and had me as your English teacher, chances are you've worked on that listening comprehension exercise where I used excerpts from my first interview with Mr. Nick Maley, "the guy who built Yoda"... The whole radio show is now available for streaming on Mixcloud, so check it out if you're interested: https://www.mixcloud.com/startracks/star-tracks-episode-12/

White Horses Could Not Drag Me Away...

...and as you can see, there's always some song connected to everything. Seriously, I just wanted to direct your attention towards my German blog where I've just published a little report on the White Horse Theatre's latest visit to our school. It's in German, but Google Translate's getting better and better, so why not give it a shot?
https://herrweese.blogspot.com/2019/06/die-story-vom-weien-pferd.html

Free Nelson Mandela

A true classic and - at least for me - "ear-worm", as we call them in German.

Prince "Ironheart"

Dear readers, let me show you a book I think you should read (because it has to do with our English lessons):"Prince Valiant - in the days of King Arthur", by Hal Foster. The comics show real history & legends in wonderful pictures, like Arthur‘s castle of Camelot. They tell you how Valiant meets and becomes one of the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur and his famous wizard Merlin are always there, too. And you can learn about life back then, for example about hunting in winter. If this looks interesting, just buy one of the comic books – I promise it'll be good!

(...and if all this sounds familiar to you, it''s because that was what you should have written in today's test :) )

Samples from the German edition (some of which I used in the test) can be found here: http://www.bocola.de/programm/prinz-eisenherz-hal-foster--gesamtausgabe/

Mr. Weese is on Facebook

..but I'm afraid teachers are asked by the ministry not to accept current students as "friends" in their private profile, which I tend to agree with... There is, however, a page for my radio show at https://www.facebook.com/StarTracksRadio and for my author/journalist alter ego (in German) at https://www.facebook.com/WeeseWrites - I'd be happy if you "liked" one of those instead ;) Thank you!

Listening Exercises: Podcasts in English

If y'all want to practise listening comprehension a little, have a look at
http://www.podcastsinenglish.com
where you'll find exercises on different skill levels.

The one from the test that I used in class  (topic: "cities") is at https://podcastsinenglish.com/pages/level1.shtml#city (direct download: https://traffic.libsyn.com/podcastsinenglish/city.mp3)

Al's ABC

From "Quantum Leap", for 5a. Have fun practicing the alphabet ;) - I still do, every time.

An Inspector ...Sings?!

Well, not quite. Someone called "Mr. Bruff" put a little song on YouTube in which he uses important quotes from AIC as song lyrics - check it out here:

Indirect Speech, Reloaded

Dear 7c, this one's for you: I didn't entirely make up that Hollywood interview you're just poring over in our test. If you're interested, you can read the whole thing over at my other blog (http://blog.hillvalley.de/2016/05/somnio-travis-milloy-im-interview/) - there's even a German translation ;)

Duckburg vs. Edinburgh

Dear Q11: of course, by now you know that these don't sound anything alike. Anyway, here are a few additional place names that most non-Brits (not just Americans, as the lady in the video so politely remarks) get wrong all the time. Enjoy your "Woosta" Sauce & more ;)

Mount St. Helens "very much alive"

Some people keep accusing our English book of being "old hat", but here's something that couldn't be more up-to-date: Remember the story about that volcano? Well, here's VERY current news about it:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/07/us/mount-st-helens-mini-earthquakes/index.html?sr=fbCNN050716mount-st-helens-mini-earthquakes0516AMStoryLink&linkId=24240939

Remembering Christa McAuliffe

Re-Post: It's been thirty years, as of today.
---

"First teacher in space" - it wasn't meant to be. But everywhere in the world, teachers looking up to the stars will think of you tonight. I, for one, certainly will. You're really up there.

You're not allowed...

I only just realized that the fine (they actually call it "penalty" here, which is a little funny because we only use that in a sports context) is probably higher today than it was back in 1998 - plus, it's a pity they don't actually have the "no-horn" symbol on it, too. Then again, it goes to show that America (at least, New York City) expects its drivers to be a little more literate and speaking the language than we do, obviously...

Maybe It's Because He's A Londoner?

...that he sings of her
whenever he's here...

Ladies and Gentlemen: Meet "that 'Streets of London' guy" from Fürth - Richard Smerin by name. He has over two hundred original songs to his credit and proves it on his web page http://www.richardsmerin.com, it's just that he chooses to stick to his trademark one when he's playing downtown Nuremberg's pedestrian zone. I'm glad I finally found out his name last spring - he's also got sixteen CDs (as of May 2016) on sale, you just have to ask! Well, sometimes you don't ;)

The Martian Interview

Still way up on the New York Times's best seller list: Andy Weir's "The Martian" - the movie's coming out next month... and I had the honor of interviewing the author for "Star Tracks" recently; if you're interested, have a look at http://blog.hillvalley.de/2015/09/spuren-auf-dem-mars/ (the interview is in English although the rest of the article is in German - just click on the last link for a transcript in English and the third from the bottom to access an audio recording of the show). You should, of course, check out the book & film, too, if you're so inclined ;)

Begin Day Watch

Hello world. After quite a long time of hiatus, I've decided to give this blog another shot. Have a nice start of term, everyone at WEG and elsewhere! ;)

Radio Not-Quite-So-Gaga

...at least I hope so! You might have heard me bragging about the radio show I used to do for WUSC when I was in the States, and probably about my new one as well: It's called "Star Tracks" (go figure!) and I play & comment (in English!) on movie songs most of which you usually don't get to hear on the radio (as opposed to mainstream stations that play "Ghostbusters" at least once a week). There are two new shows coming up, one on March 13th, 8-10 pm. Central European Time, and one on Easter Monday (which happens to be April 1st this year) from 4-6 pm. - thought I'd let you know :-) To tune in, you'll need Internet access (it's not a "regular" FM station, I'm afraid); just go to http://www.radiobavariainternational.de or find the station on iTunes radio under "'80s Flashback / Radio Bavaria International". The facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/StarTracksRadio. Enjoy!
P.S. Not to worry if you missed a show: The latest episode can now be listened to (again) in the archive section at http://www.horalf.de/startracks.htm :)

What can I diddledy-do for you?

If Klingon is too hard for you (or out of the question for other fandom-related reasons), why not talk some Flanders? Here's a neat idea for those among you who know how to code: http://www.neatorama.com/2013/01/11/How-to-Speak-Flanders/ - maybe an idea to bring to Mr.P's or Dr.N's attention...

Merry Christmas!

As a special Christmas treat this year, you can listen to Mr.Weese's radio show on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (25th and 26th of December)... Just tune in to Radio Bavaria International between 4pm and 6pm Central European Time.