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.
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"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.