And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
– Sylvia Plath –
Dec 30, 2012
Quote of the Day
(Amazon.de)Aug 27, 2012
Quote of the Day
To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself… Anybody can have ideas — the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.
– Mark Twain –
Jun 12, 2011
English Study Book Recommendations
I was asked to compile a list of recommended English study books for the summer break for a student of mine. I might as well share it with everyone. This list is geared at the 11th/12th grade of the local Gymnasium ( high school), where English is taught as a foreign language, but it also applies to any high school student learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The recommended books on writing are an integral part in any library – including the one of a native speaker of English.
For idioms:
Dictionary of Idioms (Collins Cobuild)
For vocabulary:
The Vocabulary Builder: The Practically Painless Way to a Larger Vocabulary (Study Smart Series)
Writing skills:
100 Ways to Improve Your Writing (Mentor)
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Most of these books are on my shelf – or my husband’s, for that matter.
May 31, 2011
School Jokes
A first grade teacher collected old, well known proverbs. For a writing prompt, she gave each student in her class the first half of a number of proverbs with the assignment to complete them.
Students submitted the following:
As you shall make your bed so shall you……….mess it up.
Better be safe than………………….punch a 5th grader.
Strike while the …………………………bug is close.
It’s always darkest before…………daylight savings time.
You can lead a horse to water but…………………..how?
Don’t bite the hand that……………………looks dirty.
A miss is as good as a……………………………..Mr.
You can’t teach an old dog new…………………….math.
If you lie down with the dogs, you’ll..stink in the morning.
The pen is mightier than the………………………pigs.
An idle mind is…………………..the best way to relax.
Where there’s smoke, there’s………………….pollution.
Happy the bride who……………….gets all the presents.
A penny saved is……………………………..not much.
Two’s company, three’s…………………..the musketeers.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you,
cry and……………………..you have to blow your nose.
Children should be seen and not………spanked or grounded.
When the blind leadeth the blind………get out of the way.
