time capsule

Each time I get in my car this winter, I feel as if I was boarding on a time vehicle. Due to some disruptions in the battery operation, I guess, the clock must have stopped and it shows the mysterious date of 1.1.1997 (not the year that the car had been manufactured; it's 2005, as I far as I remember) and the time of 00:00:00. That lasts during the whole journey, and not a single minute passes on the electronic display. Maybe it's a real moment when the time stops; maybe on my car I don't get any older and maybe - maybe I should think of making a business turning it into a "youth&beauty capsule", in which no signle wrinkle will show on your face. What's worse, on my tape recorder (yes, you've heard it right, an antique TAPE recorder, for tapes and not CDs) I play the audiobook by Maeve Binchy "Nights of Rain and Stars" (definitely not a literary Nobel Award candidate, but in English and it costed only 4 pln in a second hand clothes shop) from 2004, and the story is set in the middle of summer on a small Greek island. Which makes the whole matter of car driving even more fabulous.
My little refuge from -19 degrees Centigrade and less:)

board on - wsiadać (na statek, do samolotu, autokaru)
disruption - przerwa, zakłócenie
battery - tu: akumulator
display - wyświetlacz
wrinkle - zmarszczka
antique - zabytkowy
refuge - schronienie
degrees Centigrade - stopni Celsjusza

do teachers love tests?

I've been busy these days writing tests for my students. Intermediate, upper-intermediate and the like.

If you think that writing tests is a trifle, a pleasant free time activity, a little diversion from everyday routine - you're wrong. It is also not an act of vegneance, a way to expose your students imbecility or to punish them for not working hard enough during the term. There are so many objectives that a good test has to meet, I believe, that writing it is really time consuming and exhausting. Whenever I write a test, I have to ask myself this essential question: Have I succeeded? Am I sure the input was clear and practised long enough to be tested? So, that's the first thing I need to bear in mind.

Second thing - is the context I am providing in the exercises on the appropriate level of difficulty? In other words: is the topic of the exercise designed for practising present simple and continuous on an equally simple level? Because I could make sentences about silkworm cocoons and then, would my rookies understand anything of it?

Thirdly, the exercises must be composed in such a way, that an intelligent student will learn from them the things he/she doesn't know or knows only slightly. Even if he/she happens not to understand every single word or phrase - the test must expose enough clarity and logic so that the students can figure some things out by themselves.

So, it's all not just a piece of cake. I'll have a cake now, though, as a reward for doing this excellent job of writing tests. I need calories, for soon I'll have to be checking how my students did in the test. But that's another story...

a trifle - igraszka
diversion - odmiana
an act of vengeance - akt zemsty
objectives = goals
silkworm cocoons - kokony jedwabników
rookie - nowicjusz
a piece of cake (idiom) = bułka z masłem
bear in mind - mieć na uwadze

bad morning

I don't know how about your New Year's resolution, but I have made just one - a very simple and, say, technical one. To improve our mornings, whichalways take the shape of mad rush, because we are already late to everywhere when we open our eyes. So I set my alarm clock 10 minutes earlier each day, in order to gradually arrive at the desired timing (if I suddenly decided to get up one hour earlier than usual, I would surely die of a heart attack). And with all the winter freezing temperatures, getting ready to kindergarten and work is not easy: all those clothes, jackets, overalls, plus caps and scarfs and mufflers that get lost and can't be seen anywhere - it used to drive me crazy. Today, however, the morning was almost perfect. Except for that part in which me and my husband found out that our son had left his kindergarten slippers in his self-made rocket (out of a cardboard box) at home.
To cheer you up a notch, I'm including this hilarious short scene:

back to earth

One of my brilliant students a couple of years ago came up with the idea of "New Year's Depression" and we devoted some time to exlopring this notion. I guess it was supposed to be something quite opposite to before-Christmas excitement, a kind of recovery after the cheer and joy and jingle bells, or, you might say, a hard landing in the crude, down-to-earth reality. Plus the winter landscape.
So, we have to join forces fighting it back. Describing everyday of an E.T. (English Teacher) might be a way.

come up with - wymyslić, wpaść na coś
notion - pojecie
recovery - także: odzyskanie przytomności
hard landing - twarde lądowanie
crude - surowy
down-to-earth - przyziemny
E.T. = extraterrestrial - byt pozaziemski

Dear Santa Claus

So, have you started writing your letters to Santa Claus? A friend that I met the other day said she hung hers up on her fridge door, so that it is clear and visible, if Santa happens to pass by.

If I were to write such letter, I’d have only one request, although I might choose from dozens of possibilities. The new, long awaited and perfect for this season of the year – Sting’s new album If On A Winter's Night. I told my husband that this is my dream to come true under the Christmas tree, and well, he accepted. Isn’t that a great prospect of musical delight for Christmas time and after?

However, my dear husband tends to be really forgetful; last year on the Christmas Eve I asked this innocent question if he had picked up my Christmas present from the shop. Luckily indeed, it was Wednesday or Thursday, the bookstore was still open and he managed to get it, last minute, so to speak.

So, this year I repeat every now and then, to make sure he remembers. Why is the album worth listening? You may check and see tomorrow, I’ll present one of the songs. Doesn’t mean that I’m going to sing it, though…

the other day - pewnego dnia
if Santa happens to pass by - jesli Św. Mikołaj będzie przypadkiem tamtędy przechodził
dozens of possibilities - dziesiątki (dsł. "tuziny") mozliwości
long awaited - długo wyczekiwany
every now and then = from time to time

a november day recipe

So I asked my group of brilliant intermediate Students to come up with a recipe. In the recipe they were supposed to procure a remedy for a rainy November day. First, they looked puzzled and all I heard about the classroom was "watch tv". But the final outcome of the brainstroming looks quite impressive:

1) take a day off, stay at home, watch tv, read books
2) go somewhere warm (Egypt, for example)
and a somewhat less pricy version of 2) would be:
3) invite your friends to cook together
4) go to the gym or to the cinema
5) take a walk with your umbrella, smile to the rain

Nice, don't you think?

come up with (e.g. an idea) - wpaść na pomysł, wymyślić
procure - dostarczyć
remedy for/against sth - lekarstwo, środek zaradczy

i wish

There is mist all over outside the widnow. The air is so moist that you could drink it for breakfast. The leaves are gone, only a few of them are still hanging on the naked branches. Red roofs in the background, as if behind a greyish film, bring some cheerfulness to that window scene.
I wish November was less self-evident.

mist = fog
moist - wilgotny
in the background - na drugim planie
greyish - szarawy
film - przesłona

I wish I was able to produce my teacher's notes on the fly, but I'm afraid they would form, at the most, a complaint book. A teacher's diary is namely a record of ups and downs, of commitment rarely matched up by the genuine response of the students, who generally wish they had got prepared but unfortunately had no time, next time it will be better I promise, and what can I do but accept.
Instead of writing this, I might have produced a nice informative piece on meteorological phenomena or economy, which would help me carve out a career for myself. Alas!, as Shakespeare's characters used to say, I can't find proper time for that.

on the fly = right away - na poczekaniu
at the most - co najwyzej
a complaint book - książka skarg i zażaleń
namely - minaowicie
commitment - zaangażowanie
match up - dopasować, spełnić oczekiwania
genuine - autentyczny, szczery
what can I do but accept - co mogę zrobić, jeśli nie pogodzić się z tym
carve out a career fr oneself - wyrobić sobie pozycję zawodową
alas [old-fashioned] = unfortunately

i'm so happy

I would like to apologize for my inclination for the songs that seem cheerfull but only as long as you don't get into the lyrics; however, I can't resist them. Today there's another example - a song we listened to with a group of my intermediate students tonight.
I first heard the song some seven, eight perhaps, years ago, and it has become one of my favourites ever since. The mood of the tune is so entirely careless that you might think it's just another country song. The idea of being happy on the verge of tears is not unfamiliar, either. The mixture of those two - music and lyrics - brings about an unusual effect. Listen and judge for yourselves.


I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
Seven weeks have passed now since she left me
She shows her face to ask me how I am
She says the kids are fine and that they miss me
Maybe I could come and baby-sit sometime

She says, "Are you O.K.? I was worried about you
Can you forgive me? I hope that you'll be happy."
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm so happy I'm laughing through my tears

I saw a friend of mine
He said, "I was worried about you
I heard she had another man,
I wondered how you felt about it?"
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm so happy I'm laughing though my tears

Saw my lawyer, Mr Good News,
He got me joint custody and legal separation
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm laughing through my tears
I'm laughing through my tears

I took a walk alone last night
I looked up at the stars
To try and find an answer in my life
I chose a star for me, I chose a star for him
I chose two stars for my kids and one star for my wife
Something made me smile
Something seemed to ease the pain
Something about the universe and how it's all connected

The park is full of Sunday fathers and melted ice cream
We try to do the best within the given time
A kid should be with his mother
Everybody knows that
What can a father do but baby-sit sometimes?

I saw that friend of mine, he said,
"You look different somehow"I said,
"Everybody's got to leave the darkness sometime"

inclination for - skłonność, upodobanie do
resist - opierac się; I can't resist them - nie mogę się im oprzeć
tune - melodia
on the verge of sth - na skraju
bring about = cause

I heard this song today, standing in the traffic jam, rain pouring down on my windscreen and on me, as I got off at the traffic lights to fix the wing mirror, which had bent back when I drove into the hedge.
It's one of my favourite song-stories, devoid of melodramatic twists. Its force is in the diverse content put together, uttered at one pitch, as if no part was more important than the other. That's why the drama is there, it's in all that has not been spoken about.


Private Dancer
Well the men come in these places
And the men are all the same
You don't look at their faces
And you don't ask their names

You don't think of them as human
You don't think of them at all
You keep your mind on the money
Keeping your eyes on the wall

I'm your private dancer
A dancer for money
I'll do what you want me to do
I'm your private dancer
A dancer money
Any old music will do

I wanna make a million dollars
I wanna live out by the sea
Have a husband and some children
Yeah I guess I want a family

All the men come in these places
And the men are all the same
You don't look at their faces
And you don't ask their names

Deutschmarks or dollars
American express will nicely thank you
Let me loosen up your collar
Tell me do you wanna see me do the shimmy again

pour down - lać (about rain)
wing mirror - lusterko boczne
drive into - wjechać w
hedge - zywopłot
twist - zwrot akcji
utter - wypowiadać
at one pitch - na jednej wysokości, jednym tonem

tom's diner

Probably when Susanne Vega sang the song for the first time, nobody has heard of "blogs" and "blogging". When you listen carefully to the lyrics, though, what is the song but a record of a fleeting, non-significant moment, one of those that you are not able to recall after a week or so - a perfect subject for a blog entry? Blog-writing resembles looking at the world in close-up and making of it a collection of stills. It's registering experiences, one by one, as they come into view, and turning them into subjects of stories almost devoid of plot. Like this one:



Tom's Diner

I am sitting in the morning
At the diner on the corner
I am waiting at the counter
For the man to pour the coffee

And he fills it only halfway
And before I even argue
He is looking out the window
At somebody coming in

"It is always nice to see you"
Says the man behind the counter
To the woman who has come in
She is shaking her umbrella


And I look the other way
As they are kissing their hellos
I'm pretending not to see them
And instead I pour the milk


I open up the paper
There's a story of an actor
Who had died while he was drinking
It was no one I had heard of

And I'm turning to the horoscope
And looking for the funnies
When I'm feeling someone watching me
And soI raise my head


There's a woman on the outside
Looking inside
Does she see me?
No she does not really see me
'cause she sees her own reflection


And I'm trying not to notice
That she's hitching up her skirt
And while she's straightening her stockings
Her hair has gotten wet


Oh, this rain it will continue
Through the morning as I'm listening
To the bells of the cathedral
I am thinking of your voice...



And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...
I finish up my coffee

It's time to catch the train

fleeting - ulotny
non-significant - nic nie znczący
recall - przypomnieć sobie
in close-up - w zblizeniu
a still - fotos
devoid of plot - pozbawiony fabuły
diner - jadłodajnia
at the counter - tu: przy barze
kissing their hellos - całują się na powitanie
fills it only half-way - napełnia tylko do połowy
behind the counter - tu: za barem
hitch up - podkasać
straighten up - poprawiać
a stocking - pończocha

rain on my windscreen

By the time I left home this morning, they had already been gone. My windscreen wipers.
I checked on wiki if anybody had seen them. It turns out they’re quite famous:


"A common windscreen wiper arm and blade. "
The thief actually left the arms, took only the blades with him.

"A windscreen wiper (windshield wiper in North America) is a device used to wipe rain and dirt from a windscreen. Almost all motor vehicles, including trains, aircraft and watercraft, are equipped with windscreen wipers, which are usually a legal requirement."
Well, as for my car - not anymore.

and "Windscreen wiper on a parked car."

Now a distant memory.

They have a history:

"Inventor J. H. Apjohn devised a method of moving two brushes up and down on a vertical plate glass windscreen in 1903. Mary Anderson is said to have invented the windscreen wiper swinging arm in the United States, where she patented the idea in 1903. The idea was initially met with resistance, but was a standard feature on all American cars by 1916. "

I gotta go now, have to find some auto parts and accessories store.

windscreen wipers - wycieraczki

arm - tu: ramię wycieraczki

blade - tu: pióro wycieraczki

motor vehicle - pojazd mechaniczny

watercraft - pojazd wodny

as for my car - jeśli chodzi o moje auto

devise - wymyslić

brush - szczotka

was met with resistance - napotkał opór

auto parts store - sklep z częściami samochodowymi

opportunity

September. Your kids off to school and kindergarten. You had your share in the preparations for the school year: you inhaled the smell of brand new notebooks and spent half of your income on textbooks. Including English textbooks, especially pricey.
Then you remembered your school and academic years. Your courses, your note-making, reading, writing, learning. And perhaps also your resolutions: to improve your foreign language skills, to do it this year, to revise and learn a small portion every single day, yeah, surely that'll work this time.
I, as a teacher, love September and October. I get prepared, I get ready to instruct. It feels like lining up at the start of the 100 metres sprint, or better, a hurdle race, a marathon.
But as a learner, I make resolutions, too. I'll learn five new words in French every day. No, say, I'll learn them every other day, because I'll also learn five new German words in the meantime. And Russian? Russian on Saturdays.
Then I find out it's difficult to count on my own self. I forget, I'm too tired or too lazy to learn anything in my free time. But if someone just GAVE ME the opportunity - why not?
So that's what it's meant to be, this M-Teacher's "blogging".
To give you the opportunity.

inhale /ın'heıl/- wdychać
brand new - całkiem nowy
pricey /'praısı/- infml drogi
a resolution - postanowienie
to line up the the start - stanąć na starcie
hurdle race /'hзdl reıs/- bieg przez płotki
say - tu: powiedzmy
every other day - co drugi dzień