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The Flipside of My Un-March-Break (or: How to translate 3 great québecois expressions of enjoyment)
For primary and secondary school teachers and students (and many of their parents!) in the Quebec City area, it was the March Break this past week. A delicious week of rest and relaxation to sleep in, go skiing, skating or tobogganing, or take in a movie, visit a museum or just plain stay home and […]
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Is lack of focus always that bad?
Last weekend, a friend of mine posted on Facebook an informative infographic about AD/HD (attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity) symptoms. An iceberg illustration showed the multi-level ways that the disorder can affect an individual’s life. A friend replied with the comment: “Most people possess at least one of these attributes! Does this therefore […]
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In a rut? Maybe it’s time to follow Sarah’s Script!
“ But I don’t want to follow the script! I hate scripts.”, I commented emphatically to a colleague while discussing a professional experience I had had a few years ago. “Me neither”, agreed my colleague Sarah, “Whenever I try a new recipe, I can’t just follow the instructions, I have to add my own personal […]
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5 Ways To Boost Your Child’s ESL Learning (and it’s not as hard as you may think!)
The question my student voiced was valid: How can I help my kids with their English homework? They just don’t seem to retain the words I teach them. This father was echoing the very same concern I heard over and over again when I taught at a local elementary and high school. If you are […]
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JDI! (Just do it!)
“Every page answers a question“, a student explained as he proudly me his PowerPoint presentation. We tweaked a few structural errors here and there, and corrected some forgotten capitalizations. “Wow!”, I thought, “intentional”. The whole content was intentional. I suddenly heard the voice of an editor I once I had. “What’s the intention? There has […]
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What’s behind your name tag?
I couldn’t find my name tag. You know, those corporate name tags that open all the doors, just like magic – to get into the building, to your desk, to and from the coffee machine in the common area? I had checked in my computer bag, on the floor, at front desk, in the washroom […]
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The Power of a Pause
My eight o’clock one-on-one class was over. My nine o’clock hadn’t arrived yet. Friday morning. I was on pause; I waited. And fiddled on the computer, wondering what I could read to make the best of the time. I clicked on the double-arrow symbol at the top of my Internet browser screen. I thought I’d […]
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Wishes, hopes and regrets (or: where’s the magic?)
This week, we were up to the unit on conditionals, and I noticed the caption Wish and Hope in the class activity book. My imagination went wild immediately; although, be honest: isn’t the topic of wishes and hopes enough to make any introverted, creative individual diverge into an ecstatic reverie? Wishes… hopes… palm trees swaying […]
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Here’s to 2019!
In one word, how would you describe your Christmas vacation? I gave each of my adult business English students a pale blue hashtag-imprinted post-it. The students kind of gave me a funny look, then took out their pens and began to write. When they were done, I asked them to stick them on the conference […]
CLAIRE MARIA FORD 