The leaves on the trees in Stuttgart have started changing colour. It's a really beautiful time of year that comes with a fresh, dry wind offering quite a cool start to the day but it does also have a warming sun in the middle of the afternoons carrying with it a magical golden light.
Perfect for romantic walks through crisp leaves and arriving home to curl up with herbal teas. However this year, it keeps catching me by surprise that the summer has actually gone... mainly because we didn't really have one so I feel a wee bit cheated, like I'm still waiting for the hot days to start. But instead the heating's been turned on and I'm wearing snuggly socks inside my bed slippers.
How was your summer?
Mine, apart from the wet and the mostly cold, was really quite fantastically busy and I found myself running around like a headless chicken - it didn't help, of course, that I had to fight computer problem upon computer problem... but I am finally beginning to catch up on the outstanding tasks in my in-tray as hurrah! I finally got my wee baby AcerAspire his very own Granddaddy... the Z5610 (yes, I know, the whole world is heading towards the i-pad) but I tell ya, after trying to get real work done on 8.9 inches I couldn't wait to get my hands on something bigger, faster,with much more functionality and of course, something you don't need to 'jail-break' into if you want to make it actually worth the price!
Anyway... this wasn't supposed to be an essay on the weather but instead a list of the posts I wrote over the summer which you might have missed while you've been busy yourselves!
Hope you enjoy and don't hesitate to let me know if there's something you'd like written in particular and what your preferred posts are on.
Take care,
Karenne
Lesson Tips, Plans and Teaching with Technology- EFL Carnival of Lessons
- Powerpointing my office
- Powerpointing vocabulary
- Google and describing statistics
- Using cartoon videos in the Business English/Financial English classroom
- Not publishable due to...
- Noodle casserole
- Wiki that company!
- The Inverted Eagle
On Teaching English and related musings
learn more about one of The Consultants-E's directors
have you every made a fun thing not so fun anymore?
which direction should you be teaching in?
it's indifference...
yes, there was really more to say, this time on grades
how involved should we be?
swear words, songs and ELT
Bloom's Taxonomy and the tools available from our favourite site!
on technology and tools in the classroom
ironical twist on dance, PhDs and technology in education
keeping it light..
should our students use them?
is this mere hype or is there something to it?
is it a rant on coursebooks or a suggestion for innovation?
Social Media- Top Tweets in August
- Top Tweets in September
- The culture of the DM inbox
- Paid to tweet?
- Tweet, Tweet: Learn English on Twitter
Ways you can regularly read my blog include:
Posts
Karenne - you are absolutely amazing! You have been so busy this summer. Thank you so much for creating this catch-up revision post, as I don't know how, but I missed some of these fab postings.
It'll be good to catch up as soon as I can.
I'm enjoying the last vestiges of summer here in Abruzzo, which has been a good one this year. I'm looking forward now to gathering all the leaves in order to make leaf mulch, ready for my garden next year. Nature is a constant cycle and it involves a lot of work to keep up with it!!
Have a great week.
All the best
Janet
Thanks! Janet... yes, it's funny - once I started listing the posts I realized I really have to get over my "catholic" guilt of not doing enough! This summer was so hectic with an inbox that became a bottomless pit that I never got the chance to realize that actually some of the items were done!
:-)
Enjoy last vestiges of summer in Italy, I think it must be really beautiful where you are!
Karenne
Bloody hell, you were busy! The weather's just starting to make a turn for the worse here in Istanbul, just as the students arrive!
Busy summer? Why am I not surprised?
Karenne, you stay true and loyal to the craft / profession. (That's already admirable.) And then you work hard, probably harder than the rest of us -- that's MORE admirable. Like what Janet said, you are absolutely amazing.
I actually started reading your older posts. But thanks for the reminder.
Don't worry. They won't go unread, especially from someone like me who's a new fan of your "traces of wisdom."
Hi Karenne,
Thanks for the summary of the summer. I have already bookmarked some of them.
Well, we started to feel the chilly autmn with some sunshine. And with the schools life has become very hectic.
Summer was like that too and boiling hot. I just enjoyed a cool (cool with both meanings) teacher workshop week in Yorkshire with Berni and a very relaxing week at a small seaside town with my family.
Now I'm trying to catch up with everything; school,kids, etwinning projects and I think it's time to prepare my presentation for Paris
Looking forward to meeting you soon.
Cheers
Eva
I'm so jealous of your German fall. I remember walking through the English Gardens in Munich at this time a year and how gorgeous they were. Very much reminded me of home.
In Istanbul there are few trees around where I live or work. Sigh...
Weirdly enough we've had a few very hot days... since this post - I must have jinxed the weather demons!
Thanks Ande, Andy, Eva and Nick for your support... do what I can and what I can't, I can't :)