Category: Fluency

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments The Last Word Video

The Last Word: Philip Roth

Related Images:

Posted in The Last Word Video

The Last Word: Aretha Franklin

 

 

Related Images:

Posted in Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes

what else do you need?

If a man has wisdom, what else does he need? If a man lacks wisdom, what does he have?

Related Images:

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments Sarianna Video

I’m all ears … (I’m listening!)

Related Images:

Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Hear it, Say it, Write it ! Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes

“April showers bring May flowers”

Global warming or not …. here’s a … springtime saying:

April showers bring May flowers.

Related Images:

Posted in Fluency Expressions Sarianna Video

Someone will be waiting for you at the airport

Related Images:

Posted in Newsletters About Learning a Foreign Language Cross Cultural Comments Les Newsletters Online Language Resources for English Reading

Newsletter 29 August 2014

Newsletter 29 August 2014

The Paris Savannah Connection – Friends

Related Images:

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments Commentaires Inter-culturelles Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes

Cats and dogs

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

Alfred North Whitehead (1867-1947)
 
 

Related Images:

Posted in Newsletters Cross Cultural Comments Reading

Deadlines

Deadlines. What a word ! Get it finished by then … or you’re … cooked!

Whether you set deadlines for yourself, or whether someone else sets them for you,  there they are. You can pick any date, any time of day … and you’ve got one ! A deadline. A date and time to be met, to be respected.

Mothers are among the first deadline-makers in our lives. From very, very early on in our childhoods we heard threats about the risks of not finishing on time : «No dessert until you finish your spinach! » or «If you aren’t ready in 5 minutes, we’re leaving without you!» «Time for your bath!»

Fathers could be just as bad but they often used just one pronoun for the word « deadline. » That word was « NOW» as in the imperative : « Listen to your mother. Now ! » (Or else !)

In our carefree worlds as children, we didn’t need to give ourselves deadlines. Somehow or another, nothing was so important that it had to be done, learnt, or finished by bedtime.

Then came school. And we began to encounter authority: the teacher, the one who taught Latin or Spanish or  … English or math … or in fact, anything that required some effort AFTER school.  In one word : homework.

« WORK » the beginning of the end! Not only the imperatives of  « You MUST » but, on top of that, « by Tomorrow!, Capital T. » « By Thursday.» Or else …

As we grew out of childhood and into adolescence and as we managed to meet deadlines or skirt them,  we learnt that a lot of adults were in fact « bluffing » about the dire consequences of not respecting deadlines.

Sometimes that was out of weakness … often, a reprieve, a warning, or the grace of forgiving kindness.

As we matured, we integrated the notion of deadlines into our mental routines. We put them on our agendas and calendars. We realized that they were everywhere. Your car needed its tune-up every 10 000 miles … you needed a tetanus vaccination one year and then again and then every 10 … And … yes… there was a deadline for sending in applications to schools or for work …  not to mention that in additon to your mother and and your father, you had an uncle too … and your Uncle Sam set a date for filing your tax return, too. And for paying.

While others plot out the deadlines they want us to observe, we make our own. Setting our own deadlines and setting deadlines for others is, in fact, the most human of activities. We like to do this so much that we not only set deadlines…. We have learnt to reset them, too. Over and over again. Free choice. Arbitrary? That’s not so sure.

We choose a date, a time, freely. And then we’re free to respect it or not.  We’re free to determine the consequences, set the sanctions and rewards, apply them … or not.

What time is it? 8:15 ? Already! I’d better finish this and post it before it’s too late!

Oh, what a powerful thing a deadline is!

Related Images:

Posted in Cross Cultural Comments Fluency Expressions Sarianna Video

The sooner the better!

Related Images: