Maria Irene's

2006-01-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

What follows is not new, I've read more than once, but this time

I didn't erase the mail.  I hope, those who have the opportunity

to visit my blog have a good time.


FOUR ALL WHO REED AND RITE

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural
of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

Let's face it,
English is a crazy language.

There is no egg in eggplant,
nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find
that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig
is neither from Guinea, nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't
groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends, but not one amend?

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of
them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes, I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be
committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a
recital?

Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man
and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your
house can burn up as it burns down;
in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm
goes off by going on.

An experience with my students of English at the UC, FaCE, Modern Languages Department

2005-10-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I dare to use blogs as a means of communication with my students. I hope they enjoy this experience, and that their products from Communicative Competence V become an opportunity for them to express their ideas in relation to investigation, stating a problem, summarizing and abstracts.

La Colonia Tovar

2005-06-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

La Colonia Tovar

This little town, embedded in one of the most beautiful tropical forests in my country, is the place I like to visit the most. As soon as my husband and I start planning any of the trips to “La Colonia” (the colony), as we familiarly call it, I transport myself to another world where I smell my childhood in the air full of pine scent.

When we get to La Colonia, we stay at a really nice hotel called Bergland, where we have spent some extraordinary moments, either when we have gone alone or with the rest of the family. The owners, Ricardo and Maria make their best to make you feel at home. The hotel rooms are comfortable, with wooden balconies where one can have a panoramic view of the center of the town.

Very early in the morning, my husband and I go for a walk when most of the town is still sleeping and fog is hanging on the mountains and the sun is making his way among clouds and the fresh morning breeze. After this walk, we have a huge breakfast at the hotel, consisting of fruits, cold cuts, cheese, eggs (served to your taste), home-made bread and Venezuelan coffee or hot chocolate.

On Sundays, the market located near the main square and the church, downtown, is crowded with people that come from different cities near La Colonia to buy fresh vegetables and fruits, as well as handcraft produced by the people living in this town founded in 1843. In front of the church you can admire the structure of two houses dating from the town foundation time.

When the weekend comes to an end, while we go down the mountains, leaving pine trees at our backs and facing more tropical trees, my husband and I always say that we wish to have a little house in La Colonia Tovar to spend our retirement days in this small place, a sample of a German town in South America.

The water drop that carves stones

2005-05-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

Candice, one of my friends in Webheads in Action, wrote about the worries caused by her kid growing in this world where confusion is next door, not knowing who and what could be influencing this young mind.

I decided to write her to give some support, because when you have gone through this very same situation, you know what it is like. You feel hopeless, with anxiety levels you think you can't handle.

In my writing, I said the following:
Here in Venezuela we have a say, little kid, little problem, big kid, big problem. I have four children, all grown up now, the two girls made me a granny of three beautiful grand-daughters. The third is also married, now living in St. Paul, Minnesota, doing his PhD. The fourth, one of these days is giving us the news of his marriage, he works in a company of his own.
But, getting to this point of talking so peacefully took me days, nights of tears, worries, insomnia; the only element you need to survive is faith in them, and in yourself, and in the fact that the principles and manners you teach them are like a drop of water, that hits a stone all the time, at the end you find that the stone is carved.

I didn't know my humbble comments about my own experience were to cause such impact in my friends. I'm so grateful for all the answers I have received up to now.

This is a sample of what blogs can be useful for.

2005-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting next to Lya, showing her how I can post information in the web

Introduction

2005-01-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I think I finally created a blog, different from the one I started 3 years ago. I work for the University of Carabobo, where I teach English to future professors or teachers. Besides, I coordinate the Language Lab at the same university in the Faculty of Education.

Let's see if I succeed this time.