Wednesday, August 14 - PM Advanced/Fluency

Since this was the first day of the new term, we began with introductions. I first introduced myself and my class, which focuses on reading, conversation, and listening to songs and analyzing their lyrics. Students introduced each other: they interviewed a partner in class and shared what they learned about their partner. 

We then began reading an article entitled, “9 Reasons Why Learning English Is Difficult.” Based upon the reading for the day, we concluded that, the farther you get from England, the more difficult it is to learn English: this is because languages spoken farthest from England  are the most dissimilar from English; the more dissimilar the language is to English, the more difficult it is to learn English. I also talked about how various forms of past-tense verbs are indistinguishable to most native English speakers–like past perfect, past continuous, and past-perfect continuous. As always with languages, conveying your meaning clearly and accurately is more important than adherence to arcane, esoteric grammatical rules. 

We then listened to one of my songs of summer 2024: “I Wasn’t Born to Follow,” by the Byrds. I shared my experience listening to this song with my daughter while driving the Blue Ridge Mountains, windows down.