?? There's a word for how these babies are wrapped up ?

?? to swaddle

When babies are born, they're swaddled tightly. ?

?? My podcast tomorrow on:

? CREATIVITY?

I just read a blog by some self-professed Russian EFL trainer (who isn't a qualified trainer BTW but is the type who did a CELTA and now thinks they can teach it) and this lady made the claim that our students come "as a blank sheet where we need to foster creativity from scratch." ?

Firstly, I spat my tea out at never having read such crap (this week) and thought why not do a podcast on why many students are RUSTY when it comes to creativity and how to build it within weeks ?

It can easily be done.?

P.s. We teachers don't build a student's creativity; we just need to knock those mental walls down ☝️?

?? Don't say: DETAILS?

Hi guys. Yep, it's true. When playing with Lego, we actually don't refer to those little bricks as details. It's very Russian to say that. We use the following:
?? Parts
?? Pieces
?? Bits
?? Bricks*

? I've dropped some pieces behind the sofa.
? I'm missing some parts.
? This set contains 2000 pieces/bricks.
? Pancake, Paul! There are bits of Lego all over the floor!

? Some time ago, some people on some very non-bilingual community insisted that we can use the word BLOCKS for Lego. That just isn't true. There might be a few sources to the contrary, but the proper word to refer to Lego is BRICKS. Nearly all Lego YouTube channels have BRICKS in the title.

BLOCKS can be used for large plastic building toys. Hence the common product name: Building Blocks ?

??

? Need a hearty and nourishing main course?

Why not have a plate of paste?

600 Rubles for a dollop of paste on a plate, please ?

Translation fail in my favourite pub?

?? Does your dear professional and experienced teacher/linguist, Paul, make any typical native speaker mistakes??‍♀️

?

I know they're wrong but in my everyday speech these mistakes have become part of my vernacular..☹️

1️⃣ I often say 'less' instead of 'fewer'
2️⃣ I never use 'lie' & 'lay' as you learn; as you're supposed to learn. No human being says: I had lain.
3️⃣The use of 'me' & 'I' as in: Me and Peter punched a duck, instead of the correct and weird posh: Peter and I punched a duck.
4️⃣ Even though it's basically accepted, well almost, I never use 'were' in a conditional. I'm used to saying: If I was you, I'd punch a swan instead.
5️⃣The most embarrassing one ? I have been known to say: more better, more hot, more cold. These annoy me. When i make such mistakes, i watch a series of documentaries and read a bunch of books?‍?

If you Google 'typical grammar mistakes among native speakers,' I don't make those listed except these above. Because I went to school...

?? It's sweet when my advice gets quoted ?

My good friend Yulia in Kaluga quoted one of my top pieces of advice: Your students must feel that you want to be there!☝️?

What does that mean? Many teachers might have a CELTA, A at CPE, years of experience but all of that isn't enough.

You MUST like people. You MUST want to help them. You MUST want to put them before yourself. When students detect this, you are creating a safe and trustworthy teaching space. Learning quadruples.

If you're teaching because you like methodology, languages or linguistics, you'll get far. But nowhere near as far as that teacher who loves helping people above all else. Because that is what the students see first in you.

?? I would like to know...

My October Online C1-C2 Speaking Club is practically full except a couple of places left Tuesday evening. Some people are begging me to open other times.

This excludes anyone already signed up because it would cause a mess, but would anyone be intetested IF, I'll repeat IF i opened morning groups Saturday or Sunday? I'll repeat: IFFFFFF i happened to open....

?? Pointless vocab time?

? To headbutt someome ?

This form of attack, where you aggressively use the top of your head to smack someome else, is a favourite among us Brits. ?
?? Some random stranger corrected my use of articles. So I headbutted him. Nobody corrects my use of THE!!!

Not to be confused with: to head (in sports especially football), where you head the ball. The noun being: a header: he headed the ball into the goal/he scored with a header. ?⚽️

In ultra slang English, we can replace: to headbutt someome, with: to nut somone.
?? Some guy preferred English File 3rd Edition to Cutting Edge. So I nutted him.

?? Not quite so pointless vocab

Have you heard of RUCKING? ?

Well, now you will ?

Rucking is simply walking or hiking while carrying a weighted rucksack or backpack. It's a sport gaining a lot of momentum as it's safer on the joints than jogging, burns 3 times as many calories as standard walking and gives your whole body a thorough workout. Your dear teacher here does RUCKING. And when you go up a steep hill, it's rucking hard!!!