weekly posts on literature, languages, and learning
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 January 1809, Edgar Allan Poe is widely recognised as one of the seminal voices of the American literature. Best known as the master of the macabre, his writings are very diverse, including numerous short stories, essays, and poems. Almost two centuries after his death, his Dark Romanticist writings continue …
Continue reading "“A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe"
One thing I often notice in student papers is the random use of dashes and hyphens. In most cases, people simply use hyphens only, probably because they are easiest to find on computer and smartphone keyboards. Another reason is that only very few seem to be able to tell the difference between -, –, and …
Thomas Hardy was an English poet who lived and worked between two literary eras, connecting the legacy of British Romanticism with the early 20th century poetry. Best known as a novelist, thanks to classics such as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd, he is also rightly considered one of the finest …
Continue reading "“Winter in Durnover Field” by Thomas Hardy"
U nastavi stranih jezika danas se primjenjuje niz metoda. Neke od njih su tradicionalne, razvijene prije više od jednog stoljeća, dok druge još uvijek imaju status eksperimentalnih. U ovom tekstu ćemo se upoznati sa najčešće korištenim pristupima u nastavi jezika, kao i njihovim prednostima i manama. Jedna od najstarijih je gramatičko-prijevodna metoda. Kao što samo ime …
Last time we had a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson here on the blog, it was his lovely short piece “The Owl”. In this post I’d like to present “Ring Out, Wild Bells”: it’s a classic New Year’s Eve poem, filled with good wishes and hopeful pleas. First published in 1850, it addresses everything from …
Continue reading "A poem for the New Year: “Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Lord Alfred Tennyson"
Beginning of a new year is the perfect time to reassess one’s priorities and set personal goals for the coming twelve months. I’ve been doing my New Year’s resolutions for many years, always writing them down on the first page of my annual planner. Looking back, most of my past resolutions were quite unrealistic (lose 10 kg; learn to play an instrument; master another foreign language…), but over time I realised that resolutions only make sense if they are realistic and manageable; otherwise, they are just a litany of nice but unattainable wishes.
In this post, I’ll offer some advice for language learners: how to define your personal resolutions and use them as an effective learning tool.
Look back at the previous year and think: in which areas did you make the most progress (vocabulary, grammar, listening skills etc.)? Is there something that continues to be a problem…
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At the very end of 2022, in this post I will present an overview of all the podcasts included in the The Weekend Listener series throughout the past year. In case you’ve missed any of the previous instalments, you’ll find all the listening tips here below, sorted by the following categories: language literature learning English …
Continue reading "The Weekend Listener #14: End-of-Year Review (2022)"
We’ve encountered Walt Whitman’s poetry on this blog before: in a longish post where I offered some advice on how to interpret poems, I presented his poem To a Stranger. And now I would like to share with you another poem of his, on a similar theme of the need for love and companionship. Walt …
In 2021 some of the major dictionary publishers chose words related to the pandemic, unsurprisingly, while others reflected on the broader social issues or tech developments. (If you don’t recall what those words were, click here to refresh your memory). With New Year’s just around the corner, let’s see which words marked the year 2022, …
The Weekend Listener is an eclectic weekly list of noteworthy podcasts and radio recordings, old and new, curated for your listening pleasure. Posts in this series are published on Fridays – please search the website for the previous instalments. LANGUAGE Science Diction | Language Evolves: It’s Literally Fine Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com Language constantly …
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