orality and story in English
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The Room Next Door
Is there a door to death? Seeing the new Almodovar film about assisted dying sent me back to something I wrote down in answer to this question after seeing my mother for the last time. Quite a journey, but one which shows what happens when metaphors get real. Let me try and explain.
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Vehicle of Change
My all time favorite automobile has to be a grey Morris Oxford Series II with red leather seats. It was our first family car which our dad turned up with one evening after work shortly before we moved house in the summer of 1964.
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Is Shakespeare better in translation?
English is my mother tongue but I have lived most of my life in France. Recently, I went to see a new production of Shakespeare's Richard III in French. For the first time in my life I realised I could actually undertsand every word. Okay, so here's the big question : Is Shakespeare simply better in translation?
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Shakespeare in French? You must be joking!
Believing you won't understand something can be an obstacle to even trying. Why didn't I feel that as I followed Richard III's opening monologue in a new production of this famous Shakespeare play in French ? Perhaps because, when you are in a theatre, you are drawn into a more-than-verbal situation. You are held in a room by a character, eye to eye, who wants you to understand what s/he is going through by any means necessary. Unless Shakespeare is simply better in translation?
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Dublin Lad Learns Morse
Ken Kenny, our Dad, was many things in his lifetime, and among them was Marine Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy. He could always be coaxed into talking about the years he spent at sea. He loved telling people about this period because it took him and his listeners on a journey to places we'd all heard of, but that he'd been to, and come away with a story, or sometimes several. Here's one of those stories. A chance to explore the world of a Merchant Marine Radio Officer.
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A voice to be reckoned with
I first noticed John Trudell in 1992, the year he released a CD called AKA Grafitti Man. It was the wind and fury of "Rockin the Res", heard on the radio, that stopped me in my tracks. His was a voice : almost conversational but somehow assertive. He seemed to be talking about life as he experienced it, but also something wider. And wilder. The tension and poetry made you sit up and listen, and the music made you want to dance even if you didn't know how. Want to know more? Discover John Trudell here.
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Smoke Signals in the classroom
Storytelling in the language classroom is a powerful tool. But what happens if nobody wants to listen? Or if, at least, that's how it feels? The problem is often not with the story. It's about the smoke signal you're sending out : people can't see the signal, all they can see is the smoke. Here are some ways to change that.
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We all know stories
We all know stories. But how can they become part of classroom learning? When I first fell into teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in 1981, John Morgan and Mario Rinvolucri were already developing their ideas on the use of storytelling for the language classroom. A chance encounter with Mario Rinvolucri would set me up for a life with storytelling in the classroom. Here's how it happened.
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Making people listen
This is a story about primary orality : thought and expression untouched by the culture of writing or print. There are places where language takes root, grows and generally has a field-day. Street markets are full of people who use language to make us listen. Want to know more about the price of cabbages and today's unbeatable offer on sheets and towels? Read on, dear reader.
