I Vant to Suck Your Blood!!

 
   Well, I don't.  But the popular arch-villian Count Dracula probably does.  Do you know why he is portrayed with that accent?  In the book he hails from eastern Europe, Transylvania specifically.  Many of the languages spoken in that area do not have both a 'w' sound and a 'v' sound like we have in English.

   The original story titled Dracula by Bram Stoker is much different than the movies and popular stories that have been influenced by this nineteenth century text.  For one thing, the Count (as I affectionately refer to him) never says anything so cheesy or unrefined as I want to suck your blood.  Though, he does have an imperfect English accent despite his near mastery (fluency) in English.

   The novel is written almost entirely in fictional journal entries of the various protagonists.  This is an interesting style and allows for exploration of the characters' thoughts and psyches without having them spout their feelings in dialogue for seemingly no reason.

   Another big difference between the original novel and so many of the more recent adaptations is that the setting is not Transylvania.  At the very beginning of the novel one of the characters is at Dracula's castle in eastern Europe, but from there most of the story takes place in and around London.

                 (Castle Dracula in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania)

  Dracula is a challenging read by modern standards.  If one is not comfortable or familiar with reading novels written over one hundred years ago, they may find it difficult to get through.  There are probably young adult and ELL adaptations to be found(note the graphic novel version pictured above).  I have seen great ELL adaptations of another favorite gothic horror classic, Frankenstein , by Mary Shelley.  This book also differs greatly from the famous movie versions that have been produced.

Vocabulary:
1. arch-villain (noun) - the main bad guy of a story
2. portray (verb) - to show something, represent something, like in a painting or movie
3. hail (verb) - to come from a place, or to call out from a place
4. imperfect (adj.) - not perfect
5. protagonist (noun)  - main character of a story, there may be more than one, like in Dracula
6. psyche (noun) - the mind, personality, what goes on inside someone's thoughts
7. adaptation (noun) - an altered or changed version of something, like a book or movie

Activity:  fill in the blanks
1. Spiderman is my favorite comic book  __________.
2. He is sometimes ___________ as his alter ego Peter Parker.
3. Even Spiderman is ___________ , sometimes he makes mistakes or gets his ribs broken.
4. Peter Parker _________ from the Big Apple, New York City.
5. It must be a weight on one's  ____________ to have multiple identities.
6. Venom and the Green Goblin are two ______________ in the Spidey comics.
7. There are a few movie ___________ of the Spiderman comics.

Grammar Point: Titles of full length works.
When you write the name of a novel, movie, or any full length work it should be italicized.  This is when the writing is on a diagnal or slanted.  When we write about the book, Dracula it needs this treatment.  You may be more familiar or comfortable with underlining, it is a good way to show the same respect for the work when you are writing by hand and cannot italicize.  You see in the post above that sometimes I did not do either to the name Dracula.  When I am writing about the character I do not need to change it, even though his name is the name of the book.  When I refer to the book, Bram Stoker's Dracula, it is necessary.

Introduction to Snowboarding cont'd

  So, you've got your board, boots, and bindings, and you think you're ready to hit the slopes!  Well, think again city dweller!  Apart from the  fact that snowboarding is difficult to learn and you can  expect to spend at least a few days racking up bumps and bruises before you start to get the hang of it, you're going to need some warm clothing.

It is even less fun to stumble, fall and twist if you're miserable from being cold and wet.  A big mistake for first timers is that they do not take this into account.  They don't want to try a second time because they were freezing cold and wet. Remember snow is after all frozen water!

What will you want/need to stay warm and dry?
1.  Snow pants (waterproof and insulated)
2.  Ski/Snowboard Jacket (waterproof and insulated)
3.  Thermal/Synthetic undergarments (breathable and synthetic fabric)
4.  Ski Socks (a must for your toes!)
5.  Warm gloves/mittens (preferably waterproof)

If your pants and/or jacket are not insulated, that is OK. It means you will have to wear extra layers underneath.  Synthetic fleece is a great layering choice, top or bottom.  Below are my pants and jackets.  The pants and jacket on the left are not insulated, so I primarily wear them late in the snowboarding season when the weather warms up.

 Vocabulary:
1. dweller (noun) - a person who lives someplace or stays one place for a long time
2. miserable (adjective) - extremely unhappy or very sad
3. freezing (adj.) - very cold, or literally turning from a liquid to a solid- like water to ice
4. insulated (adj.) - filled with or covered in something to effect temperature- ie. to keep something warm
5. synthetic (adj.) - a man-made version of something  or chemically created substances like plastics

Activity:  Answer the following questions.  Please write your answers in English.
1.  Why do you want good snow pants if you're going to try snowboarding?
2.  Do you think having warm clothes is important for you?
3.  How does where you live effect you answer to question 2?
4.  If you want to snowboard how will that change your thinking?

Grammar point:  series

 Look at the first sentence of today's post.  I have some words in blue.  They are three items I am discussing as well as the conjunction and.  When you write about more than two items and you are listing them one after another you must place a comma after each one except the last.  You use the conjunctions 'and' or 'or' only before the last item, no matter how many there are.  If I were to talk about many of the Seven Dwarfs (or dwarves?) from the Disney Movie, Snow White it might look like this:  Sleepy, Grumpy, Dopey, and Franky all went looking for firewood. 

Do You Like to Read?

 I sure do!  I like to read novels.  Novels are works of fiction, that are full-length.  I like the endless possibilities and stories that authors can dream up and put on paper.  A few of my favorite novelists are Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.  Some of their books are read in school, and you may have already read one! 

Sometimes I cannot read a whole book for one reason or another.  It can be fun and informative to read short-stories instead.  These are also works of fiction, but can be as short as one page!  The three authors mentioned above are all known for their short stories as well.  Short stories are great for ELLs too!

Another option for shorter reading experiences is something called a novela.  This means a short novel.  These are longer than short stories, but not as long as a novel.  Whether a book is called a short novel, a novel or a novela can be something of a grey area.  Some great short novels include Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Time Machine and War of the Worlds by 19th century British author, H.G. Wells.

Vocabulary:
1. fiction (noun) - completely made up stories, false, make believe. 
2. novel (noun) - a book that tells a (fictional/made up) story
3. novelist (noun) - one who writes novels, an author who writes novels
4. informative (adj.) - provides information, teaches something, shows you something new
5. grey area (noun) - refers to something that is difficult to answer, ambiguous, no definite solution

Exercise:
 Read a short story.  It can be from one of my favorite authors, or from one of yours. Write me an email or make a comment post about the story you read.

Grammar Point:
Making plural nouns.  Many regular singular nouns can be made into plurals by adding 's' to the end.  Some examples of this are how novel becomes novels, book becomes books, work becomes works and author becomes authors.  Words that end in -y usually become plural by removing the -y and adding -ies.  Examples of this are story becomes stories and possibility becomes possibilities.  There are other ways of making plurals but these are two common regular formations.

College Football and the Heisman Trophy

Today is a big day for college football.  The regular season is winding down and bowl season is coming up.  The bowl games are important season-ending games for some of the best college teams in the country.  Because there are so many colleges they have to use a special system for deciding which teams will play for the championship and in the various bowl games.  It is called the BCS or Bowl Championship Series.  It uses a complicated system of computer analysis, votes from writers and experts, and college coaches' input.

Today they will be annoucing the college football player who won this year's Heisman Trophy award.  This award is presented to the single most impressive football player in the whole country.  This is a very famous and prestigous award.  Look at the picture above.  The statue is famous for its pose as well as what it represents.

Only the top players from the top teams are looked at for the Heisman because of the level of competition they face.  One very exciting rivalry game in college football is when Westpoint (Army officers' training academy) plays against the Naval Academy located in Annapolis, MD.  It is referred to as the Army-Navy game and all of the students at both schools want their team to win.  I am a fan of Navy because I like their style of play and their current quarterback, Ricky Dobbs.



Vocabulary:
1. winding down (expression): close to finishing, almost done
2. system (noun)- a method or series of steps and procedures to do something
3. championship (noun) - the final game of a sports competition
4. various (adj.) - referring to a number of different things
5. prestigous (adj.) - known to be of great value and/or importance

Exercise:
Write a few sentences about a sport you like, or one you don't like.  What do you think about American football?  Do you think snowboarding is a sport?  What about golf? 

Grammar Point:
 When a dash (also called a hyphen) is used between two words it connects them.  It is used to show that the two words go together, or together create one meaning.  In the post above you see Army-Navy which is the name of the game that the two teams play against each other and season-ending.  When the two words 'season' and 'ending' are combined with a dash they become one adjective to describe an event that ends a season.  It is often heard in regards to sports, but many words can be connected in this manner.

Snowboarding for beginners

Maybe my blog should be retitled:  A blog about snowboarding.  I just can't help myself.  It seems everywhere I go someone is asking me about snowboarding.  When will the mountains open?  Where are we going to go?  I can't wait to try out my new board! These are just a few of the questions that I have been hearing.  So here is a rundown of the equipment you need to snowboard.  You can rent it at most mountains so you don't need to make a large investment upfront.  But be warned, snowboarding is a very expensive hobby!

You will need special boots called snowboarding boots.  On the left are the boots I wear.  They are basically just thick snowboots.  One advantage of snowboarding over skiing is that the boots are more natural and comfortable.

You will also need bindings.  Bindings hold your boots to the board.  On the left is an old binding that I still have around.  The straps close around your boot.  (I am just wearing my jeans and sneakers)

And of course you will need a snowboard! On the left are my snowboard (can you see the bindings?) and a new snowboard I bought for my girlfriend.

Vocabulary:

1. rundown (noun):  a short list with just a few details about each item

2. rent (verb): to pay to borrow something for a short time

3. investment (noun): money used to start something including savings, a business or a hobby

4. to warn (warned) (verb): saying something that helps avoid danger or difficulty

5. expensive (adj.): worth a lot or costing a lot of money

6. binding (noun): an object that holds other things together, like the spine of a book or a snowboard binding.

Fill in exercise:

1.  You should also be __________ that snowboarding can be dangerous.

2.  I like to _________ movies instead of buying them because I don't usually watch them more than once.

3.  Putting money in the stock market is a form of financial _________.

4.  I will warn you that it can be __________ if you don't invest wisely.

5.  The _________ is wearing off of the back of my favorite book because I have read it so many times.

6.  Can you please give me a ___________ of what we are going to do today in class?

Grammar Point:

A form of a verb that is used as an adjective is called a participle.  Warned is a particple of the verb to warn.  In the examples in this blog post it is used as a predicate adjective along with the verb 'to be'.

For instance:  You should be warned...

We can also write: You should be happy...      See how happy is the predicate adjective here?

'Warned' is playing the same role in the previous sentence.  The difference is that it was formed from the verb 'to warn' by adding 'ed' on the end.  This makes it the past participle.

PS.  Here's a closer look at the graphic(picture) on the white snowboard.

Places I long to be...

Park City, Utah.  Vancouver, British Columbia.  Otis, Massachusetts.

What do these three places have in common?  They are all places where people can ski and snowboard.  Whistler Mountain in Vancouver is where the Winter Olympics will be in February.  Otis is the first place I ever snowboarded, and Park City Utah is where I have had my most memorable riding experiences.

What you see below is a bowl I shredded called McConkey's at Park City Resort. Pretty steep huh?

One of the unique things about Park City, Utah is that the ski mountain has the same name as the town.  This demonstrates how the city feels about skiing and snowboarding.  The culture of the mountain is so ingrained in the town, that even though the base area is a couple miles away, they have a chair lift that comes right into the center of Main St.  Appropriately, it is called the Town Lift.  It is a little easier to see how it goes right into the heart of town in the summer time picture on the left.

I would say this should be your first stop if you are visiting, but you need to have your ski/snowboard gear on before you hop on the lift.  If you want to have lunch first, there are some great restaurants right on Main Street as well.  One place right next to the Town Lift, sells cheeseburgers that has grilled cheese sandwiches for each bun!! Wow!!

Wow, indeed!

 Vocabulary: 

1. Vancouver (proper noun): a large city in British Columbia, Canada.

2. hop (verb): to jump, especially on one foot only.  To get on something quickly.

3. gear (noun): equipment used to do something, especially specific equipment for a sport or hobby

4. appropriately (adverb): an action that is expected, normal and/or acceptable for the situation.

5. chair lift (noun): a large machine that has chairs hanging from a moving cable to bring you up a mountain.

6. unique (adjective): belongs to only one person, place or category; special.

Vocabulary Exercise:

1. One of the ___________ things about Park City, Utah is the Town Lift.

2. If I am going to drive you to school you better ________ in the car before I have to leave for work!

3. The coldest part of skiing is when you ride the _____________ up to the top of the mountain.

4. I try to get one new piece of  ________ before snowbaoridng season, even if it is a helmet or gloves.

5. I _____________ wear a helmet when I snowboard becuase it is easy to hurt your head.

6. The Winter Olympics are in ___________ in February 2010, a city in Canada near Whislter Mountain.

Grammar point - another use of commas

When we write about a place within a place we have to use commas to separate the place names.  Usually the smaller place is written first, then a comma and then the bigger place.  Here are some examples:

Long Island, New York

Rockville Centre, New York

Park City, Utah

Vancouver, British Columbia

Can you write the name of the town and state you live in following this method?

What would you do if you want to inclue the country?

...and boy are my arms tired!!

  From whisking, stirring and making some Thanksgiving food!  It is the day before Thanksgiving, and I am attending a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's house.  It is a 'potluck' dinner, so each person is in charge of cooking a dish or two.  First, I made brownies with a raspberry swirl covered in white chocolate and salted almonds.  Yum!

My arms were already a little tired from whipping the brownie batter into shape, but then it was time to chop the onions for the turkey stuffing.  Well, my eyes got a work out too!  Cutting onions is supposed to make your eyes tear up, but I was crying like a baby.  It was quite a sight, I am sure.  There were also a few ingredients that needed to be whisked up for the stuffing including heavy cream, some more eggs and chicken broth.

It was hard not to eat all the brownies before the stuffing was done, but it's about ready to come out of the oven.  I am very excited to go to my friend's house to eat it along with the turkey we are going to fry!!

Vocabulary:
1. whip (verb)- whipped, whipping:  to mix or stir something quickly and thoroughly
2. whisk (verb)- whisked, whisking: also to mix or stir somethingly quickly and thoroughly
3. stuffing (noun): a food that goes inside something else, or is cooked inside of something else.
4. ingredients (noun): different food items that are used to make a dish, found in a recipe
5. fry (verb): to cook something in oil
6. batter (noun): a mixture of ingredients that is a thick and has qualities of a solid and a liquid
7. Thanksgiving (proper noun): An American holiday
8. raspberry(noun): a small red berry, a fruit.

Exercise- fill in the blank with a vocabulary word.

1.  My favorite Thanksgiving dish is the _________ that comes out of the turkey.
2.  The instructions in the recipe called for two eggs and a cup of cream to be ____________ together.
3.  I like to have extra _________ cream on my ice cream sundaes.
4.  On the American holiday of ________________ people get together for a big dinner with their family.
5.  We have a berry bush in our yard that grows little red ____________ that we can pick.
6.  When I cook pancakes for breakfast the ________________ gets everywhere.
7.  You can __________  a whole turkey by slowly lowering it into a big tub of hot oil.
8.  A recipe contains instructions that tell you what to do and a list of __________ that tells you what to use.

Grammar point:
 Do you know what a synonym is?  It is a fancy word we use to say two words have the same or similar meanings.  For instance, cup and mug are synonyms.  They are both things we drink out of.  Can you find a pair of synonyms in the vocabulary list?