Friday 14-16 hrs class

Please click on Comments below and continue the story. When you post, please write your name so we can take ¨attendance¨ for our online class. Have fun and be creative! There is no ´wrong´ answer. (Students from other class sections can also feel free to participate.) The first person to post can choose one of these beginnings. The rest can follow that post:

1. It was a dark and stormy night. She could see only the dark road ahead of her, illuminated by the moonlight...
2. Once upon a time, in the land of Make Believe, there lived a magical...
3. ¨Would you like some more tea?¨ offered Aunt Edna. Little did she know it, but...

Charly´s journey to the Far North

Charly will be gone from Friday, May 23rd until June, June 3rd to attend his brother´s wedding in the United States. After a week of family and food, he will return with stories and pictures (and possibly looking like this from all the food).

The Friday 12-14hrs section will meet in the normal time and place with Kristal. The Friday 14-16 hrs class will have an online class on this website. Just post a response with your name and that will be your ¨attendance¨ for the day.

In the meantime, be excellent to each other.

Movie night this Wednesday

Thanks to everyone who came to our inaugural North American Breakfast! Thanks for being brave enough to come in even though the doorbell didn´t work and being brave enough to try some new foods even though they might seem a little weird!

...::: MOVIE NIGHT :::...

Waking Ned Devine (Ireland, 1998)

This Wednesday, May 21st

9pm, at Charly´s apartment

Calle 58, N° 819 Dept 6A entre 11 y 12

Movie Night, English Breakfast

So sorry, everyone! Tonight´s movie night will have to be cancelled as well!!! I´m feeling sick to my stomach and won´t be able to make it happen tonight! Sorry! I promise the next movie night will happen!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact Kristal or me if you´d like to come to our first-ever North American Breakfast, which will be this Sunday at 4pm, also at my apartment. We will be making a stereotypically large breakfast in the U.S. style. Possible items on the menu include: orange juice, toast, peanut butter and jelly, french toast, bacon, eggs, pancakes, milk and cereal, etc. Please contact us by Friday if you´re interested so we know how much to make.

Anyone missing a dictionary?

Hey all,

In the Thursday 12-14 class, someone may have left a giant, beautiful dictionary.  Emiliano was thoughtful enough to pick it up for whoever left it.  If it's you're write us and we'll hook up the reunion!

xxooK

Movie Night

A correction! Movie night this week has been cancelled, but we will resume movie night next Wednesday, same time and place. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Where? Charly´s depto: Calle 58, N° 819, Dept. 6A, entre 11 y 12
When? Wednesday, May 14 - starting at 9pm
What? Another optional English Movie Night. Bring your own food/beverages if you like. Also, we will make some North- and South- American food.

Questions? Messenger: che_carlitos_eua@hotmail.com, cel: (11) 3251-9018

---------------------------------------------------------------------

PS - Also, anyone interested in seeing The Life Aquatic (La Vida Acuática), directed by Wes Anderson, can see it this Sunday, May 11, at 8pm. It´s showing here in La Plata at a theater on 19 y 51. I will probably go, so anyone interested can contact me or meet up there. - Charly

Bilingual Writing Workshop

Hello,

I would like to invite anyone interested to participate in a bilingual writing workshop that I'm starting.  The first one will be Saturday, May 10 from 16:00-18:00 at Cafe de las Artes.  It will take place every other Saturday.  For the first one, just bring some paper and a pen.  Invite anyone you know who loves to write.  This is an excellent opportunity for you writers to write fiction, poetry, memoir, spoken word, plays, screenplays, or whatever you want in English in a supportive environment with other people who love to write.  However, you can write in Castellano if you'd like.  We'll help each other with language issues :) 

Any questions, email me at kristalbivona@gmail.com.  

Paz, Kristal

Etymology of Zen

Just to clarify, when I use the phrase Moment of Zen to refer to the five-minute break we have between the first and second hour of class time, I am borrowing the phrase, and the concept, from a popular US comedy/news show called The Daily Show. At the end of each show, they show a funny video clip introduced by the phrase, ¨And now, your Moment of Zen.¨

While the etymological origin of the word Zen comes from the practice of meditation, the phrase ¨Moment of Zen¨ is a purely secular pop-culture reference. Click on the following links for possible definitions of the word zen, as used in everyday parlance: Urban Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Meta-filter.

I hope it is clear that I am not, in fact, trying to make you into devout Japanese Buddhist monks. I just want to have everyone in class take 5 minutes for themselves to do whatever it is they need to do: go to the bathroom, stretch, eat some food, talk to their neighbor, etc. I also feature a five-minute selection of music in English relating to the course theme of the day, for those who choose to stay at their seats. Research shows that a short break helps students to maintain focus.

I suppose I could just call this time a five minute break, or a ´Freedom Hiatus,´ just as I could call our Word on the Street a ´daily quotation.´ But I don´t do it that way. Why? Because I´m eccentric.

...And now, here´s your Moment of Zen.

Feel free to post here or to speak with me personally if you have any questions, queries, concerns or comments. As always, the only ¨rules¨ for posting are to please try to write in English and be respectful of others.