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The Brida Journal
Email : [email protected]
www.journal.brida.eu
Week 03/2020
The journal for learners of English, by learners of English
To do, or not to do?
What do you want to do in English?
What do a cat, foreign language lessons and an exhibition have in common? The three are
unrelated. A little lateral thinking will help you can make a connection. If you don’t have a cat, it
might not be so obvious.
It starts with a kitten.
Two years ago, whilst going for a walk in our neighbourhood, my wife picked up an abandoned
kitten which was in a very bad state. The next morning, we took the kitten to the local animal
shelter. They told us it would have a better chance of survival with us. She moved into our
bathroom, snarled and hissed at us, but eagerly gobbled up the food we gave it. On Monday, we
drove to the vet. One hour later and €160 spent, she moved into our house permanently.
Observing a kitten becoming a “catten” becoming a cat, is fascinating. Perhaps I am a bad
teacher because I don’t teach her anything. I just provide an environment for her to flourish. She
gets fed, learns to interact with our other two cats and she does what cats do: catching mice,
redecorating the house by tearing down the wallpaper, achieving a lot of sleep and being very
picky about the food we give her.
We don’t send her to a cat school because there is no such thing. She learns instinctively by doing
things. Now, she is learning to play football. She skids and slides across the across the living
room floor, kicking a cloth ball around. She is learning how to do it, by herself. Sometimes she
crashes into furniture, bumps her head against a table leg. She is having fun doing it and she
makes us laugh as we observe her. Of course, her football training will translate into the skill of
catching mice.
Learning a foreign language.
Before Christmas, I asked a class of mine; “What do you want to do in English?” To make things
easier, the participants could choose from a list. After making their choices, we went “shopping”,
“planned a trip”, “read an article” (and discussed it). All very ordinary things. All activities were
done in the Brida environment. The “shopping” was done in a real online shop in the Brida
Bazaar, the trip was planned on a travel website and the article was provided by someone who
had written it for the Brida Journal.
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