Buondì. I have a new assistant, an American college student, a friend of my daughter’s, who my wife remembers as being ‘very smart’. She’s working remotely, so I haven’t actually met her, except ages ago when I cooked for some of Sofia’s friends at her flat in Glasgow, back in 2019, so before the pandemic, […]
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Buondì. This morning, after taking Roomie to her kindergarten, more or less on the exact opposite side of the Italian city I live in, then crawling back through the rush hour traffic, I’ll be swapping our antique people carrier for my even more antique motorbike and heading back out into the snarl up for a […]
Incomprehensible foreign concepts there to trick you!
Buondì. Now that I’m done banging my head against a brick wall (teaching Italian adults English), all sorts of new projects are coming to mind, more than enough to fill any extra time I might have. One of those ideas is to go back and look at the organisation and content of the club website, […]
Perfect life: practice run!
Buondì. Yesterday, I taught my last English class to Italian adults. Ever! One of whom bought me cakes from the finest pasticceria in the city, by way of thanks. I don’t eat cakes, because I prefer my excess calories in liquid form, but my wife was pleased. Then, late last night, today’s individual lesson got […]
Not what I was expecting, rather disappointed…
Buondì. Many, many years ago, when I first came to Italy and was looking for films to practice my listening comprehension on, I bought a rather expensive VHS cassette, from Ipercoop. Ipercoop still exists, but no longer sells VHS cassettes, nor DVDs for that matter. They have some reasonable malt whiskies, though. Anyway, the film […]
Boh!
Buondì. Despite the obvious irritations of always having underfoot a small human, the risk of wine being spilled, or getting bitten when trying to brush tangled hair, there are plus sides. Such as being forcibly reintroduced to songs for young children, which can, I admit, be entertaining, and also educational. One of our staples for […]
No tweezers (for leeches) or technical socks required
Buondì. This morning I, my wife, and Roomie, took the bus into Bologna, where on descending we went our separate ways – her to open our Italian school, and R and I on foot, out from the historic downtown to her ‘asilo nido’ (nursery, kindergarten), which is located towards the base of the hills. Having […]
Four types of language learner – which are you?
Buondì. Just to clarify something – I’m ‘retiring’ (with no pension) from teaching English, not from the various other things I do. Those include writing these articles, SELLING EBOOKS, being the person who’ll go to jail if our Italian school inadvertently breaks any laws, and, um, getting bitten by agressive toddlers (Sunday’s highlight!) So no […]
Sowing your seeds on stony ground
Buondì. I’m approaching the end of a thirty-year career attempting to teach English to people who, mostly, had no real idea how to learn, other than repeating what had already not worked very well (studying tenses, and so on…) Since 1998, those people have mostly been Italians, who, frankly, are some of the worst students […]
Hai la pipì? / Vuoi un gelato?
Buondì. The weather’s rather hot in Bologna, where I live, and that’s been trying everyone’s patience. For which reason, Roomie and I were out of the house early on Saturday and Sunday morning, with the aim of leaving my wife a little time to knit. The longer we were gone, the better. We plodded to […]