It feels almost unimaginable that we can now work online from the comfort of our homes as an English teacher. I remember back to my days at Tech in the 1990s when a guy at Tech got a pager for the first time. A pager you say? You even forgot they existed right? That was…
Read MoreIreland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick is a man of pure oxymoronic nature if today’s commercial excrement could for an ungreedy second be aware of who this guy really was. Money took over the world folks – just ask DickMonalds and Coca Cola. There is no need for Valentine’s Day Thorntons or Interflora or Christmas Santa…
Read More“Where do you go? Buttoned in your favourite coat, stepping out to a different world. And you might be home late.”- Ocean Colour Scene. Aged 17 I flicked through the CDs in His Master’s Voice record shop in Belfast city, the Northern Irish passion-drenched capital. Imagine the thrill of it all. Life was amazing. I…
Read MoreLearning a language abroad is an amazing experience and one I have indulged in so many times. These days, it has become much easier. Those based in the UK, try the ESL website for some great ideas about learning a language abroad. In this post, I’ll discus my three most exciting times learning languages abroad,…
Read More“Damn my education, I can’t find the words to say with all the things caught in my mind” – Noel Gallagher. It is a line taken from the Oasis song “Don’t Go Away” which was released the same year I left Bangor Grammar School, 1997. I wrote very recently how it just passed the 25…
Read More“Where were you while we were in 1Y?” Here yousens! Did youse bring a tennis ball? Baggsy not nets. That’s rare so it is. It’s hard for me to believe that the above photo is 25 years old this week. It was taken on my first day at Bangor Grammar School, in August 1991 and…
Read MoreThis is my first ever blog post on here in part-Polish, It’s coming towards the end of my second month in Poland and though, I have travelled around Pomorskie and into Kaliningrad in that time, I have found time away from work to start to learn Polish, with Learn Polish in Gdańsk. I did a…
Read More“Come eat tomatoes with me, sing me something new” – Vicky Everitt (1997). I took some of this story out of my upcoming book to share it on my blog today… Oh Vicky, I have no idea if you’ll remember me or not. But you left your mark on this nomadic Northern Irishman back in…
Read More“Libraries gave us power” – Manic Street Preachers. It’s been ages since I did a Studying Saturdays post and I still believe that we are all perpetual students until the day we die. We are always learning, always studying. We are forever on a learning cycle on this planet. As far as learning languages is…
Read More“I followed the stars and I sailed to the sun, I held it in my fingers. Alone on the beach on my own out of reach when you just passed me by. I’d give you the world if you’d take my hand, but you left me alone in the sinking sand. I strike up the band…
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