Mom is in Print

Yep, it's official. The publication arrived today, with my chapter entitled " Bringing Language to Life in Second-Year Spanish". It describes what I did with a tutorial class at Sauk-- a group of 5 students who asked me to do the second year class with them. They were great students and we just had a ball in class. They took whatever work I gave them and asked for more. They conjugated verbs in eight tenses and did culture projects and watched Destinos while eating chips and salsa. It was amazing. Writing about what I did, and having it published, was the icing on the cake.

It doesn't make any difference in the real world (where I am teaching high school kids who chew gum and throw erasers and are shocked that there might be more than the present tense in Spanish) but it makes for good reading. And remembering.

Hooray!

better late than never... photos of Spain

Hey, it is good to see some Widdershins activity. I have to admit, spinning in a backwards direction pretty well sums up my activity this fall. Coming back from Spain and landing a new job before even unpacking my suitcase has thrown me into quite the whirlwind.

Here are a few pictures. Spain was beautiful, rich in history and culture. The Plaza Mayor is arguably the most beautiful in all of Spain. The aquaduct, in Segovia, was built by the Romans in the first century and still works. And of course, the view of Salamanca across the old Roman bridge with the twin cathedrals in the background is classic Spain.

Jag kommer från Sverige?

Sweden is amazing. The picture is from a weekend trip to Stockholm we took a week or so ago. Today I booked a week long trip to Lapland in December! My highlight will be running a dog sled team to see the Northern Lights :) I also have cheap Ryanair trips to Holland & Germany booked for this fall!

Everything is so laid back here, as far as class goes. It's shaping to be a pretty good semester.

Little Grand Canyon

With a name like that for a park in Illinois I wasn't quite sure what to expect (I was thinking maybe "canyon" would translate to a path between some rock slabs no longer than my kitchen). But I was pleasantly surprised. It was more like a tiny valley between some decent sized hills (for Illinois), but it was really pretty at the bottom. There wasn't much water flowing and you could walk right down the rocks. Unfortunately they were just slippery enough from the rain we had the day before that Caedmon fell down a bunch of times and we never really made it through the end of the "canyon." But in conclusion, though misnomered, it's actually a nice little park.