H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N…..Sun-Shine-Open-Days……
by Bernie Bell - 09:59 on 31 July 2023
H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N…..
I’ve recently been in contact with someone who teaches English as a Foreign Language to ‘new arrivals’. This reminded me of two old friends of mine who taught EFL, many years ago.
Richard was teaching EFL in Naples, and I went to stay with him and his girlfriend – what a wonderful place….
https://theorkneynews.scot/2022/06/15/remembering-pompeii-and-herculaneum/
He then taught EFL in Japan and found it very hard to get to grips with the Japanese way of being. Having recently read ‘The Japanese Chronicles’ by Nicolas Bouvier I have a better understanding of that – Richard was a laid-back hippie at the time.
Julian also taught EFL in Italy - he now writes historical novels!...
https://www.historythroughfiction.com/blog/julian-de-la-motte
This exchange also reminded me of the books by Leonard Q. Ross ( aka Leo Rosten) - ‘The Education of Hyman Kaplan’ and ‘The Return of Hyman Kaplan’. They’re about the amusing experiences of someone teaching EFL.
Always looking for something to read - preferably something new, but failing that, something I read so long ago that the memory has faded – I dug the two H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N books out of the bookshelves and started to read the first one.
I’m enjoying it - as did Evelyn Waugh who observed…
‘This collection of very brief sketches is delicious. Hyman Kaplan is immensely funny. A lovely book.’
And Nicolas Bentley – also known for his humour - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bentley …
‘I weep with him, I share all his pleasures. I luff him as mine brudder.’
It’s worth thinking of all those folk who arrive in Britain and need to get to grips with what can be a very confusing language. I’m thinking of the examples given in the chapter entitled ’The Fourth Homonym’ in Isaac Asimov’s ‘Puzzles of the Black Widowers’ –
Whether - wether - weather
Right – write – rite – wright
Then there’s bear – to carry, or the animal, tho’ spelt the same - and bare meaning naked
And …. through - threw
Picking it up gradually as you go along is one thing - can be confusing enough – but learning from scratch as quickly as possible will be far more difficult.
https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/
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Sun-Shine-Open-Days……
The sun shone – gloriously – for the Ness Open Day…
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/2023-day-20/
My favourite is the image entitled ‘Marine Bone – Jo Bourne’.
I likes bones.
Here’s my own Marine Bone, found at Rerwick.....https://theorkneynews.scot/2020/11/14/rerwick-revisited/ ....
Metal - Wood - Stone - Bone
And at Swandro – where the Iron Age re-enactors brought along their friend Yorick…
https://www.swandro.co.uk/post/open-day-fun-in-the-sun
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/07/20/the-age-gap/
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