Intro
It's the end of August, and another summer is slowly coming to its end... This month I wrote two new summer-themed posts: a review of "The Colony", an intriguing novel by the Irish author Audrey Magee, and a retro TV tip - the 1970s television adaptation of Enid Blyton's series of "The Famous Five" books. And below you'll also find a selection of older posts - including vocabulary lessons and exercises for English language learners.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Books & Literature
Book review: "The Colony" by Audrey Magee
Set on a small island off the west coast of Ireland, “The Colony” is a complex novel exploring the themes of colonisation, identity and belonging.
Eat like Sherlock: food in Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories
I’ve read all the canonical Sherlock Holmes stories and took notes of his dietary habits. Here’s what I found out.
Culture & Media
Retro TV tip: “The Famous Five” (1978)
In this post I’m presenting my favourite TV series based on Enid Blyton’s adventure stories, namely the 1978-1979 version of “The Famous Five,” produced by Southern Television.
Listening tips: Walking
If you haven’t given walking much thought, in this post I’ll present a few listening tips on the subject. Hopefully they will inspire you to see it with fresh eyes and – if you don’t tend to be very active – motivate you to get a pair of walking shoes and get on the road.
Learning English
English verb patterns: gerund or infinitive?
A verb pattern is a grammatical structure that follows a verb in a sentence. In English, there are several different verb patterns, and in this grammar post we’ll focus on two of the most common ones.
Let’s talk about books and literature
In this post we’ll go over the vocabulary that you can use to discuss books, from the words for different genres to providing physical descriptions of a book.
"The House" by H. P. Lovecraft
In this post you can read a poem by H. P. Lovecraft, the celebrated writer of horror stories. The post includes a vocabulary exercise suitable for students at the intermediate (B2) level.