Rigging up the Lights

As promised, here are some Americans who are a bit too crazy about their Christmas lights. Enjoy the show!

Also, for those who wanted to know how to make snickerdoodle cookies, here's the recipe I used. Just one change: Don't add the cream of tatar or baking soda; instead replace these with 4 teaspoons (about 20 mL) of baking powder (proszek do pieczenia).

Let's put the X back in Christmas!

It's time for the anual Christmas lesson! This Tuesday and Wednesday (December 14, 15) prepare to catch the Christmas spirit! How excited are you?

Calm down! Let's not get that excited (brrrrrr)

Anyhoo, lets try something with a little more ..... decorum.

Yes, that's much better.

Anyway, despite all the dancing and drinking and general excitement (and gift giving) there will be a lesson to be learned and you'll need to have the material in the following three links:

Two songs about the True Meaning® of Christmas

Why the murder rate increases in the Christmas Season

Ancient American Christmas legend

As mentioned previously, holiday snacks are very welcome....

Photos taken from the Awkward Family Photos site, exploring the dark side of American life since .... a few years ago.

Weekly update is finally here! Patience rewarded again!

Due to massive snow drifts and catastrophic technological breakdowns, the weekly update is late....

This is not in Poland.

There were also fears about Ms Gabster's health due to the lacklustre student response to her illness.

"Why don't they send "Get well" messages?

But she's made of pretty stern stuff and has risen triumphantly from her sickbed.

So fear not, things are finally running like a well-oiled machine again.

A metaphor for the institute? 

Anyway, for this week you will need........ but first a break for this week's Cavalcade of Bizarreness.

Unfortunately, comic strips in newspapers have never been popular in Poland, which means that most people here have no idea of the glory that is Mary Worth. That means you won't appreciate how the most annoying person in comics can combine with the official Worst Song of All Time to create sheer awesomeness.

    Some things were never meant to leave the shores of North America. 

Finally, can your heart stand the terror of Dogs Playing Poker????

Every vet in the US is required by law to have this picture in their waiting room.

Okay, in the interests of time that'll be it for this weeks Cavalcade of Bizarreness.

For class this week just make sure you have your textbooks.

Kind of a letdown, huh? Anyway, see you in class.

Special post for Miss Gabster, Get Well Soon!

This is just a post so that students can leave a Get Well Soon message for Miss Gabster who is out sick this week.

Photo taken today.

Materials for this week (November 30, December 1) 2010

Since Tuesday's class is the last day of one month and Wednesday's class is the first day of the next month and since winter seems to have finally arrived, I think it's only appropriate that this week we'll have a human sacrifice to appease the snow gods and so that those of us who survive will be facing a relatively mild winter.

Other news about this week after these brief messages from our sponsors.

The influence of Andrzej Lepper is felt in Hollywood.


Do you ever wonder why Americans don't spend a lot of time with their families? This is one reason why.

What his parents did to this poor kid is another.

Okay, except for being ready in case you're the one chosen in the Big Event there's no need to bring or download or print anything else for class this week.

Instead of the more traditional giant owl alter (see above) I'm now thinking that setting up a Wicker Man in the park across the road might be a fun project for the whole institute.

Materials for Nov. 23/24

There's a lot to prepare for classes this week. Here's what you'll need to bring:

-TWO pens of DIFFERENT colors (one blue and one black is fine, or one black and one purple, or any other combination as long as they're different)

-several (3-5) sheets of blank paper, preferably A4 sized. Blank or lined doesn't matter. These can be ripped from a notebook as long as it's a roughly A4 sized notebook.


That's it! Nothing to print, just bring your pens, your paper, and your brains to class this week. Even if you forget your brain, be sure to remember the 2 pens and 3-5 sheets of paper.

P.S. Wednesday class, remember that we're in 220.

Materials for this week (2010-11-16,17)

Hello there and welcome back to another fantastic wee .... oh hell with acting cheerful, here's the links already.

Material for this week:

Presentation evaluation guidelines,

Sample presentation outline two.

This week's theme: ANIMAL HIJINX!!!

If you really want to see a dead mouse in a loaf of bread then click here.

For strong nerves only: Unspeakable animal cruelty, here.

A cute animal looks at its food, here.

Lidl gets us into the Christmas spirit, here.

Thanksgiving 2010: The turkeys' revenge, here.

Special note for Wednesday people: It looks like we're finally out of the hellholle that is 313ab. From now on (with any luck) we'll be in 320b.

Materials for week two (November 9,10 2010)

Well, I think the survivors of last weeks class on Wednesday enjoyed themselves (how many times do I have to "No flashes!" anyway).

But, moving on. Those of you who are still here will need the following.

1. Your textbook

2. Sample outlines for your review, you can find it here.

3. Guidelines for your general interest spoken presentaton, you can find it here.

As a matter of general interest, note the following very cool site for Dictionaraoke. People with entirely too much free time use 'talking' dictionaries and karaoke musical tracks to create a new and different listening experience. I especially reccomend the dictionaraoke version of the old Lionel Ritchie (when he was with the Commodores) "Easy".

Also for those of you who have been asking for pictures of dogs eating peanut butter, here it is. I just hope you sick people are happy now.

Materials for this week (just 2010.11.03)

Okay, thanks to the rector there's no class on Tuesday, just Wednesday.

For those in the Wednesday group, we will be meeting this week as usual.

You should bring the following items with you:

1. Several ice cubes

2. Black string, lots of black string, loose, not on a spool.

3. Four edible bird eggs (not chicken eggs, that would be wrong)

4. A Mexican Mariachi hat, see here, here and here for suitable examples. Any color except red.

The class should be a lot of fun as long as no one makes any sudden movements or tries to take flash pictures.

Materials for this week (2010-10-26,27) Introduction to Public Speaking

This week for class, you will need to :

1.       Download the Introduction to Public Speaking (link below),

2.       Be ready to talk (in front of the whole class).

Introduction to Public Speaking

Those who should be bringing outlines this week (remember, two people from each group or else) should bring two (2) copies with them.

The text to the Introduction to Public Speaking will appear below the jump (click where it says 'czytaj więcej'  for those who have problems downloading the link.

Office hours

My official, regular office hours (dyżury) will be as follows:

Tuesday: 15.15-16.16, 209b
Wednesday: 15.15-16.15, 209b

Some notes:
1. For Tuesday, either show up early or let me know in advance that you'll be later. Otherwise I might leave a little early when no one's around.
2. For Wednesday, I'll always stay the whole time and any additional time necessary.
3. I will on occasion (always announced here first) be in early on some Thursdays.
4. Sometimes (not always and I'll announce it in class and here first) I will be able to see some students during my 11.45-13.15 classes on Tuesday and Wednesday in 313ab (the computer room).

Materials for this week (2010-10-19,20) First Writing Assignment (Yay! Hooray!)

This week in class, you will need to :

1.       Bring your textbooks (we will be going over Writing Folder number 1)

2.       Download and print the following two links.

Outline for letter to the editor

Original article

The full text of the Outline and another link to the original article is below the cut (click where it says 'czytaj więcej')

Materials for this week (2010-10-12,13) Intro to the paragraph

 This week we'll get our first look at the splendor that is the English paragraph. Here is the link:

Intro to the paragraph.

Remember that it is your responsibility to have the materials ready for class. If you have any problems, questions or comments, then leave them in the comment section.

The document is in Word 2007, if you can't deal with that then I'm posting the materials below the jump so you can cut and paste it into printable form.

First test link, syllabus

This is a test link to the class syllabus. I'm still figuring out how to do things.

Beginning post

This is the blog for Michael Farris's second year English classes at the Institute of Linguistics at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.