During March Break, many of us take off a little extra time for ourselves and our families. One of my own favorite pastimes is to go and jam on weekends with a local band. These guys are great, great players and the cost of admission is really buying something to eat or drink. It’s always nice to see families bringing in their kids to hear some good music. Some of life’s best lessons are not necessarily learned in school. Hope you have fun this month!
As you read this, thousands of English teachers in mainland China are singing The Body / èº«ä½“æŒ from the album Bilingual Songs: English-Mandarin, vol. 1. It seems that this song has become a big hit in the “Motivating Young Learners” workshops put on by the British Council. We’ve made this song available for all of those teachers (free streaming online) and thought that you might enjoy it too. Here is the link. Enjoy!
Twenty years ago, on Dec. 24th, I was still teaching school. I had the day off, and so did my kids. So with my children in tow, I trudged down to the incorporation office and filed the documents to incorporate my company. The government office was quite empty. Who in their right mind would spend Dec. 24th filing incorporation documents except perhaps a teacher who had prepared everything from a do-it-yourself manual and had no other days off? I remember my son and daughter taking over the deserted office area, pelting rolled up mittons at each other, while the documents were being processed.
We’ve probably sold over a million resources by now used in dozens of countries around the world. It’s a happy anniversary. Sometimes taking a chance is a good thing.
This year’s Guadalajara Book Fair was exciting as usual. New partnerships were made and old friendships renewed. It appears that we will soon have very good distribution in Peru, Chile, Mexico and Panama. It was great to also meet many local parents and teachers who live in Guadalajara. Thank you for stopping by our exhibit to say, “Hello” and for letting us know how much your students enjoy our songs.
Before returning home, I spent a few days in Ajijic, one of my favorite places. Ajijic is a very small city, located very close Guadalajara’s airport, on the shores of Lake Chapala. The Los Artistos Bed and Breakfast, where I stayed, proved to be the most beautiful, restful place one could ever imagine.
Young artist, Rosaria, with her hand drawn Christmas cards.
A mural on the wall of Centro Escolar Marcos Castellanos.
It was a pleasure to meet everyone in Boston, during the ACTFL Annual Convention and World Languages Expo. Thank you for visiting our exhibit, coming to see us during the NNELL swap shop and attending Anna’s Linguascope workshop on Saturday afternoon.
Please click here to preview and learn more about Linguascope.com http://www.linguascope.com/preview
Please visit http://eduactivelearning.com/trial for a free 7-day trial subscription to EduActive Learning.
Anna and Sara presenting at ACTFL .
A great time was had by all at the OMLTA (Ontario Modern Language Teacher’s Association) Fall Conference held last weekend. By far, the most colourful character in attendance was Jay Bailey who met with teachers and spoke of his various canoe trips across Canada retracing the expeditions of the original voyageurs.
Congratulations to Ria Pratt, and Rose Masurkevitch both of whom won One Year Subscriptions to EduActiveLearning.com (our new online subscription site for schools). Please feel free to visit www.EduActiveLearning.com/trial and sign up for a free trial subscription. Enjoy!
Jay Bailey, who spoke of his various canoe trips across Canada.
Ria Pratt, the winner of the lunch prize draw.
This fall the Ontario Modern Language Teacher’s Association Conference will be held Saturday, October 23rd. The conference will host hundreds of teachers attending dozens of seminars. We’ll be there too, proudly demonstrating our new online website: www.EduActiveLearning.com, and the internationally known languages website: www.Linguascope.com. One lucky conference attendee will win a twelve month subscription to EduActiveLearning.com for their school. If you plan to attend, please look for us!
I’ve just recently returned from the world’s biggest book fair. The Frankfurt Book Fair never ceases to be amazing. This year featured 7,533 exhibitors from 111 nations, housed in 9 enormous buildings. The fair is so large that you need to take a shuttle bus to get from one spot to the next.
The thing I look forward to most, when I go to Frankfurt, is to sit and chat with our distributors. Everyone comes from all corners of the globe for meetings during the five days of the fair.
Argentina was the guest of honor at this year’s fair. Of course I took copies of our brand new titles, Suma cantando and Multiplica cantando, (Addition and Multiplication Songs in Spanish) to play for everyone!
Seminars and meetings were abundant at the book fair.
Frankfurt
Just got back from an exhilarating week on Vancouver Island. Many thanks to my sister and her husband. There’s nothing finer than being a pampered guest in a fine place!
We had fun visiting Fisherman’s Wharf where locals settle in to eat fish and chips, and tourists feed fish to the seals, who swim in daily around lunch time, expecting treats. Check out this cute, little seal who had no inhibitions at all!
Fisherman's Wharf
A cute, little seal, showing up for lunch.
Being in Victoria also allowed me to visit Mike Peters, of Pacific Music, our distributor out on the west coast. Mike and his efficient staff make the most of their workspace and are always busy, as business is booming at Pacific Music.
Mike Peters and Trish Bodley
Pacific Music
What a fabulous Easter weekend. My sister invited me to be her house guest on Vancouver Island.
On our way from the airport, we stopped in at School House Teaching Supplies on Douglas Street in Victoria. Susan Marcotte showed us around the fabulous store which was still a hub of traffic even as most people started to wind down for the weekend.
Susan Marcotte [left] and a photo outside of School House Teaching Supplies [right].
Other weekend excitement included a tree falling within feet of where I was sitting (winds were up to 80 miles per hour here), a local deer visiting on the front lawn, and a drive out to the point.
