Happy New Year...Once in a Blue Moon

Today on Yahoo News there's an article about the rare "blue moon" we'll have on New Year's Eve. By definition, a blue moon is a second full moon in a month. It's not blue, though. It's just a name, like "harvest moon" or "new moon."

According to the article, blue moons occur every 2.5 years; the last one was in May 2007. What is rare is a blue moon on New Year's Eve. That happens only once every 19 years. I don't know about you, but tomorrow night I'm going to go outside to catch a glimpse of the moon.

The phrase, "once in a blue moon" means "a rare event" or "something that happen infrequently." One site I looked at said there are 41 blue moons in a century. That's 3% of the moons. I don't know if I'd call that "rare," but certainly once every 19 years (0.4% of the moons) would qualify, don't you think?

Want to know more? Go to Yahoo's blue moon. Wikipedia (wicked source!) has some interesting things to say about blue moon and it's historic use, too. (First use of the phrase, "blue moon" was 1528: "Yf they say the mone is belewe / We must believe that it is true.")

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text pjfs 2009.
picture: http://arvindevalia.com

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Merry Christmas, dear students! Hope you are having a GREAT holiday off from school. See you 4 January (if not sooner)....

When you get bored (or maybe even before that), read chapters 1-12 of THE MOSQUITO COAST, due Monday, 4 January 10. Just a little reminder....

Love you ALL and miss you!

Love Those Loan Words

I love words. No surprise there, since I like reading, writing, and teaching English. I love studying and noting the way words come into a language. I love big dictionaries (I have two of them!) with etymological information on every word. I love seeing connections between words and learning word cognates. No surprise there, either: vocabulary is an important part of this class.

All of that is a prelude to what I want to say next: Yesterday I ran across some English loan words that are being used in Turkish, thanks to international sports:

• gol = goal. Spelled just like it's pronounced.
• ofsayt = The spelling of this one is interesting, but it fits, too.
• standart = Makes sense that it would end in "t," not "d."
• formülü = formula
• futbol
• beyzbol
• hentbol

Ok. Now your turn. What new words have you spotted in English that are loan words from Turkish (or Chinese or Spanish or some other language you know)?

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text pjfs 2009.
cartoons: www.cartoonstock.com

Recycling Christmas Ornaments

Right before we left school yesterday, I saw the Lumen tree being carried down the stairs to be used for the Gala (tonight). Whoa! I followed the trail of dropped ornaments to the multipurpose room to find out how the Gala decorating was going. Sorry Lumenites...hope you don't mind: I suggested they pull down the Lumen snowflakes...and then the paper chains and lights so they could be used, too. Next, I suggested they borrow the decorations from the second floor (garland, tree, centerpiece)....

If anyone is wondering what happened to the decorations, question no more. Recycling! All for the cause, right?!

P.S. It was a fun party yesterday--and a great start to the Christmas holidays. See you tonight...

Chalk Talks: Merry Christmas to One and All

Have a great vacation away from school. V.A. shared this on Facebook. Thought you might like to see it, too:

He Is Here - Shepherds and Stars from Shift Worship on Vimeo.

Homework for 14-17 December 09 AND THE HOLIDAYS

Homework due Monday, 14 December:

1. Read chapters 28-31 in THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (AHF).
2. Answer questions (written) on ch. 28-31, handouts pages 56-58.
3. Fill in handout p. 11 re: humor.
4. Short matching quiz over 10 sentence types we've done thus far for vocabulary. I'll give you 10 sentences and the type-names. You match them. The 10 types are complex / compound / compound-complex / loose / periodic / balanced / chiasmus / asyndeton / polysyndeton / anaphora.

Homework due Tuesday, 15 December:

1. Read chapters 32-36 AHF.
2. Answer questions (written) for same chapters, handouts pages 58-60.
3. Do practice multiple-choice questions 18-30, handouts pages 37-39.

Homework dueThursday, 17 December:

1. Read chapters 37-end AHF.
2. Answer questions (in your head rather than writing them down, but be prepared to discuss) for same chapters, handouts pages 61-63.
3. Choose one of the practice free responses on page 31 and write a well-organized essay in 40 minutes or fewer. Post it on your blog.

Homework for during the Christmas holiday break--due Monday, 4 Jan. 10:

Read chapters 1-12 of The Mosquito Coast.

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photo: http://www.pcastl.org/mark-twain-festival.html

Links to Follow

Here are some interesting links I discovered today as I was surfing the Web:

• Check out this great newspaper spread about Romeo and Juliet's death, done by the BBC



• Grade-Saver chapter summaries and test-yourself quizzes on HUCK FINN



• "Is Huck Finn a Racist Book?" -- short article (interesting reading, too!)

FYI...Just for You...

Here you are, taking the vocabulary 9 quiz. Here I am, distracting you by taking pictures. What's new?

Homework for Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

FOR TUESDAY, 8 December 09:

1. Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, chapters 13-17. (Ahem. "Surprise quiz" awaiting you.)

2. remaining Grammardog exercise on R& J -- sheet 16.

FOR THURSDAY, 10 December 09:

1. Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, chapters 18-21. (Reading quiz.)

2. Read article "How Dangerous Can a Book Be" from spiral handouts, pages 12-24.

3. Read pp. 1-7 from spiral handouts.

FOR FRIDAY, 11 December 09:

1. Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, chapters 22-27. (Reading quiz.)

2. Vocabulary 10 quiz.

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P.S. I posted these pictures just for "old times' sake" and to amuse Julie and Joy (and Deirdre and Kristin and InAe). Here are two of the backdrops they painted for Tom Sawyer. So...what do you think? Did they capture the Mississippi River in a believable way?

Homework for Monday, 7 December 09

1. Do grammar exercise 15.

2. Read chapters 8-12 in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Homework for Thursday and Friday

DUE THURSDAY, 3 December 09:

1. Do exercise 14 (grammar). (Save exercises 15 and 16 for later.)

2. Study for unit test over Romeo and Juliet. 54 points. Do a general overview. If you have read the play and listened in class, you should do fine on this.

a. Identify who said various famous quotes.
b. Identifying characters.
c. Multiple choice.
d. Short answer.
e. Short essay (1-2 paragraphs).

3. Choose one of these questions and write (type) for 40 minutes. Post on your blog.

1. Analyze Romeo's and Juliet's roles in the play as their hero's quest. Consider their quests' goals and ultimate outcome(s). Be sure to support all your assertions with specific references from the text.

2. Compare and contrast ROMEO AND JULIET with other "classic" love stories (books, stories, movies) that perpetuate the image of idealized love. Consider whether or not the lovers in other stories also have to sacrifice their love and lives in order to better the world around them. (See sheet for examples of movies or stories.)

3. In scene 1.3, Romeo exclaims, "I fear, too early, for my mind misgives some consequences yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin this fearful date." Discuss the extent to which fate and the stars contribute to or detract from the impact of
Romeo and Juliet as heroes.

4. After Romeo's and Juliet's deaths, Montague states, "I will [raise] her statue in pure gold, that whiles Verona by that name is known, there shall no figure at such rate be set as that of true and faithful Juliet." Capulet responds by promising that "as rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie, poor sacrifices for our enmity!" Write an essay in which you discuss the almost-mythological level that ROMEO AND JULIET has attained.

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DUE FRIDAY, 4 December 09:

1. Study for vocabulary 9 test. (You will write these sentences in class.)

2. Read chapters 1-7 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.