Blitzen

Does anyone know anything about Numeo?  At the moment I'm with Orange on dial up, which is soooooo slow; Numeo can I believe provide a higher speed connection, but I'd like to know a bit more about their quality of service.

Did you find someone to do your spraying?  If you did could you let me know if they did and good job and the cost? Thanks

I know I can't get ADSL yet, and so have dial up with France Telecom/Orange, but what I'm really looking for is a cheaper package for dial up and phone - has anyone any ideas or experience of other deals? I need cheaper calls for phoning withinn Europe (Germany and UK). Thanks

Yes I heard that one.  We're moving down here permanently mid September; from Germany and I do find it more expensive here than in Germany, but not as expensive as the UK!!  Looks like a potager is going to be the first thing to be got up and running, along with getting our firewood from the community forest each autumn.

Is this a 'recuperateur de chaleur' you're talking about?  We're thinking of getting one set up in our house to make use of the heat our wood burning stove belts out.

We will be moving here permanently on about 21st September from Germany and can't wait to get started on what we want to do to our first home after years of living in army quarters.  We have children in England and Germany so France seemed an obvious choice as it's about equi-distance.  No doubt I will be asking for advice on various things on the forum - so watch this space!!!

We've had hoopooes in our garden too.  I hadn't seen them since we lived in Cyprus.  My Jack Russell didn't take kindly to them unfortunately and 'saw them off' his territory!!

Very enlightening!![:P]

I had already replied to this when I tried to post it, it got obliterated - this time I will copy my words of wisdom before I post them!! We bought a house a year ago in preparation for our retirement.  Having spent 27 odd years in service of Queen and country, we found we couldn't afford a decent house in the UK; fortunately our experience of living in many different countries meant we could broaden our horizons!  So we plumped for France - our children are for the moment settled in Germany and England - so we went for the F in France, which puts us in the middle! (If you understand what I mean)  We don't rent the house out as we live in Germany at the moment and I  drive down (6 - 7 hours) during any school holidays (I'm a supply teacher) while my husband comes down when he can take leave.  We are quite happy for family and friends to stay in the house and are fortunate enough to have good friends who live 10 minutes from our house and  keep an eye on it, collecting and sending on any important post.  We hope to move in  permanently by the end of September 2008.  [:D]

I like the 'good student - bad student' routine ! [:D] Note I'm smiling too - must be the end of the day!

If he's dead his website is not letting on - still referred to in the present tense.  If you buy any of his CDs you can find out all about his theory on teaching languages - don't get them from his site - Amazon or EBay would be best (much cheaper).

I was also told by a young American that USA was the cradle of democracy [8-)]

[quote user="Susan"][quote user="Blitzen"] The way I heard this one was that it was a choice between English and German!?[8-)] [/quote] I'm sure it was French, in fact the French helped America win the war of Independence just before they revolted. [/quote] I've also heard it might be yet another Urban Myth!![:D]

You know you've cracked German when you can put the right verb at the end of the sentence someone is saying before they do!!! [:P]

[quote user="Susan"][quote user="Will "]That's very true. Read any of the many excellent recent histories of the English language, by people as diverse as Bill Bryson and Melvyn Bragg, and all say the same. French was the language of the ruling classes, the well-to-do and the law makers, English was the language of the peasantry. Plus ça change... [;-)] [/quote] And I think I'm right in saying that when America won its independence it had to decide upon either English or French as the national language - if they had chosen French then how different would things be for the English now? [/quote] The way I heard this one was that it was a choice between English and German!?[8-)]

[quote user="Dick Smith"] I'm also not convinced that all people are capable of learning a second language after a certain age (about 7) and relatively few really need one. That said, I enjoy reading and speaking French, quoting dog-Latin and so on, and wouldn't take the opportunity away from anyone who wanted to engage at whatever level they are comfortable with. [/quote] I agree.  Mind you the same could be said of quite a few subjects that are taught to our children. However they should have a choice to try ALL subjects and make up their own minds, which they can't do unless they've tried them first.

[quote user="Cassis"]Bring back Latin, I say. [/quote] Now there's a thought!!![:P]

[quote user="KathyC"]Unfortunately there was a longish period when English grammar wasn't taught in schools. That's meant that there are many young (and not so young) teachers who don't have the subject knowledge to pass on. Although there are courses and books available to help them aquire this knowledge, I've come across many who don't seem really committed to the teaching of grammar, having been taught during their formative years that it was really not important. [/quote] Absolutely right, it started in the 1970's along with the integrated day.  However, grammar has to be taught nowadays as it's a big part of the Literacy strategy.  I'm teaching time and causal connectives, along with subordinate and main clauses to Y5 next week.  We seem to have gone from none to overkill!

The 'flirtation' is probably because there's no funding for it!  The government needs to put its money where it's mouth is. (I wonder where that might be?????[I]

[quote user="Teamedup"]Reminds me of when those of us parents who wanted to accompany the kids to swimming lessons, we parents had to be tested to see if they could swim and rescue, the teachers didn't, being a qualified teacher was sufficient (even if they couldn't swim). [/quote] [:D] That must have been a long time ago! [:D] You certainly wouldn't get away with that now - mind you, you would probably be waiting for your CRB clearance!!

The problem with getting a foreign language taught in Primary schools is because the curriculum is already full; this means that is often taught as an extra curricular activity, so not all the pupils can do it.  Where I am in Germany, teaching as a supply teacher in a Middle school, all the children learn German.  Teaching a language at Primary level does not need an expert linguist, because it is fairly simple language we are teaching.  Also some authorities are very good at putting on courses for those teachers who wish to teach a language. Grammar is now being taught from an early age in schools, BUT for many years it wasn't as so called experts deemed it unnecessary.  Therefore there is a generation of people who don't know their full stops from their capital letters, and as for what a tense is ......?????  I have always taught grammar to my classes, whether as a supply teacher or full time. I agree that understanding grammar is a great help to understanding the structure.

[quote user="KathyC"] Personally I'd like to see them learning English properly! Joking apart, if you have a proper grasp of the grammatical structures of your own language and some understanding of the derivation of  vocabulary it can facilitate the learning of foreign languages at any stage in the future. [/quote] So would I and maybe if the government would leave the school curriculum alone long enough, we could get round to teaching it!  I know that knowing about grammar was a great help to me when learning languages.

I was having a conversation about whether we thought of ourselves as English, Welsh, Scottish or British at school the other day and one of our group said that as we were living in Germany, he actually thought of himself as being 'European' - rather than British, Scottish - and if he is in UK he usually thinks of himself as coming from Argyll as in actual fact his father came from East Anglia.  The children at school call him 'The Viking' as he has long blonde hair and a beard - just needs the axe and helmet really. As my ancestors are such a mixed bad, I think I'll have to settle for European as well.[8-)]

[quote user="Jon"]  Keep it as an option for those who want it, but why bother spending hours trying to teach children something in which most have little or no interest and which gains them no lasting benefit? [/quote] Unless children have the opportunity to learn a language, they will not know whether they are interested or what the possibilities are for a lasting benefit.  If any language (probably French, German or Spanish) is taught to children of primary school age, the chances are they will enjoy it.  The broader the curriculum base to start with, the more choices the children have later.  My husband is continually bemoaning the fact that he didn't have an opportunity to learn a foreign language when he was at school, because he didn't pass his 11+, and in those days it was only in Grammar and Technical & Modern schools where modern languages were taught. I, for one, am very grateful that a modern language was included in my Secondary education.[:D]

The trouble with the UK education system is that they keep adding subjects (Britishness next I believe), so less and less time is available for the ones which are already part of it.  I think we need to teach another language much earlier in schools, so that by the time children come to choose their GCSE subjects they have a much better grounding in that language.  I remember driving to Denmark - from Germany - and finding that even the petrol pump attendant spoke excellent English.  When I complimented him on his excellent English, he said that when you live in a country that is the size of Wales you have to have another language, which more people will understand!!