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Today, my children learned that there could be something worse than learning English from me: they could be learning Irish. I showed them a few Irish words and names, then taught them how to pronounce the words. They were awed by the sheer irrelevance of so many letters for so few syllables that seems to characterize Irish. We also listened to the Chieftains today (yes, B-bear, "deedley-aye shit") so our St. Paddy's Day experience was complete. One of my younguns, whose name works out to something like Sean Patrick Michael Sullivan, was thrilled to get in touch with his roots. (He's so dark that he vanishes when we turn the lights out.) He told me it was fun to learn the traditions of the people who purchased his great-great-great-great grandma, with a big grin on his face. Cool kid! We are proceeding apace with my favorite 8th grade book, The Outsiders.I'm trying to get the kids to read more of S.E. Hinton's other work for fun, mostly because her novels just got better and better. Tex is still my favorite. I really wish she'd start writing again. My students love her work, because they can relate to the characters, but the writing is still challenging for them. Gotta go make a birthday cake for the Buffalo Gal, and put goop in Casey's ear. He can actually hear us again, but often chooses to ignore us. He looks right at me, with one of Blackbear's patented "I see ya!" expressions, then looks away. Son of a beast! He's JUST like his dad. |
 
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St. Paddy's Day