The Destructors, by Graham Greene

In yesterday's class I gave everyone copies of a short story called The Destuctors, by Graham Greene. It's one of my favourite short stories by one of my favourite authors, and was my introduction to Graham Greene when I had to read it for an English class, 22 or 23 years ago. It's from a book called simply 'Twenty-one Stories'


I asked you to think about the questions

• WHO
• WHERE

and

• WHEN

as a basic starting point for comprehending the story. After getting those things clear, I think the question here is WHY. Why do the boys behave the way they do? There are no 'right' answers here, but what impression does the story give you?

Also, did you work out the meaning of 'loo' and 'pinch' before checking them?

There are also some intesting 'sets' of vocabulary that appear in the story: Firstly, there are a number of words to do with houses, architecture and tools. These words might be of interest to you. Secondly, there are several nouns, including proper nouns (names of specific things) that relate to the setting, in terms of the time and the place that in my opinion give the story a sense of authenticity. What are 'the down platform', the Blue Boar, the Wormsley Common Empire, incendiaries, bomb-sites, the blitz, and Southend?

I hope you enjoy the story. If not, don't worry about it! Horses for courses! But I would be interested to know why.

A PLACE YOU CAN'T MISS IN CANADA

First of all, happy new year to everybody!!!
As I hadn't received until now an invitation to the blog, I wrote my writing in the post called "Invitation to the blog".
See you soon! :)



A PLACE YOU CAN'T MISS IN CANADA

Two years ago, I had the chance to travel to Canada where I visited one of the most beautiful and breathtaking places in the world: Niagara Falls. The sights, sounds and experience of the mighty falls are something I will remember forever.

Niagara Falls created by glaciers about 10.000 years ago is Ontario’s biggest tourist attraction. As a point of interest, Niagara is a native word which means “thunder of water”. There are actually two waterfalls. Goat Island splits the Niagara River into the American Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. The best view of the Falls is the Canadian side.

If you want to experience an up-close and very personal connection with the thundering water, awesome power and incredible mist of the mighty Horseshoe Falls, you can’t miss a ride into the heart of the Falls aboard a catamaran.
In order to avoid the winter below-freezing temperatures, I visited this place in summer. However, some natives told me that winter brings an added dimension of beauty to Niagara. 

Having seen the natural wonder of the falls, there’s a wide variety of attractions like the Butterfly Conservatory, the Floral Showhouse, the Oakes Garden and the Brock's Monument.

In conclusion, having had such a good experience there, I strongly recommend you to visit this place. It’s well worth it.