Shabam School

I've been reading a lot this summer. Most of what I've read has been juvenile, as I am trying to build my personal repertoire if books that my students may have read or I can recommend to them. If I've read it, can speak highly of it, and know my students preferences, then I can better recommend books for my students. With that in mind, I'm going to review some of the books and series that I have read. Today, Narnia by CS Lewis.

I first started reading this series several years ago. I should say, listen to, Elizabeth and I used to read to each other. We don't do that as much now, because we understand it better when we read it ourselves. So if we want to share a book, we just both read it and then talk about it. She is reading the last book in the series, The Last Battle, right now. I hope she finishes it soon, there is a lot I want to talk about in it.

We didn't finish the series back then. We go to The Silver Chair, and could not remain interested. The main four from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe were no longer in it, so we had no vested interest in it. I did finish it this time, but it was still not a great read. I'm not sure if I just like the Pevensies better, or if it was just not a very good book, but if you want to skip The Silver Chair, you would not miss much.

I've gotten ahead of myself though. Let me start at the beginning and talk about each of the seven books. As with any series, some were better than others. I'll go in the order I read them, which is the order that CS Lewis wrote them. This is not the order the events take place in the book. For this reason, the series was re-ordered at one point. Below are two lists. The one on the left is the list it was originally released in, which appears to be the order the movies are in, and is the order I read them in. On the right is the order the events take place in. Some editions of the set order it something like this, or at least put The Magicians Nephew first.

First, on the new movies. If you want them to be like the book, or you want the books to be like the movies, don't expect too much. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was a lot closer to the book than Prince Caspian was. In the book, there is a lot of wonderful journeying, that the producers probably feared would put the audience to sleep. Instead, they took the few violent parts in the book and made them into a movie. Skip the movie, it is violent and missing much of the importance of the book. The book is wonderful. If you want to watch it, see the series from the 80's. Or there is the radio drama.

OK. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. This book charmed millions into reading the rest of the series. It has captured the imaginations of enough people to have not one, but multiple movies made based on it. My wife was so charmed by it that our first cat, who has a lion like mane, is named Aslan, after The Lion. CS Lewis asked himself what would a world be like where animals talked. What would Jesus be like? He came up with Narnia, and Jesus is represented by The Lion. A lot of great imagery is used. Four children find their way from our world, through a wardrobe, into Narnia where they are destined to play an important role.

Prince Caspian was written next. The Pevensies are a year older now and called back to save Narnia once more. This time, Naria is in a really bad state. The animals are forgetting how to talk, the trees are not dancing, it is not a fun place. This journey of faith brings everyone in Narnia closer to Aslan. Again, great imagery and wonderful story telling.

Three years later and the two younger Pevensies are sucked back into Narnia for The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. Susan and Peter are now too old to enter Narnia. The Pevensies are joined by their little brat of a cousin, Eustace. There are some very great parts of the book, which seems to be meant to bring you close to Eustace. You can almost like him in the end, but the story is more a series of little adventures that happen to be in a bigger adventure that it is the grand stories the first two build. It was a little bit of a let down, but still enjoyable.

Eustace is not back in London long when he and his friend Jill go to Narnia to save Prince Caspian's only son in The Silver Chair. I already said you could skip this one if you wanted to. There is a little foreshadowing of future events that you can live without and the final chapter (when they return home) is good. The rest of it is rather boring. I didn't like Eustace or Jill. The marshwiggle was humorous, but annoying and Prince Rillian was not likable.

I'm not sure if CS Lewis also saw the Eustace was not doing so well, but he returned to the time everyone thinks about in the series for his next adventure. A Horse and His Boy is set in the time of High King Peter (the eldest Pevensie). This is the adventure of a slave boy and a horse who was stolen from Narnia. They both live in Calormen, a country across the desert from Narnia. When they meet, the horse sees that the boy must be Narnia, so talks to him. The horse had not talked in a long time, because he was afraid to let it known that he was a talking horse in a country where horses don't talk. They talk and decide to run away together to Narnia. It is a great adventure, and you see Susan, Lucy and Edmond, in brief. You also get to know more of the world around Narnia better.

CS Lewis now goes even further back. In The Magician's Nephew, we find out how Narnia was created, how the witch came to be, why the professor seemed to know so much in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and why that wardrobe was magical. Still not the Pevensies, but Polly and Diggory are likable. It is also fun to read about the Genesis of Narnia.

Since we just read about the beginning, makes since to head to the end. In the Last Battle, CS Lewis tells us about the end of Narnia. Eustace and Jill return, but for some reason, I like them this time. This might be my favorite, but you might want to keep tissue handy of you are prone to crying. You will also need a pillow to hit or scream into. This book made me so angry and sad. It also made be very happy. I like stories that cause emotion in me. That, to me, means they are doing a good job of engaging me, of making me care. This book made me care.

If you only read one of the books in the series, read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Only because you will be able to talk to more people about it. If you read a second, and no more. Read The Last Battle. Most of the the others are good. If you skip any, skip The Silver Chair, and maybe The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The religious tones do not take over the stories, but they are there. I am a Christian, so I like the religious meanings behind what is happening, but in schools, we have to be careful not to upset those that don't like religion. If you happen to be in a community where this kind of material is accepted, I'd recommend them. If you are not, you will not be able to do your job if a parent gets mad because you gave their child religious material and gets you fired. I got to know my students last year well enough that there were some I would have recommended the series to. Others, I would not. Some others I might talk to their parents first. If you spend much time with your students you should get to know which parents are going to be OK with it and which will not.

Suicide is a scary prospect and as teachers, it is something that we need to be on the watch for. I don't care of you are a high school or primary school teacher, you need to be on the lookout for the possibility that your students might be thinking of ending their lives. Take it seriously. I ran across a site today that is dedicated to bringing awareness to teen suicide. If you have a teen student, or are a high school teacher, you must check out Teen Suicide Talk. If you are a middle school teacher, I still suggest you look at it. Just because they are dedicated to teens does not mean that they will not have points that are useful to you.

Even if you know a teen, have ever been a teen, or know someone who might one day be a teen, this is good reading. The stories will bring insight into a topic that many of us have no idea about. As I find other sites that might help bring some insights into this topic, I will continue to post them. All teachers and parents and friends should know a little about this topic. Who knows if you might be able to save a life just by knowing what to watch for and showing the compassion that a depressed person needs so much.

Learning a new language is ever so difficult. I have tried to learn both Spanish and Russian at different times. The main problem both times was that I did not have people to practice with, outside of school. In order to really learn a language, you have to be fairly immersed in it at least part of the day, most days. I went to class a couple of days a week, practiced by myself a little, and then promptly forgot it. You need to immerse yourself in the language as much as you can.

The best way to immerse yourself in the language is to go to a country where they speak it. That is not always possible. Staying home, there are still ways to immerse yourself in the language. First, find someone who speaks the language and set up a conversation time with them. You might be able to find someone who will talk in your language for an hour and then in theirs for an hour. This way you both get a little time in the language you are each learning. That is not enough though. Unless you work with someone who knows the language, or otherwise spend most of your day with that person, and they are willing to talk exclusively in their language to you, you will not get enough time this way.

There are TV shows, video games, books, comics, and more. Find some at, or just above, your level and start using them. You can also get one of the programs out there that combines many of these into a cohesive program build to teach you to learn the language. One that I got was the Transparent Language program. Years ago when I was studying Russian, I purchased the program. It helped a lot, but I was young and had too much else to do, so I did not spend as much time using it as I should have. I also had no-one to practice with outside of class, which I think is needed.

If you are dedicated to learning a language, which you need to be if you are going to do it, then pick up such a program and immerse yourself in the language to learn it. Spend as much time as you can working in that language. Talk with others. Don't be afraid of sounding bad, you will. Do it anyway. They will most likely not laugh at you, and if they do that gives you free reign to laugh back when they mess up a word in your language. Transparent Language has programs in many languages, including French, Italian and Spanish.

Just using their website, without the products, can be useful. You will find a blog with some very useful language problems. For instance, I just read about how to use por and para in Spanish. I then headed over to "cool stuff" and played a game of word search with numbers where I learned that mitad means half. After that, I checked out the word of the day and learned that agobiado means overwhelmed.

Tools, such as those offered by Transparent Language, are great. They are very helpful. But you have to remember to practice nearly every day. You have to use the language in conversation to have it make meaning in your mind. It is one of my priorities, but I have yet to make the time to fully dedicate to learning a new language.

As teachers, we may sometimes have students who are learning a new language. This is a place we can send them too. They support more than 100 languages and have products for educators as well. If you are interested in language, or have students that are, you should check them out. At the very least, keep their blog and tools in your tool kit to use when needed.

Finding the right college can be a chore. How do you find a school that is right for you? The Online University List can provide you with assistance with this. There are numerous articles that can assist you in making the choice between traditional and on-line colleges, many different programs and more. With several hundred articles to choose from many people will find an article that will help them make an important decision.

Along with the diverse articles they supply, they also have a matching algorithm. With this program, you put in some details about what type of education you would like, and they spit out a list of possible programs and schools that you might be interested in learning more about. The program will then send your contact information to the schools and they will contact you with more information. Talk about ease of hunting, just fill out a single form and wait for a bunch of schools to contact you.