h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In Munchausens, don't the parents injure the children themselves to get attention? Very sad. It should be a recognized mental illness, in my opinion. And I can see where parents seeking attention for themselves might exploit their handicaped children in order to get it. Also very sad.

And speaking of fringe groups, we have a group of Kilngons who meet regularly in the library.

You got it, as to Munchausens. Many cases of alleged sadism in OAP homes could be got rid of if this were an officially recognized problem and personal would be screened. The Klingons - WOW! My hat´s off to you, an English library stocking books in foreign languages!

In this case it's an American library. And we don't actually provide books in Klingon. Just a meeting room.

SoRB gave me a "Teach Yourself Klingon" tape once. It took three days for my throat to recover.



>> So, in a room of 50 kids, who is more important? One who clearly isn't to blame for his situation and deserves to be treated with respect and compassion or the other 49 who are unable to get anything from the program because of the distractions?

Ah, but they do get something out of it - just not what their parents paid for. They get to learn good manners, compassion and humility. They may not LIKE learning it, they may not KNOW they are learning it, but the message is there all the same.

Dear, I know. (stole a peek at your PS, Mr President, Ma´am)- I referred to language rather than nationality. Seems like since the ´net has made English (sort of it) the worldwide language, polibloodytitians cut down on school funds on foreign language courses - with Caliphonia who have (had I hope) a forign born Governator leading the pack.

Our local schools teach only the most common foreign languages -- Spanish, French and German.

Oh - so English got outvoted? (Xcuse my sarcasm,please.) If the standard western four are taught in your area you won´t be breeding a generation of bigot rednecks.

English is supposedly taught, but from the way the kids speak and write, I have my doubts.

They DO write on anything but their cell phones? WOW, that´s America! (I sometimes get sent texts from a lady friend, copied from her daughter´s cell...this thread was about mentally handicapped, wasn´t it?)

A lot of it is just gibberish. Now I have to get to work. See what the crisis du jour will be.

Giveém hell - and make sure the books are in good state, I buy them secondhand via am***n.

I didn't think they had ever taught 'English' in your schools; Afterall you're in the USA right?: and the UK and America are still two countrys seperated by a common language

Actually, I'm not even sure if they teach 'English' in our schools anymore

I think they're teaching Textlish now.

English is hard to learn, whether you've been brought up with it or not. Half a million words, with nuances galore, and all sorts of irregular tenses. But Hong Kong has it harder than The U.S. or U.K., because its residents also have to know Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese. Many of them are fluent in all three, and can switch among these languages in the middle of a sentence.

2Legs, we still call classes about grammar "English". We foolish believe we speak English until those of you on your side of the pond remind us otherwise. Straight literature classes are referred to as American Lit or English Lit, depending on the nationality of the authors.

Vip, I called one of the local colleges to ask about volunteers and also if they read the newspaper online. They are going to get back to me.

Ben, that is one way of looking at it. And for an occasional program that could be used with parents as a way to quell objections. But every week is a different story. We need for the kids to get something out of the programs themselves. Otherwise, what's the point of doing them?

Not online. If they read the newspaper on the radio.

You are right. Every week is a different story. It is a tricky one. And easy for me to pontificate.

As to pontificating - we Eurpeas had better shut up. Them there Americans have been a sovereign nation since smething76, so why don´t they have the right to have their own language? Some mental distubos on both sides of the ocean butcher it, but that is a very different thing.

Speaking of the difficulty of learning English, the presence of so many dialects must make it more complicated. Some dialects are difficult for me to understand, and I'm a native English speaker. They must be murder for a non-native speaker. Throw in all the colloquialisms and you have a real problem.

A friend and I were talking this morning. She teaches at an elementary school one town over. She has been alerted that she'll have a "high achieving" autistic child this year. Does it seem like there are more cases of autism than there use to be? They say that vaccinations don't cause it, but it seems like there must be some environmental factor. Or perhaps it is just more public now.