Ask Anne Taylor

It is with deep sorrow that I have to report that on Saturday 30th June 2007 at 23.10 Anne Taylor drifted gently off to go and dance with angels. Her family were with her at the time as she passed out of this world.

Anne was a very close and dear friend who remained positive hopeful and full of joy until the end, an end that came very suddenly and quite unexpectedly.

I helped Anne with her ventures into the Internet by hosting this blog and helping with her general support queries.  I was also a long time business colleague, member of the breakfast club that she ran jointly and a Spanish student for several years.

Anne had a passion for everything that she did. She was particularly passionate about helping people like us in our later years to get out of the debt that so many seem to suffer now. This is also a passion of mine and I am going to continue to post helpful information here just as Anne would if she were able.

I have deliberately delayed posting this in order to allow the family to come to terms with their loss and post whatever they wish to this board which they may do in due course.

Trevor Greenfield

Saturday afternoon found me on a local radio station,Radio WM with Nikki Tapper on Afternoon Delight from 14.00h to18.00h

I was talking about Bookcrossing and how it works. It is such fun and one can meet so many good people.This led on to penguin pullovers and the site Goodgifts.org and naturally on to how we[Birmingham Bookcrossing Group] have set ourselves the target of raising £1200.00 to build a library in an Indian village. This amount will be for the building , the books and a member of staff.We now have just over £300.00p We then chatted about Languages for All and our easy method of learning languages. Last but not least we mentioned the fact that Languages for All is donating .20p from the sale of each pack of Prompt Cards and .30p from the sale of our CDs. From these two products alone we could raise hundreds of pounds which is an exciting thought.I thoroughly enjoyed my few minutes on RadioWM . Nikki is such an easy person to talk to as well as having a lively and fun personality. Do go and listen. Thanks Nikki for your time.

Cheers

Anne

www.languagesforall.co.uk

anne.taylor@languagesforall.co.uk

Mind mapping is something that can be used for everyday life from goals and projects in businesses to learning and studying anything.

For those of you who live around the Midlands in the U.K. Barry Mapp[yes that really is his name!] is conducting a one day workshop on May 22nd price £99 to include  lunch and refreshments. You will learn the true Mind Mapping technique and learn how to apply it to everyday business or study application.

Ask Barry for more details at barry@barrymapp.co.uk

I assure you that you will not be disappointed .

Cheers

Anne

Alfajores - Argentinean biscuits with “Dulce de Leche” (rich toffee, with buttery caramel flavour and silky texture, made of fresh milk)
 A traditional Argentinean recipe to show how Dulce de Leche is typically used.

Ingredients:
* 1 jar Dulce De Leche Original  (Wheat free, Gluten free)
300g cornflour
150g plain flour
200g butter
150g caster sugar
3 egg yolks
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp brandy or cognac
1 tsp vanilla essence

HOW TO COOK IT
Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/ Gas Mark 31. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs yolks, vanilla essence and cognac and mix well.

2. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix well. At this stage the mixture will look too dry, but keep mixing until the mixture forms a pastry like dough.

3. Wrap in cling film and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

4. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about ½ cm [rolling the pastry between two sheets of cling film helps to keep delicate pastry together and makes handling easier] cut

out circles about 5cm in diameter and place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

5. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. The biscuits should not brown.

6. Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and leave to cool completely.

7. Sandwich two biscuits together with a generous amount of Dulce de Leche. Add more Dulce de Leche to the edges of the sandwich and roll in the desiccated coconut.

Now here it is in Spanish for you!

Alfajores – Biscochos Argentinos con “Dulce de Leche”
Una receta argentina tradicional que muestra cómo es generalmente utilizado el Dulce de Leche.

Ingredientes:
* 1 frasco de Dulce de Leche Original  (Sin trigo, sin Gluten)
300g de harina de maíz
150g de harina común
200g de manteca
150g de azúcar
3 yemas de huevo
½ cucharadita de bicarbonato de sodio
1 cucharadita de polvo para hornear
1 cucharadita de brandy o cognac
1 cucharadita de esencia de vainilla
150g de coco rayado

CÓMO COCINARLO
Pre calentar  el horno a  160C/325F/ Gas Mark 31. Mezclar la manteca y el azúcar. Agregar las yemas de huevo, la esencia de vainilla y el cognac y mezclar bien.

2. Agregar todos los ingredientes secos a la mezcla de manteca y azúcar. Mezclar bien. En esta etapa la mezcla se verá muy seca, pero se debe seguir mezclando hasta que se forme una masa.3. Envolver en un film y dejarla reposar en la heladera por 15 minutos.

4. Amasar hasta obtener un espesor de ½ cm [Para que la masa no se separe y se pueda manejar más fácilmente se recomienda amasarla entre dos laminas de film] cortar

círculos de aproximadamente 5cm de diámetro y colocarlos en un recipiente para hornear previamente untado con manteca y harina.5. Cocinar en el horno entre 12 y 15 minutos. Los biscochos no deben llegar a tener color marrón.

6. Retirar los biscochos y dejar enfriar completamente.

7. Colocar una cantidad generosa de Dulce de Leche entre dos biscochos (como un sándwich). Agregar más Dulce de Leche en los bordes del sándwich y hacer rodar los bordes en el coco.

They sound delicious don’t they?

Cheers

Anne

www.languagesforall.co.uk

Hope you all had a good Bank Holiday. We have another one in three weeks time.It always seems a bit strange to me to have two days in one month. However it gave time for a bit of retail therapy and time wandering around our wonderful green countryside.It also gave me time for thinking and how to build my language learning into my life.We all need to do this from time to time. My family are coming over from Finland at the end of this month so there will be an opportunity to practise a bit. That should be helpful.It’s interesting to be on the other end of the learning process for a change.

Our library fund is growing even faster with a donation given at a networking meeting.

Cheers

Anne

www.languagesforall.co.uk

Well our fund is growing and we are now somewhere near the £225.00 mark. I would like to see it grow a little faster.The sale of our cards and CDs would help greatly and I would love to see sales soar so that we can help people to develop and educate themselves.What greater gift can we give to people than that. I find it exciting .

In the meantime if any of you have ideas for events to raise money that don’t need too much expertise to organise I would love to hear fom you. No sponsored events please. I would like anything that is done to have a value in some way to the people who are attending or parting with their money.

www.languagesforall.co.uk   anne.taylor@languagesforall.co.uk

I love doing crosswords and often buy such magazines[always with the hope of winning something as well as having some fun!.]
 In one magazine the editorial was answering the question “Why is a bonfire so called?”Bon is French for good of course.Does it mean a “good fire”?
Apparently it comes from the Middle English ”banefire” in which bane refers to bones.
Bones were incinerated, usually from animals killed for meat. Later the word was used to describe fires on which corpses were burned or texts which were considered heretical.
Today, however, bonfires come closer to the idea of “good fire “as they are usually lit for the celebration of happier occasions.

. Here is something to think about.Our body has ten fingers and ten toes and many of us still use our fingers for counting. This led me to thinking of the power of ten and recently I discovered a site called www.powersoften.com.Do go and have a look. If nothing else it will open your mind in lots of different directions. So what has the power of ten to do with learning a language? Can you learn ten words in a day, a week, a month? What can you learn in ten minutes, ten hours, ten weeks, and ten months? It adds perspective and focus and the variables are enormous. Once you have learnt ten words how can you learn a hundred? Can you encourage ten people to learn a language? 

Can you apply the power of ten to any other aspects of your life? 

Let us know. Let’s have a long list [minimum ten!]

Cheers

Anne

www.languagesforall.co.uk 

Here is Frances talking about how languages impacted her life. The importance of language skills is something my colleagues at the Regional Language Network (RLN) realise only too well.  They help businesses and individuals in the West Midlands to access language skills and services and generally provide advice and information to anyone with a language or culture-related query.
  Programme Co-ordinator, Frances Pallett, enjoys promoting languages through her work with the RLN.  Having taken A level French at school and proceeded to University to study International Business Studies, Frances’s language learning appeared to be on track.  She was studying Japanese alongside French and was due to spend a year working in France as part of her degree course.  Things did not go to plan, however, and by Christmas of her second year Frances was forced to leave university due to ill health. 
 2 years later M.E. was finally diagnosed and by this time the only contact Frances had with language was helping her younger sister study for her French A Level.  As the illness progressed Frances realised her hopes of working abroad were fading along with her state of health and when she finally pushed herself back to university it was to study something else she was passionate about – English and Archaeology.After a three year struggle, Frances gained her BA honours degree, but was still unable to work full time or take on anything too taxing.  Languages, by this point, had become a thing of the past.  Frances worked part time doing a variety of roles for several years before taking time out to have a baby.  It was on her return from maternity leave that Frances started working for the RLN – combining two of her passions – writing and languages.  She says:
‘Although I am not actually speaking or using languages at the moment I feel as though I am still doing my bit through promoting their importance to others.  I hope that when time and health permit, I will be able to refresh my French and perhaps even learn a new language.’
Just shows what you can achieve if you remain positive!
If you would like to find out more information about the RLN please contact Frances on 0121 329 3297, e-mail frances.pallett@rln-westmidlands.com or visit the website www.rln-westmidlands.com

 

 There are many reasons for learning a language ,one of which is buying property abroad. Many people start this too late and sadly they can sometimes find themselves in great difficulty when they have moved if unusual circumstances arise [as they sometimes do]
It is best of course to make this a top priority as some people do beginning the process 2-5 years before they are thinking of moving. This greatly adds to their experience and enriches their lives immeasurably. In the meantime if you are thinking of buying property abroad send for our free leaflet “ Ten tips for buying property abroad.” at the following e-mail address.
  anne.taylor@languagesforall.co.uk