Scott Thornbury's picnic in the park

Which park would you go to?
Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand.

Why?
It's simply one of the most beautful places on the planet - virgin forest sloping down to a necklace of little beaches, unpolluted rivers tumbling through ferny gorges...sigh...

Who would you go with?
Anyone who would be prepared to put up with my reminiscing about how I used to tramp around the park 25 years ago, and how much nicer it was then, fewer people, no litter etc.

What would you take to the park?
- a book The new Longman Grammar of Spoken & Written English - over 1000 pages of compulsive reading.
- a CD Kiri te Kanawa's about-to-be-released CD of Maori songs.
- a magazine The London Review of Books.
- a video to watch later No video -nothing could compete with the sheer beauty of the place.
- anything else? Insect repellent, a map of the park, a candle, a change of socks, a cork screw.

Inside your picnic basket what would you take
- to eat? A lemon to season the fish I would catch.
- to drink? A bottle of best NZ Sauvignon Blanc.

Who would you like to meet in the park?
I'd like to meet myself the way I was 25 years ago, when I first went tramping in that park during my free time, when I used to work as a fruit picker in the area.

What would you talk about?
We'd talk about the strange twists and turns of fate that can take a 25-year old fruit picker to a park bench on a website.

What would you do afterwards?
Make a fire and brew some billy tea.

Scott Thornbury works at International House, Barcelona and has taught, trained teachers, and given conference presentations in many parts of the world. He is the author of various books about grammar teaching, including: About Language (CUP), Uncovering Grammar (Macmillan), Beyond the Sentence (Macmillan) and How to Teach Grammar (Longman). He also co-authored a task-based course, Over to Us! (Longman), for Spanish secondary schools. At present he is writing materials for IH Net Languages (www.netlanguages.com)

Click here to read a transcript of Scott Thornbury's richmondpark chat, The Future of Language Learning?

Click here to read a transcript of Scott Thornbury's richmondpark chat, Does Grammar Matter?

Scott''s Mystery Sites

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