April 2026 Vol 8 Issue 4

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN): 

Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-April 2026!

After enduring a long, very grey winter in Saskatoon, locals are more keen than ever to jumpstart spring! Seed packets and germination kits, as well as tulips and hydrangea appeared several weeks ago in local grocery stores. But the recent freezing drizzle and the forecast of another 10 cm of snow to fall tonight are taking us in the opposite direction!

That said, recent days have brought us more sunshine and warmer temperatures, so we are ushering “Ol’ Man Winter” out the “EXIT” door!

Since my last issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter,”  I have been busy teaching ESL to students including a Ukrainian newcomer, with a second returning to classes next week. I’ve also received inquiries from Chinese students, as I reach out to friends-of-friends in that community.

In the Western calendar, we recently observed Easter for another year. Some of us listened anew to the Biblical story of Christ’s Resurrection. Whether you observed the religious holiday, spent the days working, or enjoyed a secular break with family and friends, I hope that Easter has brought lightness and hope to your lives.

In “Article One” of this issue, I approach the thorny problem caused when ESL learners (or non-native speakers generally) mispronounce English and/or have heavy accents. Decades of British TV comedy (not to mention comedy elsewhere) have turned the problem into a source of laughter and derision (i.e. racism). And native speakers aware of newcomers’ pronunciation challenges sometimes try to suppress the issue altogether. What is this “elephant in the ESL classroom” about?

And in “Shop News,” I express gratitude for some of the amazing people with whom I occupy time and space, as fellow teachers, writers, editors, estate managers and other friends.

May the (albeit delayed) dawn of spring still bring peace and fulfillment to you, good readers, even in these troubled times.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 ARTICLE ONE: The elephant in the ESL classroom: discussing racist pronunciation comedy . . . in three 20th-Century British TV shows

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: The elephant in the ESL classroom: racist pronunciation comedy . . .  in three 20th-Century British TV shows

Recent discussions in the business world about non-native English speakers’  need for accent reduction (or better-termed, accent modification), tend to skirt the problem of speakers who are not understandable. On Linkedin last week, several colleagues or supervisors of non-native speakers of English wrote comments that reflect a politically-correct view: “accents aren’t that important; it’s the ideas that count.”

And yet many of us have (or have lived) evidence to the contrary. Plenty of challenges have arisen over the centuries when non-native speakers of English who have heavy accents immigrate to Anglophone countries. The history of accent modification is evident when one researches the significant number of English as a Second or Additional Language textbooks that focus on “accent reduction” or modification:

After working for more than 15 years with Chinese professionals in the US, Lauren Supraner, an American intercultural communications specialist, authored Accent Reduction for Chinese Speakers: A Pronunciation Course for Chinese Speakers of English (2019). She has written openly that “accent reduction” is sometimes needed, and possible to attain, by Chinese speakers of English to succeed in North America.

Two other, seminal guides for English pronunciation have been recommended by teacher-trainers and long published by Cambridge UP, namely Pronunciation Pairs: An Introduction to the Sounds of English (2008), and Ship or Sheep: An Intermediate Pronunciation Course (2006). 

There are also numerous volumes from authors like US-based speech-language pathologist, Rebecca Bower, that offer strategies to learn a “general American accent.”

As these resources show, there are learnable (and teachable) skills of mouth, jaw, tongue and lip movement that can alter the sounds of spoken English for non-native speakers. These are skills that help them to be better understood and so to achieve greater outcomes in their careers and lives.

Post-colonial insights matter here. None of these books suggest the racist assumptions that the English language should always come first; or that the additional/second language speaker is speaking in an inferior way; or that they will end up working at “dead-end” jobs in English-speaking countries, which they should be thankful for (!). Instead, the task is a practical one: non-native speakers need to have understandable accents when they speak English in an Anglophone country.

As the history of ESL/EFL/EAL education shows, when non-native speakers are educated in, conduct business in, or live in a dominant or monolingual English culture, they need to be understood by native speakers, even though the latter should (and often do) strive to listen their way “through” a non-native speaker’s accent.

Mocking second or additional language speakers’ mistakes and the challenges they face toward comprehensibility is offensive to committed English language teachers (me included) and, far worse, to the non-native speakers, themselves. (As I’ve often said, to my students, my early inability to acquire quickly the tone-based pronunciation of Mandarin, my late father’s first language, would have made me the laughing stock of Chinese speakers, worldwide, and not furnish me with a career in China!  But we’re specifically addressing English here.)

And yet racism sometimes still arises from social media discussions and in representations of ESL/EFL/EAL speakers’ pronunciation. Even the phrase “non-native speakers” can offend populations of Indigenous people worldwide, who have historically used the term “native” to describe themselves.

Popular late 20th-Century British drama (not so long ago) portrayed multiple “foreign” characters who speak English badly: their heavy accents result in misunderstandings that are exploited for comic effect. One that comes to mind is the much-abused, Spanish servant, “Manuel,” in “Fawlty Towers.” As you likely know, many such comedies are now archived on YouTube.

For instance, the popular British TV drama (1982-1992), “Allo, Allo” (originally broadcast on the BBC), features a French café owner, Rene Artois, in the town of Nouvion, France, during the German occupation of France in World War II. As researchers of “Wikipedia” write (I confirmed by cringe-watching the show), Rene struggles “with problems from a dishonest German officer, the local French Resistance, the handling of a stolen painting and a pair of trapped British airmen, all while concealing from his [tone-deaf but singing] wife the affairs he is having with his waitresses.”

Much of the humour, online sources say, inheres in “classic farce set-ups, comedy of errors, physical comedy, visual gags, alongside a large amount of sexual [and sexist] innuendo and a fast-paced running string of broad cultural cliches.”

“Allo, Allo” features British actors pretending to be French, speaking English “with theatrical foreign accents to distinguish each character’s nationality.”

Particularly central to “Allo, Allo” is “Officer Crabtree,” a “hopeless British undercover officer, constantly disguised as a local French policeman during World War II. Much of the character’s humour derives from his supposed inability to pronounce French words correctly in conversation. The show features his ludicrous exaggeration and mispronunciation of common English words. For example, he mispronounces “Good morning” as “Good moaning,” and “I was passing by the door and I thought I would drop in” becomes “I was just pissing by the door and I thought I would drip in.”

The actor playing Crabtree was English (and a native-speaker of English). But “while portraying a Frenchman mispronouncing English, the actor extensively deploys malapropisms” to represent his character’s lack of English fluency.  It’s hard deny it’s a clever device.

Online promoters of “Allo, Allo” mention that this device works by “altering certain words in the character’s sentences, substituting different vowels or consonants, changing them into different or nonsensical words, usually laden with innuendo.” Although no character in “Allo, Allo” is depicted favourably, the humour arises consistently by the portrayal of foreigners who speak English with bad accents and ineptitude.

Here is a sample (you may have to copy and paste into your browser):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhJvFngWcY&list=PLiZCl6XIGf-iIZzvWDqcD_UOWAqTDjs7M&index=1

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And, as you might expect, other BBC comedy is replete with more of the same racist, sexist and stereotypical portrayals of foreigners with absurdly bad accents.

Consider “The Two Ronnies” (Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, in the 1970s and 80s), who, Wikipedia writers tell us, “frequently use . . . the misunderstanding and parody of foreign languages, as a cornerstone of their wordplay-driven comedy. Their sketches often highlight the absurdity of language barriers, mispronunciation and the pomposity of lessons. Their work [is] full of puns, mispronunciation and stereotypical linguistic misunderstandings.”

For instance, “Ali Baba” is the stereotypical (racist) name given to a wealthy Arab Sheikh who visits an English deli in “Pronunciation Problems,”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzeEq5MvNFg

As the English shopkeeper insists on correcting the Arab’s mispronunciations, the latter man takes back his significant supply of British currency from the counter between them, with the result that “money talks” louder than his heavily accented mispronunciation.

Another of The Two Ronnies’ sketches, “Swedish Made Simple,” centres on a language lesson in a restaurant setting. The older Barker plays a putative Swedish teacher, pretending to be a waiter, teaching basic restaurant Swedish, using single-letter words (in subtitles) to the younger Corbett.

The dialogue is not Swedish at all, Wikipedia authors tell us, but a ridiculous parody of Norwegian (perhaps later mimicked by the “Swedish Chef” on “The Muppet Show?”). Corbett’s efforts to learn “Swedish” are full of mispronounced vowels, laden with sexist innuendo. (Note also the addition to the story of the stereotypical blonde “bimbo” waitress.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc3M1nppd3c&t=1s

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Finally, perhaps the worst offender in the genre of English mispronunciation comedy premiered on ITV in 1977, “Mind Your Language.” Like the two programs cited above, the racism of this show also relies on misogyny to meet its comedic goals. Running until 1979, and briefly revived in the late 1980s, “Mind Your Language” features both male and female adult students of differing social backgrounds, religions and languages “set in an adult education college in London.” The show ” focuses on an ESL class taught by Jeremy Brown, to a group of enrolled foreigners.”

Teacher Brown (Wikipedia tells us; I have cringe-watched episodes to confirm) is an ESL teacher who provides the point-of-view. He is a congenial, “single man in his 30s who lives alone . . . and holds a BA from Oxford University.” In the series’ pilot, when he’s hired, the school administrator tells him that the prior teacher was driven insane by the students. Brown manages the mayhem but is often “exasperated by these students’ versions of the English language.”

Prominent in the series is the stereotypical Italian Catholic chef, Giovanni Cupello, who seems unable to understand English metaphors and long words, although he often answers mistakenly to amuse his peers. Similarly, Maximillian (“Max”) Papandrious is a Greek Orthodox shipping worker from Athens, who often spars with Giovanni.

Giovanni and Max become good friends, flatmates and ironically “have the best command of English of all the characters in the class.” Yet their progress  in English is shown to be minimal, at best.

Other characters animate historical stereotypes of tensions between Chinese and Japanese; Indian and Pakistani cultures, rivalry between French and Swedish au pairs, and the competition of physically attractive or assertive women characters (with sexist stereotypes of hourglass figures and heavy makeup). They also vie for teacher Brown’s affection.

Stereotypical language issues are portrayed—the Chinese character confuses “r” and “l”; the German mixes “w” and “v” sounds; religious and class differences abound. And yet, some episodes after conflicts arise, the hostile characters inexplicably return as friends (apt for a sitcom). Conflicts are tidily resolved off-stage. Laughter becomes a safety-valve that relieves the pressure of such conflict without addressing its significance.

“Allo, Allo” “The Two Ronnies” and “Mind Your Language” are only three examples of what could be called late 20th-Century British racist pronunciation comedy. Further research into TV and radio programming from the period would undoubtedly find many more.

But these three sample programs readily suggest not only that pronunciation problems are an inherent challenge for non-native speakers learning English, but also that such problems are socially acceptable to laugh at (and therefore, the racism).

The characters’ speech is driven by stereotype, sexism/misogyny and racism, at the expense of ethnic minorities and women (often both at the same time). These groups are regularly “thrown under the bus” for cheap laughs and are portrayed by actors whose physical features (e.g. large noses, hairy skin and large bustlines) are easily exploited for comic effect.

While comedy that mocks minority races, classes, women and sexual identities is a staple of late 20th-Century British TV and radio programming, the world of ESL/EFL/EAL teaching tends to tread gingerly through such domains. Decades after these shows revelled in racist representations of non-native English speakers, Anglophones today (e.g. on social media, like Linkedin) sometimes bracket off the genuinely complex challenges that arise from non-native speakers’ mispronunciations and accents.

Comedy (especially satirical) is a notoriously slippery genre, so few language teachers  I’ve encountered ever refer to such TV programs for their disempowering effect on racial minorities and women.

Given more contemporary awareness of homosexual, transgender and other non-binary identity issues, one can only imagine new layers of satire which 21st-Century English pronunciation comedy could exploit (and already does, in European programming not as well known on this side of the Atlantic).

When authoritarian politics have overwhelmed our world, increasing the disempowerment of racial minorities and women, it’s worth wondering whose interests are served when minorities’ speaking challenges are dismissed by political correctness—i.e. when native speakers write on social media, “it’s the ideas, not the accent that matter.” Language proficiency and fluency, including pronunciation, are never simple. Comprehension challenges don’t disappear on their own.

On Linkedin, where some native speakers try to reassure non-native English speakers that their “ideas are more important than their accents,” we need to acknowledge that these two aspects of language are always already intertwined. Ideas can only be understood if a speaker’s accent is decipherable. While racist pronunciation comedy from past decades is not socially acceptable, today’s trite statements of political correctness seem to deny (“whitewash”) decades of Anglophones’ racism toward non-native speakers. What happens to the frustrations and injustices experienced by non-native English speakers, and, at the same time, where do Anglophones’ contempt and racism go?

Are we not simply burying (in what might seem a new way), what happens to the suffering of our cultural, linguistic, sexual and gender minority groups? For a speaker’s ideas to matter, they must be understandable by others. Accents are an inextricable part of the delivery of ideas.

One of the unresolvable difficulties of accent modification when one learns new languages is that power inheres in one’s ability to sound similar, and with pressure to sound “the same.” But refusing to recognize the limiting effects on comprehension that come with non-idiomatic “accents” can become its own kind of homogenizing (“whitewashing”) activity, masquerading as tolerance and acceptance. Denial does not efface the loss and difficulty that result from mispronunciation.

The human condition, including its reliance on linguistic communication, inherently includes loss, which ultimately demands empathy and tolerance for non-native speakers at a time in history (now) when both are in short supply.

And now it’s your turn: What do you think about racist pronunciation comedy? And might contemporary social media sometimes cause us to bury the complexity of comprehension, including our potential intolerance (as native speakers)?

 Please share your thoughts; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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SHOP NEWS:

It seems hard to imagine that Easter passed just one week ago, when many of us listened anew to the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Special thanks to Rev. Devon Pattemore of Regina, SK, who has preached so movingly to the church I attend, while substituting for our regular minister, Rev. Roberto De Sandoli (currently on parental leave).

Rev. Devon’s insights and empathy through the Easter season have been challenging and inspiring to reflect on and absorb.

And those words have provided spiritual armour in the week since Easter, when American dictator Donald Trump has gleefully continued to support Russia’s war in Ukraine; murdered civilians and destroyed much of Iranian civilization; and most recently, usurped the role of Christ-the-Healer in a heinous, AI-generated and blasphemous Easter portrait he posted online.

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During times of autocratic leadership in our world, I’ve been especially concerned to read about the devolution (and imminent disappearance) of a tremendously vital educational resource English language curriculum, “One Stop English” (OSE).

Recommended to me several years ago by TEFL.org’s webinar host, advisor and teacher-trainer, Carl Cameron-Day, I have used “OSE” to create timely and thought provoking, one-on-one ESL classes for adults and youth. The platform also has resources for teaching children.

Drawing on sources such as “The Guardian,” “The Times (of London),” the BBC and the British Council, “OSE” has been invaluable to many English language teachers, worldwide for decades.

The development of AI has overtaken much in the publishing world. The developers of “OSE” have found the costs of maintaining and building of the platform exceed available resourcees.

Sadly, “OSE” will close its online “doors” in June. But in the meantime, ESL teachers and learners who have memberships are well-advised to download resources, which has been generously encouraged by the platform’s directors and developers.

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Thank you to small business and estate lawyer, Ben Nussbaum, and his very able assistant, Ingrid Atkinson, for their fine work, insights and patience shared on even the busiest of days.

The kind of legal support they provide is essential when a family has “grieving brains.”

Thank you, Ben, Ingrid and their team!

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It’s been a privilege to review and edit one of several articles by my long-distance friend, midwife Christel (originally from South Africa, now living in BC).

Christel is developing several articles on midwifery out of her recently defended PhD dissertation on midwifery in her native South Africa.

It’s been a privilege and pleasure to read Christel’s work and to learn more about midwifery standards and practices in South Africa, Europe and America.

Christel plans to build a midwifery-led birthing centre in the future in BC, Ontario or Alberta. (Unfortunately,  she could not “sell” this prospect to the Province, so she and her family have relocated  to BC.)

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I’ve been delighted to work for a month with a lovely Ukrainian through a non-profit organization. While it is painful to hear from her about the political and cultural losses that Ukraine has suffered in its war with Russia, we have also found space for genuine learning and enjoyment, as we practice English conversation each week.

Shortly, this student will start online language classes with one of our local settlement agencies. I will be delighted to see how that opportunity will allow her to develop her life in Canada.

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Thank you to my Chinese cousins Jian-Yu (Jenny) and Deming (David), who have retired in British Columbia, for their recent interest in my English-language classes (ESL), which they have promoted to more distant contacts both in China and Canada.

Although we’ve always respected and enjoyed each others’ friendship, for many years the demands of education and careers took us in different directions.

So it has been such a mid-life blessing to return to closer communication! I cherish their interest and support.

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Special thanks go out this month to Beth Brimner and Joann Brimner for including me in their Easter Sunday feast in Erindale. The delicious ham, scalloped potatoes, all many side-dishes and desserts were delectable!

Beth and Joann’s company, along with a good visit with their local Chinese friends, made for a wonderful Easter celebration, and a reunion from last Christmas Eve!

Thank you, dear friends, and Easter Blessings upon you.

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At Easter and in Saskatchewan’s fledgling spring, good reader, I hope you have found emotional and spiritual refuge, whichever faith you follow (or do not), and among family and friends, as we continue to care for our beautiful, but  broken, planet.

January 2026 Vol 8 Issue 1

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Teaching English to economic immigrants and to

internationally educated, second-language academics

Let Us Help You Tell Your Story!

Welcome Mid-January 2026!

Happy New Year, Good Readers!

I’m a long-time admirer of the newsletter writing of American marketing star, Ann Handley.

Her fortnightly newsletter, “Total Annarchy,” charms her readers with its irreverence and fun, while not shying away from ethical implications, such as the rapid ascendancy of AI in all areas of our lives. She asks and discusses some of the most salient implications AI and related marketing hold for all of us.

An expert digital marketer, bestselling author, keynote speaker, former Chief Content Officer for MarketingProfs and former journalist, Handley crafts “marcom” content that engages our emotions, at a time when emotional and ethical integrity are often displaced by the latest hustle of “impactful” prompts, trending bots and social influencers.

One of her many humourous strategies starts from the “get-go” in how she addresses her readers. Last November (American Thanksgiving), her addressees were “Butterballs.” In December (Christmas and Hanukkah), we became “Sugarplums.” I recall a spring issue, where we were “Peach Blossoms.” And by so naming her readers, Handley (literally and metaphorically) is just getting started.

One practice that keeps her newsletters grounded is that she loves and encourages readers to respond–whether with “yahoos,” “boo-hoos,” or comments in-between. I have exchanged some fascinating and animated messages with her.

Handley keeps things real.  She describes her newsletter as focusing “on writing, marketing, living your best life.” She writes as evocatively of her daughter leaving home for college as she does on publishing ventures.

Further north on the Canadian Prairie, some 15 years (or 180 issues) after I started writing “Tell Your Story Newsletter” (TYSN), I also strive for reality (not for “reality TV!”) and I’m delighted to receive emails and other messages from you, my readers–the best sign of engagement.

Like “Total Annarchy,” “Tell Your Story Newsletter” (TYSN) remains free. It’s also 100% AI-free, spam-free and ad-free. My newsletter often addresses entrepreneurial wellness as much as (or through) communications or marketing ideas, and as much as English language teaching and writing issues.

Long-form Communications as a living body of practices are the “bread and butter” of my days, and of at least some of yours, too, as valued readers.

At the dawn of a new year, I hope that reading “TYSN” will feel much like a conversation with a friend. It’s why I address you as “Good Readers” or “Friends” or as “we” or “us.”

I hope you’ll share relevant issues with your friends and colleagues.

And while we all love a good guffaw (and some of those will definitely follow, this year), ultimately I hope you’ll find, by reading and responding, that none of us is alone in facing the challenges of our times.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Shih

Principal, Storytelling Communications

Article One: On Microhabits: How to Make Freelancing Healthy (any Time of the Year)

As most in the Western Hemisphere know, “New Year’s Day” is historically the date to make “resolutions” to improve our lives, health, or finances for our futures.

And while people tend to undertake these “resolutions” with great conviction, we all know that unrealistic expectations end in failure.

By mid-January and definitely by early February, often our resolutions, and the resolve to achieve them, have dissipated.

For that reason, I look forward to the quiet workout space at my gym, after “resolutionists” have abandoned their workout regimes!

But in place of “New Year’s resolutions,” I was inspired by a recent podcast episode from American copywriter and coach, Ed Gandia (“High-Income Business Writing Podcast”). The episode describes how we can make “freelancing” (and other kinds of self-employment) healthier. Healthier not just now, but even more so, three months from now.

So this first new article of 2026 will be dedicated to the wellness of entrepreneurs of all shapes, stripes, spots and sizes.

Gandia says: “Freelancers are great at pushing through. We hit deadlines, juggle clients, and squeeze productivity out of thin air.”

But at the same time, our “physical health often pays the price for all of this.”

Brain fog, insomnia, burnout, increased anxiety and depression,  insulin resistance, weight gain, intensive cravings for unhealthy food are some of the worst results from overwork. He says: “The side of freelancing that rarely gets attention is the slow erosion of our health when our businesses become the only priority.”

In the longer term, poor health and sleep reduce our creativity and with it, the quality of our work.

But how and what changes can we sustain, meaningfully?

Motivation is a finite source of activity. So building our own regimes on microhabits is wise.

Even the term “microhabit” has been a recent buzz-word. But it refers to a legitimate practice. A microhabit is a practice of making large goals feel less overwhelming by breaking them down into smaller pieces or activities, over time.

We repeat that small activity consistently over several weeks or months (such as walking for 10 minutes per day, or drinking two more glasses of water each day) until we achieve a goal larger than we could have initially imagined.

In his podcast, Ed Gandia interviews Lucie Robazza, an Australian-based, certified health coach, personal trainer, kinesiologist who has founded her own company, “Strenxia.” She’s a big believer in microhabits.

She says that “deadlines, your own business, AI, not enough sleep or healthy diet,” all lead to “all or nothing” strategies, doomed to fail by week three of a new year.

Robazza says if you track meaningful health metrics, you’ll start (gradually—one day at a time) to make real improvements through diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes.

But this should be a gradual process, not a headlong rush!

Women face unique challenges in midlife that mainstream “lifestyle” practices miss, from Perimenopause to Menopause. Hormonal fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone are significant and as a result, “women become less resistant to stress in our 40s.”

Researchers have started (very late in history) to analyze biomarkers in Menopause. But Perimenopause can also cause emotional volatility, poor sleep and many other symptoms–that both women and men know little about. So 40+-year old women should discuss their health closely with their physicians.

Making incremental changes (not “all-or-nothing”) is more sustainable (e.g. 1% every week). New Year’s resolutions don’t tell us how to get there. (Motivation is never sustainable.) Instead, Robazza suggests that we need to build “systems,” based on small, attainable microhabits that we can do, even when we feel stressed out.

For instance she suggests practices as simple as positioning our bedroom furniture and clean gym clothes near our doors, to make it easier to get to the gym each morning.

Microhabits help us avoid failure, by helping us to strive for reasonable goals. She warns that otherwise, “the story of failure” will shape our identities, detrimentally.

As we start building microhabits, we start to feel good about our successes and build an identity over time that is positive. It’ll also be greater than the sum of our latest achievement(s)!

We will see the pattern of gradual improvement, consistently, over time. Robazza says we all need the encouragement that provides.

The jist of Gandia’s podcast is this: We tend to assume that New Year’s failed resolutions come from a failure in discipline or commitment, when they’re more likely too ambitious to counter the complex dietary and metabolic issues that humans face, especially as we age. (Gandia notes this applies to aging men, as well.)

So many freelancers have been pushing too hard for too long,  “operating in a chronic low-grade stress state,” affecting everything from “Thyroid function to inflammation to metabolic health” and more.

Here, to conclude, are Robazza’s top six microhabits:

(1) Get natural sunlight early in the day. This helps to regulate hormones for energy and sleep. Robazza recommends getting some sunlight in the first 10-15 mins of our mornings, as morning light improves melatonin production and helps with insulin reception. Daily sunlight regulates our sleeping and working hours. (In cold climates like SK, light therapy boxes can work.)

Even a morning walk to walk to the gym (without showering or preparing our bodies) will do wonders.

(2) Take water with electrolytes upon waking to reduce dehydration-related fatigue, cravings and to support cognitive focus. Robazza says to drink two cups of water as soon as we wake up and then to keep drinking water as we work through a day (an additional four cups).

Dehydration can cause cravings, brain fog and other problems. She recommends not to drink caffeine for the first hour after waking up. Water-soluble electrolytes are costly, so even adding a pinch of good-quality sea salt to two glasses of water each morning will make a difference.

(3) Ensure we get sufficient protein intake, especially at breakfast, to support muscle health, satiety and prevent energy crashes (critical for women, often late in the afternoon). A minimum) of 100 g of protein per day per women is necessary. And increase that to 120 or 130 g of protein, as we age.

Protein is the best antidote to those crashes, sugar cravings and an overly large appetite. Protein also helps to sustain muscle mass.

Robazza says  breakfast should consist of 30-40 g of protein to help regulate hormones. We need more as we age!

Consider that two eggs contain only 12 g of protein and we need 30-40 to start the day! So make breakfast more substantial or research healthy protein powders we can add to what we eat.

(4) Practice short movement bursts (“exercise snacks”) throughout the day, to break sedentary patterns, boost energy, and improve metabolic health.

Robazza reminds us that human DNA is structured to need movement. As many of us have heard, we’re not meant to sit at desks all day. So she urges us to try to disrupt sedentary work with micromovements (that improve insulin sensitivity).

For instance, she urges us to try “20 squats while the kettle boils; 10 desk pushups while ChatGPT is working on your search” and so on. Ten minutes spent walking on errands would also be great.

While these aren’t full “workouts,” these “exercise snacks” disrupt sedentary behaviour, like hunching posture, brain fog and exhaustion.

Over time, getting morning sunshine (microhabit #1) here could double up with one of these 10 minute, “exercise snacks” (microhabit #4) to reduce insulin resistance and help our bodies dispose of glucose. (Habits can be stacked when waiting for a bus or in traffic.)

(5) Reset and regulate our Nervous Systems by practicing deep breathing exercises throughout the day. (Deep breathing helps to manage stress, promote resilience and mental clarity). Before doing something difficult in our days, she suggests that we take one minute for box-shaped breathing (inhaling for four seconds; holding it for seven seconds; and then breathing out for eight seconds).

Also, deep breathing after we do something stressful can help to calm ourselves. (This is more realistic than following a half-hour of meditation when life is so mentally intensive.)

(6) Make habits “stick” as longer-lasting practices by simplifying our environments. For instance, lay out clean gym clothes the night before, keep a jug of water with sea salt near our beds.  Similarly, ask a spouse or friend to “hide the biscuit jar” out-of-sight and mind!

Robazza stresses that working with one microhabit for the first 28 days is the best way to start. Once it’s a routine, we can stack other habits on top, at 28-day intervals. Results improve greatly. (E.g. Stack some micro-exercises at the end of writing  a first draft of something; plan on drinking one cup of water after we finish every meeting, etc.)

She also suggests that setting “worst day standards” for terrible days can help with busy times. Then we won’t drop the ball entirely, but manage to fit in some breathing, for instance, and some protein-rich foods. The small size of most microhabits and their receptiveness for gradual stacking makes them more sustainable for the long-term.

Robazza concludes with the advice not to let our practices slide twice. (For instance, failing to eat protein on one day can still be counteracted. But if we repeat it on a second day, we’ll have started a “bad habit.”)

Start a microhabit “one at a time,” starting with one of the easiest. Do it for 28 days, reflect on whether it was easy (or not); then add a second microhabit and follow both now, for another 28 days (and so on). Robazza notes that behaviours can improve “from average to good to great” over three or more months. So starting one microhabit on a cold January day will reap benefits for us by spring!

By featuring Robazza’s insights on his podcast, Gandia illustrates that “practical, simple, and surprisingly encouraging” microhabits can make a lasting difference to our mid- and later-life health.

And who wouldn’t want that, in these challenging times?

And now it’s your turn. Are you happy with your current health as a freelancer or professional? Will you try to develop some of Robazza’s microhabits?

Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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I’m observing this month that a long-term writers’ group I co-launched in 2015 with Ashleigh Mattern and Julie Barnes (Saskatoon “Freelancers’ Roundtable”), has been renamed and reconceived!

Henceforth, we’ll be known as Saskatoon’s “Small Business Group.”

Ashleigh, Julie and I started the group in the spring of 2015 to channel creative writers’ need for discussion, advocacy and co-referrals.

We planned our group over drinks (and a notepad) nearly 11 years ago, in a bar in downtown Saskatoon that long ago closed!

While we outlived that venue, we’ve since met in cafes and coffee shops across the city, including the Broadway Roastery on 8th, City Perks, Sparrow, and lately, HomeQuarter.

A word (and shout-out) to my co-founders and colleagues:

Ashleigh Mattern is the “chief storyteller” (writer, marketer and social media expert) behind Vireo Creative, a web design and content team (c. 2015).

She’s also a long-time creative, writing freelance journalist, producing content for the CBC, marketing copy for local businesses and exploring multiple literary genres and influences, including in her novel, Magicked Born (2021).

Ashleigh has been the regular anchor and leader of the group since 2015 and recently returned to that role after a few months’ hiatus. She regularly invites creatives to join in our discussions.

Co-founder Julie Barnes of Julie Barnes’ Creative Services, is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Saskatoon HOME magazine and for clients including the CBC. She is completing a degree in interior design from Yorkville University.

Some of Julie’s writerly interests include travel, gardening, architecture, residential construction, food, urban planning, cottage communities and education.

She has also worked as a talent agent for the folksinger/songwriter, Eric Paetkau.

. . . . With an 11-year history behind us, we and our other members are optimistic that Saskatoon’s “Small Business Group” will expand our topics of reading, thinking, discussion and co-referrals.

Since rebranding in 2021 as the principal of “Storytelling Communications,” I (Elizabeth)  have continued to write and edit communications copy, while pivoting to focus more on teaching the intricacies of English-as-a-Second Language (ESL/EAL/EFL) to adults and young adults.

Influenced by my background in academia, language studies and psychoanalysis, I continue to enjoy reading as eclectic influences as Susie Dent, Seth Godin and Adam Phillips, while striving to create clarity for the writing and speaking of non-native users of English.

. . . With our diverse interests as co-founders and members, Saskatoon’s “Small Business Group” has much potential to grow into the future.

“If the shoe fits,” we’d be happy to include you in our next meeting.  Please reach out.

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An energetic shout-out this new year to Northern Ireland-based, ESL teacher, Carl Cameron-Day, and (Glasgow-based) ESL administrator, Alan Moir, both of TEFL.Org.

Carl is an experienced, ESL teacher, tutor, teacher-trainer and exam administrator who has worked all over the globe. I know Carl as a sage advisor, who hosts webinars for junior and mid-career English language teachers with enviable energy.

When part of a work week takes me off the trail of language training, I’m always the better for tuning in to a TEFL.Org webinar, hosted by Carl and deftly facilitated by the amazingly skilled Alan Moir (himself an EFL teacher by training).

Their wry sense of humour adds to their charm. (Alan once adopted the name of a “Cupboard of Cheese” for a Q&A! . . .)

ESL/EFL teachers can watch recordings of these webinars (some going back years) on YouTube and on Facebook, filled with helpful tips and best practices.

There are always new stories and new people to promote in “Shop News.” But this is a wrap for mid-January.

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