2003

Each June, high school and university students across America pack away their books for three months and go to work. For some of these students, summer jobs are a way to soak up the sun while earning pocket money as a lifeguard at the beach or a caddy in a posh golf club. For others, they're the first rung on the professional ladder, padding a résumé and imparting essential business skills. But as Steve DeBretto from Chicago explains, some summer jobs can be just plain weird.

Millions of American tourists come to London every year to get in touch with their own history. Take a trip with us around some of the more famous landmarks that have connections with the origins of the United States.

Let's start in the area known as Rotherhithe, on the south bank of the River Thames, just east of Tower Bridge. Undoubtedly, this is the most important, and the most popular, place among American visitors to London. It was here that the voyage of the ship The Mayflower began, a story known to schoolchildren all over the US.

Taskmasters gives you the language exercises: Letters to the Professor sorts out your grammatical problems, while Hilary Davies answers your etiological questions in our new feature, Theories and Queries. Barry Keane, our resident bard, gives you top tips in The Art of Poetry Translation. In Letters to the Editor we publish the results of our SMS Poetry Competition. The English Language Olympiad reaches the first part of the second stage, and we present sections of the UJ Tests.

Some of them wear funny wigs and call each other "Right Honourable". The Speaker hardly ever speaks, and there is someone called Black Rod who is neither black, nor is his name Rod. But all are vital to the day-to-day running of the British Houses of Parliament. The strange behaviour and rituals of the Members of Parliament and officials is based on traditions that go back to medieval times. We present our guide to all you need to know about the British legislative chambers.

This year Ireland is celebrating 30 years since joining the European Union. Since accession the Irish economy has become one of the most dynamic, not just in Europe, but in the world. What better time then to meet the Irish Ambassador to Poland, Her Excellency, Ms. Thelma M. Doran. In this exclusive interview, she explains that the EU has had many positive benefits for Irish society, and not just in the economic sector.

Riga, Latvia, is the site for this year's annual festival of kitsch. And while Poland continues to send its most popular groups and singers to the contest, as usual, you will not have heard of the British entrant before. This is because no self-respecting British pop star would be seen dead in a contest that is, in that country, seen as a bit of a joke. In spite of that, 8 million Britons and 100 million square-eyed Europeans will tune in to watch the Song Contest this May.

Over the past two semesters I taught both American and foreign students, most of the latter from Poland, at St Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan. Apart from a course in American culture and another in Poland's recent post-communist history, most of my teaching load was in ESL (English as a Second Language). Some of my students indicated they had improved their English and felt more confident about functioning in the English-speaking world. But I also learnt quite a bit from them.

The Internet is changing the way we meet. In the old days, relationships started when you spotted that gorgeous girl or guy as your eyes met across a crowded room. But now, Internet chat rooms are full of lonely hearts in search of Mr. or Mrs. Right. But is this the best way to meet that special someone?