Origin (N): The beginning of something
~Wiktionary
Origin is an important word to me today. Like many words in English, it started in Latin, passed through French before being anglicized in the 16th century. We use it to talk about where rivers start. It can be used to talk about the birth of new ideas. And, of course we can use it to describe where superheroes come from. In fact, the superhero origin story is one of the staples of the genre.
We all know the origin of Superman; a doomed planet, a rocket ship to earth, and a farm boy upbringing before he become the Man of Steel. What about Batman?
We are all familiar with the tragic murder of his parents and his decision to use his fear of nocturnal mammals to become the World’s Greatest Detective. And of course, whenever you hear the words ‘radioactive spider’ we remember how Peter Parker amazingly became Spider-man. Origin stories are great, spectacular, even. So great we like to tell them more than once!
I have seen Superman arrive to Earth at least 4 times through comics, TV shows, and movies. I have seen the Waynes murdered a few times. And if you count the spider-verse, I’ve seen Spider-people come into being on a dozen or so occasions.
So why is this important to me? Well, this website and this blog came into being over a year ago. But today, we are re-telling our origin story! Over the last few months we have been re-designing, re-working, and re-thinking the site and we have made changes that we think will make it a much better resource for both students and the teachers who help them.
Some of the changes you will notice are a cleaner look and easier navigation. You’ll also find new resources such as grammar lists and the Phrase of the Day! And that’s not all! The site now has the ability to show video grammar lessons. You’ll see these come on line in October. And I am very happy to announce the return of the Coffee with Chris Challenge.
Even though some things are different about this site, some things remain the same, especially our goal: to be an excellent resource for ESL students and teachers around the world. I hope that these changes will help our website go from heroic to super-heroic. Welcome to the new Chris in English.