Read, Speak, & Grow with Dela: Finding My Way Back to Teaching—and to You

The last time I wrote to you was back in October 2024. That feels like ages ago! Since then, I’ve been working—slowly but surely—on my Book Talk Club posts on Telegram. There’s been progress... and a few delays.

The last video I shared was in November. It was Chapter 4 of White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I outlined my notes. I even recorded the video. But did I post it? Nope.

So, what happened? Why the long pause?

I had to step back and ask myself some big questions:

• Am I making things clearer for my audience or more complicated?

• Am I helping or overwhelming you?

• Am I guiding learners or drowning them in information?

I kept circling back to the same idea—drinking from a waterfall. If someone tries to drink from a waterfall, will their thirst be quenched? Or would a water fountain be better? I needed to rethink my approach. I needed to make Saying it with Feeling simpler—not like so much information that it’s hard to take it all in.

That meant breaking it down a bit more. Studying how the book characters bring words to life. Creating diagrams to show what it means when we FEEL the emotion in a sentence, not just SPEAK it. And soon—yes, very soon—I’ll be sharing all of this with you in my next series of Book Talk Club videos.

So, what else has been keeping me busy?

Life.

• Walks with my neighbors

• Doctor’s appointments (keeping up with my health and my family’s)

• A battle with the flu

• An election—and everything that came with it

• Teaching a unit on how to make news and health topics conversational

And through it all, I kept reading.

In January, I went back and re-read the original White Teeth to compare it with the abridged (or shortened) version. That was an eye-opener! There are definitely some key differences I want to break down for you. And not just that—I started exploring a whole new genre I’ve never read before: Fantasy, defined as stories that take place in made-up worlds with magic, dragons, elves and fairies.

A Name That Fits

This pause in my creative work helped me realize something else: I needed a name that truly reflected the heart of what I do. So I’ve renamed this space:

Read, Speak, and Grow with Dela.

That’s what this newsletter is really about. Helping you grow in English through reading, speaking, and a little bit of reflection along the way.

More to come soon—thank you for still being here. And as always—keep reading, keep speaking, keep growing.

Click below to watch the video version of this newsletter.