Pupils, parents, teachers, lend me your ears. I come to praise Pokemon, not to bury him. A month ago in this column we marvelled at the Pokemon mania which had gripped the nation's children. Today, we rejoice that Pokemon rules, OK. The trading cards, all 150 of them, are an invaluable teaching aid for any enterprising third or fourth class teacher. They can be used in the maths class when doing tables, short division, fractions and area. They are quite practical in the phonics class and are totally engaging as a novelty spelling test.

The art class will be ablaze with colour while pupils paint their favourite characters. They can invade any science and nature class with impunity. And we have had recourse to them frequently in our geography class.

Sadly, however, we seem to have now reached saturation point, and we're are on a downward spiral. The buzz, the enthusiasm, the morning fervour is on the wane. Anyway, the days are getting longer and the great perennial God, football, beckons - and no boy can deny him.

So, it's goodbye to Professor Oak and Ash and Pallet Town. I'm glad we milked them while the going was good.

Whoever gave us the old Irish proverb "Ni feidir behith ag feardail agus ag ithe mine" was labouring under a grand illusion. Translated into the vernacular it means "You can't do two things at the same time", but pop into my classroom any day and you'll find that we are all multi-tasking most of the time.

I now find that I can correct sums, listen to a child reading, and follow a computer game at the back of the room all at the same time. It's a trick you learn when teaching in a multiple-class situation. Otherwise, you'd be snowed under with copies and anyway the children would think you were a moron if you couldn't. They never concentrate on one task to the exclusion of others. They are particularly adept at watching a video and writing or drawing simultaneously.

I suppose being brought up on a daily diet of Den TV is a great help in this matter. Anytime I watch it, Damien, Dustin and Socky seem to be always shouting each other down. I imagine that is part of their appeal to children. As long as it's several decibels above the norm, we'll watch it. "Go on ya good thing."