Do no harm

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong was conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the National University of Singapore last week. We carry today an excerpt from his acceptance speech.

Excerpt:

'The unexamined life is not worth living.' So said Socrates, who paid with his life for insisting on living in accordance with his own maxim. The question 'Why am I here?' requires each of us to examine our purpose in life and to set our life goals.

The question should be asked when one starts one's career and not at the end of it, because it may be too late then to change anything for the better. The past is gone, and can only be recalled but cannot be re-lived. When the poet W.H. Auden was considering this question, he said: 'We are here to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know.'

Who's your daddy?

According to this week's Time magazine, 41% of babies born in the United States in 2008 were to unmarried mothers.

41 out of 100. Dang.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1586/changing-demographic-characteristics-american-mothers

According to Pew Research, that figure was 28 out of 100 in 1990. That's an incredible increase! Of course, unmarried doesn't mean no dad in the picture, nor does it mean that a married mother has a decent man in her life. And we can't discount the good work some unmarried moms do raising their kids.

Still, makes you wonder about the impact on American society over the course of the next generation or two...

countdown: 7 weeks

With less than 2 months before the little one arrives, I am feeling very good and surprisingly calm. Guess it's my nature not to panic... then again check back with me July 4th... might be freaking out! haha...

Teaching Venice

Pre-empt: Get students to understand why we are studying Venice

Google Maps:  overhead view of Venice

Images of Venice - modern life

Timeline - history

Present map of Europe for a brief summary of history

How much history: enough to provide a context for students to understand the rise of Venice.

Graphic organizer of concepts so students know where they are in terms of lesson frame

Trading Scenario to explain Giro banking and double-entry book-keeping (but keep it in the context of why they need to know this: the details of Giro and book-keeping are not important, but how Venice used these to prosper)

1. run a scenario where two traders have to exchange money in order to trade with each other

2. get students to suggest ideas to resolve this problem

Decline of Venice: Corruption 

Scenario: Three clans of survivors who lived through the Black Death

Clan election: Two groups (one poor and capable, one rich and incapable) vying for the vote of a third clan (poor and wants $$$)

Take away/exit slip: What characteristic do you see here as contributing to Venice's decline

Wrap up at the end of activity so that kids can relate to learning objectives

When we do introduce a source (text, image) related to content, also use a worksheet to interpret source to scaffold the activity and allow students to take notes.

Where is the logic

So...

I had a test this week. Had to write an email (on paper...) Never mind that we were tested on HOW to write an email (on paper... ^!%#*&!%^#), never mind that it was set up as a situational writing test rather than a test of how we communicate. Never mind that I drove 80 kilometres round trip for an test that could have been administered online.

80 minutes were given. It's a 120 minute class.
Logic - common sense - would dictate you give the test at the tail end of class so that when anyone completes the test in advance, he or she would submit the test and leave.

But NO.... logic was left at the door. Common sense apparently does not rule.
The test is given at the start of the class.

So what are we supposed to do after we complete the test? Wait around for 30 minutes.
A dozen of us stood outside the classroom for 30 minutes waiting...

We enter the classroom and what does the tutor says? Since we didn't get a break we would be able to go off earlier, and we spend the next 10 minutes listening to instructions (that could have been given BEFORE the test) about what to prepare for next week's class.

COME ON!!!

Listen, I have something to say...

Authentic vs unauthentic source material 

Authentic texts/material are those which are not originally constructed for language teaching purposes.

 - General selection criteria for authentic materials:
language (pitch to ability),
purpose (aims and objectives),
speaker (accent, pronunciation, normal speed),
intended audience (type of audience, materials comparable to intellectual and maturity),
length (30 to 120 secs / break into segments),
visual support (pictures, maps, charts)

Things to consider when using authentic materials
- be familiar with materials & techniques
- learn to use equipment and tech supporting the materials
- spend time assessing, prepping, trying out the new materials
- copyright restrictions

What is the rationale for selecting a particular clip?
Just listening for details? Or does it go further to assess student listening for gist, inference, comprehension?

Does it encourage testing or teaching? What's the follow-up activity?



Advantage of using non-authentic material: controllable, directed

Using authentic radio program: many are poor pedagogical tools because they lack content. Advantage: real world; if more than two speakers, could be problematic for students if voices are similar

Using Video clips from films: authentic, find material such as sports (sportsmanship) that students can relate to [caveat: don't use material they are too familiar with], play-pause-predict-rewind if necessary  (a.k.a DRTA)

Use appropriate metalanguage to teach and discuss

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Representing: non-written product (audiovisual/ audio) to convey a message

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!!! Spiral progression - cuts across lessons, units, years. scaling not just difficulty within a particular skill, but more difficult skills - e.g. general inference to irony/sarcasm.

Choices

http://www.choiceofgames.com/