Random Quote
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
---- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
---- Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
delete me
This video made me bust my gut laughing.
Presentations Textbooks
The past couple of semesters my university has switched our program focus from 4 skills to presentation skills. In this time I’ve used a couple of textbooks aimed at teaching presentation skills to non-native speakers. While no textbook is perfect I’ve noticed that none of the books I’ve looked at teach anything about using note cards when presenting. This seems to me to be a glaring omission.
Using note cards (or the notes field in PowerPoint) is essential to giving an effective presentation especially for non-native speakers. When they don’t do this one of two things happens. First they will bring a script and just read from it, despite being told not to read. Second they’ll memorize the entire speech, but then forget it and spend their time looking at the ceiling while trying to remember.
I have prepared a couple of lessons around the principles including a sample presentation and note cards for students too look at and will be testing them out this coming week. But really I fail to see why this is not included in commercial textbooks. Students can have the best organization, transitions and visuals, but if do not use note cards they will end up having no body language or eye contact due to the negative effects of reading and memorization. The result is a boring, forgetful and wasted presentation.
I don’t teach, nor allow, PowerPoint with my lower level students but with intermediate and above I do teach it. It’s more about teaching them what not to do – i.e. flashy transitions, multiple fonts, multiple styles, poor contrast etcetera. One thing that every presenter should be using is presenter view. This allows you to see the current slide, upcoming slides and the notes field all on one space – on your laptop screen while on the projector the audience sees the regular presentation view.
here is a screenshot (click for full size):
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 31, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Teaching | teaching_application |
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6 Things About Multiple Intelligences
Yesterday on twitter I saw a tweet by @cotterhue that directed me to this post titled Six Things About Multiple Intelligences You Might Not Know. This is definitely worth reading especially if you haven’t thought critically about the theory of multiple intelligences.
In a nutshell here are the six
- Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory is not a theory in the scientific sense.
- The Intelligences do not exist in any measurable way.
- Gardner has substantially more supporters in the world of education than in the world of psychology.
- Gardner is horrified by some of the practical applications of his ideas that he has witnessed in classrooms.
- In a conversation about MI if you hear certain expressions, such as Rinvolucri (and others), run away
- ‘Multiple Intelligences theory’, ‘neuro-linguistic programming’, ‘brain gym’, ‘shamanism’, ‘psychodrama’ and ‘life coaching’ are not related in any way.
KOTESOL 2009 - going?
Next weekend is the annual KOTESOL international conference. As usual I will be attending and have arranged a dinner out with several people that I only get to see once a year at this conference on Saturday evening.
Are you going? vote in the poll and leave a comment.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Oct 15, 2009 at 07:06 PM
Public_Service_Announcement | Conferences | Random_Ramblings | Polling_Station |
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