Random Quote
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
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
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
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
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
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
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
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
ESL Stand-up Comedy
Brian Aylward is a comedian who performs at clubs around Asia.
the first 2-3 minutes is really funny - watch the video.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Nov 13, 2008 at 07:57 PM
Random_Ramblings | Video | Teaching |
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A E I Love U
Readers may recall that in March I posted a music video made by local expat teachers titled Kickin it in Guemchon. Well the EV Boyz are back with another humurous look at expat life in Korea.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Oct 21, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Super EX
recieved this video in my facebook and fortunately found it on youtube to embed here. From the facebook page.
A lil parody i made about ‘some’ expat men in Asia. I thought it was worth comment. Tried my hand at cartooning and I came up with this. Oh the things i do to kill time!
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Oct 20, 2008 at 06:11 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Mad About English
Hat tip to Dekita.org
Mad About English, a film by Singaporean filmmaker Lian Pek, humorously documents China ‘s passionate love affair with the English language and their obsessive quest to learn it (some through very unorthodox methods).
This TechCrunch article shows another opportunity to_grow_ your_ career by pointing to a very grammatically (and politically) incorrect website, EngrishFunny, to which users send in photos of poorly translated or odd variations of written English in products, signs or instructions.
Deivis Pothin, a student of linguistics in London, shares his impressions and worries about the underlying message.
White Man Cafe
If you are a white man and tired of teaching ESL in Asia, but don’t want to go home you could always head to Japan. Looks like there’s a market for the White Man Cafe.
Hat tip to the English Blog. Original video on CNN, but I found it on YouTube and embedded it here for your viewing convenience.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Wednesday Jul 23, 2008 at 08:40 PM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Take your i-phone and…
this video is great.
original video here, but it broke the page layout so I’m using YouTube.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Friday Jul 11, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Real English
I’ve been clearing out some email and came across another email from a reader with a site for students using real people called Real English - sounds similar to what I posted two days ago - Real ESL.
Real English is produced by Mike in the south of France. The videos head out to the street and stop random people and interview them on a specific point illustrating a language point. I can definitely see this being useful for very low level students. Mike says:
I interview people in the street in order to get original, spontaneous speech on camera. Then I take this very messy spontaneity and organize it into structures and functions for beginners and intermediate students, and then make lessons around these video.
I really like the intro to each video - it’s catchy. Below is the video for lesson six - introducing people, introducing yourself. This video also has participants spell their names.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Jul 3, 2008 at 09:37 PM
Teaching | useful_web_sites | Video |
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Real ESL
Real ESL is a video blog by Kim Purcell that answers questions from second language learners and posts them up in a video on YouTube. Kim’s blog also contains a transcript of each video as an aid for learners.
Kim sent me an email introducing her site, which I had stumbled across before. I was checking it out in more detail this time when my wife (Korean) commented on her voice saying that she spoke very clearly - good for students. Kim has over 10 years of teaching experience in Mexico, Korea, and L.A. - from her bio.
Below you can see a video from this entry. Watch the video and then check out her blog, it’s been running solid for several months now.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Jul 1, 2008 at 07:40 PM
useful_web_sites | Readers_Questions | Video |
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Master English
Wow! if she were my french or Japanese teacher in high school, I probably would’ve paid a lot more attention in class. Watch this video - (near nudity)
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Jun 26, 2008 at 09:48 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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R.E.M - The Hollow Man
Completely unrelated to language, but I must say that I have really been enjoying the latest R.E.M Cd since it got released. Here is one of my favorite songs via YouTube.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Jun 9, 2008 at 06:00 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Anti Facebook Video
Watch and enjoy.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Monday Apr 21, 2008 at 02:38 PM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Class Size 20, 000
Hat tip to Graham via twitter. First the article about Crazy English which I’ve heard about before. 20,000 people in class, guess it puts it in perspective when I complain about having 30 students in a class that should only have 20.
every day, in a clearing on campus, he read English exercises, texts and books out loud. The effect was magic. In the TEM4 exam he attended four months later Li Yang finished all the questions within 50 minutes and won the second highest mark in his college.
This success inspired Li Yang. He summarized his experience and gradually forged a unique method of English study that consists of listening, reading, speaking, writing and translating, and named it Crazy English. This is an effective way of improving English pronunciation, speaking, listening and oral translation.
...After his graduation in 1990 Li Yang got a job at the Northwest Electronic Equipment Institute in Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. He went on with his Crazy English by reading English on the way to and from his office, and standing on top of the office building every morning shouting out English...Vexed at the thought of over 300 million Chinese people still studying English dumb and mute, Li Yang quit his job in 1994 and founded the Li Yang Cliz English Promotion Studio. In the past years his Crazy English has been accepted by 20 million people in over 100 cities in China, and inspired millions of people in their study of English..
Now the video - 20,000 people doing Crazy English. Crazy is correct!
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Friday Apr 18, 2008 at 05:41 AM
Video | ESL_in_the_News |
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Kickin it in GeumChon!!
This is freakin’ funny! Kickin’ it in 금촌 - Music video made by 3 foreigners in a small town in Korea - outstanding! I laughed a lot.
hat tip to shooting words and socius. Lyrics available here. I’ll probably show this to some students this week.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Mar 23, 2008 at 07:41 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Cop Stop
This is hilarious!
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Mar 16, 2008 at 07:53 AM
Random_Ramblings | Video |
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Bubbleply - revisited
In January I talked briefly about bubbleply. I am now using it after having rediscovered it. This semester I am teaching a course titled “Teaching English through the Internet” to English Education Majors. I originally thought the course was going to be internet oriented and general skills but just before the semester started found out that it was for the English Education department. I have since taken a new approach on my course.
I now introduce various web sites and resources to the students and have them use the sites. This is then followed up by a brief discussion about how they could be used in language education as well as some of the pedegogy behind my suggestions or usage. I have told the students that many of the sites introduced in the class will be oriented to adults since they are adults and I do not (re: never) teach children. I am aware that most of my students, teachers in training, will be teaching in public schools so I do try to find sites that can be used at all levels from grade school up to high school.
Anyhow on Wednesdays class this coming week we will be looking at bubblely which I feel has many different potential approaches in the classroom. Bubbleply takes a youtube video and allows you to add a variety of speech, thought, narration, or subtitle bubbles to it. clearly this gives the teacher opportunites to annotate a video, add English subtitles to aid in listening comprehension, add thought bubbles for comedy or even have students find a video of their own to bubblply for task based English use. My students will be finding their own youtube video to bubbleply and then adding it to their class blogs.
Enjoy the sample I prepared for them to watch on Wedesday. You can watch the original YouTube video here or just turn off the bubbles on the bubbleply player if you want.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Sep 16, 2007 at 08:40 AM
Teaching | useful_web_sites | Video | Materials |
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Women’s Dictionary
One of my students blogged this video on her blog and I thought I’d share with you. It’s amusing.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Sep 15, 2007 at 09:39 AM
About_Language | Vocabulary | Video |
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