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---- Pablo Picasso
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
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One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
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Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
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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
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
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Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
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
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
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.
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This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
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As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
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
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
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 |
kwandongbrian wrote 24 words on Saturday Oct 31, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I’ve given a few presentations myself where I needed to click on to the next slide, then back so I remembered what was next.
Sean. wrote 61 words on Saturday Oct 31, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Brian - presenter view - you should be using that provided your equipment lets you. In all of my classrooms except one I do. It’s a life saver as it allows you to see the next slide as well as any progression on the current slide and also to see the notes field.
Will update the post with a screenshot shortly.
kwandongbrian wrote 92 words on Sunday Nov 1, 2009 at 08:14 AM
First, I hope your problems - mentioned on your other blog - are solvable, and that, easily.
I’ve connected my laptop to a monitor and had both screens show the same thing. A computer guy at a school I was working at adjusted the settings so that the two screen worked sort of as one big screen - I would push things to the right and they would appear on the other screen. I can’t figure out how to do that with my Korean OS. Is that what you are describing above?
Sean. wrote 55 words on Sunday Nov 1, 2009 at 08:17 AM
Brian,
yeah that’s what you need to do. Right click on your desktop and choose display settings - move around the tabs on that menu and you should be able to figure it out. Try it on an English computer first and then remember the steps for when you use your Korean o/s. good luck.