Random Quote
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
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
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
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
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
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
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
"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
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
---- J. Robert Oppenheimer
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 |





Michael Marzio wrote 101 words on Thursday Jul 3, 2008 at 10:49 PM
Thanks for the review! I just want to disagree with one sentence where you wrote:
“I can definitely see this being useful for very low level students”.
It is true that I concentrate on spontaneous video for beginners and intermediates, one reason being that it is difficult to find authentic video for low levels, but there is a difference beteween “authentic” (today’s films with actors, for example) and “spontaneous”. I’m not sure, but I think that the naturalness of the speech makes very easy material difficult for students who have never travelled to, or spent time in, English-speaking countries.
Thanks again!