Random Quote
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
---- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
---- Galileo Galilei
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
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
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
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
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
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
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
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
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 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
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
review of koreanclass101
The EFL Geek described a new KSL class online and I am in the process of giving it a try. Koreanclass101 is growing and currently has ‘newbie lessons’, beginner lessons and a little more (the audioblog seems geared toward stronger Korean ability). The site offers free podcasts and additional paid material. When you sign up, you get a free week of access to the premium material, including transcripts and review.
I am about to game the system. I don’t recommend this, but I will soon sign up with a second email address (doesn’t everyone have a handful of email accounts these days?) for a further week of free access to the full service. My trivial excuses are: 1) I’m doing this for you -helping give you a better account of the services offered, and 2) I was busy that week - it was a bad time to explore the content.
A more serious reason is that I have not yet found my true level in the material offered. Again, I was busy. Perhaps a level test is needed (is ‘level test’ a Konglish term -it rolls naturally off my tongue but I’m not sure). I would even accept a sort of eye test: “Can you read and understand this line?” “How about this line?” There’s not much point in cheating on a level test, after all.
I don’t mind, and probably need, review. I am not a ‘newbie’ but, well, false beginners are always hard to place.
Anyway, the podcasts are clear and stand alone well. The documentation prints out in good format, but I don’t really like PDF files. I would prefer a simple ‘.txt’ file that I could store in my phone’s ebook folder and read while listening on the bus. That would be handier than paper in my situation.
I found the audio wonderfully clear and having the proper tone. Keith and Sol are fun to listen to and sound like they are having fun. This is good, professional work, not like the audio I prepared a year ago and still plan to do more of.
Keith’s two emails to me, encouraging me to sign on with a premium account (about $25.00 or 25,000 won) were a little annoying in tone. I don’t begrudge his entrepreneurial spirit at all, but his “I know what you’re thinking” line was, indeed, annoying.
I would also like the individual podcasts to have clearer titles. A typical title is “003_B3_082707_kclass101.mp3”. I think this was lesson3 in beginner class and I suspect it was saved on July 27, 2007. That’s nice but I would prefer something like, “Beginner class 3 kclass101” or the like. I am not sure about class 3, but many of the classes have extra (paid) content so “Beginner class (main)” and “Beginner class (extra)”, “…(review)” and similar, more-meaningful titles.
This is a great site and the material is portable. The best purely online site in my view, is Sogang University’s KSL site. Facebook has a ‘Korean word of the day’, should you want more supplemental material.
I didn’t ‘game the system’ but I have downloaded a few more free episodes. I do recommend the site but strong beginners or better should wait as content is still being built up. I have decided not to pay for further content…yet. When further content is added, I plan to sign up for basic or premium content.
kwandongbrian inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Oct 30, 2007 at 11:55 AM
About_Language | Podcasting | Guest Author |
