Random Quote
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
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
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
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
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
To have another language is to possess a second soul.
---- Charlemagne
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
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
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
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
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
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
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
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
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
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
KOTESOL 2007 - day two
On day two of the conference I ended up seeing a lot less presentations. The first presentation that I saw was on Extending Speaking Opportunities in the EFL context. This presentation focused on a Japanese universities use of something similar to an English Club, but with NS facilitators with the meetings set up at lunch time. It was interesting but not something that I would want to try. I saw the same speaker in the next hour talking about Book Report Forms for Graded Readers. This was a much more interesting presentation and I will be taking some of the ideas away and using them this semester with my Advanced class as they are about due to be finished their novels (not graded readers but the principle is still the same) During the discussion time I was asked by the OUP rep for my email and it looks like he’s interested in something I do with graded readers (regular freshmen and moodle). I also talked to him about the possibility of materials review and development - hope that pans out.
I skipped out on the plenary. Not because it wasn’t going to be interesting - motivation is a field that I’m quite interested in, but rather because I was with a new friend who would be leaving the city that afternoon and this would be the last chance to sit and talk. Long time reader and infrequent commentor Jmac is a great guy and I hope to keep in touch with him in the future.
After lunch, I went to Bill Snyder’s presentation on LexTutor. This presentation was excellent and informative. I later approached Bill, whom I know outside of KOTESOL, about guest lecturing in my course How to Teach English using the Internet. Bill kindly agreed and will give a modified version of his presentation to my students later this semester. I wanted to give this information myself, but don’t yet understand it well enough to present it.
The next presentation I attended was also done by a friend, Scott Miles. Scott is the author and series editor on a new series of books teaching reading skills. The series is titled Essential Reading and is designed in a unique way. It’s targetting specifically EFL students in an Asian context. The readings were chosen to be engaging and relevant to Asians at the university level, i.e. material that they would be interested in reading on their own. Each of the readings was also written in a way that it would provide information that students were unlikely to know previously despite being familiar wiht some of the topics. Furthermore the readings were selected to elicit an emotional response and as Scott put it, this means that sometimes “they are not entirely safe”. But if they students respond emotionally they are definitely engaged. Finally there is support for ER built in. There are excerpts from graded readers and each book also has 2-3 graded short stories at the back. All attendees came away with a free copy of book 3.
After this, I missed the rest of the conference. I got stuck in conversation in the hall and ended up being late for the next presentation and the one after that as well. It’s my own fault, but the conversations were good, edifying and entertaining. This conference was a great opportunity to meet people, learn new things and network with other dedicated teachers. Hope everyone who attended enjoyed the conference and to all the readers that I met breifly It was good to meet you and I hope we get a chance to connect again in the future.
This conference has reinvigorated me and convinced me to get back into giving presentations as well as working towards materials development with some of the major publishers.
