Speaking is the major way that we express ourselves.
Not having the right word to desribe a feeling exactly in a first language can be annoying - in a second language it can be fustrating or worse.
In a first language you can give the "kind of sort of" and get your point across.
In a second langauage this is much more difficult. Skill at charades can come in handy in these situations.
I never really thought about how important fillers are in speech or how to convey their use to a person from another culture. This is the part of the reading that I found most interesting,
I think role play is important because it takes away the need to talk about yourself and gives you the feeling that you must participate for the sake of the group.
It also makes sure that everyone gets a turn.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Listening
This week's reading were about listening.
I went to a play called Love Letters on Sunday. It had two actors. They sat at desks facing the audience and read the letters that they had written each other starting with notes in the second grade and ending with the death of one of them in old age. It was a very graphic example of the difference between written and spoken communication. The expressions of the actor being written to, often conveyed to the audience exactly what they were thinking, without saying a word. The reading of their written answer confirmed their body langauge.
It is more difficult to understand someone you cannot see.
Listening practice that is just listening to the radio or responding to the telephone is important in really learning a language.
I went to a play called Love Letters on Sunday. It had two actors. They sat at desks facing the audience and read the letters that they had written each other starting with notes in the second grade and ending with the death of one of them in old age. It was a very graphic example of the difference between written and spoken communication. The expressions of the actor being written to, often conveyed to the audience exactly what they were thinking, without saying a word. The reading of their written answer confirmed their body langauge.
It is more difficult to understand someone you cannot see.
Listening practice that is just listening to the radio or responding to the telephone is important in really learning a language.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Vocabulary and Grammar are both key elements of language. I am more interested in vocabulary.
I think that technology and the ease of cultural sharing has changed both vocabulary and grammar.
We have books, movies, television, radio.... from around the world. There is more mixing of "English language culture". Addtion of new words and retiring of old words happens much more quickly. Also word already in use take on new meanings. Langauage is a living thing. Growth and change are happening more quickly than ever before.
Texting has made language at once more abbreviated and more verbose. Words and phrases are shortened but there seems to be more words exchanged.
This of course makes it more important for us to keep ourselves updated with both technology and how the langauage is changing
This makes more for the teen to learn. He wants to be in with his peers and perhaps on top of his or her academic work as well. It is a challenge for them as students and us as teachers.
I think that technology and the ease of cultural sharing has changed both vocabulary and grammar.
We have books, movies, television, radio.... from around the world. There is more mixing of "English language culture". Addtion of new words and retiring of old words happens much more quickly. Also word already in use take on new meanings. Langauage is a living thing. Growth and change are happening more quickly than ever before.
Texting has made language at once more abbreviated and more verbose. Words and phrases are shortened but there seems to be more words exchanged.
This of course makes it more important for us to keep ourselves updated with both technology and how the langauage is changing
This makes more for the teen to learn. He wants to be in with his peers and perhaps on top of his or her academic work as well. It is a challenge for them as students and us as teachers.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Learning about culture
What to say? when to say it? How to say it? and to whom?
Context
Formal? Informal?
Ms ? Mrs. ? Miss ?
Professor?
Doctor?
First name?
Last name?
Nick name?
Humor? sarcasm?
Rude? Polite? Kiss ass disgusting?
Brown nose?
It is one thing to know how to say something in theory - but the actual play by play can be much more challenging
People on the autism spectrum have trouble with making good decisions about interactions with others.
Doctor Melvin Levin wrote this book called Jarvis Clutch - Social Spy which is about how to get along socially.
Jarvis observes people and he and the doc talk aboutwhat actions get what results and what is appropriate
It makes very explicit things that are usually implict and seldom discussed.
it is probably a lot more than most college grad students need to know but it would be very helpful for younger students trying to figure out the american social scene
It talks about code switching.
The doc defines this as adjusting the words that you use and the way that you speak depending on whim you are speaking to.
Jarvis says it is fitting the stiff you say with the people you are around.
Context
Formal? Informal?
Ms ? Mrs. ? Miss ?
Professor?
Doctor?
First name?
Last name?
Nick name?
Humor? sarcasm?
Rude? Polite? Kiss ass disgusting?
Brown nose?
It is one thing to know how to say something in theory - but the actual play by play can be much more challenging
People on the autism spectrum have trouble with making good decisions about interactions with others.
Doctor Melvin Levin wrote this book called Jarvis Clutch - Social Spy which is about how to get along socially.
Jarvis observes people and he and the doc talk aboutwhat actions get what results and what is appropriate
It makes very explicit things that are usually implict and seldom discussed.
it is probably a lot more than most college grad students need to know but it would be very helpful for younger students trying to figure out the american social scene
It talks about code switching.
The doc defines this as adjusting the words that you use and the way that you speak depending on whim you are speaking to.
Jarvis says it is fitting the stiff you say with the people you are around.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Our last class was very interesting.
Marya's presentation was very focused and task-based.
Placing us in a situation where we had to argue for a philosphy was a good way to help us think about the pros and cons of the different methods.
Voting for the best method as a large group at the end was a way that we could express our real views rather than the ones we were asssigned to represent.
Observeing the Korean teacher video was interesting and instructive.
It was interesting to hear what others thought about the teacher and his methods.
I was surprised that more people did not pick up the spelling mistake on the board.
My daughter had an English teacher that could not spell. It was disturbing.
My daughter and several of her friends were studying at our home and several of the sudents had the same (several) spelling mistakes in their notes - because they copied the teacher's notes right off the board.
I really wasn't too concerned about spelling - after all it is only a truly uncreative person who cant' think of more than one way to spell a word.......
It was that she was a poor writer, a mediocre speaker, and a very uncritical reader - in addition to not exhibiting an inability to control the class.
... I digress
I do think that just a 10 minute clip is a really short observation to judge someone on.
On the other hand there are things that we all do that we do all the time.
I think that it is important to be able to give people feedback both positive and negative.
I was at a conference on Saturday and the speaker chose not to use the microphone. He could be heard well at the start of his commentary but then was lowering his voice at the end of his statements. Some people were could not hear. Several of them were wondering if they should say anthing and if so what.
They did not want to hurt his feelings.
So the suggestion was made that they should start out by saying they were really interested in what he said and did not want to miss any of it - could he use the mic or speak louder
This was very difficult for these adults to do. (at a seminar that they paid for and gave up a Saturday with friends and family to attend)
Learning to give and take feedback is a very important skill in the classroom and in life.
Marya's presentation was very focused and task-based.
Placing us in a situation where we had to argue for a philosphy was a good way to help us think about the pros and cons of the different methods.
Voting for the best method as a large group at the end was a way that we could express our real views rather than the ones we were asssigned to represent.
Observeing the Korean teacher video was interesting and instructive.
It was interesting to hear what others thought about the teacher and his methods.
I was surprised that more people did not pick up the spelling mistake on the board.
My daughter had an English teacher that could not spell. It was disturbing.
My daughter and several of her friends were studying at our home and several of the sudents had the same (several) spelling mistakes in their notes - because they copied the teacher's notes right off the board.
I really wasn't too concerned about spelling - after all it is only a truly uncreative person who cant' think of more than one way to spell a word.......
It was that she was a poor writer, a mediocre speaker, and a very uncritical reader - in addition to not exhibiting an inability to control the class.
... I digress
I do think that just a 10 minute clip is a really short observation to judge someone on.
On the other hand there are things that we all do that we do all the time.
I think that it is important to be able to give people feedback both positive and negative.
I was at a conference on Saturday and the speaker chose not to use the microphone. He could be heard well at the start of his commentary but then was lowering his voice at the end of his statements. Some people were could not hear. Several of them were wondering if they should say anthing and if so what.
They did not want to hurt his feelings.
So the suggestion was made that they should start out by saying they were really interested in what he said and did not want to miss any of it - could he use the mic or speak louder
This was very difficult for these adults to do. (at a seminar that they paid for and gave up a Saturday with friends and family to attend)
Learning to give and take feedback is a very important skill in the classroom and in life.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Lexical Help
As I read the book I kept thinking about the graduate student who comes here to do a master's degree - grammar is good general vocab OK
or the adult who is working in a technical field, who knows the field but not the English
CALP
How can we help with getting them familar with conventions of their chosen discipline?
Is the most helpful thing to help their teacher/co worker/partner/colleague help them?
How familar are we with specific disciplines?
--------------------
On a more practical level
I went to a writing workshop once where we took passages from great writers. We looked at
secific parts of speech,
function in the discourse,
grammar,
puctiation ,
sentence construction,
word length
word level....
and then wrote a parallel passage.
It was very tedious.
It was also very helpful.
or the adult who is working in a technical field, who knows the field but not the English
CALP
How can we help with getting them familar with conventions of their chosen discipline?
Is the most helpful thing to help their teacher/co worker/partner/colleague help them?
How familar are we with specific disciplines?
--------------------
On a more practical level
I went to a writing workshop once where we took passages from great writers. We looked at
secific parts of speech,
function in the discourse,
grammar,
puctiation ,
sentence construction,
word length
word level....
and then wrote a parallel passage.
It was very tedious.
It was also very helpful.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Official Language?
In an ideal world teachers would team teach and Nests and non-Nests would team together, each reenforcing the strengths of the other.
All this talk about Nests and nonNests made me think about where is English an official language.
Although there have been attempts to make English the official language of the United States - none has ever passed through Congress.
Several states have laws designating English as the official language. Minnesota is not one of them.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 2000 Executive Order No. 13166 require that public entities receiving federal funds must have all vital documents available in every language that their clients speak
The original official languages of the United Nations were English, Chinese, French, and Russian. Spanish and Arabic were added in 1973.
Most spoken languages in the U.S.The list below is based on the 2000 US census. It shows 20 most populous languages spoken in the U.S. No indigenous language made the top 20 list. As of January 2007, the US population was 301,029,225, so the figures above will need to be adjusted upwards.
English 215,423,555 82.10%
Spanish 28,100,725 10.71%
French 1,606,790 0.61%
Mandarin 1,499,635 0.57%
German 1,382. 610 0.52%
Tagalog 1,224,245 0.46%
Vietnamese 1,009,625 0.38%
Italian 1,008,370 0.38%
Korean 894,065 0.34%
Russian 706,240 0.26%
Polish 667,415 0.25%
Arabic 614,580 0.23%
Portuguese 563,830 0.21%
Japanese 478,000 0.18%
French Creole 453,365 0.17%
Greek 365,440 0.13%
Hindi 317,055 0.12%
Persian 312,080 0.11%
Urdu 262,895 0.10%
Cantonese 259,745 0.9%
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/USlanguages.html
State Official English Laws
Alabama (1990) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Alaska (1998) – initiative statute; ruled unconstitutional in state superior court, March 22, 2002; full text of ruling
Arizona (2006) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative. A more restrictive measure, approved by voters in 1988, was ruled unconstitutional by federal district and appellate courts, decisions vacated on March 3, 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court; then overturned as unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court on April 28, 1998; U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear English-only proponents' final appeal on January 11, 1999
Arkansas (1987) – statute
California (1986) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Colorado (1988) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Florida (1988) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Georgia (1996) – statute
Hawai`i (1978) – constitutional amendment declaring the state officially bilingual – recognizing English and Native Hawaiian as official languages
Idaho (2007) – statute
Iowa (2002) – statute
Illinois (1969) – statute repealing a 1923 declaration of "American" as the official state language and adopting English
Indiana (1984) – statute
Kansas (2007) – statute
Kentucky (1984) – statute
Mississippi (1987) – statute
Missouri (1998) – statute
Montana (1995) – statute
Nebraska (1923) – constitutional amendment
New Hampshire (1995) – statute
North Carolina (1987) – statute
North Dakota (1987) – statute
South Carolina (1987) – statute
South Dakota (1995) – statute
Tennessee (1984) – statute
Utah (2000) – initiative statute; appeal by ACLU dropped
Virginia (1981) – statute, revised in 1996
Wyoming (1996) – statute English Plus Resolutions
New Mexico (1989)
Oregon (1989)
Rhode Island (1992)
Washington (1989)
NOTE: Thanks to email correspondents who have alerted me to late developments in several states. If anyone else has information on pending language legislation not listed here, I would appreciate hearing from you at jwcrawford@compuserve.com.
Copyright © 2003 by James Crawford. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for free, noncommercial distribution, provided that credit is given and this notice is included. Requests for permission to reproduce in any other form should be emailed to jwcrawford@compuserve.com.
Last updated on 24 June 2008
All this talk about Nests and nonNests made me think about where is English an official language.
Although there have been attempts to make English the official language of the United States - none has ever passed through Congress.
Several states have laws designating English as the official language. Minnesota is not one of them.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 2000 Executive Order No. 13166 require that public entities receiving federal funds must have all vital documents available in every language that their clients speak
The original official languages of the United Nations were English, Chinese, French, and Russian. Spanish and Arabic were added in 1973.
Most spoken languages in the U.S.The list below is based on the 2000 US census. It shows 20 most populous languages spoken in the U.S. No indigenous language made the top 20 list. As of January 2007, the US population was 301,029,225, so the figures above will need to be adjusted upwards.
English 215,423,555 82.10%
Spanish 28,100,725 10.71%
French 1,606,790 0.61%
Mandarin 1,499,635 0.57%
German 1,382. 610 0.52%
Tagalog 1,224,245 0.46%
Vietnamese 1,009,625 0.38%
Italian 1,008,370 0.38%
Korean 894,065 0.34%
Russian 706,240 0.26%
Polish 667,415 0.25%
Arabic 614,580 0.23%
Portuguese 563,830 0.21%
Japanese 478,000 0.18%
French Creole 453,365 0.17%
Greek 365,440 0.13%
Hindi 317,055 0.12%
Persian 312,080 0.11%
Urdu 262,895 0.10%
Cantonese 259,745 0.9%
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/november/USlanguages.html
State Official English Laws
Alabama (1990) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Alaska (1998) – initiative statute; ruled unconstitutional in state superior court, March 22, 2002; full text of ruling
Arizona (2006) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative. A more restrictive measure, approved by voters in 1988, was ruled unconstitutional by federal district and appellate courts, decisions vacated on March 3, 1997 by the U.S. Supreme Court; then overturned as unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court on April 28, 1998; U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear English-only proponents' final appeal on January 11, 1999
Arkansas (1987) – statute
California (1986) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Colorado (1988) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Florida (1988) – constitutional amendment adopted by voter initiative
Georgia (1996) – statute
Hawai`i (1978) – constitutional amendment declaring the state officially bilingual – recognizing English and Native Hawaiian as official languages
Idaho (2007) – statute
Iowa (2002) – statute
Illinois (1969) – statute repealing a 1923 declaration of "American" as the official state language and adopting English
Indiana (1984) – statute
Kansas (2007) – statute
Kentucky (1984) – statute
Mississippi (1987) – statute
Missouri (1998) – statute
Montana (1995) – statute
Nebraska (1923) – constitutional amendment
New Hampshire (1995) – statute
North Carolina (1987) – statute
North Dakota (1987) – statute
South Carolina (1987) – statute
South Dakota (1995) – statute
Tennessee (1984) – statute
Utah (2000) – initiative statute; appeal by ACLU dropped
Virginia (1981) – statute, revised in 1996
Wyoming (1996) – statute English Plus Resolutions
New Mexico (1989)
Oregon (1989)
Rhode Island (1992)
Washington (1989)
NOTE: Thanks to email correspondents who have alerted me to late developments in several states. If anyone else has information on pending language legislation not listed here, I would appreciate hearing from you at jwcrawford@compuserve.com.
Copyright © 2003 by James Crawford. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this page for free, noncommercial distribution, provided that credit is given and this notice is included. Requests for permission to reproduce in any other form should be emailed to jwcrawford@compuserve.com.
Last updated on 24 June 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)