Congratulations Are in Order! David Crystal is Going Global

This post is dedicated to David Crystal, who has recently inaugurated his brand new website.

Here is the story behind it, in the great man’s own words.

The pregnancy is over. The conception was nine months ago, and I have been observing the slow but steady progress of the foetal website ever since. Yesterday and today saw its birth – two days because of the time it takes for the server to point everything in the new direction. This post is the equivalent of a birth announcement, except there is no gender or weight. You will find the baby here.

And also a response to a few correspondents who have asked me why a new site was needed. The motivation was actually the idea which became the Crystal Books Project, a feature of the new site. I am frequently asked for ways of obtaining some of my books which have gone out of print, and there was no easy solution. So the CBP is a way of solving that problem. The intention is to make available, in electronic form, my out-of-print back list. It will take a while for them all to get up there, because in the case of the older books they have to be rekeyed. No convenient electronic files in the 1960s – or even the 80s. Indeed, in the case of one of my books, published in 1976, I see that my first draft is entirely in handwriting – something I find inconceivable now!

The first few books are now available, in e-book form, and will shortly also be available as pdfs and as print-on-demand copies. The publishing firm that has provided the platform for the website, Librios, is exploring the best options as I write. Four e-books are now ready: the two Language A-to-Z books for schools (student and teacher book), which went out of print about 15 years ago; the Penguin book Language Play, which went o/p in the UK somewhere around 2005; and Words on Words, the anthology of language quotations, which went o/p at more or less the same time. All have a search function added, in their e-book incarnations.

 There is a complete bibliographical listing of books and articles on the new website, as there was on the old one, but with better search facilities. One can now order searches by title or by publication date. And there is a more sophisticated range of filters – for example, one can search for Shakespeare + books, or Shakespeare + articles, and so on. We’ll be refining the filter list in the light of experience.

You’ll notice that most of the articles are downloadable. The ones that aren’t are those I don’t have a copy of. So, if anyone ‘out there’ notices a missing download and realises they have a copy of it, would they let me know? We can then arrange a way of getting the text online?

And with a new website comes new e-publishing opportunities. I haven’t used the medium in this way myself yet, but I do have in mind some projects which simply would not work in traditional publishing terms, but which would suit an electronic medium. More on this in due course. In the meantime, Hilary Crystal has chosen e-publication for her first children’s novel, The Memors, and that is available on the site too. This is a techno-fantasy tale aimed chiefly at that awkward-to-write-for group, the 10-14-year-olds, or tweenagers, as they are so often called these days. This is very much an experiment on our part. For it to work, the news of the new product needs to travel. So, if readers of this blog have tweenage contacts, do tell them about it.

… which is what we proudly did!

Filed under: 9►EXTRA, ►13.OFF THE MAP▼, Celebrations, David Crystal, Generations, GLOBAL, Learn More from Books

Brain Plasticity and Empathy, Dealing With “The Impossible” and Other Thoughts

  A number of documentaries I watched recently on BBC Knowledge and Discovery have led me to an interesting net-surfing experience, in search of more info on two topics that I, among many others, find absolutely fascinating: the plasticity of the human brain – its causes and effects, as well as its connections with feelings like empathy. Listed below you will find some interesting links and quotes I came across during my search. Feel free to add to it any other sources/ links you consider of relevance.

1.  You can watch a short video on the BBC Virtual Revolution Blog from 2009, in which Baroness Susan Greenfield approaches the question: Is the web changing us? The transcript is available on the site. Here’s an excerpt:

One of the most important issues I think, as well as the good thing about IQ going up, is the issue of risk. Obama said that the current financial crisis is attributable in part to greed and recklessness. Now greed are recklessness occur as part of something called a frontal syndrome, when the frontal part of the brain is less active in various conditions.

Could it be – and also this frontal part of the brain only comes on stream in late teenage years – could it be, given the brain is so obliging in the way it adapts, that if you’re putting it in a situation where you are living for the moment in a rather infant-like way with lots of sensory experiences, that that could be being changed? And I think that’s one of the things that would be very interesting to look at.

My final issue is identity, and it does stun me, Twitter for example, where the banality of some of the things that people feel they need to transmit to other human beings. Now what does this say about how you see yourself? Does this say anything about how secure you feel about yourself? Is it not marginally reminiscent of a small child saying “Look at me, look at me mummy! Now I’ve put my sock on. Now I’ve got my other sock on,” you know? And I’m just being neutral here, I’m just asking questions, right… What does this say about you as a person?

2. On Top Documentary Films you can read about and watch for free brilliant documentaries. Take another great series by the same insightful Susan Greenfield, called Brain Story.

The greatest numbers of documentaries on this site belong to the categories of Science (350) and Society (304). However, these are only 2 of the 25 categories you can browse, so plenty of resources to delve into.

3.  On the topic of visual illusions, I think it is safe to presume that we all prefer and appreciate watching well-produced special effects in pretty much any kind of movie. The quality of the special effects in a science fiction movie is, for instance, what makes the difference between an A and a B movie  for me. Hollywood award ceremonies never fail to highlight the best special effects in movies on a regular basis. This being said, I was surprised to find out that Harvard University also has an awarding ceremony called: “The Best Illusion of the Year Contest”!

Here‘s the winning illusion for 2011. The effect is called  ”silencing by motion” and its source is Professor Michael Bach’s “Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena”.  

Click this link to visit Professor Bach’s site and get access to 101 such illusions and phenomena. 

4. The link up next leads to a 2012 scientific research study from the biannual journal Essays in Philosophy  whose intriguing title instantly caught my eye: “On Being Stereoblind in an Era of 3D Movies”, by Cynthia Freeland. Put on a scientist’s hat, or any other kind that is comfortable and feel free to investigate its content.

5.  Can we adapt to unimaginable situations? How does our brain deal with catastrophes beyond our worst nightmares?  Such questions are the subject of a movie that reached the Polish cinemas this month and that I warmly recommend, called The Impossible (2102).

You can read about the real story that inspired the movie in this article from The Mirror: “Seemingly impossible: Miracle survival of family who inspired new tsunami movie”.

Last but not least on today’s list, the following article from the Health section of the Times investigating “How Disasters and Trauma Can Affect Children’s Empathy” can be placed in the same category of the effects that surviving catastrophes can have on the human brain and the human behaviour – in this particular case, on kids aged 6, 9, and 12. I selected below some of the findings of the studies discussed in the article. 

“There are developmental differences in empathy,[...] and younger children may not be able to regulate their emotions as well as older ones because the prefrontal regions in the brain responsible for such control are less mature. Faced with extreme stress, their self-regulation capacities regress even further. “Adverse events appear to cause six-year-olds to revert back to selfish ways typical of early childhood,” the authors write. Even in situations with less tragic consequences, but which are nonetheless stressful, such as living through a divorce, or getting lost in a public place, many children may resort to more immature tendencies.

By age nine, however, most youngsters have mature enough brains to not only recognize the feelings of others, but to try to mitigate bad ones. Their increased altruism during distress reflects what has been seen in many disasters, from man-made ones such as the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., to natural catastrophes like Hurricane Sandy. [...]

While the results support the intuitive sense that the personal experience of pain can increase compassion, there are cases when it can have the opposite effect. Indeed, research shows that if suffering occurs too early in life, when young brains are not equipped to process the experience, or if the pain is too overwhelming, it can make people less sensitive and more focused on self-preservation, such as often occurs in cases of child abuse and neglect. “Painful experiences may increase empathy and care, provided that one can regulate one’s own emotion,” Decety says. The findings suggest that our social and biological structures may be biased toward cooperation and empathy for others: “Without caring for others, we would not survive as a species,” he says.

It would be interesting to compare the findings of this article with the development of Lucas, one of the heroes in The Impossible, who is only 10, in the face of the sixth deadliest natural disaster in recorded history, the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean, affecting Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and the Maldives and killing nearly 300 000 people. The earthquake which caused the tsunami was the 3rd largest in recorded history measuring a magnitude of 9.1–9.3. 

Compared to being caught right in the middle of it,  it is much easier to make sense of “the impossible” from a desk in the living-room or from a cinema seat, which is why I wish you all safe trips to the cinema ,  tsunami-free vacations and peaceful school experiences, no guns involved… 

May you be safe, show empathy, and, regardless of situation, always navigate through unpredictable changes with fresh new breaths of faith!

Filed under: 0►TRUST, 9►EXTRA, BBC: The Virtual Revolution Blog, Brain Plasticity, China, Empathy, Learn More from Books, Learn More from Movies, Learn More from News, The Mirror, TIME, TOP Documentary Films

Happy New Year 2013!!!

 How would you

fill in my New Year’s wish below?

Solve and apply!

“May the ………………… ( best / worst ) of 2012 be the …………………. ( best / worst ) of 2013 – in test scores and much more!”

Done? Good work!

 

Christmas Thoughts is a PowerPoint presentation of a talk on Christmas I delivered two weeks ago, to be downloaded for your delight and inspiration.  

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Filed under: 2►READ, 9►EXTRA, Celebrations, Christmas, Learn More from Talks & Conferences

2012 in review

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Filed under: Thinking Space

ELT Workshops to Remember – Whether in English or a Language You Do Not Yet Master

Teachers of English anywhere in the world are fortunate to have access to many training sessions, conferences and workshops. They may be organised and supported by renowned ELT publishing houses, by local training institutions and sometimes by local schools and centres. In this post I would like to focus on answering the question: what makes a good ELT workshop?, and challenge other ELT professionals to join the discussion.

Two things that first come to mind are the applicability of the content presented and the trainers’ charismatic presence, both of which have managed, time and time again, to anchor relevant pieces of information to my long-term memory.

Let’s look at some examples.  Earlier this year, close to 6 months ago, to be precise, I attended coursebook writer Leslie Anne Hendra’s workshop, Shaking Up Grammar – A Goals- and Context-based Approach.  The quality that I noticed and appreciated about her right away was her ability to deliver a wide range of ELT ideas in a very natural, logical, and, for this very reason, a very accessible way. Listening to her was entertaining, yet not overbearing, and the pacing of her discourse was very well-timed. I still remember tidbits from her speech like:

“context is king, queen, and the whole royal family”, “the importance of re-contextualising” into pretty much anything you want (as long as these re-contextualisations serve the purpose of what you planned to teach), some examples of “voice savers”, the idea that “not every use is functional” and that we should strive to look for what is “real” when teaching, because what is real always has the strongest impact. I also enjoyed hearing her say something along the lines of: “I’d like to see the passive return to conversation.” I see the passive here as only one possible example of many others it could be replaced by. It is all up to the teacher or the aware English language speakers to decide. 

Whenever I have the opportunity to attend workshops like Ms Leslie Anne Hendra’s, I am reminded of the worthiness of learning from people who have decided not only to constantly turn their experience into an advantage at their jobs on a daily basis,  but who are also willing to share their knowledge with others and take the time to record the best of that experience in writing, in the form of articles, coursebooks or other ELT materials for future use. In an era in which the future of English language bears the brunt of so much misuse and linguistic over- and under-evaluation in the street as well as in the classroom, I read such fortunate encounters like the one provided by Mrs Hendra’s workshop as a positive sign that things are heading toward a bright rather than a dark future for language teaching in general and for English language in particular.

A more recent example is the series of 3 workshops organised in Krakow on November 17 by PASE under the heading of   Kapelusze Lektora, for teachers of English and other subjects. I decided to attend these workshops in spite of the fact that they were going to be delivered in Polish, a language I do understand, but am, however, far from having mastered yet.

During the talk I had with the two trainers at the end of the workshops – which was in English, by the way -, they were curious to know how much I did understand of what they conveyed and which language I took notes in. To their surprise (and my own, truth be told), I confirmed that I did, in fact understand the gist of each of their workshops. I answered that I took notes in English for the most part, while also jotting down words that I wasn’t sure about or wanted to remember – thanks to the colleague next to me, kind enough to help me with their translation (like “nawyki”, “namowic/przekonac”, “moje przekonania”, “mozliwe do osiegniecia”, “miec wyplyw”, “zdolny” and a few others like “haki” – the Polish version of the English “hooks”).

Obviously, I attributed my general understanding of the workshop content to that instinctive type of linguistic understanding that anyone aware of the language of his/her community can develop – after a long-enough time, but, apart from that, I had to reaffirm my belief that people who share similar values, guidelines and views on at least a few topics – like certain psychological approaches to teaching in the case of these workshops, are able to communicate and will reach common ground regardless of linguistic differences. Non-verbal language, the attitude and the “vibe” of the trainer may seem to be the main resorts in such cases, but, fortunately for me, they weren’t the only ones.

I enjoyed the two workshops led by Ms Magda Kidybinska. 

The content of the first reminded me of concepts like celebrating success (which was also discussed at the last workshop led by Ms Aldona Serewa), making the best of the student’s potential, activating leadership, demonstrating integrity, embracing  diversity, enjoying participation, striving for excellence, as well as learning from mistakes and acting in a sustainable manner, concepts I came across in the NGO called AIESEC, 

 which is the organisation that had originally sent me to Poland back in 2006, when I started my cooperation with the Jagiellonian Language Centre.

At the second workshop led by the same trainer I enjoyed the most the resources, tips and activities meant to involve our right brain hemisphere, the discussion on the meanings and understanding of naivete, and the borderline differences between extroverts and introverts or between objectivity and extreme creativity. Throughout the two workshops, the trainer won us over with her charisma and energy. I particularly appreciated her use  of intonation and voice dynamics when addressing us. These are two qualities that I have always appreciated in speakers – trainers and teachers included. 

 Impressive results can be achieved through big, as well as small steps. Kaizen, the Japanese technique of achieving great and lasting success through small, steady steps, inspired the first part of Ms Aldona Serewa’s workshop and led to a very enjoyable and relaxed delivery pace, that allowed for questions to be asked and discussed at any point for the duration of the workshop.

I appreciated the visual aids, case studies and references the trainer included in her workshop, that concluded the Kapelusze Lektora series of the day. I was particularly pleased with her comments on the issue of trust in language learning, and felt that they complemented the previous trainer’s ideas on the topic expressed earlier that day.

 The issue of trust is one of utmost importance, that needs to be approached by any teacher interested in creating a suitable rapport with his students, namely a rapport that fosters and encourages the students’ freedom of expressing ideas in a new language past mistakes and linguistic inaccuracies, or in simpler terms, past the fear of “getting it wrong”. 

Establishing trust, along with establishing mutual respect, should be one of the goals teachers set from the very beginning of the learning process. All the more so if the teacher is interested in pursuing creative paths like what I like to call the metaphor path and try to push the learning towards “aha” moments and long-term language acquisition.

To give an example mentioned by one of the speakers, there are situations in which a creative teacher may start working with a group of students who are not particularly creative and/or not particularly interested in any creative approaches to teaching, who rely mostly on structures and rules, and have a more or less difficult time accepting linguistic exceptions, not to mention anything else that falls out of the strict outlines of their books or courses.

With such students, who may even happen to be adults in positions of authority, CEOs and the like, who rely on their analytical, left brain hemisphere rather than the more creative right brain hemisphere, the teacher has to gradually build up a creativity platform for the students to use during classes, so that they gain a sense of comfort in being creative instead of being frustrated at not coming up with ideas or not really understanding what is expecting from them on a creative level.

The progression may involve strategies like a gradual change from closed, yes/no questions to more open ones, with suggested answers at first. The teacher may choose any strategy he or she considers suitable, including switching roles or hats – to use the workshop headline and inspiration – from a facilitator or the students’ “best friend” to a more authoritarian figure of the person in the know, able, knowledgeable and competent to share knowledge in areas uncovered or less known by the students.

With practice, the search for the best teaching strategies as they pertain to individual groups will become shorter and easier. A useful piece of advice here may be: keep changing roles, robes or hats until you get the winning outfit.

All in all, the pairing of the two trainers was a very good choice, so I feel that congratulations are in order at this point. Apart from the ideas, theories and resources presented, the underlying concept guiding and motivating each of the three workshops was the basic idea of giving, the sharing of knowledge and the expectation of positive outcomes to the benefit of both teachers and students. Last but not least, my thanks go out to the Kliny English Courses director for supporting my, and two other colleagues’ participation in this workshop.  

Filed under: 0►TRUST, 1►ACTIVITIES & ELT RESOURCES, 1►LISTEN▼, ►METAPHORS IN ACTION▼, ►The Path of Metaphor, Inspiration, Kapelusze Lektora, L. A. Hendra, Learn More from Giving, Learn More from Talks & Conferences

Conversation Topic: How to Live – A Life/ Business Model

The inspiration for this conversation class came to me in a less conventional way, while I was selecting materials for a course tailored toward business that had, it seemed, nothing to do with the “How to Live” topic.

Generally, there seems to be a natural progression from life models and their theories (in ELT terms, general, non-technical  English vocabulary) to business models and their theories (to business or technical English vocabulary). Having said that, I was surprised to notice the applicability of a particular business model to a topic that I could sum up as the Guidelines of “How to Live”. This business model presented in the Cambridge Coursebook Business Advantage Upper-intermediate,  in the chapter on organisational cultures. It comes from Professor Charles Handy’s  book, Understanding Organisations.  My attention was immediately drawn by one of the two types of organisational cultures presented there: the so-called role culture (p.48).

Role Culture can be pictured as a Greek temple. Role culture places its strengths in its columns. These columns represent the different departments, e.g. the finance department and the purchasing department. The work of the columns and the interactions between the columns is controlled by procedures which describe in detail what each department does and what each person does in their job by means of a job description. This structure is suited to stable environments or environments where the organization has a lot of market power, such as monopolies. The  columns are connected at the top by a narrow band of senior management. An organization with a role culture is generally believed to be very stable, but poor at implementing change and adapting to a fast-changing macro-environment.

From here to the path of metaphor was only a very small step that carried me and two different groups of students of mine from Kliny English Courses (a higher-level group and another lower-level group) on an interesting imaginative adventure. 

You can try this metaphorical path yourselves by reading the fragment on role cultures, paying attention to the underlined concepts and being ready to look for their equivalents that make up your own view of life, while bearing in mind this question:

If your intrinsic system of values that you guide your life by were to be associated with a Greek temple, what would your columns or pillars be, how would they interconnect (by what kind of procedures, ways, strategies), and what would be the innermost guiding principle you live by, the roof supported by those columns or pillars?

My students came up with some amazing answers to these and questions or suggestions like (I took the liberty to paraphrase them):

- “My main pillars are: my physical condition  and my family. I realised a while ago that I need to be fit in order to function well at home and at work on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the time I spend exercising takes me away from my family, but I am trying to balance this and everything else in my life as best I can.“

- “I am afraid that I am my own pillar most of the times. It happens to me to look around for some help only to realize that I can only count on myself. It makes me think of how strong and, at times, how fragile I am.”

- “My pillars are: my ancestors or my roots, where I come from, then, second, my family, my own generation, which is my present, and third, the future of the next generations of my children’s children and also the future and preservation of our planet. Some families have famous people among their ancestry, Nobel prize winners and the like. Mine doesn’t. The most important value in my family has always been hard work. Another value that is extremely significant for me is passing on our knowledge to future generations. Sharing what I know with the younger generation is something I take great pride and pleasure in doing.”

I would like to thank my students for sharing their thoughts at our classes and for trusting me to take the path of metaphor as often as I suggest it. I would also like to thank Martin Lisboa, one of the authors of the Business Advantage Upper-intermediate coursebook whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the workshop he led in Krakow in May this past spring (Case studies on real companies – Why bother with fakes?) for his excellent contribution to the content of the coursebook and for his supportive attitude and kind appreciation of my ideas and my literary writings in English during our talk on the same occasion. 

I encourage you to think up your own answers and life view versions taking a similar metaphor path. You may wish to keep these views private or share them with people you know well or not at all. Either way, get ready to be surprised. Last but not least, enjoy!

Filed under: 3►SPEAK▼, 8►DOWN TO BUSINESS, ►METAPHORS IN ACTION▼, CONVERSATION TOPICS▼, How to Live, Organisational Cultures

Afraid?

Here’s an activity I designed a little while back, that I’d like to share with you here, on the blog. It was inspired by Ken Lackman’s ELT workshop in Krakow.  You’re welcome to read, adapt and enjoy using it your way!

Who’s Afraid of the Modal Verbs?

Aim

to support a natural atmosphere of communication when talking about fears in English, using modal verbs

This activity came in very handy at a conversation class I recently held with lower-level students (A2 – B1) who were shy in speaking and coming up with their own ideas. It also adapts very well with advanced learners (C1 – C2). Teachers can control the timing of this activity by choosing a number of pictures that corresponds to the number of student pairs they can create (for example: 6 pictures for a group of 10 people, 1 picture to be used as a model example, the rest to be used with each of the 5 student pairs), or by extending the discussion of one picture to all student pairs.

Procedure

1. Write the model conversation on the board:

Student A	I think the person in the picture must/ ought to/ should/ may/ might/ could be afraid of:      – verb+ing         /                          - noun
Student B	I wouldn’t worry about that./ I disagree./ I don’t think so. He/ She couldn’t be afraid of …………………, but he/she must/ ought to/ should/ may/ might/ could be afraid of …………………… .

1. Put students in pairs.
2. Explain that they will be shown a set of pictures and that they will have to make comments using the prompts on the board, in order to speak about what someone could be afraid of. Depending on the degree of certainty, the students could choose any of the modal verbs given: must and ought to (if they are certain about a particular fear), should (if they are fairly certain), and could/ may/ might/ could (if they are less certain). Show the first picture as a model and give an example. Show the next picture. The students work in pairs to comment on the picture using the prompted structures.
3. Monitor the students and help with ideas or corrections if necessary. You may choose to alternate pictures between pairs, or to ask each pair to comment on a different picture – depending on group size and time limitations.
4. Make notes of any useful phrases the students came up with during their dialogue exchange to incorporate into the useful vocabulary, as well as of the most creative answers to reward in the end of the activity. Discuss any further thoughts and questions sparked up during the activity.   

Materials

A set of pictures illustrating situations like: (1) someone driving a car, (2) someone sitting at a desk in front of a computer, (3) someone speaking on the phone, (4) someone buying a house, (5) someone working in the garden, or (6) someone playing a sport. 

Filed under: 1►ACTIVITIES & ELT RESOURCES, 3►SPEAK▼, Afraid?, CONVERSATION TOPICS▼

Conversation Topics: Success + Extra Bonus: the World Sm:)le Day

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Yesterday, on the World Smile Day – details below , I had my very first “sandwich” conversation class: a class with a given topic (Success), attended by both advanced and beginner English learners.

The fact that, at the end of the class, the students filed “today” and “our conversation class” in the Examples of Success category is, in my opinion, a great achievement I can only congratulate myself for.

Here is how we started. Step 1, I wrote on the whiteboard useful vocabulary to use, especially as a handy reference for the brave beginners who took on the challenge of showing up for a non-compulsory class on Friday evening aaand mingle with the fierce… advanced.

Verb (achieve, enjoy, have) + Noun (success) collocations 

Adjectives in the same word family (successful, unsuccessful)

Adjectives and other determiners qualifying success (from lack of success, little success to extraordinary/ remarkable/ enormous success)

Step 2, I used a quote to spark up discussion.

It’s more important to grow your income than cut your expenses.

It’s more important to grow your spirit than cut your dreams. 

As with any good quote, I recommend turning it into a fill-in type of exercise, in which you ask the students to get creative or more meditative, why shouldn’t they?, and add more valid options to income and spirit, on the one hand, and to expenses and dreams, on the other. 

Step 3, I initiated a discussion starting from that (you could, of course, use any other meaningful) quote, and as the conversation flowed, I sprinkled it with questions like:

- Can  you think of a successful man or woman? What is the source of his/ her success?

- Can you think of examples of successful days? (Here I was given wonderful responses – one of my students shared with us the story of her 50th birthday that turned into an example of great personal success, despite the fact that it had started as a sad day; for two other students becoming a mother and becoming a grandfather reigned in the top of the category.)

- Is success linked with happiness? and the like.

And so, you could gear up to the conclusions of the discussion, trying to pull up at every stop, if time allows you to. My piece de resistance was another quote I jotted down recently after watching the last 2 minutes of what must have been a very interesting documentary about a man who successfully escaped from prison. Alright, I didn’t know the facts of his story, but let’s presume he had been wrongly imprisoned and escaped after 10 horrible years in a very dark place, to be reunited with his lady, and spend the rest of his life in the simplest, and possibly poorest, but, most importantly, in the most meaningful of ways. Here is what he says at the end of it all, and you could use it as a challenge for your students to either predict the man’s words or make inferences on the man’s background (he mentions riches, so maybe he was involved in a robbery…). In either case, invite them to read what he says and analyse the deeper meaning(s) behind his words:

A meaningful life is worth much more than (here they can be prompted, again, to add their own points of view) quick riches.

Quite a huge step to take from “What does … mean?” to a discussion on the meaning of life, isn’t it? But what can I do? I just  LOVE taking huge steps. And I’ve got a sneaky suspicion my students love that too… even in a “sandwich” conversation class. Hilarious!

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Here’s another reason, if we ever needed one, to smile and have a… ball every day, not only on every first Friday of every muggy October:) :

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As is well known by now throughout the world, Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts created the smiley face in 1963. That image went on to become the most recognizable symbol of good will and good cheer on the planet.

As the years passed, Harvey Ball became concerned about the over-commercialization of his symbol, and how its original meaning and intent had become lost due to its constant repetition in the marketplace.  Out of that concern came his idea for World Smile Day®. He thought that we, all of us, should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world.  The smiley face knows no politics, no geography and no religion.  Harvey’s idea was that, for at least one day each year, neither should we.  He declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day®. Ever since that first World Smile Day® held in 1999, it has continued every year in Smiley’s hometown of Worcester, MA and around the world.

After Harvey died in 2001, the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation was created to honor his name and memory.  The Foundation continues as the official sponsor of World Smile Day® each year. (Source: theworldsmileday)

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Filed under: 1►ACTIVITIES & ELT RESOURCES, 3►SPEAK▼, CONVERSATION TOPICS▼, Ha, ha, ha!, Success, World Smile Day

Back to School

Catching up with old colleagues, summer plans and post-summer thoughts for the future, all while meeting the new-comers, getting your schedule set. Truly, September is all about getting back into business, regardless of whether you’re a teacher or a student.  Top that with some yummie pizzas, a view of the Siberian Ural Mountains and their beautifully peaceful lakes, and a presentation about the use of “Ah!” suspense in teaching and there you have it, the beginning of a new year. There are still a few days before I’m going to meet my new Kliny students, which, everybody knows, is when the real fun begins, so, in the meantime, I’m off picking up some remarkable brains at the conferences and workshops that never seem to let the teaching community down in the busy month of that same old cloudy September.  At the workshop artfully led by Mr Gregorz Spiewak today, we slalomed past eight suspense-filled activities that opened new trails to more creative lesson content and filled our inspiration baggage with thoughts like 1000 ways to fill in these gaps:

“The world is controlled by (1)……………….. (let’s say: teachers) with the help of (2)………………. (maybe, an arsenal of pedagogical purposes, why not?)…” and so on.

Joking aside, and there WAS a lot of laughter we gave in to today, my favourite activity was the so-called “mental” dictation, which can be used to reconstruct images such as a famous painting of your liking. What you have to do is make sure you keep this painting of your choosing a secret until the very end, while spoon-feeding the students descriptive sentences only, one  after the next, asking them to imagine and possibly add more visual details to them, progressively. This activity reminded me of a little experiment of one of my University literary theory professors’. At one of our lectures I and my colleagues were asked to describe the sweet little Red Riding Hood. How does she look? Hmm, she’s tiny, wears braids or one pony-tail, she might be blonde, red- or even dark-haired. We were speculating on various possibilities until we soon enough realised  what the point of the exercise, or experiment, as you may wish to call it, actually was. You’ve guessed, it’s the “imagining” part that is the most important, and this is an utterly personal experience, different with every reader.  This, my friends, is the beauty of reading. From experience, I can say the same about reading your own writings – more on the topic later,  here and there. The musing and sense of wonder remains, that’s a given.       

What’s next on my brain-picking list? The very interesting workshops at the ELT Pearson Conference scheduled tomorrow – see the scheduled activities below, movie treat included! 

10:30 – 11:30				Speak Out! Successful Communication in the Classroom, Robert Dean
12:00 – 13:00					Grammar Practice is Boring – or is it?, Daniel Brayshaw
13:30 – 15:30					Cinema treat, where we’ll be watching: Rebecca Hall-Led Chiller’s “The Awakening” Haunted by the death of the fiancé, Florence spends her time debunking supernatural claims, using methodical and rational explanations to disprove the notion that the dead can still haunt us. She feels compelled to accept a request to go to Rookwood, a boarding school in the countryside where a boy has recently been found dead and rumours about a ghostly boy haunting the school are causing panic amongst pupils and parents alike. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms

and the ELTea MASTERS IN ACTION Conference recommended and organised by Mr Grzegorz Spiewak himself, and the DOS Training Solutions team this coming Sunday in Krakow. 

ELTea Masters in Action autumn 2012 – to mark the start of the new school year, we are bringing the very best that Canada has to offer the world ELT: the one and only Ken Lackman, with a practical-ideas-packed programme on teaching vocabulary. Totally unmissable! 

 Brain picking, anyone? Some herbal ELTea, maybe?

Filed under: 1►ACTIVITIES & ELT RESOURCES, 1►LISTEN▼, 2►READ, Learn More from Talks & Conferences

Inspiration::Summer 2012

A little while ago I got this lovely message from my former Jagiellonian student, Patrycja, which brought back wonderful memories of my first year of teaching English in Poland (2006-2007).

Hey, Famous Alina! :D
I haven’t heard from you for a long time and lately, I don’t know why, the thought of you keeps popping in my head. So, because I am a fond reader of Coelho’s books, and because I have been your student , I feel like I need to tell you (write to you would be more accurate ) that you have been one of these people who really and truly inspired me. I am pretty sure it may seem funny and bit chaotic, but sometimes the world gives you signs and I think I am having a sign that I should assure you that you are an inspiring person! So I hope everything is excellent in your life. Hugs!

Most definitely one of the most inspiring students I have had the pleasure of teaching, Patrycja is an extremely resourceful person, brimming with optimism and enthusiasm, with a confessed love for English language, and a passion for sharing her knowledge in this field.

In her second year as a Law student at the Jagiellonian University where we met, she set out to organise an English camp for the young students she was privately tutoring at that time, and invited me to join her in what looked like a pioneering summer adventure. I happily agreed, and what followed was an experience to be remembered. From the location – a wonderful little mansion in the picturesque village of Marcowka, the general atmosphere to the tailored daily activities and the last day festivities, the English camp organised by Patrycja in 2007 was a great success. Personally, I may add, Marcowka is the birthplace of one of my favourite poems from my debut book of poetry, which you can read here.

The memory of this first camp experience on Polish soil is all the more  dear to me at this time, a few days before starting on a new adventure with yet another English camp, this time organised by the Kliny English Courses School in Bieszczady. I will be back with photos, new memories and impressions from the camp in July.

In the meantime, there is room for celebration, as Kliny English Courses, the school I have been cooperating with since 2011, celebrates twenty years of excellence in English language teaching in Krakow.

Inspiring, isn’t it?    

Filed under: 1►ACTIVITIES & ELT RESOURCES, 2►READ, Inspiration, Meet my friends, Thinking Space