Problem: ESL materials that are supposedly designed according to a communicative framework nonetheless feel contrived, irrelevant, and just plain boring. Problem: Activities that are designed for the purpose of language acquisition when language, in reality, is rarely acquired for the sake of language acquisition just as trees are rarely counted for the sake of counting [...]
Posts from ‘July, 2008’
Halloween and Chinese ghost month
I do not know how correct the following article is, but assuming it is fairly accurate, it is amazing how much the roots of Halloween have in common with current practices of Chinese ghost month here in Taiwan. Ghosts coming back for a limited time, offerings of food to appease them, and bad things that [...]
VOA Special English
This site produces good quality, simplified English programs. My main criticism of VOA has always been not the quality of its production, which is excellent, but the content of its programs. Being almost entirely US-focused, it is not terribly relevant to students in other countries. And much of what it produces is just plain boring, [...]
Collaborative activity
I’ve been kicking around the idea of using unsolved crimes as the premise for collaborative activities, as a type of PBL activity. This CBS news video page seems to have some promising leads… The screen capture at right was taken at http://www.cbsnews.com/…. A simple, straightforward activity would be to have students watch the video and [...]
WordNet lexical database
This is a useful tool that is also just fun to play around with. It only lists what I call content words (as opposed to function words) and what they call open-class words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. WordNet does a better job at giving you the definitions of a word than do most on-line [...]
Desk rage spoils workplace for many Americans
This is an interesting, timely article with language that is accessible to my students. But most of them have never worked, at least not in full-time jobs. Many if not most have probably worked part time, so perhaps this article would be relevant for them. Not surprisingly, it will be filed in the work category. [...]
Structured abstract
Here is a nice discussion of the elements of a structured abstract. It includes examples and although this article uses the MLA format while most education majors will use the APA format, it’s still a valuable resource for our graduate students at NPUE: MLA Research Section – The Structured Abstract: An Essential Tool for Researchers
ATM breaches more likely at stores than banks
This article would be a good basis for a discussion in unit on money. I would simplify it first, taking out some of the references to banking practices that don’t exist here in Taiwan, such as debit cards, and to other information that is not directly relevant to the daily lives of my students. Basically, [...]
Aging swimmer shows there’s hope for rest of us
This is a good article for a discussion and activity on recreation and sports. Younger students might not appreciate it as much as those of us over 40, or even 30, but when they realize that this swimmer is roughly the age of their parents, they might take more interest. Zanesville – whiznews.com – Southeastern [...]
Dangers of model aircraft
I was wondering when something like this would happen. I’ve seen people even flying these things on school sports fields while people were walking around the track. This article could serve to launch a discussion on safety and recreation. Six injured in fire caused by model aircraft – The China Post Friday, July 4, 2008 [...]