воскресенье, 04 октября 2009
20:14

Learn Italian

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.

@темы: Italiano, links

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20:09

Pronunciation

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.

@темы: speaking, English, skills, activities, pronunciation, links

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15:55

How to Teach Writing

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.

@музыка: confessa

@настроение: I am ill((

@темы: English, teaching, skills, creative writing, activities, learning, links, writing

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среда, 30 сентября 2009
04:04

Our Own Kind

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
* * * * *


«They hunted and gathered such food as they could; but many took to robbery and became cruel, when hunger or other need drove them. In winter they were most to be feared, like wolves;... Some sixty of these men had joined in one band, wandering in the woods ...; and they were hated scarcely less than Orcs, for there were among them outcasts hard of heart, bearing a grudge against their own kind.»


J.R.R.Tolkien


@музыка: The Call

@настроение: exhausted

@темы: emotions, Narn I Chin Hurin, literature, J.R.R.Tolkien

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суббота, 26 сентября 2009
21:11

How to edit comments in communities

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
editing

@темы: My Diary, I

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15:51

Atonement

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.



I still don't dare watch the film... The word "Atonement" itself makes me feel sick and tremble like the last leaf... All I could bring myself to do was listen to the soundtracks...



listening to soundtracks

@музыка: come back

@настроение: diverse

@темы: emotions, deep in heart, atonement, I, soundtracks

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13:30

I Did It!.. or My Pretty Kitty

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
www.mixpod.com/user/8102018

I am as happy as a clam :shy:

@музыка: Semplicemente

@настроение: content

@темы: emotions, My Diary, songs, I

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01:09

Teaching Lexis - Key Concepts

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Key Concepts & the Language Teaching Classroom


* Really knowing a word means knowing all its different kinds of meaning.
* Knowing a word also involves understanding its form, i.e. what part of speech it is, how it works grammatically, and how it is pronounced and spelled.
* Whether we are learning our first or our second language, it takes long time before we fully know a word. We often recognise a word before we can use it.
* Teachers need to introduce vocabulary items again and again to learners, expanding gradually on their meaning and forms. This also increases the chances of learner remembering the item.
* We can introduce vocabulary items in reading and listening before we ask learners to use the items.

(from Cambridge 'The TKT Course')


:write:

@музыка: Azzurro

@настроение: without any emotions

@темы: teaching, TKT

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пятница, 25 сентября 2009
22:26

My Diary

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
The more I have this diary, the more I like it.


:cow:


@музыка: Semplicemente

@настроение: lovely

@темы: emotions, I, nonsense

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среда, 23 сентября 2009
20:22

15 Web Tools to Enhance Language Learning

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.

@музыка: Seduto Qua

@настроение: sleepy but preparing for tommorrow

@темы: web, English, learning, links

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понедельник, 21 сентября 2009
23:10

Reading The Tale of the Children of Hurin

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
* * * * *


«A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.»


* * * * *


«The up-climbing is painful, and from high places it is easy to fall low.»


* * * * *


«Grief is a hone to a hard mind.»


* * * * *




:unic:


@музыка: Quello che mi davi tu

@настроение: thoughtful

@темы: Narn I Chin Hurin, literature, quotes, J.R.R.Tolkien

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00:19

Acquisition v. Learning

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
(crossposting)

If we are to speak about theories here, we should better presuppose that each of them is an explanation of some aspect of the world, not the whole world, and in this way, they are equal.

Acquisition is usually opposed to learning, backing its ideas on the way children acquire a language. You described it perfectly well. However, few adults can set themselves free. Quite a large number of teenagers and adults want to think consciously about how language works, they got used to such kind of teaching at other subjects. If we go on with comparing the way a child acquires a language, we have to admit the following: first, children acquisition is guaranteed up to the age of six, then usually comes "why?" period - the best one for study. During these study-years a child creates his own learning style - the way he gets facts, organises, memories, uses them. If he is not asked to investigate, examine, compare forms and function, he'll miss quite a lot. Second, when a child is picking up a language, it's mostly the language of his parents, who (sometimes quite unconsciously) simplify the language, exaggerate the intonation, trying to sound more enthusiastic. Surely, it's not the way most of adults (let alone teenagers) would like to be treated by their teachers. Third, children seem to be capable of picking up languages with incredible facility, unfortunately, they tend to forget it just as easily. The list may go on...

I hope, you know this theory was introduced into US school system? Do you know the results?

On the other hand, learning provides much more opportunities for creativity and individuality. It looks like it lacks fluency, but it's not always a drawback ;)

That's all about theories, at least for the time being) They are nice to read about, but not so comfortable in real life.

I am sure, there are lots of things that should better be acquired in class, whereas, much more things that must be learnt.

@музыка: Quello che mi davi tu

@настроение: amused

@темы: teaching, posts&comments, learning

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воскресенье, 20 сентября 2009
15:59

Learning Grammar Doesn't Help Me to Speak

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Once again, crossposting of my "pearls" somewhere else. Words in italics are not mine.
Actually, that's the way I am investigating the theme for TKT)


Never say "Never"!
It's the only truth born in disputes.

"Deep knowledge of grammar allows us to speak fluently and avoid mistakes. "
1- Deep knowledge of grammar allows us to know grammar rules, to understand forms and function, to distinguish one form from another; in the long run to understand written texts and, perhaps, be able to correct your own.
2- "Not to make mistakes" doesn't belong to knowledge but to skills. One might know by heart that in Present Indefinite verbs in the third person singular have -s, but when it comes to speaking/writing he's constantly misusing it. It's elementary, but it usually works like this.
3- Speaking is a very complicated skill. I've explored tons and gigabytes of information about how speech is born. Just believe me, the knowledge of grammar rules is of minor importance; it's considered as an additional tool to polish one's utterance.

"modern English is full of slang words"
the same is true about Russian and other languages as well. It's not the problem of a language, but of people. One's vocabulary depends on people he is mixed with. Personally, I am glad not to know lots of "modern" Russian words!

"Reading English books and newspapers, listening to native English speech may be very useful for a person, who wants to master his/her English."
It's obvious. Though one should bear in mind that listening and reading are perceptive skills, and to master a language one should activate productive skills which are writing and speaking. I'd add that reading books and listening to pod-casts as well as watching films with and without subtitles create the-so-called language sense. It also proves style and enriches passive vocabulary. (passive vocabulary consists of words one understands but doesn't use)

"I learn new words and expressions with great interest and pleasure but soon forget them, alas!"
1- you'd better substitute "learn" for "read") When I'm short of books or just in the mood I find great pleasure in reading dictionaries. Actually, that doesn't mean learning.
To learn a word one should start using it (in drills, exercises, writing, speaking) - The word which is not used is not learnt!
2- on the other hand, can you recollect the word when you meet it some time later? If yes, then the word is in passive, and your memory is OK.

"Nevertheless, these exercises (on this forum) help me maintain the level I’ve reached earlier."
Are you sure you are not mastering your English?!
Practice makes perfect! The more one practice English the higher level one should be. Perhaps, your are not aware of your progress?

And just one more thing...


All people are very different, unequal in their personal abilities, preferences, skills, likes and dislikes. It would be very unfair to treat everyone equally. If Nastycoolcat managed to find his own learning style and is making a great progress now (which is obvious:)), it's really great. Professionally, I can't help being interested in what he did to have such a success. Though it doesn't mean I would recommend anyone this way to master English. My own learning style is different though quite successful, I hope, but I would never insist on it being the only one possible. It's the teacher who should recommend the best learning strategy for the students, and this is the main idea of my job and hobby.

@музыка: Ora che ci sei

@настроение: creative, though sleepy

@темы: speaking, English, teaching, posts&comments, learning, grammar

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04:13

Тест: "Сколько вам нужно денег, чтобы не работать"

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Результаты тестирования

Чтобы завтра прекратить работать и осуществить желания, вам нужно прямо сейчас 1.318.860 долларов США.
Или ваш ежемесячный доход должен составлять не менее, чем 3.664 долларов США (без учета инфляции)
Поздравляем, Вы – нескромный реалист, на таких людях земля держится.
Кстати, Вы точно уверены, что не хотите еще большего от этой жизни?



:winnie:

Вот это-то и обнадеживает))

@темы: emotions, I, nonsense

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03:30

О странностях человеческого мозга

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Давно искала, вот, нашла, обрадовалась :cow:


15.09.2009 в 11:58
Пишет  Chaary:



URL записи

URL записи

@темы: emotions, I, just for fun

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пятница, 18 сентября 2009
22:43 

Доступ к записи ограничен

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
Закрытая запись, не предназначенная для публичного просмотра

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00:57

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
After a fortnight at school, I'm sensible, sentient, patient, calm, comfortable, clever and nice ... at last :pink:



:cat:

@темы: emotions, I

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четверг, 17 сентября 2009
22:58

Survey (test)-making machine

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
OUP surveys are made here:

www.surveymonkey.com/Default.aspx

This can be used for making a survey (for parents, colleagues, etc), tests (and to email them to students!)


I hope I can make good use of it somehow :thnk:

@музыка: Seduto Qua

@настроение: calm & peaceful

@темы: links, I

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01:09

Semplicemente

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.



Ora che mi sento bene...eh...spengo la luce...
spero di riuscire a dimostrare...che...così va bene
ora che ci penso mi perdo in quell’attimo dove dicevo che tutto era fantastico...
mi sembra.. ieri...
e ora che è successo fa lo stesso...se non ti cerco non vuol dire che mi hai perso...
già sto sognando...ma adesso...

buona notte a te buona notte a me buona notte a chi ancora non ho incontrato...
buona notte pure a lei...lei te dove sei...anche oggi che ti ho cercata...
buona notte a te buona notte a me buona notte a chi ancora non ho incontrato...
buona notte pure a lei...anche oggi che ti vorrei...

...semplicemente semplicemente semplicemente semplicemente... ( nananana! )

la voglia di non ragionare ma vivere sempre disposto a rischiare e ridere...
riderne..la gioia di quest’attimo senza pensarci troppo solo gustandolo...
le stesse storie e quei percorsi che non cambiano...
quelle canzoni e le passioni che rimangono...
semplicemente non scordare... ( nananana! )
come i libri della scuola fra le dite...
la colazione ogni mattina da una vita...semplice..
come incontrarsi perdersi poi ritrovarsi amarsi lasciarsi...
poteva andare meglio può darsi...dormire senza voglia di alzarmi...
e faccio quello che mi pare... ( nananana! )
se ci penso ora...se ci penso adesso...
non so ancora che cosa ne sarà...
perchè mi manca il fiato...
perchè ti cerco ancora...non so dove che cosa ci sarà!...ah...

...semplicemente semplicemente semplicemente .... ( nananana! )

buona notte a te buona notte a me buona notte a chi ancora non ho incontrato...
buona notte pure a lei...lei te dove sei...anche oggi che ti ho cercata...
buona notte a te buona notte a me buona notte a chi ancora non ho incontrato...
buona notte pure a lei...anche oggi che ti vorrei...

...semplicemente semplicemente semplicemente semplicemente ... ( nananana! )


I wish I had time to master Italian as well as English :cow:

@музыка: Semplicemente

@настроение: romantic

@темы: Italiano, emotions, learning, songs, I

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среда, 16 сентября 2009
15:39

My Maths - lol

Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly.
There are my 'two cents' to a discussions about 'right angles'. I decided to store it in history (LOL) as it took pains for me to write it. (words in italics are not mine!)

N1:

Maths is not my cup-of-tea, nevertheless, I'd like to make it clear: a right angle means 90 degrees or п/2 radians, as I've posted in the comment.

"The article that you’ve proposed me to look trough is good one." - if it's in fact so, then one may read there:
"A right angle may be expressed in different units:
* 90°
* π/2 radians"

"Unfortunately, you have understood that article wrong." - What you mean to say is that I failed to understand the article. Actually, I had no intention to go deep into trigonometry, I just read and copied the facts. For example "π radians = 180 degrees" - don't you agree? In case you do, what about 'half-п radians'?


"One radian is equal to 180/π(or 360/2π;) degrees, or about 57.2958 degrees." - I am not going to deny anything so obvious, the only thing worth pointing out is that I didn't write about radians, but about degrees.

"It comes about right angle but not about plane one!" - that is a true enigma for me! Aren't we dealing with a right angle?! Humbly, I must confess, I failed to understand what you meant here. Will you kindly give a synonym to 'come about'?

"Please count what will you get having dividing π by 2 radians! 3,14 : 114,58° = ???" - I actually find counting rather dull and boring though I have to do it pretty often. I have a calculator, besides I can also do the sums by myself. If you insist, I may say the answer is - 0,0274. Will you kindly tell me what we are counting here and in what units: degrees, radians, or...?

"I think, now you’ve caught the sense." - you are flattering again. In fact, nothing of that kind. My English seems to be good enough to read authentic texts, though it fails to get what you are aiming at.


I am grateful to you for drawing my attention to Maths and trigonometry once again. I was rather proud to realise that I had been a good pupil at school, though Maths is not connected with my profession now.
Now that I've studied the whole matter about angles, radians and degrees once again (thanks to wikipedia), I insist on the following:
2п radians = 360 degrees
п radians = 180 degrees
п/2 radians = 90 degrees - that's quite the thing I wrote in the comment.

Just in case you don't agree again, will you read: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian

I would never say a word about Maths in Russian as I consider it awfully dull. The only excuse for me now is that I am using English in that case.

p.s. I really hope that the whole matter is obvious now.


N2:

I'm glad to have this question settled as it took me quite a lot of time to get concentrated on such things.

Anyway, now I might say I can teach Maths in English - lol

p.s. It's very human to get mistaken. Personally, I am not attentive and tend to make lots of mistakes, typos, illogical conclusions and what not. So, I've searched the Internet for a good check-your-spelling machine, a dozen of profound dictionaries, a number of reliable encyclopedie (wikipedia being my favourite as it is highly understandable) and I got them both on- or out-line. They truly save much of my time and emotions though I still keep making mistakes.

p.p.s. the word 'plane' is highly polysemantic; in Maths it denotes 'surface' and in so-to-say everyday life its synonym is 'valley'. The word originates from Latin 'planum' which means 'flat surface'. That might be one of the reasons for calling 'airplane' as something 'moving along flat surface in the air'. I bet, ABBY fails to provide such information about a word, that's why I stopped using it ages ago.

As for 'the angle between two planes (if you mean this one by 'plane angle';) it is most usually called a dihedral angle. I quite believe you they might have some other features. I just have no intention of diving into trigonometry more then I have already done.


I've done it! :winnie:

@музыка: We are the champions!

@настроение: Excellent!

@темы: emotions, English, posts&comments, creative writing, Maths, I

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