teaching writing
Identifying nouns
Tweet From another blog I got a class exercise which proved useful in an unexpected way. A third party gave it to me, so I don’t know whom to credit. Exercise: The Unknown Blogger first chose a brilliant description by John Steinbeck, from Cannery Row: “Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a […]
Whence English?
Tweet Perhaps you have heard of “World English.” This is not a single language, but a concatenation of versions of English, as spoken in America, England, Australia, southern Africa, the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and neighbors, Hong Kong, Belize — all over the world. Each version is different in vocabulary, accent, and sometimes in syntax. Standard […]
Heritage languages
Tweet Diversity is often just a concept. Many people live in a diverse town, yet never visit the “foreign” parts of it. Students can be members of a diverse class, yet never come into contact with the parts of their peers’ lives that reflect their different backgrounds. Students with an Italian background, for example, often […]
Share your thoughts
Tweet In just the last month, this blog has been read by people speaking 33 different languages, in 58 different countries, from Vietnam to Djibouti to Trinidad to Sweden and everywhere in between. Most readers are from the United States, but there is a healthy representation from all continents (except Antarctica – that would be […]
Language Controversies
Tweet Language seems benign – don’t swear in front of your grandmother, don’t shout “fire” in a crowded theatre, and you’re okay. There are, however, many inflammatory issues which intimately involve language and here are a few. Controversy One: The New York City Council once debated whether to ban the words, “bitch, “whore,” and “nigger,” […]
More meditation in the writing classroom
Tweet Here is another way of using meditation in the writing classroom. Yesterday’s meditation was useful in that it provides students a break, gives them an extra tool, and allows them to access deeper levels of thinking. Today’s exercise teaches them something else — everyone’s mind works differently. It is common but unreasonable to imagine […]
Meditation in the writing classroom
Tweet There is no exercise that my students have enjoyed more than meditation. They say they are under a lot of pressure, and to have a few minutes of utter quiet, with the lights low, is refreshing and calming, and gets their minds settled. They rarely have moments to sit and think unmolested, and some […]
Linkedin’s five most overused words
Tweet Buzz words crop up in classwork all the time. Here are five to avoid, culled from Linkedin’s research. I’ve edited, and added my own comments: ——————————- As one might expect, they’re terms that sound awfully nice but say almost nothing specific about a person. Dynamic is at No. 10. At No. 9 is communication […]
Lexicography exercise
Tweet We often think of dictionaries as definitive in their definitions, without questioning their authority, yet there are many different kinds of dictionaries, and students should be encouraged to use them with discretion and sophistication. An example: Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 5th ed. (WNCD) aims its definitions at the “college student and general reader,” while […]
Language cartoons
Tweet Here is a link with a series of cartoons about language. Any one of them would go well on a teacher’s door……. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/clpp/images/cartoons/cartoons.html