TECH TIP: Cloud Reader

Cloud Reader, Literature, Tech Tip 0 comments

As an EFL/ESL teacher and a tech apps lover, I came across with the Kindle Cloud Reader. One of my Twitter contacts, @edudemic, was the one responsible for getting to know this particular way of reading books online.

But what is “the Cloud Reader?” If we just go back in time a bit, let’s remember when Amazon.com released it Kindle Reader, a portable device that allowed readers to store his/her whole library. Even though Amazon.com continues to sell its Kindles, they have created an kindle-reading app that can allow your PC or laptop to turn into a “Kindle Reader.”

You might be wondering how this is possible. The answer is simple. Even if you want to buy kindle books from Amazon.com for your own entertainment, you –as a teacher- can have your students profit from this application by asking them to get this particular app on their computers.

What’s needed to have students install a Cloud Reader on their computers?

1. If you don’t have Chrome or Safari installed on your computers, it’s a good idea to start over here. Get Chrome at http://www.google.com/chrome or Safari at http://www.apple.com/es/safari/download/. Any of these two browsers supports the Cloud Reader.

2. Create an Amazon.com account. This is necessary because, even though you won’t necessarily pay for books, the system won’t allow anyone get into obtaining the books without an email log-in and password.

3. Once you have Chrome or Safari and have created your account, go to https://read.amazon.com/. At this location you can get the Kindle application for your PC or laptop. It will take just a couple of seconds to have it ready for use.

4. The moment you have your Cloud Reader up and running, go to Amazon.com and browse the free Kindle books they have available. Once you have chosen the free book you want to read:

a. Click on Kindle Edition right below the paperback option.

b. Once you have clicked on the Kindle Edition, a new window will be displayed. To the top right-hand corner you will see the buy-with-one-click option to get the book.

5. Immediately after, you will be sent a confirmation email from Amazon.com and granted permission to access your new book.

What is nice about this free service by Amazon.com is that your Cloud Reader will store the information on how many pages you have read in any of the books you store in your personal library.

To access your library use the same link https://read.amazon.com/. Click on your books to display the last page you read.

You can also buy books if you wish. But for students, who may not have the chance to be purchasing books often, the free ones are as good as the paid ones.

Sample books to download: Click on [Kindle Edition] to see the book.

Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know [Kindle Edition]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [Kindle Edition]

Gulliver's Travels [Kindle Edition]

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin [Kindle Edition]

I really hope this tech tip can help you teachers and your students to read more and enjoy literature.

Jonathan Acuña

EFL Instructor / Curricular Development

San José, Costa Rica

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

Twitter: @jonacuso

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Origin of Idiomatic Expressions

Idioms, Linguistics 0 comments

The Origin of Idiomatic Expression

One of those things, as a linguist, that has always called my attention is the origin of idiomatic expressions. Even though I am not a native speaker, I get to use lots of expressions when speaking and try to teach many of them to my university students. Yet we are not really aware of their origin and get to use them as if they have always existed.

A friend of mine, Michael McDonald from Atlanta, Georgia, USA came across this great list of expressions widely used in the United States and sent them to me. It is worth reading and getting acquainted with the origin of some idiomatic expressions.

"God willing and the Creeks don't rise"

Did you know the saying "God willing and the Creeks don't rise" was in reference to the Creek Indians and not a body of water? It was written by Benjamin Hawkins in the late 18th century. He was a politician and Indian diplomat.

While in the south, Hawkins was requested by the President of the U.S. to return to Washington . In his response, he was said to write, "God willing and the Creeks don't rise.." Because he capitalized the word "Creeks", it is deduced that he was referring to the Creek Indian tribe and not a body of water.

… but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms.

Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore, painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.'

(Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint)

Here comes the Big Wig.

As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October). Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool.

They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig.. '

Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

Chairman

In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor.

Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board.'

Crack a Smile & Loosing Face

Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions.

When they were speaking to each other and if a woman began to stare at another woman's face, she was told, 'mind your own bee's wax.' Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term 'crack a smile'. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression 'losing face.'

Straight laced

Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in 'straight laced', wore a tightly tied lace.

Playing with a full deck

Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades.' To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't 'playing with a full deck.'

Gossip

Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars.

They were told to 'go sip some Ale and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. 'You go sip here' and 'You go sip there.'

The two words 'go sip' were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term 'gossip.'

Minding your 'P's and Q's

At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming.

She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in 'pints' and who was drinking in 'quarts', hence the phrase 'minding your 'P's and Q's'.

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey

In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck?

The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem ... how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others.

The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.'

Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey.

Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.'

(All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you?)

To conclude, although some of these explanations might not be exact, we have to be certain the idiomatic expressions originated at some point in history and spread among the speakers of languages. We just have to be open to these explanations that got to us on an email.

Jonathan Acuña

EFL Instructor / Curricular Development

San José, Costa Rica

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

Twitter: @jonacuso

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

James Madison

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Participating in Seminars

Homerton College Cambridge Course, Oral Skills 0 comments

Effective Language Learning Skills:

Participating in Seminars

Homerton College, Cambridge, GB

Although the word seminar might take different connotations in EFL teaching settings, in terms of EAP (English for Academic Purposes) it accounts for group discussions and oral presentations. It is needless to mention that these two types of oral activities are carried out by students in their classrooms with the help of their teachers. Both can be great opportunities for both students and teachers. The former can have a great chance to practice his/her oral skills, and the latter can get a great chance to assess his/her students’ progress.

Keeping in mind this idea of seminars, and as part of my EFL language training in the 2011 Bell Teacher Campus at Homerton College in Cambridge, GB, our instructor Ian Chitty, stressed some interesting ideas on how to go about group discussions to fully account for better teacher practices in the language classroom and student performance. Let’s take a look at the discussion skills involved in an oral task like this presented by Prof. Chitty and discussed in class:

Discussion Skills

1. Giving your opinion

2. Agreeing and disagreeing

3. Explaining

4. Making suggestions

5. Interrupting

6. Questioning

7. Reporting

8. Dealing with questions

[Taken from Anderson, Maclean & Lynch, Study Speaking, CUP 2004]

What is listed above is then a group of language skills that students should be able to handle when being part of a panel discussion or discussion group. However, as Professor Chitty stated in class, it is also important to have students take specific roles in the discussion to ensure participation and discussion. This can be achieved by assigning very specific roles to all students involved in this particular task.

The roles of students in a panel discussion

1. Start the discussion by presenting facts, arguments, or opinions about the topic.

2. Introduce ideas from an article you have read which are relevant to the discussion.

3. Admit that you are unsure about something and ask for information.

4. Remind someone of a point they made, and try to take the idea further yourself.

5. Elicit ideas from someone who has not contributed much to the discussion.

6. Reformulate another speaker’s point to check if you understood it.

7. Summarize the discussion and try to take it in a new direction.

8. Take the floor politely so you can make your own point in the discussion.

9. Remind someone of a point they made earlier, and try to get them to take it further.

[Taken from Academic seminar strategies, EAP Essentials, Garnet Publishing Ltd. 2008]

Depending on the amount of students that you have in a group discussion, it is useful to decide which roles are necessary based on your knowledge of the class. Some of them might be unnecessary, but others might need to be added to complete all possible roles of students in a panel discussion.

Now if we turn our review of seminars in the EFL classroom towards the oral presentations, another set of skills are necessary. Students should be able to …

1. Structure a presentation

2. Speak in an appropriate style

3. Deliver the speech using emphasis and phrasing

4. Use visual aids

5. Refer to visual aids

6. Introduce a presentation

7. Conclude a presentation and

8. Make a presentation interesting

[Taken from Anderson, Maclean & Lynch, Study Speaking, CUP 2004]

Although oral presentations can be individual, in pairs, or small groups, it is important that all students have clearly in mind that they must follow a given or specific format for their presentation. Of course this also implies that the instructor must show sample presentations for them to be certain of what is expected from them. Along with the oral presentation preparation, students must learn how to introduce their topic in an academic fashion, not just by saying “I’m going to talk about,” but by being able to gather the audience attention, stating the purpose of the presentation, and quickly reviewing the important points to be covered.

Likewise, students also need to know how to go about concluding their oral presentations in an academic fashion (based on standards previously discussed by the teacher according to his/her pupils’ field of study) and getting ready to answer questions coming from their audience (usually partners and the teacher in class). Furthermore, the making of presentation an interesting speech event is something that combines the elements described above, good pronunciation and enunciation, and a good use of the technological elements available.

In addition, understanding that an oral presentation is a kind of speech event with certain “standards” to meet, a more elaborate language needs to be used away from slang or colloquialisms. This idea of the “standards” is closely linked to the delivery of an oral presentation; that is, how language is used –from a phonological point of view- with emphasis (sentence stress on key words) and phrasing (the use of thought groups).

An oral presentation must also be related to the use of visual aids to enhance the conveying of the message to the audience. With so many technological ways of reproducing visual aids (pictures, videos, and the like), the student must be aware of the best way to use them to create the desired intention on the audience (shock, surprise, attention gatherer, etc.). And s/he must keep in mind that the visual part of the presentation is just an aid, not the presentation itself. Thus, the instructor must train students on how to use or refer to visual aids effectively.

Jonathan Acuña

EFL Instructor / Curricular Development

San José, Costa Rica

Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

Friday, August 05, 2011

Blind Observation Feedback

Homerton College Cambridge Course, Reflective Teaching 0 comments

Blind Observations: “Can we actually get feedback?”

Homerton College, Cambridge, GB

After participating in a Bell Educational Trust program at Homerton College, Cambridge GB (August 2011), in a workshop given by Lorraine Kennedy, we participants were confronted with the following idea about teacher observations and reflective teaching. Can we actually get feedback from a blind observation? It is important to state the most of us had never heard of that way of observing classes before.

To start with, let’s define the meaning of the term blind observation. This sort of “observation” is actually a question-guided reflective task with a peer rather than with a supervisor or mentor. Although this could actually be used by mentors or supervisors as well to help their supervisees reflect on various aspects of a lesson that has been taught, Ms. Kennedy, -our instructor-, stressed the fact that in her British teaching context, blind observations have worked much better among peers, rather than with a supervisor.

Taking into account that an observation is always a situation in which the teacher’s affective filter is very high due to “fear” or “discomfort” because of the presence of a mentor or supervisor grading his/her performance, could observations be actually guided by a peer? And does his/her peer actually need to be present during class time?

If we bear in mind that what we teachers are actually behind is teacher development, a blind observation can be the answer. We always wonder why certain things happen in class, but sometimes out of fear we do not necessarily ask others what the explanation could be. Having in mind that this is a peer-to-peer session to help us teachers reflect in the good and the bad things that happen in class, a blind observation can provide and be a source of interesting information about one’s teaching style, techniques, etc.

As reflective teachers, it is important to keep in mind that not all that happens in class can be predicted or controlled. And the learning outcomes that are written down are not necessarily met at the end of class. Here is the right moment to start reflecting on what went right or wrong, analyze the class in its various components (lesson plan, classroom management, etc.), and point out the possible causes that trigger the good and bad results. But how can my colleague help me find out what took place in class with my successful or unsuccessful teaching?

A peer can actually work with a partner to discover –through reflection- the little details that can be overseen by the teacher. Ms. Kennedy suggested that a questionnaire be prepared to guide this “heart-to-heart” talk between a teacher and his/her peer. Let’s take a look at some of the questions she provided us for a reflective task we had as part of the workshop:

BLIND OBSERVATION FEEDBACK; REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

01. What was the aim of your lesson?

02. Were you able to achieve your goals?

03. What teaching materials did you use? How effective were they?

04. What techniques did you use?

05. What grouping arrangements did you use?

06. Was your lesson teacher dominated?

07. What kind of teacher-student interaction occurred?

08. Did anything amusing or unusual occur?

09. Did you have any problems with the lesson?

10. Did you depart from your lesson plan? If so, why? Did the change make things better or worse?

11. What was the main accomplishment of the lesson?

12. Which parts to the lesson were most successful?

13. Which parts of the lesson were least successful?

14. Would you teach the lesson differently if you taught it again?

15. What 1 or 2 changes would you make if you were to teach the lesson again?

Main learning point? (What did you learn through this experience?)

Main action point? (What are you planning to do to repeat a successful experience or correct an unsuccessful learning outcome?)

It is important to remember that this questionnaire can be, and must be, modified to cater for one’s particular needs in one’s particular teaching environment. Some of the questions listed above can be modified or substituted to fit one’s teaching context. In this way, through hindsight, the teacher can mull over his/her class and develop him/herself professionally and successfully.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011