TESOL

In preparation of our China trip we are getting certified in TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) instruction. We are taking the CIE.CA course. It's just around the corner from us. Basically the class teaches how to teach anything but with special focus on teaching English to foreigners.

Dr. Cotton has accumulated various techniques from around the world and has implemented them in a single class for a week. The premise is that the current education systems do not really teach students. Students sit in one spot for hours on end (literally) and grow bored and lose 90% of the instruction. Studies show that they remember the first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes of class.

So he teaches how to keep the students involved throughout the teaching cycle using various techniques. One of the techniques is teaching in 15 minute increments. Another technique is to get the students to use what vocabulary they know right away. He teaches how to teach the students to teach one another. Since an instructor can't possibly get all his students to repeat the words back to him, he divides the class and they teach each other.

Did you know that a foreigner only needs to know 850 English words to be fluent? Two English men (Ogden and Richards) proved this by translating the Bible using only 850 words (sans the special place and people names which required only 350 more words). Have a look here at this very readable text.

I'm going to translate those same 850 words into Chinese. I wonder if it'll work? Then I'll start on the Chinese Bible.

(Added some scans from my notebook.)

...dave
"Drill to you kill, analyze 'til you paralyze." - Dr. Cotton on the current education approach.

Snicker's eye pillow

Snickers using light block
Originally uploaded by daveterry.

What do cats do all day? Sleep.

Snickers uses our ottoman to sleep 98% of the day. The only time he leaves this position is to eat and use the litter box.

He doesn't like to be picked up. It may be bacause of his weight. He's now 24 lbs.

And he now begs at the dinner table. We've always fed him dry cat food, never the fancy sutff. He's fine with that. But one time I fed him a piece of bacon during breakfast and now he'll stare up at me while I eat. If I ignore him he'll gently paw my thigh. I can't resist that. I give him a piece of meet. He'll brush this way and that while I hold it out for him. Then he'll lick it. Then finally he gently takes it from my fingers and chews it.

Snickers doesn't even catch mice. He doesn't like to go outside. Although on a nice 65ish day we'll put him out anyway. But then he's soon at the back door staring in at us.

Since he sleeps on this ottoman near the back door, I guess the light gets to him. Yesterday he slept in this position for an hour trying to block the sun. I think I should get him one of those eye pillows. If I got him one of those butterfly designs maybe he'd dream of catching bugs or something. You know, earn his keep.

The only other place he sleeps is on my chest. He'll usually come around when I'm watching TV. He jumps up on my chest, all 24 lbs of him, and after leaving puncture marks, settles down with a loud purr. If I'm trying to read a book, he'll stand on the other side and rub the edges of the book with the side of his snout. Then he'll peek over the top. If I continue to ignore him, he steps around the book and settles down in the one foot space between my nose and the pages.

But it has to be his idea. I can't walk over to the ottoman, pick him up, and put him on my chest. Well I can but he wont stay long. He'll act like he's all comfortable then without warning he'll catapult off my chest and on to the floor.

If I try to pick him up and hold him like a baby his eyes get all wide. His fur gets all bristly and his claws come out. If I persist in carrying him around, he'll make a low growling sound. He's not happy.

He never comes when I call him. Rarely anyway. Maybe he'll just turn and look my way. Most times he'll just cock his ears back in my direction and continue sleeping. He doesn't like to move much. He's 24 lbs.

...dave
When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up. -- Rodney Dangerfield

Extractions

I'm slowly getting dumber. I just had my last two wisdom teeth pulled. That's four wisdom teeth pulled within the year. I am getting lighter. I do feel as though I've lost a bit of weight.

My favorite part of this whole ordeal is the going under. I may have mentioned this before. But I'm telling you it's great. They plunge the needle into the vein, administer the drug and I'm out. I wake up missing two teeth and with stitches in my jaw.

The really, really best part is going to Jamba Juice after the appointment. Ruth takes me to Jamba Juice to get a protein drink. I can't eat eight hours before the surgery. The appointment was at 2:30 p.m. I was hungry. So Jamba Juice is a great treat. It's like getting ice cream after having your tonsils out. It's like getting a happy face sticker at the dentist. Or it's like getting a box of 64 Crayola crayons and a new coloring book when you're sick. Remember the crayon sharpener built right into the back of the box? Very cool.

But I digress.

...dave
“I'll bet the hardest thing about prize fightin' is pickin' up yer teeth with a boxin' glove on.” - Kin Hubbard