English First Year

Goodbye!

2009-08-14T21:42:00.005+02:00

Clipart ETC. University of Florida: http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm

MY ENGLISH JOURNAL

Teaching Blog: http://ejvb-myjournal.blogspot.com/

A serious concern, not a personal excuse.

2009-06-27T17:13:00.005+02:00

Hopefully, in half an hour or so I will have some free time to have a walk. I have dedicated one idle hour to design a couple of compositions that show my concern about the negative effects of some statistics in the past, not only in terms of health or prestige but in terms of personal and professional rights in all kinds of legislations. A person may have been doing his/her work following the instructions he/she has received. However, the statistics that are going to sanction his/her right to promotion and stability are awful. This may have taken place for some years and, of course, a professional is not going to doubt of his/her colleagues or of frivolous jokers. Maybe this person thinks he/she is good and everybody else has to tell him/her lies about how good she/he is so that he/she does not get depressed! Maybe he/she has been extremely rude with colleagues or students! It is clear that professional statistics about people and their rights are not the same as popularity contests or even ideological, religious or professional affiliations To me this is basic labour legislation. I could not use this system, let's say to evaluate students I don't like in a course or introduce the "ugly teacher" role game again. Congratulations to all the colleagues who did well during these years once that the new system has been progressively enforced and my solidarity with those honest workers who may have met unexpected difficulties that have prevented them from achieving more than a very meagre result. Of course irregularities must be properly corrected according to transparent, regular methods. The reasons of some negative teaching and research results may lie on unfortunate combination sof circumstances, personal, academic, social, political, but it is up to the University to clarify those cases and correct the damages that some of those statistics have produced and will produce in the future. A University system that silences these cases while claiming high quality research, teaching and the defence of human rights is not performing its basic social function. I cannot tell lies about people or things I do not like or I'm not much interested in. This leads to generalized frivolous, arbitrary social injustice in a very short time. I do not consider my remarks about these statistics either exaggerated and interested or trivial. One thing is being sincere about what one may feel or see and another thing is being difficult or stubborn or interested. True information and reports are even more important in these difficult social and economic moments, in Education and in all the key areas of life and society.

The last E-1 year.

2009-06-27T13:29:00.003+02:00

2001-09 RECAPITULATING.

The last First Year of English Philology 2001 is over.Time then to recapitulate now that the new degrees take command. I hope to find some free time to order and publish in the web the documents and working materials that I used during those years, to write an account of the main events and to try to draw some academic and personal conclusions of what this experience may have supposed in terms of prestige, in terms of achievement, in terms of intellectual and personal findings. Some of the best books written in the past history are just personal memories of difficult, tense and controversial periods. In the years 2001-09 there have been drastic and quite often ill defined changes that have affected and transformed the European University Milieu both in terms of Teaching and Research. Some of the teachers who have participated in the process -specially those not integrated in organised groups or who did not have fluid relations with their immediate academic authorities for whatever the reason- have found many extra difficulties in their daily work and interaction with people on campus. Some of the negative consequences have already been recorded in each teacher's personal portfolios, some others are still in the process to be transcribed. Out of the official documents alone the first and immediate impression is that some of these teachers have spent years not attending their classes, not doing their tutorials, not providing the students with sound basic materials not to mention extravagant, presumably aggresive or offensive language towards students and staff. and some propensity to be "difficult". In a country that boasts of being learned, civilized and fair such a distortion, such a split between what a teacher may have actually done and what is described in the documents may lead to a very strong feeling of unreality that can have very negative consequences for one person's health and also for his/her personal and social life. Some of the harm will never be repaired. Some teachers will have to reoconduct their careers after some crucial years have been lost. Of course, during these years the global world have been affected by succesive waves of intolerance, corruption, injustice, economic and social hardship precisely at the moment in which the European project started to consolidate. However, all these plagues should have led us to strengthen tolerance, solidarity and individual respect, at least at University level. One teacher may be difficult, stiff, prone to personal courses of action and so on, his/her level of popularity or brilliance may be low but this should not lead to the easy idea that what he/she teaches says or promotes is useless, low quality, expendable. I've learned to appreciate many intellectual and artistic works by people who have personal, social political ideas and values I do not share. Sincerely, at present I would experiment some difficulty in attending lectures on let's say Samuel Becket or Mishima or San Juan de la Cruz or Pessoa because of what I consider it is a cruel contrast between academic activity and groupal behaviour and role play towards potential Kafkas or Kerouaks or George Eliots on campus or downtown, just to give three symbolic names. Attending a lecture on human rights, mental health, violence on campus... and then? Abstract languages and formalisms do not present that problem, at least in principle. I suppose that this is the reason why in many dictatorial countries, abstract disciplines such as mathematics or logic flourish... unless they are banned by the religious authorities, something that it may well be the case. But we live in a democratic country.... Yes, but you well know that media and opinion can disgrace an innocent person, especially in moments of controversy. Of course crime exists, same as bad teaching, but both must be rationally and transparently proved and corrected How come that at some moments democracy seems more oppressive even than dictatorship? One final precision, when I have written above: Some of the teachers who have participated in the process -specially those not integrated in organised groups or who did not have fluid relations with their immediate academic authorities for whatever the reason- have found many extra difficulties in their daily work and interaction with some people on campus I mean communication problems, possible misunderstandings and embarrassment in some cases nothing more.

Overall impression of this last year? Some very promising results using a mixed aproach based o personal attendance to class and online methods. Due both to external factors -strikes, some problems in the classrooms, disorientations- and to structural factors: a radical split between those students who decided to do the homework and follow the system of evaluation and those students who in the end decided to do the final official exam and not come to class, the results were not as good as they could have been if the course had been regular. They were very positive, though. I know that we are in a period of uncertainty, of economic crisis of generational change, but these factors should not debase courses at university. Regular students now have some basic training in doing personal work, presenting evidences, asking the teacher for help and guidance in case of need. They have improved not only in English but also both in personal contact with their teachers and in the use of the new technologies. If I were one of them I would feel now excited about what I will be able to learn both on my own and with the help of the teaching staff in the future just as if I were enrolled in a course based on the new methodologies. This was my main ambition this year, reasonably acomplished at the present circumstances. What about the results for those who decided to do the final exam? Expected and average. Those who had a fair knowledge of Intermediate...Advanced English managed to pass. The others failed. They may face trouble in the future, though. We also had a couple of students from other degrees who had to take the course to round up credits. They did well. They could have done brilliantly if they had followed the evaluation system of course, but everybody in the business knows that when you have to do extra subjects is not too easy to score a 90% global the first time.
Of course this is only a first, hasty report written as soon as I had a couple of free hours after Selectividad. I will develop these ideas and will include some other items of information until the end of July. As I will not teach English First Year in the course 2009-10, I will declare this blog finished at the beginning of August 2009.

ABOUT SELECTIVIDAD AND ABOUT PERSONAL ATTITUDE.

Estoy conmigo mismo.

El corazón es quien manda

Y yo obedezco. (Celso Emilio Ferreiro)

Last Thursday,when I was in Santiago I was thinking of my life as a student there in the crucial years 1975-80. My motto: The sun is but a morning star (Thoreau). The song I repeated to myself once and again: Celso Emilio Ferreiro's Canción del hombre libre. In 1980 I went to the U.S.A, where I stayed for 2 years....

[Thoreau link: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/]

Sunday Siesta Time Composition.

2009-05-03T15:48:00.004+02:00

Traditional Mediterranean siesta is bound to disappear as a tradition. Not many people can afford today to reserve one whole hour to take a nap. What have I done after lunch? Some creative work (dulce) and then a brief serious composition on education (utile). I hope you like the result!

Tutorial Action Plan (Pano Acción Titorial)

2009-04-17T22:29:00.006+02:00

Informative talk by Joaquín Gairín (UAB) about the importance of the Tutorial Action Plan in the context of the present university reform. I also refreshed when I was listening to him what I had learned in a previous course by Neves Arza Arza during the first term.

It is quite evident that the present system of tutorials is not functioning, at least in some subjects. Besides, normally they are reduced to dealing with bureaucratic aspects such as certificates, recommendation letters, changes of dates of exams and so on. Of course all this has to be done in tutorials, but the number of students who ask for a formal appointment to talk about their learning difficulties is almost inexistent. About eight or ten years ago, many students came to my office to go over exercises, ask for some extra work or explanation and so on. This is not the case anymore. The new tutorials performed by a team of teachers of each center must be made effective as soon as possible. The new degrees start next course. If it is always the case that there is a lot of disorientation in a first year, the situation may be much worse in a moment of complete change. This means that the universities must make an effort to help and orient their new students about, subjects, resources, requirements to avoid having an early high number of failures.

Joaquín Gairín stressed that the TAPs --meant to make the system as efficient as possible by helping the students to organize themselves and make sensible use of their time and work at university-- are closely connected with the new and important methodological and structural changes of the new system. Even though the traditional system based on the transmission of knowledge had positive aspects, the new goals set for education at university stress the need to achieve a satisfactory level of practical and appliable knowledge. Students must acquire a practical competence on the subjects they study. As a consequence, the activities in the courses are distributed in different areas: class as such, personal supervised projects and extra activities based on the students' initiative. It is in the context of this new framework that the TAPs become operational. It demands a hight degree of coordination among the members of the staff. It presupposes a high level or responsibility, motivation and sense of initiative on the part of the students. Now, of course, if they are interested in working hard, their universities should provide them with as much help as possible. Unfortunately, not even the most efficient tutorial system can guarantee success in all cases, but these TAPs may reduce the potential cases to its lowest, unavoidable, level.

In what way is all this relevant to our English course? This year's students must get used to getting organized and work both personally and in group in projects that spring up from their work in class.They should also ask their teachers for supervision in case of need. Nowadays courses based on the mere transmission of knowledge are superseded. What does practical, communicative competence in English mean in our course? How can we try to attain it? This is the challenge.

Prof. Miguel Valero-García's talk.

2009-04-07T12:41:00.006+02:00

Using course projects. A talk by Prof. Miguel Valero- García's, Universitat Politêcnica de Catalunya.

Link in "Formación Educativa," University of Vigo web: http://webs.uvigo.es/webvicfie/ciclo_conferencias/ABP_Miguel%20Valero.pdf

Interesting talk by this specialist on tree courses leading to a degree in computer design. The system is based on the submitting of projects by the students organized in groups. The teaching and the evaluation system tries to create an objective and fair system for all in which sufficient competence and skill must be practically attested. Tests may be used to guarantee than the fundamental items of knowledge have been assimilated by all members of each group. These are formed at random in the first year. In the second year the students are free to associate to create their groups. In the third year membership is assigned by the course supervisor. The system becomes fully efficient once the preliminary basic uncertainties of the first year have been solved. It is a system that can produce big satisfaction, but a high degree of maturity and responsible behaviour on the part of the students is essential. Apart from the problem of the entrance level and basic formation, a certain degree of disorganization, even conflict is expected during the first year until those course participants that show negative or irregular behaviour either settle down or leave the course. I suppose that the organizers and teachers of the degree are supported by their university in their decisions, that the system has been structured, evaluated and tested beforehand and realistically and that the initial motivation of at least a big part of the course participants is high. I also assume that if the courses are based on projects either there is no final free global exam for external students as in the traditional subjects or this kind of students are handled by other teaching staff. It is clear that if you have to combine both a new system and the traditional system a teacher alone or some teachers on their own will not be able to achieve good results in practice even though, of course, they can devise a good and sophisticated system in theory -as a project- that they could start applying in better circumstances.

Why do I write all this in our E-1 blog? Can we use the information I gathered in that lecture 1)to contrast the teaching system commented with the situation in our course -the last First Year English of the Old Philology-, 2) to see wether some of the ideas in the course have already been proposed by us and introduced in our course -structure, methodology, self-study-, 3) to evaluate what the results have been until now and 4) what the main difficulties and the basic goals we must try to achieve for the year are. New ideas are always welcome in a moment of transition in which students must both do the traditional course and get ready for the new university conditions. Prof. Valero, very kindly, made it clear to me that this kind of projects cannot be carried by a single individual; they must be the result of the work of a coordinated team to produce positive results. Let's wait for next year then!

This vacation is a good moment to think of all the positive and negative things that have been achieved until now. After this break there are six weeks left. We must work hard to achieve the best results we can get.

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P.S.

Prof. Valero-García mentions the potential danger of "the Pygmalion effect" in class. I've reviewed some basic English Philological encyclopaedic knowledge -you know, Bernard Shaw, My Fair Lady- and I agree with him absolutely. The old Phonological enthusiasm depicted in this short fragment from the well-known movie could be potentially dangerous!

The rain in Spain falls in/on the plain. I mean, It rains on the plain in Spain, but the rain stays mainly in the plain!

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An innocent joke based on the word "project."

Some time left for a joke "on personal projects of all sorts." Prof. Grumbles and Prof. Sappho are doomed to meet each other for professional reasons at work. Poor Prof. Grumbles is not a good communicator, he always says something inconvenient. Anyway, he is not specially dangerous!

A lecture about the shadow? That somber?

2009-03-19T14:42:00.011+01:00

This is hasty first draft that I need to correct. Please, excuse the mistakes and misprints. Here I have written about some aspects in university education that worry me. Please, don't consider that my attitude is negative or that I don't want to cooperate and participate in the new process with all my energies.

The new Philology & Translation degrees will start officially next year. Yesterday's Faculty meeting combined decisions that conducted an ordered "beginning of the end" for the old system and a first planning and taking of decisions for the new one. This is what my strip is about. I have tried to express my concern about the future in the present educational, political economic, social context. I was not aiming at anybody in a derisive way. It only expresses, fixates my train of though and feelings about the present situation with some humour. "The argumentum ad hominem/mulierem" is not part of my poetics. I hope you smile at the cartoon
What about the future then? How are we going to apply the new courses and academic degrees in the present situation. What are the main areas of concern in our studies? Today, I'd like to list some of the most pressing coNcerns.... as I always say in my view.

1.- Basic structural problems.
The works in the Philology and Translation pavillions are almost finished, at least in a first stage. Some labs have been modernised and the new dsl installation is operative. This is, of course positive, but unfortunately, the process has taken some time, there has been a lot of noise and some interruptions. The critical point was, of course, last year when the works coincided with the strikes -cleaners and Bologna process-. Some courses may have resented more than others, but I have to say that in our first year English language course we lost some cohesion and crucial regularity a little before the end of the first term with some consequences in the results and in communication between the students and some of the teachers. Another difficult year! My congratulations to all those who have suceeded in keeping their courses afloat. Hopefully, we will be able to regain some ground before the end of the year. I'd need to point at some of the problems that I consider that are crucial in the good handling of courses in the new technological era. The big classrooms are not completely functional for small or medium size groups. What appears on the screen is not clear quite often and there be many unexpected problems in the daily use of the computers. Unfortunately, there are not very many people available to service them, and different software programs are used by different teachers. If you do not want to run the risk of ruining one class preparation, ideally, you should start working in the classroom well ahead of time to solve the possible contingencies. Besides, the big theatres are cold and damp, specially at the early hours. This is no academic reason, and besides, there are courses that are very popular and successful at nine in the morning, but I still consider that the timetable factor in a country like ours is still an important factor. If we consider the increased role that evaluations will have in the new degrees, a proper planning of a course timetable may become crucial. However this is an organizational problem, not a structural one. It is difficult to teach and study in a building that is being refurbished all the time. There are some other structural problems, but I've mentioned the most important one.

2.- Organizational problems.
Leaving aside timetables and hours now, the new degrees will be highly dependent both on technology and on regularity. The students will need to be able to organize themselves, once the main structure of the courses have been explained in class. They will have to present satisfactory evidences of their work so that, in a way their own evaluation and the evaluation of the teachers will coincide. This is crucial in language courses, where the discussion of exercises and other activities based on participation are central. Until now one of the possible ways of passing an English course -specially if one came to University with a good background- was going to a couple of activities and doing the final exam. This works in some cases, but the results will not be as high as expected and, besides, normally there is a process of decline that may increase during the years unless the student reacts. This system is abusive and unefficient and quite often makes a student work much more after some time than if s(he) had done the course regularly first place. I use the term abusive because in my view there has been actual abuse with respect to those teachers who have tried to 'help' and motivate the students being a little bit flexible and with those students who always showed a positive attitude. With the new quantifiable systems, in principle, this kind of behaviour should disappear. If you decide not to be strict so that students can get into class routine little by little you run the risk of both getting the course disorganised and getting the reputation of a bad or weak unattractive teacher. For somebody like me who did his work quite seriously at University when he was a student representative in the Transition years -running the odd risk, as many others- and who has always believed firmly in solidarity, sincerity and personal effort, these years have been quite frustrating in this respect. Things should have gone better. Unfortunately, in my view, in the present system of evaluations several criteria can be confused in at least two perspectives. A course should be evaluated in its own terms with respect to what the course program says not with respect to other external factors such as convenience, popularity, immediacy, cultural and public image, use of the state-of the-art technologies and so on. A language course in an English degree is always tough, and we all have had teachers who we like more or less. However, when I was a student, I was able to learn from all my teachers and I learned something more: to be able to get along both with people attractive and unattractive to me and to do well in fundamental subjects I did not like much. All this may be taken as resentment or prejudice. It is not, and I don't consider these remarks trivial. A teacher has to evaluate a student fairly based on the program and the course requirements. He or she cannot entertain any kind of prejudice in terms of creed, political view, race, tastes and so on. There should be some reciprocity. When I evaluate a course myself I always keep this in mind, and I always keep something more in mind as well: unfortunately some classes, well prepared beforehand are ruined either because the computers don't go or because people do not arrive on time or because the assignments have not been done or have been handed in irregularly. In other cases, attendance, regularity and punctuality seem to function well. Congratulations! In a system that demands quality, the feedback and the response must stick to this standard as well. It is only then when one can find grounds, first to ask and try to correct, then to criticize and if in need to complain formally, and finally to reflect a positive or negative experience in an evaluation. A system based on evaluations requires maturity. Convenience, popularity, academic importance, power, sympathy, should not be confused with what a professional does in the daily classwork. I want to stress again that my aim is objectivity. Somebody should teach students and professionals to evaluate others fairly. The university folk-lore can be a negative force. This is common wisdom to me. In moments in which some basic sensitivity about personal privacy and image is often missing, organizational problems derived from trying to salvage the traditional course structure and combine it with the new methods is one of the most unsatisfactory aspects of the present situation. Of course one of the most positive aspects of online methods: their potentiality tyo be used asyncronously has been an additional source of complication.

3.- Basic level requirements.
An English course, no matter the methodology now, rests on some previous previous knowledge and skills that are essential to organize the learning activities. A good motivation is also necessary together with the regular course work. Besides, some basic technological training is also fundamental with respect to computers and media. From the very beginning the new course will explicitly demand mature and responsible behaviour on the part of the participants. This is the theory. What's the real situation? What's the real situation in this course. My doctoral thesis was typewritten. However, now I'm able to do well in an online course, and to publish this article in a blog, for instance, and I am not 30 years old any more , but I believe in education, of course. I've been able to keep myself reasonably updated due to the help of my colleagues and to my personal effort. I've been able to accomplish things that due to some health problems I could not do, when I wanted and I know that I will be able to accomplish more.... If I have the time. About mature behaviour, this is essential not only to create a good atmosphere in a course but to have the moral right to complain and denounce in case of irregularities. By the way, if there is an irregularity, this must be expressed in its precise terms no more nor less. Now with respect to English: level of English, not only to communicate but to specialize in English studies -literature, culture, linguistics in English-, some ease at computers and software, and some interest for some other complementary activities are essential, together with a very mature and responsible attitude and an aptitude to self-study. All this in principle does not go against the need of finding some free time to rest and socialize. An 18 year old student should be able to reconcile all this in his/her first year at University. Is this realistic enough? Would we need a zero year in many fundamental skills? Who is going to help and tutor the students? Again, will a teacher be either weak or "bad" or strict but perhaps "not that good" in the new system? Another aspect I should mention is that in the new degrees there are necessary, "tough" subjects that will run the risk of becoming unpopular. There will be interests and priorities. Attractive and unattractive things.

4.- Ideas, tastes, good and bad feelings and so on.
Subjects can be tough or not, teachers can be popular or not popular or, as it is colloquially said, "good" and "bad." This is an aspect that concerns me a lot nowadays for some reasons: 1) For personal and professional reasons of course: I don't want to be misinterpreted, or misunderstood in what I say and do, 2) Because of the negative effects of rumour in "the university folk-tale." I never liked much the stories told by the veterans since some bad experiences I witnessed when I started my studies in Santiago in 1975. A student must take his/her own impressions when attending a course, you can never be blinded by previous prejudice. Besides, it is a sad truth that teachers who had a bad a experience at some point in the past can develop negative attitudes and become bad, resented, ultra-conservative, eccentric or funny and unreliable. Depression has affected many professionals very severely in the last years 3) Due to necessity. In moments of heated economic, political and religious controversy, University must try to keep on being reasonably tolerant. Mature behaviour is absolutely essential to grant coexistence. Besides, the content of the courses must be kept independent from teachers, 4) To avoid interested confusion or prejudice. There are excellent professionals who, unfortunately, do not share my ideas on politics, health, education or morality. Some people can be more or less distant. Some people can be more or less sensible and reserved. Ideas about politeness and sociability may vary and we are at University to learn. Besides we are in a School of Humanities and do research on relevant, interesting or difficult people of all sorts. 5) To avoid crime, and violence. It has always been the case, but nowadays with portable telephones is very easy to prey on a teacher, worker or student on the grounds or interested rumour. There are role games and role therapies, but there are also vicious role games and organised crime. 6) Not to fall in prejudice. Nowadays, in my view, there is a lot of fuzziness between what freedom, democracy, modernity is and the compulsory adoption of fashions, consumption of substances and sociability. Everybody has got the right to keep his/her own point of view. Everybody must respect the others. About tastes, if a kind of taste is controversial or illegal, this person has all the right to campaign to defend his/her views. There are social habits and social vices. This should not mean that you cannot make friends with people who do not eat, drink or behave like you in terms of education and work at university. To discard people on this grounds would be very sad. It is at university when we have the chance to explore other ideas and habits, and to agree or disagree with them in mature and always cooperative terms. English is the language of the Empire, English is as well the language of the counter-culture and psychedelia. It can also be the language of the minorities. It was the language of dissenters. We must combine the study of its structure as a language with a basic approach to its culture and, with an appreciation of is economic and technological potentiality, of course. We need to be very mature at University, specially when we disagree.
16:00-17:44, Thursday, 19th March 2009. First draft.

Argumentum ad hominem Link: Philosophy.lander.
Argumentum ad Hominem (abusive and circumstantial): the fallacy of attacking the character or circumstances of an individual who is advancing a statement or an argument instead of trying to disprove the truth of the statement or the soundness of the argument. Often the argument is characterized simply as a personal attack.

Informal Structure of ad Hominem

Person L says argument A.
Person L's circumstance or character is not satisfactory.
Argument A is not a good argument.

Prof. Smith says to Prof. White, "You are much too hard on your students," and Prof. White replies, "But certainly you are not the one to say so. Just last week I heard several of your students complaining."

Personal elaboration:

Some free time to spare.

2009-03-15T22:23:00.003+01:00

Modern approaches to language teaching and learning state insist on the need of exercising actual communicative skills. Even though the teaching of grammar is not as central as it was in the past, nobody denies that students must know how to be familiar with the main grammatical patterns.
Grammar can be a good pastime if rules and examples are discussed in terms of communication in a context. This the main reason why we always explore different communicative situations in class when learning new constructions. If we think only of abstract rules and fill in the blanks exercises we will never be able to bridge the gap to actual expression. Creativity and some humour can help us in developing our language skills even though we may make mistakes at the beginning. That we make mistakes should not discourage us, if we are able to design clear, sensible progressive -"smart"- goals. My goal today has been to create a strip and use some comparatives.
We were able to learn our native language when we were children as if we were playing. I am sure that If we face our English Language courses in good humour we will be able to break some of those inhibitions that make us fear that we will never be completely fluent in English.

Tell me why.... I don't like Mondays? Welcome to this short week ending on Wednesday!

Creative Sunday

2009-02-22T23:13:00.003+01:00

I've enjoyed this Sunday evening. When you are not pressed by time study work becomes more pleasurable. I've also found some time to do a prefab sketch and practice on another of my side interests: propaganda art.

I upoad today some preliminary work on how I like commenting on texts in terms of grammar, communication and pragmatics. Normally, I reserve this kind of materials for the higher blogs, but after today's intense week on Reading and Use of English I decided to post it in English First Year. This kind of works are useful to understand why I always stress that it is not only grammar exercises I'm interested in. English is fascinating to me because of its culture and expressive resources, among other things. I hope you find my work useful.

Reading Comprehension Exercise 220209

View more documents from Eduardo Varela. (tags: analysis discourse)

Everything ready, then.

2009-02-08T18:40:00.004+01:00

A gag on my "Grammar obsession." Everything ready for E-1, 2nd term then!

Second semester. Some reflections.

2009-02-08T17:01:00.005+01:00

This Sunday evening I've dedicated some time to do some research on topics on Language Teaching. I browsed some pages, sites, blogs, directories to get new ideas and to contrast experiences. It's been an informal day, a light one, I have not got involved into deep theories.

Next Tuesday, we will have the first class after the exams break. We will discuss the positive and negative results and we will have to plan the second semester. Our main objective is, of course, passing the course either by means of the evaluation system or by means of the final exam. We all know from the very beginning that the test will be based on the FCE exam. We've talked in class about this kind of test quite a bit.

Some people can get frustrated at the end of the year even if they pass the course. They may feel that they have not learned enough, or that the course as such was useless. This leads to some crucial questions: why do people develop such negative attitudes? What's the main problem or problems?

Being completely sincere, and leaving aside my limitations, defects and idiosincracies as a teacher -in a university environment where there are many different kinds of teachers- I would hint at external circumstances and the radical introduction of new methods and technologies as the most important reasons. I will develop now some preliminary tentative ideas:

1.- Economic reasons. Years ago, it was very difficult to get a job doing English Philology. The situation has worsened in the present economic and academic circunstances: Recession and terminal courses starting next year.

2.-Social reasons. Traditional education has been challenged. New degrees and courses have been designed, but they have not been tested yet. Besides, new customs, values, patterns of behaviour have appeared in the teenagers.

3.- Political reasons. The teaching of English has been affected in the last years by the military American and British interventions. The debate about using English to teach different subjects either at school or at university in Spain does not benefit the English departments either.

4.- Technological reasons. In the last decade or so the use of computers online to learn English has increased enormously. Everybody uses computers nowadays more or less. This has meant the updating and recycling of teachers and the refurbishing of buildings, classrooms and offices. We must also keep in mind that computers and software are subject to continous change and innovation. We must also keep in mind that not everybody has got 24 hour access to a computer yet using dsl band and that many youngsters are not very efficient in using the software and the web resources.

5.- Other external factors such as distance, family, habits, health, level of English and so on.

This may have affected different teachers and courses differently. About E-1, one yearly subject in First Year that has as its main goal the setting of an homogeneous language level and a first contact with some cultural, historical and social values of the nations that use English as a first language the impact has been very negative. I think that it is an absolute truth that in order to get trained to achieve a successful result in an external exam based on the FCE a lot of regularity participation and actual involvement in the somewhat dry process of learning a second language is unavoidable. Of course we emphasize the ability to use the language efficiently in terms of actual comunication and interaction, but this means regularity, the discussion of dificulties, a participative atmosphere and personal work. It is true that some teachers for instance me- have gone through some periods of disorientation in getting adapted to the new- methods, but quite often the problems went beyond what the teachers and the University personnel could do , and besides, priorities are priorities: we needed to keep the traditional structure of the courses -much better some sound traditional results than no results- and innovate and improve as much as we could, but without disintegrating the courses and withouth falling in a facile use of technology.

If I contrast this course with this same course three years ago, I can safely say that the changes are big. For instance, this blog, for instance the classrooms, for instance the new installation. However we all know under what conditions we studied in the first term. Hopefuly, the second term will be better. We must improve the results of the first term though

I would like to propose two items of information now to start a debate in the following weeks. About motivation and about how to correct some typical teaching mistakes. I will reproduce a quotation about motivation in language learning first and then a video about two big mistakes many teachers make. I will comment a little bit on boht these materials.

We should think the nature of our motivation and about how strong this motivation is in the present circumstances. We should also examine whether it has been affecteded by external circumstances or by internal circumstances in the class.

About teaching grammar.... you know that I have always emphasized that we must learn grammar to perfect our communicative ability. You can see that the presentations try to combine exercises with discussions and cultural comment, apart from some vocabulary work. Now, I try not to make any of the big mistakes mentioned in the video, but it' is always good to keep this kind of comments present.

Grammar must not based on routine and memory. It must not try to push the students too much in deep conversation too soon. However, some conversation, active participation and regularity must be achieved to be succesful.

Well, enough for the day. Food for thought!

Purple Rose Of Cairo. I was right!

2009-01-19T20:13:00.007+01:00

A whole half an hour free before dinner. Time to do some search in the Internet about Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo. I was right. The action takes place in the American Depression. Woody Allen explores the recourse to watching movies to escape from the oppressive and hard reality of the time. Perhaps we do the same nowadays with downloaded music and videos. I reproduce here a short reference and the trailer of the movie. I hope you find interesting.

FROM IMDb com

Plot summary forThe Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) More at IMDbPro »
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Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey during the Depression and is searching for an escape from her dreary life. Tom Baxter is a dashing young archaeologist in the film "The Purple Rose of Cairo." After losing her job Cecilia goes to see the film in hopes of raising her spirits. Much to her surprise Tom Baxter walks off the screen and into her life. There's only one problem..Tom isn't real. Meanwhile Hollywood is up in arms when they dicover that other Tom Baxters are trying to leave the screen in other theatres. Will Tom ever return and finish the film or will he decide to stay in the real world? Written by http://www.imdb.com/SearchPlotWriters?Ricky%20Darbonne%20%7Bnsdar8115@alpha.nsula.edu%7D

Not now, of course, but if later on you develop an interest for movies, the black & white pre-war productions are a permanent source of interests not only in terms of art, history or culture, but in terms of language. One of my favourite pastimes, at least in the past, I don't have much time at present, is watching films with a notepad and a pen on my lap. I love jotting down expressions, pronunciations and language traits. An excellent advanced way of learning more about the language and culture. Besides, you can easily attest some changes in the pronunciation and intonation, and of course, in the use of music. The old sountracks are a little bit difficult and noisy sometimes, but most films have been remastered.

2009. First day. An exercise on creative composition.II

2009-01-01T22:41:00.001+01:00

I dedicated some time yesterday to experiment on strip creation a little bit more and to do some creative composition. This is the result: a first project to combine a phantasy story and strips in which I can refer to many different sources and references in an exercise on intertextuality. Apart from personal expression I consider this kind of activity useful in several ways: you explore new technological possibilities, you have to practice compostion, you have to refresh your background encyclopaedica knowledge to be accurate. A project of this kind can be done either individually or collectively if you find a group of people who'd like to work with you. Nowadays, the web 2.0 can help collective, cooperative work enormously.

Pragmatic Deity.

Dean Deity Athena and the Grim Humanoids from Hades.

A Philological Cartoon Series Project by E.V.

Et sine fine Chaos, & sine fine Deus;

Et sine fine magis, si quid magis est sine fine....

[S(amuel) B(arrow)?]

[John Milton. Paradise Lost]

Many years ago in the origin of Time, when the dispute between the deities of the living and the deities of the death had been settled, and Zeus had built the lofty Olympus and Hades his severe Mansion, some resented minor wizards who feared the Dark Lord's reign decided to become outlaws and prey on the humans. They took refuge in the misty marshes of the Western End and lived on roots, slimy dark fish and eels and the odd rodent. This abominable nutrition provided them with a dark, negative force that made them more and more lethal and cunning. In fact they had become the servants of the Sweaty Slippery Sinister Snake, but they did not realize. They lived in constant alarm because both the deities of the living and the deities of the dead were after them. The Olympians feared their deadly, negative influence on the humans. In the Hades, on the other hand, they needed them to round off their account of souls and control the shadows. However, none of the deities was strong enough to reduce them. Perhaps the old Chronos could have been successful, but this would mean stopping the sequence of the days for that and this would raise chaos in the cosmos. This strife had kept our heroine, Dean Deity Athena, a sweet minor personification of the most intellectual of the goddesses, busy for many centuries when this story starts. She had already had to act in Bologna, Pisa, West Minster, Salamanca and the Sorbonne in the past. Now the evil forces had concentrated on a young promising new intellectual emporium: Allomorphia. Acting from their dens in the Salt Mines they had invaded the roof and pipes and the neighbouring trees of that unfortunate and well reputed School of Humanities. Their objective.... to hypnotize and gain control of the minds of the students, made them disappear and supplant them in the world of the living so that the students' souls would have to occupy their place in the Hades. With respect to the scholars and university personnel they had even a more sinister plan: to sell them as slaves in the Salt Mines where some extra workers were always appreciated by Napoleon, the local manager.

The Pit and the Pendulum -the local newspaper- had already reported two mysterious disappearances. Two students had ben reported missing for early breakfast in the School cafeteria last Monday after a routine weekend without any apparent reason. They lived in a small apartment in the city center and their behaviour had always been uneventful according to their girlfriends and other acquaintances. Dean Deity Athena, had already received a message from the lesser local nymphs in her laptop computer. She was fast: a small suitcase, a pair of new sandals a golden belt and a blue raincoat and she was there. She established her headquarters in the Misty Mountains, a granitical range quite near the site, where the fairies of the Forest welcomed her warmly in their spa. She was downtown patrolling the school from her teledesk when she noticed that two lurking masked humanoids had selected their third victim....

SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT TODAY'S WORK.

A quite fruitful first afternoon-evening in the new year 2009. These holidays have helped me to think a little more about the past and present and to get some extra practice in computers. Today, I've been able to combine in my self-study cartoon creation and image and text edition using the Web 2.0. All this reinforces my convictions about some of the weaknesses of the learning process at University nowadays. Of course the neo-liberal sequels from the past and the economic and social crisis play a decisive role in the present impasse, same as political uncertainty, but there has also been a lot of imprecision, many hasty -interested?- decisions and a process of debate and curricular design in which the consolidation of 1) the traditional body of knowledge, 2) the actual training in the new abilities skills and competences have never been actually inforced. One thing is acquainting students -usually quite young, many quite disoriented, an imprecise number of them not too much inclined to hard work on some subjects- with some ideas and techniques -old or new- in a university course and test them, a very different issue is giving their teacher time and resources to be able to grant that this learning process actually takes place. I suppose that I could explain all I have done today in a three-hour session and a sketchy practice, but we all know that to guarantee a satisfactory result that enables somebody to feel at some ease with a new technique takes time and effort, some frustration and some repetition. Besides, learning the new technique is not enough. I've have worked on a creative clipart strip and have written a short narrative. All this fills me with concern. How and when am I going to have some time in class to share this kind of activities with my students in the present circumstances?

[P.S. Not only lack of recognition but also actual negative evaluations. Something is not functioning. Not me. I'm positive about that. Some definite, real measures should be taken to back teachers who may be working 12 o more hours a day to prepare their classes, design materials and do research in these moments of imprecision]

A fifth -Web 2.0- Christmas card.

2008-12-28T09:09:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I composed a fifth card to upload in Slide Share, a site to upload and exchange presentations an other materials I learnt about in Pedro Cuesta's course on the possibilities of the Web 2.0 I took about ten months ago. I decided to refresh some previous knowledge during this Christmas vacation. It was encouraging, I was able to upload the material and explore the possibilities of the site without much trouble.

What I did yesterday reinforced my ideas about education and learning even more. We must study to pass courses and build up a CV, of course, but this is only the immediate first goal, we must study, and enjoy studying, to be able to learn knowledge and techniques that will be useful to us in different aspects of our lives -either serious work or pastime-. We should always keep this in mind in moments of disappointment.

I'd like to stress something I mentioned yesterday: In the present period of economic and social crisis the role of education becomes crucial not only to grant the transmission of knowledge and skills but also to strengthen individual and social stability. A person who abandons his/her studies and becomes idle runs the risk of developing antisocial, nihilistic habits that would make his/her possibilities of reintegration very difficult when a new period of prosperity arrives. This leads to a paradox: the present economic crisis helps to stress the relevance of education in terms of learning, in terms of social texture, in terms of constructive and positive individual and collective habits.
I hope you like this fifth card!

My four Christmas Cards. Not yet my Four Quartets.

2008-12-26T22:30:00.002+01:00

I've used some time during these holidays to do some creative work. Christmas and New Year always make me feel a little bit sentimental. When I was a little child, Christmas was the most important celebration in the year. Life was not so stressing as it is nowadays, and the kind of big disappointments and little miseries in all the realms of existence were not so extreme, at least from the perspective of a teenager. This year is special: we all are going through the big crisis that the political, social and religious tensions all over the world have brought about. To refer to such terms as "recession" and "depression" -to talk only about the abstract ones- is not very encouraging in a teacher who loves English, culture,freedom and his work and who wants to motivate his students as much as he can. Anyway, I'm fighting all the possible negative feelings hard. These four Christmas Cards are a proof of my decision. We must keep in mind that in Depression we must be ready to work harder to achieve stability and prosperity again . We cannot become sad and nihilistic now, when the economy is stagnant. At University, the teaching and researching standards must be kept during these critical years, granting both social cohesion and the intellectual and technological improvement that are necessary to build up the new prosperity. On a personal level, a person who becomes careless about his/her work or studies runs the risk of ruining his/her life.
Anyway, I don't want to sound that fatalistic. We should organize a film session and see "The Purple Rose of Cairo," by Woody Allen. It is a very moving film about the difficult times of the past.

I hope you like the cards!

Final homework for the week: new strip!

2008-12-08T14:22:00.000+01:00

I've got the pleasure to present my new science fiction strip, vaguely based on Flash Gordon, Captain America and others even though expressing my own ideas: Captain Humane, Belle Diction and Pragma Tin on dying Earth. I hope that you like it, even though expressing too much ecological concern nowadays can be taken as a liberal stratagem to divert people from those concerns that have the priority for a decade or so: the balance of power, ultra liberal laissez faire economy, the moral supremacy and the arms race. Personally, I feel quite relieved. I only need to think of what I've done in the last decade. No remorse about abusive profits or privileges. Therefore....
As I say in the title of this entry: Blog ready for the week.

Etcebezer and C.B. join forces. New Deal.

2008-12-07T18:26:00.000+01:00

When I was a kid, I used to spend many rainy Saturday and Sunday afternoons playing with my army, formed by about three or four hundred little plastic soldiers plus artillery, and aviation. For one year or so, I saved up my weekly stipend to buy the envelopes in which these little plastic pieces came ready to be assembled. Every week I managed to get a fresh supply until I had to stop because I had collected too many for my strategic scenario. It was a pacifist and humanitarian army that fought in Congo, the Middle East, Rhodesia and the Check Republic, that I recall now, always under the direct supervision of the United Nations, to protect democracy, justice and the basic human rights. No ideological tendency but that. Always following the war conventions. A couple of years ago, I felt tempted to buy some little soldiers again, to vent my rage against the most disproportionate, cruel and ugly increase in war propaganda that I've ever seen combined with a very interested economic policy and scandalous cases of dilapidation. The world is exhausted now after such a waste of boast and rage to achieve practically nothing. If I'm in the need of cracking a nut I look for the proper utensil, of course -and I gather the necessary force and skill- but I do not need either to set my stereo full blast and use the laser beam, or spend half the population's budget in publicity. We all deserve what's going on now? When I think about what I've been doing for the last decade, I feel relieved and then I sleep and rest as if I were a little kid. No remorse on that! By the way I don't consider myself a "defeatist" or "that radical." I work, and live and let live, and that's it. I don't deem this last remark trivial in the present circumstances.
Why all this? This rainy weekend I've stayed at home most of the day as when I was a little kid and did some more English homework. As I am grown up now, I've also read the press -about the recession mostly- and done some more work on my computer. Things are not that good nowadays, but the access to the Internet provides people who like to study, read, listen to music and even socialize with a magnificent tool, something unimaginable 15 years ago. When things go slow, some people feel the need to live an organised and productive life. If not much work at least the satisfaction to study, to meet people, to get updated, to learn about new things. Computers are nowadays the "best of helps, the best of treasures." This was a proverbial expression used for books and libraries in the past. Computers nowadays, provide the access to many books among other things.
I've been doing some creative work that I'd like to share you with now. Etcebezer and friends on the one hand, Campus Bull on the other discuss today's highlight: "the world's recession." I'll repeat a song today that I uploaded one year ago in this blog because of its relevance: "Brother, can you spare a dime?" The first version by Al Jolson's is a classic. The second one by Dr. Johnson and Odetta -some photos a little bit crude- is very good stuff. Genuine American blues in my view. It reminded me of my first evening in Lincoln Nebraska's The Zoo bar. Impressive genuine music, high quality and dirt cheap! I hope you like it.

[P.S. If I believe and fought for democracy and civil rights some 25 years now, why this bitterness, now?]

Ironic Etcebezer and his witty remarks.

2008-11-25T20:31:00.000+01:00

I've dedicated some time today to draw another strip. It's about the campus conditions of work at present, this morning's lecture and some ideas about fables, myths and political compositions (Enlightenment?) that come to my mind quite often these days. I dedicate this strip to our guest speakers and to my colleagues in moments of serious concern about our public and academic image.

Sunday Fable.

2008-11-23T21:15:00.000+01:00

Chanticleer, John Bull and Sophocles meet and talk about the week. It's been quite tense and difficult and they relate what's going on on campus with the present economic and social concerns. They use school jargon. Chanticleer studies Teleco, John Bull Economics and Sophocles Humanities.
I'm sure you like fables. The use of animals in dialogues to discuss social, political, philosophical principles is well known in literature. Each animal is normally assigned a set of conventional values. Chanticleer talks a lot and well, John Bull works and works, Sophocles studies and imitates human nature.
Why have I decided to create this strip? To experiment with symbolic values a little bit. Besides, I had in mind some books that I had to read when doing my English Degree. In FirstYear I had to read Watership Down, later on, Animal Farm, later on some political works that used animals as symbols.
It's been a busy weekend fighting a mild flue. Let's see how things are next week.

A casual joke on a proposed class example.

2008-11-17T23:17:00.000+01:00

I've got the pleasure to introduce Nerd to you. Nerd is very eager at learning English as you can see in the strip. I hope you smile!

Etcebezer and the Romantics.

2008-11-15T22:32:00.000+01:00

A comment in the course forum about Emily Bronte led me to think of the Romantic movement by association of ideas. I've dedicated a couple of hours today to learning a little bit more about clipart and to doing some personal creation on strips. I've also written an old fashioned controversia relating the radical Romantic movement of the XIXth century with some important issues nowadays when the Bush administration reaches its end. The economic recovery, the strengthening of the democratic practices and the reestablishment of transparency become priorities. It is time for some objective evaluation of what took place in the Iraq war and in some other important conflicts -after years of sound and fury in the media-. The way in which war propaganda has been used in those conflicts is both impressive and frightening. In my opinion, more than one ethical code of behaviour has been breached in the handling of information. Besides the shocking, cruel and real images that have been broadcasted 24 hours a day without apparent restriction or qualification in many cases indicate an important transgression of the aesthetic code as well. All this seems to be another worrying symptom of the violence and insensitivity that affects contemporary society..
The Romantics wrote in the time of the Napoleonic wars. They usually played an important symbolic role in fighting against injustice and tyranny. This is why I wrote what I wrote, I think.
Besides, the Aedean Conference has finished today. One of its big stars was the American writer Norman Mailer. I keep this writer in my mind quite often these days when reading the press. If you are familiarized with his best-known novels you will understand why.
[I've fiddled a little with our main character's name: Etcebezer sounds more rounded that Etceber. Jarvis, Quentin and Jason remain the same]

Etceteber and schol friends. Another strip project.

2008-11-09T18:44:00.000+01:00

This week's homework? A new strip and a short composition.

This weekend, while going through pages in the web I came across some interesting, old fashioned, black and white clip art. I decided to incorporate some in a strip and do some practice on images and word processors at the same time. This is the result. When I was a 14 year old teenager I was a bookworm (the original name of Etceteber in the series). I read all the stories I could find (and afford) by Enid Blyton, Malcom Saville, Richmal Croptom and many others. I also liked "tebeos" a lot: Zipi y Zape, Mortadelo, Carpanta, Rigoberto Picaporte, solterón de mucho porte were some of my favourites. Why Etceber? When I was writing the strip I had in mind the name Ebenezer: the main character in John Barth's The Sot-Weed factor, one of the last books in my American literature reading list in Fifth Year English Philology 1979-80. I should reread the book. When I was reading it I was thinking of the main works of the Enlightenment, especially Voltaire's Candide. Etceber is a pun on the Ects credits. Our character is very mature for his age. He likes reading very serious books on profound matters and he does not like much the games his friends at school play. He is a little bit the archetype of a kind of intelectual that we normally associate to literati and scholars. I have tried to recreate in his language the fascinating idiolect of a teenager who is under the influence of the vocabulary and learned expressions of the books he loves. It is at that time, in my view, when some youngsters begin to acquire those traits of language and manners that will become characteristic in them later on. They want to become "intelectuals," as hard as some others may want to become politicians, or businessmen, or gangsters. I always smile a little bit when I hear one of these books "talking like a book." It goes without saying that when I was that age I was a little bit like that!

[Ebenezed Cook is the name of a person who wrote at the beginning of the XVIII century a poem you can read in : webpage, oregon.edu.

And we drank some wine, and then we talked....

2008-11-02T18:23:00.000+01:00

Homework over for today. I wanted to upload a passage of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. One tradition I abandoned some years ago: to start April writing its first line on the classroom blackboard!

All Saints' Day (also called All Hallows or Hallowmas[1]), often shortened to All Saints, is a feast celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honour of all the saints, known and unknown.

In terms of Western Christian theology, the feast commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven. Specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Souls' Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Day]

Reading, manipulating, misinterpreting.

2008-11-02T16:51:00.001+01:00

This Sunday, my homework is not a composition. I've decided to play for a while with the huge possibilities computers and sites and artists provide nowadays. I play very seriously (paradox). I mean that I try to construct something positive. I want to learn something. I want to play seriously, then sleep quietly and then start afresh with new green ideas on the next day. The idea that I want to stress today is that Reading well -something that many people can consider accessory nowadays, the priority being "speaking and knowing how to handle-" is essential when one has to study documents, do some serious work, understand some instructions, write about literature, do linguistics. I could have uploaded these materials in my grammar blog, but I think that it can help you understand some of the ideas I mention in class and why I "prepare" the Reading with so much detail, paying a lot of attention to the meaning of lexical items and expressions. The first strip is not mine. The comment is, of course. It could lead to a class in a specialised seminar on Textual and Discourse Analysis, for instance. I hope you like it!

[Important confusion: the expression in the Red Meat comment is "pull the little kid's leg," not hair. Easy confusion -blending- between two languages: Spanish, English. Everybody makes mistakes but , in my view, they increase when one is immersed in a creative process. From an artistic point of view these unconscious/subconscious mistakes could become an extra asset.]

Sense, sensibility and sensitivity.

2008-10-26T18:53:00.000+01:00

I was thinking today about a possible expression: "the extreme sensitivity of some teenagers nowadays with respect to..." This led me to do some study on the terms: "offensive language," "abusive language," "rude language" and so on. We used the term abusive language in class. What does it mean?
This Sunday evening I've spent some time to write the draft of my second composition. You can find it on the same page as the Red Meat strip.
What's abusive language? Here you have a definition and an Internet link:

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/thesaurus/10-01e/00003763.htm

Abusive language

French:

Langage offensant

Scope Note:

Use only in the case of language that, when taken in context, tends to or is likely to expose an individual or group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability; in any other case, please use "Offensive language".

Abusive language can lead to resentment and/or complain. I've decided to upload a "strong, critical song" about some symptoms of modernity. Leonard Cohen does not like some things that I do not like either. Therefore... "First we take Manhattan, then..." Please, see my choice in its proper context, with respect to our topic: abusive language.

...............

I don't like these drugs that keep you thin...
....
Well, it's Father's day and everybody's wounded....
First we take Manhattan.... Then we take Berlin.

....................

A Sunday in the countryside

2008-10-19T19:07:00.000+02:00

Today I upload the first draft of a composition I've written on a Sunday in the countryside. I also upload one video that I associate with country life in Northern England. When I was doing English Philology, two friends and me visited York, Lincoln, Boston and some other historical sites on a short trip by bus during the summer. I already knew Amazing Blondel, so I really enjoyed the experience.

A day in the countryside. First year English composition.

This Sunday I woke up at a reasonable hour so that I could use some hours in the countryside. It is quite easy to oversleep on Sundays after the Saturday movie, party, dinner. People usually spend some time with their friends or families on Saturday evenings. I have some land near Vigo, and I need to dedicate some time to take care of it to avoid the overgrowth of vegetation and to save the trees from the danger of fire. I’m quite happy in a way because pastime combines with family business and it is always nice to keep tidy a piece of land that you can call you own.

Two (three?) years ago the area was affected by the big fires that originated in the summer. Some of the trees died, some others are recuperating and some new ones have started growing. I’ve learned out of experience that trees are very tidy. They need somebody to keep the undergrowth clean, to pick up the dry branches and leaves and to help them to keep straight and not bend. Now I understand much better a lot of proverbial expressions about right behaviour, also about genealogies, that refer to branches, barren trees and so on. Quite often I think of George Herbert, John Milton and the like –not to mention the Bible… or the French Revolution- when I’m tidying those trees up.

Working in the woods makes me think about the present economic, ecological, political worries. I recreate how people worked in the fields in the past, their conventions and feuds, and I associate past problems with the present circumstances. It is usually said that farmers and peasants are conservative and very traditional. To be more precise, I’d say that people who live in the country know that it takes a lot of time and effort to improve the conditions of the soil, to clean and arrange the woods and meadows, to keep the cattle healthy and so on and they are suspicious of sudden radical changes. I must say, however that usually peasants and farmers are quite learned in their way, they love talking and exchanging ideas and they know what’s going on in politics and economy. The old ideal of combining farm work and education seems to regain strength, especially in moments of economic stagnation in which paying some attention to our native land becomes a necessity.
When I am busy with my sickle and look at the old oak and chestnut trees I feel like a druid, a little bit like Panoramix longing for the magic potion: some fresh milk and some honey and cheese after a day’s work! (449 words)

THE AMAZING BLONDEL: Fantasia Lindum:

Past Perfect-Pluperfect.

2008-10-13T17:39:00.000+02:00

Today I've spent some time searching for materials that connect nowadays problems with past problems. Literature, art, history on Depression, bots as a mental state and as worldwide economic crisis.

James N. Rosenberg, Oct 29 Dies Irae ("Days of Wrath"), 1929
[Modern American Poetry University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign]

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries. It was the largest and most important economic depression in modern history, and is used in the 21st century as a benchmark on how far the world's economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United States; historians most often use as a starting date the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The end of the depression in the U.S. is associated with the onset of the war economy of World War II, beginning around 1939.^[1]
^{[Source: Wikipedia]}

Depression Poem

Depression

© By Christa L. Platt

She goes about her day to day and does her duties to perfection,
She cries alone and works her way through fears and self rejection.
No one knows this angel is carrying around such grief,
If they only saw a glimpse of things they'd sigh in disbelief.
She seems to be so perfect not one single flaw,
Everyone looks at her with envy If they only knew it all.
Her heart aches with loneliness and her tears disguised with pride,
Why does she care what they think its becoming too much for her to hide.
She sits at home and pours her heart out to a man that doesn't really care,
He never hears a word she says he looks right through her as if she’s not really there.
She is running out of friends to confide in and family's gone astray,
Alone and broken hearted, she slits her wrists and slowly fades away.
[White Oak. American Poetry]

^{I've decided to upload these materials here as a possible conversation topic about the similarities and differences between nowadays economic situation and the Great American Depression on the one hand and depressive mental states due to everyday hardships on the other. The poem I've chosen reflects a state of numbness, of coldness that seems to be a defense against sorrow. The online anthology I've taken the poem from specializes in Teenage Poetry. A good way, perhaps, of starting the first unit on Relations.}

Course on easy internet tools.

2008-10-07T21:04:00.000+02:00

Today second session of the university course on easy internet tools for teachers that started last week. Two hours' session. Apart from the accomplishment of designing an easy web page by means of Open Office and learning how to upload it in the University web, we also discussed some other useful details about saving documents as Xhtml, html, htm and indexing them and about places and recourses to store information and documents in the Web 2.0. Even though I have some practice now in web building -thanks to some courses I took, the helpf of my Tic friends and a lot of personal work- you alwasys learn new things and, especially clarify some others. Learning can be fun (and can be useful as well, of course). Feeling of accomplishment and a new strip that I dedicated to my colleagues.

[Elaboración de documentación electrónica de forma fácil (Campus de Vigo).

O curso vai abordar os problemas da creación, fluxo, manexo e organización da información documental electrónica, o seu uso didáctico e os medios, ideas e programas para xestionar de forma simple...

Profesorado:

José A. Alonso Rodríguez
José C. Troncoso Saracho]

On this date. A new strip.

2008-10-04T13:53:00.000+02:00

Nice weekend!

2008-10-03T23:49:00.000+02:00

Well, the course, little by little is taking shape. However, we still need to get cohesion and rhythm. If I were in London, or in some other place in the United Kingdom I would go to one of the popular markets to see old books and antiques, buy some fruit and eat somehing. When I studied in London I used to go to Camdem. On some occasions to some other places.

I've decided to upload a classic by the Beatles: Penny Lane. It's very easy to follow. I pre-suppose that you know the song (right-wrong?) if wrong... anyway, I think you should. It is a "must" of the pop culture.

Tuesday class 30th September 2008

2008-09-29T12:00:00.000+02:00

All courses, in order to be satisfactory, need to be well organized. After the first introductory week we need:1) to examine the results of the different tests we are doing, main difficulties, 2) to enter the Tema Platform and get used to the online facilities, 3) to start doing some classwork. Today's strip is dedicated to al these preliminaries

Last year course structure: What went wrong?

2008-09-16T10:01:00.000+02:00

I'd like to explore today what went wrong in last year's course structurally. English 1 had been organized to start combining the traditional class and the advantages provided by the University Tic Platform. The learning process was placed on the students' organization, regular personal work, participation and ability to use both the materials provided and discussed in the class and those available in the University web, not to mention other complementary options. At the beginning of the year the classroom showed some deficiencies that were progressively corrected, even though B-1 resents from not having been originally designed for the modern technologies. This amphitheatre classroom is, on the other hand has a rigid structure and is quite big. If students do not feel able to cooperate and move the result of trying to elicit responses and promote participation is quite negative.
I provide first a sketch of the classroom to later on comment on some details of the course.

The diagram shows a first level of integration of traditional materials and online materials. From the very first day, the students were encouraged to register in the Platform Tema Faitic and to provide an internet address to contact the teachers and receive news from the course. However, to my disappointment, not all students did that -first big problem in the course- and they did not seem very eager to contact their teacher by this means. An internet address is nothing fancy or capricious nowadays. In fact it is a requirement for many practical aspects of life. Students entering the university are supposed to having acquired some training in computers. The university of Vigo provides its students with an address when they register. Besides to have access to a free account in the web is only the matter of filling in a form. The impossibility to combine the Tic platform as planned with the classes made the teacher use the computer as optional, to motivate those students who were interested and use photocopied material. The feedback this teacher received at this espect from his students was almost zero. One easy confusion is taking the Tic platform as if it were part of the Bologna instructions, whatever this may mean. This is false, with or without Bologna, computers are absolutely necessary in education the same as in many other aspects of life nowadays.

The original plan was:
The students can prepare their lessons by means of the documents and activities stored in the Platform. A newsletter and a course blog can also be implemented in order to encourage students to participate. They know that they can use the classes to contrast points of view, information, homework, activities with their teachers, that they have the means to hand in reglar work and that they must prepare for an exam based on the FCE kind of exercises. If the class plan has to revert to the traditional class then the system must become 100% classwork. Regular, compulsory, punctual assistance, handing in of homework acccording to deadline and so on. Nowadays, a lot of stress has been placed on the need of elping the students to become actually proficient in one language. However, this is not new, this idea has always been present in language teaching.

Everybody knows or should know that to be successful in learning a foreign language lyou need -besides the appropriate class- to be ready to supplement your supervised study with some extra practice on your own, you must be regular, you must learn through your mistakes, you need to dedicate some time everyday to cultural studies in the target language and you must take the initiative to use the teacher's tutorial schedule to clarify difficult points. You must take the initiative, that's it, and then your teacher will coach you. It goes without saying that you need to get trained in each exam particular technique. Of course, there are people with a knack for languages and others that find it difficult to use a foreign language fluently. In a way, online courses make all these comments even more accurate, according to my experience at least!
Now, what went wrong in my view?
The differences in motivation, tastes and levels may be a first reason. It is always create a coherent group. If this was already quite difficult in the traditional class in a first introductory course years ago it may have become worse when teachers start presupposing a capacity of self-organization and study in the students and some knowledge of computers. A kind of global criticism made to the new Bologna methodologies is precisely that it presupposes a lot from students. This difficulty may be aggravated when the students have enrolled in the degree to see how they do tentatively. A yearly subject based on acquiring a good command of English tested during the course and by means of a final exam can be too demanding for some students, especially if they do not understand some of their teachers' reaction. For instance, their responsibility to self-evaluate whether their behaviour and attitude is right or wrong in the classroom or in the exams or handing in the exercise. If you don't respect the rules or if you always tend to consider that those rules are authoritarian or arbitrary, then many class activities are devaluated. If a teacher counts on punctuality and on a stable class disposition with the students sitting roughly on the same places and attending class regularly and so on the structure of the course vanishes. Soon the course is simply an open theater where students attend occasionally waiting for their final exam. It's a real pity that only half of the group are able to qualify for the evaluation exam and so on. Finally if a teacher repeats once and again that personal work and the development of a system of personal study is necessary it is because (s)he considers it indispensable for everybody to do well in a course of university studies. Of course, finally, some people are more attractive than others, some people are more active, some more reserved and so on. There will be always populr and not so popular teachers. Now, one essential aspect of university education and of life itself is the capacity to relate, to communicate and to learn from people of all civilized sorts. This is, in a way, more relevant in a School of Humanities where we study the literary productions of big thinkers and poets with intriguing personalities and we talk about bid ideals such as justice, freedom, respect, tolerance and so on. It's always difficult to account for the "teaching of English" in Humanities. It is more difficult now in these moments of re-definition and drastic change.

2 cultural notes.

1.- In the cartoons I've started to design in the previous entry to this blog I mentioned the "Great Hari Sheldon. The book I keep in mind is: Isaac Asimov's Foundation. 1951. My edition is, New York, Avon, 1965. I got it second hand in Lincoln Nebraska, I stil have it and... there's a story about me and this book!

2.- Richard Wright, one of the founders of Pink Floyd died yesterday. I mentioned this band in this blog last year and I included one item from "The Wall." I will end today's "reflections." with a song from "Dark Side of the Moon," one of thebest-known records by this British group. I've chosen "Time," one of the most powerful symbols of life and work.

Mispronunciation?

2008-09-15T20:11:00.000+02:00

I can't resist to introduce this joke as a first comment on one basic humorous recourse: mispronunciation. Activities ready made!

Some reflections on what I did last year.

2008-09-15T17:18:00.000+02:00

Yesterday's story and strip made me think of another of the initiatives that have not become popular in the last three years even though they are not "that original," specially in a milieu that boasts alternative cultures and expressions and that defends tolerance and creativity. Maybe this initiative has not been accepted not because of the idea in itself but because of some other preconceptions and presuppositions about what they could represent in the particular context of an English 1 class, leaving aside the particular teacher now. This can be relevant in moments of economic crisis, social unrest and, above all, intolerance. To enjoy culture, art, literature, free expression, argumentation one needs to live in the proper cultural climate. Even though I work quite on my own I've read and heard very hard comments on cultural, social, religious, medical matters. To use a distorted expressive technique -"La verdad está en el fondo del vaso-" can be quite effective and even proof of a certain kind of excentricity perhaps not sactioned by the "establishment" but able to win literary battles in the end. Bradomín is now both a title and the name of a white wine, for instance. I say now, not in Ramon María del Valle-Inclan's life. Of course I'm only a lecturer not an outstanding literary figure.
It is also true, of course, that in moments of competition, economic trouble, social and generational tension and so on any kind of "fancy attempt" to encourage creative writing and expression, for instance, can provoke a negative effect and reaction. Not to mention, of course, the Bologna process and the endless debate on the new degrees and quality teaching.

Anyway, the experience first of writing short stories to illustrate the main grammatical points in my English 1 class (year 2006-07) and then the use of newsletters distributed every two weeks or so, for instance, to make some further comments on what I talked about and to propose some more ideas seems not to have prospered that much. The newsletter should not be intimidatory. To me it is a good example of what "Everyteacher" can do -more or less- using nowadays' computer resources on a campus. I like reading and writing things done by others, but I feel well when I contribute with my own writings and collages. I think that if we were able to go beyond the threshold of personal limitation in writing, in speaking in expressing ourselves we would have started winning the battle of becoming proficient in English. This does not mean that I intend to penalize those students who do not write newsletters or personal compositions. I only aim at exploring the possibilities available nowadays on campus to start personal projects.
Let's see what happens this year! Maybe the idea needs to be conveyed in a different way!

One week and Go!

2008-09-14T17:29:00.000+02:00

I have the pleasure to introduce this year's coarse crew to you. Four of its members are public. The fifth one always remains in the shadow. Nicey, Builder, Playko and Maldon are in charge of a First Year English Course in a remote if well-known school at Windgale in Selenia, industrial town belonging to the Foundation's second belt. You are welcome to look up for more details about this university center in The Encyclopaedia Galactica. Nicey, Builder, Playko and Maldon did their degrees under the Great Hari Sheldon's direct supervision. They are specialised in all kinds of language traps, even the symbolic. About the fifth member... nothing is known apart from his(?), her (?) nickname: "Reliable Nessie." Today they are busy with the beginning of the 2008-09 course.

The main expression here is "(to) face the music." This expression means, roughly, that you have to go through all the potential difficulties and bad moments of a particular course of action. In the Cambridge International Dictionary I have found this example:

face: ... (infml) He'll have to face the music (= he'll be in trouble) when his parents find out he's been missing school.

Back to School!

2008-08-31T21:25:00.000+02:00

Here we are again. On the fourth we will hold the reseating exam for English 1 as recorded in the blog calendar. I wish everybody good luck!
Getting ready for the first day I decide to experiment with another comic strip to recreate "old trade." Facing the music again, as the expression says.

War cartoon (1943)m

2008-07-10T23:22:00.000+02:00

Today I've read some alarming news about new missile tests. Hard Times indeed! This made me search in the archives. I was interested in seeing again some cartoons from the time of the World War I saw when I was a child at home in the family's black and white television. I found one that I think I saw when a kid and that introduces a "gremlin" already in 1943! I remember that at that time I was puzzled at the language and sense of humour of those cartoons. I intuited that some problems had to do with the translation of words and expressions. However, now I realize that the sense of humour in belicose times is quite "surreal." I don't know whether this adjective is the appropriate one. I consider that both the story and the sense of humour are quite suitable to the present circumstances.

Gremlin: ... a wicked little spirit, said to cause damage to aircraft engines, esp. during World War 2.
[Longman Dictionary. 1978]

The American dream.

2008-07-04T13:31:00.000+02:00

It's the fourth of July, Independence day in U.S.A. I should refresh my knowledge, but I think that, on that day, the American rebels decided to drink no British tea anymore. Today, I've decided to upload a song by Jim Croce -I got a name- that reflects what the American dream is: The personal right to the pursuit of one's happiness and the right to be taken as a free individual and to have a name. A very moving song. A good friend of mine in Nebraska presented me with a vinyl by Jim Croce that I still keep at home.

Summer walks, fresh ideals.

2008-06-14T20:19:00.000+02:00

Next Monday the official exam, one week or so of final hassle and summer holidays! I'd like to share with you this song from Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Once a young girlfriend presented me with a copy of Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. We were 17 years old. I still keep that book and visit it from time to time. A very moving story and beautiful music.

Never say: I'm old, I'm tired....

Prospects for next year.

2008-06-04T17:25:00.000+02:00

Now that this course is almost over, it may be a good idea to think about clichés and stereotypes about education, grammar and teaching. This is why I incorporate here ('upload' if you wish) one cartoon I designed about 'The Wall,' the well-known song-and-film by Pink Floyd. I have also 'borrowed' a video from 'Second Person Pronoun Singular/Plural-Tube' with the soundtrack, quite convincing even though a little bit indigestible at the end-.

This character's name is 'Byron.' Apart from Pink Floyd, he also likes the Velvet, Brian Ferry and the occasional Chamaleon. An old glory, as you may well see. Now about the video.

I hope you like it! Try the lyrics! If we had some time for a cultural or literary comment, we coulld read a couple of pages from Hard Times by Charles Dickens on the Utilitarian doctrines (the infamous "facts, facts and facts") and on some clichés on the Victorian age. Also about the Grammar Schools. Also about where education ends and indoctrination begins. However, Grammar should be left apart (and Maths I think). You need some hard work to write a passable poem, to express yourself with some accuracy, to tell where and why an anacoluthon may lie!

YMCA. My USA 1981 trip.

2008-05-22T10:22:00.000+02:00

DEAR DIARY.

When I arrived in Lincoln Nebraska in September 1980 to begin my American experience after having finished my degree in English I had to stay in a YMCA for the weekend. I could not register in my dorm until the next Monday. I was sleepy -jetlag- and nervous. I did not trust my English that much yet. I knew what a YMCA was because I had read about them. They booked me for two nights. It was unexpensive for American standards... for a young Spaniard graduated in June 1980 it was reasonable, about a 2-star hostel in his native country. People were friendly and I slept and slept.

When I was travelling through United States in the year 1980-81 I stayed -when I did not sleep on the bus- in YMCAS (Omaha, Chicago, Philadelphia). I knew that many people have reconstructed their lives after big crises living temporarily onYMCAS. That yearI didn't have much money even though I had many friends. The YMCA experience opened my eyes and was decisive in the shaping of my personality. Maybe I'm too soft, but I know that some people suffer without deserving it. I loved travelling... in my way: backpack, camera and corduroys, not jeans. Even though a little bit on the bum side, I never had major problems with "the powers that be." However after London, Madrid and so on things do not seem that easy, but sooner or later the sun will shine again. I've decided to upload a song -very moving- that I first heard in Cambridge summer 1998-99 when doing a summer course. Not much money either: a lot of secondhand books! I went to London a couple of times... McTell's Streets of London.

You're students of English, I'd advise you to travel one year abroad and learn the culture. My American experience has always brought me good memories. I also learned to strengthen my frame of ideas by means of rational maxims and the principle of tolerance there. I did not get acquainted with Lyons' Semantics until 1982 in a secondhand bookstore. It was compulsory readingin a Linguistics course I took. I met Americans of all ideologies but all respected the freedom of thought and expression, everybody's rights and the supremacy of the Law.

In London, there's a big YMCA, as well but this is another story...

FROM THE WIKIPEDIA.

The Young Men's Christian Association ("YMCA" or "the Y") was founded on June 6, 1844 in London, England by a young man named George Williams. At the time, the organization was dedicated to putting Christian principles into practice, as taught by Jesus Christ. Young men who came to London for work were often living in squalid and unsafe conditions, and the YMCA was dedicated to replacing life on the streets with prayer and bible study. The YMCA idea, which began among evangelicals, was unusual because it crossed the rigid lines that separated all the different churches and social classes in England in those days. This openness was a trait that would lead eventually to including in YMCAs all men, women and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Also, its target of meeting social need in the community was dear from the start. Now the YMCA uses a holistic approach to individual and social development encompassing spiritual, intellectual and physical methods. This approach is symbolised by the inverse red triangle used by YMCAs around the world representing the YMCA mission of building a healthy spirit, mind, and body.

Since 1844 the YMCA has grown to become a world-wide movement of more than 45 million members from 124 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs.

Today, the degree to which Christ and the Christian faith is emphasized in programs varies between individual YMCA associations. Generally, YMCAs are open to all, regardless of faith, social class, age, or gender.^[1]

^{HOW CAN YOU TELL ME YOU'RE LONELY?}

^{DON'T SAY FOR YOU THAT THE SUN DON'T SHINE...}

Last day of actual teaching.

2008-05-22T09:55:00.000+02:00

"Actual" is not the same as "present, nowadays or similar expression." In this class, for some years now I've always cautioned you about "false friends" and "collocations." You know all these easy mistakes we can make colloquially speaking. Today's strip introduces Uglio, the course examiner and three potential candidates. Some expressions have been used to hint at some other conversational contexts that may not be necessarily funny. However comparing an oral exam with a visit to the dentist and so on is a very frequent recourse when cracking jokes. Lat's day of class then. Let's live the present!

Revision Week.

2008-05-20T16:50:00.000+02:00

Today we saw the second presentation on what we've been studying during the year. Besides the 7 main units and the complementary material in class, I have uploaded 50 new -original- activities since September, not to mention Jeff`s recordings, not to mention this blog. However , in a long course taught at early hours, one has often the impression that s(he) is not accomplishing anything, that everything is blah blah. This is the main idea in today's strip. To wrap up the course, I need to write one final newsletter, one report and tidy up this blog. Then exams, evaluation and end, of course.

Only two weeks left!

2008-05-12T22:46:00.000+02:00

We must start reviewing the basic concepts we've studied during this year. The title of this strip is "Listening Incomprehension." Can you guess why?

Other ways to grammar.

2008-04-30T14:16:00.000+02:00

A very nice lecture today on performance and mimes by Alfonso Rivera. Nice words, didactic gestures and movements. After the lecture I came to my office thinking of Prometheus, of course. That's the main idea after the script I made. Nice long vacation to everybody.
A note of grammar, in the second vignette the mistake after the reporting verb (I "will", not I "would" is intentional: immediacy).

What have we learnt today?

2008-04-29T08:28:00.000+02:00

What have welearnt today? This is a very easy song to follow and understand by Pete Seeger, well known protest singer who praises individual and social freedom and human rights. Pete Seeger was very popular in Europe in the late sixties and seventies at the time of the Vietnam war and the Paris revolt of 1968. To me he is a prototype of American idealism.

Hardships of Life

2008-04-16T14:05:00.000+02:00

In unit 7 we're dealing with extreme sports. This made think of violence and hardship in life. This made me think of a song by Simon and Garfunkel: The boxer, about "Hard Times. This made trace the song, and upload it here. It finally made me think of some literary works: "Hard Times," by Charles Dickens, "U.S.A." by John dos Passos and "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow. Why? Association of ideas. "The boxer is a sad and moving song."

When I left my home and my family as no more than a boy in the company of strangers...seeking out the poorer quarters where the raggered people go...
I hope you like the song.

Strip in class.

2008-04-15T13:32:00.000+02:00

Today, one of the activities in class was the joint creation of a strip. Here you have it! Sorry about the misspelling. Due to ['still to be accounted for and unexpected'] difficulties I could not embed in the classroom, I had to do it in my office.

Some practice on a historical Speech.

2008-04-07T20:43:00.000+02:00

This Sunday I read about Martin Luther King's anniversary. What about doing some reading and listening practice with this video recreating his most moving speech: "I have a dream"?

New strip: "I'm fond of dancing."

2008-04-07T19:05:00.000+02:00

There was an interesting item of news in the press today, about the last meeting, George Bush and Vladimir Putin held. Apparently, George W. Bush was praised (passive structure) as "a good dancer" by Vladimir Putin!!! I don't know much about those meetings I should find out! I should also refresh my cultural encyclopaedic expression about what this expression may mean in politics. This interesting image made me think of Fred Astaire rather than of Charlton Heston, who passed away yesterday, I think. Ben Hur has been mentioned in the obituaries. I must confess that the interpretation that impressed me most was in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar playing the role of Antony:

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men;
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral...

[The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.1977. Abbey Library.
Printed in Romania, 812. Bedford, 13-7-78.1.85 pounds.]

However, the film that I always keep in mind is a futuristic film on food and water shortage (RayBradbury?) called Soylent Green. Frightening!

I used Putin's expression -I should verify it- to crack a joke using the grammar of Unit 6 (-ing forms).

I hope you like the cartoon. It would be suitable to produce more examples or to talk about the figurative meaning of expressions.

Finally, I came across Soylent Green's trailer. I include it here:

A new strip featuring Proctor and Student.

2008-04-01T09:08:00.000+02:00

The joke is on the two meanings of the adjective "passive," 1.- not taking active part, letting others do and 2.- The passive voice. The passive subject is the object in the active counterpart, and the active subject becomes the agent if mentioned.

On Nature, again.

2008-03-31T18:25:00.000+02:00

Have you read H.G.Wells? Are you familiarized with Lewis Carroll? Ants are not properly beetles, but I thought that a couple of Beatles' songs could help us in this class. The letter of the second one is quite easy to follow. The first one is a psychedelic song of the times of the Beatles' "experimentation" with pop culture. They deal with the Walrus. ¿Any ideas? In fact I almost went directly to this song because the annual slaughter of seals started in Canada yesterday. The walrus is not a seal, but close. When I was a little kid I was impressed when Dr. Rodríguez de la Fuente -in black and white- showed in his program a documentary on how little seals were skinned alive. Apparently, this is necessary to control the population of these animals. I suppose that something similar to the American bison -Dancing with wolves or with the wolves? Any hints?- Anyway, I don't want to get depressed! The second song is short and very easy. Shall we try to work out the lyrics? Ah, The Walrus was Flint's ship, the cruellest pirate before Long John Silver. Any R.L.Setevenson fans?

Saint Exupery's story.

2008-03-26T09:50:00.000+01:00

I suppose that when you were little children you read The Little Prince.The author of this book on love, sadness, and good wishes, died in war action in 1944. Last week, the German pilot who brought his plane down revealed his identity. After reading the news, I drew this cartoon (from English Grammar Seminar. blogspot.com). I was thinking, of course, about The Little Prince. Click on the image to enlarge it.

ABOUT THE NEED OF RAIN.

2008-03-26T09:07:00.000+01:00

Laser Unit 6 is dedicated to Nature.We've already seen the first Reading Comp: Making every drop count. When we were doing this activity in class the title of one song came to mind: What have they done to the rain. I had heard it sung by Joan Baez when I was a teenager. I still keep the old vinyl. It is very easy to follow. I could not find this version, but I've come across another, quite impressive by The Seekers, you are welcome to see and listen to.
I reproduce the entry from You Tube:

People now think of this as a song about acid rain, but it was originally written as part of a campaign to stop aboveground nuclear...

I encourage you to work out the lyrics. It's about a kind of rain that produces shocking effects and about a little boy that disappears. "What have they done to the rain," is repeated once and again.
The reason why I've chosen this song is easy to see: Leaving aside pacifism now, the song's main concern is the perversion of the ecosystem. Those natural phenomena that used to bring about life and fertility are now changed into sources of barrenness and disaster.
Some people can try to lessen these effects or , rather, "place them in their proper perspective," but they cannot deny the truth of facts anymore.

New Blog Cartoon

2008-03-16T08:22:00.000+01:00

This is the cartoon I designed for this class blog. To read it click on the image. I hope you like the innovation.

We can work it out, indeed.

2008-03-11T08:42:00.000+01:00

I searched for the Beatles's song: "We can work it out" that I mentioned last week when explaining the phrasal and prepositional verbs. One of the original broadcasts in black and white television. The Beatles were not as bad as the Rolling Stones, but in Spain, however, they did not have a very good reputation. At that time their "look" was subversive.

FROM FARE TO FARE.

2008-03-11T06:40:00.000+01:00

I will introduce now a very famous song by Simon and Garfunkel: Scarborough Fair. This song was part of the soundtrack of a very polemical film of the 70s about adulteries, university graduates and so on. I Spain it went through censorship.
Why have I chosen this song: "Stream of Consiousness." Tavistock Goosey Fair (Laser 67) to Scarborough Fair (Youtube).

Some writing practice.

2008-03-11T06:27:00.000+01:00

What do we study English for in this course.? There are several reasons. One of them is to be able to provide information about ourselves to make friends. This is a first year English blog. I'll write a short composition about myself. I hope that you like the idea (that the idea "catches on" in colloquial English) and that one day you will surprise me with your own blog in English!

My name is Eduardo José Varela Bravo. I am a First year student of English at Vigo University, Spain. I'd like to contact students interested in English to exchange ideas, keep in contact, share useful addresses and so on. My main interests are language, literature, arts, writing, travelling. My favourite book is Sterne's "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy." I also like photos, videos and news from the Inernet. This is my blog. Feel welcome to visit and participate any time.

Ed.

American elections

2008-02-18T19:47:00.000+01:00

As we were discussing conditionals, I thought of a vide that can be interesting about American politics from You Tube:

PRESENTATION

2008-02-13T18:14:00.000+01:00

[Source: Flicker MegElizabeth_ Creative Commons]]

Welcome to the second semester of English 1 2007-08!. I hope that your semestral results are positive!

About us, we have had a full evaluation during the first half of the course, and you have been handing in your homework regularly. In case that you have chosen the B option, that is, final exam in the official date you know that it is your responsability to get organised and program the rythm of your studies. Jeff and me will be available in tutorial hours, and you know that you can contact us by eas of the Internet using the resources provided by the University in the Faitic Tema Platform. You know that we have been in touch by means of the Newsletter I distribute through the course list. I favour personal work, human contact and the god use of the help provided by the new technologies. This is why I have decided to start this new blog named: English 1.

I will post ideas, comments news that I consider that can be useful to complement what we do in class. You arfe welcome to write your comments and participate.

By now you know your strengths and weaknesses. You also know the syllabus and what I expect to cover by the end of the year. You should plan your study to get the best results you can. Good luck!