Wow, the lunch plan I had fell through. It’s shocking to have a day with nothing happening between 10am and 3pm. Maybe I’ll actually have a nap tomorrow… I’ve been adding a lot to the ESL section of this site, which may or may not escape the notice of regular readers since the entries usually don’t make it onto the main page. (I backdate them in order to prevent it from happening, though tonight I’m gonna try change the code so the ESL stuff can be properly dated and just not show up on the main page. Anyway… between that …
Month: July 2003
November-13th.com
Here’s an interesting enough blog by a (French? I’m guessing from the rare and few grammar mistakes and the name) foreigner living and teaching/studying in Seoul.
ESL Joke: So This Korean Guy Goes on Holiday….
(Here’s a joke that’s all about ESL, but also makes a point about the “listen and repeat” passive learning that happens where students just learn common conversational phrases and don’t learn how to express themselves. I typed it out for a friend’s email and then thought I might as well post it here…It’s a great joke to tell when teaching Koreans and they say,”I’m fine thank you, and you?” everytime you ask them “How are you?” even when they look tired, sick as hell, or whatever… Even if it depends on a little awkward use of English, it’s still amusing. …
Found: Apparently Wonderful Online Bookseller in Asia!
Sometimes, you can find something useful in an advertisement. For example, a kind of Asian Amazon.com-like company… If I hadn’t clicked on an innocent little link, I might never have found this site, where one can order books by all kinds of authors (like the new works by Iain Banks and Kim Stanley Robinson and Greg Egan, as well as classics by Philip K. Dick and Olaf Stapledon… things that are, I can testify, practically impossible to find in Korea. Oooh, I am gonna begging some friend with a credit card to give me a hand with an order… Wheee. …
잼이있는 시간이 있었어요…
요즈음 고드가 빠빠요… 우리 학원에 선생의 교육에 가르치고 있어용. 그레서 매일에 일을 조금 떠 해요. 특는 일이 재미있지만 잠 잘 못해요. 웬야하면 나는 생각 하고 일을 떠 해요. 하지만 좋아해요. 아침에, Intro A 반이 너무 좋아해요. 사람은 많아고 영어 말하기 점심 진짜 열심히 해봐요. 성수 학생씨 못 와서 나는 보고싶 지만 매일 공부 한 시간은 좋은 시간이다. 밤에, 학생들이 피곤하지만 요즘 Intro A. 밤에 공부 한 반도 잘해요. 새윤 학생씨 밤에 마나은 반에 가고 잘 하고 있어요. 밤에 공부 한 반에 Gagman 많아요. 오늘은 친구를 마나고 순대 국밥을 먹고 커피를 마시고 재미 있는 이야기 많이 했어요. 하지만, 멋지군 여자 있을테 …
Jonathan Goldstein
Jonathan Goldstein was one of the people I met during my first year in Montreal. We never really become close, but then most of the people in our class never became too close to him, as far as I know. But he was always cool.
Externalities, Intanglibles, and Democracy
Samizdata.net – Who should pay for the smell of lasagne? Interesting discussion of externalities, the commons, and payment systems. I made a comment and it’s worth seeing….
Do you (grammar exercise with jobs list)
Here’s a double hit; a collection of crazy and funny jobs in a list, and a list of questions using “do you” to be used in question formation. This should be preceded by fifteen minutes or so of listening and practice. Then a short five to ten minute exercise where students try out the do you questions on one another, and try to form a few new questions (and follow-up questions). Then, spring the weird jobs onto them and see how they do. This works well at several levelsl; for intro-level the students can play guessing games and work on …
Shooting Fish in the Political Barrel
USS Clueless – The reaction Over at the USS Clueless, the Captain is busy bringing up the most idiotic examples of leftist criticism and smashing them down. Does anyone know the word “strawman”? It doesn’t just mean “imaginary idiotic argument”, it can quite easily mean “real idiotic argument not espoused by anyone who matters.” I know these ignorant rhetoric-spouting leftist whingers, believe me, and despite my sympathies (I dislike most of what they dislike, to be honest), they embarass me. But it doesn’t make Bush acceptable, or the situation in America or Iraq acceptable, either. However, shooting fish in the …
slightly modified jobs list for roleplays
Here’s a slightly modified jobs list more suitable for roleplay situations. In this case it’s for telephone stuff, but many situations would be applicable.