Marvin linked to these very interesting and worthwhile essays by someone using the handle Darksyde, which describe what it’s like for an atheist to live in American (or any) society. What it’s Like to be an Atheist Why I’m an Atheist Not recommended reading for those who don’t want an honest, no-holds-barred look at what it feels like to be in a minority in terms of absence of religious belief. But if you’ve ever wondered why atheists sometimes seem so angry and almost evangelical in their fervor, especially the first essay is worth reading, even if you know you’ll disagree …
Month: November 2005
The Big White / The Final Cut
This sounds like it should be a post from Marmot’s Stupid Foreigner Tricks section, but in fact it’s about movies. I’ve been on a Robin Williams kick. Not the soft, mushy, albeit pretty-good films of yesteryear, but things with a distinctly different angle — bent, dark, or just plain weird. The two films I’ve seen lately are titled The Big White and The Final Cut. The Big White is a kind of Alaskan Fargo, though calling it that is doing it a disservice. It’s more like an Alaskan portrait of insanities: the insanity of the insurance claims adjuster pursuing the …
Using What You Know
NOTE: Apologies to those who read this incomplete. I posted it by accident when I meant to save it as a draft, and didn’t notice until some time later. Please have another look at the end, where most of the additions can be found. Lately in my more mid-level or advanced classes I’ve been experimenting with something I consider important, which is getting students to learn how to use the English they know to “approach” vocabulary they don’t know. Now, for me, this seems like a really natural thing to do. When I’m talking to a Korean ajeoshi in a …
Mind Control 101
After my more advanced course in Speech & Drama met today, and I showed the students a few tricks about getting the audience to relax and feel sympathetic to a speaker, one of the girls in the class asked me, with a big friendly smile on her face, How do I control my audience’s mood? While it sounds like a scary question, it’s quite understandable as a question coming from one of the higher-level students, and if you knew her you’d probably guess she doesn’t mean anything as Manchurian Candidate-esque as real mind-control. You don’t just need to know she’s …
Lime and the Kicking Of Butts
Those who know me well have heard me point out my doubts regarding the wisdom of Korea’s adopting the TOEIC test for business English as the litmus test for English ability in the country. I won’t restate my objections here, but I will say that they do not take away from how happy I am for Lime, who just got an excellent score on the first TOEIC exam she has ever written. She wrote it, it seems, out of curiosity, and after only a month’s preparation. Many people (including some of her friends) take classes at language schools between subsequent …