Language as a Window into Human Nature (Steven Pinker)

What is a Veiled Bribe? What is an indirect speech act? What are some examples from your own life that illustrate these concepts?

Lesson Planning

Well, it's that time of year again everyone. A time when all teachers need to be thinking about the next semester, how to plan for and keep good records...
I would like to post a couple of lesson planning sheets that I developed. The first focuses teachers on writing different kinds of goals and the second is a quick and easy lesson plan format for the busy teacher.
I encourage people to take care when planning lessons to be inclusive of many kinds of learning outcomes and different kinds of activities.

Broken links

Recently, I've had some problems with the links to this website. It is a temporary problem that I will be trying to fix in the weeks to come. I hope this does not cause too much inconvenience to anyone out there. Ciao Mondo

Are you a Polyglot?

How many languages can a person learn? How many languages can you learn? What is the value in learning many languages? These are some of the questions that I had when reading the following articles... I also went onto YouTube to check out the lifestyles of Polyglots... It is somewhat like learning Mathematics, or physics... I was quite interested in the comment made by Timothy Doner, when he said that language wasn't so much for communication... I don't really agree, but it may have a lot to do with how he learns language...

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/multilingual-teen-finds-vibrant-online-tribe-of-fellow-polyglots-20120316-1valq.html#ixzz1pd23dmtV

The 10,000 hrs Rule Principle

Student Self Evaluation

I was working on a self evaluation sheet to give to students, and thought that I might share it here with everyone. The purpose of this sheet is to help students notice different elements in their learning. It's focus is on the 4 macro-skills, grammar, vocabulary, and conversation strategies.
The main parts to the worksheet are as follows:
(i) Orientation: Marks the lesson completed and the grammar focus (you can change the focus if you like).
(ii) New Vocabulary: Gives students a chance to write down new vocabulary items for further study and review.
(iii) Understanding My Learning: Gives a list of learning areas for students to contemplate and give a score on how they feel they went.
(iv) Reflection: Gives students a chance to have an overview, but also plan for future learning.

I have put a link to both pdf and word files. Feel free to alter the document to meet the needs of your classes. I just ask, that you consider leaving a comment to tell me how the sheet worked for you.

The evaluation form gives the scaffolding for reflective learning. Students can use this form to collect data on their feelings toward lesson performance. It also enables them to orientate their learning toward areas they truly have difficulty with, therefore maximizing their learning time. This gives a certain amount of autonomy over learning, as they can use this information to create personalized learning goals.

The data from this form can also be used to create graphical representations that illustrate their learning. Doing this can enhance intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as students can see their progress clearly...
What does the research show about self evaluation? See the following link...

By Carol Rolheiser and John A. Ross

I encourage you all to create opportunities for students to utilize self-reflection in their lessons...

Pray for Japan

One year on... Please take some time to pray for the people of Japan...

News on Japan.com

My first animation

I decided to experiment a little with making animations... This cartoon is my very first. I used Stykz and imovie for this one. Hope you enjoy it...