Great ESL Instruction Videos

I stumbled upon this video on youtube. Any of you who might be teaching ESL, this webpage has got some great videos explaining different grammar points, writing techniques, pronunciation, etc. Check it out: www.engvid.com

Even though this is geared toward ESL students, it's a pretty good explanation for anyone interested in how to write an effective essay.

Spitting Sidewalks

I've hated them since I was a study abroad student--spitting sidewalks.

What? What is she talking about??

Since the sidewalks here are "tiled" so to speak, sometimes the individual losas become loose with time and they move when you step on them. No problem...until it rains!

This is how it goes: You're walking calmly down the street with your umbrella and doing your best not to flip too much water up onto the toe of your shoes when suddenly--SQUIRT--a blast of rain water shoots up your pant leg as you take a step. The water that pools beneath the loose tile has just wet the bottom third of your jeans...and so you spend the rest of the day (until you can change your pants) with wet pants, looking as if you've jumped in a puddle.

Damn it!

Today I was attacked by the sidewalk on my way to my afternoon class... They say the rain will stay all week.

Note to self: walk on the other side of the street!

Movie Night (or Ode to Education)

It's gotten cold again and so this evening I've spent at home in my pj's with a fire going.

I haven't been entirely unproductive, as my blog title may suggest. I have nearly finished (just another proof-read to be done) the unidad didactica I had to plan for one of my classes.

I have also experimented with the sour dough started that Kristen gave me for a house-warming gift...though it seems my baking skills will require some honing--the bread didn't rise.

And finally, I've watched two movies: "Dangerous Minds" starring Michelle Pfeifer, and "Dead Poets Society" starring Robin Williams. These were both recommended viewing for my General Didactics class. I think I've seen them both before, but I didn't remember either one beyond a vague notion that they were "good."

I have tears running down my cheeks (just finished "Dead Poets Society").

I think I always have been a sucker for inspirational teaching movies. Even if they weren't directly related to schools, the films where a mentor figure reaches out to a troubled student, kid, patient have always been among my favorites. There's "Antwone Fisher" with Denzel Washington and another winner with Robin Williams is "Good Will Hunting." And even though I probably wouldn't have admitted it in high school, "Stand and Deliver" is another one that moved me.

Is this why I want to be a teacher? To have the opportunity to be that mentor to someone?

Yes.

When I watch these movies I can't help but think back on all the great teachers I've had in my life. Some were school teachers, some college professors and others coaches or just friends, and of course, my parents.

Education is so much more than the three R's (reading, (w)riting, (a)rithmetic). Education is about learning to be. It's about investing in the creation and perpetuation of society, culture and humanity. By the same token, teaching is more than explaining grammar rules or multiplication tables. Kids learn a lot more from their teachers than that. They learn how to act, how to think; they learn respect, honesty, loyalty and friendship. True teaching is walking the talk; it's about exemplifying the values you preach. Being a real teacher is inspiring your students to be better people, to search, to question, to learn, to be amazed, to live.

If education is so important, how have we conceived it according to our laws? How are we preparing our teachers for the jobs they face? If education is the institution by which we perpetuate our own existence doesn't it deserve the utmost care and attention from politicians, parents, teachers, and society in general? What message are we sending when all that's ever on the news is the poor state of education? Law after law is passed to raise standards, to ensure a "good" education, to assure funding for schools, etc. But it seems that each new law, mandate, measure, proposition is just a quick fix (if that!) for a much deeper problem--we live in a society of blame.

Low test scores, teen pregnancy, high drop-out rates, drug abuse, crime among juveniles...why? No one wants the responsibility. Some like to blame the media--gratuitous sex and violence on TV and a total lack of morals. Others will say it's the politicians who let us down with lenient sentences and weak laws. Some point to teachers as if they were miracle workers. Teachers are in a bind because they're blamed for poor student performance, when many times the numerous state and federal requirements, leave little room for creative inspirational teaching that actually stands a chance of reaching the most "at risk" kids. Then there are people who blame the parents. Doesn't education start at home? Permissive parenting, and pampering at home just lead to students who believe they deserve good grades without having to work for them.

But if instead of looking for a scapegoat to blame, each of us took responsibility for ourselves and our own potential role as teacher mentor as members of society, things might be different.

Every interaction with another person is a teaching moment. Our actions and reactions to people and situations are opportunities to be the better people we hope our children will be.

Maybe this romantic tirade has evidenced a deeper truth about my desire to teach--I'm an idealist; I believe in humanity.

That's all.

(and if you haven't seen these films...you know what to do this weekend)

A Taste of Summer

So it all began with a BBQ on Friday. Kristen was in town for a brief visit, and it was such nice weather we made a last minute decision to grill up some hamburgers, chorrizo and veggies for lunch. It was in the high seventies maybe even low eighties and sitting out in the patio with the smell of BBQ, eating homemade burgers, it could have been June. I think I even got a little bit of a tan on my face! ;)

Then yesterday we held our official house-warming party. We moved into the house just before Christmas, if you remember, so there wasn't really a good time to have the house-warming bash we had in mind. Yesterday was a day off for everyone; the 28th of February is the Día de Andalucía. Angelines opted to close and we had 23 people over for paella in the patio!

The weather's cooled down since Friday so despite beautiful blue skies and bright Andalusian sun, we were pretty bundled up. The paella was as good as ever--I think it gets better every time we make it. We made three kilos of rice and only about two plates worth are leftover! ...Then there was coffee, chocolate flan, and more drinking and singing around a campfire we made in an oil barrel--the usual.

...But it doesn't stop there.

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday and we surprised her with a big lunch (paella again) here in the patio with all of her children, grandchildren, brother and his family. She was very surprised and very happy--tears in her eyes when we sang Cumpleaños Feliz. Once again we were about 19 people for lunch. All of us gathered around the oil barrel with a fire going while the kids kicked around a soccer ball and we let the rice "reposar" before digging in.

We've cleaned up the patio and we're going to be taking it easy for a while. And rice won't be on the menu for at least another week. ;)

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?

Well, we haven't planted bluebells...and I'm not sure what cockleshells are, but we did fix up the garden some. We planted some violas and pansies along with a sort of daisy-ish flower, a beautiful succulent (not sure what it's real name is) and a peach tree! :) Aside from all the planting, we did some weeding and much needed thinning of the palms that are planted in huge flower pots. It's amazing the difference it's made. The garden looks completely different. But, in the words of Levar Burton (remember Reading Rainbow?), "You don't have to take my word for it!":

Maybe you can't tell, but we've thinned out the beds you can see in this pic. and propped up the lemon tree on the right, it was leaning almost horizontally.

My little purple violas and this is the "daisy" plant.

Isn't this a cool plant?!

And these are the thinned palms. They look SOOOO much better.

Now all that's left to do is repaint the beds and fix up the walls, plant the cosmo seeds I bought, and build another raised bed for my veggies! At least we've got a start on things, right? Tomorrow I plan to start my tomatoes and other veggies in planters to give them a good head start while we scrounge around town for stray bricks to build up a veggie-bed. ;)

I can't wait for spring to really be here!

Nothing says "I love you..."

Like a heart-burger! :)



Happy Valentine's Day!

English Only??

So being bilingual, and especially since Spanish is my second language, I've always considered that adopting an "English Only" federal policy in the U.S. to be ignorant at best and racist at worst. Nonetheless, I think I may have just been convinced otherwise. If you're interested, listen to the "English Only Movement in America" podcast on this webpage.

As the spokesperson interviewed for "U.S. English" (citizen action group to make English the official language in the U.S.) points out in the beginning, bilingualism is great for an individual, but horrible for a country. I have to say that after living here in Europe for 4 and a half years now, I agree.

Language is the bearer of culture. Language differences, in many cases are tantamount to cultural differences. The U.S. is a mixture of cultures and that's part of what makes it a great country; but at the same time, part of America's success is also due in large part to the fact that its citizens self-identify as Americans, which is helped by English being a common language.

That is to say that for the purpose of a unified country, one language is extremely useful. The interview gives the example of Quebec, which has proposed several times to succeed from Canada (in large part due to language differences). Look at Belgium for example, they've been without a central government for something like six months! There are of course a number of reasons for the problems between Flanders and Walonia; but it is all complicated by the Dutch/French language barrier. Think of the U.S. if in the South, another language was spoken at the time of the Civil War.

In terms of immigration, I recall a New Yorker article from a few years ago about violence by radical (Dutch) Islamics in Holland being partially due to that country's hand-off immigration policy: in an effort to respect an immigrant's cultural identity, there is no effort (such as the citizenship test in the U.S.) to integrate these newcomers into Dutch mainstream culture; as a result, children of Muslim immigrants were growing up isolated and turned to radical Islam in search of a peer group. With the excuse of allowing these immigrants to maintain their cultural identity, they were in effect, marginalized from mainstream society. Something similar happened in France, though I'm not sure to what extent language played a part. Still, a common language is a uniting element among the citizens of a country and is indicative of some shared culture.

If Spanish were to be granted official language status in the U.S., the argument is that immigrants would have less incentive to learn English. This is true. And if we follow the reasoning so far, this national bilingualism would weaken the country overall. Translations are so tricky...could legal translations lead to misunderstandings of the law? What about interpretations of the constitution? I can see the argument.

In Spain there are four official languages (Catalan, Galician, Basque and Spanish). In general, I think Spain is a good example of a funtional multi-lingual country. Each "state" where a co-official language is spoken, it is also required to teach Spanish in the schools, thus there is very little problem (linguistically speaking) with respect to national unity. However, just recently, the Spanish legislature decided that they would allow senators and representatives to speak in their co-official languages. The Spanish parliament now looks like the U.N.--everyone has an ear piece to hear the translations of what their fellow representatives are saying, regardless of the fact that ALL of them speak Spanish! Ridiculous.

But isn't it also true (and this comes up in the interview) that an English Only stance could lead to the idea that learning a second language isn't necessary? I am still a strong believer in the importance of bilingualism (individually), and I think it's important that the federal government place more importance on second language acquisition in the U.S. Here in Spain, I've been working for four years now as part of a government initiative to motivate and improve second language instruction in Spain. An official stance, spending federal money to bring native speakers into the classroom sends a clear message to the Spanish citizenry about the importance of learning another language. A similar stance taken by the U.S. government, in my mind, could be nothing but good. Perhaps not to the same extreme--bringing in native language assistants, etc.--but at the very least setting federal standards for foreign language learning which would include beginning instruction in elementary education.

But then, if everyone starts learning Spanish...is it the same as if we raise Spanish to "official" status? Does the act of learning a second language take away incentives to learn English if the learning takes place on a large scale, even though it's not an official policy? Where do we draw the line? It's definitely not an easy question, and I'm very pleased with the interview on the podcast, because I think it presents a clear, critical vision of the complexity of the matter. Take a look...or have a listen. ;)

What do you think?