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What I know as yet is that this blog is...65 posts and
365 days old. In the meantime it has changed its basic purpose for what might
be seen as more feasible and accessible. There is too much to deal with anyway,
so proposing oneself and visitors more realistic challenges has more chances of fulfilment.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: what does this have
to do with Charlie Gordon? Quite a lot, I’d say: the ideas put forth by Daniel
Keyes are so deep and so numerous that it’s almost impossible not to feel like
commenting.
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If ‘a picture paints a thousand words’, then how does Keys paint Charlie’s evolution through spelling and grammar?
There it is: video 3 – maybe a little out of
step with the text, but it’s holiday time, isn’t it?
So, 65 posts and 365 days later, the myth of Easy
English is still on!
The best thing to do would be to start building up a map of themes that you discover while reading the text, listening to the audios and viewing the video episodes. They will all be the basis for the classroom debate.
Hello Eugenia,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I don’t know what a blog should be, but what I know for a fact is that there are witnesses here so be careful what you write.
Second of all, if a student of yours once wrote that posting things and waiting for answers from students when it is holyday time it is useless, it wasn’t me. I have known very well that English is hard work since I was in the first year at EOI. Nevertheless, as you know, there is a gap between theory an practice, and sometimes, when it is holyday time, everybody is full of good intentions but nobody have enough determination.
And why is the myth of Easy English still on? You know, there is a big business built around English teaching, and we are bombarded every day with advertisements on television or on the radio with the fallacy of learning English in three months and things like that.
Hello Carlos, long time!
DeleteDo I have to take 'be careful what you write' as a warning, or a threat, for that matter? Will you please explain? The tone of a message can be easily modified in writing by using punctuation marks.
Why should you be the student I was referring to, and why should you care? It is as if I have committed a crime without even realizing it - surely with no intention. If so, we're in the middle of an unpardonable misunderstanding, and I would be very grateful to you if you tried to help me sort it out.
But who told you I had you in mind when I wrote about the loneliness of a teacher who - as I said above - writes in order to 'pour out her heart', hoping to receive feedback from her readers?
I have referred to the words of quite a few of my former students in the posts of this blog - nothing else but their having been my students, which means our lives intersected at one point of our existence!
This has been to my advantage on every single occasion, since I treasure all the experiences I have had as a teacher (and a learner myself!) in a way that can't - and needn't - be explained, and every time it has been from the deep respect I feel for each and every one of the people I have ever come across.
And yes, the myth of Easy English is on, meaning that it hasn't lost its strength or impact over the past year. On the contrary, it is as true today as twenty, or thirty years ago. What with the Chinese becoming the largest population on earth learning English as their second language!
Yours,
EugeniaDG
PS: Consider e-mailing me as an alternative.
Hello Eugenia,
DeleteYou don’t have to take ‘be careful what you write’ as a warning, or a threat, not at all. Perhaps I did not express myself clearly and you get me wrong. I wanted to make a positive contribution to your blog. Be careful what you write because we are here ready to ask you questions or to discuss whatever you think may be convenient. I only wanted, let us say, to cheer you.
The other thing about holiday time is another misunderstanding. Last summer I wrote in your blog something like: people are at the beach and don’t care about blogs. In my last post I wrote that I did not write something like this. I wrote that as a joke or irony: I write a thing and the opposite. Of course I was not angry, I did not want to reproach you anything and I did not want to upset you. I only wanted to participate in the blog introducing an idea: sometimes people is full intentions but they don’t have enough determination like in New Year’s resolutions.
Thank you for the clarification. Phew! I'm so happy that everything has been settled. Had you used an exclamation mark on the end, I would've taken it as a graphic 'wink' and never commented on it.
DeleteWhat's more, you're saying 'we' - referring to at least you and someone else - in wait for discussion and asking questions! You can't imagine how happy I am, it couldn't get any better than this - if it's only a matter of time, it's perfect!
As for the jokes, well, I must admit I didn't register them as such: perhaps because I'm ready to take everything in earnest...Anyway, this is something left for us to explore. They call it ‘pragmatic accent’, something we transfer to our speech without in fact intending to change the meaning of the utterance; but it IS changed because...culturally the affirmation means something else, or nothing at all. The words are all right, but I haven't decoded them in the same terms.
There's always a possibility: use a kind of counter-reply following the truth and the non-truth in order to mark the play between affirming and denying. Something like 'It wasn't me' ('It wasn't me / Ask Number Three') which would act as a disclaimer.
Aah, New Year's Resolutions. What is your Number One - if I'm not indiscreet? Mine is...find more nice things to laugh about!
Thank you, Carlos. Looking forward to receiving those questions, to open that discussion.