Cartoon

A cartoon sent by my friend Hass (thank you mate!). This one illustrates the technicalities of today's world. Technology brings solutions to old problems, but a bunch of extra new problems with them...

TeacherTube.com

This is an educational version of the worldwide famous YouTube. Here you will find a lot of videos from students of English around the world. The layout of the page is quite similar to YouTube, so it is easy to find videos and participate!

Click on the link below to check it out!

http://www.teachertube.com/

An Irish Twist

About Irish Traditions. Leprechauns having a pint at the corner pub...

What Do Teachers Really Make? Taylor Mali Explains...

What is Slam Poetry?

Slam poetry is a form of performance poetry that occurs within a competitive poetry event, called a "slam", at which poets perform their own poems (or, in rare cases, those of others) that are "judged" on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience.


Taylor Mali is considered to be the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his seven national poetry slam teams to the finals stage and winning the championship itself a record four times before anyone had even tied him at three, Mali was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO original series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry." He was also the "golden-tongued, Armani clad villain" of Paul Devlin's 1997 documentary film "SlamNation," which chronicled the National Poetry Slam Championship of 1996, the year of Mali's first national team championship.


~ SPEECH ~

What Teachers Make, or
Objection Overruled, or
If things don't work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com


He says the problem with teachers is, "What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about
teachers:

That those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the urge to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor"
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
which is, if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and I can make an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

You wanna know what I make?

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence.
No, you can not work in groups.
No, you can not ask a question (so put your hand down)
Why won't I let you go to the bathroom?
Because you're bored and you don't really have to go, do you?

You wanna know what I make?

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home at around dinner time:
"Hi, This is Mr. Mali, I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something your son did today.
he said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are
and who they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful
over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And then hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them realize that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a difference! What about you?

Saving YouTube videos

There is now a way of saving YouTube videos without installing any software. You just have to go to the MediaConverter page and create a login and a password! You can convert your own videos into different formats and you can also save the youtube videos in your PC. It's very user-friendly and fast! Check it out.

A Global Warning...

Global Warming!!! Watch this video and think about our everyday life practices...

World Environment Day June 5, 2007: Melting Ice, A Hot Topic?

by P.W. McRandle

It may not be Earth Day, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to the United Nation's World Environment Day this June 5, given the message regarding our melting polar ice caps. Why? It's not just that polar bears are set to enter the ranks of endangered species. Alaskan towns are literally paying the price for climate change as melting permafrost destabilizes houses and destroys property values.
Seeking to shine a spotlight on the people and communities who suffer the worst of global warming's effects, the UN selected the Arctic city of Tromsø in Norway as the center of celebrations. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world and as the ice sheet that covers Greenland melts, sea levels will rise by one to two feet this century, according to meteorologist Jeffrey Master, Ph. D. Already, insurers such as Allstate are pulling coverage from coastal homes on both sides of the country as they face increased risks of flooding and erosion.

My new professional webpage

You can check out my new professional webpage at:

http://www.freewebs.com/marcosgazzana/

You can e-mail me your comments and suggestions.

First smiles

Lucas started smiling a couple of weeks ago. He seems to be a happy child as he interacts quite a lot. I'll be posting some pictures and comments about Lucas from time to time, so that you can follow his growth and development.

;¬ ]

The king's English won't rule forever

For most of their history, Americans have not had to bother themselves with learning a language other than English. With a few exceptions, foreigners' encounters with Americans meant that the burden of learning the other's language fell on the non-English speaker. As it turns out, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. In a world of rapidly expanding communications and global markets, Americans might find themselves at a disadvantage as the number of multilingual speakers is accelerating in other large and growing economies.

Yet, recent surveys show that learning a foreign language remains a low priority for American students and at the schools and universities that teach them. According to the U.S. Department of Education, fewer than 8 percent of undergraduates take a foreign language class each year, and only 1 percent of undergraduate degrees conferred in a given year are in a foreign language.

Many of today's college students graduate without a working knowledge of a language other than English. That might be fine for now, but many experts caution that the global usage of English will gradually decline. Speaking English is becoming less of an advantage and more of a "near-universal basic skill," concluded a report released earlier this year by the British Council, an international English educational organization. For this reason, those who speak only English, "face a bleak economic future," the report concluded.

Around the world, people are studying languages such as Spanish and Mandarin. In Portuguese-speaking Brazil, for instance, a 2005 law now requires all high schools to offer Spanish courses as an alternative to learning English. The Chinese government predicts that within a few years, the number of people studying Mandarin will rise to 100 million. And more and more international students are choosing to study at non-English speaking schools over English ones.

Although many people speak English today, it is foolish to assume that English language skills alone will be sufficient to thrive. We need to learn other languages if we want to maintain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. The British Council estimates that the number of English speakers in the world will peak at two billion in a decade or so and then decline. American students who choose not to learn a second language will find themselves falling behind multilingual speakers.

But besides economic benefits, learning another's language helps us understand each other better. As a society that celebrates cultural diversity, we should realize the value of learning another language or two to better appreciate and contribute to the colorful world we live in.

From: EDITORIAL BOARD from Statesman (Texas)