Here's another crossword puzzle! You can test yourself to see how many Spanish words you know in English. If you're like me, you probably didn't know that all of these words have roots in español. Have fun!
NB: Because this online crossword puzzlemaker has a limit of 25 letters and spaces for the clues, the definitions are very short or terse.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
What's in a Name? (Hitler and the East Sea)
In the beginning, there were names - names of people, of things, of feelings, of places.... It seems that my life as an ESL instructor is all about teaching "names" for everything, and even though my students and I seem to agree on the meaning of the names, when the "names" or words get translated, they often take on other meanings.
Recently, I've become very focused on vocabulary - which is basically "names" for everything we sense or experience in our lives. We think that there is a word in every language for the things that all people experience, yet it differs depending on the culture.
I've been fascinated for some time with names because people get very attached to them, and it matters very much what something is called. There are some recent examples of names that have created world political tensions. Take the case of the Sea of Japan vs. the East Sea. Why does it matter so much what we call this place?
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, "the Sea of Japan is the only internationally established name for the sea area concerned." The Japanese govenment suggests that if they compromise by accepting a second name for the same sea, "...the confusion would necessarily have an adverse effect on the safety of international maritime traffic." In this way, they are emphatic about keeping "the Sea of Japan" as the only name for this body of water. The South Koreans (Republic of Korea = ROK), on the other hand, argue that "East Sea has been used continuously for the past 2000 years."
Recently, yahoo.com news reported a problem with a clothing store's name in India. Apparently, the owner of the store has branded his clothing with the name Hitler and a swastika. He claims that he didn't know anything about the history of Hitler. In fact, the grandfather of his business partner is nicknamed "Hitler" because of his strictness. Because Mr Shah has invested a significant sum of money in labeling his store and its merchandise, he says he'll only change the name if he's given compensation for re-branding the clothing.
Many English speakers know the famous Shakespeare saying from Romeo and Juliet: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." We use the saying to mean that the name of a thing isn't as important as what it IS. However, looking at news stories around the world, that certainly doesn't seem to be the consensus.
I recall being told when I was a child that "Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Hah! Was that something that my parents said to me so that I wouldn't get in a physical fight over "hurtful words"? Because of my own experiences, which disproved the saying, I never used it on my own children. In fact, many psychologists will probably agree that children recover from broken bones and bruises, but words meant to put them down and spoken by parents, teachers, friends, and strangers can leave an indelible mark on their memories. Words can haunt and hurt for decades, sometimes for life.
There's much more to say about names that comes from psycholinguistics and cognitive science. Have you ever wondered if the word we use for a thing is based on some characteristic, such as the shape, of that thing. Read this if you want to explore that thought. Can we use this knowledge about words and shapes to help teach our students or ourselves to more easily remember vocabulary?
Recently, I've become very focused on vocabulary - which is basically "names" for everything we sense or experience in our lives. We think that there is a word in every language for the things that all people experience, yet it differs depending on the culture.
I've been fascinated for some time with names because people get very attached to them, and it matters very much what something is called. There are some recent examples of names that have created world political tensions. Take the case of the Sea of Japan vs. the East Sea. Why does it matter so much what we call this place?
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, "the Sea of Japan is the only internationally established name for the sea area concerned." The Japanese govenment suggests that if they compromise by accepting a second name for the same sea, "...the confusion would necessarily have an adverse effect on the safety of international maritime traffic." In this way, they are emphatic about keeping "the Sea of Japan" as the only name for this body of water. The South Koreans (Republic of Korea = ROK), on the other hand, argue that "East Sea has been used continuously for the past 2000 years."
Recently, yahoo.com news reported a problem with a clothing store's name in India. Apparently, the owner of the store has branded his clothing with the name Hitler and a swastika. He claims that he didn't know anything about the history of Hitler. In fact, the grandfather of his business partner is nicknamed "Hitler" because of his strictness. Because Mr Shah has invested a significant sum of money in labeling his store and its merchandise, he says he'll only change the name if he's given compensation for re-branding the clothing.
Many English speakers know the famous Shakespeare saying from Romeo and Juliet: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." We use the saying to mean that the name of a thing isn't as important as what it IS. However, looking at news stories around the world, that certainly doesn't seem to be the consensus.
I recall being told when I was a child that "Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Hah! Was that something that my parents said to me so that I wouldn't get in a physical fight over "hurtful words"? Because of my own experiences, which disproved the saying, I never used it on my own children. In fact, many psychologists will probably agree that children recover from broken bones and bruises, but words meant to put them down and spoken by parents, teachers, friends, and strangers can leave an indelible mark on their memories. Words can haunt and hurt for decades, sometimes for life.
There's much more to say about names that comes from psycholinguistics and cognitive science. Have you ever wondered if the word we use for a thing is based on some characteristic, such as the shape, of that thing. Read this if you want to explore that thought. Can we use this knowledge about words and shapes to help teach our students or ourselves to more easily remember vocabulary?
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Brain-based Strategies for Teaching English
Coming from biological anthropology, you can imagine my excitement at studying psycholinguistics for the second time this past spring. The first time I didn't learn much about how to teach using the concepts because it was a general course on the topic in psychology. I was a graduate student in anthropology, not a teacher. Three decades ago, we simply did not have the amount of information we have today about how language is stored at the cellular level. We knew about Wernicke's area, the angular gyrus, and the involvement of the auditory and visual systems in processing information. However, now, I imagine individual cells firing, axons growing, and chemical exchanges at synapses every time a student focuses on a vocabulary word, uses it, and recalls it. Exciting stuff!
How can I use this information in the classroom? Armed with ideas and techniques demonstrated by Professor Holly Wilson at Alliant University, I have started using brain-based strategies to teach my vocabulary students. Does it work? I have no proof that it does, but it certainly doesn't hurt. The students enjoy it, especially if you give some background to brain-based learning strategies.
One fun way to get students to recall vocabulary and to spell it is to put the first three letters of their target words up on the whiteboard. Start passing out markers and get students to retrieve the word from memory. It gets all students up and out of their chairs, even the shyer ones that don't like to speak. It allows everyone to look at the words on the whiteboard, to re-view them, to look at the spelling of the words, and to decide if the word(s) is/are spelled correctly on the board. The instructor can ask the class to pronounce the words, emphasizing the primary syllabic stress, to define, and to give examples of how to use the words. In fact, this game is very much like the "Flexibility" game at Lumosity that triggers word memories. You can sign up for a free account at Lumosity and gain access to several of their brain game exercises. They're entertaining (warning: can be addictive), but you can see improvement in your skills if you stick with the training.
How can I use this information in the classroom? Armed with ideas and techniques demonstrated by Professor Holly Wilson at Alliant University, I have started using brain-based strategies to teach my vocabulary students. Does it work? I have no proof that it does, but it certainly doesn't hurt. The students enjoy it, especially if you give some background to brain-based learning strategies. One fun way to get students to recall vocabulary and to spell it is to put the first three letters of their target words up on the whiteboard. Start passing out markers and get students to retrieve the word from memory. It gets all students up and out of their chairs, even the shyer ones that don't like to speak. It allows everyone to look at the words on the whiteboard, to re-view them, to look at the spelling of the words, and to decide if the word(s) is/are spelled correctly on the board. The instructor can ask the class to pronounce the words, emphasizing the primary syllabic stress, to define, and to give examples of how to use the words. In fact, this game is very much like the "Flexibility" game at Lumosity that triggers word memories. You can sign up for a free account at Lumosity and gain access to several of their brain game exercises. They're entertaining (warning: can be addictive), but you can see improvement in your skills if you stick with the training.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
"Stairway to Heaven" - Rocking English!
Last year was the 40th anniversary of "Stairway to Heaven." Since I am always on the lookout for musical material for English language learners, I decided to post this for teachers and students. What seems to make this song a classic are the thought-provoking lyrics and the captivating guitar work. Many covers for "Stairway to Heaven" were presented here at NPR (National Public Radio) last November in a salute to Led Zeppelin's masterpiece. There are purely instrumental versions and song performances.
Listen to the story at the top of this page - there is also a transcript link. If teachers want to use this material for a song cloze or anyone wants to sing along, here are the lyrics. There is the interpretation of the interviewee on NPR, but students might enjoy reading some of the more long-winded interpretations of the song (in comment form) by music listeners.
If nothing else, enjoy the performance by Led Zeppelin (here's another one). Personally, the wordless flamenco-Mexican (Fla-Mexican?) mix by Rodrigo and Gabriela and Stanley Jordan's offerings were my favorites (other than the original, that is)! Now I've got an earworm!
Listen to the story at the top of this page - there is also a transcript link. If teachers want to use this material for a song cloze or anyone wants to sing along, here are the lyrics. There is the interpretation of the interviewee on NPR, but students might enjoy reading some of the more long-winded interpretations of the song (in comment form) by music listeners.
If nothing else, enjoy the performance by Led Zeppelin (here's another one). Personally, the wordless flamenco-Mexican (Fla-Mexican?) mix by Rodrigo and Gabriela and Stanley Jordan's offerings were my favorites (other than the original, that is)! Now I've got an earworm!
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