9/11 again

This was the cover of The New Yorker soon afterwards.

THAT'S IT!

Thank you everybody. It was great working with you, sharing with you, learning from you! Best wishes for you all!

Just kids

Here is your last blogging task:
As all other students in the project, please post your childhood pictures with some commentary on those early days of your lives. Try to remember how you felt then, what your problems and emotions were at that age. Was it really a carefree time, or was there anything that scared you or made you anxious? Let's travel in time again!

Old music?

I just listened to some music from years ago, and somehow found it still very fresh. What do you think?
Can you tell from the music it was recorded in 1981? Among many things, I love the sound of the harpsichord in it.

 

Fantasy and history

This time I want you to really go for it and use your imagination, plus a little of your knowledge of history. First things first, though:

Have you ever heard of the British TV show Doctor Who? It is a BBC fantasy/sci-fi classic series about a Time Lord who travels around galaxies and fights the powers of evil. His time machine is TARDIS (acronym for "Time and Relative Dimension in Space") - a small blue police box, which changes into a vast spaceship once you are inside it. As he travels in time, the Doctor witnesses some crucial moments in history, and sometimes changes the flow of events to save mankind from unimaginable calamities. Not that history is presented exactly as we know it, of course ;) To get the feel of the series look at this video, which is a fragment of an episode about the Titanic. (For those interested,  in this clip the Doctor is played by David Tennant [sigh], who used to star in the show until 2010. Now the role is performed by a different actor.)

 

Your task, then, is to imagine you are a Time Lord and choose one moment in history that you would like to change. How would you intervene? Who would you help? How would you motivate your actions? Your weapons are your brains and... a sonic screwdriver, which can open or close, well, virtually anything.  According to Wikipedia, it "can be used to perform other operations such as performing medical scans, remotely controlling other devices and tracking alien life."
Are you up to the task? Please be ready for Tuesday, April 10.

Fascinated. Bewitched. Charmed.

It's been a week since the deadline for our task, and almost everybody has written a post about foreign language learning and their experiences and reflections connected with it. Reading your posts has been quite a rewarding task: I got to know you a little better, and your English, too :) Not bad, on the whole!

I guess we are ready for another topic and another task, then. This time we'll go for something less "official":

I would like you to try and remember a situation when you became strongly interested in or impressed by a performer: a singer, a band, an actor/ actress, a dancer, a cartoon character (!?) or perhaps an artist - whoever you are passionate about, artistically speaking. Think of how you first came to see/hear them, what it was about them that caught your attention, how you developed your interest in them and how they have affected you since then. Share that story with us and add samples of the work you refer to, if available. If not, you can place a link to a website that presents and/or discusses achievements of your chosen performer(s).

I hope you enjoy the task.

New blogs - WELCOME!

Here we are, blogging again. All the blogs have been nicely set up, and I hope everyone is ready to start writing.

For a start, I would like you to imagine what your life would be like if you didn't know any foreign language. The topic has been inspired by an article in The Observer I have just read, in which the author discusses foreign language learning in British schools. It says that the number of British students learning modern languages has been decreasing dramatically ever since 2004, when languages were removed from the "core curriculum", i.e. became optional courses rather than mandatory for students aged 14 or older.

At 60% of state schools, three-quarters of 14-year-olds are not taking a modern language. Meanwhile, the take-up in primary schools is mysteriously delayed. Language teachers are not so easy to find and, indeed, where would they come from, given that no one's studying languages any more?

You might say that native speakers of English, the global language of today, don't need to learn other languages because they can communicate in their native language anywhere in the world. Still, the author considers consequences of the situation at various levels, including personal development: 

On the individual level, think of the loss of possibility, the preordained narrowness of a life encased in one language, as if you were only ever allowed one, as if it were your skin in which you were born. Or your cage. That's your lot. (...) If you don't have another language, you are condemned to occupy the same positions, the same phrases, all your life. It's harder to outwit yourself, harder to doubt yourself, in just one language. It's harder to play.

Is this an exaggeration, or do you agree with this opinion? Comment on the topic on your blog, please, drawing on your personal experience and observation. 

Queen Adele!

It's been some time since I wrote anything here, but Adele's recent sweep at the Grammys has made me want to share my joy with everybody :) As it happens on such occasions, I came across last year's video with Adele (thanks to Elwira, by the way), which is simply great! Apart from her fantastic voice and her honesty about herself, she is simply incredibly funny! Take a look:

 

Translation in ELT

Recently I was lucky to participate in a webinar given by Guy Cook, a celebrated author, on translation in ELT. The presenter published a book on the topic last year and is a strong supporter of the technique. He finds a lot of convincing arguments in its defense, reminding us that translation is one of the most common real-life situations involving communication, especially in today's multicultural world. To get a small sample of what Guy Cook has to say about translation, listen to him here:

 

 Go to OUP Teachers' Club website to see what webinars have been planned for the nearest few months. The one on translation has been recorded and is to be available for playback soon.

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Listen to Steve Jobs's 2005 commencement address at Stanford University. I'm sure you will find it very inspiring and moving.