Humor4u

A summary of the closing plenary (Mis)-Applied Linguistics at the TESOL France colloquium on 18 November 2012 Chia explaining 'stealth pair work' Chia Suan Chong started her plenary at the 31 st annual TESOL France colloquium by warning us there would be 65 slides in her PowerPoint and introducing the concept of stealth pair work – speaking quietly, in a muted voice with a person sitting next to you. Considering the fact the audience consisted of about 200 ELT teachers, this wasn't an easy task. I had been really looking forward to this talk, so I was prepared to shut up for 60 minutes. I had expected Chia to debunk ELT myths and show how certain findings of applied linguistics research have been misapplied in ELT. Instead, the talk went in a different direction as Chia took us on a journey through the history of ELT. From all translation to no translation Her colourful account of different methodologies started from the Grammar Translation method. According to this oldes

I'm pretty happy...I was thinking I wouldn't be able to make it to CTNX this year, but it turns out I can! Also, I will be there selling the Skadi book , which is finally done!  It feels really exciting to hold a finished book in my hands.  Pretty neat.  SO!  About the book...it's pretty big, magazine size, 128 pages, and is in full color.  It's mostly made up of the comics from the first two years that Luke and I did Skadi, though there are a couple newer comics thrown in, as well as a bit of new art.  You can pre-order the signed book for 20 bucks plus shipping and handling at the new SKADI STORE , or you can wait and pick one up at CTNX.  I'll be sharing a booth HERE with Luke Cormican and Gabe Swarr. Besides the 100 pages of comics, there are also nine beautiful pinups from art heroes Bill Pressing , Brianne Drouhard , Emmy Cicierega , Pedro Vargas , Becky Dreistadt , Alex Kirwan , Kristen McCabe , Shawn Dickinson , and Seo Kim .  There's even two bonu

If nothing else we have learned one thing, when disasters strike there is an initial onslaught of coverage, intense and dramatic coverage with much slick "mainstream" presentation and of course saturation of advertising opportunity. Disaster coverage has a shelf-life though.... and it seems any particular chronic incident drops off the radar once perceived it has no further promotional juice. This is a terrible pattern because the real news is always in the months and years subsequent to the initial circumstance. I'm always amazed how quickly the spotlight shifts away from the ongoing daily miseries of the victims and afflicted and often crass "recovery" mismanagement is a mainstay of any later followup "news"... rather than the uplifting words of comfort one would hope for or even expect. It seems the criminal element is drawn like flies to a rotting carcass when emergency "funds' are made available. It is here I should list examples of both