Forum spats sometimes lead to revelations, and sometimes not. Mr. Grammar has been going on about his wounded pride (funny how the biggest egoists have massively inflatable prides), but I seriously think he should lay off the vodka and think about detox. Or maybe not, I mean, everybody copes in their own way, but seriously any time people get seriously involved in being offended on-line by the truth, you have to wonder.
I suppose all of us like to feel we are something when we are not, and Mr. G certainly lives up to the moment of everything being about me!

Grammar police take sumo stumble

Was posting on a coworker’s facebook site about a sumo champion retiring. Made a comment about  that ‘fat bastard’ could come out of retirement, and had people mistake that Asa should return. But since he would never get a stable to help him back in, how would he do it?  Obviously I was referring to Mike Myer’s Fat Bastard in the movie Goldmember

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNIfKjCEPq4&feature=PlayList&p=F35DB4B473F7CD26&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=10

And these guys thought Asa wasn’t fat, could have fooled me?

Anyway, some teachers need a break from their work as they sometimes stumble on simple points when they should be looking at the context within the discussion.

One, as they noted, Asa is not as  big as some other sumo wrestlers they named, so why wouldn’t they all be fat bastards?

Two, it is impossible for Asa to come out of retirement with any stable (including the one he left) as the sumo association is the one who forced him into retirement. I mean, unless he’s going to wrestle on the Hawaiian circuit, who would take him?

Context…guys, context..

Who me... fat?

Reeducation

I’m always amazed at what people think education should be, and how it should be administered.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=830593#830593

I sometimes deal with people who in my opinion remind me of chicken little and his theories of the sky is falling. I think often people fail to look at the whole picture. How do we educate people to ‘fit in’ our society and allow them to lead productive and enjoyable lives? There is no one easy answer to that. One man’s paradise is another man’s hell.  I think giving people tools to access their potential is the most important, and allowing them to understand what is going on in the world in how they can be a part of it an influence it in their own way.

Some of my fellow educators believe that government is always part of a conspiracy with big business, and the two always work hand in hand. Certainly there is corruption and misguided market led initiatives, but individuals wield an incredible amount of power in this day and age and just figuring out what is the best way to use it is the main problem.

Our discussion in the main thread started off as a rant about experience versus formal education and how the latter was sometimes used to block qualified teachers from teaching. It then was transformed into an ongoing discussion about education reform in the US with a contrast with Russian education and the historical roots of where American education came from.

One aspect of the discussion is how important history is in explaining what we’re doing now, the other is discontent with government and what two posters see as a government that doesn’t allow individual voices due to big business influences. Looking at the first point, I have to say that whining about the past will only get you so far. I see opinions that keep decrying the lack of discussion and individual thought in schools whereas I think it depends on the school as the current US system still is not very nationalized and poorer counties are poorly educated to some extent. instead, the other posters continue with a ‘conspiracy’ theory that the government doesn’t want people questioning state polices and instead is training people to fill company rosters and be model robots.

Of course, are people being forced to become super consumers? I just don’t see it happening the way some see it. Certainly, there are hidden persuaders, but I don’t see most people falling for all of them. Certainly if you think people buy things they don’t need, but when hasn’t that been? I suppose if you compare Americans to people who can’t buy certain things regardless of money because they’re not available in their countries, they might be tied up economically, but are they freer?  Well, if you’re looking at free as being able to choose, I guess it depends on how you define it. Free to think means what exactly?

I guess one aspect would be the ability to ask questions. Here in Japan, some people often don’t seem to think about alternatives for anything. Career paths, choice of habits, and other things that many of us might think of as easy to choose from a plethora, for many Japanese they seem to have whittled down to very few options indeed.

But should we also be asking about philosophies? I see the main poster has posted questions regarding what man’s purpose is. Yeah, this would be nice, but it’s so general as to be meaningless when education, from a  practical point of view, should help us to find a job or make a company so that we can make a living.

Philosophy is nice, but is it going to pay the rent and buy groceries?

Now the latest comment to come down the pike is concerning that people are not the same as in the poster’s grandparents. The media and education has changed these people. Has the poster ever thought to consider that the times have changed? What worked in granddad’s day probably won’t work now. Many things have changed, are we suggesting to bring back the Luddites?

Passing notes?

It’s all mind control, is it? So we should strip education down and have us all gazing at our navels. Uh, let’s not.

But seriously, what questions should we be asking? I think students need a combination of theory and hopefully knowledge that is going to help people to get a job. If we spend too much time only thinking about giving our students the ability to question society, they’re not going to be in any position to change it. Students come up with questions of their own, and giving them motivation to pursue things that they’re interested in seems like  a better goal than just saying that we’re going to design our educational system on thinking about what human destiny is.

That and students need to be motivated and someone or something to spark their curiousity. I think we all need that sometimes

Zonked at the wheel

Zonked at the wheel

Sometimes I find the best ideas when I am half baked. I wonder if many other people find it the same way?

Sometimes while working as a teacher, being half asleep makes the day go by quicker, or perhaps it just seems that way.  I get in these auto-pilot modes where things just flow and I follow my lesson plans as well as innovate where necessary. I think this is quite common for a university language teacher where little issues pop up and often you have to decide whether to deal with them. Also, some things you thought would be somewhat of interest turn out to be more exciting (or boring) than you thought they would be.

Getting into that ‘zen’ frame of mind takes time or does it come naturally? Sometimes I’m not sure as a little sleep deprivation can make you feel relaxed, but it can also make it more difficult to concentrate. It’s a fine balance between being aware and be willing to dare and just be flexible enough to not have to always conform to a fixed lesson plan and semester schedule.

This also allows your students time to do things at their pace rather than always thinking about what you want to fit in your planned class time. I often am making  a mess out of my lesson plan books, as things that i thought we’d have time for don’t come off as planned. Sometimes it’s the time needed for directions, other times how students spend time on doing a task (including messing it up, which itself is a learning opportunity), and finally if you allow time for review of the task or not. It all adds up, and making productive use of the 90 minutes or so is a real challenge.