[LD-SIG Discussion List] Peeling an orange with knife and fork

[Steve Davies]

Amanda:

What a vivid vignette!!

(It was inspired by the sight of underslept, sooty passengers seated at 
  linen-clothed breakfast tables,  manipulating silver cutlery with 
surgical precision, all on a lurching Spanish train, and by my 
experience of learning to do it like them)

But  why were the passengers  'sooty'?  Was this a steam train? Had 
someone left a window open?




On Nov 7, 2008, at 8:35 AM, Amanda Bradley wrote:

>
>
> Dear all,
>
> I agree that learning is about process and, even if the target content 
> is different, broadly speaking, the learning skills will overlap and 
> be similar whether you are learning a language or say,learning to peel 
> an orange with a knife and fork. Not everyone would agree, but 
> actually that was the very first lesson at my grad school.
>
>  I did choose "peeling an orange with a knife and fork" for the first 
> "TESOL" assignment, "Teach/learn a skill"
>
> (It was inspired by the sight of underslept, sooty passengers seated 
> at  linen-clothed breakfast tables,  manipulating silver cutlery with 
> surgical precision, all on a lurching Spanish train, and by my 
> experience of learning to do it like them)
>
> When we performed in class, there was a lot of focus. It was a 
> collectively enjoyable and memorable learning experience. Perhaps the 
> main learning point was that you did have to focus... a useful one!
>
> Happy w/e to all
>
> Amanda
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 11/7/08, Andy Barfield <barfield.andy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Andy Barfield <barfield.andy at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [LD-SIG Discussion List] Two cheers for diversity (and 
>> why not three?)
>> To: discuss at ld-sig.org
>> Date: Friday, November 7, 2008, 4:27 AM
>> Jim and everyone,
>>
>> Does it need to be the same language that everyone goes
>> for? Does it even need to be a language? Why not
>> basketball,
>> learning the violin, or learning to uni cycle ???
>>
>> Perhaps many people have different things that they want
>> to learn, and having a diverse range of learning interests
>> in play within such a project might be just as / even
>> more / not at all as / interesting and valuable as limiting
>> it
>> to one language?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Andy
>>
>>
>>> From: Ronald James
>> <jamesmartinronald at yahoo.co.jp>
>>> To: discuss at ld-sig.org
>>> Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 08:15:33 +0900 (JST)
>>> Subject: Re: [LD-SIG Discussion List] discuss Digest,
>> Vol 21, Issue 3
>>> Dear Steve, Ellen, anyone,
>>>
>>> thanks for your responses - I'm agreeably provoked
>> by your
>>> response, Steve, and encouraged by yours, Ellen. Last
>> year
>>> when I started Spanish it was with a reason similar to
>>> your Swahili idea, Steve - no current need and no plan
>> to
>>> use it, a bit like the majority of our students'
>> position
>>> re English. I was thinking of that project partly as
>>> something to be written up, but I think the main
>> benefit
>>> is in how it changes me and helps me understand the
>>> motivational and other struggles faced by many English
>>> learners in Japan.
>>>
>>> As for Korean, it would be a bit different from the
>>> beginning. As I was trying to explain to a student
>>> yesterday, Spanish was a challenge (just to keep
>> going!)
>>> but I see Korean as an adventure, since my aim is to
>> use
>>> it with real Korean speakers here or in Korea, even
>>> minimally. And that may well be my focus - how to get
>> the
>>> language being learned out of the classroom or
>> textbook,
>>> how to help make it an adventure for my students,
>> rather
>>> than just a challenge or struggle with TOEIC and TOEFL
>>> scores the only carrot drawing them on...
>>>
>>> Anyway, I think that there are lots of ways of
>> approaching
>>> this - your Rosetta Stone idea sounds like a lot of
>> fun,
>>> too, Steve. You just need to find a few people who
>> would
>>> be prepared to take it on. And our different
>> approaches,
>>> languages, experiences, could all  help increase our
>>> understanding and motivation as teachers. (Sorry if it
>>> sounds a bit pompous or whatever!)
>>>
>>> I think that perhaps the main language target for
>> people
>>> here who don't count their time in Japan in
>> decades is
>>> Japanese, unless they are native Japanese speakers.
>> And
>>> naturally, taking on another foreign language might
>> not
>>> seem the best use of time...
>>>
>>> Perhaps there are some Japanese speaking teachers of
>>> English who are/would like to start a new foreign
>>> language? To understand where our learners are, and
>> where
>>> we no longer are with our "good" language.
>>>
>>> Anyway, that's more than enough for today!
>> Provocative,
>>> supportive, off-the-wall responses welcome!
>>>
>>> Jim
>>
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>
> _______________________________________________
> discuss mailing list
> discuss at ld-sig.org
> http://ld-sig.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_ld-sig.org
> Need to access Learning Learning v15n2? The username is "Linking" with 
> the password "Identities" (no quotes, but upper case for both). 
> Earlier volumes of Learning Learning are all in the public domain.
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