Volume
X- October 4, 2004
Welcome
to the E-Comp!, a complimentary monthly newsletter for language
educators brought to you by Prolinguistica.com.
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For your reading
pleasure…
Book Review at csmonitor.com
THE FIRST IDEA:
How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from our Primate
Ancestors to Modern Humans
By Stanley Greenspan and Stuart Shanker
Da Capo Press
320 pp., $25
It all starts by looking a baby right in the eyes
The origin of language stemmed from relationships, not genes
By Ruth Walker
Here is a book that gives new meaning to the
old saying, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." Its
authors, one a psychiatrist and the other a psychologist and philosopher,
have teamed up to tackle the momentous question of how humans developed
language. Fearing not to challenge some of the heavyweights of modern
science, from Jean Piaget to Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker, they
present their own theory: The development of language is connected
primarily with affect rather than cognition, with the emotional
learning that occurs in infants in the arms of those who love them.
That is, language is rooted not in genes, not in the wiring of brains,
but in behaviors we have learned over millenniums.
Phrases like "emotional intelligence" and "the
feeling brain" sound less oxymoronic today than they did before
they appeared in the titles of groundbreaking works by Daniel Goleman
and, more recently, Antonio Damasio. But in "The First Idea," Stanley
Greenspan and Stuart Shanker contend that "emotional intelligence,"
as it is coming to be understood, is only one of the "roots and
branches" of intelligence itself. "The trunk," they argue, is a
set of abilities they refer to as the "functional-emotional developmental
capacities."
The critical concept in "The First Idea" is
what the authors call "co-regulated emotional signaling." By this
they mean the affectionate back-and-forth between baby and caregiver.
Mom and Baby make eye contact, and when Mom smiles at Baby, Baby
smiles back.
Read the rest of the review at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0914/p11s01-bogn.html?s=hns
A school for immigrants?
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Houston has proposed facility specifically for new arrivals
HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- Houston school officials have proposed a
school designed specifically for immigrants, including flexible
yearlong schedules, accelerated credit programs and weekend classes.
"Many of these students walk into our high schools
and know little or no English," interim Houston superintendent Abe
Saavedra said Tuesday at Lee High School, where students from 70
countries speak 42 languages. "Immigrant students need more support
than conventional schools can provide."
Read the article at: http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/09/08/immigrant.school.ap/index.html
Visit the National Hispanic Cultural Center website at: http://www.nhccnm.org/
Sorry, I just HAD to include this one!
Parrots speak in tongues
Helen Pilcher, Nature.com
Ability to modify vowels underpins mimicry skills.
Parrots can shape sound with their tongues.
© Kathleen Carr
Ever wondered what makes parrots so good at mimicking human speech?
It turns out that the feathered impressionists use their tongues
to create vowel-like sounds, just as we do.
Until now, many researchers thought that birds produced and modified
their song in the avian equivalent of the larynx, the syrinx, and
that the tongue played no role at all.
It's fun - read the rest at: http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040906/full/040906-1.html
Professor works to preserve 'weird' languages
By Molly McClure
News Editor, Purdueexponent.org
Elena Benedicto arrived in her office two weeks ago after eight
months abroad setting up networks to study weird languages.
At least, "people think that they are weird," said the associate
professor of English. "Forgotten, thought to be exotic — everything
that’s not mainstream."
Benedicto spent time in Spain, Argentina and Nicaragua. She has
been studying Mayangna, an indigenous language spoken on the Atlantic
coast of Nicaragua, for the past 10 years. She is helping develop
a grammar of the language to use in schools as well as train natives
in linguistics.
"It’s a process of empowerment," she said.
Read the rest of the article at: http://www.purdueexponent.org/interface/bebop/showstory.php?date=2004/08/30§ion=campus&storyid=benedicto161
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Resources you might be interested in….
New at Stephen Krashen's Web Site ( http://www.sdkrashen.com/main.php3
)
"Applying the Comprehension Hypothesis: Some Suggestions" by Stephen
Krashen
Go to: http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/eta_paper/index.html
"Basic Phonics" by Stephen Krashen
Go to: http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/basic_phonics/index.html
"Free Voluntary reading: New Research, Applications, and Controversies" by
Stephen Krashen
Go to: http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/pac5/index.html
Internenes.com
Internenes.com is a Spanish with a collection of
on-line games. It's not necessary to know Spanish to play
the games, but the site features a mini teaching guide for each
game explaining the content and the skills the game focuses on.
Check out their offerings at: http://www.internenes.com/programas/categoria.php3?c=Novedades
ACTFL Celebrates 2005 as "The Year of Languages"
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
(ACTFL), is set to lead us all in celebrating The Year of Languages
in 2005. Celebrations will take place in elementary and secondary
schools, postsecondary institutions, as well as at events at the
local, state and national levels across the country. For more
information and resources go to: http://www.yearoflanguages.org/yol.cfm
Deaf Aztlan
An interesting and unusual site for deaf bilingual
Spanish speakers. I found Deaf Aztlan at a site that features a
variety of resources, including guides to U.S. schools for immigrants
in Spanish, Arabic, Bosnian, Russian, Vietnamese and English.
Go to: http://www.deafvision.net/aztlan
To view the school guides and other resources available go to:
http://www.isbe.net/bilingual/htmls/refugee_services.htm
Or
http://www.isbe.net/bilingual/htmls/Resources1.htm
Helping Parents Navigate the Education System
in Spanish or English
At this website toolkits on early childhood, elementary,
secondary, and post-secondary education advise parents on how they
can support their children's learning at each developmental stage.
You can check this out at: http://www.yesican.gov
For the Spanish version go to: http://www.yosipuedo.gov/
Resources on Mexico from Teacherplanet.com
Teacherplanet.com offers a section on Mexico, with
lesson plans, unit plans, resources, worksheets, clipart and images
relating to Mexico.
Visit the site at: http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/mexico.php
How about some time in Peru?
The Spanish Exchange Program (a language school)
seeks ESL teachers who'd like to learn Spanish in Piura, Peru. (I'm
always a little suspicious of companies whose email address is @yahoo,
but you never know... This was announced in an OELA newsletter,
so it's probably legitimate.)
For more information, email: aespiura1@yahoo.com
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Thinking about it…
The other night I dreamed I was putting on a TPR
workshop for teachers. I'd received a number of email inquiries
about how to implement TPR, and they probably set my synapses to
firing all night long. I found an interesting article at Nature.com
in August, that discussed the fact that they now have research to
show that when we say "I'll sleep on it" thinking that we'll make
a better decision in the morning, there's actually a good basis
for that. People DO make better decisions after they sleep on it.
And they also master procedural tasks more efficiently after sleeping.
Turns out that your brain is even busier than you thought while
you sleep, busily looking at the procedural learning you need to
be doing, prioritizing tasks in order of difficulty, and reinforcing
your learning while you sleep. I find this bit of information fascinating.
After all, we TPR-types generally agree that pain, stress and uncomfortable
hard labor it isn't necessary for learning to take place -- and
what could be less painful, stress free, and more comfortable than
sleeping to learn!?! And apparently that's what we do. Every night.
Seems to me that this also calls into question to the value of drill
and practice. OK, so no, I'm not suggesting that practice is a waste
of time... but I know for my own learning and from observing many
of my students, that practice has its limits. We all know there's
a point at which certain kinds of practice cease to be effective
- especially the more routinary kind. For me, a 20 minute nap is
sometimes far more effective than another hour of practice. And
I figured out far too late in my university career that I performed
better on tests if I DIDN'T stay up late studying, but instead went
to bed at the usual time and reviewed for a while right before the
exam. And what do we say about the mysteriously permanent nature
of "aha" learning - all those things you somehow learned and remembered
instantaneously without ever making any effort to retain them? Yes,
practice may make closer to perfect, but sleeping long and well
enough my do the trick even better.
Well, duh. Back to the dreamy TPR workshop. It may be that
every one of you does this anyway, but here's the little idea I
was sharing the participants in my dream. Have you ever seen the
little cardboard skeletons with articulated joints they sell around
this time of year? Some of them come with a little pressure sucker
so they can be hung on a window, and there's a brad or some other
kind of moveable fastener at the joints so you can set your skeleton's
limbs in any position you want. These usually sell for pretty cheap.
Consider buying a few. Or, consider simply drawing (or tracing)
a template of all skeletal parts (head, neck, torso, upper arms,
lower arms, hands, thighs, calves, feet) onto card stock and laminating
it. Have the students cut out the various pieces. You TPR
the cutting in your target language of course. Pass out a
few hole punchers and TPR the punching of holes in the right places.
Then pass out enough brads for them to put the creatures together,
also according to your TPR-d instructions. Once complete, they have
a desk sized person who they can use to demonstrate their understanding
of any TPR instruction you give, including a few you'd probably
never ask anyone to do with his OWN body... When I had my own language
classes (sigh, the good old days...) I used to do this, but I also
bought as many of the skeletons as I could find, as many kids really
like having a commercially produced skeleton to play with at this
time of year. It was a great way to have students do very physical
TPR while seated at their desks -- and we all know that sometimes
it's a boon to us, as well as to tired kids, to have a TPR lesson
that's a little less active. For what it's worth. Anyone else have
an idea to submit? Send 'em in, let's spread the good stuff around!
In
Case You Missed the News...
Prolinguistica has moved to a new office! Our new
address is:
Prolinguistica
1621 Freeway Drive #208
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
We're located in the Tridex Building. Same phone (360-848-9792)
and email address (laura@prolinguistica.com, e-comp@prolinguistica.com.)
New Website!
Prolinguistica recently added a new service: dyslexia
correction. Now we have a new website as well. Of course, the old
website is still up and running and dedicated to serving ESL and
FL teachers. The new one is dedicated solely to our services in
dyslexia correction. That address is:
http://www.pdcc-read.com
I encourage you to visit it, even if dyslexia is not a topic of
burning interest to you. With from 5% to 15% of the population displaying
symptoms of the dyslexic learnng style, chances are quite a number
of your students show some of these symptoms. Perhaps there's some
information at pdcc-read.com that may be of use to you.
New
Newsletter!
In
addition to E-Comp! I am publishing a monthly newsletter, "Singular
Minds", on matters relating to dyslexia and the constellation of
related learning difficulties, including trouble with math and time
(dyscalculia), handwriting (dysgraphia), balance and movement issues
(dyspraxia), and ADD-ADHD. If any of you are interested in receiving
"Singular Minds" just send an email to me at dyslexia@prolinguistica.com
and I'll put you on the mailing list. And of course, if you
know anyone who needs help with any of the areas mentioned above,
I hope you'll refer them to the website.
Have a stupendous month!
Laura
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