Bringing it all together

This course has really helped unite technology and teaching.  It's not enough to just learn the programs, but they must be implemented in a way so that the students can learn from them.  The information must be presented in a logical, concise manner.  Using every trick that technology has to offer does not equal effective teaching.  That has been the biggest challenge for me in this course.  That, and keeping it simple.


To tie it in with the umbrella theme of this blog, linguistics, the same can be said for effective language.  Just because somebody has the ability to use a lot of  five-syllable words does not mean that they can get their point across.


What do people think? 

Communication Complications

Communicating your needs on a daily basis can be tricky at best.  I think it's one of the biggest challenges as a human.  Words.  Tone.  Stress.  Gestures.  Looks.  There's more to it than meets the eye.

This is where second language acquisition can be so educational.  Just when things can be so tricky to express in your L1, then you take on all of the plethora of complications with even ordering a coffee in a second tongue.  It seems to improve communication in the L1, focusing it in some way.  All of the haziness in expressing yourself suddenly becomes clarified and so blatantly simple.  It's not so hard after all, I guess.  If we have the words, we just have to say it.

Accents Can Be A Drag

Everyone and their dog has an accent of some sort or another, but having it in a foreign language so that you sound noticeably "foreign" can be really difficult at times.  People who have never lived in a foreign country and had to speak that language on a daily basis--truly assimilate--likely have no idea about how this process feels.


People immediately mark you as a foreigner and often times give you lesser treatment (i.e. trying to rip you off in stores, cultural racism).  If they don't understand your accent, then that makes it worse.  If they immediately start twenty questions about where you're from and whatnot, that isn't always wanted either.  Those of us who like traveling and deeply exploring other cultures just want to do it many times without all the "fuss".  That's not asking too much, is it?  But yet I guess that's a big part of the travel challenge. 

Good music

What are some of the musical tastes of others out there?

I like jazz and Brazilian music the best probably--and old-style country--but the Beatles are still king.  The Isley Brothers are also up there...

To Live Is To Fly

Life can be complicated, it's true.  But we don't have to buy in to all that.  In fact, with cars, mortgages, clothes, etc., we do buy in and they add stress with whatever bonuses they give.

On the flip side, I spent a month living on a utterly remote island in the northern Andaman islands off the east coast of India (but closer to Burma and Thailand).  http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/andaman.htm  Just a hammock and building fires on the sand were my companions.  And skin infections from coral cuts, but I'll go into "Mosquito Coast" details later.  It was completely off the grid and a great tool for adding perspective, one which I learned a lot from and added much meaning to my life.

I hope that everyone gets a chance to "live without time" at some point.

Using Language

Gaining a M.A. in TESOL has been the realization of a dream for me.  I feel that I have inadvertently become a lover of languages throughout life through a natural interest in life and its cultures.  I didn't necessarily seek it out, but rather it found me and I heeded the call.  Now, through all of the multi-tiered classes in our Masters program, I am being trained to not only teach much much better, but to be even more responsive as a learner of the endless tongues in our universe.

Of course there is a level of risk with treading in new linguistic and cultural waters, but I see it all as a portal to better living!  I look forward to the responses and checking out other people's creativity.  All the best from Me here at Linguistic Love!