European etymology maps of common words

These cool maps show how words for nine common items (apple, bear, church, ...) vary across Europe. Thanks to Michael Kelley for pointing them out and providing brief explanations (These Fascinating Maps Show The Origin Of Words We Use All The Time, Business Insider, 2013.11.05).


Source: Europe etymology maps 1 by /u/Bezbojnicul (c. 2013.11.01)

[55 words]

Sample Mind-Map for Language Learning Story Essays

Using Freemind software available in Mac labs on campus @ KGU, I prepared a sample mind-map to guide you through preparation of your next essays, Personal Language Learning Stories: Past, Present, and Future (2-03a, fall semester, 2009-10). Though making your own maps is not a requirement for the current assignment, please feel free to do so, and to post your maps in essay prep. posts on you blogs, where your classmates and peers can admire and comment on them as you develop your outlines and complete your essays proper.

You are also welcome to post your outlines (draft and revised), whether or not you derive them from mind-maps, in order to document various steps [in the writing process], in additional posts that you label "essay prep." (without the quotation marks), along with any free-writing that you do on topics related to the current assignment. If preliminary and revised versions of your maps, outlines, free-writing passages, and complete essay drafts differ significantly from each other, and you explain the differences and cross-link between separate posts, those separate posts may serve as evidence of your progress through the current assignment. If, on the other hand, you make only minor revisions in one or more of your essay prep. posts, please remember to update word counts at the foot of those posts.

I saved a couple different views of the sample mind-map as graphics for display in this blog post. The second and third views below show expansions of different sections of the map itself. Please note that the topics and sub-topics displayed in the expanded view of the Body section are only suggestions, rather than a complete catalog of all possible key points and supporting information. What goes in you own maps and/or outlines should reflect your personal language learning experiences and plans.

____________________

Note: If you click on the graphics, they should display in new browser tabs or windows.

[313 words]

PS: I forgot to mention the original source of inspiration for this essay assignment, Tim Murphey's (1998) students' Language Learning Histories, and their predecessors.

Reference

Murphey, Tim. (1998). Language Hungry Students' Language Learning Histories II. Nagoya, Japan: South Mountain Press.

[+ 40 words]

Writing Studio Blog Visitors Diminished

Since I started using a cluster map in the sidebar to indicate where visitors came from, the number of visitors, year on year, has diminished. The image below shows how much.



Though each year the cluster map gets archived about the middle of October, and new hot spots start appearing in the sidebar display, it is still possible to see where previous visitors came from (ClustrMaps - archive of user maps). It will be interesting to see what happens this year.

[81 words]

Additional Course Link: Sentence Structure Cmap

Wordle image created 2009.01.30

While listening to a Green Room interview about graphic organizers (Episode 54, 2008.12.01), and following up on a related Learning Times discussion thread, I discovered an online resource that may interest those of you who have expressed concerns about your own grammatical accuracy. It's a concept map created with a powerful yet free computer application called IHMC CmapTools.

Tammy Moore, a registered Learning Times community member, listed the Sentence Structure Cmap, an example of students' work which I've already added to the Course Links in the sidbar, as "middle school level - English/Grammar/Sentence Structure" (Using Graphic Organizers?, 2008.12.04 [registration required]). If you're interested either in the grammar it represents, or in visual, hypertextual representation possible with CmapTools, please check it out.

[122 words]

Images created by the Wordle.net web application are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
http://wordle.net/faq

Writing IV Exam: Instructions for §§ 1a and 1c

In a short essay, from three to five paragraphs in length, please reflect upon, analyze, and synthesize:

1. What you expected to learn, and
2. What you learned in Writing IV, §1a or 1c;

OR

1. What you learned in Writing IV, §1a or 1c, and
2. What you still need to learn in order to improve your own writing.

For full marks, write at least one paragraph five sentences or more in length on each main point:

1. What you expected to learn, and why;
2. What you learned in Writing IV, and how; and
3. What you still need to learn to improve your own writing, and when.

Use the mind map in the graphic above as a guide (WritingIVexam2009a.png). If you double-click on the graphic, a larger image will display.

Post your essay in a single comment on the Writing Studio Blog post earmarked for your class section, during the exam period:

• Writing IV, §1a: Reflecting Pool (09:30-10:30), OR
• Writing IV, §1c: Reflecting Pool (11:00-12:00).

I suggest that you compose your essay in Microsoft® Word, where you can check grammar, punctuation, and spelling before posting it as a comment on the Writing Studio Blog. You will be unable to edit your essay after you post it as a comment.

Please leave yourself plenty of time to post your essay as a comment on the appropriate reflecting pool post for your class section, and check to confirm posting, before the end of the exam period.

[245 words]

Posts in Preparation of Next Essays

To prepare for upcoming essays, thematic movie reviews due next Tuesday (Writing Studio Calendar, 3rd essays due, November 4, 2008), last week I asked you to make two quickposts after you had viewed the movie to review, Mrs. Doubtfire:

1. A quick list of themes that you'd noticed in the movie, with the labels:
   
• essay prep., lists, quickposts
  
2. A quick first impression of the movie, with the labels:
   
• essay prep., free-writing, quickposts
  

In class today, I asked you to share items from those lists of themes found in the movie, and to reflect on themes shared in each class by making two (2) more quickposts, each on a theme shared in class. Please label your two in-class posts with at least these three labels: 1) essay prep., 2) free-writing, and 3) quickposts. If you wish, you may add the themes themselves to labels on these posts. If you click on the graphic (above), a larger format version will appear.

The purpose of free-writing in class today was three-fold, namely to:

• demonstrate your fluency in writing on themes of your choice, and with or without reference to the movie;
• lessen the number of weekly posts that you would need to write outside of class, so you can concentrate on outlining and drafting your essays this coming week; and
  
• collect and publicize your thoughts relating directly or indirectly to themes in the movie.
  

Unfortunately, those of you who hadn't watched Mrs. Doubtfire had little other choice but to free-write without reference to the movie. All together, as of the end of class today, you should have had at least four (4) essay prep. posts on your blog leading up to your next movie reviews.

Between now and the due date for your thematic reviews of Mrs. Doubtfire, I would like you to make at least two more preparatory posts:

1. A topic outline of the theme from the movie, including the main points that you want to make about it, with the labels:
• essay prep., and
• outlines (a new label for most of you, I believe); and
  
2. A complete first draft of your essay, including:
• a paragraph introducing the movie briefly, along with your choice of themes, and outlining the main points that you will make about your choice;
• three or more body paragraphs explaining your interpretations of the theme (hopefully one evident throughout the movie), and supporting your interpretations with concrete, detailed examples from the movie; and
• a concluding paragraph summing up your interpretations of the theme, and how you have supported your interpretations of it.
  

Students in both class meetings today asked how long these essays need to be. However they frowned at my stock answer, which is, "long enough to cover the themes you choose, and [to] support your interpretations of them." So I told all I would expect them to write at least 500 words, a round number that may suffice only if each and every word is on target, that is, on the themes that you choose from the movie.

[491 words]

PS: If you have concerns or questions about this assignment, please spell them out in comments on this post, well in advance of the due date. Though I will be away on business in Tokyo (Friday, Oct. 31 - Monday, Nov. 3), I will make every effort to respond in a timely fashion to comments made soon (before I leave).

[+ 59 words]

Original post revised 2008.11.06 [+ 1 word]

NSF and the Birth of the Internet: a website review

NSF and the Birth of the Internet is a special report from the U.S. National Science Foundation combining text, graphic, and video resources.

• http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf-net/

The presentation begins with a spectacular introductory video splash that loads automatically. Low connection speeds or heavy local network traffic may delay downloading and display of audio-video elements. There is a prominent link that you can use to skip the splash.

The report itself covers contributions from various domestic parties involved in network development from the 1960s to the 2000s. Video-recorded interviews with three main contributors are accessible immediately following the splash. However, the central organizing scheme of the report is a time-line, in which each decade tab in the viewing frame covers up to half a dozen resources presented as menu buttons in the main viewing window.

Most resources covering the middle years (1970s-1990s) are short interview segments featuring people involved in technological and organizational developments. Most of the interviewees are male.

Text sidebars explain graphic selections and introduce video segments. Back and next buttons on resources when actually displayed would facilitate navigation without returning to decade menus. Transcripts are available for video segments, but replace videos and sidebars in the main viewing frame.

One auxiliary window in the viewing frame displays corresponding increases in numbers of network users and data transfer rates as you browse through the decades, while the link in another, which overrides the main video links displayed immediately after the splash, in turn over-rides both the main viewing window and decade tabs with schematic maps of U.S. network growth from 1969 to 2007.

Using the conveniently located close button on the maps returns you to your previous view of decade menu resources. There is also a separate list of resources, including PDFs and Wikipedia listings, accessible both through the report frame, and in text-only view:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf-net/resources.jsp
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf-net/textonly/related.jsp

The NSF site is accessible in text-only format, however it might take some time to find a corresponding location, such as this special report, from the top level of the site if you use the text-only link in the page footer outside of the report itself, rather than the one inside the special report viewing frame:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/nsf-net/textonly/index.jsp

I am grateful to George Siemens for his recent pointer to this interesting, government-funded report. I gather he gleaned it from Ray Schroeder's Educational Technology blog (Siemens, elearnspace, 2008.08.20). In the end, I'm wondering what individuals and organizations in the rest of the world were doing during the period of time covered by the NSF's special report.

Image source:
http://www.nsf.gov/images/logos/nsfe.jpg
(22 KB JPEG format)
Note: "No special permission is required from
the National Science Foundation to reproduce these images"
(http://www.nsf.gov/policies/logos.jsp, 2008.09.08).
[489 words]

Third presentation display [+ design, + ...]

Here's version three of a brief personal history, with a design for the slides, additional graphics, links, and photos. It's ready for a sound track to make the slideshow into an oral presentation.

| View | Upload your own

5th Essays: Personal Language Learning History

These concept maps represents the main points that I expect you to cover in your fifth essays, your language learning histories, which are due by June 15 (calendar). They are by no means exhaustive of all possibilities, so please feel free to add other main points of your own, for example, if you studied English during elementary school, or learned more than one language from your parents or relatives at home.

Original version (1st period)

Revised version (2nd period)

More additions to the node about "people involved" (2008.06.11)

[88 words]

Office Hours: Gmail for Appointments

This post announces my weekly office hour+ (Tuesday, 09:30-11:00), and shows where my physical office space is.


View pab's office in a larger map

If you'd like to meet either face-to-face (f2f) or online during my office hour+, please send a gmail message asking for an appointment at least 48 or, better yet, 72 hours in advance. Please use ... one of these subjects headings [with underscores, class, and section in the key string]:

• Writing_III-IV_1A: F2F, yyyy.mm.dd, please!
  
• Writing_III-IV_1A: Online, yyyy.mm.dd, please!

• Writing_III-IV_1C: F2F, yyyy.mm.dd, please!
  
• Writing_III-IV_1C: Online, yyyy.mm.dd, please!

Copy and paste one of the subject headings from here, if necessary, to make certain it is accurate (without the bullet point), carefully replacing "yyyy" with the calendar year, "mm" with a two-digit number for the month, and "dd" with a two-digit number for the date.

Then, in the body of all such [gmail] messages, please:

1. Explain why you would like to meet;
   
2. Suggest a time frame within my office hour+;
3. Include the last five digits of your student number; and
   
4. Spell out your full name (in a signature is fine).

[172 words]

Primo Travel Slideshow: Hot Off the Press

Project Platypus has once again pointed out a primo site to browse in a post called The Dales Way, tagged "listening, photography, [and] travel" (March 8, 2008). This time it's a slideshow from the Guardian's (a U.K. newspaper's) travel gallery called The Dales Way footpath (© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008).

The images in Kevin Rushby's presentation are beautiful, the countryside idyllic, the soundtrack superb, and the commentary fairly easy to understand for someone who isn't British (<grin>!). About the only drawback in the entire show, and not a serious flaw at that, is that it uses captions only on the last slide to point out where you can get more information about the footpath (The Dales Way Association) and accommodations along the way (updated March 2, 2008).

If you want to read all about Rushby's walking holiday, you can. It's in the Guardian's travel section on Yorkshire (N. England): Walking on eggshells (March 8, 2008).

To get an idea of the general location, zoom in on this map. Then maybe Pukman will drop by and give us a homegrown perspective on that part of the country.

[189 words]

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