Showing posts with label numbering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label numbering. Show all posts

Monday, November 17, 2014

How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED Translators

In a recent post on the TED Blog, Krystian Aparta digested numerous volunteer TED Talk translators' language learning strategies "into seven basic principles" (Aparta, 2014, ¶1). The first was realistic goal-setting, the seventh was not being intimidated by the possibility of making mistakes , and there were several other goodies in between.

Reference

Aparta, Krystian. (2014, November 4). How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED Translators [web blog post]. Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/2014/11/04/how-to-learn-a-new-language-7-secrets-from-ted-translators/
'via Blog this'
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Monday, May 19, 2014

Dance Mat Typing (BBC, 2005)

Though the BBC developed the Dance Mat Typing site for school-aged children, seven to 11 years old, it also can help older students unfamiliar with touch typing get started (or restarted) typing quickly using all ten digits–fingers and thumbs on both hands. Amusing animated animal characters introduce keyboarding techniques and practice activities in a step-by-step fashion through four levels and 12 stages. Practice activities begin with ten keys in the home row (A-G and H-;), and work up to punctuation and capitalisation (BBC, 2005, About this site). The key to learning to type quickly and well from practice on site is to listen carefully to the instructions, paying special attention to what you see on screen rather than looking at your fingers or the keyboard. 

 The animated characters speak (or mimic) different varieties of English, which may challenge learners of English as an additional language. Yet colourful screens show progress through each stage, and there are audio and visual cues to give feedback on mistyping during practice activities. Moreover, there is plenty of review practice–Warm Ups for every new stage, and the site offers printable certificates at the end of each level.

Working your way through each of the stages and levels, perhaps more than once, should make it much easier to complete both typing homework and writing assignments. As the BBC explained, "touch typing is the fastest way to write" (BBC, 2005, About this site, Why learn to touch type? ¶1).

Reference


BBC. (2005). Dance mat typing [website]. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/
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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

KGUW_3-4_13-14: Reflections from §1C


Insights for students
taking Writing III and IV
next year (2014-15)


Students who have taken part in Writing IV, section 1C, are to post reflections based on their experience this year in comments on this post, for the benefit of their successors next year. The presentation below outlines the short essay writing task calling for current students to prepare, compose, and post their reflections in comments on this post.



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KGUW_3-4_13-14: Reflections from §1A


Insights for students
taking Writing III and IV
next year (2014-15)


Students who have taken part in Writing IV, section 1A, are to post reflections based on their experience this year in comments on this post, for the benefit of their successors next year. The presentation below outlines the short essay writing task calling for current students to prepare, compose, and post their reflections in comments on this post.



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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Schedule for the end of the semester

Below is a recap. of the schedule that I announced in class on Wed., Jan 22.


Fri., Jan. 24th: due date for –
  • Bibliographies, 
  • Portfolio Elements (PEs: including Book Reviews and Essays), and 
  • Portfolios (PFs) per se.

Wed. Jan. 29th: Exams on special schedule (one-hour time periods)

Fri., Jan. 31st: Last day for blog posts (other than Book Reviews and Essays) and peer-to-peer comments

Sat., Feb. 1st: due date for January Proto-Portfolio (PPF) entries.


If you have concerns or questions about any part of this schedule, please spell them out in comments on this post at least 24-48 hours before the dates in question.

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Prep. for exams in §§ 1A § 1C

At the end of class yesterday (July 10), one of your classmates asked what she could do to prepare for the exam on July 24. 

I told her, as I had told students who had asked earlier (about early exams for students heading overseas) that some previous exam items are accessible online in my Slideshare presentation library, which in turn is accessible from a gadget in the Writing Studio Blog (WSBlog) sidebar. That gadget, which is quite a ways down the WSBlog sidebar (currently on the right), looks like this:
All of you are welcome to review previous test items on Slideshare, as well as your predecessors' responses to them on the Writing Studio Blog. Please keep in mind, however, that:
  1. Not all previous exams are in that library;
  2. New exam items _will_ be different; and
  3. Exam formats may vary.
To find out more about previous exams in Writing III (and IV), it also would be a good idea to speak with your predecessors in person. Then I suggest that you share what you learn from them, and prepare jointly for exams with classmates or peers in §§ 1A or 1C. To get started, please tell your classmates and peers about this post!

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Using Correction Tools after Typing Trials

In the screenshot below, Mr. T. captured a stop-action view of Yukie's first typing trial, on the topic Self introduction. He was viewing a word-processing document with the grammar- and spell-checking tools on (activated). You can tell that the checking tools are on because there are squiggly green and red underlines visible under a number of words. Those are words that the word-processing program either: a) didn't recognize as correctly spelled words (generally red), or b) thought – if a program can think – were inaccurate (generally green).

Let me pause here for a moment to explain, and emphasize, that all of those underlined words appearing in a timed (five minute) typing trial are not a major concern, especially now, at the beginning of this writing course. This is simply a point of departure. Not only can you well expect to type more words in five minutes as the year progresses, but you also may find that you mistype fewer words, too, as you learn to both spell and type in English.

Even if you notice capitalization, punctuation, or spelling mistakes while typing, it's better not to go back and make corrections during timed trials. You should do that when you've finished each trial, both with computerized tools and without.

However, after churning out a certain number of words, it is important to clear up as many of those underlined passages as possible, before transferring them to new posts on your blogs. Mr. T. took the screenshot below to show Yukie how the checking tools work in a word-processing program, when they are turned on. This post explains a bit about how they work.

Mr. T. had just clicked on the word "my" that I've circled in red on the screenshot below, and emphasized with a pointing finger like one he may have seen just before clicking on that word ("my", line 4). Clicking on that word had opened a short, pop-open menu offering three basic choices for a point the program thinks of as a grammatical problem (capitalization):

  1. Change it to "My;"
  2. Ignore it (from now on); or
  3. Correct it yourself, which opens a dialog box for retyping.

In this case, the first choice is the best one. Capitalizing the first letters of words at the beginning of sentences in the passage that Yukie typed will clear up most, if not all, of the squiggly green markings, and some of the red ones as well, for example: "I'm . . . " (line 3).
Peoples names, like Yukie, and place names, like Kumamoto, also call for capitalization, but even if you capitalize those names, the word-processing program still may not recognize them. So, once you're certain that you've capitalized and spelled such names correctly, you may need to select Ignore from the menu of choices that the word-processor checking tools propose.

Let me draw to a close here with a couple of reminders regarding both word-processor and web-based grammar- and spell-checking tools, including those built into your blogs:

  1. You shouldn't count on those tools to catch every error or inaccuracy in your work; and
  2. They may flag words or passages that the programs don't recognize, but aren't necessarily incorrect.

Nevertheless, timely and regular use of those tools can help you improve your English, and should make your blog posts easier to read and understand. Finally, if in doubt about a particular point that may need correction, ask about it!

Acknowledgements


It is a pleasure to acknowledge contributions to this post from:
  • Yukie, who graciously agreed to let me share a representation of her early work in this writing course on the Writing Studio Blog;
  • Mr. T., who quickly captured an image of that typing sample before corrections occurred, and passed it along to me (personal correspondence, March 4, 2013 7:02:36 PM GMT+09:00), and who also provided additional suggestions on a draft for this post; and, last but not least,
  • gkrock, who shared the pointing finger graphic on the piq pixel art site, under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

KGUW_3-4_12-13_1C: Advice from §1C

Advice for students
taking Writing III and IV
next year (2013-14)

In comments on this post, students who have taken part in Writing IV, section 1C, are to provide advice based on their experience this year, for the benefit of their successors next year. The presentation below outlines the short essay writing task calling for the former to prepare, compose, and post their advice for the latter.


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KGUW_3-4_12-13_1A: Advice from §1A

Advice for students
taking Writing III and IV
next year (2013-14)


In comments on this post, students who have taken part in Writing IV, section 1A, are to provide advice based on their experience this year, for the benefit of their successors next year. The presentation below outlines the short essay writing task calling for the former to prepare, compose, and post their advice for the latter.


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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Writing Studio Bulletin: WSB 2-01 (Fall 2012) - PEs

This quick post is to advise everyone of general reminders that I've posted in Portfolio Elements workbooks (PEs) today:


 2_1_Essays, Col. B
  • Please use title case for titles, both here and on your blog.
2_2_BRs, Col. B
  • Please include BR numbers, both here and on your blog.
  • Please use title case for titles, both here and on your blog.



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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Comments from Proto-Portfolio entries

The table below includes a number of comments that I've left on recent Proto-Portfolio entries for the month of October. I'm sharing them here, so everyone will be able to learn from them right away, before November Proto-Portfolio entries are due (Dec. 1).

Rows
Comments
2-16
Japanese numerals don't work in spreadsheet formulas.
9
Please show and tell me in class on Nov. 7 what you have counted as essays in Oct. Thanks.
10
Please count slides as ¶¶ for Essay 2-01a, and encourage your classmates and peers to do the same. Thanks!
10
Please show and tell me in class on Nov. 7 what you have counted as ¶¶ in essays in Oct. Thanks.
11
Your presentation (Essay 2-01a) includes  graphics, doesn't it?
13
Please show and tell me in class on Nov. 7 what you have counted as (a) post(s) with media in Oct. Thanks.
15
Please show and tell me in class on Nov. 7 what you have counted as (a) post(s) with original video in Oct. Thanks.

Please note that entries in rows 11 through 15 of your Proto-Portfolios should match up perfectly with labels you add to posts that you make each month:

  • Row 11: graphics,
  • Row 12: links,
  • Row 13: media (for embedded presentations, as well as audio and video),
  • Row 14: media, original audio, &
  • Row 15: media, original video.
If you create new labels for posts that include original audio and original video productions, and apply suitable labels to each post that you make from now on, searching through links in the Labels clouds in your sidebars will make it easy for you to count posts for future Proto-Portfolio entries.

For more info. about labels and kinds of posts to use them on, please review the list and explanations on the Labels and Links page.


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Thursday, July 12, 2012

A few more comments and reflections

The comments I've collected in this post represent three sorts of suggestions that many bloggers other than the immediate recipients of the comments should heed in their own posts:
  1. Choosing and using labels (again [Labels..., again?!? {Yes, labels, again!}];-),
  2. Creating paragraph divisions to improve readability, and
  3. Summarizing for a variety of reasons.


pab さんは書きました...
Hi Y...,

Better labels for this post (three or more for every post) might be: "animals, birds, chicks, dogs, gardens, ..." (comma-spaced values without quotation marks). Some of those you also could use on your next post.

Cheers, PB
2012年6月18日
General recommendations: 1) Use topic labels that you are likely to use again and again. 2) If the labels are countable nouns, use their plural forms. Choice of suitable labels is important for several reasons. First and foremost, if the labels you use are both accurate and appropriate, they can help blog visitors find the kinds of posts they want to read, compare, or comment on (such as essays: drafts and revisions), as well as special topics they want to read about. Next, depending on how many times you use appropriate topic labels, the numbers of times you use particular labels may indicate both to you and to your readers which topics interest you most, as well as which you may want to write more about. Last (today;-), but not least, reflecting on the topics in your posts as you choose labels may help you decide where and when you should divide your posts into paragraphs, and perhaps even see where you might reorganize your paragraphs to make your ideas easy for readers to follow.
pab2012年7月12日
Hi A...,

It is interesting to hear of your fondness for mystery stories, especially those written by Jirou Akakawa. However, this post summarizing one of his stories, recently dramatized on TV, probably would be easier to read if you divided it into paragraphs clearly separated by blank lines (no indentation necessary).

Cheers, PB
Remember: White-space is golden! Divide large blocks of text into paragraphs to make them easier to read. Single blank lines between paragraphs orient readers' eyes towards topic shifts, if not to topic sentences, at the beginning each subsequent paragraph.
pab2012年7月12日
Y...,

Would you please (re-)read the following post on the Writing Studio Blog, paying special attention to the illustration of summarizing, where the yellow part becomes green?

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012:

Then please summarize the message from (a) member(s) of your host family in a similar fashion, using your own words.

Cheers, PB
Summarize the writing of others, in this case, for three main reasons, namely to: 1. Avoid copying; 2. Present only key points, and mainly your own ideas; and 3. Avoid publishing personal correspondence without the authors' permission.

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Incorporating quoted passages


This post presents three versions of a filtering and focusing post that I wrote for another blog (The LTD Project Blog, 2012.06.22). I am posting these three versions here to show how to:

  1. Sandwich paragraph-length quotations between personal reflections;
  2. Shift the balance of content from quotations to reflections, by:
    1. summarizing rather than quoting an interview prompt, and
    2. adding further reflections; and
  3. Quote short, already quoted passages, using nested quotation marks.


Version 1

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about his former teachers.

You write in the book about the important role certain teachers played in your life. Tell us about those teachers and what key lessons they taught you that you've put to use in your life and career.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

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Version 2

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

Among other issues he addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional media.  At the end of the interview, Rather also mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports).

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Version 3

In an exclusive interview for the Library Thing, for the State of the Thing newsletter (June 2012), investigative television journalist Dan Rather responded to a question about important roles his former teachers had played.

One common thread for many of my teachers is that they believed in me and took the time to treat me as an individual. They taught me that it is not just about the destination but it is about the journey. However we try to reform our educational system, we must allow for teachers to see their students as individuals.

Among other issues he also addressed were tenacious, growing corporate interests in control of conventional [news] media. That was in response to a passage the interviewer had quoted from Rather's memoirs, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News, about "'censorship masquerading as good business'" (2012).

At the end of the interview, Rather mentioned developing new installments to come out this fall (2012) in a TV series on education (HDNet: Dan Rather Reports). I'm looking forward to following those developments.

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The third version of the post on that other blog is approximately the same length that the first version was. However, in the third version, the proportion of quoted text has decreased from about 56% (98/174) to 36% (65/180). Square brackets around the word "news" in the third version indicate that I added that word after publishing the post.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Suitable Labels for Posts

Here are a couple more comments and follow-up remarks that I'd like to share with everyone:

Comments
Follow-up remarks
pab2012年5月14日 9:02
Hi K...,


I note that you've changed your blog title, and started posting frequently. 


Now I'd like to ask you to do me a favor. Would you please reserve the label "free-writing" for "essay prep." assignments that I give leading up to composition of complete essay posts? 


You can use "homework" or "studies" for a third label on this post.


Cheers, PB
For labels on posts, please follow the instructions in the Google spreadsheet in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog,
pab2012年5月14日 9:05
PS: Please also share what you learn from this comment about labels with your classmates (1C) and peers (1A). Cheers, PB
pab2012年5月20日 11:58
Hi S...,


I definitely recommend getting into healthy eating habits early on.



Regarding labels, would you please reserve "essays" and "free-writing" in particular for specific writing assignments that I give in class?

Suitable labels for this post would be "food, habits, [and] health" (without the quotation marks or the word in square brackets).


Cheers, PB
For labels on posts, please follow the instructions in the Google spreadsheet in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog,


I'd like to ask everyone to review and revise their labels, as necessary, especially on:
  1. Book reviews:
    • "books, reviews, ..." (CSV, without quotation marks);
  2. Draft essays:
    • "drafts, essays, ..." ( CSV, without quotation marks); and
  3. Revised essays:
    • "essays, revisions, ..." (CSV, without quotation marks).
Suitable labels on book reviews, essays, and the like, will enable classmates, peers, teachers, and visitors, to browse and find your posts easily, when they click on active labels in labels gadgets in your blog sidebars.

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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Commenting on peers essays

Essays 1-02a, about university life, were due on Monday, May 7. Please work your way UP list, and add comments to the first five (5) essays you find that classmates posted before 5 p.m. on Monday, May 7.

If you don't find essays (labeled: "drafts, essays, ...," immediately up-list from you, posted before 5 p.m. on Monday, May 7, please ask a lab. assistant or your teacher to help you search for late or missing essays.

Each comment that you post on your classmates' essays should include all four of the following elements (PQRS) announced in class:
  1. Praise,
  2. Questions,
  3. Reflections, and
  4. Suggestions.
 
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Sunday, April 22, 2012

Start-up Labels (2012)

Here are labels you will need to use for required posts on your blogs:

  • books, brainstorms, drafts, essay prep., essays, fiction, free-writing, graphics, links, media, movies, non-fiction, outlines, quickposts, reviews, revisions, typing, websites
(based on: pab's potpourri, My Startup Labels, 2011.04.20; 
with additions in bold typeface)

For example, on book reviews, you will need to use at least three labels, including:
  • books, reviews, ... (comma-spaced values);
plus:
  • fiction, OR
  • non-fiction.

You are welcome to use other suitable labels for book reviews, as well, such as "adventure" or "history" (without quotation marks), as long as they reflect the content of your posts. For details on how to use other required labels, please see Sheet 1 in the Labels and Links page on the Writing Studio Blog.

Now, to jump-start your labels collections, please:
  1. Copy and paste the labels in the first list above into a new draft post on your own blog;
  2. Entitle the new draft post, "My Start-up Labels" (in title case, without quotation marks);
  3. Copy and paste the labels in the list above into the Labels field on the draft start-up labels post;
  4. Publish the start-up labels post on your blog; and then
  5. Add a labels gadget to your blog. 
Once you've published your start-up labels posts, with labels in the label field (as well as the body of the posts), the labels will show up in your Labels gadget. Then, when you compose new posts, you will be able to choose appropriate labels for required posts, rather than typing them in.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Review of Predecessors' Portfolios


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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Business Writing Tips - Grammar Basics: Periods, Commas and Semicolons

Following a three-part series on email on the ULiveandLearn blog, Email Etiquette and Guidelines, offering a total of 15 tips (for example, Part Three), Always Learning has started a series of Grammar Basics punctuation guides. Recently these guides have focused on commas in particular. The brief explanations and examples are well worth a look:
  • ...
If you go to the ULiveandLearn website, and sign up for free membership, you can get weekly email notification of new writing tips. Tips for using semi-colons should be coming soon! 

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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Good PowerPoint Design (Osterwalder)

Modeling design principles for business presenters, Ostewalder showed and told it all in 135 slides, including step-by-step builds and appendices (Slideshare, "two years ago" [relative date]). He cut to the chase to introduce four basic rules on slides 15-18, then elaborated on each.

  1. Audience's perspective (slide 24, ff.)
  2. Content and structure – Tell a story. (slide 51, ff.)
  3. Visual design – Keep it simple. (slide 83, ff.)
  4. Delivery – a performance for guests (slide 104, ff.)

The highlight for me was the audience profiling tool, a graphic organizer, that Ostewalder introduced on slides 42-46. Try it out!


Good PowerPoint Design - for business presenters
View more presentations from Alexander Osterwalder

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Monday, August 1, 2011

Book Reviews: Factors to Consider


This post is to remind you how factors work in your Proto-Portfolio spreadsheets. The screenshots below show example factor scores for book reviews (BRs) completed at various times during first semester.  
Screenshot 1 shows what the factor score would be for 12 BRs, if you did two each month. Screenshot 2 show[s] the factor score for 10 BRs completed early in the semester. Screenshot 3 shows the factor score for the same number of book reviews (10) completed late in the semester.
The same factors apply on 2nd semester spreadsheets:
  • Each BR completed during the 1st two months counts as 1.50 BRs.
  • Each BR completed during the 2nd two months counts as 1.25 BRs.
  • Each BR completed during the 3rd two months counts as only 1 BR.
So, if you have time to spare this summer, it would be a great idea to get started reading books and writing reviews for 2nd semester.

Screenshot 1: 12 BRs – same number every month

Factor score = 15

Screenshot 2: 10 BRs – early in semester

Factor score = 14.25

Screenshot 3: 10 BRs – late in semester

Factor score = 10.75
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