On Language Learning

To follow up on the class discussions this week, I ask you to find quotes about the role language plays in human society.
Type the quote in the comments including the author and the URL. Write three to five sentences explaining why you have chosen this quote.

Freedom // Opression

A guest moderator, Mrs. Cooper, is an English/AVID teacher at Nimitz HS. She invites all the students to join the discussion.

Freedom: liberty, independence, lack of restrictions

Oppression: tyranny, repression, cruelty

…but what do they really mean?

Find one quote about freedom with which you passionately agree. In the comments section, include the quote, the author, and a three to five sentence explanation of why you agree with this quote.

Find one quote about oppression with which you passionately agree. In the comments section, include the quote, the author, and a three to five sentence explanation of why you agree with this quote.

Simile

What is your interpretation of the simile in example one?
1) “He has a tongue like a sword and a pen like a dagger.” (H. Caine)

Source: flickr.com/photos/9209225@N06/2618732607

Find which quote from the list fits this image:

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepapergirl/2086028012/

2) “She went on to say that she wanted all her children absorb the meaning of the words they sang, not just mouth them, like silly-billy parrots.” (J. D. Salinger)
3) She was obstinate as a mule, always had been, from a child.” (J. Galsworthy)
4) “When my missus gets sore she is as hot as an oven.” (D. Sayers)
5) “The air was warm and felt like a kiss as we stepped off the plane.”
6) “Like a sigh, the breath of a living thing, the smoke rose.” (K.S. Prichard)
7) “She has always been as live as a bird.” (R. Chandler)
8 ) “That’s the place where we are to lunch; and by Jove, there’s a boy with the basket, punctual as clock-work.” (Ch. Dickens)
9) “He stood immovable like a rock in a torrent.” (J. Reed)
10) “He wore a grey double-breasted waistcoat, and his eyes gleamed like raisins.” (Gr. Greene)
11) “His speech had a jerky, metallic rhythm, like a teletype.” (T. Capote)
12) “The lamp made an ellipse of a yellow light on the ceiling, and on the mantel the little alabaster clock dripped time like a leaking faucet.” (?)
13) “I left her laughing. The sound was like a hen having hiccups. (R. Chandler)
14) “His mind went round and round like a squirrel in a cage, going over the past.” (A. Christie)
15) “We can hear him coming. He’s got a tread like a rhinoceros.” (K. Amis)

Write examples you find in literature or your own examples as comments to this post. Remember to credit the author.

Flu

Hygiene and health are important! Please
Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
Picture credit: Alejandra Alfaro

Kim Corbet and John Cage

I was with John Cage for only one week in 1986 yet it was one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. I was in a quartet called BL Lacerta (named for a deep space radio source) and we asked him to write us a piece for our concert at the Dallas Museum of Art.

To our great surprise he wanted to fly down and join us on stage. The first night he cooked for us and talked about being ‘in the moment’, meaning not thinking about anything but here and now and being aware of every sound.

In the concert, we were stationed in the 4 corners of the theatre while he sat on stage and chanted like a Tibetan monk. At one point I remember running faster and faster in circles around the audience playing one long note (the same note Cage was singing) on my accordion while my friends played faster and faster on clarinet, marimba and cello.

After the concert, John came to a reception at my little house in Parkdale overflowing with people from the show. I remember he was standing with his back to the kitchen sink as dozens of people got closer to hear what he had to say.

“It’s wonderful to be here” and people smiled thinking the same thing all through the house. We were very aware of being ‘here now’.
Kim Corbet’s personal performance and educational resource site:
http://faculty.smu.edu/kcorbet/projects.asp

Musician’s choice:
“okay…I’ve written my comment and think 18 (the oldest comment) is the most inclusive though they’re all very much the same. 18 simply has more complete information. plus there’s evidence of curiosity and learning. Cage would have liked that and so do I.

lemme know if there’s anything else I can do. I used to routinely visit a friend who lived right around the corner from Nimitz. great name…Nimitz.”

The winner is DR2. Congratulations!

A Page about John Cage

www.wxyc.org/blog/2009_01_01_archive.html

The words to tell John Cage’s story start with prefix COL-/COM- that means “WITH, TOGETHER”

1. Compare, comparison
Compare your school rules with Rules for Students and Teachers by John Cage

Your turn: write one sentence using compare/contrast frame.

2. Composition, compose, composer
John Cage was the most influential composer of the 20th century

Your turn: Composers compose compositions. Another way to express this idea is to say____ .

3. Collect, collection, collector
Collectors collect interesting items. The items collected make a collection.
John Cage collected sounds. He used sounds from his collection in such compositions
as Variations III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsgAyZvgwY&feature=related

Your turn: What did you collect as a child? Why? What was special about your collection?
As a child I collected ________. My collection _____ .

4. Compete, competition, competitive
John Cage competed against other performers on I’ve Got a Secret TV show. This clip shows a segment of the competition.
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/john_cage_on_a_.html

Your turn: What competition would you like to win?
I would like to win _____________, because ______________

5. Combine, combination
John Cage combined the sounds produced by different objects with the sound of piano in the composition Water Walk.
Your turn: What can you say about this acoustic (sound) combination?
The _______ of sounds in Water Walk by John Cage _________

What ordinary objects can you use for creating special sound effects?
I can use _____ to show _______

6. Collide, collision
Chance music invented by John Cage collided with traditional composition techniques.

Your turn: How can you explain the collision between traditional music and compositions by John Cage? __________

7, Complete
4’33” is another famous composition by John Cage. Listen to it as it is performed by the BBC Symphony orchestra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUJagb7hL0E

Your turn: Search the links at the end of the post to find the year in which it was completed.
John Cage ___________ 4’33” in _________.

8. College
John Cage taught music classes at many colleges.

http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Images/cage-at-oberlin.gif

Your turn: What are you going to study at college? At college, I am going to study _________.

9. Collateral – side by side
When John Cage was young, he could not get money from a bank, because he had nothing for a collateral.

10. Convene, convention
Musicians from Other Minds, a global New Music community, convened in San Francisco to play music by Cage and other composers.
To listen to the performance of Suite for Toy Piano (1948), by Margaret Leng Tan at the Other Minds Festival in 1999 in San Francisco, go to:
http://www.archive.org/details/OM5LengTanCageSuiteforToy
Youtube video collection has a clip of this piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwsgAyZvgwY&feature=related

Your turn: Would you like to go to a convention or a festival of untraditional music? Why? Why not? ________

11. Compact
CD stands for ‘compact disc.’

Your turn: Would you like to have a CD with compositions by John Cage? Why? Why Not.

Links:
John Cage Online

Poetry on Twitter.com

The historian of jokes Jim Holt wrote in the New York Times (04/05/09), “I started learning poetry by heart on a daily basis. I’ve now memorized about a hundred poems.” So shall I. I shall resume learning poems, as I used to. I even won a couple of recital competitions. Many a time a line from a poem helped write a good composition or win an argument. Rhymes stored in memory proved priceless in dealing with complicated personal situations, too. Something has happened between then and now. Life has become too full of prosaic duties. Poetry is left aside till April, the National Poetry Month. But not any more. Twitter.com offers just the right format for savoring poetry a line a day! I opened a Twitter account and started with William Shakespeare’s Sonnet II. Follow me at http://twitter.com/Dr_M_219 .
We will use a minimalist approach and practice close reading on two verses at a time, then discuss the sonnet as a whole.
More advice from Jim Holt:

Myth No. 1: Poetry is painful to memorize. It is not at all painfull. Just do a line or two a day.
Myth No. 2: There isn’t enough room in your memory to store a lot of poetry. Bad analogy. Memory is a muscle, not a quart jar.
Myth No. 3: Everyone needs an iPod. You do not need an iPod. Memorize poetry instead.

See Holt’s essay at: Got Poetry?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/books/review/Holt-t.html

Practice makes perfect

Discipline and exercise help you develop skills. You can move towards your goal one step at a time.

Challenge: How many cranes did the origami artist use in this display?

Etiquette

Discipline Ditties
*
Do you want to be cool?
Bring your ID badge to school.
*
This rule applies to all:
You MUST walk in the hall.
No standing and talking;
Keep walking, walking, walking.
*
Observing the dress code
Promotes the learning mode.
*
May I have your attention? -
Tardies stand for detention.
Memorize this rhyme:
You MUST be on time.
*
A phone ringing in class?
An office referral, alas!
*
MP3 players spell trouble –
You will be fined and pay double.
*
Do you hear me, dude?
Never be rude.
Follow the etiquette.
You’d be glad you didn’t forget.
*
Whether you are a lad or lass,
Stay on task in class.
You will not buy principals’ affection
If they find you short of perfection.
*
Remember to bring your laptop
And jump with technology to the top.
*
Complete your homework.
You will get a perk!
*
Reading is a known virtue:
Library has literature.
A kid with a book
Has a smart look.
*
We believe in you and we profess:
You will be a huge success.
*
Hard work, focus, and creativity
Will take you out of captivity.
Axiom in Greek is “axioma.”
Be worthy and get your diploma.

Advice to English Learners

This is our last blogging session for the year. It has been a terrific year of school work. We had many challenges, but the students were able to make a great progress in all areas of language aquisition.

Share your experience with the readers of this blog. What have you learned that helped you be successful both as an English learner and an American high school student? What can future beginners learn from you?
What is your recipe for success? Give your advice as a blog comment.