Sunday, October 23, 2011

Masterpiece Theater: Classic, Mystery, and Contemporary

I am a self-confessed Masterpiece Theater fanatic. I love the classic stories on Masterpiece Classic, including many of the works of Dickens and Austen, and the great mysteries on Masterpiece Mystery, including Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series and Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Masterpiece Contemporary is my least favorite of the three, yet there are many good stories on that too. And if you watch each set of stories (on PBS), the year goes by very quickly.

Now I am eagerly awaiting the return of Downton Abbey, which is set in early 20th century England after the sinking of the Titanic. Season one episodes will be repeated starting Dec. 18th, followed by the new episodes starting on January 8th. My Sunday nights revolve around Masterpiece Theater, though now I have two new favorites that keep me busy all evening: Once upon a Time and Pan Am, both on ABC.

Won't you join me on Sunday nights? Just sit back in your armchair with your remote control. put up your feet, and tune in to Channel 13 at 9 PM. And for Downton Abbey, you should add a cup of hot tea and some scones with clotted cream and jam.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Welcome to Grammar!

National Grammar Day is less than six months away, but we can start to celebrate it now. We can visit the Grammar Day site at http://nationalgrammarday.com/ and explore the resources there.



I am adding some new information on this blog for all of you, and I hope you will make use of it. There is also plenty of information that has been here since the beginning, and many interesting posts by your peers from past semesters. I look forward to an adventure through English grammar with you. I hope that the course will give you a new appreciation for grammar and the English language.

Vocabulary

celebrate - remember a special day with a party or fun
explore - to look for something, to try to learn about something
resource - something that you can use for help
make use of - use
plenty - a lot
peers - people who belong to the same group, such as classmates
appreciation - seeing the value or worth of something, thanks

Cloze Exercise: Fill in the blanks with the correct word from the list above.
1. The teacher always _________________ the Smartboard to teach new vocabulary.
2. I always feel _____________ when someone helps me.
3. The library has __________ of books that readers can _____________ for information on animals.
4. Children often act the same way as their ____________.
5. We will ______________ my birthday with a cake and balloons.
6. The Internet has many _____________ for students who are looking for useful information.

Grammar Point
The words "make use of" are an example of nominalization. That means that the verb "use" becomes a "noun." Nominalization is a common feature of academic or school language because it allows writers to talk about complex ideas.

Grammar Assignment
Can you change celebrate into a noun form? Write the noun ______________. Then write a new sentence with the noun.______________________________________________

Monday, May 16, 2011

The End of All Things?


Remember the end of Return of the King? Check out the scene I am referring to by the link to the title above. Sam and Frodo thought everything was over, life, their lives, in our case -- grammar class-- but then they are rescued and have a whole new beginning. Our semester is over, and so is the Program for some of you, but rest assured! New, exciting, and finer times lie ahead. Maybe even a trip to Bhutan (see above). I have enjoyed reading all the blogs, and I hope you will all keep writing with your future students, on blogs or not. Best wishes for a wonderful summer!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Upstairs, Downstairs


Resurrected from the film archives? No. A new Upstairs, Downstairs that takes place in 1936 has begun. We have a mere two more episodes to look forward to, but I am already hooked. Almost all the characters are new, but the actors and actresses are veterans, led by the ineffable Jean Marsh from the first series and hidden somewhere in the background the ever-intensely charming and handsome (be still my beating heart) Art Malik (from The Jewel in the Crown series). This is just too much excitement while I am supposed to be focusing on my dissertation.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Shootings in My Hometown

Two deaths in a quiet neighborhood and no answers about the senselessness of them ... these are my thoughts. The young man who menaced a woman is dead, and a detective rushing to help is dead at the hands of another police officer. The woman who called 911 is wondering if they would still be alive if she hadn't called.

I don't have time for a linguistic analysis of the newspaper articles right now, but I can't help but note that the young man is called "a man" with a knife, which I suppose technically he is, or rather was, but when you see his face, you know he was barely out of boyhood and probably in need of help. Our boys, my son and his neighborhood friends, but a year younger, are still in college, not grown men yet really. And they knew the fellow from town, had seen his knives, and had spoken to him in passing.

As the police entered his home, his father asked them not to kill his son. But his son, cornered in his own room, burst out of it with knives swinging at and threatening officers. Was there some other way to handle this? We will never know. But now two families are burying their dead, and there is a sense that it was all senseless.

An afterthought...
Whenever a young person is troubled, getting him or her help would seem the right thing to do, but it is not easy, especially if he or she is over 18. Parents are helpless to force their children into care, and the suffering child is likely to not seek help on his/her own. The rate of untreated depression among college students, for example, is near 66%. There is a wonderful organization called NAMI, which can be of help with information and which advocates for the mentally ill in public forums, such as legislatures.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

New Literacy Studies-- Games and Other Ideas

Try some games at one of the sites connected with New Literacy Studies:
Wordz
Crystal Clear

Under construction--more to come soon...

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A Favorite Quote on Education













"A university should be a place of light, liberty, and learning."

Benjamin Disraeli

His words reverberate throughout the world of education today, at a time when educational theorists, government agencies, school districts, teachers and parents are trying to comprehend why success continues to elude some students in the American educational system. Disraeli's description resonates in the sphere of second language learning as well, in which language acquisition theorists and pedagogues alike seek the optimal ways to teach children, some of whom are at risk, and adults a second, or even third, language . Light, liberty, and learning are the key elements of any classroom, especially the second language one



Monday, February 28, 2011

Another Year at the Oscars

I always have the Oscars on my TV even if i don't watch every minute. This year was more interesting than usual with the charming young co-hosts and the beneficent linguistic shadow of the King's Speech hanging over the proceedings. And no one was surprised when the movie and Colin Firth won. That lack of surprise itself is perhaps the mark of greatness -- a performance so impeccable and outstanding that everyone knows it will win. I still haven't seen it because I can't afford the time right now, but I will soon. Yet every short clip of the movie makes me sure that I will love it, and I have always loved Geoffrey Rush's and Colin Firth's work.

What great performances and performers stick out in your memory? There are some that I watch over and over, and I believe that no one will ever replace them in my heart or mind. I think the greatest film of all time is Casablanca, the greatest actress is Ingrid Bergman, and there are a few actors contending for the greatest actor -- Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Hopkins (I lived in the same London neighborhood as his 1st wife and daughter, whom I met), Sebastian Koch (the German actor), and Johnny Depp. Who are your favorites?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Their Troubles, Our Troubles




An earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, revolutions in the Middle East, and strikes in Wisconsin ...

How are all these literally earth-shattering events related? Why should we care? What should we do? How do these events affect us? All these questions come to mind, but coming up with the answers may take time.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Greatest Love Stories (on the occasion of Valentine's Day)





What are your favorite love stories from film, literature, or real life? Here's my real-life wedding photo from May 1990.

The film love story that I like best is Casablanca. Of books and films by the same name, I love Doctor Zhivago, Wuthering Heights (especially the Tom Hardy movie version), Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Beauty and the Beast, and The Sound of Music. Others that I like include Now Voyager, Dark Victory, The African Queen, Three Coins in a Fountain, Roman Holiday, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Lives of Others (German). On the light side, there are Tangled, Princess Bride, and Notting Hill. What new love stories are yet to be told? What about yours?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sunday Night for Blogs and Masterpiece Theater


It is Sunday night again. Where do the weeks go? Though tonight I have to work on my thesis, I thought I would spend just a few minutes blogging about Sunday nights, which is usually the time I set aside to look at class blogs, perhaps write something on mine, and watch Masterpiece Theater, which I generally find irresistible because of my Anglophilia (which parallels my Russophilia).

Masterpiece Theater (on Channel 13) has included so many wonderful programs over the years. It has just broadcast 4 weeks of Downton Abbey, which you can still watch on the website http://video.pbs.org/video/1724131531/. This latest addition to the Masterpiece family lives up to every expectation I have for good historical drama and romance: the perfect setting, fabulous acting, splendid costumes, and a captivating story about characters that one can love or hate, as the case may be.

I prefer Masterpiece Classic and Masterpiece Mystery (Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and others) to Masterpiece Contemporary, but even that can be good. Classic often includes dramatizations of the novels of Jane Austen, the Brontes, and Thomas Hardy, just to name a few. But not all the productions are about English literature. There was an interesting version of the Russian novel Doctor Zhivago a few years ago. Last semester I showed Anna Karenina to my Russian Lit class, and they also became fans.

Television presents so many choices these days, including an incredible amount of nonsense, but you never have to worry about wasting your time on a bad program if you watch Masterpiece Theater. The programs are fabulous, and you may even benefit from the online materials about teaching various literary works. Give it a try if you haven't already! Happy viewing!

Friday, January 28, 2011

A NEW YEAR, NEW FACES, AND NEW STORIES TO SHARE



Welcome to my blog, dear students!

As we start 2011 and a new semester, I want to say how much I am looking forward to getting to know you all through our blogs. I do read every blog entry, sometimes one at a time and other times a few at once. I usually leave comments of varying lengths depending on time restraints. I like to share my interests in literature, cats, genealogy, and baking with you, and I enjoy learning about each of you.

My life began in Brooklyn, where I was born the first grandchild on both sides of my family. My parents named me Jacqueline Marion. My first name was out of the blue, but my middle name was my paternal grandmother's name. I went to Lutheran school for kindergarten and a public school for first grade, and then we moved to Massapequa, where I attended public school. Early on I took an interest in foreign language, starting German in 7th grade and Russian in 9th. I kept both languages throughout high school, and though I entered college as an English major, American Literature of the 1950s and 1960s (my 1st English course in college) left me cold, so I changed my major to Russian and German, and never looked back.

I graduated from SUNY Oswego with a BA in Russian and German (double major), and I received a Teaching Fellowship and Scholarship from Vanderbilt University in Nashville. I received an MA in Russian there and minored in German, but I made the rather controversial decision of not staying on for my doctorate, a decision which I have sometimes regretted. However, I left the doctoral program to take a job in the Soviet Union with the US Information Agency and later jobs using Russian with Keston College in Kent (England) and the Russian Orthodox Church (NYC), all jobs that I loved.

I came to TESOL through teaching Russian in NJ. I got my MS TESOL at Molloy while I was working in the Writing Center, and in 2006 I switched to Grad Ed, though I am still an adjunct in the English Dept., where I teach Modern Russian Literature in translation. You can see my favorite books list elsewhere on my blog, but I'll mention just a few of the Russian ones: Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, Doctor Zhivago by Pasternak, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

I have two cats, Paws and Sassy, a son, a stepdaughter, and a mom to take care of. I'll upload a few photos to give you a peek at my life. Please tell me about yourselves.

Above center is the picture of me at the linguistics conference in Vancouver this summer with new friends from Puebla, Leonor and Teresa. On the right are all the Nenchin children with me and my ex-husband. The two little ones are his, not mine. It was at Christopher's graduation from high school.

More next time ....

Vocabulary
time restraints -- (noun) (2-part compound noun) limited amount of time
out of the blue -- (idiom) random, without planning or reason, surprising
left me cold -- (idiom) (verb left, past tense of leave) did not get my interest
changed my major -- (phrase) started a different course of study, chose a different specialization
controversial -- (adjective) causing an argument or disagreement
regretted --(verb, past tense of regret) felt sad about when looking back in time

1. I was unable to finish the project because of the __________________ . I was too busy with my dissertation.
2. Paws _____________ killing the mouse because then he did not have anything to play with.
3. First, English was my main subject, but then I ________________ to Russian and German.
4. Sassy didn't see the car coming because it seemed to appear _________________.
5. He always liked to discuss ________________ topics on politics because he loved a good argument.
6. The novels of John Updike and Saul Burrows were not interesting to me; they just ____________________.

Grammar Point:
In the fourth paragraph, I use the past, present, and future tenses. Can you find the verbs in these tenses? Why would I change from one tense to the other? Explain.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Can v. Could

Subject: Can vs could

I received this question from a former student in a recent email:

How could I explain the difference between the verb "can" and "could"?
Does "could" involve with one's willingness to do something and "can"
is talking about one's ability?


Here's my answer:

I can understand your confusion. There is more than one meaning for "can" and "could."


"Can" generally refers to ability ("to be able to do something")

I can walk a mile in twelve minutes. = ability
I can speak Cantonese. + ability

"Could" = past ability
When I was 16, I could walk a mile in 8 minutes.
At one time I could speak Cantonese, but now I have forgotten how.


Sometimes "can" is used to ask permission, though some strict grammarians say this is wrong.
Can I go to the bathroom? = May I go to the bathroom?
A strict grammarian would say here that "can" is wrong and makes the request about ability instead of permission. HOwever, "can" is NOW widely used in the US to ask permission. I would argue that language is a living thing, and although it may be wrong to some people, most are using it that way.


"Can" and "could" are sometimes used to make a polite request:
Can you help me?
Could you help me?
Would you help me?
The last two are considered more polite than the first by some.




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