Everything is quiet and tranquil now. Spring might actually be emerging and with it, some peaceful and quiet days.
Some good, fun things I have had my students do are the following:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
(yay for INFJs)
http://www.astrology-online.com/persn.htm
http://www.iqtest.com/prep.html?test=final
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Translation Magic
It's interesting how malleable languages are: they adapt to fit us and what we want to say, but they also constrain us in their structures and limit us with their vocabulary.
Today, I had my students do one of my favorite assignments. I've given it maybe twice in the past and it's a task I do on my own, too. I let them choose a poem in their native language and then they translate it. After they finish, they read the poem in their native languages and then in English. It's kind of strange, but usually when they first start reading in their native languages, they laugh or giggle, as if embarrassed to be speaking their native language in class. But I always find the language the poem composed in to be so much more fluid and falling easily off the tongue then when it's spoken in English.
The students usually do really well on this assignment, no matter what their English level is. I know I can't tell what the poem is saying in their native language because my students are from all over the world, but even when I listen to their translations, the poems are beautiful.
Some things are lost in translation, and somethings are given a certain magic when translated.
Today, I had my students do one of my favorite assignments. I've given it maybe twice in the past and it's a task I do on my own, too. I let them choose a poem in their native language and then they translate it. After they finish, they read the poem in their native languages and then in English. It's kind of strange, but usually when they first start reading in their native languages, they laugh or giggle, as if embarrassed to be speaking their native language in class. But I always find the language the poem composed in to be so much more fluid and falling easily off the tongue then when it's spoken in English.
The students usually do really well on this assignment, no matter what their English level is. I know I can't tell what the poem is saying in their native language because my students are from all over the world, but even when I listen to their translations, the poems are beautiful.
Some things are lost in translation, and somethings are given a certain magic when translated.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Volunteering & Vegetarianism
Life goals...I don't have any...And I don't want them so take the prospect of them away!!!!!!!
Ok, just kidding. Kind of. The other day, after months of lackluster ambition, I suddenly had a windfall of it. Apparently, my brain decided it was like New Years resolution time before April Fools Day (gotta love the irony there). So, I made a bunch of resolutions.
One of them is to volunteer at least once a week. I found newyorkcares.org which is awesome because you can volunteer whenever you want. You go to an orientation, then you search through their volunteer projects and find a day and time that work for you. You don't have to commit to going more than one time to a project and they have a bunch of options. I've already been to two. The first was coloring with first graders and the second was talking English with immigrants.
I've volunteered on and off ever since high school. Sometimes volunteering sucks, not going to lie. Maybe the people you work with you don't particularly like or maybe the assignment sucks or maybe it's just not you for some reason, but more often than not, it's pretty good. I did data entry in a hospital as a teenager (suuuuuucked - so boring), Berkeley Youth Alternatives (such a good group - the kids were great), Cal Corps for a weekend in the Tenderloin in SF (also awesome), WorldTeach (one of the biggest learning experiences of my life), interning at Human Rights Watch (look at me copy things! But still a great learning experience and exposure to so much knowledge it was ridiculous), School on Wheels in CA (I didn't do this for very long but it is a really great organization), and Nuevos Horizontes in Guatemala (really, really good group! The kids are so sweet and I can't even put into words what a perspective I gained from it). I'll provide links because all these organizations could always have more help :)
I don't think of volunteering as good or bad. It just kind of is. When I'm really busy, I don't have the energy to volunteer. Working with kids always makes me feel good because they are just naturally themselves and that makes you be yourself. I feel that (this is probably going to be a bad metaphor like all my metaphors are...I apologize in advance) volunteering is like my vegetarianism/ quasi-veganism: it's just part of who I am, not good, not bad. I never really liked meat as a kid. I would take the pork out of the pork and potato casserole my mom made. I hated fish because it smelled bad and refused to eat it. I even took the cheese off my pizza as a kid (I know, who does that, right? Apparently, me). I never really liked eggs. I just kind of accept that I'm a vegetarian not out of some moral disposition but because, hey I just don't really want to eat meat and dairy and I aren't the best of friends. I like sweet things, though, and if you get between me and chocolate, you will end up with injuries. But yea, volunteering is the same - it's just part of who I am. Not good, not bad. Just is.
Links! Support these places because they are AWESOME!!
http://www.byaonline.org/
http://publicservice.berkeley.edu/
http://www.hrw.org/
http://www.worldteach.org/
http://www.schoolonwheels.org/
http://www.ahnh.org/
http://www.newyorkcares.org/
Ok, just kidding. Kind of. The other day, after months of lackluster ambition, I suddenly had a windfall of it. Apparently, my brain decided it was like New Years resolution time before April Fools Day (gotta love the irony there). So, I made a bunch of resolutions.
One of them is to volunteer at least once a week. I found newyorkcares.org which is awesome because you can volunteer whenever you want. You go to an orientation, then you search through their volunteer projects and find a day and time that work for you. You don't have to commit to going more than one time to a project and they have a bunch of options. I've already been to two. The first was coloring with first graders and the second was talking English with immigrants.
I've volunteered on and off ever since high school. Sometimes volunteering sucks, not going to lie. Maybe the people you work with you don't particularly like or maybe the assignment sucks or maybe it's just not you for some reason, but more often than not, it's pretty good. I did data entry in a hospital as a teenager (suuuuuucked - so boring), Berkeley Youth Alternatives (such a good group - the kids were great), Cal Corps for a weekend in the Tenderloin in SF (also awesome), WorldTeach (one of the biggest learning experiences of my life), interning at Human Rights Watch (look at me copy things! But still a great learning experience and exposure to so much knowledge it was ridiculous), School on Wheels in CA (I didn't do this for very long but it is a really great organization), and Nuevos Horizontes in Guatemala (really, really good group! The kids are so sweet and I can't even put into words what a perspective I gained from it). I'll provide links because all these organizations could always have more help :)
I don't think of volunteering as good or bad. It just kind of is. When I'm really busy, I don't have the energy to volunteer. Working with kids always makes me feel good because they are just naturally themselves and that makes you be yourself. I feel that (this is probably going to be a bad metaphor like all my metaphors are...I apologize in advance) volunteering is like my vegetarianism/ quasi-veganism: it's just part of who I am, not good, not bad. I never really liked meat as a kid. I would take the pork out of the pork and potato casserole my mom made. I hated fish because it smelled bad and refused to eat it. I even took the cheese off my pizza as a kid (I know, who does that, right? Apparently, me). I never really liked eggs. I just kind of accept that I'm a vegetarian not out of some moral disposition but because, hey I just don't really want to eat meat and dairy and I aren't the best of friends. I like sweet things, though, and if you get between me and chocolate, you will end up with injuries. But yea, volunteering is the same - it's just part of who I am. Not good, not bad. Just is.
Links! Support these places because they are AWESOME!!
http://www.byaonline.org/
http://publicservice.berkeley.edu/
http://www.hrw.org/
http://www.worldteach.org/
http://www.schoolonwheels.org/
http://www.ahnh.org/
http://www.newyorkcares.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)