Saturday’s Book: “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah

Now you see a bench but…
Naomi’s Photos
… does it still look like a bench now? Naomi’s Photos

This is audiobook number two of the three books I am treating myself to and it was an EXCELLENT choice as a book AND as an audiobook.

Trevor Noah is a brilliant narrator of his own tale. Trevor knows how to employ different accents and make his characters sound differently. This is the kind of book you want as an audiobook.

Noah combines his memoirs of growing up as a mixed race child in South Africa before and after Apartheid ended (hence “born a crime” – white father, black mother, it was illegal!) with historical information and background. From his unique perspective as a child who moved in different circles (he spoke 4 languages!) but didn’t seem to belong anywhere, he takes care to point out how different groups of people viewed the same events, situations or concepts.

South Africa’s borders are not Noah’s borders. He connects his personal childhood experience to a much bigger picture of our world in general. As a language teacher I would love to teach in class the chapter in the book where Noah presents the advantages of knowing four languages. Knowing languages is really a superpower – it lets you connect to people but also allows you to perceive others from a totally different perspective. This knowledge helped Noah deal with complicated situations – students could relate to that.

Hmm… I guess there is a disadvantage of having heard this book as an audiobook. I can’t quickly flip through the book and tell you which chapter it was that I’m talking about. You will just have to read the book yourself!

Teachers Grading Finals, Slog Through Bloom’s Taxonomy Too!

Note: This post uses the  revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy as explained in “The Second Principle by Leslie Owen Wilson”. 

It CAN be done!
Naomi’s Photos

Students aren’t the only ones to whom Bloom’s Taxonomy (the revised version) relates to.

Just look at teachers grading finals, during exam “high season”, and see for yourself.

Remembering

Recognizing or recalling knowledge from memory.”

Remembering the ghosts of previous piles of exam notebooks during “exam high season”. Recalling that you did vanquish them and even did so on schedule (thanks to the fun activities you didn’t partake in…).  Remembering not to think of the ghosts of future exam piles…

Really?!
Naomi’s Photos
Understanding

“Constructing meaning from different types of functions be they written or graphic messages…”

Constructing meaning from graphic messages otherwise known as students’ handwriting. Trying to decipher  letters written in an exam notebook which form words you didn’t recognize at first because they had no business being used in the sentence they were placed in.  Understanding that grinding your teeth in frustration isn’t worth it because your dental bills may exceed your salary.

Applying

“Applying relates to or refers to situations where learned material is used…”

From many years of experience you have learned that  “simple” exams  (testing a lower level of English, such as  Module A) can be checked efficiently one at a time, on your lap, in a waiting room, a  crowded teacher’s room or anywhere else. Exams at higher levels are more efficiently checked on a table where they can be slightly spread out and checked in batches, per question.

Time… Naomi’s Photos

 

Analyzing

Breaking materials or concepts into parts, determining how the parts relate to one another…”

Parts, huh? Identifying “parts” is the easy “part” . But how does a teacher fit them all in? You know, time wise?

Grading exams, recording grades digitally, preparing review material and repeat exams, doing housework, dealing with the crowded pre-holiday shopping scene, familial obligations, meeting with friends and relatives you don’t see often enough, attending gym classes, taking pictures, blogging and sleeping

One leg on either side…
Naomi’s Photos

 

Evaluating

Making judgments based on criteria…”

Judging whether it is worth the extra weight and inconvenience of carrying the exam notebooks with you wherever you go so you may take advantage of every single spare moment to keep on grading. Evaluating the advantage of the former strategy vs the unthinkable  danger of forgetting the exam notebooks somewhere…

Creating

“…reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure…”

Now that you think you have finished grading the exams you must create another version of  every test for the “retake day” . Don’t worry, management cares enough to worry about you being  in danger of suffering from “hubris” due to having prepared an extra version while creating the original exams. Therefore, an extra special exam date will be added at the last-minute so don’t even dream of saying goodbye to the photo copying machine. There’s creating to be done…

HANG IN THERE FELLOW TEACHERS! THANKFULLY THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO TEACHING THAN GRADING EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday’s Book: “The Last Days of Night” by Moore

Illuminate!
Naomi’s Photos

So how would you like to “meet” Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell and J. P. Morgan? Or “see” the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as it is  being built and “visit” the new Metropolitan Opera (it seems the old Opera House wouldn’t accept the likes of Rockefeller and Vanderbilt so they needed a new one…)?

I did!

Well, not exactly. But it feels that way!

I treated myself to three audiobooks, and this historical legal thriller is the first. The excellent narrator was able to make each character sound a little differently, which added another dimension to the book. The book is rich with details and background information and in many parts its quite easy to imagine being a fly in the room, with a front row seat to the legal battle.

Naomi’s Photos

Make no mistake – while there’s a lot of fascinating history here, this is  a legal thriller in the tradition of any of those courtroom dramas series you happen to favor on T.V. It turns out there was a huge dramatic battle over who and how the USA would become a country with electricity. The lawyer (whose eyes you are peering through as the story unfolds)  is young and dashing and of course there’s a love story too…

It’s certainly a good choice for an audiobook as the drama makes listening to it rather energizing – I got a great deal of cooking done while listening!

I understand there is going to be a movie version soon. It doesn’t surprise me in the least. I’m glad I read it before the movie comes out!

 

 

Saturday’s Book: “The Rights of Desire” by Brink

Unexpected!
Naomi’s Photos

And to think I almost didn’t read this book!

I picked it up at the “readers-give-readers” corner at our library but it remained on the bookshelf while I read other books first. Not only had I  never heard of the South African author,  the title and the cover weren’t particularly appealing. It clearly wasn’t what once was called a “10 cent paperback” but the book didn’t appear particularly appealing either.

As they say, appearances are misleading. I’m now ready to read any book by Brink I can find, and I understand he wrote several.

The style of writing had me hooked by page one. The main character is a former librarian and the book is full of references to other books, in addition to moving paragraphs about the degree in which books can make a difference in a person’s life.

The setting is in post-apartheid Cape Town, South Africa, though the story weaves past, distant past (there’s a ghost!) and present. All turbulent times in different ways.

And yes, there is desire, lust, love or lack of it, from different perspectives. Don’t expect any “saccharine coating” here, but there is tenderness along with reality.

A wholly unpredictable book.

I’m so glad I read it.

Students Writing for an Authentic Audience affords A Peek into their Hearts

Behind the mask…
(Naomi’s Photos)

Spelling, grammar, vocabulary – it is well known that these skills improve the more students practice their writing. Naturally, when students have an authentic audience to write for, they are markedly more motivated to pay attention to their writing.

In addition to all that goodness,  I discover time and again that such a kind of writing leads to many other meaningful things as well. Meaningful for both the students and the teacher.

I just want to share the joy!

My lovely co-teacher just gave birth and I opened a Padlet virtual wall so that the students could write congratulatory notes for her. My teenage students like  Padlet’s cool backgrounds and the ease in which they can edit and add pictures.  So it’s always a good choice for me. The students were eager to wish their teacher well – no prodding was necessary.  It’s good for a teacher to be reminded that the students care!

  • MOTIVATION – Got that covered! CHECK!
Handmade for you!
Naomi’s Photos

One student  wished the teacher “good health and happy” so we talked about happy vs happiness. Another expressed hope that the teacher would come back next year with ” new powers”, which is a direct translation from Hebrew. So we discussed leaving “the powers” for the superheros and went with “lots of energy”. In short, the kind of discussions an English teacher expects to have, you know what I mean. Some mistakes I did not correct or point out – going  over each note with a fine tooth comb would have been counter productive.

  • VOCABULARY – SYNTAX – GRAMMAR     –  CHECK!

One student started to write his note saying that he hopes the teacher feels better again soon and will come back to class as soon as possible… We had a talk about the fact that  having a baby is not like being sick and in any case the teacher won’t come back soon, she’s on maternity leave. I had a similar talk with a girl in a different group who wanted to write a note but claimed she only knows what to say when someone is ill. We mentioned useful phrases for this situation in L1 as well. Other students did not have this problem and even asked for pictures!

  • PROMOTING SOCIAL SKILLS – CHECK!
Parents?
Naomi’s Photos

One student wrote a particularly long note. Half of the note was devoted to telling the teacher to make sure her husband takes care of the baby too. A sample sentence: you gave the new baby for the world and father need to do something also.hahah :)”. It was a strong reminder of the student’s own “thorny” fatherhood woes  and how it must be an issue close to his heart. I did not point out any errors at all on this student’s note…

INSIGHTS INTO WHAT’S ON STUDENTS’ MINDS – CHECK!

I saw one student having Google translate an entire paragraph typed in L1. I was about to protest strongly  (they are not supposed to do that in class!) until I saw what she had written. The kind of “flowery blessing”, which was obviously something she had encountered at home, was important to her. “This is the right thing to  say when someone has a baby”, she said with a big smile. The student would not have been able to produce sentences such as the following on her own: “That the sun on you will always shine. And your family will grow and blossom. That they sow endless love”. So I just smiled back and didn’t say a word.

LEARNING ABOUT  STUDENTS’ CULTURAL BACKGROUND – CHECK!

In short, wishing someone else well, in written English, did us all good!