“I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary--you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.” ― Georgia O'Keeffe
Who I Support in the Primary
Because a pro-ACA, -choice, -gun control, -Paris agreement billionaire who can outspend Republicans, remain unbeholden to special interests, and win the middle (along with a good chunk of the right) is just the thing.
I've developed an aversion to the phrasal preposition "as well as ...." It reads as though one couldn't find a sensible way to incorporate an addendum, so he has stuck it on the end of something else that's well-formed.
MEXTESOL 2019: Santiago de Querétaro, Estado de Querétaro, México
MEXTESOL marked my last conference of the 2019 calendar year. Somehow I pulled off three presentations of various mediums in the middle of the fall semester. I chose practical topics this time around--a demonstration on various styles of written corrective feedback, a poster session on computer assisted language teaching (CAPT) with MS Class Notebooks, and... Continue Reading →
The language carrot …
“I don’t speak,” Bijaz said. “I operate a machine called language. It creaks and groans, but is mine own.”"Dune Messiah" (1969) by Frank Herbert Today, the BBC published an article on what it means to be fluent in a language. Fluency might be the unicorn sighting of the second language universe--that thing everyone carries on... Continue Reading →
Sun shower in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor
Monday culminated in some shopping in Madrid's Plaza Mayor, where I got locked down by a torrential downpour. The intensity of the sunlight doesn't show up so well in this video, but the green dot moving around the screen is where the sun was hitting the lens of my phone's camara. https://youtu.be/fTEmuMDwEvE
Hace mucho tiempo no nos escribimos
Blog updates succumbed to summer ennui this year, but there's nothing like refreshing time away from the U.S. to get the words flowing again. It's remarkable what a reliable metro system with occupants who know how to act in public will do for my overall humor. I'm writing this from the patio of my hotel... Continue Reading →
The trouble with books …
The next time your students ask if they can rely on books for their research, you can tell them this: Book publishers don’t normally fact-check books. They’ll run sensitive material by lawyers, but otherwise it’s on authors to make sure their work is accurate. Generally, this works out fine. Sometimes, it does not. When books... Continue Reading →
Duolingo Announces its French Podcast
I love the Spanish language podcast, so this should be a welcome addition for French students. https://instagram.com/p/By2wsb7Bc9l/
