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Emile Griffith, a former world welterweight and middleweight boxing champion who spent decades haunted by his fatal beating of then-champion Benny Paret in the ring and bothered by the public's interest in his sexuality, died Tuesday. He was 75.
Griffith's death at an extended-care facility in Hempstead, N.Y., was announced by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1990 following an 85-24-2 career that counted 23 main events at Madison Square Garden and victories over middleweight champions Dick Tiger and Nino Benvenuti.
"He was a man's man in the world of boxing but his own person out in the world," said Griffith's friend and biographer, Ron Ross, whose book on the fighter, "Nine… Ten… and Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith," was published in 2008.
"It was difficult to get into details with Emile. To the end, he would not want to make himself so open to everyone," Ross said. "He didn't like to be labeled gay and still felt the world was not ready for Emile Griffith."
Though Griffith had been bedridden, limited to tube feeding for the last two years, the time has been marked by the prominent disclosures of two athletes, boxer Orlando Cruz and former NBA player Jason Collins, that they are gay.
Cruz, preparing for an Oct. 12 world featherweight title fight, had attempted in recent months to schedule a meeting with Griffith that never happened.
"Emile would be very pleased and accepting of these athletes," Ross said. "He had his own set of rules for life, and he felt people can live their lives the way they wanted to."
Griffith was born Feb. 3, 1938, in St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands. He was working as a stock boy handling women's hats at a New York garment factory when factory executive and boxing manager Howie Albert noticed his physique and coaxed him to work out for famed boxing trainer Gil Clancy.
Griffith was a fast-punching, deceptive fighter whose personal joy shined through even in tough matchups such as a 1965 venture into the home arena of Fresno's Gabe Terronez, a bout that Griffith won easily by fourth-round knockout.
But the boxer found a foil in Cuba's Benny "Kid" Paret. Griffith knocked out Paret in the 13th round of their April 1961 bout, and Paret responded with a split-decision triumph five months later.
That set the stage for their third bout, at Madison Square Garden in March 1962, when Paret inflamed Griffith by insulting him with a slur, which Sports Illustrated described as "gutter Spanish for homosexual."
Clancy had to take Griffith for a walk around New York following the weigh-in to help him cool off. Griffith told Ross: "There was never hatred, but I was very angry."
In the 1962 Sports Illustrated account, Gilbert Rogin wrote: "It is the most vulgar epithet in that violent idiom and is particularly galling to Griffith, who has a piping voice, wears extravagantly tight clothes, has designed women's hats and is, ordinarily, a charming, affectionate kid."
Griffith told Ross he meant to win the fight by knockout, "but I never intended to harm Benny Paret."
Griffith controlled the fight before Paret scored a quick knockdown in the eighth round. Griffith rallied and cornered Paret in the 12th.
Sports Illustrated reported: "Suddenly, Emile battered Paret with a plangent right. This time, Griffith resolved to finish him. He began belaboring the suffering Paret with right uppercuts, one after another, an unrelenting fusillade, Emile's hand banging against Benny's jaw as remorselessly as the clapper of a great, dark bell. Paret sagged back against the middle turnbuckle. Griffith's punches drove his head out between the top and middle strands....
"Benny was helpless, bleeding from his nose and a cut on his right cheek; his puffed eyes were closed," Sports Illustrated reported. "Still Griffith punched him, with mounting and maniacal rage, as though determined, literally, to wipe out both Paret and the memory of his taunt. There were, in all, about 15 uppercuts, followed by several hooks."
Griffith said later: "When I saw Paret hurt, I wanted him to be on the ground before the fight was stopped. I wanted to keep punching. I was still eager to put him down."
Referee Ruby Goldstein finally stopped the fight.
Paret died 10 days later.
Upset but resigned to the fact that boxing was his profession, Griffith returned to the ring and fought until 1977, losing a welterweight title fight to Luis Rodriguez at Dodger Stadium in 1963.
The scar of his rage and the death of Paret stayed with Griffith for decades.
"He'd wake up at night and see Benny Paret at the foot of his bed," Ross said.
A 2005 documentary about the fight and Griffith, "Ring of Fire," featured a healing meeting between Griffith and Paret's son, Benny Jr., but Paret's wife, Lucia, refused to acknowledge Griffith at the documentary premiere.
In an interview afterward with the New York Times, Griffith acknowledged sexual relations with men and women.
He had a long relationship in the 1990s with Luis Rodrigo Griffith, a young man whom he later adopted.
Griffith married a woman, Mercedes Donastorg, in 1971, divorced soon after and told Ross he preferred physical relations with women "but felt more comfortable with men, and could confide in them."
Outside a New York gay bar in 1992, Griffith was severely beaten by at least five men who mugged him with bats and chains, leading him to a later life of dementia, Ross said.
"By 2009, there was no more intelligent conversation," Ross said. "His passing is a blessing. I visited him three weeks ago. It was just so sad to see him like that, knowing he had this tremendous athleticism and instinctive skills once. He could do anything — play tennis, dance, sing. He never wanted to be a fighter."
Griffith is survived by his son, Luis, and brothers Franklin, Tony and Guillermo, and sisters Eleanor, Karen, Joyce and Gloria.


text:
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook delivered fourth-quarter results above Wall Street's expectations on Wednesday and sought to show that it has finally transformed into a "mobile company."
But its stock dropped sharply in after-hours trading as investors placed more significance on the company's growing expenses rather than on its increasing user base and higher advertising revenue.
"Everything was slightly better than expected," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. "I don't see anything here that would make me want to sell the stock."
Nonetheless, Facebook's stock fell $1.34 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $29.90 in after-hours trading following the earnings report.
Facebook grew its revenue and increased the proportion of revenue that comes from mobile advertising — a closely watched figure. But expenses also grew sharply. Also, the company said 2013 will be a year of "significant investments" and hiring as it focuses on long-term growth rather than short-term profits.
Facebook Inc., the world's largest social media company, earned $64 million, or 3 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's down from $360 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier when it was still a privately held company.
Revenue rose 40 percent to $1.59 billion from $1.13 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.51 billion.
Advertising revenue grew 41 percent to $1.33 billion, increasing at a faster clip than in the third quarter, when it climbed 36 percent to $1.09 billion.
Excluding special items, mainly related to stock compensation expenses, Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook earned 17 cents per share in the latest quarter.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected lower adjusted earnings of 15 cents per share.
"There were no major red flags," said Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler. "I think expectations may have even been just a little bit higher" than analyst estimates indicated.
Facebook's biggest challenge lies in mobile devices. Most Facebook users access it using a mobile phone or tablet computer, yet the 9-year-old company only started showing mobile ads about 9 months ago.
"I think more people are starting to understand mobile is a great opportunity for us," CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts in a conference call. "It allows us to reach more people, we have more engagement from the people we reach and I think we will be able to make more money for each minute people spend with us on … mobile devices."
Facebook has been trying to squeeze in more mobile adverting without alienating users who are more interested in conversing with their friends than being subjected to a marketing blitz. The company appears to be striking the right balance so far, based on the number of people still regularly using the mobile apps, Kessler said.
Facebook said it generated 23 percent, or $306 million, of advertising revenue from mobile, up from 14 percent or $153 million in the third quarter, the first time it disclosed such information.
While Facebook's accelerated revenue growth is a positive sign, there's still a feeling that the company could be doing even more to mine revenue from its mobile audience, Kessler said. He expected Facebook's mobile ad revenue to rise to 25 percent of the company's ad sales or about $350 million in the fourth quarter.
Facebook's monthly user base grew 25 percent from a year earlier to 1.06 billion accounts. About 680 million of them access Facebook using a mobile device each month. The company also said that the number of mobile users who access the site every day surpassed daily users on the Web for the first time in the fourth quarter.
As of the stock market's close on Wednesday, Facebook's stock was up 60 percent since the company's third-quarter earnings report came out in October. But it still hasn't hit its initial public offering price of $38.
The May 18 IPO was by far the biggest one for an Internet company since Google's in 2004, but the excitement quickly deflated.
Pachter suspects that investors may be worried Facebook's expenses are starting to outstrip its revenue growth. That was the case in the fourth quarter when the company's costs, excluding employee stock compensation, soared 67 percent from the previous year to $849 million, mainly due to hiring and infrastructure costs such as data centers and servers. And Facebook promises to keep on spending.
David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, said Facebook expects total expenses, excluding stock compensation costs, to grow by about 50 percent in 2013. In 2012, these costs amounted to $2.83 billion, an increase of 63 percent from 2011.
The company ended the year with 4,600 employees, a 44 percent increase from the end of 2011.
AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this story from San Francisco.

subset: commoncrawl


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- 100% cotton shell and lining
- 3 carry positions: front, back and hip
- Baby weight range: 7*-45 lb. (3.2*–20 kg) *newborn with infant insert
- Adjustable padded shoulder straps and waist belt
- Large zippered storage pocket
- 5 position adjustable hood
- Stitching: reinforced at all fabric intersections for extra durability
- Shoulder strap length range: 24"-44" (61cm-112cm)
- Waist belt circumference range: 26"-55" (66cm-140cm)
- Shoulder strap padding: 1" high density PU foam
- Designed in the USA
Monday, April 21, 2014
Ergobaby Carrier Giveaway! {CAN ~ 5/11}
26 comments:
- sonya CApril 21, 2014 at 12:13 AM
LOVE the bjorn one carrier! this will be perfect for everything I need and I love that it would be the only carrier I need instead of having multiple!ReplyDelete
I love the Chicco echo StrollerReplyDelete
Farm Buddies Fitted Sheet, bumpers and crib skirt are my top pick!ReplyDelete
I really like the CHICCOReplyDelete
Echo Stroller, it is light weight, adjustable foot rest and 4 different back rest positions. I also like the look of these strollers. Thank you:)
I learnt that Rose Ou Bleu provides information seminars on different products that are available .. SO handy!!ReplyDelete
And favorite product ? Possibly the Radian R120 Car Seat .. it's what we need next and it's so versatile :)ReplyDelete
I love the chicco Echo Stroller because its light weight and most importantly it has so many important adjustments like Five- or three-point safety harness,the backrest can be positioned in 4 different positions and kids love that the footrest can also be adjusted That to me is very good to have with one productReplyDelete
i want to win this for my niece who just had a baby 2 days agoReplyDelete
I really like the Stokke Sleepi System (mattress not included) but figure the mattress would be included for that price.ReplyDelete
I learned that they sell GREAT products on that site!!ReplyDelete
Performance Baby Carrier Ventus because it is mesh and breathableReplyDelete
That I love the BFF Diaper Bag-Berry squares and it's on sale!!ReplyDelete
LOVE THIER educational games selection <3ReplyDelete
Loving everything :). Pretty cool that they offer free information seminars. I really like the chalk table and benches. Thanks for chance to win .ReplyDelete
Love the forma Diaper bag!ReplyDelete
I loved the yellow baby stroller! and the diaper bags- very cute stuffReplyDelete
kellythompson747@yahh . com
Chicco Echo Stroller!ReplyDelete
I wish I got my bugabbo donkey through them! Free fabric. ~Erica Ash.ReplyDelete
I like the Echo stroller in red.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 29, 2014 at 9:03 AM
love the Chicco echo stroller for my new grand neice or nephew,,,, @pattygeorge2009ReplyDelete
I really like the Echo STrollerReplyDelete
I really like the Cameleon 3 StrollerReplyDelete
I like the 2 in 1 Owl BassinetReplyDelete
I would love the baby jogger city select stroller!ReplyDelete
- Tannis F.May 7, 2014 at 11:54 PM
I would love to try this Ergobaby Carrier out!!! Good luck to all of us!!!ReplyDelete
I love the City Select Stroller too , they have alot of nice products thereReplyDelete
**Comment moderation is enabled. Your comments won't show up until I approve them. That way we avoid a bunch of SPAM comments and you don't have to deal with the evil captcha. LOL


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Sisters Gulassa: Pattern and Textile Design
the jump...
We stumbled across Sisters Gulassa products on the Print and Pattern blog. They have some beautiful paper products, fabric, and totes. They are planning on expanding and creating home goods as well. Check out their shop to see the full line. Make sure to also visit the "Inspiration" section of their website. We love seeing the process of design and the artists' studios. For the latest news and updates, go to their blog.
(Images: Sisters Gulassa)


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Cave of Forgotten Dreams (US - BD RA)
Gabe goes spelunking with Werner Herzog, learns about human origins...
Werner Herzog's biggest fans probably don't like his films being divided into two categories, but I tend to separate his documentaries from his fictional films rather sharply in my mind. Though I tend to think his very best films are of the fictional variety ( Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, though 'fictional' may be the wrong word considering how many of his films are at least based on true events), but I find myself more consistently enthralled and entertained by his documentaries ( My Best Fiend, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Grizzly Man). Herzog's work with the documentary format is among the most personable in the field, and at his best it's impossible to mistake his work for any other documentarian. The best prolific documentary filmmakers – Errol Morris, Martin Scorsese, at one time Michael Moore – usually have a signature style, and are part of the discussion without drawing awkward attention to themselves. Herzog's best documentaries usually center around a single human subject, and his warm, stoic, and consistent personality (not to mention his incredibly understated sense of humour) helps bring his audience into that subject's world without too much initial judgment.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams does not revolve around a single subject, or even a living group of people, it revolves around the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in France, where the earliest cave paintings were discovered in 1994. So right off the bat, it's missing a twinge of that Herzog brand of documentary magic. The 'History Channel Films' logo at the top of the film is another clue into the fact that this particular documentary is going to be similar to the kind of thing you'd usually see on Cable television between episodes of Mythbusters and Pawn Stars. The scientist and crew are not integral parts of the film, and for the most part are overlooked in favour of beautiful images and hard facts. Herzog is still an important part of the production, though. Besides the fact that the director appears on screen and acts as narrator, the general tone is similar to his other films. But for large portions of the Cave of Forgotten Dreams he seems uncomfortable with how to deal with the material. He pushes a grim sense of dread early in the film for little reason other than the fact that he's Werner Herzog, and that's what he does. The process of initially entering the cage is genuinely frightening and claustrophobic. Soon enough, however, the director stops struggling with tone, as he sets the most beautiful images of the cave stoically against Ernst Reijseger's mournful/rapturous classical score, creating a definitively artistic notion most made for cable documentaries usually wouldn't touch. Later, as an interviewer he asks questions in his usual poetic style, and in interviewing the scientists he's able to better personalize the film, and bring it back around to his normal style of filmmaking. About 30 minutes into the runtime the scientific value of the cave findings finally began to dawn on me, and I finally started to forget I was watching a Werner Herzog film.
If we're going to simplify this experience we have to admit that Herzog is kind of making this film as an excuse to experiment with modern 3D camera technology. I'm not trying to cheapen the experience, but according to most of the interviews that ran around the time the film was released in theaters Herzog was sort of 'pushed' into using 3D cameras by cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. He didn't like the idea at first, but was eventually sold when he realized what the technology could do for this particular film. The funniest thing about the interviews is how much Herzog ended up not liking the process, despite the apparent success of the experiment, and made brilliant comments about the purely scientific problems with the process. Unfortunately I didn't see the film in theaters, and do not have 3D capabilities at home, which leaves me at a pretty sizable disadvantage in writing this review. From what I understand Herzog and Zeitlinger put a lot of effort into incorporating the technology, and unlike so many films that are 3D enhanced as an afterthought, an accurate critical look at the film requires a sizable critique of the 3D cinematography. Looking at the film in 2D I'm surprised by how clearly handheld the production is, and imagine the constant shake was a bit of a problem in theaters. It's not that the cinematography is unattractive (outside the early stuff, which can't help but look haphazard), it's just not as smooth as I was expecting. The animated, laser point internal map of the cave creates a definite sense of immersion, even in flat 2D.
There are very few times I wish I had a 3D set-up. This is one of those times. As I said in the feature part of this review, the 3D enhancement seems to be something like a third of the film's critical value. There's also the issue of size. Cave of Forgotten Dreams begs to be seen extra large, or at the very least life-sized. But I'm going to work with what I've got. Early in the film the 3D rig (apparently attached to a remote control helicopter) moves slowly towards the cave, and the transfer does not handle the smooth movement very effectively. The frame updates in sections, which is a common side effect of interlaced transfers. At this point I was frightened that the transfer had been mislabeled as 1080p, but this problem is done away with pretty quickly by the following scene. Other problems occasionally arise in its place however, the most unfortunate of which is a digital blocking effect that smoothes out some of the details. The brightest outside shots also suffer a bit of shimmer. Scenes within the cave are occasionally quite rough looking thanks to less than stellar lighting conditions, and I assume that the digital artefacts in these sections are unavoidable. These include everything from low-level noise and blocking effects to ghosting. The more stoically staged moments are the ones that give me pause, and these leave me suspecting that perhaps squeezing both the 3D and 2D versions of the film onto one disc wasn't the best idea. Colour quality is left a little muted (especially scenes outside the cave), but I'm assuming are relatively naturalistic, but hues are well separated (even when the blocking becomes an issue), and the more vibrant elements (usually clothing) are set sharply against the more common blacks and browns. This is largely a successful transfer, but the ebb and flow of overall quality leads me to compare it to a really good HD broadcast.
Really, is there any better sound in the world than Werner Herzog's voice? No, there isn't. He should read every audio book ever made as far as I'm concerned, and I could watch his episodes of The Boondocks and The Simpsons on a loop. His narration is arguably the most important aural element on this DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. This makes for a largely centric affair, and it's worth noting that Herzog doesn't use subtitles for the French scientist, rather he uses more narrators, who speak over the scientists that don't speak in English (he wants us to look at the images, not read subtitles). All these voices, especially Herzog's, sound just fine, and remain effectively centered. There isn't a lot in the way of sound effects, outside the most basic noises trudged up while walking through a cave. At one point the crew is asked to remain quiet and listen to the silence of the cave, and Herzog adds a nice, bassy heartbeat into the mix, but for the most part he avoids dealing with theatrical sounds (which might have been fun given the echo effects that come with spelunking). The surround and stereo channels are mostly left to Ernst Reijseger's cello, flute, organ and choral heavy score, which aurally floats very lightly and effectively somewhere in the center of the viewing room.
The disc's only extra, outside of a trailer, and trailers for other IFC releases, is Ode to the Dawn of Man (39:20, HD), Herzog's mini-documentary chronicling the recording of Reijseger score. The small band of musicians recorded in a small church for ideal acoustics, and Reijseger himself played the cello parts. This is a strictly fly-on-the wall affair, with only a few titles to explain what is going on for much of the runtime. It's a bit dry, to be frank, though Reijseger's interview concerning his weird, extra deep cello is pretty interesting. And that guy can play the hell out of that bastard.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams isn't quite what I tend to want from Werner Herzog, but it is a very good standalone documentary, on a rather fascinating subject. My biggest complaint is that I'm not sure I think Herzog quite hammers down the importance of the cave's discovery for viewers (like myself) less familiar with prehistoric sciences. I can't recall any explicit mention of the cave featuring the earliest known paintings. This Blu-ray features both the 3D and 2D versions of the film, and I was only able to review the 2D version, which is unfortunate given the care and thought that was put into the 3D cinematography. The 2D image quality is a pretty hit and miss, the DTS-HD MA sound is thin, but well represented, and the extras are minimal. I noticed that the film also appeared on the Netflix instant queue before I got this review finished, so Netflix members with time should definitely give it a look.
* Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray image quality.
Review by Gabriel Powers
All ages admitted
Disc Details
Release Date: 29th November 2011
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Extras: Ode to the Dawn of Man, Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Werner Herzog
Genre: Documentary
Length: 89 minutes
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Selected readings on US charter schools
A new charter school focused on developing leaders plans to open near the airport in September, one of four new charter schools in New Hampshire.
The Founders Academy Public Charter School on Perimeter Road hopes to open with 100 students this fall in grades 6 and 7 — and possibly grade 8 — depending on demand, according to Deb Waitt, outreach coordinator for The Founders Academy Public Charter School.
The four new schools brings the state's total to 22, according to the state Department of Education website.
The other schools opening are the Gate City Charter School for the Arts in Nashua (for kindergarten through grades 4), Granite State Arts Academy: A Public Chartered School in Derry (for grades 9 through 12) and Mountain Village Charter School in Plymouth (for grades 1 through 3).
Growth plans
The Founders Academy, which announced its location recently, plans to operate grades 6 through 12 eventually.
"The goal is to grow by a grade a year," Waitt said. "We plan to grow by 100 students a year."
It becomes the fourth charter school in Manchester.
The others in Manchester are the Making Community Connections (MC2) Charter School, 60 Rogers St., Unit 203; Polaris Charter School, 100 Coolidge Ave.; and the Mill Falls Charter School, which rents space at the New Hampshire Union Leader on 100 William Loeb Drive.
Matt Southerton, who runs a charter school support organization in Concord, said he provides free technical assistance to people interested in opening a charter school.
"I think a one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn't work for all students," said Southerton, who said he was a founding board member at Founders Academy to allow him to help file the school's articles of incorporation, but he has since resigned. "I think some variety and choice is good within the system."
At Founders Academy, students will learn more than core school subjects.
"What you'll see in addition is business and entrepreneurship, leadership, and a focus on law and ethics and personal responsibility," Waitt said. "The premise of a charter school is choice."
Waitt said school officials plan to have an information booth at McIntyre Ski Area this week during school vacation week.
Original plans, she said, called for the school to be located in Londonderry, but finding a location proved difficult. Informational meetings already have been held in that town.
The building at 5 Perimeter Road needs renovations but is expected to be be ready by August.
The school, which will occupy about 60,000 square feet, is negotiating for the Manchester School District to provide bus service.
Derry's charter school
In Derry, Wendie Leweck said Granite State Arts Academy plans to open with teachers for all four high school grades on Sept. 3, accepting up to 40 students per grade.
"We fully expect to hit our numbrs in grades 9, 10 and 11," said Leweck, who chairs the board of trustees."We want to admit students who are passionate about the arts and give them an opportunity to fulfill all the requirements of graduating high school and even more and allow time in their day, about two hours a day, to hone their craft," she said.
Students will be required to study at least two art forms, such as painting, dancing or music.
Applications will be accepted starting in March.
Source: New Hampshire Union Leader – by Michaeal Cousineau
View more articles on New Hampshire charter schools


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Saturday Sit with Mary
May 12 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm PDT
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 5:00pm on Saturday, repeating until September 29, 2018
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Saturday Sit with Mary Stancavage. Meditation and Dharma Talk suitable for all levels of practitioner, but especially good for those new to meditation or Buddhist teachings. Each week will consist of a meditation period followed by a dharma talk and discussion. The talks and discussion will cover the basics of Buddhism and meditation practice. No registration is necessary and all are welcome.


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|The Pyrgi tablets contain a treatise inscribed in both
Etruscan and Phoenician script. Image courtesy of
Wikimedia user Pufacz.
The program is designed to compare an unknown language with a language known to be related to it. In this case scientists set the known related language to Hebrew.
"The system looks for commonly used symbols in the two languages and gradually refines its mapping of the alphabet until it can go no further. The Ugaritic alphabet has 30 letters, and the system correctly mapped 29 of them to their Hebrew counterparts."
"Of the words that the two languages shared the program was able to correctly identify 60 per cent of them." - Read more
Critics point out that some as-yet undeciphered scripts have no known related languages so the program would not be of much use for them. But leading researcher Regina Barzilay thinks that by scanning multiple languages at once the program could draw logical conclusions from contextual references.
|Etruscan Architectural Antefix depicting a
Maenad and a Satyr 500-475 BCE. Photographed
at the Getty Villa by Mary Harrsch.
Perhaps if they used epigraphic examples from similar types of excavation sites that would increase the likelihood that the inscriptions would be discussing similar topics. For example, if they used inscriptions from tablets all found near granaries or inscriptions all found on funerary objects in tombs it may help to increase the contextual similarities. If they further limited inscriptions to those found in similar sites from roughly equivalent time periods that would narrow the comparisons even further. This may also mean that comparisons could be made with languages existing at the same time period but not necessarily from a related language group.
In the Etruscan Museum in Rome housed in the Villa Giulia, there is a treatise inscribed on the Pyrgi tablets in both Etruscan and Phoenician. Although they are not related languages, they are both obviously talking about the same thing. Perhaps their inscriptions could be used as a test with the new software.
Other critics have pointed out that the program really does not have a way to determine the beginning or ending of words either. This can be a serious problem as Etruscan did not use spacing or punctuation until the sixth century BCE and then dots or colons may have also been used to separate syllables as well as words and sentences.
It's too bad all of the emperor Claudius' work on Etruscan have been lost over the centuries.
Only a few educated Romans with antiquarian interests, such as Varro, could read Etruscan. The last person known to have been able to read it was the Roman emperor Claudius (10 BC – AD 54), who — in the context of his work in twenty books about the Etruscans, Tyrrenikà (now lost) — compiled a dictionary (also lost) by interviewing the last few elderly rustics who still spoke the language. Urgulanilla, his first wife, was Etruscan.[3]Now that we have even better technology to analyze mummy wrappings and scrolls that were reused in the Middle Ages as well maybe some of Claudius' work will be found in the future.
Livy and Cicero were both aware that highly specialized Etruscan religious rites were codified in several sets of books written in Etruscan under the generic Latin title Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from the entrails of the sacrificed animal, the Libri Fulgurales expounded the art of divination by observing lightning. A third set, the Libri Rituales, would have provided us with the key to Etruscan civilization: its wider scope embraced Etruscan standards of social and political life as well as ritual practices. According to the 4th century Latin writer Servius, a fourth set of Etruscan books existed, dealing with animal gods, but it is probably unlikely that any contemporary scholar could have read Etruscan at such a late date. The single surviving Etruscan book, Liber Linteus, being written on linen, survived only by being used as mummy wrappings. - Wikipedia


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Bae Young-Whan's Frozen Waves For A Hot Summer Day
On a recent visit to San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, I happened upon the most cooling, calming work of art I'd ever seen: three lit cabinets full of tiny, crashing celadon waves. We might not get a real summer here in San Francisco, but if you're suffering through a heat wave, these frozen waves are for you..
Bae Young-Whan is an artist from Seoul, and his work is currently featured in the Asian Art Museum's Phantoms Of Asia exhibit. He has a dark and peaceful little room to himself, with an artist's cabinet of waves on each of the walls, and Terra Incognita-Theta- an amazing oak mountainscape- in the center. I was ready to move into that room, it was all just so perfect.
His work also made me want to run home and start pinching little waves out of clay, but without access to a kiln, I knew I'd never have my own ocean's worth of waves. But it would be so fun to make a-wave-a-day! Any ideas on how to do something like this with minimal equipment? Or perhaps those paint-a-pot places would fire your tiny pieces for you? I think this would be especially fun to do with kids, a soothing, low-key activity to do together while you talk or don't talk.
Oh, and wouldn't Bae Young-Whan's waves go perfectly with Marianne Nielsen's mountains?
(Images: 1.-3. Tess Wilson 3. PKM Gallery)


text:
Vault of the Secret Formula
Project Group
DateDecember 2011
LocationWorld of Coca-Cola, Atlanta, GA
Other Media
A fun digital mirror experience immerses visitors into Coca-Cola and transforms them into effervescent bubbles.
Two screens set in a wall of bubbles beckon: "Get Bubble-ized!" and "Be Part of the Secret!" As visitors approach, they see themselves transformed into carbonated, colorful, playful representations that bubble and fizz.
Microsoft Kinect depth-sensing cameras capture visitors' 3D likenesses and turn them into raw material for this fun experience. The result is a fun and exciting photo opportunity that visitors can share with their friends and family.
Press & AwardsCommunication Arts Interactive Competition, Communication Arts, Winner, Award of Excellence: Environmental, April 2013Your Best Work: Design Awards & Competition, HOW, Winner, March 2013DSE Content Awards, Digital Signage Expo, Gold, Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, January 2013Brand Spaces: Branded Architecture and the Future of Retail Design, Sven Ehmann & Sofia Borges, January 2013Event Design Awards, Event Design Magazine, Winner, Best Use of Interior Media/AV, October 2012"Keeping an Exhibit About the World's Best Kept Secret a Secret," Coca-Cola Unbottled, September 2012
For more than a year, a select team of employees understood that communications and activities regarding Project Guaranty needed to be handled as very confidential. Through some truly remarkable efforts on the part of the team, Project Guaranty remained confidential until the day of the Company's official announcement of the new exhibit."Exhibit Feature: The Coca-Cola Company - Vault of the Secret Formula exhibit," Communication Arts, July 2012
After stepping through a huge vault door, visitors learn about the most closely guarded trade secret in history through an immersive multimedia experience that celebrates the rich history, mythology and intrigue surrounding its formula."The World of Coca-Cola with Kinect," Next at Microsoft, Steve Clayton June 2012
The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta is laden with Kinect sensors that create an immersive, interactive experience for visitors - thanks to Portland's Second Story.2012 MUSE Awards, American Association of Museums, BRONZE: Multimedia Installations, April 2012
Over 130 judges – museum and media professionals from across the world – were involved in the process of selecting the winners. Winning entries were expected to demonstrate outstanding achievement in nine areas including content, interface, design, innovation and appeal."Discover Coca-Cola's Secret Formula At This Interactive Exhibit By Second Story," Entertainment Designer, Brendan Brehm, March 28, 2012
Much more than just a heavy-duty vault to stare at, the Vault of the Secret Formula exhibit is an interactive exploration of one of the most notorious trade secrets in the world… This is not the first time that we've featured the interactive handiwork of Second Story here on entertainmentdesigner.com; in previous articles we've taken a look at exhibits they designed for the Museum at Bethel Woods and the Adler Planetarium. With their latest project for Coca-Cola, they've come up with even more ways to embed interactive technology in a museum experience."Second Story: Vault of the Secret Coca-Cola Formula ," Design Boom, March 25, 2012
The Vault of the Secret Formula experience presents the history behind Coca Cola's secret formula."Coke Secret Formula Gets 1st New Home Since 1925," Associated Press, YouTube Video, December 2011"Coke hides its secret formula in plain sight in World of Coca-Cola move," Atlanta Business News, Leon Stafford, December 2011
Jacquie Wansley, a spokeswoman for the World of Coke, said the exhibit is more interactive than the rest of the facility, with an emphasis on putting visitors in the mystery of the formula... '[This] is not about collectibles archived behind glass,' she said. 'There is very little of that. This is experiencing Coca-Cola in a new way.'
Part of SapientRazorfish /© 2018 Second Story, Inc.
- Executive Producer
- David Waingarten
- Studio Director
- Jen Guibord
- Technology Director
- Thomas Wester
- Content Strategist
- Scott Smith
- Experience Designer
- Christian Bannister
- Designer
- Jinu Yang
- Lead Interactive Developer
- Matt Fargo
- Lead Integration Engineer
- Matt Arnold
- Producers
- Kate Wolf, Alyssa Glass
- Production Coordinators
- Jen Dolan, Michael Neault
- Technology Coordinator
- Sam Jeibmann
- Creative Collaborator
- Donna Lawrence Productions
- Exhibition Design
- Gallagher & Associates
- A/V Systems Integration
- Electrosonic
- Technical Design & Direction
- Romeantics
- Lighting Design
- Available Light
- Fabrication
- Lexington
- General Contractor
- New South


text:
Although it was almost reduced to an afterthought of a glorious afternoon spent playtesting Team Fortress 2, my recent trip to Valve Software's Bellevue, WA offices gave me a chance to check out another part of the upcoming Half-Life: Episode Two package: Portal. The heavily physics-based puzzle game is equal parts unique and entertaining, allowing you to bend the laws of virtual physics in ways first-person shooters have barely scratched to date.
Although there's not much of a story to Portal, the puzzles are presented as part of a continuous narrative: You play a female researcher at an unnamed test lab (it's not Black Mesa; Valve says it's set more in the Half-Life 2 timeline), who finds herself being pushed through a series of tests involving portal technology. Each puzzle ultimately tasks you with reaching an elevator which leads you from one level to the next, guided by a computerized voice which offers some humorous comments along the way. (As it turns out, the writers of the late, great Old Man Murray website now work for Valve and are responsible for Portal's dialogue, which, from what we've seen so far, is pretty damn funny.)
As in most Valve games, the first few puzzles introduce game mechanics at a steady pace. Initially, you have no control over where portal entrances and exits appear; they're in fixed locations, and you solve some simple puzzles, such as carrying a crate through a portal and using it to hold down a door switch. It's a bit disorienting when you look through portals situated near each other and realize you can see yourself from the side, but that's just one of the game's unique charms.


text:
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|View Poll Results: actual experience with taurus
|Never owned one, but would if the right deal came along
|never owned one and never will
|owed/still own taurus handguns with no issues
|owned/still own taurus hanguns with problems
|Voters: 357. You may not vote on this poll
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|February 4, 2013, 11:10 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: October 12, 2002
Location: The same state as Mordor.
Posts: 5,056
Owned two. Still own one.
Model 66, developed a problem after about a decade of ownership. Back to Taurus, got fixed. Next time it happened, I bought a couple spares of the part (revolver firing pin spring) and fixed it myself. (Buying these was a notable customer service saga by itself. This would be around 2002.) It wouldn't stay fixed, and I had by that time an equivalent S&W which the Taurus was not the equal of, so it became trade fodder, and went away.
Model 605. No problems so far, that I haven't been the cause of. As far as I can tell right now, it's staying, unless I can trade it towards an upgrade.
"As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. "
|February 4, 2013, 11:49 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: October 9, 1998
Location: Ohio USA
Posts: 8,105
I had to use it to qualify for an armed security position.
It didn't perform nearly as well for me as a S&W.
I'm used to all my shots going into the X.
I don't and won't use one if I can avoid it.
|February 4, 2013, 12:08 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: December 1, 2009
Location: Stillwater, OKlahoma
Posts: 8,337
Purchased two revolvers new:
Purchased a .22-PLY and a 25-PLY new through Buds,,,
My statement to people who are considering a Taurus is this:
That's my experience,,,
Your experience might be different.
Caje: The coward dies a thousand times, the brave only once.
Kirby: That's about all it takes, ain't it?
Combat: "A Silent Cry"
Aarond is good,,, Aarond is wise,,, Always trust Aarond! (most of the time)
|February 4, 2013, 12:17 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: May 7, 2011
Location: Michigan
Posts: 127
I understand that any manufacturer could have a bad gun come off the line but Taurus could never get mine fixed. Sent the thing in about 6 times if I recall, each time it came back saying completely fixed, working great, fully tested. Never worked after repairs. One time it even fell apart when I picked it up out of the box after getting it back. Any time I called and argued to talk to a manager I was dumped into a no name voice mail and never got called back. I finally made a very detailed complaint to the BBB documenting all the return trips, all the notes saying it was perfect, and how it never worked. On the last day to answer the BBB complaint Taurus told me they would give me a refund like I had asked.
I bought one Taurus firearm. I'll never make that mistake again.
|February 4, 2013, 01:01 PM
Join Date: December 10, 2009
Posts: 33
Had a tracker in 357, very accurate, no problems. Recently traded for a 3-screw Blackhawk 357.
|February 4, 2013, 01:23 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: January 24, 2013
Location: NC
Posts: 545
I have a PT99 that has become the gun I lend to others when I take somoene new to the range. It has never failed to load or shoot a single round in the years I have owned it.
|February 4, 2013, 01:36 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: May 26, 2004
Posts: 225
I have multiples. No problems. Guns of every other make have come & gone, but I've not traded in a single Taurus:
M44 -- 6 inch 44 mag -- has accounted for several deer. Excellent, durable, and highly accurate gun. My other deer hunting gun is a SRH, and it gets far less field time because the Taurus is older, and has my full faith & trust. Topped with red-dot scope, I'm good to 100 yards with it. It's better than that -- I'm not.
651B -- snubby 357 mag. Small, zero profile hammer. Totally reliable and pretty good (as good as any snubby) in the accuracy department. Very easy to conceal and frequent all-season carry gun.
Tracker 44. New to the fold. Highly accurate, light, and fun to shoot with my moderate 44mag handloads. Fullblown deer loads are another story -- they will definitely wake you up -- but this is a bear-protection gun, and I'm not going to be shooting full house loads all day long with it.
Tracker 22 (7-shot Model 970, not the newer 9-shot 992). Topped with a red-dot scope, super accurate at 50 yards, and a lot of fun to shoot. 7 shots, totally dependable.
Maybe I'm just lucky. I have equal numbers of other brands in the safe, but don't feel like I'm taking out the "cheap gun" when I take out one of the Taurus guns. Again, for deer hunting, I completely rely on the M44. For carry, I trust my life to the 651. And these are not safe-queens, especially the M44 and the 651. I shoot the hell out of them, thousands of rounds through the M44, and they've held up (including the blued finishes) beautifully.
|February 4, 2013, 02:03 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: August 4, 2007
Posts: 861
i have owned taurus handguns for years, 3 revolvers and 4 semi autos. as i said i have had taurus guns for years and never had a single problem with any of them. my next handgun will be a taurus 22/22mag revolver.
Waltzes with woofs
|February 4, 2013, 02:21 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: June 6, 1999
Location: El Paso, TX
Posts: 1,021
I owned a Taurus 94 for a couple years. Shot about 2000 rounds through it no problem and ended up selling it because I wasn't shooting it very much anymore.
I currently own a PT99, shot about 3000 rounds through it, great gun. It is currently lent out to my ex-gf because she is getting threats from some freak. That's about as good of an endorsement as a gun can get.
I also bought a PT709 for my ex-wife while she was thinking about getting a CHL. She never did so I ended up selling it. It only got shot 200 times or so but was a good gun during that brief time as well.
New gun, same ol' shot.
|February 4, 2013, 04:33 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: June 4, 2012
Location: NV
Posts: 743
I was kind of believing Glock haters even before I shot one, but when they first came out, I thought it was the most awesome (9mm G17) handgun on the planet earth.
Enough said, My G20 6.61" + Comp well rock your World, to heck with the rest, it's just about the badest 10mm money can buy if not the....
|February 4, 2013, 05:24 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: August 25, 2008
Location: Potatoes and Hops
Posts: 11,395
B) More than half a dozen firearms, that I have owned or been directly involved with.
For starters -
A .357 revolver that blew its barrel off with the first shot. (It had been over-torqued and cracked at the factory.)
A .38 Special revolver that unscrewed its barrel with 4 shots fired. (Under-torqued.)
A .357 revolver that had its timing so far off, it was striking the extreme edge of the cartridge primers and splitting bullets on the forcing cone. (Complete lack of quality control.)
A PT-138 that might let you get 2 shots off, before jamming, if you were very lucky - and that was only when light firing pin strikes were letting it fire at all. (Stupid design, and no quality control.)
A post-Taurus Rossi 62 "Gallery" that A) would barely feed and never eject, and B) fired any time the action closed. (Cheap parts, and no quality control. Before Rossi was eaten by Taurus, the 62s were good rifles.)
Out of just those 5, four of them had serious safety issues.
And, of course, their "customer service" is an absolute joke.
One of the above posters covered their repairs well...
"If you get a bad one from the factory it's anyone's guess whether they will ever fix it properly."
Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.
Last edited by FrankenMauser; February 4, 2013 at 05:29 PM.
|February 4, 2013, 05:35 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: January 16, 2010
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 3,577
4 years over 5000 rounds and still clicking along like new.
NRA Certified RSO
NwCP- Performance Isn't Optional
|February 4, 2013, 05:39 PM
Join Date: November 22, 2009
Location: Ohio
Posts: 83
My experiences and my opinion on why there are Taurus bashers especially the PT1911 is because of jealousy. When you pay about $700 for a PT1911 with features other manufactures charge extra for and the pistol performs just as well as 1911's costing 2 to 3 times more it is a tough pill to swallow. Then there are those "Top of the Line" 1911s that you must shoot 500 or so rounds just to have them work correctly or pay extra for a guaranteed accuracy that cannot be proven and compare them against this $700 Brazilian pistol that works like a charm right out of the box. Sure there have been issues with the PT1911 just like every other manufacturer of 1911s. I hear bashers say it doesn't cost enough to be a good gun but the cost is in the labor and the cost of the parts you must buy from a third party. If you make all of your own parts, use machines (CNC) that you make yourself to cut down human labor cost sure you can make a better gun for less. What would you say if I told you your Colt, Springfield, Kimber and Smith & Wesson had Taurus MIM parts?
|February 4, 2013, 05:42 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: September 26, 2010
Posts: 1,536
I am simply looking for numbers on how many people have owned and had problems vs no problem. The people like yourself that hate them can feel right at home on the last option.
|February 4, 2013, 05:52 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: May 24, 2011
Posts: 990
Of course they do make guns that function well, if all they ever made were guns that didnt perform well they would not still be in business. however one company can have more QC issues than another companies.
M&P- the other dark meat
|February 4, 2013, 05:58 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: July 6, 2009
Location: Rocky Mountain West
Posts: 3,395
My brother and dad owned three Tauri between them. The two autos were a 9mm and a .40. Terrible. One choked all the time and the other actually had pieces fall off at the range. The wheel was an M85 and locked solid.
I can't stand Taurus not because of jealousy, but because they could have gotten a family member killed :-/
There is no conspiracy against Taurus. They're not hated to be hated. They have earned their reputation as a hit-or-miss, middling quality brand. Some are great. A lot aren't.
Last edited by LockedBreech; February 4, 2013 at 06:35 PM.
|February 4, 2013, 06:25 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: November 15, 2007
Location: Outside KC, MO
Posts: 10,128
I am frequently amazed by the number of Taurus people who insist this is about the low price of their guns, and the owners of expensive guns just looking down their noses at them.
I have owned a Novak custom, and own a Baer and a Hunter Custom at present.
I have also owned guns bought for a whole lot less, in a similar price range with comparable Taurus products (Beretta PX4 - $400ish; FNX pistols - also $400ish; used S&W - high $300s; new S&W 442 - $350).
If I can find a gun I like at a lower price, I'll pounce on it quite happily. I wish I had a better opinion of Taurus, because I think a 9mm J-frame sized revolver would be very good to have, and they have the only one of those currently on the market.
It isn't a snobbery issue, it's having seen, first-hand (though I did not OWN them), Taurus revolvers that arrived NIB with binding cylinders or very bad timing, or cylinder alignment that was obviously not parallel to the barrel. We are talking errors that could be seen without even picking the gun up from the shelf, in a couple cases.
Does that mean that ALL, or even MOST Taurus guns will come like that? Of course not. If just means that having seen them, myself, I have no trouble believing the posters on TFL who describe having purchased such guns - though I do think some of them should have done better inspections prior to the purchase.
Having heard from a gun shop owner and a gun shop manager (both of whom I know, and one of whom is a long-time TFL member) about repeated problems with shipping, turnaround times, and communications issues with Taurus CS for their problem NIB guns, I have no trouble believing the posters on TFL who describe having had such problems.
It isn't about the lower cost. As another poster mentioned, RIA has a good reputation, and those guns are not exactly expensive.
|February 4, 2013, 07:09 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: October 28, 2012
Location: central Ohio
Posts: 304
My wife had a PLY-25 .25 acp. She discovered that she does not like DAO triggers so traded it in for a Bersa. However, the gun functioned perfectly the time we had it - approx. 100 rounds.
|February 4, 2013, 08:31 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: May 9, 2008
Location: Parker, CO.
Posts: 121
No Problems with Mine
I have owned two Taurus .38 revolvers. I still own one and both shot fine. I never had any issues with them.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
|February 4, 2013, 08:45 PM
Join Date: January 5, 2013
Location: Bowling Green KY
Posts: 37
I have enjoyed both that I have had. My dad likes all of his as well. I have just never had a problem with any of them. The only gun I have had a problem with was a Ruger .22. Sold it. I still bought a Ruger Scout rifle. Crap happens. Things break.
"Must be yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please."
― Robert A. Heinlein
|February 4, 2013, 08:51 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: December 21, 2010
Location: Central FL
Posts: 1,360
I've only owned 2 semiauto Taurus pistols, both were flawless in my experience. One new 709Slim and a used 740Slim, both were pocket carried.
|February 4, 2013, 09:32 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: February 21, 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 763
I've owned several Taurus handguns.
.44mag Tracker
.44mag Raging Bull
a few PT1911s
.17HMR Tracker
Millennium 45
Of all of those I had a broken extractor in the PT1911AR and the Millennium 45 kept failing to feed. The other guns functioned flawlessly and the only thing I could complain about some of them was a horribly gritty trigger pull.
I still have the PT1911AR - its no longer stock and I've replaced the extractor, firing pin, recoil spring and barrel bushing (not with Taurus parts - mostly Wilson Combat parts) but it is now functioning flawlessly and shoots extremely accurately.
Over all I've had good experiences with the company although their customer service is horrible. Would I buy another Taurus? Probably although I'd stick with their revolvers as they seem to be better in the way of QC and finish from my experience. Would I suggest Taurus for another person? Probably not since for the same or just a little more money better guns can be found ie. Ruger.
This is who we are, what we do.
|February 4, 2013, 09:40 PM
Join Date: November 17, 2008
Posts: 48
709 slim, not reliable for ccw, 94 no problems.
|February 4, 2013, 10:14 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: October 3, 2012
Posts: 1,207
I have 3, a 905 revolver(perfect) a POLY PT-22(perfect) and a Model 94(issues) Here is a picture of the machining, new out of the box. The cylinder shaves lead badily. I have since smoothed it with a stainless tornado brush, and its much better. The dealer I ordered it from refused to send it back to the distributor, and recommended I sent it to Taurus. I didnt, and haven't been in his shop since.
|February 4, 2013, 10:39 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: April 28, 2012
Location: NY
Posts: 184
Considering Taurus is owner of Remington and probably more US gun makers , you should look at whoooole thing differently now.
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text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Textbooks Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Textbooks Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> Japan View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message ReesyJoined: 12 Feb 2003Posts: 31Location: Japan Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 8:03 am Post subject: Textbooks Hello All, I wanted to start a thread about a topic which with which we are all very familiar and is rather central in "what we do" (I would say in "our profession" but I have seen the stir that this word has created in some other threads ). What I would like to hear your opinion about is textbooks. Specifically, textbooks in conversation/communication/speaking/fluency classes. My questions are these: What do you think makes a good textbook? How do you feel about what is currently available on the market? Personally, I think that a good textbook would do the following (in no particular order): 1) Meet my curricular goals as a teacher. 2) Expose students to new material presented in a stimulating fashion. 3) Be easily adaptable to the characteristics of any individual class. 4) Foster learner independence. 5) Provide students with skills that are easily transferrable to outside of the classroom. 6) Give me (the teacher) freedom to go outside of the "boundaries/ordinances" of the textbook and adapt it to my own teaching style. My opinion is that there has been very little new in the textbook industry over the last 5 years. Far too many textbooks are task or theme based. They concentrate on giving students the skills necessary to deal with very simple and predictable speech situations. I think we have all taught more than enough lessons in our day dealing with "Asking for Directions" or "Meeting a New Friend". And if I'm tired, I can only imagine the boredom and lack of interest our students must feel about these topics considering they appear in almost every oral communication class in junior high school, senior high school, many of the language school books, and a good number of the books being used in junior college/university courses. I am not saying that there is anything terribly wrong with task/theme-based driven textbooks in and of themselves, just that there is too many of them and they don't meet all of the students' needs. I am not sure why this lack of variety has become so prevalent. It may have something to do with the merger trend in the industry, a dearth of new thinking, textbook writers who ignore 2nd language research, Monbusho screening (if you work in the public school system). Or perhaps the theme/task based formula has been found by teachers and students alike to be the textbook panacea which will vault all students to quick and easy mastery of the English language and I am the only one who sees things differently... but somehow I doubt it. At any rate, it isn't the causes that interest me. Again, my questions are: What do you think makes a good textbook? How do you feel about what is currently available on the market? Again, I am most interested in conversation/communication centred coursebooks. The reason I am posting in the Japan forum is because that's where I teach and I think that Japanese learners have some unique characteristics which pose unique challenges in teaching conversation/speaking/etc. Have a good day! Reesy Back to top PAULHJoined: 28 Jan 2003Posts: 4672Location: Western Japan Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 8:41 am Post subject: reesy Sorry if I dont add my own thoughts but I have been in front of my computer for the past 8 hours and Im starting to see things. Just thought Id show you a recent Language Teacher article about textbook writers writing for the Japanese market. Hope there are some pearls of wisdom in there for you Each fall, dozens of new texts are launched in Japan to the bells and whistles of extensive promotion campaigns. Some become long term hits. Others have a respectable life of a few years with decent sales. Others soar first season, only to die the second year once teachers discover that, despite the pretty pictures, they hate the book. And, of course, some newly launched books never fly at all. The question is "Why?" What makes a book work in Japan? Clearly there is a complex mix of authoring, design, editorial input and promotion--not to mention timing and luck. When approached by the editors of this special issue about an article on writing for Japan, I thought it would be a great opportunity to reflect and share ideas. The problem, however, is that there are few "rules" and no "formulae" for writing ELT textbooks. (Not entirely true: many textbooks are written to a formula; if you're teaching one, you have my sympathy.) As Prowse (1998) points out, most ELT writers employ their own intuitions, writing textbooks much as they might write fiction, albeit in the service of a syllabus. So, were I to write my version of how writing for Japan works, it would simply be "The Gospel according to Marc" rather than truths generalizable for your own teaching and writing. Instead, this article follows a format used by Prowse in Tomlinson's (1998) Materials Development in Language Teaching, a book I highly recommend. What advice would other Japan-based authors give? What opinions do we share? How do we incorporate our views and experiences into our books? To see if there was consensus, I sent questions to several authors. A sampling of their responses follows. Just how different is Japan? A travel writer supposedly suggested that "Japan is the most foreign country in the world." Teachers living and working here often hear about Japanese uniqueness. Interestingly, while everyone recognized the importance of making books appropriate for the target audience (culture, age, interest, classroom realities, etc.), most questioned the idea that Japan is totally different: "I think there's a certain amount of myth-making involved in this statement. We do a disservice to learners here by perpetuating the myth of difference." "Judging from reactions from audiences at workshops in other countries, EFL needs seem to be similar in at least Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand. I think their needs for interactive texts are the same as Japan's. Sales show good results in Latin American countries, too, I understand." "I don't think writing for Japan is so different. Of course every regional/national/cultural/institutional context is unique. However, one way the markets are similar has to do with general educational and/or language learning traditions (teacher centered, grammar translation background, rigid exam-based curriculum, bias toward memorization, certain accepted language learning strategies, text focused learning, etc.)." Most other countries mentioned are Asian, where we share both traditions of hierarchical educational structures (it's no accident that sensei could literally be rendered as "born before") and practical considerations such as large classes and exam-focused learning. Of course, the culture of each country differs and authors need to balance references to countries--in the same way that one counts male and female characters to ensure they are equally represented. Awareness of cultural norms is also essential. In Thailand, for example, the Thai royal family is so respected that any negative reference to any royal family is considered very bad taste. (Would-be authors, don't worry that you don't know these bits of information yet. Your publisher will have your manuscript reviewed in potential markets and "cultural mistakes" will come out then.) The usefulness of material in other markets doesn't imply that the teaching situations are the same. A course book that is used over a year in Japan maybe be covered in one term in Taiwan, where classes often meet more frequently. The same book may last only a month or two in Korean language institutes (similar to conversation schools) where classes meet daily. The students' focus can also be different: "Students here spend only the time actually in class on English and do very little outside of class. The majority just squeak by with minimal English ability even after years of so-called study of English. The learning curve here is a very gradual incline. To write for Japan is to write for the gentle incline. Most of the rest of the world seems to follow a much steeper curve, increasing rate as the student's language ability progresses." Authors of children's books were very specific about differences in the teaching situations. "One big difference is that English is taught from a younger age in these countries (first grade of elementary school in Thailand and third grade of elementary school in Korea). Another difference is that students at language schools in Korea often study 3, 4 or 5 times a week, and, in Thailand, students at language schools often have much longer lessons, especially in Bangkok; otherwise it wouldn't be worth their while spending hours in the traffic jams getting to the school. "Kids get more contact hours outside of Japan. Teachers, too, seem to be getting more training. What does that mean? I think it means a book has to be different than it appears on the surface. For the Japanese market, it needs to be fun and slow, but for other markets, it has to have more depth." The authors' secrets The people who contributed to this article are all successful authors. The obvious question, of course, is how they got to be that way? Not surprisingly, experience is a key point: "The key for me is always to write from the perspective of an experienced classroom teacher. I am a teacher first and writer second. And if I ever doubted that, my bank manager would quickly remind me!" "I teach a lot (30 hours a week), and I only write for the kinds of students I teach. I also try to make the job of teaching easier for the hectic lifestyle most teachers have in Japan." "I guess that all boils down to one word: experience." Yes, that one word, plus a few related ones." "I have used over 60 textbooks during my teaching career in Japan and have gained some experience in what works and what doesn't." "I worked with editors and advisors who have also worked here for a long time." "I try to write books that I would like to use myself. Writing a textbook is a very similar process to designing one's own course materials, and many of the 'classic' EFL textbooks were directly based on materials authors developed for their own classes. But there is one major difference: a textbook (if it is to be successful) will be used by teachers with different teaching styles, different amounts and types of experience, and of different nationalities. It should also be adaptable to different teaching/learning contexts and student needs." Oh, yes. One other thing--the wild card: "Another secret is being lucky--an author is not always in a position to choose the type of book, publisher, editor, co-author, or designer. But they are all crucial; it's a team effort. It's a little bit like those Oscar acceptance speeches: 'First of all, I'd like to thank God ...."' In publishing, to some degree you make your own luck. There's the image of a teacher having a great idea, sitting down, drafting a manuscript, submitting it to a publisher . . . and the rest is history. It rarely happens that way. In many cases, the publisher knows the kind of book or series it needs to complement its list. The publisher then goes searching for authors. "One editor told me that most ELT texts are commissioned, not submitted and accepted. That told me I needed to build my reputation so someone would ask me to write for him or her, rather than try to write a text and then get someone to publish it." "I spent several years doing reviews for various publishers, and in that process not only had the chance to make my voice heard, but much more importantly, got a sense of how to look carefully and critically at texts with an eye to how they could be made better. While this may seem a long backdoor approach to becoming an author, I'm quite glad I took my time and had this experience, for I probably learned more from doing this review work with the authors and editors I worked with than I did in, say, graduate school." "I was doing JALT presentations. My to-be editor came up to me and asked me if I was interested in reviewing a book she was working on. I said, sure. A month later, she contacted me and said uh, the book wasn't ready to be reviewed yet--in fact, it wasn't even written yet, as the writers didn't work out, would I be interested in authoring? And we went from there." Changes in publishing Publishing, like most industries, is experiencing major changes. One cause is technology: "Technology has made tremendous changes to the way textbooks are produced. As far as writing is concerned, it is now possible to communicate easily with co-authors and editors wherever you or they may be by fax, email, and phone. It is possible to exchange files and make changes to a manuscript extremely quickly. Word processing and page layout programs enable an author to produce near-professional drafts, which facilitate piloting in class, although most publishers prefer a final manuscript that is not 'over-designed'." Many of us feel that, for all the talk about technology, the real changes that affect the students and the industry have hardly started. "There are wonderful opportunities, but the expectations from new technology are often way ahead of the reality. In the past, we saw this with under used language labs. We've seen it with educational CD-ROMs, which are a wonderful learning tool, but which just haven't taken off in Japan." "CD-ROMs and the Internet have great potential but few have really tapped into that potential yet. The early CD-ROMs were mostly words on paper turned into words on screen. They are getting better but there's still a long way to go. The same can be said for the Internet--lots of potential but most of it untapped." "My gut feeling however is that jazzy technology still does not replace good pedagogy and well-structured book-based activities and tasks." "It will be quite interesting to see how web-based publishing, for example, will change the way we think both about writing and about purchasing books." Another major change in publishing has been merger mania. In 1990, JALT had 102 associate members, mostly publishers. Now there are 66. Macmillan swallowed Heinemann. Pearson grew out of AddisonWesley, Prentice Hall, and Longman, which had previously taken over Lingual House, Nelson, Harrap's, and a list of others. Authors have mixed feelings: "Generally, when a company becomes larger, it becomes less flexible and more bureaucratic. It has more problems making decisions on a local level. They waste a lot of time in the decision-making process, which hurts authors, teachers, and students. Material becomes old before it ever reaches the students. Give me a speedboat any day over a luxury liner like the Titanic." "On balance, I think (the mergers are) bad. There is a bigger gap between those who are already established and those who are not, and fewer opportunities for newcomers. There seems to be less happening at a grassroots level. Perhaps, in time, there will be a reaction to all this, and many smaller companies will start up. "It all smacks of monopolization of the market, decreased competition, potential sameness of the products, overly conservative and cautious publishing agendas." Some authors do see positive aspects: "Perhaps (there will be) more rational consolidation of resources between the relatively fewer publishers, perhaps bigger marketing budgets for promotion of the books, perhaps more budget resources for teacher development seminars/workshops, perhaps less reliance on the mythical 'blockbuster' so that the publisher can concentrate more on smaller, regional/country-specific projects." One person, ever the optimist, went so far as to say the following: "In theory, fewer companies means fewer chances for new authors, and fewer new ideas. In practice, I'm not sure. On the other hand, if an author has a successful title with a large publisher, he or she stands to sell more books, make more money, and descend into a life of debauchery a tad quicker." Right, this despite the fact that royalties usually work out to something well under 100/hour. Horror stories All of the authors involved in this article are positive about the publishing process. However, like any endeavor, there are negatives. A couple that are telling: "The publishing world can be incredibly arrogant. An editor may have spent one year teaching on the JET program and then become the Japan expert for a major international publisher. Other publishers who have never worked in Japan are often so confident in their armchair theories about the Japanese market. Most of the courses which didn't come out of the Japanese classroom but became best-sellers here did so by accident, not because some publisher in the UK or US deeply understood the Japanese market." "(I've had) impossible deadlines--writing a text, workbook, and Teacher's Manual in six months, which included writing the TM before the book was even edited. THEN to have the publishing date pushed back, first 6 months and then 18 months. And then to have the main character in the text changed a year after final submission! It's almost enough to drive you over the edge! I felt kind of like (Gone with the Wind author) Margaret Mitchell would have felt if her editor had said, 'Wonderful book you have there. I know it's finished, but after talking with some focus groups, we've decided we'll have much more chance of selling the book if Scarlet O'Hara were a man instead of a woman. And if you had her living in Vermont...'." Our best advice The authors involved in this article are assuming those who read it do so for one of two reasons. Some readers may be teachers with a general interest in how books are written and how, in the authors' views, Japan-appropriate books get to be that way. Others, perhaps the larger group, are teachers who have thought about writing a book themselves. To that end, the participating authors each offered bits of advice. We hope they help. "Work with a co-author. It is so much more fun to write with others and to bounce ideas off of each other and to keep each other honest when an idea really doesn't work. I have had more painfully hard belly laughs when writing and working with my co-authors than any other time I can think of. It makes the difficult writing experience fun. Someone once said that writing is easy. Just stare at a blank sheet of paper until blood forms on your forehead. This is true only if you write alone; when you work with others it's great!" "Work backwards. Have an idea of where you want an activity, page, unit or book to go before you sit down to try to get there. You start with the final 'product' and work backwards from there. Though in fact, you may never wind up getting to that point (because something more interesting happened along that way) it's a form of poetics which works quite well for me." "Always be honest in your dealings with publishers. Apart from the question of basic morality, one reason for this is the high incidence of takeovers and publishing employees changing companies!" "Offer to review textbooks for publishers--they are always looking for reliable, informative reviewers. Offer to write workbooks or teacher's books for courses; they can lead to other work." "Teach as many classes as possible for some years. Record what you did in class. You might stick to one book, strictly stick to it to the point you do exactly what the teacher's book tells you to. Teacher's Books teach you a lot more than the student book itself. That's where the author talks to the teachers who use the book. By the time you finish one year following one author, you find yourself with your own ideas because your teaching situation is different from the author's." "Question the assumptions behind methodology and ideas imported from teaching situations in other countries. Just because somebody famous said something, it doesn't mean it applies in the same way in Japan. There may be fundamental differences between the situations in which experts formed their ideas and the Japanese classroom." "Don't be afraid to throw away what you've written. It is, in fact, sometimes helpful when one reaches a major block to simply crumple the paper or delete the file and then start over again, after, of course, a good break away from it. The fresh perspective and the clean file is often just what's needed." "Get out there and do things--present workshops, volunteer in JALT. Get a good reputation regarding your specialty. Get your name out there as someone who has ideas and is willing to work." "If you are dissatisfied with a textbook you are using, don't just bitch about it; rewrite exercises so that you think they work better. If you develop your own handouts, think of them as pages from a textbook. Think about layout, illustrations, white space, clear and concise instructions (rubrics)." "They say every teacher has a book in them. I think reality is that teachers have first drafts in them. If you can make it through the changes that come after that, then you've got a shot." "Advice? Persistence, tenacity, flexibility, belief in your ideas, willingness to adapt, more persistence, tons of coffee (and beer), willingness to give up lots of weekends, ability to take massive quantities of criticism without getting too bent out of shape, more persistence, thorough research of the published material that's already out there, and a well-placed connection or two in the ELT publishing world. Oh yeah, and more persistence." "Be yourself. Don't pattern yourself after the success of others. Be original. Don't pattern yourself after other textbooks. Do something different." "Having a good time with what you're doing. Writing books is hard work. The chances that it will be a major hit are minimal. Make sure you're having fun while you do it." Reference Prowse, P. (1998). How writers write: Testimony from authors. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (pp. 130-145). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks and Acknowledgments to Contributors Everyone invited to contribute to this article lives in Japan and has had at least two successful books or series published. Some of the authors involved write primarily for the adult market, some mainly for children and two write for both. I tried to invite authors for all major international publishers active in Japan. To keep.the article focused, however, I didn't contact people who write exclusively for Japanese publishers. While an important market segment, it is a very different kind of publishing. As one of the participating authors (who writes for both types of publishers) pointed out: "Editors' work is very different between ELT publishers and those Japanese publishers. You're much more of a team member in ELT publishing but tend to be treated as BIG sensei at Japanese publishers. I'm not saying which is better. It's just different. " These are the authors who were able to contribute to this article, listed in the order of response (publishing rewards speed). For reasons of space, I did not list co-authors or full bibliographies. The participating authors wrote far more than could be included here. If you'd like to read the entire text (and know who authored each quotation), visit the JALT Material Writers SIG website: http://www2.gol .com/users/bobkeim/mw/ mwcontents.html The document is entitled "ELT author-raw material" and can be found at http://www2.gol.com/users/bobkeim/mwcontents/tltsp/ helg.html -Marc Helgeson Steven Gershon, OnLine series (Macmillan Heinemann), Sound Bytes series (Prentice Hall [Pearson]). Dale Fuller, Face to Face, Airwaves (Macmillian LanguageHouse). Toyama Setsuko, Journeys Listening/Speaking 1, SuperKids series, Development Editor (Prentice Hall [Pearson Education]). David Harrington, Speaking of Speech (Macmillian LanguageHouse), Street Talk (Calson Books). Aleda Krause, SuperKids and Supertots series (Prentice Hall Asia [Pearson]). Roger Barnard, Fifty-Fifty series (Prentice Hall [Pearson]), Good News, Bad News (Oxford University Press). Chuck Sandy, Passages series, Interchange video (Cambridge University Press). David Paul, Finding Out, Communicate (Macmillan/ Heinemann). Nakata Ritsuko, Let's Go series (Oxford University Press), Koushite Oshieru Kodomono Eigo (Apricot). Marc Helgesen, English Firsthand series (Longman [Pearson]), Active Listening (Cambridge University Press). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article copyright © 2000 by the author. Document URL: http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/00/feb/helgesen.html Last modified: February 8, 2000 Site maintained by TLT Online Editor | Main Page | The Language Teacher | JALT Journal | Other Publications | JALT National | Back to top GlenskiJoined: 15 Jan 2003Posts: 12844Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 10:52 am Post subject: Reesy, I may take the time to answer your question at length later, but for now, I'll just address what you cited as good textbook issues. Quote: Personally, I think that a good textbook would do the following (in no particular order): 1) Meet my curricular goals as a teacher. 2) Expose students to new material presented in a stimulating fashion. 3) Be easily adaptable to the characteristics of any individual class. 4) Foster learner independence. 5) Provide students with skills that are easily transferrable to outside of the classroom. 6) Give me (the teacher) freedom to go outside of the "boundaries/ordinances" of the textbook and adapt it to my own teaching style. 1. This goes without saying, but such goals differ widely. Universities, language schools (eikaiwas), corporate classes, kindergartens, high schools, all have different agendas. 2. The key word here is "stimulating". One size does not fit all, and with the plethora of authors out there, I'm constantly amazed at how UNstimulating 99% of the textbooks are. They seem to present things in one of two formats: too much text, too many pictures. 3. This is the hardest feature to put into a book, unless you index the various activities to different levels (and even then, one author's opinion of levels may differ from another author). Still, flexibility is very key. 4. This is probably the second hardest feature. Some texts try to do this with supplemental workbooks, others with tapes/CDs. Who knows how to do this best? What works in one culture may not in another. 5. Absolutely! There's nothing worse than students parroting a dialogue because that's the way they learned it. If they can't learn English as a tool, what's the point? 6. This goes along with point 3. I get rather nauseated seeing a lot of politically correct material in various texts. Some students get confused with it. It may be ok at the higher levels, but when you have to explain some things to lower level students, it gets difficult. One specific complaint I'll air here concerns New Interchange, volumes 1, 2, and 3. If these were meant to be continuations of each other, they really missed the boat in my opinion. Each one starts out at a fairly decent pace, but the last 4 chapters (out of 16) escalate in complexity at a geometric rate. Volume 3 should be burned because of the useless language they expect students to learn, and its subsequent lack of grammar, especially in the last HALF of the book. Moreover, these do not flow from one volume to the next easily. The difficulty level of the last portions is much higher than the opening chapters of the subsequent books. Change of topic. I find a couple of books fairly interesting for my high school classes, but only in that some (certainly not even close to all) of the material is relevant to my needs. Also, the authors have designed questions and other material to suit Japanese culture. This poses an obvious problem if the books were to be used for other cultures. Don't even get me started on tapes or CDs. Besides the horrific problems with accents (added, I presume, as a touch of realism?), the speed and slang are far above students' needs/capabilities. Bottom line. I have yet to find a book that suits more than 50% of my needs, whether for eikaiwa or high school students. I always end up cutting and pasting and breaking copyright laws to create my own supplemental materials even to fill a short 45-minute class, let alone an 80-minute one (both of which I have taught). Back to top SherriJoined: 23 Jan 2003Posts: 749Location: The Big Island, Hawaii Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2003 12:09 pm Post subject: I have taken a break from teaching at the moment (I am a fulltime mom now) but when I was teaching, I usually taught upper intermediate and advanced level adults. My school's core program is based around all 4 skills so we didn't just focus on speaking, but it was a big part of the program. At the higher levels we didn't use textbooks at all--just authentic (usually news-based) materials--newspapers and videos. This was partly because our students hated using textbooks and partly because we had real difficulty finding anything we were happy with. A lot of what is available seems to target university kids, so the texts tended to be a bit patronizing and too "young" for our students. They also didn't like the usual functional/notional type syllabus that you mentioned ("Asking for Directions" or "Meeting a New Friend"). So what we do instead is create our own materials specifically designed for the needs of our students. We take topics from the news, social, economic and political issues and develop the lessons around them. Some of the speaking activities we work on are: role play simulations, discussions, debates, prepared and impromptu presentations. We try to develop skills like how to organize ideas/information, summary making, paraphrasing and logical development of thought. So after years of teaching this way, I find it really hard to use a textbook. I much prefer developing my own with the use of a newspaper or a short video clip. Sorry I didn't really answer your specific questions but I hope my response could help you in some way. Back to top ReesyJoined: 12 Feb 2003Posts: 31Location: Japan Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 5:19 am Post subject: Thanks for the responses. Good of you to paste that Language Teacher article as well Paul, although I had already read it. "I find a couple of books fairly interesting for my high school classes, but only in that some (certainly not even close to all) of the material is relevant to my needs. Also, the authors have designed questions and other material to suit Japanese culture. This poses an obvious problem if the books were to be used for other cultures." Which books are you talking about Glenski? "I have yet to find a book that suits more than 50% of my needs, whether for eikaiwa or high school students. I always end up cutting and pasting and breaking copyright laws to create my own supplemental materials even to fill a short 45-minute class, let alone an 80-minute one (both of which I have taught)." I think that most of us probably have had this experience. Sherri mentions that she doesn't even bother using textbooks anymore and just creates her own materials. And all of us create some supplementary materials. So, it would appear that there isn't a book that meets all of our needs. Which leads to the question of whether it's possible to write a text which sufficiently meets one's needs. I'm not sure. In my last post I talked a bit about the lack of variety among speaking texts. In my opinion, the best speaking text, once students reach a high- beginner/low-intermediate level of proficiency, or dare I say a 400 or so TOEIC score, is one that teaches them conversation strategies that can be exported across the infinite number of conversations in which learners may find themselves immersed. Please no posts on the misuse of the TOEIC test in Japan or its lack of validity as a measure of speaking proficiency. Much has been written in the field about the efficacy of teaching conversation strategies. People like Bialystok would say that there is no point because Ss use them in their first language and therefore do not need to be explcitly instructed in their use. Others would say that there is a place for them in the classroom and I would agree... especially in Japan where spoken communication is less important than it is in most other countries. By the way, by conversation strategies I mean all of those strategies that we use to overcome gaps in our linguistic knowledge of a second language (mime, rephrasing, approximation, etc.) So, my next question is this: Do you think there is a place for the teaching of conversation strategies in Japanese classrooms? If so, have you come across any books which do so? If no, what kinds of things do you think speaking/conversation/communication textbooks should be stressing? Thanks for your thoughts, Reesy Back to top CelesteJoined: 17 Jan 2003Posts: 814Location: Fukuoka City, Japan Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 6:46 am Post subject: I do think there is a place for teaching conversation strategies in Japan. Whenever I have a class that has difficulties with one aspect of conversation, I pull an exercise or two from one of my favourite textbooks: Conversation Strategies by Kehe & Kehe (Pro Lingua Publishers). These units teach strategies such as use of rejoinders, clarification questions, follow-up questions, interrupting, correcting someone, etc. Back to top SherriJoined: 23 Jan 2003Posts: 749Location: The Big Island, Hawaii Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:01 am Post subject: I agree, you need to teach conversation strategies to Japanese students, no matter what their level. There are lots of things like this that I have found Japanese learners need that my European and Latin American students didn't--like how to make an outline and make a summary. We have experimented with this a number of different ways. For example with lower level learners we showed them a video of a group of people talking and had them keep track of the gestures and other non-verbal signals used to keep the conversation going. More advanced levels can watch the same video and keep track of the verbal techiniques as well. I have also found it useful to make a diagram of my students' discussion to show them things like who spoke the most, who asked the most questions, who replied to questions (dividing the people who responded only when their name was called and those who just spoke out). It is also useful to go over why discussions are used in English classes (what students get out of them language-wise) and the roles of the participants (discussion leader etc), and what makes a good discussion. That way you can give them concrete feedback on how well they did afterward. I also did a lot of video taping of their discussions for feedback and analysis. I am not a big fan of texts for teaching communication skills either-at least not a text that you would give students. I think a teachers' resource book would make more sense as it would allow you to tailor the course to what your students need. I should add that another BIG reason I don't like using textbooks is that they date so quickly. I would much rather use a newspaper article or a recent video clip that matches the interests of my students. I can adapt the skills/tasks etc easily enough (I've been teaching for almost 15 years!). 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|9.67 / 10
|October 20, 2017
|Andy Serkis
|Jonathan Cavendish
|Elevation Pictures
|Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Tom Hollander, Hugh Bonneville
|117 minutes
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Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) spots a beautiful young woman named Diana (Claire Foy) at a cricket match and even though his friends tell him he doesn't stand a chance, they fall in love and get married.
In 1959, the Cavendishes are in Kenya with their first child on the way when Robin is struck down by polio. The doctors say he's paralyzed and only has a few months to live. They return to Britain, where Robin is confined to a hospital bed day in and day out, staying alive only thanks to a ventilator that keeps him breathing.
Although Robin would rather die than lie in a hospital bed for the rest of his life, Diana refuses to listen, saying their son needs his father. In order to bring back Robin's will to live, Diana has to figure out how to get him out of the hospital and home, where she plans to care for him herself.
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