Vita est Laborem: Procrastination revisited

Have you ever managed to find the time to visit a seminar on time-management? Have you found an empty space in your life which you filled with reading a book on a similar subject? Please, please, please let me know that it was not worth its while, just for my comfort ;-) Until then I can only agree with my good old mate Father Guido Sarducci: Life is a job!



You may possible be looking for a review on the mini challenge weekend, after all it was announced with the last post some weeks ago. Stand by; I will post something on that eventually.

Did you notice who left a comment on my last post on preference reversal? I am thrilled! Someone claiming to be ‘the man of procrastination’ himself: the right honourable Prof. Piers Steel. Wow! To all the hoaxers out their, just let me continue to believe that.

Here’s the valuable part of today’s blog. I am reading a book, once again recommended to me by my dad, he’s my personal literature critic: ‘Instead of wasting your time with what you would normally be doing, read this.’ ;-)

You will have to stick around to find out more on the book, because I intend to share some of the delightful vocabulary and writing styles with you. To make it just a ‘little’ challenge to you, OK call it a ‘mini’ challenge if you wish, here’s my contest: The first person to post the title of the book with the author’s name in a comment to this blog will receive a complementary issue from me. Go for it!

Here’s the vocabulary for today:

‘These vicarious second-order believers are often more zealous than the real thing, …’

vicarious
/vikairi ss/
• adjective 1 experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person. 2 acting or done for another.
- DERIVATIVES vicariously adverb.
- ORIGIN from Latin vicarius ‘substitute’.

zealous
/zell ss/
• adjective having or showing zeal.
— DERIVATIVES zealously adverb zealousness noun.

zeal
/zeel/
• noun great energy or enthusiasm for a cause or objective.
— ORIGIN Greek zelos.


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"Preference Reversal"

In scientific terms, a person's intention alone is not enough to see anything through - a condition called preference reversal.

In his article about procrastination Professor Piers Steel from the University of Calgary said that putting things off continuously can be blamed on three basic human traits: confidence, values and impulsiveness.

It's off to Munich and Salzburg this weekend, no longer giving in to procrastination, but rather some impulsive accelleration at the Salzburgring featuring the final heat of the Mini Challenge live 2007 . That’s the 210 horsepower thing on the right side of the reversal visualisation guys!


I’ll let you know how it was and maybe you’ll check your ‘E x V / (Gamma) x D’ in terms of getting me my first response on this blog effort.

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English for Runaways #273

The misuse of “I” and “myself” for “me” is caused by nervousness about “me.” Educated people know that “Jim and me is goin’ down to slop the hogs,” is not elegant speech, not “correct.” It should be “Jim and I” because if I were slopping the hogs alone I would never say “Me is going. . . .” If you refer to yourself first, the same rule applies: It’s not “Me and Jim are going” but “I and Jim are going.”

So far so good. But the notion that there is something wrong with “me” leads people to overcorrect and avoid it where it is perfectly appropriate. People will say “The document had to be signed by both Susan and I” when the correct statement would be, “The document had to be signed by both Susan and me.” Trying even harder to avoid the lowly “me,” many people will substitute “myself,” as in “The suspect uttered epithets at Officer O’Leary and myself.”

“Myself” is no better than “I” as an object. “Myself” is not a sort of all-purpose intensive form of “me” or “I.” Use “myself” only when you have used “I” earlier in the same sentence: “I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself.” “I kept half the loot for myself.” All this confusion can easily be avoided if you just remove the second party from the sentences where you feel tempted to use “myself” as an object or feel nervous about “me.” You wouldn’t say, “The IRS sent the refund check to I,” so you shouldn’t say “The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I” either. And you shouldn’t say “to my wife and myself.” The only correct way to say this is, “The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and me.” Still sounds too casual? Get over it.

On a related point, those who continue to announce “It is I” have traditional grammatical correctness on their side, but they are vastly outnumbered by those who proudly boast “it’s me!” There’s not much that can be done about this now. Similarly, if a caller asks for Susan and Susan answers “This is she,” her somewhat antiquated correctness is likely to startle the questioner into confusion.

More errors from Paul Brians can be found here

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Elignsh for Ryawnuas #272

Tihs is not new, but it's aaylws fun, jsut rgnardieg the apcest of slinlpeg, I gesus the gmmarar's crecort ;-)

cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

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English for Runaways #271

Writing Dates in English

There is still frequent confusion on how to correctly write dates in English. Don't let be confused by differences in British English and American English:

In British English the day is put before the month. You only put a comma before the year, if the date is part of a sentence: The conference takes place 10-12 December, 2007.

Example: 5 October 2007

In American English the month is put before the day. It is common to write a comma before the year.

Example: October 5, 2007

You can also write the date by using numbers only. The most common forms are:

Example: 5/10/07 or 5-10-07

Note, however, that 5/10/07 usually means 5 October 2007 in British English and May 10, 2007 in American English. To avoid any possible confusion, you should spell out the month or use the abbreviation.

Example: 5/May/07 or Oct-10-07

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English for Runaways #270

I like the book which Jack is reading.

This is a tricky one! Simply remember 'which' introduces a non-restrictive (non-defining) clause or phrase and 'that' introduces a restrictive (defining) clause or phrase. In other words whatever follows 'that' is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Generaly you will also use commas with 'witch'.

I like Jack's book, which I have read myself. (non-restrictive)
I like the book that Jack is reading. (restrictive)

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Task-based Approach to English Training

There have been many recounts on the traditional PPP approach to language training and comparing it to a task-based approach. In summary, the PPP approach involves a certain aspect of the language to be presented by the teacher. The students then practise and in the production they combine it with already learnt aspects and elaborate on the usage.

In a task-based lesson the teacher doesn't pre-determine what aspect of the language will be studied in terms of today's tense, preposition of the day, grammar subject of the week, etc.. Instead, the lesson is based around the completion of a central task and the language studied is determined by what happens as the students complete it. In a school scenario there would still be a lesson plan consisting of the following sequences.

• Pre-task // Introduction of a topic with a clear understanding of what is expected. Students take notes and prepare the task.

• Task // Students complete the task in pairs or groups as the teacher monitors and offers support where needed.

• Planning // Students prepare a report and then practice what they are going to say in. The teacher is available to ask for advice.

• Report // Students report back and the teacher gives quick feedback.

• Analysis // The teacher highlights parts for analysis.

• Practice // Finally, the teacher selects language areas and the students then practice activities.

Task-based learning has some clear advantages

• Unlike a PPP approach, it is free of language control. All language resources available must be used rather than just practising one pre-selected item.
• A natural context is developed from the students' experiences with the language that is personalised and relevant to them. With PPP context is created and it is often very unnatural.
• There's a much more varied exposure to language, a wider range of lexical phrases, collocations and patterns as well as language forms.
• The language explored arises from the students' needs. This need dictates what will be covered in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the coursebook.
• It is a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time communicating. PPP lessons seem very teacher-centred by comparison. Just watch how much time the students spend communicating during a task-based lesson.
• It is enjoyable and motivating.

Conclusion
PPP offers a very simplified approach to language learning. It is based upon the idea that you can present language in neat little blocks, adding from one lesson to the next. However, research shows us that we cannot predict or guarantee what the students will learn and that ultimately a wide exposure to language is the best way of ensuring that students will acquire it effectively. Restricting their experience to single pieces of target language is unnatural.

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