Diary: Presentations: Laptops, new softwares, green movement and other stuff: part two

Presentation is definitely an art. It is a skill that should be developed. The presentations that we all have had have provided us with a very clear message: We all should work more on the art of presentation. Americans are good examples. They are real experts in turning everything into a show, even a war. I can vividly remember the very first day The United States attacked Iraq. They had live reports from inside the tanks heading towards the battlefields. They successfully transformed reporting a naturally dirty stuff into something exciting. There are useful sources available online on tips and points about making an effective presentation. A simple search on the World Wide Web will definitely show us some.
In this entry I have tried to review another paper in the book Innovation in English Language Teaching which I was supposed to present but I couldn't because of lack of time.

Diary: Presentations: Laptops, new softwares, green movement and other stuff

I have acquired something unbelievably valuable. You can perform something relatively well on stage without having the mastery you should essentially have. I owe this great achievement to my own efforts towards finding a new presentation software within the last few month resulting in finding Articulate software. Unfortunately I just could find the free trial version of the software which is a fully functioning version but limited to a 30-day use.
I was supposed to present three papers in the book Innovation in English Language Teaching. But what I did out of the classroom was working on only two of them and what I did in the classroom was presenting just one. This entry deals with the first paper which I presented in the last session of the class:

Designing the Discourse Syllabus by Michael McCarthy and Ronald Carter

Diary: You are not the king anymore!

When our city's most famous physics teacher died, our city experienced one of the biggest unplanned funerals. Thousands of people rushed into the roads and exhibited a state of pure sadness. I can vividly remember on the very first morning after his death when I was anxiously looking for a place to have some of his photos color-copied – based on a promise I made to his son- the man who finally agreed to do this on that Friday morning – and of course was not happy at all to do that on a weekend- looked at the photos and suddenly recognized him. He copied all the photos for free. Why was he so popular? Where did that charisma come from? Now I can certainly say that he was a perfect conveyor of knowledge. He was an expert in transferring knowledge to students. He was a charismatic teacher.

Diary: Group portrait with Student

Human beings – maybe as an internal tendency – tend to model the natural phenomena occurring around them. They have always been showing great enthusiasm in adopting models to explain natural events with which – sometimes – no thorough scientific justifications are associated. To highlight my academic background – maybe in order to show off a little- I would like to depict an example which may help me find a better way to elaborate on what I am trying to convey.

Diary: Grammar, Grammar, Grammar

"You know, I don't want a grammar class. I need to talk. I want to attend a conversation class!"

Comments of such constitute my memories of days in which I used to serve as an educational manager in an English institute. Client themselves and even parents were constantly showing their concerns about grammar. Why is Grammar so frightening? Why do people persistently try to avoid grammar? In the following lines I have tried to bring some perspectives about language and especially grammar based on what I have already picked mostly from the book Aspects of Language Teaching by H. G. Widdowson and class discussions and reviewing my own experiences in teaching as well.

Diary: What I have been supposed to learn about Learning and Learning Process

Diary is the title which hardly fully illustrates what I am going to do in the following lines. As far as diary is concerned, I may think of it as a collection of sentences describing – or maybe reporting – what has happened during any time unit in any given circumstance. However, I have titled this entry DIARY just because I have been supposed to do so. In the following lines, I mostly try to reflect my own understanding of what is called Learning and Learning Process. This understanding comes mostly from the book chapters cited in the syllabus and from class discussions.

To my Dear Professor

I believe when someone dares to experience such a dramatic change as I experienced, he has already devoted a considerable amount of time on thinking and challenging himself on the consequences of such a decision.

There is no reason for pessimism. My hands are widely open to embrace any unpredicted event in this way, and my mind is absolutely prepared to tolerate any upcoming ambiguity.

I am quite enjoying this.