If I should have a daughter

A performing poet since she was 14 years old, Sarah Kay is the founder of Project V.O.I.C.E., teaching poetry and self-expression at schools across the United States.

"If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B ... " began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis, from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York's Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E., and gives two breathtaking performances of "B" and "Hiroshima."

Watch Sarah Kay recite her poem and watch her talk, where she explains her commitment to poetry.

Now I know

Now I Know is a new project from the video production company Sprinkle Lab.

The purpose of Now I Know is to record and publish short videos of successful entrepreneurs sharing lessons they've learned along the way. Each video is under three minutes long so they are short and to the point.

Some of the names you might recognize in the videos are Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and MG Siegler of TechCrunch and ChrunchFund.

H/T to Free Technology for Teachers.

The chaos of English pronunciation

This is a fun poem about the chaos of the English language by Gerard N. Trenité. There are many different versions of this poem. This poem was first published as an appendix to his book Drop your foreign accent . It was a book of pronunciation exercises for students learning British pronunciation. The book was first published in 1909. The Chaos first appeared in the 1920 edition. With each successive edition of the book, the poem was expanded. The most complete version can be found on the website of The English Spelling Society (http://www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j17/caos.php). That version is 274 lines.

Don't worry about understanding the poem - there is no meaning! It's just a fun collection of many of the ridiculous irregularities of English spelling! Just listen to the pronunciation. Most native speakers would have difficulty pronouncing all these words, so don't worry if you find it difficult.

Finally you will find that some of the words at the end of a line don't rhyme. It is due to the fact that the poem is read with American English pronunciation, and not British English, as the poem was initially meant for.



H/T Teacher Melanie.

Do lectures

Do lectures is an impressive site Russell Stannard informed about in his November newsletter.

This is what Do lectures say about their site:

The idea is a simple one— that people who Do things can inspire the rest of us to go and Do things, too. So each year Do lectures invite a group of people who have stood out in a field to talk about what they do. They can be small Do’s or big Do’s or just extraordinary Do’s. But when you listen to their stories, they light a fire in your belly to go and Do your thing, your passion, the thing that sits in the back of your head each day, just waiting, and waiting for you to follow your heart.

To go find your cause to fight, your company to start, your invention to invent, your book to write, your mountain to climb. The one thing the Doers of the world Do, apart from Do amazing things, is to inspire the rest of us to go and Do amazing things too. They are fire-starters.

Occupy Wall Street

This is a video on the Wall Street protests that I found on ESL Writing.

Rob White suggests some activities for us to do with the video, as you can try them if you wish:

1. Describe some of the daily life activities that you saw.

2. Make a list of the verbs that you see in action.
3. Why are people protesting on the street?
4. Summarize the story.

Anyway, the video gives us a fresh insight into what's going on in these protests and has a value of its own that you will appreciate just by watching it.


Right Here All Over (Occupy Wall St.) from Alex Mallis on Vimeo.

Experimental school

Read this The New York Times lengthy article by Clifford J. Levy, who is a deputy metro editor of the Times. He won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of Russia in 2011.

For four years three American siblings attended an experimental school in Moscow where instruction is only in Russian and classes are videotaped to improve teaching.

You can watch a video showing some of the highlights of the experience embedded in the newspaper article or by clicking here.

Steve Job's legacy

Technology editor from The Guardian Charles Arthur looks back at the career of the driving force behind Apple, Steve Jobs.

Jobs was the single-minded visionary who revolutionised three industries: computers, film and music. He simplified complicated things by making the customer's needs paramount, bringing cutting edge technology into globally popular consumer products.

You can find a video embedded here, but by clicking on the link above you will gain access to eight more Jobs-related videos.



H/T to Janet Abruzzo.

Why You Can't Work at Work

Why You Can’t Work at Work is a presentation by Jason Fried, co-founder of  Big Think, a forum where top experts explore big ideas for the 21st century.

In his talk, which comes complete with transcript, Jason Fried holds that with its constant commotion, unnecessary meetings, and infuriating wastes of time, the modern workplace makes us all work longer, less focused hours. Jason Fried explains how we can change all of this.

Tribute

Tribute is the best-known cinema magazine is Canada. If you visit their website, you will find a throve of cinema-related stuff that might be of interest for the advanced English learner in search of authentic material: trailers, interviews, news, and so on.

The commercial campus

Corporations are hiring students to promote their brand on campus. At the University of North Carolina, American Eagle helps first-year students move-in, while Target hosts the inaugural party.

Watch this The New York Times video to find out more about this business practice which might be a bit unusual for us and judge for yourself.



You can also read the related newspaper article here.

The New York Times also presents a slideshow with the most general ideas of the scheme.

PISA -Measuring student success around the world

A test the whole world can take...

It's a breathtaking concept -- but for the OECD, it's a very real way of finding out how well-prepared today's students are to participate in society. If you're not quite sure what PISA is or does, and you've got about 12 minutes to spare, grab a comfortable chair. This video will help you to understand why the OECD's number-crunchers trigger such intense debate about the state of education around the world every time they release the results of the latest PISA survey.

I couldn't get hold of a transcript, so for comprehension purposes you will have to rely on YouTube's (inaccurate) CC, the powerful effect of the images and, best of all, your own skills.

Frontline

Frontline is a website that develops investigative journalism. Contains extended interviews, videos, transcripts, teacher's resources, and additional material related to its weekly documentaries.

Frontline has been broadcasting over 28 seasons each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience, with topics ranging from biographies, to politics, crime, education, religion, the environment, sports and so on.

As an example, here's the documentary The Atomic Artist, about a group of Japanese artists who are challenging Japan's faith in nuclear power. You can read the transcript here. Bear in mind, however, that most of Frontline's documentaries are on the long side, so our biggest difficulty might just be finding the time to watch whichever programme we wish to watch.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Merriam-Webster on YouTube

This is a real find for advanced English students which I discovered through Random Idea English.

Merriam-Webster has a YouTube channel with very short (two minutes or less) videos on various aspects of English.

Check out Merriam-Webster's YouTube channel or find the list of videos at Merriam-Webster itself.

There you will find videos on controversial topics (who vs whom; fewer vs less), on general problems (a vs an; adverbs without -ly), and on interesting topics (the origin of posh).

Watch this short video that explains the term hat-trick, so commonly used in football and sports in general.

Teacher of teachers

What should teachers be like? Finne Cherian, a teacher in Canada, explains. Take a listen as he talks about the essential things a teacher should do in the classroom. Especially a teacher of teachers.

You may also wish to watch Finney Cherian in action while delivering his award-winning lecture Unbinding Baby Elephants.

Business Innovation Factory

The Business Information Factory has an annual conference where they invite creative thinkers and, like TED Talks, they put the videos online for viewing. They look pretty interesting.

For example, here’s one from Daniel Pink, What Motivates Us?

Dan Pink is author of several bestselling books about the changing world of work. He is also a crazy-cool, insightful provocateur whose latest book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, uses 40 years of behavioral science to overturn the conventional wisdom about human motivation and offer a more effective path to high performance. Dan is also the author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future and Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself.

Dan joined the BIF community on March 29, 2010 for a unique opportunity to talk about the his newest book and his many adventures pushing against anecdotal and outdated wisdom about why we humans do what we do.

Sixty-second lectures

Every spring and fall, SAS (University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences) faculty take a minute out on Locust Walk to share their perspectives on topics ranging from human history and the knowable universe, to fractions and fly-fishing. They are the sixty-second lectures.

You can watch and listen to dozens of sixty-second lectureds in the archive, many of which have a transcript at your disposal.

My favourite place to study

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania YouTube Channel has tons of videos about both academic and students' everyday life on campus, which can provide endless hours of listening material for advanced English students.

As you may well image, the videos are unscripted, and the sound is live, which is sometimes an obstacle for comprehension, but all in all, the videos give us the opportunity to get to know what university life in the US is like while listening to native speakers of English.

I have selected a few videos here from season 1. I hope you enjoy them. If you do, why not subscribe to the IUP YouTube Channel?



My day by the hour



My favourite place to eat on campus

Our motivations

What drives us to do the things we do?
Do you feel more motivated by reward or by punishment?
Which factors contribute to a better performance in the workplace?

This RSAnimate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.



You can read a transcript of the talk here.

Rebuilding Titanic

Titanic: one of the greatest maritime legends in history. When she set sail in April 1912, she was the largest, heaviest, most expensive, and most luxurious manmade moving object on the planet.

This is a really interesting infographic from the National Geographic I have learnt about through Larry Ferlazzo.

The National Geographic has recreated everything which had to do with this formidable ship.

You can find one of the embedded video below, but you can gain access to all the Titanic infographic by clicking on any of the links on this post entry or on the picture above.

Try something new for 30 days

Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.

Matt Cutts is an engineer at Google, where he fights linkspam and helps webmasters understand how search works.