Lifelong learning of lexis

I was looking through the stories in a newsletter I receive from Designtaxi and noticed one of the headlines - not particularly because of the story, but because of one word in it:

Adult Website Crowdsources Ideas

It was the word 'crowdsource' that caught my eye.  I may have seen it before, but I certainly hadn't 'noticed' it before.  

tweakyourbiz.com

'Noticing words' is something that I have included in several talks that I've given.  I can even remember my first 'noticing' experience.  I was in the back of my parents' car.  I can't remember exactly what the conversation was about, but my mum said 'He must have been...'.  I recall asking myself: 'Is that 'must of' or 'must have'?'  The budding linguist was alert!

Back to 'crowdsource'.  I checked the exact meaning in the Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary and this is what I found:

crowdsource

verb [I or T] /ˈkraʊdˌsɔːs/   /-sɔːrs/

› to give tasks to a large group of people or to the general public, for example, by asking for help on the internet, rather than having tasks done within a company by employees:The company plans to crowdsource the translation of its new web app.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/crowdsource?q=crowdsource

http://en.paperblog.com/content-creation-how-you-crowdsource-your-efforts-751657/

Crowdsource' is apparently a very new word, and is related to another word:  outsource

outsource

verb [I or T]     /ˈaʊt.sɔːs/   /-sɔːrs/

› If a company outsources, it pays to have part of its work done by anothercompany:Unions are fighting a plan by universities to outsource all non-academic services.Some companies outsource to cheaper locations to cut costs.outsourcing     /ˈaʊtˌsɔː.sɪŋ/   /-ˌsɑː-/ noun [U]›The management guaranteed that outsourcing wouldn't mean job losses.              

http://www.mamumediallc.com/storage/bigstock-Outsourcing-Word-Cloud-Concept-29451263.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1363786585051

Outsourcing and crowdsourcing  are two portmanteau words - words by joining together two words, sometimes with no letters being omitted when they're joined like these two.  In other instances, some letters are omitted, like brunch, Spanglish, sitcom.  

On the other blog I'm involved in, we wrote about portmanteau words in a post and created an exercise.  

I've just started a board in pinterest with illustrations of portmanteau words.  My aim is to add to this and my other teaching boards there.  Just need to have 30 hours in a day to do all the things I'd like to!!!!

Training your listening skills

When I was working on the seminar I gave last Friday in Santander, I came across a great recording on ted.com of Julian Treasure:  5 ways to listen better.

He makes some very valid points (you can hear him make them in the talk, and also/or read them in the transcript):

We spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we're not very good at it. 

 we're losing our listening. Why did I say that? Well there are a lot of reasons for this. First of all, we invented ways of recording -- first writing, then audio recording and now video recording as well. The premium on accurate and careful listening has simply disappeared. 

Julian Treasure suggests 5 steps to improve our listening:

The first is to include 3 minutes of silence in our lives per day.

And I'll leave you to watch the video to find out the other four.....

Here's a wordcloud with the words Julian Treasure used in the talk.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiguZDNU8AKWDBC4evhUEEj-8bkttIC85B4p4E7aHn17Twk3AVqR897KKS5pmZsYH_Q3YHIsQlfU29lKMp1POXAqtXCRJ7MuulrzcOAZeIfhShrkOrzQqDLWV8iX7h-zfU3CPcNeaUT8fjO/s640/MyCloud.jpeg

Fun songs for young learners

I was checking out some of the materials and links that I received this morning in my BusyTeacher weekly newsletter, and came across a great channel on You Tube with lots of songs to use with young learners.

I checked out some of the songs (not all, because there are 111 videos!!)

I loved the Colors song!

Other songs I liked were: This is me and My family 

Can an elephant jump?  

I was a bit put off by the word 'spitting' in the Fun summer song though - it's a shame, because otherwise it's very usable.

And some teachers from a school here also deserve a mention in this post - I've seen them perform this song live!  Check out the Tickles and their Flip it!

I hope you find these useful!

Resources, tips, materials for the 2015 Cambridge English updates

Today I would like to share with you some great resources for the 2015 exam updates for the Cambridge English: First, Cambridge English First for Schools and Cambridge English: Advanced exams.

Cambridge English Language Assessment have created a microsite for the updated exams.

http://teachingsupport.cambridgeenglish.org/

On the microsite, you'll find lots of things, including details on the changes that will be incorporated to the exams, sample materials to prepare for them

and lots of resources to view and download. I've just downloaded the Teaching Tips for Cambridge English: First for Schools  and they look very useful.

You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter so that you don't miss new additions and developments.

Do you use technology in learning?

Today's post is to share a call for research projects.  There isn't much time to apply to take part in the programme  (the deadline is March 17th - only 4 days away) But it looks interesting and it might fit in well with what you're doing.

Cambridge University Press is launching a new programme to support and encourage teacher research for ELT. The theme for this year’s programme is Digital Pedagogy, using technology to help learning. We are looking for five projects to give initial support to, and one special project which will lead to a joint presentation at IATEFL International Conference (UK) in 2015. If you have an idea for a project please use the attached pdf to apply. We apologise for the short notice - the deadline is the 17th of March - but you don't need to give a lot of detail at this stage. The key points could be expressed in around 500 words. Note that if you have any problems with filling in the pdf, you can put your answers in a Word document. 

Creative posters from pinterest - Part 2

I've mentioned pinterest before - both for teaching and for working on language areas.  

Today, I wanted to mention a few things I've saved on my pinterest board.

Forever is over!

http://www.anatol.cc/images/objekte/nothing_lasts_forever2012.JPG

So many words are inside other words.......

When there's an earthquake, the earth quakes!

                                        Acting out of character?

char      er

     act

I'd like to have ......

http://pulpfreedom.tumblr.com/image/36702051634

What about you?  What would you like more of?

You could use posters like these to work on language.  Students can make their own.

http://wishflowers.tumblr.com/post/18929048409

For this last one, you could give students the verbs and they can choose the words to combine with them.
think                                                          daily
exercise                                                      happy
eat                                                             hard
work                                                          healthy
stay                                                            less
worry                                                         more
dance                                                         often
love                                                           positively
be                                                              strong

Another date for your calendar

Every week now I receive invitations to webinars.  Sometimes they fit in with my busy schedule and I can take part in them live.  At other times, I can't connect live because I'm out or just too busy.  That's not a problem because I can watch the recording afterwards.  It's fantastic!  

If you have an internet connection, teachers can take part in training no matter where they teach.

The latest webinar invitation I received is for:

Register link

I've signed up for the Monday session.  I might meet some of you online?