Understanding Discourse – Grice and Implicatures Part 1

The bibliography will follow at the end of Part 3.

1.      Introduction

 1.1    Why Grice?

Emma: Can you find out if the tube is running?

Tom: The internet is down.

1.2     Grice in the foreign language classroom

2.1     What is CP?

(Grice 1975:45)

Relation:          1. Be relevant

Manner:          Be perspicuous.

  1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
  2. Avoid ambiguity.
  3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity)
  4. Be orderly.

2.2     Implicatures

1)    The speaker is observing the maxims.

2.2.1    Standard Implicatures

Me: How many siblings have you got?

Student: I have 5 brothers.

Consider also this question.

(iv)      Student:  What does ‘greedy’ mean?

Me: Is Claudio in school today?

Student: He’s sick.

2.2.2    Generalized Conversational Implicatures

(vii)     He went out with a woman.

Also consider,

(viii)    I repaired a roof.

2.2.3    Particularized Conversational Implicatures

Exploiting the maxim of Quantity

David:   How was the film?

Sharon:  Well, the costumes were nice.

Exploiting the maxim of Quality

(x)        You are an angel.  (metaphor)

Michael: You are always online.

Brian has just burnt his dinner.

(xiii)     I can eat a horse.  (hyperbole)

Exploiting the maxim of Relevance

Rachel: What do you think of the coffee here?

Exploiting the maxim of Manner

The parents are talking in front of their toddler.

2.2.4    Other categories of non-observance

Teacher: What did you do this weekend?

Student:  Nothing.

Opting out

Teacher: How was your holiday?

Student: Nice.

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary Part 9 – Functions and Spoken Discourse

The day’s session started with a roleplay.

5 different rolecards were given to each of them.

The 5 characters in brief :

Relating to role (a), you would find expressions like

‘You won’t believe what xxx did!’;

‘I’m don’t know what to do’;

‘That reminds me, xxx is always + -ing’

Relating to role (b), you would find expressions like

Don’t worry’;

‘That’s such a pity’;

‘I’m so sorry to hear that’;

‘It’s not the end of the world’;

‘Things are going to get better’

Relating to role (c), you would find expressions like

Why don’t you + -ing?’;

‘How about + -ing?’;

‘You could + bare infinitive’;

‘You really should + bare infinitive’

Relating to role (d), you would find expressions like

‘By the way,…’;

‘Come to think of it,….’;

‘Now that you mention it,…’

Relating to role (e), you would find expressions like

‘With all due respect,…’;

‘If you don’t mind me saying, …’;

‘To be honest,…’;

‘I see where you are coming from but…’

You might also find:

Hedging and softening devices like

It’s sort of…’;

‘It’s  just….’;

‘It’s not that…’

Semi-fixed expressions to focus and emphasize, like

The thing is…’;

‘At the end of the day, …’;

‘What this means is…

And typical expressions for opening and closing a conversation, such as

‘Hi, how are you?’;

‘How have things been?’;

‘How is it going?’;

‘Long time no see!’

‘I’ve got to go’;

‘I really have to make a move’;

‘It’s been nice catching up with you’;

‘See you around’

What about ‘How are you?

Rachel:          The phone is ringing.

Michael:        I’m in the bath

(Adapted from Prof. Henry Widdowsen)

3.  What do the following utterances really mean?

             Are you busy?

            It’s stuffy in here, isn’t it?

            That curry smells really good.

            I totally forgot to bring my pen.

            Will you be passing the supermarket on your way home?

            I can’t reach the top shelf.

(Adapted from Vicky Hollett’s blog)

4.  What is Sue trying to achieve here?

Brian has just burnt his dinner.

Sue (laughs): You’re such a great cook.

What is Sarah trying to do here?

Sarah: What do you think of the coffee here?

What do you think happened?

(Adapted from research by Dr. Sabrina Mallon-Gerland)

9.  What happened here?

Kelly: You won’t believe what happened to me today!

Jun Sook stares at her and doesn’t say a word.

Jun Sook: Huh?

The discussion will follow on in the next blogpost.

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary Part 8 – Loop Input

The 8th Day of the CELTA was about introducing the trainees to the Lexical Approach and the idea of language existing as chunks, rather than individual pieces of vocabulary strung together to make meaning.

Trainees were getting experiential training through the use of a demo lesson of a jigsaw reading method I use to encourage learners to remember language in chunks.

Trainees, acting as learners, were divided into two groups (blues and yellows) and given different texts to read and summarise. The catch was that they were only allowed to make notes in the form of drawings to help them remember the content. This means that the learner would not be able to simply read the words off the page, but is encouraged to truly understand the meaning of the text and remember some of the chunks of language.

The trainees, now learners, are put in a carousel, with the Blues on the inside and the Yellows on the outside. The Blues then had to relay their summaries, with the help of only their drawings, to the yellows. The Yellows then moved a place to their left and had to re-tell what they had heard to their new Blue partner.

This achieves two things. It practises the very common communicative function of re-telling stories and reporting what one has heard, while allowing the new blue partner to fill in the gaps of the retold story, thus co-constructing the information learnt and reformulating the chunks of language from the text.

As Güven has very concisely summarized the lesson in his blogpost, I will refrain from describing the rest of the input session here.

What makes this input session slightly different from those with a demo lesson which employs the technique of a straight forward experiential learning/training, is that the text given to the trainees was about the Lexical Approach itself.

The Blues were given a page-long definition about the Lexical Approach from An A-Z of ELT (Thornbury, 2006) while the Yellows were given a page from the same book about lexis, lexical sets and lexical verbs.

Loop de Loop
Photo by Mike Hogan, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishmikeh/

Combining content (i.e. What the trainee is trying to learn: the text about the Lexical Approach) and process (i.e. How the trainee is trying to learn: the ‘drawing jigsaw reading’ which enforces the Lexical Approach), this specific style of teacher training sessions could be described as a loop input (Woodward, 1986).

Being multi-sensory, loop input allows for lots of recursion and for the reverberation of learning to take place through content (the text) and through experiencing the process (pretending to be students in the demo Lexical Approach lesson), thereby resulting in a deeper understanding and learning of the concept (Woodward, 2003).

What is perhaps most important in loop input sessions, and in fact any experiential learning process involving a demo lesson, is that trainees are given the chance to unpack (or what Woodward calls ‘decompress’) the lesson.
This means that time is given to trainees to have a detailed discussion of the main stages of the lesson they have just experienced, the aims of each stage, the content and materials used, and the participant experience of the activity (ibid).

In this loop input session for example, I asked the following questions in the unpacking stage:

What were the main stages of that lesson?

Why did I only allow you to draw and not write words?

Why did I ask you to re-tell what you had heard?

What words did you use when re-telling?

Did you remember individual words or chunks of language?

How did you remember the words you had to use to re-tell what you had heard? How did you feel as a student?

And judging from Güven’s blogpost, it seems like the trainees got the gist of the Lexical Approach.

Thornbury, S. (2006) An A-Z of ELT, Macmillan.

Woodward, T. (1986) ‘Loop Input – a process idea’ The Teacher Trainer 1: 6-7.

Woodward, T. (2003) ‘Key Concepts in ELT: Loop Input’ ELTJ 57/3: 301-304

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary Part 7 – Correcting Students’ Mistakes

Where to timetable the input session on ‘Correction and Dealing with Student Errors’ is a tricky one and often reflects the trainer’s beliefs about teacher training and teaching.

Some trainers leave it till Week 3, preferring to focus on lesson structures where the target language is presented and then practice of that target language is given.

This could be based on the belief that language lessons should take on an input-output structure where teachers aim to teach a particular pre-decided lexico-grammatical item.

Or this could be based on the belief that teacher trainees on a CELTA are not ready to handle the clarification and correction of language that emerges from student output as they are new to the profession, and are better off having the chance to research and prepare to present a language item.

Of course, there is also the fact that the CELTA criteria expects trainees to articulate the aims of the lesson (e.g. By the end of the lesson, students will have been introduced to and given practice of the use of the present perfect for life experiences in the context of talking about countries they have been to) and show through the stages and procedure of their lesson plan how they are going to go about achieving that aim.

This naturally suggests that the other CELTA criteria regarding the ability to clarify meaning, form and pronunciation of language in Teaching Practice refers mainly to the clarification of the target language stated in the lesson aims.

Hence, in order to best equip teachers to deal with Teaching Practice, the first two weeks of input are often spent understanding the input-output lesson shapes like Present-Practice-Produce and ‘Language from a Text’, and demonstrating how to systematically clarify MFP in such lessons.

Being a Dogmetician, and a believer in the importance dealing with emergent language, I decided to deliver my input session on correction on Day 6 (Week 2, Day 1). After all, if it’s going to be difficult for trainees, they might as well start getting practice of it as soon as possible.

Photo from virtualtourist.com

Let us first start by looking at some sentences spoken by my students.

Decide where the mistake lies, whether it is a problem with lexis, grammar, pronunciation or usage, and why you think this mistake was made.

How would you correct the mistake?

Here are some examples:

1)   She want some tea.

2)   He saw a dream about winning the Olympics yesterday.

3)   I am not agree with you.

4)   I lied down on my bed when I got home.

5)   He seed a film at the cinema last week.

6)   I read a new about Team GB’s gold medals this morning.

7)   If I am you, I will go home.

8)   Last month, I had seen this film.

(1) is a grammatical issue where the student has dropped the third person ‘s’ in ‘wants’. A seemingly simple grammar rule to remember, new teachers are often surprised to find fairly advanced students of English still making this mistake. This is often not because the student is unaware of the rule, but simply forgot. If repeated often, the mistake becomes habitual (or in some literature, ‘fossilized’).

Not surprisingly, the third person ‘s’ is a late acquisition item even among children who speak English as a first language. This could be due to the similarity in the pronunciation of ‘want’ and ‘wants’, and the fact that there is hardly any impact on meaning if the ‘s’ is dropped.

Although (2) is a mistake with lexis and collocation, while (3) is a grammatical mistake, they both are a result of L1 interference, i.e. translation from the student’s first language has caused the mistake. The speaker of sentence (2) is Japanese and the collocation ‘to see a dream’, instead of ‘to have a dream’ is the norm in the Japanese language. Sentence (3) is a mistakes typically made by Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French speakers, as ‘agree’ is an adjective, as in ‘Estoy de acuerdo’, ‘Sono d’accordo’ or ‘Je suis d’accord’.

Number (4) and (5) feature the same grammatical mistake of using the regular verb past tense ending ‘-ed’ with an irregular verb.

However, the student who said (4) simply did not know the past simple of the irregular verb ‘lie’ and might have confused it with the regular verb ‘to lie’ (as in ‘not to tell the truth’).

The elementary student who said sentence (5) had been able to say ‘I saw’ previously. But when taught the rules for forming the past simple of regular verbs, the eager student over-applied the rules to the irregular verbs as well. As first glance, it might seem like the student has deteriorated. In actual fact, he/she was experimenting with a rule that was taught.

And without experimentation, there can be no language learning.

Sentence (6) also features an over-application of a rule. The student understood that plural nouns often take an ‘s’ in English, e.g. one medal, two medals. The student also knew the word ‘news’ and has assumed that it was a noun in the plural form. He then deduced that one piece of news must be ‘a new’. Very clever!

Sentence number (7) sees the first conditional, instead of the second conditional being used. This could be due to several possible reasons : (a) the student hasn’t had enough practice of the structure and isn’t ready to produce it, (b) the student forgot (c) the student has never come across this structure or hasn’t been taught it (d) the student was taught this in class but misunderstood the teacher and thought that ‘If I were you’ referred to a past time.

Sentence (8) is another example of a student experimenting with the tenses they have learnt and perhaps going a little overboard with it, and overcomplicating the sentence. The past simple would have sufficed.

Photo by @pigletruth from http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

To sum up, here’s why students make mistakes

  • They forgot.
  • It’s a habit.
  • L1 interference
  • Lack of knowledge
  • Lack of confidence
  • Lack of practice
  • Not ready to produce it
  • Misunderstanding the teacher
  • Over-application of a rule
  • Experimentation

But students want to have their mistakes pointed out and corrected. Many of them feel that this is what they are paying the teacher to do.

A director of studies once told me that the most common student complaint they got was that their teachers were not correcting them enough.

Photo by Chia Suan Chong

But can we correct every mistake we hear?

That would not only disrupt fluency to the point where real communication would be made nearly impossible, but would also affect the student’s confidence.

Instead, deal with issues that are

  • Affecting meaning and interfering with communication;
  • Recurring mistakes;
  • Mistakes made by several members of the class;
  • Mistakes made concerning the target language that you focused on in this lesson or in previous lessons.
Photo from nitawriter.wordpress.com

What are some different ways we can correct a mistake in class?

(1) Reformulation/Recasting

Student: “I go to the cinema yesterday.”

Teacher: “Oh? You went to the cinema yesterday?”

This involves the teacher simply repeating the student’s sentence back in the correct form. In some arenas, a distinction is drawn between ‘reformulation’ and ‘recasting’, with a suggestion that ‘reformulation’ is when this is done as in a delayed language feedback slot.

However, I find such terminology unhelpful to my trainees and choose to use the term ‘reformulation’ both for on-the-spot and delayed correction.

(2) Elicit by indicating there’s been an error

Student: “I go to the cinema yesterday.”

Teacher: “I go?” (with raised eyebrows and rising intonation)

This works with students who already have been exposed to the language point but have simply either forgotten or have made the mistake a habit.

If students are unable to self-correct, elicit from the other students in the class.

(3) Explicitly tell students what the mistake is

Student: “I go to the cinema yesterday.”

Teacher: “ Yesterday is the past but ‘go’ is the present tense. What’s the past tense of ‘go’?”

or even more explicitly,

Teacher: “Yesterday is the past but ‘go’ is the present tense. So we should say ‘I went to the cinema yesterday.”

Other ways of correcting include using

  • finger highlighting,
  • identifying the type of error e.g. ‘tense?’ or ‘preposition?’
  • gestures to indicate word order,
  • using the board and writing up the phonemic script,
  • clapping out the stress pattern of a word or sentence, etc.
Photo from MyFunnyWorld.net

Delayed Language Feedback (Delayed Correction)

After an activity is over and feedback on content has been conducted, language feedback can be conducted.

In one-to-one lessons, it could be helpful to have a sheet of paper divided into two section – ‘What you said’ and ‘What you could have said’. During the spoken interaction, I write on this sheet frantically. In delayed language feedback, I cover the side that says ‘What you could have said’ and get the student to self-correct. I then gradually reveal my reformulations.

In a class, I would write the sentences containing student errors on the board. I would then put students into pairs to correct the sentences. The person who made the error remains anonymous, but every so often, students giggle and admit that the sentence came from them.

After giving students ample time to discuss the sentences, I elicit the self-corrections from them in open class and we learn from the mistakes together.

If you still use OHP projectors, you could write the sentences straight onto the acetate when monitoring, and flash it up on the wall during delayed language feedback. This would save you time writing it up on the board, but this means that you have to pick the sentences you’d like to focus on as you hear them.

Photo by @pigletruth from http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

Rather than an input-output model, a focus on error correction earlier on emphasizes the fact that learning is not linear, and that some of the best learning takes place when the teacher helps the students to notice the gap in their knowledge and how it could affect communication.

It might not be easy, but just like language learning, the more one practises dealing with language errors and emergent language, the better one is bound to get at it.

After all, why do we encourage our learners to make mistakes, yet feel like we have to protect our teacher trainees from making them?

As James Joyce said, ‘Mistakes are the portals of discovery.’

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary Part 6 – Increasing Student Talking Time

In the first week of the CELTA, trainees were told to generate as much student talking time as possible by playing the role of the dinner party host or facilitator, asking genuine questions and handing over to students to work in pairs/groups as often as possible, while trainees listened and took notes of the language students produced.

After all, interaction is the key to language acquisition.

As the first session of the second week, I timetabled the second tutor to conduct a session called ‘Personalisation and Promoting Genuine Interaction’, looking further into ways trainees can get students talking.

In Güven’s weekend posts, ‘Extra Teaching Tips’ and ‘More Tips for the Weekend’, he lists some of the lessons he has learnt from the feedback given to his TP (Teaching Practice) Group’s first two Practice Lessons.

Amongst Güven’s tips are ‘Remember to sit on the chair’, ‘Be careful with the use of Powerpoint slides’, ‘Ask students genuine questions (and not just display questions) in open class discussions’, and ‘Remember to give feedback on content following pair/group speaking activities’ – and as his tutor, I must say I am absolutely over the moon that he has taken these tips seriously enough to blog about them.

As the observer of these practice lessons, it is evident how trainees applying those tips can dramatically change the atmosphere in the classroom and the behaviour of the learners. Let me explain.

‘Remember to sit on the chair’

Don’t stand on ceremony!
Photo by @acliltoclimb from http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

When teachers use the chair more, instead of standing authoritatively hovering over students, they instantly put themselves on par with the students and this changes the dynamics of their relationship.

In open class stages, teachers must remember to stay centralized (assuming students are seated in a horseshoe position) and avoid hiding behind or leaning on tables or desks that serve as a barrier between teacher and students.

When monitoring, chairs on wheels enable teachers to ‘roll’ around the classroom checking if students are on task, supporting and helping students and feeding in language they need, and taking notes of the language that emerges for a delayed language feedback stage.

The only occasion that I believe calls for the teacher to stand is when drilling students. The ‘Model – Choral Drill – Individual Drill’ sequence is more effective when the teacher is standing as it focuses the attention on the teacher when he/she is modeling the pronunciation of the target language, and it keeps the drill pacey and snappy.

Of course, the use of the chair is made easier by the fact that we have about 20 students in the classroom and not 50…

Click here to see Naomi Epstein’s response to this blogpost regarding the use of the chair and class size.

‘Be careful with the use of Powerpoint slides’

But if you use Powerpoint slides with a guitar in hand…maybe you’re okay…
Photo by Mike Hogan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishmikeh

An overdependence on Powerpoint can turn the lesson into a teacher-centred slide-centred presentation, rather than a student-centred class in which plenty of speaking practice and student involvement is prioritized.

Think ‘workshop’, rather than ‘speech’.

Photo from allenkleinedeters.wordpress.com

A genuine question is one where the teacher shows real interest in what the student is saying and is asking a follow-up question to find out more.

Here are some examples of display questions:

Student A: I take my camera to Madam Tussauds yesterday.’

“Did you take your camera to Madam Tussauds?’

“So what is the past of ‘take’?”

“And Student B? Where did you take your camera to yesterday?”

Here are some examples of genuine questions:

“Did you take lots of photos when you were there?”

“Really? And which celebrity did you want to take photos of?”

“Madam Tussauds? Did you like it?”

The result – the student talks more and gets more speaking practice, and because the teacher and the student is communicating real meaning, the other students are more likely to join in and respond to what is being said. Cross-classroom interaction is fostered.

After a freer speaking activity where students have talked or done a task in pairs/groups, ensure you conduct an open class feedback to the content of what was discussed or done. Say, if they were talking about their ideal job, ensure you leave time at the end of this stage to ask them questions like ‘So what was your partner’s ideal job?’ and ‘What criteria did he use to make that decision?’ in open class. React with genuine questions (see above).

Avoid jumping straight to feedback on language (also known as Delayed Correction) before focusing on content. It is feedback on content that makes the task meaningful for students, and the chance to retell what was discussed/done is invaluable speaking practice.

Allow me to add a couple more.

Make it personal, make it intimate.
Photo by @dfogarty from http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

“Personalise and make the topic/subject relevant to the students’ lives’

Ask the learners questions or give them tasks that relate to their lives and their opinions. In other words, don’t just ask them which type of holidays John and Mary in the listening text of Headway Intermediate like. Ask them which type of holidays the learners like.

But personalisation is a two-way game.

If you want learners to reveal something of themselves, it is important that you are willing to reveal something of yourself too.

Tell your learners about the type of holidays that you like and the ones that you don’t. Not only does this personalize the topic, it also acts as a model that helps clarify instructions and show learners how much depth you want them to go into.

But don’t get carried away and end up giving a 10-minute speech about your holiday.

It’s the learners that need practice of their English, not you.

“Ensure that the topic/task are engaging and can indeed generate discussion”

Sometimes, speaking activities fall flat on their faces and we teachers wonder why the students just weren’t talking.

A trainee once tried to implement a freer speaking activity that involved learners talking about the merits of Beethoven versus Mozart for 10 minutes in pairs. No one spoke because no one knew very much about or were interested in classical music.

I’m in no way trying to say that Beethoven or Mozart are not engaging. But consider the interests (and needs) of learners and be careful of creating tasks that reflect your own interests.

In another situation, the trainee asked the learners the controversial question “Do you think that the death penalty should be brought back?” and was surprised that the discussion only lasted for 1 minute or so.

It was a difficult question that when sprung on the students could only elicit responses like, ‘No. I think the death penalty is bad.’

Try out the tasks you are about to give students on your friends, colleagues or family. Ask them the questions you are going to ask students and see how easily and to what extent they would respond.

If the questions are not generating enough discussion, ask yourself if the questions need to be rephrased or supplemented with further questions that can help scaffold the thought process.

And now that Week 1 is over and the trainees have learnt to be the star facilitator, it’s time to look at how language is being covered in Teaching Practice.

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary – Why are you so distant?

But let me try.

Have a look at the following sentences.

Label the verbs used and identify the meaning they convey.

(c)           If I could turn back time (Cher)

(d)          It could happen to you (Diana Krall)

Photo by @sandymillin http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

So to sum up,

the past is sometimes used to be more polite,

but sometimes used to talk about imaginary or improbably situations.

Or maybe the future.

How confusing was that?

Perhaps it’d help if we first knew this:

So let’s forget those labels for a moment.

(1) Temporal Distance

Photo by Chia Suan Chong

(2) Social Distance

Photo by @jinotaj http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

Lend me £10.

Can you lend me £10?

Could you lend me £10?

Do you mind lending me £10?

Would you mind lending me £10?

I don’t suppose you could lend me £10?

I was wondering if you could possibly lend me £10?

Consider the following situation:

More polite?

Or simply sarcastic?

How did we know it was sarcastic?

(3) Psychological Distance

Why the long face?

(Evening Standard, 4th Aug 2012)

There was this woman sitting on three seats.

And she goes, “No”

And she goes, “I’m taking these seats.”

And I go, “Are you serious?”

And she goes, “Of course I am.”

And I go, “Shut up.”

(4) Hypothetical Distance

http://www.flickr.com/eltpics Photo by @mk_elt

If only I could keep up with Güven’s blogging everyday.

Give me a 20% discount, I’ll take 500.

But is it really so?

For more about Distance and verbs, see:

R. Batstone, Grammar, OUP, 1994.

The CELTA Trainer’s Diary Part 5 – Clarifying Meaning of Grammatical Structures

On Day 5 of the CELTA, we looked at how we can focus on language in a systematic fashion through looking at Meaning, Form and Pronunciation (and Usage too).

In and amongst some genuine interaction happening between me and the trainees about the forthcoming weekend, I got them using the present continuous to talk about their weekend plans, and added a few of my own.

I then boarded,

“My friend is coming from Manchester on Saturday.”

“I’m staying home this weekend.”

“I’m finishing Season 7 of Desperate Housewives”

I asked,

Am I talking about the present, past or future?” (future)

Am I talking about something I have already arranged? Or something I have just thought of doing right now?” (arranged)

“What tense am I using to convey this meaning of an arranged future?” (present continuous)

Future arrangements…
Photo by @sandymillin http://www.flickr.com/eltpics

After writing the form of the present continuous (to be + -ing) on the board, we then established that we had covered the meaning and then the form of the language item. I elicited that we still had pronunciation to look at, and asked what the trainees thought might be pronunciation issues for the learners.

We looked at the pronunciation of the contractions and the pronunciation of the ‘-ing’.

We then agreed that although many people seem to be obsessed with form when dealing with grammar, it was the meaning that was the most important.

I then gave trainees a handout with a dialogue containing the following grammatical structures:

(a) I wish we hadn’t argued.

(b) She’s always complaining.

(c) If I were you, (I’d call her).

(d) If only we didn’t argue all the time.

Several sample CCQs were given with structure (a) and trainees had to decide whether they were useful CCQs or not. Here’s a taster.

Structure: I wish we hadn’t argued

CCQs: (1) Who did he argue with?

            (2) Why did they argue?

            (3) What does wish mean?

            (4) Did they argue?

            (5) Did he want them to argue?

I wish we hadn’t argued…

And here are the answers:

Questions (1) and (2) are more like reading comprehension questions than CCQs. They do not clarify the concept of the use of ‘I wish + past perfect’ and therefore are irrelevant.

Question (3) features one of the ‘taboo questions’ ‘What does ~mean?

Taboo questions fall into two categories.

One includes questions like Do you understand? and Do you know ~?

Unhelpful because many students would simply nod their heads when asked  perhaps because they are afraid of seeming stupid in front of other classmates, or because they think they have understood but actually haven’t, such questions do not really check for understanding of concepts.

The second category of ‘taboo questions’ include questions like ‘What does ~mean?’ and ‘Can you explain ~to the rest of the class?’

Perhaps more student-centred than the previous category of ‘taboo questions’, these questions show a recognition for the fact that it is better for the answers to come from students than have the teacher get into wordy explanations.

If so, then why are these ‘taboo questions’?

I once saw a trainee ask a pre-intermediate learner to explain the word ‘irony’ to his classmates. The learner froze and looked confused. The trainee assumed it was because he didn’t understand the word.

There is a difference between understanding a language item and being able to explain it. Most expert users and native speakers would struggle to explain a word comprehensively and satisfactorily enough for a class of learners without some teaching experience. They end up feeling put on the spot.

At the end of the day, don’t get your learners to do your job for you.

Instead, use guided CCQs, examples, and step-by-step inductive/scaffolded questions to get learners to the final destination.

(see yesterday’s post regarding CCQs for lexical items)

For more about these ‘taboo questions’, see Anthony Gaughan’s very interesting post: Is asking ‘Do you know what ~means?’ a waste of time?

Questions (4) and (5) get to the meaning and usage of the structure ‘I wish + Past Perfect’ and are the most appropriate CCQs to ask.

Trainees now have to look at structures (b), (c) and (d), and formulate CCQs to clarify the concepts.

Here are some suggestions:

(Please note: I have included the meaning sections for the trainees and am in no way suggesting that we give our students the lengthy explanation within those sections. CCQs coupled with a few contextualized examples should suffice to clarify meaning and usage to learners.)

(b) She’s always complaining.

Meaning: The present continuous is used here not to signify an action that is happening now, but an action that happens with regularity. However, the choice to use the present continuous and not the present simple suggests that the speaker wants to show annoyance and irritation at the action.

Look at the difference between ‘He always gives me money’ and ‘He’s always giving me money’. Can you sense the irritation?

CCQs: Does she complain all the time? (Yes)

Is she complaining right now? (Not necessarily)

Is the speaker annoyed that she complains a lot? (Yes)

Would you like some cheese with that whine?
Photo by Chia Suan Chong; Food by Highlife.ie

Meaning: The tendency for some teachers is to look at this structure as a 2nd conditional. However, considering the function of the phrase, perhaps it is best to teach ‘If I were you, I’d + bare infinitive’ as a formulaic chunk used for giving advice.

CCQsIs the speaker giving advice? (Yes)

Is the speaker going to call her? (No) (Note: Students might see the ‘I’d call her’ and think it is the speaker who is going to call her.)

Who does the speaker think should call her? (The person that the speaker is speaking to…in the dialogue, this is Person B)

Who ya gonna call?
Photo by Chia Suan Chong

(d) If only we didn’t argue all the time.

Meaning: The ‘If only + subject + past simple’ is a structure used to show a wish for something that isn’t happening and might even be difficult to happen right now. Despite the use of the past tense, the structure is used to talk about the present e.g. ‘If only you were here right now’. This is one of the examples of how the ‘past simple’ is used to indicate psychological and hypothetical distance.

CCQs: Do we argue all the time? (Yes) (Note: Students might see the negative in that sentence and think the answer to this question is ‘no’)

Does the speaker want to argue all the time? (No)

Is this sentence talking about the past, present or future? (Present)

If only we didn’t argue…

After looking at the meaning, trainees then had to work in pairs noting down the form of the structures:

(b) – to be + -ing;

(c) – If I were you, + I’d + bare infinitive;

(d) – If only + subject + past simple)

…and the pronunciation:

Focus on the stressed syllables and prominence of each structure;

and also note the catenation happening with ‘If + I’ and ‘If + only’.

Now they are ready for Assignment 2 – Language Awareness.


5. Comparison Paragraph

5.For the comparison and contrast assignments, you will be writing one comparison paragraph and one contrast paragraph.  In EN101, you may be writing an essay that both compares and contrasts two similar, but not identical, items.

The Comparison Paragraph, which will be due on Wednesday, March 8, requires you to compare two objects that have similarities. The Contrast Paragraph, which will be due on Friday, March 17, will require you to use the same food item, look at the differences between them, and determine which is superior to the other. Make sure that you pick a food item that has both similarities and differences.

The prompt: you will compare two specific kinds of food. Choose a type of food that you have been served in two different places. That could include a type of food served here at LC and at a restaurant, a type of food served at home and at a restaurant, or a type of food served here at LC and at home.

You WILL be using this same food item to write about in the Contrast Paragraph, where you will need to look at the differences between them, so do not pick a dish that is virtually identical as served in both locations.

DO NOT compare “the food somewhere else” and “the food at LC.” You need to be extremely specific and choose one type of food — red beans and rice, macaroni and cheese, baked chicken, barbecue brisket — to use when describing the similarities between them. If you do not focus on one specific dish, your paragraph will fail.

DO NOT compare two different restaurants. That is not the assignment, and your paragraph will fail if you do this.

Your topic sentence will, as usual, be the first sentence of your 200-300 word paragraph.

Your topic sentence will need to include the following information:

  • What the type of food is
  • Where the food has been served to you (both locations)

The rest of the paragraph must introduce and describe points of comparison, or similarities, between them.

The points of comparison should incorporate the skills you have developed in the description. Think about aspects of food that can be used to compare them — taste, smell, texture, appearance — and develop your paragraph along those lines.

  • Your paragraph will begin with the topic sentence, which will identify the type of food and the two places you have been served that food.
  • You will then decide what points you will use to compare them — how they taste, how they smell, how they look, the texture, the quality, the ingredients — and think about how they are similar. YOU ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT. YOU SHOULD NOT SAY THAT ONE FOOD IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER. YOU SHOULD NOT WRITE ABOUT ONE BEING WORSE THAN THE OTHER.
  • Your paragraph should be clear about what these two foods have in common all throughout the paragraph. You will be using the next paragraph (Contrast Paragraph) to talk about how they are different, and to decide which is superior to the other.
  • Make sure that any food that you decide to compare have enough points of similarity so that you will be able to write 200 words about them.


An Affable Testament of COM 395

This semester I have learned so much through the readings and the lectures about how to ethically and effectively capitalise off of social media. I admired the handy little-blue book collaborated by Kawasaki and Fitzgerald because the authors used both modern and concise verbiage to edify their readership on how to create likable content, and they discerned the perceptible impact of maintaining a professionally casual profile and digital identity.

I also love the graphic imagery that was displayed during the lectures (exempli gratia the nuclear explosive cranium), for it was a great attention grabber that allowed me to stay focused on the many provocative tweets aired by President Trump. Moreover, the course taught me so many current events that I was unfamiliar with such as the United and American Airlines incidents, which require an academic eye to critically scrutinize the companies’ respective blunders in the face of an multi-million person audience. In addition to that, the course reasserted the importance of accountability and ethics that one can take with them on every aspect of their life, and in this overtly interconnected world accountability plays a vital rule in preventing universal malcontent.

With respect to my desired career of teaching, I want help future generations understand the powerful impact social media has on their lives, and I will reinforce how immensely important it is to use it constructively and tactfully; wherefore, I will promote the Social Media Manifesto as the fundamental law of the land in producing considerate and society-worthy content.

When it comes to the top two favourite texts and videos that were presented throughout the course, I enjoyed the flash mob piece because of its novelty and the message it conveyed concerning content virality. Also, I like the piece “The Meaning of Social Movement” because showed that even in a century before social media was even fathomed similar circumstances were still on the rise, and that the correlate so seamlessly with one another.

Above all, the concepts I have learned throughout this course will aid me in marketing my literary works, and force me to become a technocratic savant which will ultimately make me a well-rounded citizen of the world.


posted by .

Phoenix Advertising
Date: 12/5/2008
To: Entire Executive Team
Cc: Mr. Forest
From: Mrs. Goodridge VP Human Resource
RE: Roanoke Branch Employee Concerns
As the Vice President of Phoenix Advertising Human Resource Team, I would like to review with all of you some of the concerns our employees at the Roanoke Branch have about there work.
I had a meeting with Mr. Forest the president of Phoenix Advertising. At the meeting we discussed some of the concerns that were brought up to us by employees at Roanoke Branch. The employees at the Roanoke Branch feel that there creative efforts are being rejected or revised, or altered without consultation. They also concerned about there current work overload being over looked as new clients are being added daily. The employees have to work longer hours without notice or compensation several days a week. They also feel like they are not part of a collaborative team. The employees noticed that there morale and productivity are declining day by day. The Roanoke Branch has lost two of there top management, and seven threaten to quit. This affects Phoenix Advertising as a company by

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Mariah Carey meets Photoshopping Saudi censors

Update: Shocked cat is shocked:

Update 2: Rob Beschizza found the rest of the images in this series. Censorkitty takes over.


Tag: Rogue

  • Kither Clos

    A local thief of legendary exploits. Her identity is kept a secret, only acting while in the disguise of a black hood and mask. While she does not lead any faction, the shadows have formed out of inspiration and act as a separate but similar force.


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Giving Birth-control Devices To Teenagers

(Name (Professor (Subjectxx April 2007Birth Control Devices and TeenagersBirth withstand devices refer to tools or methods that prevent motherliness There argon various ways of suffer harbour , which may be classified to natural and artificial methods . These methods bear been in existence and deliver been employed by numerous since the ancient times (NagelBirth control devices may also be classified according to the way by which they prevent sense of humour or pregnancy . Following the last mentioned classification , at that place would be four types of deliver control devices to wit , chemical , barrier , intrauterine devices (IUD , and fertility cycle grooming (NagelMany couples already employ these devices in planning their family , and many women have adopt the engagement of various methods , such as the contr aceptive pill For warning , it is estimated that more than half the female existence of the unify States already uses a form of contraception (Nagel Despite the general use , however , controversies revolving around the ethical and religious aspects of contraception preserve intense (Nagel and this remains especially true in cases of teenagersPargonnts would plausibly be the last psyche that a immature person would consult regarding the use of birth control devices , imputable to the entire sensitivity of the and the barriers to communicating amidst parents and their children (Richardson . However , considering the important economical consumption that contraceptives may play in preventing young adults from get large(predicate) without having adequate preparations and the high probability of young adults in amiable in premarital sex , parents might do good to consider talking to their children about the use of contraceptives so that the last mentioned would have correct information and guidanceThe existenc! e of barriers to confabulation among parents and their children is well documented . Studies evince that there is an apparent disconnection between parents and young adolescents (Richardson . This is particularly true among the American state (Richardson . is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers!
To illustrate , surveys of more than 100 , 000 adolescents in the United States memorialise that only twenty-six percent (26 ) of adolescents found their parents approachable crowing to initiate a conversation with (RichardsonHowever , such communication could create verbally the difference between a good and bad time to come for young adults . Teenagers are besieged by various issues , dilemmas , and changes during adolescence , including physiological and hormonal changes (Richardson . At this critical age , issues concerning sex and birth control bother teenagers (Richardson . Therefore , this is the age when parents need to wee-wee a strong communication link between them and their children so that they could give significant pieces of advice . This way , children would not turn to outside(a) sources which could turn out to be unsafe or unfavorableKeeping communication lines open between parents and children , even on highly natural issues like premarital sex and contraception , helps establish a good relationship among them . This way , parents are effectively expressing their tacit parental and emotional support to their children . They are also providing them with priceless guidance in living life responsibly . They are also not turning a blind eye to the reality to the lifestyle and practices of teenagers nowad ays Finally...If you want to get a full essay, order ! it on our website:


Artwork of the Day: Household Sculptures by Gilbert Legrand

French artist Gilbert Legrand adds some whimsy into everyday objects by transforming them into delightful characters. For the past 10 years, he’s found hidden people and animals in things like ping-pong paddles, tape measures, and even water spigots. Legrand reveals them with paint, and creatively uses the contours and details of a particular object to craft a fantastical portrait. The bristles of a brush suddenly become someone’s full head of hair, while the hook of a hanger doubles as a mouse’s tail. For more, visit


If you have it, you probably don’t know it. Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is perhaps one of the biggest pathogens you’ve never heard of — big both proportionately and epidemiologically. It contains approximately 200 genes, compared to HIV’s paltry 18, and it’s everywhere. You can catch it as a preschooler salivating over blocks, or as a teenager experiencing your first kiss. Once you have it, you have it for life.

The good news: If you’re healthy, it’s harmless. Your T cells keep it in check, and you’ll be none the wiser.

Researchers in the lab of Steven Gygi, professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, report that they have discovered a menu of tactical secrets CMV employs. Using mass spectrometry, a technological platform commonly employed in physics and chemistry, the researchers were able to describe the dynamics of a CMV infection in a fibroblast, or connective tissue cell, over a three-day course of infection. As a result, the researchers discovered ways CMV evades the immune system, and also showed how certain viral proteins target and destroy human proteins that defend against infection.

“This is an entirely new way of studying the behavior and tactics of viruses,” said Gygi.

These results are published in the June 5 Cell.

Mass spectrometry has existed for more than a century, used primarily by physicists and chemists to describe and measure small molecules. Inside the mass spectrometer tool (or mass spec), molecules are shattered by an electric charge and then brought through a magnetic field where they are characterized one by one.

Traditionally, this approach has not been relevant for the life sciences because biomolecules such as proteins are too large for the process. But over the last 15 years, Gygi has been innovating ways to incorporate mass spec into biology. In one approach, “electrospray,” subunits of proteins called peptides are vaporized and then sprayed into a chamber where they are broken apart by helium. The mass spec then sequences the amino acids of each peptide. The molecules are “reassembled” through an algorithm that matches them to a protein database.

Michael Weekes, a postdoctoral researcher in the Gygi lab and an expert in infectious disease, decided to use mass spec for virology. He chose CMV because, for a virus that is so widespread, very little is known about it. “Many scientists are interested in CMV, but few if any have tried to tackle it in a comprehensive way before,” he said.

Weekes and his colleagues found 29 viral proteins living on the cell surface, 23 of which had not been discovered previously. Many of these CMV surface proteins deter immune cells. Others block cellular proteins that activate immunity. In other words, CMV wards off rescuers while disabling a cell’s ability to defend itself.

“So much of this viral genome is dedicated to simply evading the immune system,” said Weekes.

“This would be an entirely new way to combat CMV,” said Weekes.

This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust Fellowship and a National Institutes of Health grant.


Patricia Johnson

Music News, Reviews, and Interviews

Interview: Max Cooper Creates Multi-Sensory Musical Experiences

Appearing on a number of best-of lists, including RA’s top 20 live acts of 2012 and Beatport’s top 10 artists of 2012Max Cooper’s experimental approach to electronic music has earned him the respect of both producers and listeners alike. Cooper is one of today’s most innovative electronic musicians, pushing both himself as an artist and us as listeners to transform how we experience music.

Starting off as a scratch DJ and turntablist, the Belfast-bred DJ found his forte when he began writing music to land more gigs. Cooper discovered that he enjoyed producing even more than DJing, and has since made it his primary focus.

But music isn’t his only specialty; an experimenter to the core, Cooper holds a Ph.D in computational biology from Nottingham University, and wrote his first releases for German techno label Traum Schallplatten while conducting post-doc research in genetics at University College London. When his research funding dried up, Cooper took the opportunity to transition to producing and performing full-time.

The scientific influence is evident in his sound, which is complex and cerebral while simultaneously melodic and emotive. His systematic production methods are similar to his scientific research:

“I don’t have any training in music theory or production,” says Cooper. “I just approached the production process with trial and error, trying to explore the possibilities and gain an understanding of the link between what I had to do with the software to create certain feelings musically. It’s comparable to how I did my Ph.D research, which was also all computer-based, and also toying with an abstract system to try to gain new understanding. Not all science is done like that, of course, but the science I was most interested in had a similar creative process.”

His compositions are all driven by a fundamental concept, whether it be a basic emotion or an intricate philosophical idea. His two Conditions EPs, for example, explore the idea of the human condition. “Pleasures” highlights human emotion by illustrating something beautiful and pleasurable, and “Automation” represents the idea that humans are “deterministic biological machines.”

“I always think about ideas for tracks, like a picture or some concept I can represent musically… Sometimes the concept can be an emotion, a very strong feeling I’ve got for something… Maybe I’ve watched a movie or gone out to the forest and I’ve got a strong feeling and while that feeling is fresh I can then try and translate that into a piece of music. It’s just a way of pushing myself to make some new forms of music, applying concepts is a useful creative tool.”

In the video for “Numb”, which was released on Conditions Two this past April, director Henning M. Lederer uses black-and-white industrial imagery to complement the song’s haunting vocals and jarring, glitchy beats. The sounds and visuals together illustrate Cooper’s idea of the modern capitalist lifestyle as a numbing dystopia.

At Amsterdam’s Dekmantel Festival in August, Cooper reached beyond the standard audio-visual setup and presented a new way for listeners to experience music through an interactive 4-D live show. Using a grid of speakers distributed around the room at different heights and positions, Cooper was able to manipulate how sound traveled through the space in a 3-dimensional field to create special spatial effects.

“It turns into this really immersive experience, halfway between a club show and a museum piece exhibit. You sort of walk around inside the pieces of music and you can find different parts of the room where different things are playing, and everyone hears a different thing based on how they explore the space. You interact physically with each piece of music.”

The 4-D show involves a painstaking amount of preparation and quite a lot of equipment, so it is not something that Cooper can use in performances on a regular basis. However, he does intend to release a binaural recording of the show so listeners can replicate the experience within their headphones. Cooper incorporated a similar binaural recording of the British Museum into a mix for Magnetic magazine earlier this year, which also examines how physical space plays into a multi-sensory experience of music.

Cooper has been plenty busy with a number of projects. In addition to his recent remixes for Nils Frahm and Phil Kieran, on October 28 he will release his Fragmented Self Part One EP, a collaboration with contemporary classical composer Tom Hodge, on FIELDS.

Next, he is launching a new project that continues his use of both audio and visual elements to create a complete work of art. Just as he has begun his other pieces with a central concept, Cooper has chosen several famous paintings that will each inspire an original track. One artist whom he has selected is Jackson Pollock, whose aesthetic of organized chaos is a fitting visual match for Cooper’s music.

“The interplay between order and disorder is one of my main interests, both scientifically and artistically — pretty much everything in the real world is a mixture of the two, and it makes things all the richer… Pollock’s work does an amazing job of making this interplay very apparent, and I love music that does the same. You can listen to something and it sounds like total chaos, but then some beautiful form jumps out at you. My music hasn’t got to that standard yet, but I use a lot of randomization and generative processes to try and introduce rich, disordered detail — but still in the context of a very ordered club format, for the most part.”

The “rich, disordered detail” of his music, along with his explorations into multi-sensory musical experiences, is precisely what makes Cooper’s work as an artist fascinating. His music isn’t meant to be just absorbed and digested; it’s experiential, emotive, contemplative – a reflection of the human condition.

(Original post)


Birds     |     Dogs     |     Cats     |     Small Pets

Vitamin A Deficiency

in Birds

Please Help Pets with a Small Donation of One Dollar

by Hannis L. Stoddard, III, DVM

Vitamin A deficiency can be disastrous for your bird -- but it's
preventable by following a few esay steps.

The most common preventable avian disease that we see at our
practice is hypovitaminosis A, or vitamin A deficiency, with or
without accompanying secondary infections. Pet birds that eat
only seeds (especially sunflower seeds and peanuts) are most
prone to this problem because an all-seed diet is low in vitamin A.

When vitamin A deficiency occurs, the cells that line the
respiratory, reproductive and digestive tracts undergo structural
change, making them unable to secrete mucous. Since mucous acts
as a protective blanket to prevent invasion from pathogens
(disease- causing agents), vitamin A deficiency allows
environmental bacteria and other microorganisms to penetrate the
mucous membrane barrier and set up "housekeeping" within these

Symptoms of vitamin A deficiency depend on which organ system is
affected (for instance the reproductive, digestive, or
respiratory tracts) and which microorganism or combination of
microorganisms is invading the patient.

The respiratory system is the most often affected. Since the
mouth and sinus are also lined by the cells that are compromised,
you need only look inside the bird's mouth to see the early signs
of this deficiency. Initially, you see small white plaques on the
roof of the mouth and/or at the base of the tongue. The plaques
ultimately become infected, forming large, obvious abscesses. The
abscesses can distort the glottis (opening of the windpipe),
causing labored breathing and eventually mechanical suffocation.

The abscesses can even grow so large that they block the choana
(the slit in the roof of the mouth). When this happens, the bird
will exhibit profuse nasal discharge and obvious swelling around
the eyes. The pain from these pockets of infection will
eventually cause the bird to starve. The microorganisms can also
spread throughout the bird's body with disastrous consequences.

A bird with vitamin A deficiency may show any of the following
symptoms: sneezing, wheezing, nasal discharge, crusted or plugged
nostrils, unthriftiness lethargy, depression, diarrhea,
tail-bobbing, thinness, poor feather color, swollen eyes, ocular
discharge, lack of appetite, gagging, foul-smelling breath and
"slimy mouth".

Few patients, if any, die as a direct result of the vitamin A
deficiency. They usually die from the secondary infections common
to birds with weakened resistance and the inability of the body
to go through normal cellular regeneration (to heal itself). The
secondary infections may cause organ damage that will then lead
to the bird's eventual death. Consequently, we treat the
life-threatening infection first, dealing with the underlying
vitamin A deficiency with injections of vitamin A.

To treat the secondary life-threatening component, we first
conduct a series of diagnostic tests. We draw blood to help
determine which organs are involved, we perform cultures and
antibiotic sensitivities to determine what bacteria or fungi may
be present, and we analyze the stools to check for parasites.

We then hospitalize-the bird for at least one week and treat it
with appropriate medications based on the data from the tests.
Often we also nebulize the bird, tube-feed it and surgically
lance the abscesses once the patient is stable. Although the bird
may require a fairly long recovery period, the prognosis is
usually favorable unless secondary problems have caused
irreversible organ damage.

Once again, the adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure" applies with this malady. Psittacines are generally quite
resistant to disease, but, once afflicted, they are often
difficult to cure. This is especially true if the disease is
induced by an inadequate diet, which is often compounded many
times by the selective feeding habits of the birds.

The majority of vitamin A deficient diets are also lacking in
other vitamins, proteins and minerals, so prevention must be
aimed at an overall improvement in nutrition as well as offering
appropriate vitamin supplementation. In addition to a good
quality, safflower seed-based mix, parrots should be offered and
taught to eat foods that are yellow and deep green in color (with
a few exceptions).

To ensure your bird against a vitamin A deficiency, offer it
foods such as cantaloupe, papaya, chili peppers, broccoli leaves
and flowers, carrots, sweet potatoes, turnip leaves, collards,
endive, butter, liver, egg yolks, beets, dandelion greens and
spinach (see chart for relative vitamin A content). The daily use
of one of the many good quality powdered vitamins will also help
keep this common, preventable disease from afflicting your birds.

Plush Birds you will Totally Enjoy

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Campylobacter organisms are spiral-shaped, gram-negative bacteria that can cause disease in humans and animals. It is one of the most common causes of diarrhoeal illness in the United States. Most human illness is caused by one species, Campylobacter jejuni. The most frequently reported cases of Campylobacter are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items. Reports of other outbreaks have been linked to unpasteurized milk or contaminated water. Strains are sensitive to oxygen and are considered fragile, making it difficult to cultivate and maintain. Confirmation of Campylobacter requires microscopic, biochemical, and immunological techniques that are tedious and labour intensive.


Meet the innovators behind Red Nova Labs

Alyssa Vanderpool

Director of Operations

Alyssa Vanderpool has always loved numbers, which naturally led her to major in math back in college. She spent five years at a third-party warehouse company developing and expanding her accounting knowledge. Eventually, she ventured into the operations side of the business. She was then lucky enough to be hired by Dan Miller at his former company, AeroComm, and has worked with him ever since.

What Alyssa does at RNL

As director of operations, Alyssa is all about taking care of the employees, the customers and the company finances by managing all aspects of the financial statements from invoicing customers to paying vendors to writing the budget.

Recite your favorite quote.

What's something we wouldn't know by looking at you?

I don't care for posting personal stuff on the Internet.

Chris Klein

Katelyn Wyss


4 Things You Can Do to Achieve Better Quality Sleep at Night

Woman Sleeping SoundlyMany factors may cause sleeping problems. It may be something as simple as an uncomfortable bed, or it may be something more complex like insufficient hydration. Lack of sleep can take a toll on your well-being and health.

Sometimes, you can remedy your sleeping problem with a simple solution. If you are uneasy in your bed, Cozy Earth recommends replacing your bedding with comfortable king size bamboo sheets might work.

Some cases may not be as simple, however. Here are some tips that may help you achieve better sleep at night:

Adopt a Regular Daily Schedule

People are creatures of habit. We have an internal body clock. If you have an unpredictable schedule, your body will find it difficult to adjust. Set a regular bedtime and follow it. This way, your body clock will have enough time to regulate itself. After some time, you will start to feel sleepy every night at your set bedtime.

Hydrate Well

Your brain and other body systems will not function well without proper hydration. Drink at least eight glasses of water throughout the day. Distribute your water intake at regular intervals. Don’t drink everything before your bedtime. Doing so will keep you awake all night.

Reduce Your Caffeine Consumption

If you cannot remove coffee and other caffeinated drinks from your life, then at least limit your intake. Refrain from drinking caffeinated drinks after 3 P.M. This way, you should be caffeine-free by bedtime.

Adopt a Regular Exercise Schedule

Exercising releases endorphins, the hormones that make you happy and energized. You should schedule your exercise at least two times each week. Exercising on a regular basis keeps you relaxed and happy. When you go to bed worry-free, you can sleep better.

Lack of sleep is normal in today’s busy world. But, with discipline and a little effort, you can get enough rest each night. This way, you will feel energized when you wake up every morning, ready to face the grind ahead.


Theresa May ready to curb human rights laws to fight terrorism

SLOUGH, ENGLAND British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that she would be willing to weaken human rights protections to make it easier to deport or curb the movements of suspected militants when there is not enough evidence to prosecute.

Mrs May used one of her final speeches in an election campaign that has turned into a debate about national security to step up her rhetoric against Islamist extremism, pledging to ensure security services have the power they need.

Mrs May said authorities need to be able to do more, including to restrict the movements of suspected militants when police have enough evidence to suspect they presented a threat, but not enough to prosecute them.

"If our human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change the laws so we can do it," she said to cheers and applause at an election rally.

Mrs May, a former interior minister, had previously been criticised for scrapping house arrest rules known as "control orders", which were coming under regular legal challenge.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Mrs May said she would consider extending to 28 days the period in which police can hold terror suspects for questioning. I

t was reduced to 14 days in 2011.

Mrs May has promised that if she wins today's election, Britain would remain a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights until 2022.

However, Tuesday's remarks signalled she would look at ways around the rules if necessary.
- REUTERS

united kingdomterrorismcourt


French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

French President Emmanuel Macron greeted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the splendour of the Versailles palace outside Paris on Monday for their first face-to-face talks.

Macron and Putin, who have clear differences on Ukraine and Syria, are to hold a news conference after their talks.

Both leaders will also inaugurate an exhibition marking 300 years since Russia's modernising tsar, Peter the Great, visited France in 1717.

Putin's visit is the latest test of Macron's diplomatic mettle after the G7 talks in Sicily last week and the NATO summit in Brussels, where he turned the tables on Trump by refusing to release the American leader's hand for several seconds during the handshake for the cameras.

"It is essential to talk to Russia because there are many international issues that will not be resolved without a tough exchange with the Russians," Macron said in Sicily.

Russia's powerful ambassador to France, Alexander Orlov, said he hoped the meeting could help turn the page on the fraught relationship between Putin and Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande.

"Many things in the future will depend on the first meeting," Orlov told Europe 1 radio.

"It is very important that we begin to dissipate the mistrust that has built up in recent years."

Tough words for Russia

As a candidate, Macron had tough words for Russia, accusing it of following a "hybrid strategy combining military intimidation and an information war."

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has flexed its muscles with a series of war games involving tens of thousands of troops in areas bordering NATO Baltic states.

Macron told a French weekly that he was "not bothered" by leaders who "think in terms of power ratios," citing Putin as an example along with Trump.

But Macron, who became France's youngest president just three weeks ago, said he does not believe in "the diplomacy of public invective but in bilateral dialogue."

Source: TRTWorld and agencies


What is a Nylon Suture?

A nylon suture is a needle threaded with nylon thread used to join two edges of a wound together. Nylon is a non-absorbable suture, meaning that it doesn't dissolve in the body like other types of suture threads. Its durability makes a nylon suture particularly useful when closing wounds in the skin or internal organs.

The use of surgical sutures has a long history in medicine. Catgut and silk were used in the middle ages, while alcohol-based and synthetic fibers are commonly used in the modern era. Nylon has been used for sutures since its invention in 1930, when it was first developed as a substitute for silk.

Though nylon has a strength and durability that makes it different from other materials, all sutures share some common characteristics. For example, all sutures need to be sterilizable, resistant to infection if left in the body for long periods, easy to handle, strong, and to be able to hold a knot securely.

The technique for placing a nylon suture is the same as that used for all sutures. The nylon is first threaded on a specially curved and sharpened needle used for piercing the skin. The wound site is then cleaned and treated with a numbing antiseptic for the comfort of the patient. The number and placement of stitches depends on the type of wound and the discretion of the surgeon.

One of nylon's particular attributes is that it can retain its strength for years. Some wounds are located in parts of the body which undergo a great deal of movement and stress, such as vital organs. The heart, brain, arteries, and bladder are good examples of places where these sutures would be used. In some cases, sutures would be left in the wound permanently to provide strength and support.

Nylon sutures are also often used to close wounds in the skin. Such wounds require flexibility as well as strength. A nylon suture is often the best choice for such a wound, since nylon is particularly pliable when moist.

Since it does not absorb into the body, this type of suture will have to be removed by a doctor once the wound has begun to heal. Sutures are typically removed by clipping the end of the knot, then pulling out the threads using forceps. Since a wound is usually only 5% to 10% healed when sutures are removed, the suture will often be replaced with adhesive strips to keep the wound clean and to help avoid scarring.

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Post 4

Apparently, nylon sutures lose up to 20 percent tensile strength per year.

While this can be advantageous if the body's repair and scar are expected to hold repairs after a few years, it seems polyester is a better material in cases where the body isn't expected to create a strong enough hold.

Post 3

@ShellM89 - It is true that nylon sutures are easier to get and less expensive than the silk sutures, but there are a few other advantages for using nylon instead of silk.

Nylon suture of any size is stronger than the silk suture and has very good handling qualities. It also holds knots better than silk and nylon sutures and has the ability to withstand contamination far better than any other suture material.

Post 2

Are nylon sutures better than silk sutures or are they just more popular because nylon suture material is less expensive and easier to get?

Post 1

I found this article really interesting. I thought that when they stitched up internal wounds that the suture material used was always the absorbable kind.

I had no idea that sometimes they use permanent sutures inside the body. The reasoning, as explained in the article, makes sense. It is just something I was unaware of.

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Is Jesus In Physical Or Spiritual Form?

The Bible tells us that Jesus appeared to many people after his resurrection. Thomas touched his body and Jesus ate fish with his followers. Obviously, it was a physical body. In what state did the Lord Jesus ascend to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father, physical or spiritual, and in what state is he in now as far as his body is concerned?

Acts 1:9 says Jesus was taken up (into the sky) before their very eyes. Since our eyes can’t see spiritual beings and since Jesus was in physical form just before He ascended it’s logical to assume He was taken up in physical form.

Years later when the Lord visited John on the Isle of Patmos he looked “like a son of man”, meaning He was in human form (Rev. 1:12-13). Still later, when John was taken to the Throne of God, he saw a Lamb as it had been slain (Rev. 5:5-6). One of the elders identified Him as Jesus. Although John’s description is symbolic, many scholars believe John saw Jesus in physical form still bearing the scars of His crucifixion standing at the throne of God. They believe that’s the way He looks today.

When Jesus came to Earth, He put aside His godly powers and limited Himself to the abilities of a man. He accomplished His miracles through the power of the Holy Spirit. When He returned to heaven He remained in the form of a man but took up his godly powers again. So in Jesus God became man and now He’s both God and man.

The Son is is the radiance of God’s Glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had by himself provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of majesty in Heaven (Hebrews 1:3).


I cannot agree with you more. Time does not exist! It is a human conception and not a universeal truth. There is no such thing as "time" as we humans know of it or as we precieve it. There only sequences of events in this universe, but time itself is not real. If event A has happened, then it happened. If event A has not happened it hasn't happened. Many people believe that if events A is to happen it must happen at a particular time but I think whether event A happen at 11:00 or at 11:01 pm generally speaking in a cometic level doesn't really matter. Like Energy is a scalar rather than a vector and that it is the start and end states that are the most important, I believe this to be true for all events in the universe. As long as events A, B and C happens in the correct sequence then the actual so called "time" as we knwo it is not important. In fact, as long as this sequence of events A, B and C happens and happens in the correct order than it can even happen as a whole sequence in a completely "time" and it could very well not matter. The time that is precived by humans is exactly that a human concept (based roughly on the earth orbit around the sun) and has no true universal value.
Time then some would say has more to do with the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang. This is equally as valueless as human's preception of time.
Case I: If the Universe is not expanding but rather it is static. If this is true then Time in the sense of the start of the universe to the end of the expansion of the universe would be meaningless as the universe is static and no expansion is ocurring. What difference does it make how long ago the Big Bang was if the universe is static? Hence unless we can clearly prove that the universe is NOT static there is always the chance that Time based on the expansion of the universe is meaningless.
Case II: The universe is expanding. If the universe is indeed expanding then we must further subdivide our concederations into two sub categories. Caterory A: The universe will continue to expand until all entropy has become chaos and nothing is orderly anymore and the universe will then just stop. Thus as mention before this would make Time meaningless and valueless as once entropy is totally lost time itself will have no meaning. Furthermore, if the entropy of the universe is not decreasing at a fixed rate then the concept of Time based on the expansion of the universe is hard to define as Time itself would not be linear and Time in the so called past would be different than the Time in the so called future. Category B: The universe is expanding and at some point will lose all entropy and due to some mechanism begin to collaspe upon itself. In this case, what is the value of this so called concept of time? All that moves "forward" will be undone by the "backwards" movement of the universe and if this expansion and contraction is cyclic than really who knows how many cycles "this universe" have gone through. If for example this is the 1,000,000,000,000th cycle of expansion of this universe then the so called minutes, hours and years that we track of this current's universe expansion is insignificant in the larger scheme of things for the universe. For the universe, time is not important. Time is only important to humans and hence it is only a precieved quantity of our minds.
Case III The universe is not static not is it expanding it is constantly shifting and changing hence giving us the preception that it is expanding as we have not lived long enough or have observed the universe as we know it long enough to tell the difference between a changing universe versus an expanding universe. If the universe is shifting and changing rather than expanding linearly then once again the concept of time is difficult to define as time at one position will be different than time when the universe have shifted to a different position.

With the above arguements than it can further be said that then time travel is also not real. There is no such thing as moving forward in time or moving backwards in time. If the universe is indeed in a cyclic expansion and contraction witht he possiblitiy that "new" universes starting with "new" big bangs" can be spawned at slightly different locations than its previous universe or maybe multiple universes are constantly in f a flux of expansion and contractions than the idea of moving forward and backwards in time would be incorrect but moving "sideways" from universe to universes could preceivably allow an object to reach a similiar but different universe that is at a different expansion point than our own and thus allowing for the so called "forward" and "backward movement in "time". When in fact, it is a sideway movemet to different location points within a sequence of events in those universes. Just as an electron can travel between different quantum states or quantum universes other objects under the right condition can travel sideways to different universes and at some location down the road collaspe back to one quantum universe acting as a node between these universes.

Lastly, to address the idea that time is merely the "space" or "interval" in between events - though this would be something I can agree with in principle, in reality it is not useful. As with my point about energy and energy states, the path of the object is not important and thus the time interval between events are also not important but rather the end states of that object and its event is what matters the most. If we then add the possiblity of different quantum states or universes in there then the so called precieved "interval" between events can much much more complicated than the mere "seconds" that elapsed in between two events. That so called interval could be elapsing through various universes and or quantum states and the "interval" between event A and event B could actaully be very different interval at various occurances of event A and event B depending on the transverses of quantum states and or universes at different incidences of events A and event B. The seemingly simple and straight forward "interval" we observe can in fact has many many different variations. I compare this to when people first start to learn about math. Because all they know about is linear one dimensional things they falsely believe that 1+1 is always equal to 2; howvever, as they expand this knowledge and observations they then realize that if they are adding a 1 unit vector to another 1 unit vector the resultant can be 2 but it doesn't have to be as the resultant depends on the directions of the two vectors. The same then can be said of this concept of "interval". We observe this "interval" in our single universe, but what if in fact it turns out that this "interval: actually transverses multiple and varying quantum state and or universes then the "interval" we "measure or label" could only be ONE of the many other possible "resultant intervals".

Until we as humans can have some sort of definitive understanding of how the universe truly behaves, then the concept of time is nothing more than a concept humans use in our human attempts to calculate the world around us based on static single universe formulas like d = vt. Which brings me to the my ending point that in reality I think scientist are wasting their efforts in their quest to better understand the workings of the universe from a "time dependent" perspective and should instead focus solely on the enegy state and energy signatures of objects and study their energy and not quantities based on or dependent on time. Abandon the concept of time in our quest to understand the comos and we would actually make further advances in our understandings.

Jimmy Wu

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Hey all, I've noticed this problem in my practice and was wondering if others share this experience:

Problem: inability to stick to a routine & inability to track/monitor progress

Anyone out there share this frustration?

Your not the only one. You have to just decide to do it. No one is going to force you to. It helps if you at least define your end goal, and plan all the steps you need to accomplish that goal, but if your not going to force yourself when the motivation wanes to record your data or to guarentee you spend time working on the things you know will get you to your goal, then it just won't happen. You can make a ton of progress skipping around from lick to lick, technique to technique, song to song, but it tends to take longer. It's the whole idea of vertical vs horizontal growth.
To make huge strides "vertically" you have to spend time with material that challenges you and leads to progression in ability, if you're constantly jumping around you will have a hard time learning a certain aspect because you'll likely just trade off to something new before you get a firm enough handle on it for it to stick, and if your not being challenged horizontally , you're not practicing, you're just playing.
It's happened to me too.

I find setting specific, attainable, short-term goals helps me to stay focused.

If you alternate pick at 60 bpm and want to do it at 150 bpm that is too far out to be real.

Instead set your goal at 70 bpm. It's believable to your brain. Then when you hit 70, re-assess your goal. If you still want to go faster, set your goal at 80 bpm.

Modify this approach for other goals. Don't have too many goals at one time.

It's ok to change your goals too.
"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. This is my religion." -- Abraham Lincoln
Making smaller goals can help you achieve greater ones more easily. When i started out learning jazz for example my ears were not developed enough to handle large chunks of music to transcribe, so i made smaller goals to transcribe one phrase from the solo i was working on per day. After two weeks i had the entire solo down and i was able to both have fun and stick to one thing since i really wanted to learn that solo, and i was able to monitor progress by learning a small piece everyday. So small regular goals are often better than a large goal.

This is true for your practice routine as well. If you have problems sticking to a routine, make sure the only thing(s) in your routine are fun stuff, so you are motivated to do it. For a long time my routine only consisted of learning tunes of records, because that is what i enjoyed doing. Doing that daily allowed me to establish a practice routine and develop, but also later on adding stuff to it when i felt like it.
Fusion and jazz musician, a fan of most music.

Quote by Guthrie Govan

Quote by Chick Corea
Super helpful perspectives.

Do you folks methodically track and write down your progress? Good experience / bad experience?
I personally am very bad at keeping a log, but the things I am working on don't necessarily require one at the moment. I have been spending a lot of time memorizing my fretboard and applying it to various chord progressions in improvisation. The only thing I keep track of is my current working speed on two measures of Flight of the Bumble bee I am working on, but since that is currently a daily practice item, and I'm pretty involved with learning it, it's easy to remember my current BPM working speed.

One thing I've found helpful for my students is I send home an email after the lesson that details important things and a "checklist" of what they need to do that week so I don't yell at them during their next rehearsal. For the ones that really want me to challenge them, I create a detailed checklist for them to perform 1. Once a day and 2. Every time they pick up the guitar.

These tend to be things like 1. Say the name of each natural note , play [insert scale pattern] 3x before practicing, ect.

*shrug* Just some of the ideas I use, trying to be brief since I'm typing on my phone at the moment.
Quote by sanfender
Super helpful perspectives.

I record and critique quite often. It might be with a new piece i am working on or with an old tune that i want to evaluate my improvisational concepts over. Seeing your playing grow over time is good, because it motivates you. Seeing your playing be crappy on video is both good and bad, depending which viewpoint you want to have. When i was younger i viewed it as negative, because i got discouraged and started telling myself i sucked, but nowadays if i see a flaw in my playing on a recording i know what to practice, and i can eventually get rid of that flaw.
Fusion and jazz musician, a fan of most music.

Quote by Guthrie Govan

Quote by Chick Corea
I practice very un-methodically. I may go through some speed licks, then practice improvising in certain styles, compose if the bug hits, or generally whatever else comes to mind. I've had not a lot of trouble making progress over a decently long period of time, although I will not tell you that my way is best for short term goals. I have no short term goals, only long term-lifetime goals, that require I master a broad array of different things. If you have short term goals, it's most likely best you become a bit more methodical in your practice.
Usually when I practice, I tend to stick to working on 2 styles at least every 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks are over I switch over to practicing my other 2 set of musical styles I know. When it comes down to building dexterity with lead I have too much things to list on my practice schedule to write down here, but lets just say that I have a lot of dexterity building exercises; that go from my picking straight down to my left hand finger independence. I have a practice schedule crafted specifically down to the technical side of things for lead, and rhythm. For rhythm I tend to study different rhythms, and practice it to a metronome learning different strumming patterns, and what not all with my right hand.

I'll deaden the strings, and solely practice my right hand technique (strumming). Then I'll move on to my chord vocabulary working on a whole bunch of switches from chords i'm struggling with ingraining them into my muscle memory. Building my chord vocabulary ranges from a lot of styles so if I feel like building up my funk chordal knowledge; I'll practice a whole wide range of funk chord inversions. I also have a schedule for my other chordal technique which includes triads. Basically just a whole bunch of different chords that i'm working on honestly.. My finger style practice schedule tends to be the same thing it consists of building technique, and practicing patterns and what not..

When it comes down to ear training I'll find a song that I feel as if, I would struggle with and slowly transcribe it note for note. Then when I finish transcribing said song, I move onto the next song that I feel I'd struggle with. I also have song practice included in my practice schedule. Which pretty much consists of me practicing the song I transcribed, and playing it to a metronome till I perfect it. I also have "improvisation" added to my practice schedule at the end. I basically reward myself with all the practice I've done by turning on my looper pedal, and throwing in a chord progression that I've been interested in lately.

It doesn't matter what style I need to improvise in, I just tend to take from everything I learned, and utilize it in a musical manner. Then when i'm done practicing I'll just look around anywhere studying another musicians method of practice, and try, and experiment with their way of practicing to see if it can benefit me some how..

At the end of the day when it comes down to building your own method of practice. It takes a lot of experimenting which consists of learning from others, and going through a long trial, and error process. Until you finally understand what you're trying to figure out just clicks, and you understand how to approach whatever you're learning. It takes patience, and discipline, and if there's one thing I learned from being a guitarist is that you'll have to fail at least one thousand times before you get what you've been practicing right.

It really builds up your patience, and discipline, and you just start to see failing as a tool of learning. Which in my honest opinion I think is amazing because people tend to perceive failing in a negative aspect. When it's really a positive learning interaction you're having. Any time I get into something new, I just know that it's going to contain a lot of mistakes and failing, but at the end of the day that failing just refines you to become a better guitarist. Don't quit just stick with it through thick, and thin!

Trust me on this you will be rewarded with your experience through out this journey of music. A lot of people tend to quit the guitar within their first month because they don't have the patience, but it really builds your character up, and you can take what you learned from practicing an instrument, and apply it to your daily life. It really teaches you that instant gratification isn't everything. You really have to put effort into learning or you won't gain anything out of it. Anyways that's just my 2 cents good luck dude.

Last edited by Black_devils at May 19, 2015,
I tend to find a technique that I want to learn, or is necessary for a song and just go hard at it until I get it, and then I'll try to continue using it on a daily basis, even if it's for just one song. I'm terrible at splitting practice into a routine.


Not expecting (m)any replies since I post in GP6 but hey maybe some can get something good from this. I write in a pretty typical style for the most part, so it's not much about time signature experimentation.
Haven't put much work into this as I'm sick of the main melody, it's like when you listen to a catchy song and end up hating it. Drums/bass I'd improve first.

The mid section probably doesn't transition well. I'd change it for a recording.

PS I know someone eventually posted in my last thread and asked for C4C but I didn't read it until months later as I got no feedback and let it go. Sorry.
In Sickness (Not Health).gpx
hey man just listened to it

pretty awesome man not much to say , just an all round good song with difference in sections but still keeping it cohesive , nice melodies

the break is very nice , and the build up after that is nice too , vocals would make it complete

only thing i dont like your is sound quality , sounds a little bland.

other than that great song would be epic if u recorded this with real instruments

can u c4c wolfpack rising for me its in my sig


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