STRESS AND CONFLICT

“I don’t think they are the same they; not the they you were referring to when you said they were out to get them” explained Smartypants patiently “They are the they who are watching and – turning to face Lefty – the they are the they who are the powers that be in the capitalist system”

“You can’t put it clearer than that” agreed Fancypants

“Too many pronouns” said Teacherspet nodding sagely

“Don’t be such a smart-ass!” said The Gorilla “They are communicating aren’t they?”

“Communicating? You off your rocker? It’s Dreamy and Lefty we are talking about. When did Dreamy ever communicate with anyone? Interjected The Professor

“You can’t be too careful. They are watching you the whole time and listening” hissed Dreamy his eyes wide as saucers “They are out to get me” he added eyeing the coat rack suspiciously.

We all turned round to glance at the coat rack and then back at Dreamy who having emerged momentarily from his usual trance, had once more retreated into his subconscious, an area of his mind he seemed to inhabit permanently. He does, occasionally, write me essays that defy logic; a shrink’s dream…

“You are willfully misunderstanding me” shrieked Lefty leaping to his feet as was his habit “Conflict will erupt as the working classes of the world unite…”

“Cry havoc and let slip the hounds of war” said The Professor sagely

“Dogs of war” snapped Teacherspet turning to look at me

“Google it” I retorted

“Unite? Which planet are you living on? No worker in his right mind in this country is going to unite with workers in Greece or Israel. And can you see French workers and British workers uniting?” scoffed Fancypants completely ignoring Julius Ceaser “They are already united with Pakis and Indians not mention West Indians and look where that got them” he added waging his finger

“I am sure they regret it like anything. Unions can be carried too far. Vague discussions are fine but anything more tends to get messy” nodded Metalchic who was all for free love and free pretty much everything.

“Can’t everyone have their own private little revolutions?” asked Goodasgold in conciliatory tones

We all gaped: it was the first time she had spoken since the beginning of the year. She and her buddy Quietasamouse would mouth the answers to questions I put to them and yours truly was expected to lip read, something I have developed a knack for I must admit. They had a third buddy: Stuartlittle who gave the impression of being trapped in her own body. She’s been eying Lefty approvingly since he arrived though; definitely a spark there I would say… Due partly to a shared world view.

“I didn’t know monkeys had working classes” said Blondie intrigued

“How can you be so frivolous!” cried Lefty passionately on his feet once again. Reminds me of you know who who did the same thing all through the first term. Why is it that opinionated people can’t talk sitting down? When I later told my daughter about this, she retorted: “You’re a fine one to talk!” cheeky monkey. Anyhow, getting back to the irate Lefty:  “Workers round the globe will rise up and…”

“He’s one sick puppy” said The Swimmer shaking his head

“Simon the Zealot eat your heart out” agreed The Professor

We were reading – supposedly – and discussing – equally supposedly – that wonderful text “Causes of Conflict” which attempts to discover the underlying causes of group conflict by examining conflict in primate communities and kids.

“It says here they killed the ladies and ohhhh they tore them apart” she said with a shudder “They are horrid. I don’t like monkeys and I refuse to believe we come from monkeys”

“Men” snorted Rockchic  as she removed the resident silverback, The Quarterback’s, arm from the back of her chair “Keep your hands to yourself or I’ll give you conflict” she warned

“Mountain gorillas are wonderful gentle creatures although chimps have some questionable practices” mused The Gorilla

“All absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble; Samuel Johnson” said Teacherspet gleefully.

That was the last straw; The Quarterback finally flipped his lid:

“You little prick! Wait until we get out of class!

“For Heaven’s sake! Can’t you discuss a text without disintegrating into arguments? I protested

“You get pissed off with someone if he does something dumb; you don’t get pissed with whole communities; that’s sick” said The Swimmer

“Yeah… They’re not where they are supposed to be ‘cos they’re ogling some chick so you feel hot and ready to pop like a pressure cooker and you grab them by the collar and head-butt them and…” The Quaterback began to explain.

“Not that old chestnut” yawned Teacherspet

“What on earth do you mean?” I asked

“The wideout; he’s a right idiot” The Gorilla explained

I am finally going to have to face the fact that they are incapable of having a general discussion about any issue; it drives me mad. You mention stress and conflict and out pops a team mate. Everything is so personal… I have never seen the like. Then there is Lefty of course and he has by no means given up:

“The individual has always had to struggle not to be overwhelmed by the tribe” he said glaring at his foes

“You’re contradicting yourself you know” nodded Fancypants “And it wasn’t one of your idols who said that; I can tell you. It was Nietzche” ???

Thank God we ran out of time at that point. Later, I recounted all this to my daughter who chuckled and remarked:

“Give them a few years in the private sector and a regular salary and they’ll all become arch capitalists like the rest of us. You’ll see. Fancypants is way ahead of them.”

She’s right of course. It’s all part of growing up I guess…

WE ARE BACK

 

In the computer lab…

“It says here that they’ve found a footprint of a Roman child” exclaimed  Rockchic

“Look you can see her itsy bitsy little toes” crooned The Gorilla

“Didn’t Romans wear sandals?” asked The Swimmer

“Not in winter silly” replied Blondie

“What do you think they wore? There was no Nike then or Adidas” snapped Smartypants

“I agree that Adidas hadn’t been created but Nike was certainly around; she was the Roman Goddess of victory” said Teacherspet primly.

“Oh! Did she wear sneakers then? asked Blondie in wide eyed amazement

“You are supposed to be researching “Citizen Journalism”. Will you quit fooling around!” I warned

“It is citizen journalism; someone sent in a video” said Smartypants in a soothing voice

“Look , look a rat running across the porch of 10, Downing Street; you know where what’s-his-name lives!” The Swimmer exclaimed. He was watching a video posted by someone

“Cameron” said Teacherspet

“Don’t be a berk; she’s in that series House!” replied Superman

“Oh and look there comes Larry! Larry! Larry!” exclaimed The Furies

They all crowded round the computer to see Larry; a large tabby tom cat who had been requisitioned to deal with Mickey Mouse’s large relative.

“You do realize that you have an internet connection on all these computers don’t you?” I snapped

“Shh… This is better fun” said The Quarterback who had snuggled up to Rockchic. He did break away with a yelp of pain pretty quickly though…

“It is citizen journalism; honest” promised The Professor

And there was I thinking they’d be looking at what is happening in North Africa or Wikipedia at least…

In class covering “Can you live forever? Maybe not- But you can have fun trying”

“It says here that this guy wants to download our brains into computers and he believes we will still be ourselves and not zombies” said The Professor with interest

“ Does that mean we won’t need to download music or films any longer and that we can just lie back close our eyes  and watch whatever we please?” asked Fancypants with interest

“Yea, you could lie back and watch Spartacus without moving a muscle” said The Quarterback dreamily

“It also says they’ll be throwing out your brain; you know getting rid of it” said Matalchic

“That sound rather disturbing” said Superman who had arrived in class dressed in true Goth style and was sitting next to a delighted Metalchic

“I don’t have any problems with throwing the brains away. Have you ever seen a brain; it’s icky” said Blondie with a shudder

“Some are ickier than others; I am quite happy with mine but I understand if some people would rather be upgraded” said Teacherspet in a voice of disgust

“You might be a zombie though, zombie though, zombie though” chorused The Furies

“You don’t need to be merged with a computer to be a zombie; some of us manage very well as we are” said Smartypants eyeing the retreating back of Dreamy, who having got claustrophobic again, was heading for the door.

“You need to have a brain that you can merge with a computer for starters” said Teacherspet

“Look here you!” growled The Quarterback

We were working our way through this fascinating text off The Scientific American web site. We’d started an hour earlier with a colleague from our Kilyos campus as an observer. A. and I walked in, I introduced him and announced he’d be joining us whereupon The Quarterback gave him a cheery wave and they all settled down like lambs to cooperate and stay on course like they’d never done before. My first reaction was one of euphoria: we discussed the issues raised by the text without once going off at tangents, answered the questions and read; without a murmur I might add. You could’ve heard a pin drop. Come the second hour though, they were back to their usual selves – A. had left you see. I was really put out at first until my daughter put me straight:

“They look upon you as one of them; they like you; you should take it as a compliment” she explained

Ever the optimist, I have decided to agree with her. So there we were in the midst of one of our usual noisy discussions when we saw Dreamy’s face framed in the window on the door: he seemed to be in a sort of trance. Behind him, we could just make out another figure. They just stood there.

“He’s really lost the plot this time” said Smartypants and made for the door to let him in.

When the door was opened, Dreamy seemed to wake up; he wafted off to his seat without a word.

“Try turning the handle next time!” Smartypants called after him

We were left staring at a young man with a sallow complexion and a lot of disheveled hair which could have done with a wash who was wearing a pair of baggy trousers and a hoody of indistinct color. He looked rather peeved.

“I have come from Kilyos” he announced belligerently

“You’ll have to get a piece of paper to say you can come in and you don’t have to go back to Kilyos for it” Blondie blurted out before anyone could open their mouths

The newbie gave her a withering look and produced a crumpled piece of paper which clearly stated that this angry young man was in our class. He took a look at the two empty seats either side of Teacherspet who glared at him and then slumped off in to a corner. Having looked at the text we were reading, he became animated; there appeared this glint in his eyes. We’d got to that bit of the text which discusses implants; some embedded in the brain some attached to the outside and all that could be achieved through them:

“The deaf shall hear; the blind shall see and everyone will have an IQ of a thousand!” said Dreamy throwing his arms in the air

“I think you’ll find IQ wasn’t part of the deal and you’ve left out the cripples” said The Professor

“You don’t realize what this means do you? None of you! This is mind control. You will be like the Epsilons in that man’s book. You will be pawns of the capitalist system. They aim to have complete control. They’ll destroy you” said the newbie who we dubbed Lefty on the spot.

“Aren’t you 50 years or so too late for that kind of talk and some aspects of the market economy are, you must admit, rather good” said Fancypants in conversational tones

Lefty took one look at him and decided then and there to hate him with a passion you can’t even imagine

“Oh he’s harmless” said Smartypants benevolently

“ Anyway,you can’t die; you’ve been merged with a computer and are immortal” Blondie explained kindly.

She was trying to repay everything Dr. Why had done for her. He was no longer with us as he’d passed the exam and was plaguing some other unfortunate teachers in the university. He did keep turning up like a bad penny explaining he had a few things to ask me though and really trying my patience.

“I would hate to be merged with a computer” said Fancypants with a shudder; “I could live with implants though provided they were tasteful”. He was rather vain you see…

“Maybe they’ll be in different colors to match your clothes and praps the big designers will produce their own. You could have a Dolce and Gabana implant” nodded Blondie

“Or an Adidas one” mused The Quarterback

The look of horror on Lefty’s face was something to see. He must have been shocked at the den of depravity and frivolity he’d landed in but as we were to see, he did not give up. It was at this point that we were saved by the bell.

The text did, in fact, go very well as they went home and wrote me some reasonably good essays for the next day and when asked, gave the text a thumbs up.

We were only playing…

I walked into class looking straight ahead; I mean how many of you look at the floor as you walk into class? And I stepped into something squishy; I felt my foot sort of veer to the left as if it had a mind of its own. I looked down at the floor and my eyes nearly popped out of my head:

“What the hell has been going on here? What are those black splodges ?

“How do you spell that?” asked Teacherspet but I ignored him

“We were playing Samurais” explained Superman brandishing his felt tipped pen

“Ninjas” corrected The Gorilla “Things sort of got out of hand. We did try to clean it but it doesn’t seem to want to come off”

The tiles were covered with smears of black ink and I had stepped in one with my new shoes. I was livid. It did get cleaned in the end and I am glad I wasn’t there to see the janitors face when he saw it. I don’t know what they cleaned it with as the floors have been well, not to put a finer point on it, squeaking for days afterwards giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “squeaky clean”. The only person whose footwear was completely unsullied by the gunk was Fancypants who by passed every splodge with the dexterity of a panther and reached the doorway looking well pleased.

“They are Gucci” he explained

CAN YOU LIVE FOEVER? MAY BE NOT- BUT YOU CAN HAVE FUN TRYING

By Carl Zimmer; scientificamerican.com; December 22, 2010

Level of Difficulty: ***

Read the first three paragraphs of the text with your teacher and focus on the question posed at the end of paragraph 1. Discuss your views as a class. Now look back at the text and read the rest of page 1 and the first line of page 2 highlighting what you feel are the important points as you go. Now answer the following questions:

1.       What is one of the most important concerns if we are really able to merge our brains with computers?

2.       What does Chalmers feel about the above concern and why?

3.       How can one guarantee that the system resulting from the merging of a human brain and a computer won’t be a zombie?

4.       How does Chalmers reach the conclusion that “reconstructive uploading will be good”?

At this point stop and discuss the answers to the questions. Then read the next paragraph, 10, with your teacher and discuss it. When you have done so, read 7 more paragraphs down as far as ***. Now answer the questions below:

5.       What concern does Horgan voice concerning singularity?

6.       What do you think that wonderful word, smorgasboard, in paragraph 14 means?

7.       What does “them” in the phrase “Not one of them takes…” in paragraph 15 refer to?

8.       What is a second concern voiced by some scientists concerning singularity?

9.       These same scientists have two different views concerning how to improve our brains. They are:

At this point stop once again to check your answers and discuss what you have read so far. When you have done so, read three more paragraphs (17, 18 and 19). Now answer question 10.

10.   Summarize the three paragraphs you have just read in one sentence.

Check your answers and continue reading: read the last paragraph on page two and the first three on page three (20, 21, 22 and 23) with your teacher and focus on the last sentence of paragraph 23. Discuss your views. Your teacher will now explain the word “exponential” to you and make a sentence. When you have understood what the word means continue reading until *** on page three (24,25,26,27 and 28). Now answer question 11.

11.   Summarize the main idea of the above paragraphs in one sentence.

Check your answer and continue reading until the bottom of the page.

12.   Which sentence in this section serves the function of a quasi thesis statement?

13.   How successful have Kurzweil’s predictions been on the whole and what is the reason?

Stop once again to check your answers and discuss what you have read so far. When you have done so, read on as far as *** on page 4; until the end of paragraph 38. Now answer the questions below:

14.   What conclusion can be drawn from the information in paragraph 34?

15.   What overall conclusion can be drawn from the information presented in paragraphs 35,36,37 and 38?

Discuss your answers and your views before reading down to the bottom of page 4.

16.   What title would you give this section?

17.   What, according to Farah, are the two main issues in relation to the drugs discussed in this section?

Discuss your answers and your views and turn to page 5. Read five paragraphs (46, 47, 48, 49 and 50). Now answer the following questions.

18.   What exactly does Boyden specialize in?

19.   If you were to give this section a title, what would it be?

Discuss your answers and your views. Now read down to the bottom of page 5. Now answer the   following questions:

20.   Of all the problems related to implants in the brain, which two are the worst technical problems?

21.   What is main biological problem related to implants?

22.   Boyden and his colleagues have thought of three solutions to the problems listed in this section. They are:

23.   How could it be possible to use light as a source of power for these implants?

Discuss your answers and your views. Now move on to page 6 and read as far as the summit schedule. Now answer three more questions.

24.   Recount, as briefly as you possibly can, the experiment concerning the blind mice without looking back at the text.

25.   What does Boyden plan to use the new technology for?

26.   Why is the information about laser treatment for myopia included in the text? Answer in your own words.

Discuss your answers and your views. Now read from the bottom of page6 to about the middle of page 7;( For a little ground truthing, I called Olaf Sporns…). Now answer four more questions.

27.   Sandberg reaches the conclusion that” for now, brain emulation is a zero sum game”. How does he reach this conclusion* Use your own words and answer in one sentence.

28.   Provided scientists can scan an entire human brain in the necessary detail, what would be the next step?

29.   What does the last “it” refer to in the following quote: “I don’t know whether a complete simulation of a brain, one to one, would actually produce a mind. I find it pretty likely but I don’t have evidence for that. I want to test it.”

30.   Why would one want to produce a whole brain emulation?

Discuss your answers and your views before moving on and reading down to the end of page 7. Now answer two more questions.

31.   In what respect do Sandberg and Sporns disagree?

32.   Sporns does feel that whole brain emulations have certain advantages. What are they?

Discuss your views and your answers and complete the text.

33.   What mental skill are computers not good at?

34.   Why did our brains evolve the way they did according to Marcus?

35.   The third paragraph from the end ends with the following sentence: “Marcus didn’t’ see any reason scientists wouldn’t eventually figure that out.” What does “that” refer to?

36.   Marcus makes a suggestion in the conclusion of the text. What is it?

CAN YOU LIVE FOREVER /KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

This wonderful text which touches on the very latest theories as to how to “enhance” our mental powers as a species can be covered in one of two ways:

The First Alternative: Students are asked to access the articles in Time magazine on “Singularity” and read them carefully. They come to class having started to form their opinions concerning the movement. The text should then be covered as suggested and the whole activity should be rounded off with an opinion essay.

The Second Alternative: This text is covered back to back with “Too Clever, Too Fast, Too Happy” also posted on this blog. The former aims to achieve immortality or at the very least, a marked improvement in mental abilities via the merger of the human mind and a computer, while the latter aims to achieve the same goals via germ line genetic engineering. The whole activity should then be rounded off with an essay

Remember, the notes below are suggestions and if the activity develops a momentum of its own, go with it. My gut feeling is that pauses will be necessary so I have indicated the logical interludes.

KEY AND NOTES

Read the first paragraph of the text out loud to the students including the question at the end and invite comment. Then distribute the texts and read on until the end of paragraph three. At this point, they will be engrossed in the text so ask them to read the first page and the first line of the second page. When counting the paragraphs, I didn’t count that single line as a separate paragraph. When they have done, ask them to answer the first four questions.

1.       Will an uploaded system be conscious?

2.       He feels it will be conscious because there is no difference in principle between neurons and silicon.

3.       By gradual uploading, neuron by neuron, staying conscious throughout.

4.       Each waking…

At this point, stop; check their answers and encourage them to voice their opinions. Then read paragraph 10 out loud to them and invite comment. After this little interlude, ask the students to read down to the ***; 7 paragraphs to be exact. When they have done so, they can answer five more questions.

5.       That it might become an apocalyptic cult masquerading as science.

6.       A wide selection of…

7.       The researchers

8.       A reckless promise of false hope to the afflicted.

9.       People boost their brains with enhancing drugs / They have sophisticated computers implanted in their brains for years.

At this point stop for another discussion. Then have them read three more paragraphs – 17, 18 and 19 – and summarize them in one sentence.

10.   ( Possible answer) From the beginning of the 20^th century on, people made a lot of predictions which turned out to be grossly exaggerated.

Time for another breather… This time read the last paragraph on page two and three more on page three out loud to them. Allow them to voice their opinions. Now explain the word “exponential”

(produced or expressed by multiplying a set of quantities by themselves), and make a sentence( The population is increasing on an exponential curve). Then have them read as far as *** on page three; paragraphs 24 through 28. Then comes another summary question:

11.   (Possible answer) The speed at which technological developments are taking place is tremendous.

Having discussed their answers, tell them to read on to the bottom of page three. They can then answer two more questions.

12.   The first sentence of paragraph 29.

13.   Many failed; scientific understanding doesn’t advance in lockstep with technological horsepower.

After another discussion, ask them to read on as far as*** on page four (until the end of paragraph 38). They can then answer two more questions.

14.   Sequencing the human genome has revealed to scientists that they know less than they thought they did.

15.   A lot of the tips in Trancendare are profoundly banal.

After another brief pause for you know what, have them read down to the bottom of page four. They can then answer two more questions.

16.   Cognitive enhancement with drugs

17.   How much enhancement the drugs can actually bring and whether they do any harm.

Breathing time again; they have A.D.D remember! When you are done, have them turn to page five and read five more paragraphs (46 through 50). They can then answer two more questions.

18.   Restoring damaged brains by implanting tiny on board computers.

19.   Input devices.

Stop to discuss implant devices; some will be enthralled others will find it icky. Then they can go on to the bottom of page five.

20.   Wires that snake out of the skull; the implants are power hungry.

21.   The brain attacks the electrodes covering them with a protective coat of cells.

22.   Shrinking implants in size, use less power…, a better performance.

23.   By inserting a light channel gene from algae into the brain on board a virus.

Having allowed for excited comments and lively discussion ( fingers crossed), move onto page six and have them read as far as the summit schedule. If you observe attention flagging, you read out loud. They love it! Then, three more questions.

24.   Students’ own answers

25.   To treat blind people

26.   To show that new technology can seem scary at first but that we quickly master it and it becomes commonplace.

If you didn’t need to read out loud up until this point, I am pretty sure you will now. Besides, you will want to share the gory detailsJ So on you go until the middle of page seven; up to “For a little ground truthing, I called Olaf Sporns.”  Now they can answer four more questions.

27.   The procedure would be too invasive.

28.   Writing software that can turn all the data into a three dimensional model and booting up this virtual brain

29.   Whether a complete simulation of … produce a mind.

30.   To run experiments, test drugs, to free the mind

Another breather… I predict a desire to comment so give them the chance; it is motivating. On to the end of page seven; the bit on Sporns.

31.   S. found it ridiculous to expect scientists to be able to capture an individual’s mind.

32.   Researchers may discover some of the laws for building thinking networks. These laws may allow scientists to build machines that have mental processes similar to ours./ OR robots with human like cognition

Again allow those who are repelled to voice their horror and those who are intrigued to say so. They can now finish the text.

33.   Generating rules from experience

34.   Because we evolved into animals that could learn to find food and avoid being eaten

35.   Deciphering brain signals well enough to let the iPhone talk to it.

36.   We have to get ready for a life different from our own.

WRITING TASK

Have them write an opinion essay so they have fun commenting. You won’t need to say much; they will be ready from the word go.

TIPS FROM THE EXPERTS

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited; imagination encircles the earth ( Einstein). So all you creative people out there, contribute a tip! Write in now.

The teaching of grammar:

1.       To contextualize the past tenses: I happened upon a wonderful little text with the following title on bbc.co.uk/news on one of my regular fishing expeditions: “Your Good Samaritan Stories”. The text contains 10 little stories of roughly 150 words each containing, wait for it, all three of the past tenses and even a few adverbial clauses of time. I cried Eureka and made a mental note to incorporate it in my program next year.

The teaching of writing:

1.       Listening into writing: To spice up your writing lessons, try basing your writing tasks on the “Watch and Listen” section of bbc.co.uk/news. I am kicking myself for taking so long to realize this – considering how long I spend reading on the internet – but better late than never. I have prepared one based on the following news feed: “Patriarchal Serbia Faces up to Domestic Violence”. There are lots more though; both here and on cnn.com. Since writing this, I happened upon the multimedia section on scientific american.com; there is a lot there that can be used as a basis for writing or reading or a discussion for that matter.
2.    Listening into writing (or reading, or discussions): Various colleagues have suggested some wonderful websites for this purpose. Thanks mates. Here goes:
      http://www.ted.com/ (Ahu; rivetting talks by remarkable people free to the world)
      http://www.slideshare.net/ ( Ahu; the world's largest community for sharing presentations)
      http://www.openculture.com/ ( Ebru)
     http://www.ehow.com/ (Füsun; for process essays)
     www.extension.harvard.edu/DistanceEd (Ebru and Füsun in unison!; got to be good)

3.     Let us write together:  My colleague Yeşim Erdoğru once described to me how she would write a sample essay with the class, on the board. The same could be done with a laptop and a screen too. Let me tell you, it works very well. The students like it, which means they learn, and it’s a good bonding exercise too. So a thumbs up to that! Hamide Koz has also written in to say this is something she used to do and says it went well.
4.   Focus on errors: Another thing Yeşim does is to write tailor made essays full of all those standard errors students always make as a problem page. I have tried this too and it really works. Both are good ideas...
5. Writing correction: A colleague, Sami, has been successfuly using a gadget called a docucam (or optic camera) for a while to get students to focus on their errors. Basically it is very similar to an overhead projector but A LOT more practical as you just shove in the student's essay and arm yourself with the infamous red pen and scribble away while your, hopefully, facinated students watch on a screen. Thanks Sami for introducing this gadget to our uni.

The teaching of listening:

 

1.       Exploiting “a listening text” painlessly: My colleague Suzan Arditi explained to me recently how she has been viewing the popular, award winning series “The Big Bang Theory” with her two classes and exploiting the episode for vocabulary. The series is a roaring success I am told and the vocabulary just slips in painlessly. After all, if you want your kids to eat their greens, smother them in mashed potato why not. Nice one Suzan.

2.       Spice up your listening texts: This is also one of Suzan’s brainwaves. Apparently, she prepares PowerPoint presentations concerning the topics covered in the listening texts she is going to cover in class and starts with those. Knowing my lot, I can see this working like a dream.  One I remember was about chocolate; can you imagine watching that on the laptop? You would then glide blissfully through the listening that followed in a state of euphoria. Clever idea…
3.     Ahu Ersözlü sent in the following: One way I've found useful to spice up a lecture is asking students to prepare their oral presentations on the same topic as the lecture. These presentations will either serve as pre or post listening activities. At the same time, they will be linked to another component of the syllabus. Brilliant Ahu; thanks for sharing!Here is how: Study the lectures beforehand to pick points to elaborate on and assign each student a topic.
Here is an example:
Lecture: Graffiti
Presentation topics:
* cave drawings- earliest examples of gr.
* gr. as a way of political expression
* gr. that creates humor
* gr. as a form of violence (vandalism)
* gr. as an art form
Homework
  1. Getting creative: What Füsun Savcı did this term was to send her students to The Arceological Museum and ask them to view and sudy the exhibits with a view to making an oral presentation. It went swimmingly I am told. An alternative could be to break the class up into groups and send each group to a different museum and have each group make a presentation. A real brainwave Füsun...

Sample lesson plans( all in this blog)
Tripple text reading and writing practice: Cover "The Future of Man", "Can You live Forever? No but You Can Have Fun Trying" and "Too Clever, Too Happy Too Fast" in that order and then have students write a longish essay (500-750 words) on "The Future of Man as a Species". Goes like a bomb. I have just tried it. Suggested time: three days
Double text related reading / writing practice: Cover "Finding Flow" and "The Secrets of Happiness" ( psychologytoday.com) and do the related writing task.Suggested time: three periods of 75 minutes each.
Text related writing task: Cover my reading text on AIDS," A Global Disaster" and then do the related  writing task. It is good to precede all this with an informative text on AIDS. If you are working at our institution, we already have one: the search reading on AIDS. Suggested time: three periods of 75 minutes each.
Internet related viewing,talking and writing task
       Füsun Savcı has sent in this wonderful websight: http://vervephoto.wordpress.com
      She suggests viewing the wonderful photos on the sight and discussing or writing about the circumstances under which they were taken and then reading the artist's own explanation. It can be used in the same way as J. Crispin's notebook. Brilliant mood changing and novel activity! Keep them coming in.
Internet related listening, reading, speaking and viewing task: Füsun Savcı has sent in the following website: http://www.answers.com/topics/1993 for which she suggests the following activity: Have sudents select a year and play news reader. Have them study the news for a given date, find appropriate pictures to display on the screen and use the laptop as a prompt box if necessary to report news from a given day back in time. The other students could listen and comment. This is an individual  or a group activity. Students in the group could share out the news and take turns reporting. We don't have very many creative speaking activities so this is wonderful. Thanks Füsun.
Listening activity to accompany Finding Flow on this blog: Ebru has sent in the following link to a talk by the writer of Finding Flow posted on this blog. It is fab. I would use it as a pre reading activity. http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly/ csikszentmihalyi on flow.html.
Reading Practice: Ebru K. has sent in the following superb website:http://www.theinternationalcoalition.blogspot.com. There is lots of lovely stuff; enjoy
Website for writing topics: http://www.aacap.org

Website for reading texts: http://www.stratfor.com