User Comments - alwingate
alwingate
Posted on: I don't want it!
May 19, 2008 at 4:10 PMSFRRR This is a revision of an older lesson. The punch line remains the same. I would like to discuss a couple issues regarding collocation and lexical chunks. It is an important reminder to me that whenever I am teaching it is essential for me to cost between cold locating information. For example, one of the expansion sentences says to the effect: the restaurant is expensive and the food is awful. Expensive and awful food to co-locate. However, there are other possibilities. I could call locate the restaurant is expensive but the service is poor. So there is a negative call location between expensive -- the idea of expensive -- and the co-locating terms. Now why is it important to cost between these chunks of information? It is important because cold kidding phrases or lexical chunks are often said quickly. The positives the listener a chance to think. I know some students are quite proud when they answer a question quickly. They have great memories and process information quickly. However when these students get to a higher level of cognitive skill requirements they sometimes founder due to the bad habit of expecting instantaneous answers. So back to the restaurant story. Person goes into a restaurant. It's expensive to buy a meal there, but the food is excellent. So it is worth the expense. So those two ideas can co-locate. In the expansion exercises I suppose that the learner is supposed to do something other than just listen. So, it is really important to listen to the pauses between phrases. this gives the learner a chance to reflect on an appropriate response. So when it is mentioned in the lessons how important patterns are -- how important chunks are -- how important code location is it is not just idle talk. The application of these ideas to teaching and learning separates the linguists from the teacher. A linguist may tell many things about languages but they may not apply its in their teaching situation. One such person mentioned his frustration with certain students who sat at their desks they after day like bumps on a log. this person was a linguist not a teacher. Certainly linguists can be good teachers and they can also add to learning. But some I have known are incapable of being effective teachers. 不知道没关系，我可以问别人。 (If you don't know it doesn't matter. I can ask other people.) this example comes from the expansion section on Chinese pod. One chunk is "if you don't know". A second chunk is it doesn't matter. Now you could say if you don't know you had better learn because this is important. Two very different ideas. That is why strategic pauses in the dialogues and the learning activities -- the oral ones -- is so important. The student needs a reflective moment or two to think about what the collocation is.
Posted on: I don't want it!
May 19, 2008 at 3:50 PMYou don't need to say more. Please stop!
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 13, 2008 at 6:18 AMI don't believe for a second Auntie 68 that more advanced students are getting their jollies through their exercises. I suspect those who think so are merely projecting their own personality on someone else. At any rate, I welcome more advanced students and as you pointed out they have every right to be here since they are learning things from these initial lessons. These artificial boundaries people create is nothing more than a mind that exists within a siege mentality. You know, for them there is never enough to go around. But, I do appreciate anyone who makes a point when they write in pinyin, although I must confess that even then I seldom read those posts. I just don't have time; I really don't. But, I believe we can all learn from each other. And I must also say that I have a self interest here. What if the intermediate folks began to object to my presence amongst them. I don't want that to happen. I mean I would hate to see the levels ghettoized in such a fashion as to exclude anyone for more or less ability. I am anarchic on this point. The more the merrier. If an advanced person says something I don't like or don't understand or whatever my objection it is now my policy just to skip by it. I don't have to control the behavior of other people in order to be happy.
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 12, 2008 at 10:46 AMYou know Chenggwo, you make some very valid points. I just figured that at age sixty two I didn't have time to learn the characters. Anyway, thank you for the insights and I have notice that when I drag my cursor over character I have begun to look at the character and the meaning...just a small thing.
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 11, 2008 at 12:54 PMSorry Chengwwo, but I don't have to learn characters to learn "Spoken Mandarin." Don't get me wrong, but I don't have time to learn them. And for me Chinese is a very difficult language, so I spend what time I have on listening and speaking. I am not sure the posts with characters would be worthwhile or not worthwhile for me. Just don't know, and don't have the time to find out. Just the way it is for me. And you know, these posts are directed to specific people usually anyway. So, not my business. But, I can see where an understanding by the Newbie is important since the Newbie is challenged anyway buy things other than the characters. So, perhaps some understanding is due for the sake of the person just starting out. I would hate to think that someone my be put off by all of this, but some Newbies might be overly sensitive not feeling they have any place to go; seeing characters in a sentence and such might create the feeling that this is beyond them. On the other hand, I would hate to see the more experienced users not take part in discussions since they can help we who are everything Chinese Language challenged. Well, that's my two cents.
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 11, 2008 at 12:46 PMAuntie, I agree with you one hundred percent. We all pay our dues here and there is no caste system. I don't think that anyone should have to use pinyin. Like I said before if it is such that it is not useful for me, then I just skip it. And, I for one have a legitimate question about characters and cut and paste a sentence; but for me to change to pinyin is more work; I don't want to do that. You won't find any argument from me whatsoever. The only irritation I find in life is me.
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 11, 2008 at 3:55 AMI think everyone should post in BuPuMuFu. hehe
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 11, 2008 at 3:52 AMChange, Don't worry about confusing me. I am a newbie and when I see a post like that I just don't read it. It is none of my business.
Posted on: Where Do You Live?
May 11, 2008 at 3:51 AMAmichal, I believe that a lot of the posts are from people who cannot easily create the Pinyin. They cut and paste the charcters from the lessons and ask their questions. Though I agree it would be nice to have the Pinyin. But you have to ask why these people have questions in a Newbie lesson? I try to get some understanding on that too?
Posted on: I don't want it!
May 19, 2008 at 4:14 PMJenny it's interesting you say that in a case like this silence is the best answer. However, the sentence itself as an utterance -- not silence. So, what are you talking about? I think perhaps in a situation like this silence is the best answer.