Goal posts should be on rollers

[Plane]

Kayes thinks a lot of these ill-advised escapades happen because the people involved find it easier to continue investing in a strategy that isn’t working than to change course. The goal, he explains, can become part of their identity. Uncertainty about the goal then no longer merely threatens their plans, it threatens them as individuals. Sticking to the plan makes them feel better by giving them a sense of certainty about the future, even as evidence mounts that they’ve got the wrong plan.

http://machinedesign.com/article/secret-to-achieving-goals-don-t-try-too-hard-0213

The Civil Service is eat up this way.

[Xavier_Onassis]

In my university, the obvious reason why students did not pass the courses or do well was a lack of attendance. Nearly all the students who missed six or fewer class sessions out of 42 during the semester passed with a C or better. Those who missed seven classes or more tended to end up with D's and F's. So all goals that I submitted were postulated on students attending at least 36 class sessions. I tried different techniques in teaching the concepts of grammar and pronunciation as well, but attendance was the No. 1 most important factor.

[Plane]

What would thinking outside the box look like for teaching a language?

A system of rewards for proper usage, as Skinner training?

Dumping the students in Bolivia with just enough money to ride the bus back?

Making the students harvest cabbage alongside migrant pickers?


In terms of the article cited you might grade everything on a curve , but I don't think this concept is always the best. There is a minimum compentancy that can be objectively measured and if the curve doesn't rise above the minimum the grade doesn't mean anythhing.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You cannot take a bus from South America to North America. Many Bolivians speak only Quechua or Aymara. There is a 99 mile gap in Panama's southern province of Darien that has no connecting roads on to Colombia. This is intentional, because of the fact that S. American cattle and other livestock are carriers of diseases that are fatal to Central American and N. American cattle and other animals. Cows, goats, sheep and chickens are not native to S. America, but llamas, guanacos, vicuñas and several species of deer are, and they have infected cattle in the past, and now the cattle are immune. But N. American cattle are not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_Gap

Historically, Panama, being a part of Gran Colombia and later Colombia until 1903, is politically part of S. Americas. Geographically, it is a part of Central America.

Panama was pressured not to build an expensive highway through the Darien because of the possibility that Panamanian cattle would become infected,and cause epidemics further north. You CAN take a canoe during some seasons of the year and hike through the Darien, but no one who has done it recommends it that I have heard of. Spanish would be problematical among the Panamanian and Colombian Indians in this area.

No college would permit any of these suggestions.

I never graded anything on a curve. Any instructor who does not know what his students are capable of learning if they study the proper amount should ever do this, in my opinion. As I said, class attendance was the major factor in students failing my classes. Not studying enough (or at all) was another, and then there were those who refused to buy the book. I could refuse to ask questions of those who had no book in class, and did so, giving them an F in oral participation, but some simply used someone else's book and never bothered to study any book at home. I always had a copy of the textbook in the library on reserve (meaning they had to use it there), and told everyone about it in the course outline or if they came to my office to plead poverty, but I did not announce this in class, because when I did, the book on reserve somehow got stolen from the library.

Grading on the curve is a stupid practice, as it tends to diminish minimal standards. Perhaps it could be justified for one semester at most, until the instructor figures out exactly what the students are capable of. I didn't do it, ever.

[kimba1]

If you think about it. It encourages low performances since the group will discourage any student to excel and it doesnt hurt the kid to slow down. If anything it's a sign of group intelligence to achieve such Low grading curve. If you hink about it the introduction of the grading curve coincide with te gradual decline of schools

[Xavier_Onassis]

The only reason to curve grades is that the instructor has assumed that the test was too difficult.
So long as the material on the exam was either covered in the class or in the textbook assignments, the test is fair and grades should not be curved.

By the end of the term, the instructor should be aware of what the students capabilities are, and this grade should never be curved.

[Plane]

What is the English instruction method in Mexico?

Thy seem to be successfull at learning English much more than we are learning Spanish.

Is this an illusion ? Are Mexican students better motivated? are they using methods we cannot?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I disagree that Mexicans learn English better than Americans learn Spanish.

I do not know what the favorite methodology used in Mexico is today, but English is a lot harder for Spanish speakers than Spanish is for English speakers. English has between 42 and 45 different phonemes and standard Mexican broadcast Spanish has only 23 phonemes. Spanish is spelled very close to phonetically.

Most Mexicans that live along the border watch US TV, which is also available on cable in all the larger cities. Mexicans who want to learn something have a lot more gumption than most Americans, who tend to be rather lazy, especially when it comes to language learning.

In Spanish, the difference between one  area and another generally involves elision or substitution of consonants.In English, the vowels tend to change. It you learn standard American Broadcast English, you will not easily understand Southern or Black English.

Keep in mind that the Mexicans you have spoken English with have been living here for a while,and the Spanish that American kids you may have heard have no practice in communication in a similar situation.

Immigrants are never typical.

[kimba1]

ok
as a canadian it`s bad for me to make assumptions about americans. But I observed americans simply are less motivated to learn anything if it`s not obviously needed. I was shocked how people don`t want to learn american history or math. I know people who let thier kids not finish school. the school can`t do much if parents don`t even make thier kids attend school.

My background is almost feral and I learned to read almost by myself and by chinese standard I`m abit on the slowside.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I don't think it is accurate to say that Americans are lazy, since there are always exceptions.

As a group, I have found them to be less motivated to learn languages.

When I was in Paris, we saw "The Return of the King" on opening night in a huge multiplex cinema.

One theatre showed it dubbed in French. The other showed it in English with French subtitles. They told me that the two theatres were the same size. The English language theatre (where we went) sold out first.

I can't imagine that happening in the US.Of course, the actors sound best with their real voices. Dubbed voices always sound sort of phony.