Solitude is nice for a while, but sometimes you just want some
TEA & CONVERSATION!
So ... let's meet on Tuesday after the fourth pair! We'll be in Room 2, hoping to catch up with you to share summer experiences and hopes for the new school year.
We will try meeting weekly through October 10. On September 26, we hope to include our three guests from the USA -- Jesse, Tracy, and Esther Mae.
Bring your own ideas for themes and Hangperson words; we'll bring some ideas, too. See you soon!
PS: Evening students! We'll be meeting at the Quest Cafe "4 Rooms" as well. Friday, September 16, and Friday, October 6, 7 p.m.
When you have finished reading the article, go here for the test. Please finish the test by Monday, May 22. Judy and I must give your results to Larisa Viktorovna by May 23.
Summarize the contents of this article in one or two sentences.
How is the content organized?
What are the roles or purposes of the links and gallery within the article? Are they helpful?
Of all the points made in the article, which will you remember the longest?
Do all of the commencement speakers agree with each other? Is any of the advice actually wrong?
Here in Russia, on similar occasions, would the speakers make similar points? Would they make different points than those made by the speakers in this Forbes article? Which pieces of advice in the article seem most typically American to you? Which seem universally valid to you?
The writer includes her e-mail address and Twitter handle in her biography. If you were to write to her, what would you say about this article? (What did she do well, and what could she have done to make her article better?)
Words and expressions:
words of wisdom host, a host of heart-wrenching core, to one’s very core loss, to overcome a loss to be defined by standout (noun) a whole lot to impart to revolve around to oust, to be ousted helm the odds, to overcome the odds time and time again albeit oftentimes hand in hand, to go hand in hand to drop out to pursue trial and error to echo (transitive and intransitive) to head up to drop (intransitive) thread to give back breathing space to hazard (a prediction, a guess) arguably revelatory to get crazy drive (noun)
This is a long text, and we suggest that you concentrate mostly on the first half of the article, before the author gets into details about the negotiations with specific companies and studios. The last couple of paragraphs are also important.
Here are some questions for discussion:
Overall, what does this article seek to provide the reader?
How does the author organize his analysis? What are the major elements, and how does he arrange them?
What are the two major challenges facing the film industry?
Who are the two “sides” mentioned on page two, second column (“At the very least the two sides are talking.”) Why are their interests supposedly in conflict?
Do you have personal experiences or observations concerning this analysis?
What argument or insight will you remember from this article after you have forgotten the details?
Who is the author’s intended audience?
Which of these words and expressions are new to you?
scared stiff to usher in to dazzle cavernous to scramble (intrans.) existential dread exhibitor to release debut to come to pass shakeup windfall to pull it off antiquated to choreograph “cover my ass” Zeitgeist underpinnings smart money to be put off to dry up slate financing player virtual reality box office mogul sprawling tax credit
to greenlight bottom line grand bargain to fade to prop up to condition impulse buy to tinker (with) to kibosh to wade (into) on demand, on-demand exhibition chain stiff spine to interface (with) screen count to hit to cannibalize thorny myriad to grandfather to invite to the table to differentiate gargantuan to reboot dicey diminishing returns tentpole to snap up
Some of these words and phrases may be on the test....
extreme to breathe new life into to bring to light to be vulnerable edge, at the edge to suck the lead part to push, to keep pushing grit (noun) yeah, so to get going pear-shaped, to go pear-shaped over one's skis to do one's own thing learning (noun) to crush it to be (stay) in front of on me (it's on me) grind (noun) to trigger to screw up (trans. and intrans.) wrong turn to hone to be well rounded
Warmest thanks to our colleagues for your great stories and dialogues, excellent questions, and helpful comments on the survey form. Here's a slide show based on the vocabulary presentation we gave at our last session:
Summarize this article—how does it go beyond a simple obituary?
How did the author organize his material? How does he develop his theme(s)?
For what audience is he writing?
What will you remember about this article after you have forgotten the details?
What should the author have included or left out?
Words and phrases:
opener daunting lede iconic, iconically scorched earth to lay out the stakes on deadline to break through to harness unruly mission statement auteur ennui to double as to reverberate radio play (noun) to fill in the blanks folksy to nag precious few tectonic shift side shuffle currency sensibility to dispense with to cover riff lucrative ubiquitous to relegate, be relegated oldies star was receding dash (noun)
How is the article organized? (What elements of “story” do you see in this article?)
What will you remember from this article after you have forgotten the details?
What do you wish the writer had included or left out?
Who is the intended audience?
What is the role of journalism prizes such as the Pulitzer Prize?
Useful words and phrases:
to take on to challenge assumptions to hang out fueled by hard-hitting crash (noun) to pander dogged (dogged coverage) to covet, coveted to draw to disclose, undisclosed gut (in his gut) to vindicate, to feel vindicated
What type of article is this? How was it “published”? How does this affect the voice and register of the text?
What is the main theme or argument of this text?
What is the point made in the first paragraph by Brooke Gladstone and the following two paragraphs?
What factor often determines a successful publishing season, according to Carolyn Kellogg?
What contributes to the success of audio books? What does Kellogg mean by “crossover point”?
Why should we ask Margaret Atwood where her books belong? (What point is Kellogg making here?)
Words and phrases:
imperiled something of a … marked (as in “marked growth”) to drive (sales, etc.) to do in to wheeze ergo dog-eared not so fast to air to overturn to level off boost (noun) demographics to come out of nowhere tier to tout Zen to ding tween vinyl record to hit a groove installment profuse, profusely crossover to ramp up (transitive and intransitive) imprint make a (big) push for to come on strong to get (something) noticed margin(s) slipstream finalist
Words and phrases from the Associated Press article:
to acclaim, acclaimed to denounce to pass away to undergo to snowball to gain notoriety unflinching to pack, packed (audiences) rangy chiseled declaratory/declamatory compelling bespectacled to rise to prominence showpiece (noun and adjective) perennial, perennially to feature pronounced (adjective)
More work with phrasal verbs, and reviewing the words and phrases from previous classes:
1. For each blank, choose a word from the list below. Some of the words are completions of phrasal verbs based on the verb work. Some words in the list might be used more than once; some might need to be changed to the correct tense:
“Detective Jose Chang here,” I heard myself say. It was my first day at work. I didn’t even have a contract yet. The sergeant had only said that “we’d work ____ the details later.” Like whether I’d be paid overtime or not… But it was a job, and I was happy to have it. I needed the ____, such as health insurance.
The interview had been tough. They had really worked me ____, especially on why I had been out of a job for six months. I had worked ____ a list of reasons for it, but at the end, I just tried to ____ it all over by mentioning that I needed time with my family. Except I hadn’t spoken to my family in five years. In our family, we all have a lot to work ____.
I hadn’t mentioned that I had been trying to work ____ my anxieties with booze. And then stopped. So, yes, I had tried to ____ the issue. It worked.
I do hope this job will work ____. What will I do if it doesn’t? I had ____ it badly in the homicide division in Chicago. It wasn’t just my own case I had destroyed; my mistake had nearly thrown a wrench ____ the works. I had really messed up. Even Mrs. Babsen, my sweet elderly neighbor with six cats, had told me I had ____ it all on myself.
I hoped moving home to Tucson would ____ my career, which it needed, badly. At least in Tucson they wouldn’t ask me about my name. Everyone would assume my father’s family came to work on the railroads, and my mother’s when the river still had water in it all year and the country was named New Spain.
You just knew I would work ____ that last bit, about how the U.S. stole a third of Mexico’s territory in the Mexican-American War, didn’t you? I can get really worked ____, thinking about it still.
over bring gloss up benefits out blow into in through evade jump-start
2. Homework:
Please create a dialogue using 10 of the words/phrases in the list below or the phrasal verbs in the exercise above.
larger trends at work eye-rolling punch line over the top To pull any/your punches to overstate the case bent [entrepreneurial bent] to channel to streamline paywall job security word of mouth the more the merrier to jump-start to make [the, a] case for what they wanted out of life to be struck by to pull clear (of) to settle (an argument, a question) setting themselves up (for) to face the risks special interest groups to plug in dead-end job to end up
(You can download a PDF version of these exercises from here.)
In class, we heard Hans Theessink performing his virtuoso version of the song, starting at about 1 minute, 10 seconds:
This classic was originally written and recorded by Rufus Thomas. In this great video from 1988, we see him performing with legendary musicians Steve Cropper (guitar), Matt "Guitar" Murphy, and Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass guitar):
Many other great musicians have recorded this song, including the Rolling Stones:
Mary Mack dressed in black
Silver buttons all down her back
Hello tipsy toes
She broke the needle and she can't sew
Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
I asked her mama for fifteen cents
To see the elephant jump over the fence
He jumped so high, he touched the sky
Never got back till the fourth of July
Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Mary, Mary, quite contrary
Tell me, how does your garden grow?
You got silver bells and you got cockleshells
Pretty maids all in a row
Walking the dog
Just a walking the dog
If you don't know how to do it
Show you how to walk the dog
Come on now, come on, come on
Oh oh, just a just just a walking
just a just a just a walking
just a just a just a walking
oh, yeah, if you don't know how to do it
I'll show you how to walk the dog ... oh ...
Please summarize this article in one or two sentences.
What do you know or believe about the countries involved in this situation that you did not know or believe before you read the article?
What additional information should the writer have included?
What audience does the writer have in mind?
Is the article objective? Is there any apparent bias or favoritism on the part of the reporter or the publisher (BBC News)?
How do the photos, captions, and subtitles (in the online version of the article) contribute to the effectiveness of the article?
Useful words and phrases:
taunt no ifs, ands, or buts (and variations) to woo to reserve the right to break a taboo war of words meddling in [another country's] internal affairs acrimonious to cross a line to back crackdown to seek asylum
Here's the presentation we made today as background for discussing the effects of the Civil War on American English and the ways we teach it.
In 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected president. On March 4, 1865, at the swearing-in ceremony marking the start of his second term as president, he gave the speech popularly known as the Second Inaugural Address, which included these famous lines:
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--all sought to avert it.... Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. ... Both [sides] read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
In preparation for our class discussion, consider these questions:
What are the traditional elements of a newspaper obituary? Are those elements all included in this particular article?
What will you remember from this article?
What parts of the article were the most informative or interesting for you? What were the least interesting?
Were there any aspects of the story that you feel were insufficiently covered? What questions might you have for the reporter?
Useful words and phrases:
an integral part tenure call and response curiously, curiously enough to embark on/upon bills, billing, sharing bills act (noun) raucous stint under his/her/their own name sharecropper to take up small change in the employ of to span, spanning prowess harp common parlance label accolades to induct, to be inducted survived by array luminary
Here is James Cotton playing with the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards a few years ago, during a rehearsal for a benefit concert for fellow blues musician Hubert Sumlin:
... And finally, a photo I took of Hubert Sumlin and James Cotton about ten years ago:
Shawn McConaughey during his last visit to our Institute.
We are happy to welcome our friend and colleague Shawn McConaughey (head of the Teaching Abroad program among other things) to our Institute this week. Most of our students will have a chance to talk with him in our Wednesday classes, and all students are invited to meet him on Friday at our (rescheduled) tea after the fourth pair.
Shawn first visited our Institute in the year 2000. He and his wife Katrina both have experience in international education and work with refugees.
A new study from Arizona State University focused on jury deliberation behaviors demonstrates a distinct gender bias when it comes to expressing anger and influencing people. The study found that men use anger to influence others, but women actually lose influence when they allow anger into an argument.
What case or argument does the author make? Is it the author's own viewpoint, or is the author telling you about someone else's viewpoint?
What new information or insight will you remember from this article?
What additional information or analysis do you wish the article had included?
What audience does the author have in mind? How do you know?
If you had been the editor of the article, what changes would you have made?
Useful words and phrases: representative of ... to exert influence in a word jury deliberation out of the equation to be tried for opening statement, closing statement testimony to purport to, purportedly to allege, alleged to script, to be scripted to hold out; holdout (noun) to convict, to be convicted (note the atypical usage in this article) gender gap governing body
shift driven, to drive jump (noun) a year that saw body general trade collectively explosion high profile, high-profile break, respite to favor multifunctional dedicated to overtake to plateau barring to surge; surge (noun) industry confidence
This review, "Holy Foolery," considers the English translation of the book whose Russian-language review we will consider tomorrow.
"Holy Foolery" is not an easy essay to read, even for native English speakers, and we don't expect you to master it overnight. For our first discussion, please take your paper copies and mark the words and phrases that are interesting or difficult. Here are some basic question we want to apply to both the Russian and English reviews of the novel over our next two or three classes:
What are the special characteristics of a book review?
Based on these reviews, what is the theme or plot of this novel? How is it organized?
What are three unusual features of this novel?
What important questions of life might be touched on by this novel?
(If you have not already read it) ... Are you interested in reading this novel? Why or why not?
(Link to the full text of the review.) Be ready to summarize and evaluate this review in English. (Group 401 will discuss this text next Tuesday, but evening classes have a bit longer to think about the assignment.)
As you read this review, see if you can find phrases and terms that belong particularly to this genre of writing. How would you render them in English? If you're not sure, bring them to class and we'll discuss them.
When a man loves a woman
Can't keep his mind on nothing else
He'll trade the world
For the good thing he's found
If she's bad he can't see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down
When a man loves a woman
Spend his very last dime
Trying to hold on to what he needs
He'd give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she said that's the way it ought to be
Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Trying to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don't treat me bad
When a man loves a woman
Down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she plays him for a fool
He's the last one to know
Loving eyes can't ever see
When a man loves a woman
He can do no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes when a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're my world
When a man loves a woman ...
Songwriters
ANDREW JAMES WRIGHT, CALVIN HOUSTON LEWIS
You can read the full story (with link to the Facebook post that started the debate) here. You can download our classroom version here (PDF format).
Snopes.com is an online service which many people use to check whether an urban legend, scandalous news story, or viral e-mail campaign is true, partly true, or false. You can read more about their philosophy and methods on their glossary and frequently asked questions pages. Group 401 will digest this article on March 7, and 401V and 501 at a later date.
Useful words and phrases in the article:
more to the story to feature disparity, disparate to treat side by side to go viral purported, to purport to to convey misleading sample size tween at the expense of tacit, tacitly body acceptance to be tucked (plus preposition) to dig deeper to unearth nosy fraught to boost general interest (adj.) trade magazine to further newsstand despite appearances to navigate to shame wheelhouse gender binary
To follow up our Christmas Dinner at the ISS article and the story of the "hidden figure" Katherine Johnson, here's an up-to-date story on these past two busy days at the Space Station.
An unofficial English-language
