Ukraine and Russia - Some statements for discussion in one of our communication groups
1. All people are bad in general including Russians. So examples of bad Russians prove nothing. But others in general are worse than Russians (it is rather about states Europe, USA, Ukraine, ISIS than people of those states).
2. So called sexism can explain what happens in Ukraine. Ukraine behaves towards Russia like feminist women behave towards men. They give men nothing but hatred and believe that men have to support them for that. Ukrainians believe that they are innocent, saint victims of Russians (like women are victims of men according to feminism) and Russians must compensate Ukrainians their suffering.
3. Hatred is the only way Ukrainians wants to sell. Russians will pay Ukrainians in hope that the hatred will be mitigated (but it will get only worse). And they want to sell to the West the opportunity to have NATO military bases in Ukraine.
4. They wanted to turn Russian language into second rate language in Ukraine (into third rate language, in fact, because it had already been a second rate one) even though it is the most popular language there; and that would prevents Russians from getting high education and would turn them into servants working for Ukrainians.
5. They overthrew democratically elected government even though there was agreement that the election had been assigned to the nearest future. And they began to put their bandits into governing positions and send them also to the east parts of Ukraine where people didn’t want them.
6. They regularly shell Donetsk and say that it is Donetsk who regularly shells itself.
7. They call people like Bandera and Shuhevich (one of Hitler’s servants) their heroes. They issued a special law calling them national heroes.
8. They have anti-Russian slogans and rituals and they are very popular in Ukraine.
9. Poroshenko power still exists only because “Putin” supports it. There were too many acts of open support of it. BTW that is why Putin is bad. He has always been pretty much anti-Russian.
There are 5 basic skills you have to develop if you want to become a master in one of foreign languages.
They are: Speaking, Listening, Writing, Reading and Thinking.
There are 5 additional skills.
They are: Conversation, Monologue, Translating, Teaching, Passing exams.
Will anybody deny that you have to learn the Art of Conversation? Should it not be one of the most important topics for seminars? Don’t you have to practice it regularly? What kind of teacher are you if you avoid real conversations and prefer to talk only by turns and only by answering already prepared questions?
You have to be anti-teacher if you try to avoid free discussions.
If you want to write any topic for the communication in the club, there can be some universal questions for that. If you don’t know what to talk about you can always ask any of those universal questions and the communication will become interesting. You can memorize those questions. It can become a kind of your integral algorithm for your communication and your thinking.
THAT THING
1) Why is THAT THING so important?
2) What power does THAT THING give you?
3) What joy can THAT THING bring into your life?
4) How does THAT THING influence your character and the way you live?
5) How do Good and Evil deal with THAT THING, use THAT THING?
6) How can you become a master at THAT THING?
7) What makes THAT THING powerful and impressive (its “interface”, “restaurant”)?
8) What makes THAT THING work effectively (“implementation”, “kitchen”)?
9) What are the layers of THAT THING?
10) What are the differences of male and female strategies in dealing with THAT THING?
11) THAT THING, do we really know what we are talking about?
12) If THAT THING is good, why is it so difficult to obtain it? If THAT THING is so bad, what can we cope with it?
13) Can you tell us about your personal encounter with THAT THING?
Some questions can be difficult to answer in some particular topic. Some questions are usually difficult to answer. Those clumsy questions are better to be removed from the question list. For example question number 13 is usually difficult to answer.
It is a Cambridge exam. It actually checks whether you have some knowledge about how to teach English. If you are successful in passing this test you will get a diploma like that: http://ipolyglot.net/tkt2.jpg
If you are a private teacher, this document will make it easier for you to find students on any of many Internet sites where students can be found.
Now it is also possible to pass this exam via computer. It was not so two years ago.
Having learned this stuff you will know basic principles and words that related to teaching English. You will have an opportunity to review your own approaches.
Actually they (Cambridge folks) are not aware of best methods of studying English. We can discuss them ourselves.
So, next Sunday we can see whether we have enough participants interested in that exam. If there are enough people who are interested in that exam we can organize it. But it is a serious work. And there is some work you have to do on your own.
It is usually said that there are two important things about the speech. They are fluency and accuracy. And it is not easy to be both fluent and accurate at the same time. But in fact we have to distinguish between some more things. How can we improve them?
1) Correctness. It means that you do not make mistakes.
2) Accuracy. It means that your speech is your best. It means that you don’t make slips. Slips – are errors you make not because the lack of your knowledge, but because you don’t have much time to think.
3) Fluency. It is about being able to speak without stuttering, breaks, long pauses many failed attempt to build correct sentences.
4) Speed. It is about how fast you speak. Actually you can be fluent but slow or fast but not fluent.
5) Clearness. It means you don’t overuse things like “hm, hm, eh, hm” etc… and you don’t excessively use words like “you know”, “well”, “so to speak” and others of that kind.
6) Richness of the speech. It is about both, rich vocabulary and rich grammar.
Pay attention, sometimes a teacher is just a partner.
Ask yourself what you can do without a teacher equally effectively or even better. How can you do it?
At what aspects are you good as a teacher?
1. Teacher is an instant dictionary, interpreter, and grammar reference book. What can we do if we don’t have a teacher for those?
2. Teacher can correct you. Do you need to be corrected?
3. He can make you work by getting angry with you if you don’t work properly (mentor). Do you need to be forced to work this way?
4. He can motivate you; with him studying is not that boring as without him.
5. He can show you right movements, explain phonemes, explain fingering and so on (methodologist).
6. He can provide you with best set of exercises and explain how to do them most effectively. He can be your coach. Do you need a coach (methodologist)?
7. He can be your orientation pilot. Some things are better seen from outside. Do you see a difference between a coach and an orientation pilot?
8. He can be your personal psychologist. If you have some brakes and barriers he will help you to overcome them.
9. He can be your communication partner.
10. He can be a leader. There is some difference between a leader and a communication partner. Do you need a leader and rapport with him?
11. He can be an example of the perfect speech and writing.
12. He can provide you with best materials; he can help you not to fallow bad books and strategies (methodologist and supply manager).
About English lessons and all kinds of lessons in general
1. Image of perfect language – rapport with inner Master
2. Rapport with a student
3. Motivation and understanding of what you have to do and how (mental maps)
4. Right movements
5. Training
6. Life itself
1. Do you remember what skills you have to work on? (reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking, plus translating, communicating, teaching, passing exams)
2. Three whales of any language (grammar, vocabulary, phonetics)
3. Levels of language (sentences, words, letters)
4. Levels of understanding how to study (discipline, knowledge, training, love, yoga, war)
5. To teach how to become a leader
6. Why do people not want to become masters?
) Computer programs for working on pronunciation
) Organizing the work (mocking, reading with recording, reading aloud)
) Materials for working
) Stretching the sounds
IPA
) International Phonetic Alphabet and tongue position.
) Restrictions of the IPA chart approach
) What is softness of Russian vowels. Main Russian vowels and allophones.
) Phonetic clock: lax and tense vowels, oppositions in General American.
Phonetics
) Acoustics, articulation, phonology
) What is phoneme? Different approaches. Diaphonemes.
) What are letters?
Changing Russian speech 1
) Throaty pronunciation and how to catch it. High and low throaty pronunciations. Phonetic smile (no roundness), openness of mouth and economy of breath. Throaty pressure.
) Relaxation. Lax speech. As a drunken man.
) Nasal speech.
) Ch-resonator. Tip of the tongue position: ch, t, d, l, n.
) Half soft speech
Changing Russian speech 2 – music of English
) Two types of stress organization: syllabic and tonic.
) Stress interval in English
) Syllabic stresses in English – reduction, contractions, pauses.
Features
) Four types of stresses in English and their difference from Russian stresses.
) Types of long vowels (doubled sounds, surrounding, logical stress).
) How to play with stresses (unstressed speech, only dynamic, only pitch, only length)
) Diphthongization: can, bad
) All kind of stops
American vs British
) Pronunciation of R before consonants
) Words like ask, grasp, fast
) Ringing t in words like better, butter.
) Pronunciation of u: future, nude.
) man vs men
) Monophthongization in American: air, fire
) Phonetic smile in American
) American open, written
) Nasality ???
) Stops ???
) British cop to cup ???
) British cup to coop ???
) British cat to cut ???
) British take to tike ???
) British dog to dock ???
) British autumn
1. Text-Words-Rules-Exercises used to be the most popular method of teaching and studying foreign languages. Can something be better than that? What about communicative approach?
2. What do you think of Petrov's "Polyglot" method? You can know Petrov by the TV Culture Channel.
3. What do you think of Dragunkin?
Now some questions about Krashen's hypotheses...
5. Do you believe that comprehensible input is sufficient?
6. Do you prefer to acquire or to learn?
7. Do you monitor your speech? What is the best way to become fluent?
8. What psychological barriers hamper our learning?
9. Should we find and fallow some natural order of the acquisition? What will it look like?
Additional questions
10. How can we learn words effectively? How can we improve our vocabulary?
11. How can we learn grammar effectively?
12. Are there any people who are phonologically absolutely stupid?
The five hypotheses that Krashen proposed are as follows:
1) The input hypothesis. This states that learners progress in their knowledge of the language when they comprehend language input that is slightly more advanced than their current level. Krashen called this level of input "i+1", where "i" is the language input and "+1" is the next stage of language acquisition.
2) The acquisition–learning hypothesis claims that there is a strict separation between acquisition and learning; Krashen saw acquisition as a purely subconscious process and learning as a conscious process, and claimed that improvement in language ability was only dependent upon acquisition and never on learning.
3) The monitor hypothesis states that consciously learned language can only be used to monitor language output; it can never be the source of spontaneous speech.
4) The natural order hypothesis states that language is acquired in a particular order, and that this order does not change between learners, and is not affected by explicit instruction.
5) The affective filter hypothesis. This states that learners' ability to acquire language is constrained if they are experiencing negative emotions such as fear or embarrassment. At such times the affective filter is said to be "up".
1) About all sides (Ukrainians, Novorussians, Russians, Europeans, Americans, others):
1) What do their people want?
2) What do their rulers want?
3) What did they do?
4) What are they doing now?
5) What is their propaganda? Are they zombie?
6) Are they terrorists?
2) Are there other participants? Do Jews participate?
3) What is fascism today?
4) Can you have a fascist friend?
5) Can you influence the situation? Do you want to?
I would want to have at least four participants and Cliff (6 people including me). If you are ready to study English pronunciation you are welcome. It has to be serious work. You should plan to participate regularly. Everything can happen in the future but your intention for now should be to participate regularly. I don't know how many seminars it will take. Probably six or more.
In that group (if we have enough participants) we will discuss pronunciation secrets and tips. We are also going to discuss the basic phonological stuff. But the main work that has to be done you will do by yourself.
We will also talk about where to find materials to listen. We will discuss our current pronunciation. We can listen to each other, correct each other, share and discuss tips and suggestions.
You will get my programs for working on pronunciation (for free). And you are encouraged to try and find better programs and share information about them. Try to find really good programs and other resources!
Your everyday homework should be like that:
1. You repeat the material of the last seminar. It means you try to work on the tips given to you last time.
2. Using our programs you listen to samples of native speech and try to imitate it. You do it this way: listen to a native, record yourself, and listen to yourself. Over and over again.
3. You read text aloud. You try to read it like an actor, like a BBC or VOA announcer. You record yourself and listen to yourself from time to time.
4. You just read a text aloud (like an actor) without recording yourself.
It all will take about an hour a day or a little more.
Everyday work is essential (except weekends) . The group is not just about satisfying your curiosity; it is about serious work. You will improve your pronunciation. You will improve your ear for phonetics. How much? Nobody can say it now. Let us see.
Your reading aloud will definitely improve your fluency.
If you want to participate, let me know: add me to your contact list if you are not in it yet. I will add you to Real-Talk-Club group. All the details will be discussed in it.
1) Can we read people’s minds? Do you believe Victoria?
2) Do you know what NLP is? If not then two next questions are about what NLP is…
3) Are our minds like computers? Can we become effective by improving our mental programs?
4) Can we become effective by imitating actions of effective people?
5) Is it possible to hypnotize every one? Can the Gypsies do it?
6) Is it fair to manipulate people? Many people like to be manipulated; why not give them what they want?
7) Would you like to be led?
8) Are there universal techniques that would allow us to manipulate everybody?
9) Can NLP be used for foreign languages acquisition?
10) Is it a good way of therapy?
11) What NLP techniques can we effectively use?
12) Is NLP natural for Russians? Why was it invented in the West?
13) What can be a Russian NLP like invention?
Cliff once said that we don’t need men and manly behavior to wage wars. Drones can do it. And women can easily be drone “pilots”. But in fact we need normal men. We need them badly. What will happen to men when women are taken to the police, when men are allowed to behave like women. Look at the bunch of those cowards and you will understand a lot. Do we need normal men yet?
