Cruising Lago Argentino (Santa Cruz, AR)... BRRR!!!
A great way to practice English fluency is to describe things. It sounds easy, but there is always some challenge to it. So the question is: what things can learners describe?
Pictures provide great opportunities to describe things. Today on the internet we can find a lot of pictures to describe. We can also take pictures with our cameras or phones.
Recently, I was challenged by a colleague to share nature pictures for one week. I accepted the challenge. So I shared them with friends and colleagues. But then I realized something. Nature pictures provide a great opportunity to show learners how to describe things in English.
So here we go. Click!
Nature Picture 1: Miami Dolphin
Where did I take it? I took this oneoff the coast of Miami.
Let’s describe the picture: There is a dolphin swimming underwater.
The water is turquoise.
What else can you say about this picture?
Let’s look at the language:
To TAKE a photo / picture(collocation) - We take photos or pictures. (We shoot video)
I took this picture / this photo.
I took this one.
THERE IS / THERE ARE(collocation)- Most common way to describe the existence of anything in English + followed by a verb in GERUND (ing) form
There is someone doing something.
There is a dolphin swimming.
TURQUOISE (Describing color in English)- When we describe a color, we use the VERB to BE followed by the color, but we do not need to use the word “color”, as in other languages.
The water is turquoise color. (incorrect)
The water is turquoise. (correct)
*a collocation is a group of words commonly used together to express an idea
OFF THE COAST(collocation) - describes a location that is near a coastal area
Nature Picture 2: Lago Acigami
Where did I take it? I took this picture in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.
Let’s describe the picture:
There is a huge lake surrounded by tall mountains.
The water is completely still.
The scene is grayish blue.
What else can you say about this picture? Let’s look at the language:
HUGE(adjective)- describes when something is very, very big STILL(adjective) - describes when something is not moving GRAYISH BLUE(language pattern of combined colors)- used when we talk about one color having its effect on another. We add the suffix -ish to the first color.
blueish gray
greenish white
reddish brown
Nature Picture 3: Piedmontese Wine Country
Where did I take it? I took this one in Nizza Monferrato, Italy.
Let’s describe the picture: There are dozens of green vineyards as far as the eye can see.
It is a radiant summer day. You can see an olive tree in the foreground.
What else can you say about this picture?
Let’s look at the language:
AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE (collocation)- describes something that can be seen from near to far until it cannot be seen any more: RADIANT (adjective)- sending out light; shining or glowing bright YOU CAN SEE (phrase)- commonly used to indicate what is visible FOREGROUND (noun)- refers to the things that appear closest to the camera taking the picture
Nature Picture 4: Desert by the Sea
Where did I take it? I took this photo in Paracuru, Brazil.
Let’s describe the picture:
There is a vast desert made up of dunes down below.
There are blue skies and some clouds up above.
What else can you say about this picture? Let’s look at the language: VAST (adjective)- describes a great extent or quantity; something immense. MADE UP OF (collocation)- to be composed of, be constituted of, consist in, consist of DOWN BELOW (collocation)- located at the bottom of a determined area UP ABOVE (collocation)- located at the top of a determined area
Nature Picture 5: Medusa, the Spotted Jellyfish
Where did I take it? I took this one at the Aquarium of Genova, Italy.
Let’s describe the picture: There is a spotted jellyfish shaped like a mushroom.
The jellyfish has tentacles that look like transparent curtains with flowers.
The jellyfish appears big in the picture but is actually tiny.
What else can you say about this picture?
Let’s look at the language: LOOK LIKE (collocation)- appear like; be similar or bear a likeness to SHAPED LIKE (collocation)- have a shape like something else ACTUALLY (adverb)- in fact, in truth (SPANISH SPEAKERS, it does not mean "right now") TINY (adjective)- very, very small
Nature Picture 6: The Land of Ice and Snow
Where did I take it? I took this picture at the Perito Moreno Glacier in Santa Cruz, Argentina.
Let’s describe the picture: There is a huge mass of ice surrounded by forests and mountains.
It reminds me of Superman's fortress of solitude.
What else can you say about this picture? Let’s look at the language: SURROUNDED BY (collocation)- be in the middle of REMINDS ME OF (collocation)- used to express when one thing makes you think about something similar
Nature Picture 7: Dino Walks the Town
Where did I take it? I took this photo in the City of Buenos Aires, near a science exhibition featuring dinosaurs.
Let’s describe the picture: There is a silhouette of a dinosaur in front of a street corner. There aren’t many people on the street, only a man passing by who turns to look at the dinosaur.
What else can you say about this picture? Let’s look at the language: SILHOUETTE(noun)- the dark shape someone or something against a brighter background FEATURING (gerund)- showing IN FRONT OF (collocation)- be positioned forward of a person or thing PASS BY (collocation)- go past someone or something TURN TO LOOK (collocation)- turn one's head in the direction of something
Are you READY to describe pictures in English? All you have to do now is get your camera (or phone). Take some pictures and talk (or write) about them in English to someone. See if you can USE some of the vocabulary from this post. Share your pictures and descriptions in English with friends. Have fun!
The thing is like
this. I’m grew up in Miami, a warm place surrounded by
beautiful beaches and plenty of water. Naturally, when it came to sports, my
fellow South Florida residents and I had dozens of water-related options to
choose from. And with the exception of surfing, I tried most of them. But
truth be told, they were all a bit too much on the “surface” for me.
However, there was
one that truly captured my heart of hearts. Scuba diving.
I don’t know. Maybe
it was all those Jacques Cousteau documentaries in my youth that drove me to
put on a mask, some fins, and a regulator to plumb the depths of a world
supposedly not meant for me. But boy, once I got “down there”; it was like I
engaged in a deeper understanding with nature and myself. An understanding that
just wasn’t possible on the surface.
So many
years later as an English teacher, this idea of the “surface” and its
limitations surfaced from the depths of my memory. And no, I don’t mean that
language learners need to learn scuba diving, although I highly recommend it.
What I mean is that the metaphor of deep sea diving resonated in me when I saw something
in my profession that didn’t feel right. I had become disappointed that in some
of the schools I worked at, much of learning was based on memorizing rules and
vocabulary, out of context. Or why not say it? On the surface.
In fact, I
also found this quest for quantity over quality blowing its winds in the shallow
waters of standardized testing. You know, students pushed by whoever it is to
max out their TOEFL, IELTS and whatever test in record time, yet not taught to communicate
about anything important in a meaningful way. Why? Probably to enter a good
school and get a good job at a good company who would possibly – if the economy
didn’t sink to the bottom- hire a good teacher to review all those rules they once
studied, but now forgot. Make sense? No? Good.
But as Bob
Dylan used to say, “times are a changin”. Finally, the tide is turning on this
old world mentality of what I call “surface learning”. In fact, we are in the dawn
of what I like to call “deep sea learning”, especially in the language world.
Every day,
I discover and meet new colleagues - who
understand that the key ingredients for learning are engagement, context and
depth. It’s very exciting to see many of them using technology to connect
learners to language topics that range from complex global issues, meaningful
professional issues, but also through the stimulating worlds of art, music and
film. And yes, their students are getting plenty of grammar and vocabulary, but
this time as a means instead of an end. Of course, I’m totally engaged in doing
my share of “deep sea” language teaching as well and enjoying every bit of it.
The result
is not surprising. More and more language students are becoming immersed in a deeper
understanding of English as a foreign language. They are resonating to new
sounds, sights and experiences, developing the confidence to continue improving
on their own, deeper into the language. But it’s not all fun and games. All this
“deep sea language learning” will have a profound impact on their studies and
professional lives as well. A positive impact.
Finally, if you'd also like to dive into the fascinating world of the sea, then check out this report about the life and adventures of legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
If you are trying to be fluent in English, then you're probably not thinking much about grammar. And if that's true, then you're definitely not giving Adverbs much thought.
Adverbs are not a big deal conceptually. Basically, they give us information about:
Time: when something happens
Manner: how something happens
Place: where something happens
Degree: to which something happens
Frequency: how often something happens
The real challenge for intermediate non-native speakers of English is: Where do they go? There is good reason for the confusion. In many languages, you can put Adverbs anywhere you want in a sentence (or almost anywhere). It's almost poetic.
In English, you can't. English is basic in structure. And the basic logic of English is to communicate: Subject + Verb + Object. In other words: Who does what? And to whom? Or to what?
Adverbs are secondary. They provide extra information. They must be put in the right place. However, instead of reviewing a lot of rules, this post aims to provide an alternative way to remember where to put Adverbs.
Let's learn by observation. Keep in mind here an Adverb can be a single word or a phrase that has the same role (Adverbial Phrase)
ACTIVITY
Look at the examples and pay attention to WHERE the Adverbs GO in each case. They may go in one place, or in two places, but never in three. So...
Does the Adverb GO in the beginning?
Does the Adverb GO at the end?
Does the Adverb GO before or after a verb?
Does the Adverb GO after an adjective?
Remember, Adverbs give us information about...
Time
He visited the museum yesterday. Yesterday, he visited the museum. Last year, I traveled to the Bahamas.
I traveled to the Bahamas last year.
See you later.
Place
Let's go there for dinner.
I'm going outside for a while
There's a party upstairs.
The director's office is across the hall.
Manner (most en in ly)
He was badly injured in the accident.
I really need your help.
You totally missed the bus.
Billy plays very well.
Degree
It's too dark in that room?
I almost missed the train.
That sandwich is quite expensive.
She's very tired.
Frequency
They usually take the bus.
I'm never late to work.
She's always studying for her test.
John rarely reads the newspaper.
PRACTICE
Come up with your own examples.
For the Rules about Adverbs, you're invited to watch:
As many English Users know, practical language learning is a journey that is best achieved in context. Well, this is language approach you'll find in HIT THE ROAD PAUL, a fun video-story course available for FREE to anyone with an internet connection.This course is designed for both students and teachers of English interested in learning or teaching authentic English in context. The Story: English teacher StoryPaul only has 45 minutes to get to an office downtown and pick up a document. In each episode, we focus on a different topic related to travel and traffic. At the end, we find out if he makes it to his destination on time. Along the way, students have a chance to learn and practice idioms & speaking patterns related to each episode.
Episode 1- In the Garage is about how to use the English language to talk about starting a car and getting out of a garage. See questions at the end.
UNDERSTANDING THE SCREENS
The Full Dashboard - Provides a space for key language elements like Questions and Target Language that the students can repeat by pausing the video.
This board includesTime Remainingand Distance Remainingwhich track how much time and how many kilometers Paul has until he reaches his destination.
VERB elements are usually in upper case letters for easy identification.
The Standard Dashboard - Contains no time and distance information, but still includesTarget Language and Name of Episode.
Target Language - The language in each Dashboard is the target language of the lesson. They are modeled phrases and sentences that students can stop to repeat when watching the video a second time.
Additional Language - Language that is not essential or does not constitute a learning objective is often shown on a smaller lower third graph that appears on the left side of the screen.
While this is not theTarget Language, students are just as welcome to learn it.
Photos and Pictures are sometimes added to illustrate key ideas. A Time Clock may also appear on this lower third screen.
RECOMMENDED WAY TO USE THE VIDEOS
(independently or as group / with a teacher or as self-study)
1. WATCH it once without stopping. Don't worry if you miss something.
2. ANSWER the General Questions.
3. WATCH again and Stop, carefully Read and Repeat the Target Language on each Dashboard.
4. ANSWER the Discussion Questions.
5. WATCH one more time without stopping.
6. As soon as you have a chance, tell a friend in English what the Episode is about. (Remember that Paul speaks in First Person; so a great exercise is to change his sentences to Third Person)
EPISODE 1 QUESTIONS & QUIZ
General Questions
1. Why is Paul going downtown?
2. How much time does Paul have to get to the office downtown?
3. What's the first thing Paul does when he gets in the car?
4. How does Paul start the car?
5. What kind of car does Paul have?
6. Why does Paul look in his mirror when he is driving inside the garage?
7. What does Paul do when he gets out of his garage.
8. What do we call people who walk in the street? Answer the same Questions in the Quiz below:
Discussion Questions
1. How do you travel around the city or town?
2. If you or some in your family drives, what kind of car is it (stick shift or manual)?
3. Do you like cars? Why or why not?
4. Do you live in a big city? If not, where do you live? Is there a lot of traffic?
5. Do you put on a seat belt when you travel in a car? Why or why not?
6. Do you lock the doors? Why or why not?
7. Do people in your country honk to tell pedestrians they're coming out of a building?
8. Do you think Paul will make it on time to the office?
There are more videos in the series, so be sure to check once in a while. Enjoy!
Nelson Mandela - who passed away in December of 2013 - was a man known around the world for his lifelong commitment to the cause of the racial equality and later, to achieving reconciliation between two deeply disparate groups of people in the nation of South Africa.
Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison before becoming the first black president of South Africa was also deeply committed to education and its importance in creating a better tomorrow for our world.
On occasion of his recent departure, as English users we will share with you some of his most memorable quotes. These are great to discuss in your English classes or with other English users, especially because all of them go far beyond the situation in South Africa. Additionally, to add a linguistic dimension, we added some language points about each quote.
As English Users, we often need to communicate our opinions or make suggestions to others.
However, when we do so, we are usually better off being polite about it. In other words, we benefit from not offending those who we make suggestions to. Of course, to achieve this, we need to choose the right words.
Suppose a colleague is showing you a project that still needs some improvement. How would you tell this person about it? Let's imagine two scenarios. In both, your colleague has just finished showing you his / her project and is requesting feedback.
Scenario 1
COLLEAGUE: So, what do you think of the project? YOU: It still needs work. You should especially polish the examples.
Then you list the different areas where it needs work. Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with this, but it might not be the most convenient approach. So, how could you say what you think and not come off as overly negative, aggressive or persistent?
Easy. If you're providing feedback, first point out any positive aspects, even if it's just potential and only then, recommend improvements. Above all, use polite modals.
Scenario 2
COLLEAGUE: So, what do you think of the project? YOU: I really liked the focus and the introduction. However, you might want to review the examples a little bit. There are some interesting ideas there that you could probably polish and connect with the general theme.
Let's look at some modal verb expressions that help make polite suggestions:
you could (do something)
you might want to (do something)
you might want to look into (something / doing something)
it would really be great if you could ( do something)
one thing you might want look over / touch up / review / check
Notice that could, might and would are all modal verbs that help to suggest politely.
These modal verbs are not as imperative as these other ones: must, have to and ought to.
Polite suggestions are also effective when you are requesting service.
In this classic scene from the movie FORREST GUMP, we can see that Forrest is inadvertently a privileged witness to the Watergate scandal. Unable to sleep from flashlights used in the building across the street, the memorable character played by Tom Hanks uses polite language to make a simple request and unknowing changes history.
FORREST: [in the Watergate hotel; on phone with security] Yeah, sir, you might
want to send a maintenance man over to that office across the way. The
lights are off, and they must be looking for a fuse box, 'cause them
flashlights, they keep me awake.
So remember, English Users, next time you need to provide feedback or ask for service, you might want to be polite about it.
It's BIG! It's scary! And it's coming straight for you. No,
it’s not a monster, an alien invasion or a zombie party. It's not even the latest science fiction movie.
It's... THE FUTURE.
The struggle for the future.
The struggle between WILL and GOING TO
OK, so it's not so scary. But it is one of those common mistakes that pop up every now and then among English Users. Now, we've spoken about this before in another post, but only referring to predicting the future. This time, we will discuss the matter in greater detail.
So start by asking yourself, in this struggle between WILL and GOING TO:
WILL you ever know who wins the fight?
Are you really GOING TO stay until the end to find out?
Wouldn't you rather get a cup of coffee before reading the rest?
Let us save you the trouble. You win the fight. That's right. You win THE FUTURE... but only if you follow the rules that follow.
So let's talk about WILL and let's talk about GOING TO, shall we?
WILL
Some people actually believe this is the only verb we should use to talk about the future. But obviously, it isn’t.
Below you will find some cases when it is recommend you use WILL. While you're going through the list, see if you can recognize some of them from movies, songs and even, real life.
"Build it and he will come". (Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams)
Refusal of Things
"We will not go quietly into the night". ("The President" in Independence Day)
Spontaneous Decision
"I'll have what she's having" (Lady from the other table in When Harry Met Sally)
And here is other one...
GOING TO
When do we use it in terms of the future? Mostly, when we...
State a Plan or an Intention
"I'm gonna (going to) rock and roll all night and party everyday". (KISS)
"You're going to need a bigger boat". (Sheriff Brody in Jaws)
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse". (Vito Corleone in The Godfather)
(anybody) I'm going to the dentist next week.
So yes, people use WILL and GOING TO refer to the future, but in different ways. Try to review these well-known examples and try to come up with some of your own.
So the question is... Will you do it? Are you going to really schedule a moment to do so? Of course, only you know that.
In the meantime, check out some of the scenes we mentioned and see what context they were used in. Enjoy!
Author, speaker and international advisor Sir Ken Robinson is one of the premier experts on the science and art of education. In this humorous but thought-provoking video, he presents his vision on the need for a change in paradigm in our current education system. WATCH it once and then see if you can answer the questions below:
What are the two reasons for reforming public education?
What story was Ken Robinson told when he went to school?
How does the speaker define creativity?
When was the current educational system conceived?
According to the speaker, what two types of people does traditional education believe there are?
What does the speaker say about ADHD?
What is divergent thinking?
Of course, as an English User, we really recommend that you take full advantage of the rich language found in Ken Robinson's speech. So below, we provide for you the complete TRANSCRIPT for the session. ACTIVITY: If you are in an English class or group, this makes of a great DISCUSSION topic. Enjoy!
Transcript:
Every
country on earth at the moment is reforming public education. There are two
reasons for it.
The first
one is economic. People are trying to work out "How do we educate our
children to take their place in the economies of the 21st century. How do we do
that?"
Even though
we can't anticipate what the economy will look like at the end of next week as
the recent turmoil is demonstrating. How do you do that?
The second
though is cultural. Every country on earth is trying to figure out how do we
educate our children so they have a sense of cultural identity and so that we
can pass on the cultural genes of our communities while being part of the
process globalization. How do we square that circle?
The problem
is they are trying to meet the future by doing what they did in the past. And
on the way they are alienating millions of kids who don't see any purpose in
going to school.
When we went
to school we were kept there with the story, which is if you worked hard and
did well and got a college degree you'd have a job. Our kids don't believe that
and they are right not to by the way.
You are
better having a degree than not, but it's not a guarantee anymore. And
particularly not if the route to it marginalises most of the things that you
think are important about yourself.
And people
say we have to raise standards as if this is a breakthrough. You know. Really?
Yes. We should. Why would you lower them, you know? I haven't come across the
odd one that persuaded me of lowering them. But raising them, of course we
should raise them.
The problem
is that the current system of education was designed and conceived and
structured for a different age. It was conceived in the intellectual culture of
the Enlightenment, and in the economic circumstances of the Industrial
Revolution. Before the middle of the 19th Century, there were no systems of
public education.
Not really,
I mean, you could get educated at [inaudible] Jesuit's if you had the money. But
public education, paid for from taxation, compulsory to everybody, and free at
the point of delivery - that was a revolutionary idea.
And many
people objected to it. They said it's not possible for many street kids,
working class children to benefit from public education. They're incapable of
learning to read and write, why are we spending time on this?
So there's
also built into [there] the whole series of assumptions about social
structuring capacity. And it was driven by an economic imperative of the time, but
running right through it was an intellectual model of the mind, which was
essentially the Enlightenment view of intelligence - that real intelligence
consists in the capacity for certain type of deductive reasoning and the
knowledge of the classics [originate] - what we'd come to think of as academic
ability.
And this is
deep in the gene pool of public education that there are already two types of
people: academic and non-academic.Smart
people and non-smart people.
And the
consequence of that is that many brilliant people think they're not because
they're being judged against this particular view of the mind. So we have twin
pillars: economic and intellectual. And my view is that this model has caused
chaos in many people's lives.
It's been
great for some. - There have been people benefiting wonderfully from it. But
most people have not. Instead they suffered this.
This is the
modern epidemic, and it's as misplaced as fictitious. This is the plague of
ADHD. Now this is a map of the instance of ADHD in America. Or prescriptions
for ADHD.
Don't
mistake me I don't mean to say there is no such thing as attention deficit
disorder. I'm not qualified to say if there isn't such a thing. I know that a
great majority of psychologists and pediatricians think there's such a thing. -
but it's still a matter of debate.
What I do
know for a fact is it's not an epidemic. These kids are being medicated as
routinely as we have our tonsils taken out and on the same whimsical basis and
for the same reason medical fashion.
Our
children are living in the most intensely stimulating period in the history of
the earth. They are being besieged with information and parse their attention from
every platform, computers, from iPhones, from advertising holdings from
hundreds of television channels.
And we are
penalizing them for getting distracted. From what? Boring stuff. At school for
the most part it seems to me not a conscience totally that the instance of ADHD
has risen in parallel with the growth of standardized testing.
And these
kids are being given Ritalin and Adderall and all manner of things. Often quite
dangerous drugs to get them focused and calm them down. But according to this
attention deficit disorder increases as you travel east across the country.
People
start losing interest in Oklahoma. They can hardly think straight in Arkansas. And
by the time they get to Washington they've lost it completely. And there are
separate reasons for that, I believe.
It's a
fictitious epidemic. If you think of it, the Arts - and I don't say this is
exclusively the Arts, I think it's also true of Science and of Maths. I say
about the Arts particularly because they are the victims of this mentality
currently. Particularly.
The Arts
especially address the idea of Aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience is
one in which your senses are operating at their peak.When you're present in the current moment. When
you are resonating with the excitement of this thing that you're experiencing. When
you are fully alive.
And
anaesthetic is when you shut your senses off, and deaden yourself what's
happening and a lot of these drugs are that. We're getting our children through
education by anaesthetising them. And I think we should be doing the exact
opposite. We shouldn't be putting them asleep; we should be waking them up, to
what they have inside of themselves.
But the
model we have is this. It's I believe we have a system of education which is
modelled on the interest of industrialism. and in the image of it. I'll give
you a couple examples.
Schools are
still pretty much organised on factory lines. On ringing bells, separate
facilities, specialised into separate subjects. We still educate children by
batches. You know, we put them through the system by age group. Why do we do
that?
You know,
why is there this assumption that the most important thing kids have in common
is how old they are. You know, it's like the most important thing about them is
their date of manufacture.
Well I know
kids who are much better than other kids at the same age in different
disciplines. You know, or at different times of the day, or better in smaller
groups than in large groups or sometimes they want to be on their own.
If you are
interested in the model of learning you don't start from this production line
mentality. This is essentially about conformity. Increasingly it's about that as
you look at the growth of standardised testing and standardised curricula and
it's about standardisation.
I believe
we've got go in the exact opposite direction. That's what I mean about changing
the paradigm. There is a great study done recently on divergent thinking -
Published a couple years ago. Divergent thinking isn't the same thing as
creativity.
I define
creativity as the process of having original ideas which have value. Divergent
thinking isn't a synonym, but it's an essential capacity for creativity. It's
the ability to see lots of possible answers to a question. Lots of possible
ways of interpreting a question.
To think,
what Edward de Bono publicly called laterally. To think not just in linear or
convergent ways. To see multiple answers and not one.So I made up a test for this. I mean one
called the cod example would be people might be asked to say:
How many
uses can you think of for a paper clip? Follows routine questions. Most people
might come with 10 or 15. People who are good at this might come with 200. And
they do that by saying. Well, could the paper clip be 200 foot tall and be made
of foam rubber? You know... like does it have to be a paper clip as we know it,
Jim?
The test is
this. They gave them to 1500 people in a book called Breakpoint and Beyond. And
on the protocol of the test if you scored above a certain level, you'd be
considered to be a genius of divergent thinking.
So my
question to you is: what percentage of the people tested of the 1500 scored
genius level for divergent thinking? I need to know one more thing about them. These
were kindergarten children.... So what do you think?
What
percentage of genius level? -80 OK? 98% Now the thing about this was a
longitudinal study. So they retested the same children five years later, ages
of 8-10. What do you think? -50? They retested them again 5 years later, ages
13-15. You can see a trend here coming.
Now, this
tells a interesting story. Because you could've imagined they're going the
other way. Could you? You start off not being very good but you get better as
you get older. But this shows 2 things: One is we all have this capacity and
Two: It mostly deteriorates.
Now a lot
have happened to these kids as they grown up, a lot. But one of the most
important things happened that I'm convinced is that by now they've become
educated. They spend 10 years in school being told there is one answer, it's at
the back, and don't look. And don't copy because that's cheating.
I mean
outside school that's called collaboration but, inside schools. This isn't
because teachers wanted this way it's just because it happens that way. It's
because it's in the gene pool of education. We have to think different about
human capacity.
We have to
get over this old conception of academic, non academic. Abstract, theoretical,
vocational and see it for what it is: a Myth. Second, we have to recognize most
great learning happens in groups.
That
collaboration is the stuff of growth. If we atomize people and separate them a
judge them separately, we form a kind of disjunction between them and their
natural learning environment.
And
thirdly, it's crucially about the culture of our institutions. The habits of
institutions and the habitats that they occupy.
