The Zen Wisdom of Alan Watts Animated by Creators of South Park.

Alan Watts began popularizing the teachings of Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism in America during the 1950s. He taught at the Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, wrote Way of Zen and other bestselling books, gave talks on the radio (listen here), and developed TV programs introducing Americans to the seemingly exotic practice of meditation. Don’t miss his 1960 TV program called “The Silent Mind.”
Watts died almost 40 years ago, but his legacy remains alive, partly thanks to his son, partly thanks to vintage videos captured on YouTube, and partly thanks to people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone — that’s right, the creators of South.
Go on reading here , watch the video and the second one here

10 Great Strategies For Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary is a crucial componente of the linguistic competence.  Below is a great graphic that sheds more light on these strategies. Have a look and click here

The Poetry of Abraham Lincoln

ABRAHAM LINCOLN WROTE POETRY

It should surprise few to learn that Abraham Lincoln wrote poetry. But this fact about his life is dwarfed by those events that defined his political legacy, and this is also no surprise. Nevertheless, in the midst of the current Lincoln revival, the man and the statesman, I think it’s fitting to attend to Abraham Lincoln the poet. Certainly scholars have read his poetry in relation to his skillful prose and oratory. But, on its own, this writing gives us insight into the sensitivity of Lincoln’s less public modes of expression. READ MORE HERE

The No.1 App for Every Teacher

The first version of Explain Everything was good. The second version is outstanding.
Watch this video

and read here to know more. There is another video.

Ask A Question Day March 13

ESL Holiday Lessons.comEnglish Lesson Plan on Ask A Question Day

DOWNLOADS: Word Doc | PDF | MP3 Listening | Online Exercise

Listen first, fill in the gaps,  answer the questions and read the tapescript.

LISTENING GAP FILL

International Ask A Question Day is on March 13. Its goal is to improve our knowledge ___________________ more and better questions. The Inquiry Institute tells us that “A question not asked is a door not opened.” The best question askers know how to open many doors, ___________________! The QuestionDay.com website encourages us to become an “outstanding question asker”. It tells us how we can build ___________________” to make us more successful in life by asking the right questions. ___________________ is to ask questions and fully using the power of questions. It is one of the first things infants do when they learn to talk. Small children ___________________ asking very difficult questions – just ask any parent!

The Inquiry Institute has a list of the top twelve questions that will ___________________. These include asking yourself exactly what it is you want, and then making sure your question answers this. Another good question is “How ___________________ about this?” Such a question can make you look at a situation ___________________ and give you new and better ideas and questions. There is also a question that gets you to look at a situation from ___________________ others: “What is the other person thinking, feeling, and wanting?” This may give you successful questions in a business deal. A follow-up question could be “How can I turn ___________________ situation?” The final question on their list is: “What is possible?” This is a great question to ask. Ask it today.

What School Systems Can Learn From PISA

PISA (Program of International Student Assessment)

How can we measure what makes a school system work? 

Andreas Schleicher walks us through the PISA test, a global measurement that ranks countries against one another -- then uses that same data to help schools improve. Watch to find out where your country stacks up, and learn the single factor that makes some systems outperform others.

What makes a great school system? To find out, Andreas Schleicher administers a test to compare student performance around the world. Full bio »


Chance to read the audioscript here

International Women´s Day 2013

graphics18.com | Women's Day 8 march | Forward this Picture

International Women's Day is celebrated each year on March eighth.  

Groups around the world use this day to honor the progress of women. They also use the day to call attention to the social, political and economic problems facing women and girls. Among the issues are forced marriage, sexual abuse, poverty and a lack of education.

Listen here

Reading FCE: Social Networks

Cambridge First (FCE) Reading Part 1

Social networks

Business applications
Social networks connect people at low cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact base. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world.
Medical applications
Social networks are beginning to be adopted by healthcare professionals as a means to manage institutional knowledge, disseminate peer to peer knowledge and to highlight individual physicians and institutions. The advantage of using a dedicated medical social networking site is that all the members are screened against the state licensing board list of practitioners. The role of social networks is especially of interest to pharmaceutical companies who spend approximately "32 percent of their marketing dollars" attempting to influence the opinion leaders of social networks.
Languages, nationalities and academia
Various social networking sites have sprung up catering to different languages and countries. The popular site Facebook has been cloned for various countries and languages and some specializing in connecting students and faculty.
Social networks for social good
Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for social good. Such models may be highly successful for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested and passionate users. Users benefit by interacting with a like-minded community and finding a channel for their energy and giving.
Business model
Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers' minds. Companies such as MySpace and Facebook sell online advertising on their site. Hence, they are seeking large memberships, and charging for membership would be counter productive. Some believe that the deeper information that the sites have on each user will allow much better targeted advertising than any other site can currently provide. Sites are also seeking other ways to make money, such as by creating an online marketplace or by selling professional information and social connections to businesses.
Privacy issues
On large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services need to be aware of data theft or viruses. However, large services, such as MySpace, often work with law enforcement to try to prevent such incidents. In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken.
Investigations
Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, has been used by police, probation, and university officials to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court.
Read and answer the questions by clicking here