M.W. posted the following to a listserv: *Pat, I teach Spanish. *I want the grammar for communication. *I also would like to know how much (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
Reaction to Bill VanPatten thread 2
12/31/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentI finally read all 200 posts on the thread started by the SLA (Second Language Acquistion) researcher and author, Bill VanPatten (bvp). He asked fl (Continue Reading)
The Power of Language
12/21/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentJust think: George Bush 43 will probably become our most quoted president.
An addendum to the Who/Whom thread on flteach
12/10/2006 Pat Barrett Add Commenthere’s a couple of things to munch on if you believe the teaching of SE to students is simply a matter of setting out and (Continue Reading)
Bibliography on the Doctrine of Correctness
12/05/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe original work, as far as I know, on this topic is great for nostalgia buffs wanting a return to the fifies: Robert A. Hall, (Continue Reading)
Bibliography on History of English
12/05/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentA general treatment of English, incl its history, is the ubiquitous David >Crystal’s The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. > >An easy read but (Continue Reading)
Jean Aitchison’s quote
12/02/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe Grammar Mavens (Steven Pinker’s term) cite rules of English only to denigrate those who “break” them. The rules they refer to are not the (Continue Reading)
ACTFL conference 2006 Nashville
11/26/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis year at ACTFL did more to rally my spirits this last year of my tenure as a foreign language teacher than any except my (Continue Reading)
Laying the groundwork for learning
11/11/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentAs I was sorting my picture files out in the garage and thinking about how students will talk and write about the pictures after we (Continue Reading)
Me and the African Diaspora
11/04/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy wife and I bought a pig-in-a-poke, tickets to a performance at ASU, but it had to do with the influence of African dance on (Continue Reading)
Good program showing how to argue
10/30/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentWhile I cannot recommend it for everyone, those who want to follow intelligent arguments could do worse than to listen to npr’s Intelligence Squared on (Continue Reading)
An effective and long-lasting terror network
10/30/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentAt long last I have found a reference to the terror network I think of when our fearless leader talks about terrorists and religious extremists. (Continue Reading)
The sad decline of grammar :-) OR The Mo the Merrier
10/29/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentRecently on one of the language Lists a discussion brewed up over the use of “less? in places where the grammar mavens insist on “fewer’. (Continue Reading)
Self-censorship
09/25/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentRecently I posted to the blog some comments about what goes on in my school. I thought it was balanced, but someone kindly pointed out (Continue Reading)
NCLB a paranoid (properly so) view
09/24/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis morning on npr I heard several letters from teachers regarding NCLB and its effects on their classrooms. They described their efforts to combat those (Continue Reading)
Fun & Games
09/24/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentCatalogues for language teachers usually have a section on games, quite a bit smaller than the section on how to teach the….. IO pronouns, subjunctive, (Continue Reading)
“skills”
09/24/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentThe term “skill” is so often used in language learning we don’t seem to question it. But one person, I know for sure, did: Frank (Continue Reading)
Research in the Classroom
09/10/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentFrom time to time, I read posts where the writer/teacher assures me that he has observed certain phenomena and no amount of SLA research will (Continue Reading)
Covert Benefits & Advantages
09/10/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentCommon sense has its short-comings. The main short-coming is that common sense tends to be embedded in a culture. One of the great delights for (Continue Reading)
School marms
09/10/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentA recent post from a native speaker of Spanish appeared on one of the Lists. In it, she declared that the “v? and “b? of (Continue Reading)
What I do in the classroom – concrete examples
09/06/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentI’ve been asked to provide concrete examples of what I do in the classroom that has students using verbs in various persons and tenses (even (Continue Reading)
Brain Research
08/08/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentInteresting in-service today on brain research. Not that we all hadn’t heard most of it before. But it was well presented. I’ve just always been (Continue Reading)
Why it’s Tough To Be a Teacher
08/08/2006 Pat Barrett Add CommentSchool starts soon. I look forward to teaching; I do not look forward to school. Why is that? let’s start with the way I was (Continue Reading)