Especially when you read poetry, editors frequently have to explain usages as archaic, regional, dialectal, poetic, idiosyncratic, jargon or just plain odd. When I read (Continue Reading)
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
Response to MovieRead – New Idea
11/08/2016 Pat Barrett 3 CommentsI read Kyle’s response to Lance’s admonition. If Kyle is indeed giving students reading that is at i and not i+1, then there should be (Continue Reading)
Annotating our culture
07/30/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentAnnotated literature draws me. I love reading it, esp in another language, where notes accompany the text to explain references. There are those who insist (Continue Reading)
employee is to employer as volunteer is to voluntee
06/01/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentGrowing up I heard the word employer and employee. I took French and realized employee was the past participle of the Fr. verb employer, to (Continue Reading)
National Identity & National Consciousness
05/07/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy book on Greek diglossia just came and I’ve been reading it. Interestingly, Greek national identity came from religion rather than common descent or language, (Continue Reading)
Where to start with the Magnum Opus (cum magno opere)
05/07/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentNot being real bright, I posted the first segment of the Magnum Opus first, forgetting that in the string of segments, it would appear last. (Continue Reading)
Need for checklist
04/20/2016 Pat Barrett 1 CommentI know you directed this post to Terry, Lance, but your concerns are what prompted Brian Barabe to post routinely to the listserv the basics (Continue Reading)
Back to the good old gerundive
04/17/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentDavid Lightfoot in The Development of Language, on p. 213 uses the participle and the gerundive in an interesting way, unusual in this day of (Continue Reading)
Advanced tprs reading?
03/06/2016 Pat Barrett 2 CommentsTerry has written that at the advanced level, i.e. once basic structures have been acquired, internalized, then continued input builds vocabulary, collocations, etc. What I (Continue Reading)
A blog entry from the Diane Ravitch blog
02/23/2016 Pat Barrett Add CommentChris Tienkin, a professor at Seton Hall University, analyzed the data from the PISA international tests and concludes that they say more about American society (Continue Reading)
Please excuse the mess!
01/21/2016 Head Geek Add CommentUntil very recently, Pat’s Polemics was running on very old software. It was good when it started, but no one ever maintained it and finally (Continue Reading)
Autistic vocabulary
12/07/2014 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy almost ten-year-old grandson, with a birthday the 9th of Dec., was talking to his Mema, my wife, and she said to him, teasing, Well, (Continue Reading)
Do words from games transfer to conversation?
06/07/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentMy eight year old grandson gave me a running commentary of about 2 hours on a computer game called Mindcraft. What I noticed was the (Continue Reading)
Routine lessons on Feb. 19
02/19/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentIt’s hard to believe I only have a few more weeks to do this. Today is a good day to blog on b/c the activities (Continue Reading)
Latin class
01/24/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentLast week I broke the first book down (we are starting the third book) into 12 themes with accompanying words fitting the theme e.g. Metella (Continue Reading)
Unforeseen absences
01/15/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentToday I was prepared. I had a list of questions about our reading in Spanish and was able to ask them of the students. I’m (Continue Reading)
Forgot my stuff….
01/15/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentYesterday I arrived at school without the materials I had developed for Spanish, so I decided to make Monday my grammar day. I have a (Continue Reading)
(No Title)
01/08/2013 Pat Barrett Add CommentToday I dipped my toe into the grammar lessons I am required to give. The ostensible reason is to ready the students for second year (Continue Reading)
Integrating elements after laying the groundwork
10/23/2012 Pat Barrett Add CommentI haven’t blogged much in this category. I am integrating several activities in Spanish after laying the groundwork in the first 9 weeks. I’ll give (Continue Reading)
Daily lesson plans…….. Italian with my grandson
10/08/2012 Pat Barrett Add CommentI haven’t taught since last Thursday. But I’ve been working hard teaching my eldest grandson Italian. He decided he wanted to know Italian and has (Continue Reading)
(No Title)
09/25/2012 Pat Barrett Add CommentI am happy with where we are. I got my first syllabus written and am waiting for approval (an informal process). I wrote it for (Continue Reading)
(No Title)
09/25/2012 Pat Barrett Add CommentI am happy with where we are. I got my first syllabus written and am waiting for approval (an informal process). I wrote it for (Continue Reading)
Start of sixth week
09/17/2012 Pat Barrett Add CommentThis is starting week 6 of the school year. Last week got off to a rocky start b/c I missed Monday. Today I was supposed (Continue Reading)