Alex @ January 6, 2008 | | Education, Language | Comments (1)
I’ve been meaning to make a new blog for the new year and here it is. A product of an hour of nothing to do the past holidays, I’m launching Exploring English, a blog for learning the English language and literature for Filipino learners especially for college students.
The blog focuses on reading, writing, and business English - topics that I have taught previously. If time and resources permit, I might also be putting up a podcast to address speech.
I’ve already posted a few of my lecture notes from my teaching stint already and I’d like to expand the content in the coming months.
Anyway, the blog’s up and running so please drop by.
Thanks to Kyam for the snazzy theme.
Tags: Education, Language, Teaching
Alex @ September 4, 2007 | | Language, Politics and Society | Comments (1)
Author’s Note: I have to admit that the ideas I posted with my take on the blogging principalia is very rough and unpolished. Therefore, it might be problematic to give reactions to my messy mindmap. I caution bloggers who would want to explore the idea to not take every concept I throw in as parts of my final position on the matter. This is an exploration and a work in progress. Though I appreciate those who do take time to read and react.
There can be several ways on how you view the blogging principalia. One is to attribute blogging as an activity of the society’s elite. Another is to view influential bloggers as members of an elite group. And I believe that what the Pinoy blogosphere is more concerned with is the second view - that within the realm of Pinoy blogging, an elite group exists.
However, I tend to view things on three varying levels (using the CDA framework of Norman Fairclough): 1) the text, 2) the discourse practice, and 3) the socio-cultural context. With blogging, this particular framework may need to be adjusted to effectively interpret how all of these things interact with each other. I now consider the blog/s as text, blogging as the discourse practice (as a process of text production and consumption) and the Pinoy blogosphere as a possible socio-cultural context on one level and then a larger socio-cultural context that is the Philippine society. Thus, this concept of blogging principalia may necessitate a combination of the two views I mentioned above.
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Tags: Blogging, Blogging-Principalia, Critical-Discourse-Analysis, Language, News, Politics and Society
Alex @ August 3, 2007 | | Education, Internet and Web, Language | Comments (4)
A few months ago, I wrote my views on the use of blogs as a tool for enhancing Filipino student’s competence in English. That was before I started teaching in UP Diliman. Time flies and now, midterms are just around the corner. I guess it’s time to share a few more insights to what I’ve posted before.
I’ve tried factoring in blogging as a requirement particularly in my Basic College English classes. I generally required them to keep journals and their journals will be part of their final grades. Since I was striving for a paperless classroom, I allowed them to just submit their blogs’ URLs for me to check. Out of an average of thirty students in class, only eight (per class) opted to take the online route.
In addition, as an extension service to my students, I opened the forums on this site to serve as a discussion group. As of this writing, it has 579 Posts in 89 Topics by 62 Members. A decent number given that my students are all busy with their other academics too.
In any case, here are some of my experiences so far.
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Tags: Education, Internet and Web, Language
Alex @ July 23, 2007 | | Education, Language | Comments (0)
Correct me if I’m wrong but is there any academic institution offering computational linguistics here in the Philippines?
According to one of my professors, our department’s language studies group is one of the most advanced (if not the most advanced) in the field. However, no one can claim to be an expert on specifically computational linguistics (though we have a few who are really into descriptive linguistics). I haven’t heard of anyone who teaches is locally. So I was pretty much resolved in looking to scholarship opportunities to be able to study it. Haha. Fat chance I’d end up in MIT.
I’ve been wanting to explore the field ever since I found out about it. Hey, it’s a way to merge my interest in computer science and my training in language studies. Our program is pretty much linguistics focusing on the English language and its varieties.
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Tags: Computational-Linguistics-in-the-Philippines, Education, Language, UP
Alex @ June 9, 2007 | | Education, Language | Comments (2)
I never wanted to be a Grammar Nazi but I am now compelled to give up my long allegiance to the flag of grammar democracy (save perhaps for my animosity to text language) and take up grammar fascism.
If you’ve been reading this blog for some time now, you know that I’ve been lousy at copy editing my own works. I know, I know. Most would argue that good writing calls for it and blogging as a publishing platform demands it for the sake of a general audience. But for a busy bug like me, who blogs for therapy and has a lot in his mind the past few months, time to edit or even do a once-over wasn’t even a luxury. It was the that elusive fountain of youth. But I guess there’d be no excuse for it now.
Now that I’ll be teaching kids the rudiments of academic writing and good grammar, it’s a must that I be extra careful with what I type, write or say. While nobody can be perfect, at least I must adhere to the standard. Trabaho lang walang personalan.
But I’m just too lazy right now. I’m just too tired from the past week. If I let a smudge of “Grammar Jew”-ness (Tell me, what do you call the victims of Grammar Nazis?) in this one, pardon me. Or better yet, send me to your Grammar Auschwitz.
Tags: Education, Language, Rant
