Author: gustavorernesto

Why Did I Teach My Son to Speak Russian?

I no longer remember when I started speaking to Raffi in Russian. I didn’t speak to him in Russian when he was in his mother’s womb, though I’ve since learned that this is when babies first start recognizing sound patterns. And I didn’t speak to him in Russian in the first few weeks of his life; it felt ridiculous to do so. All he could do was sleep and scream and breast-feed, and really the person I was talking to when I talked to him was his mother, Emily, who was sleep-deprived and on edge and needed company. She does not know Russian.

But then, at some point, when things stabilized a little, I started. I liked the feeling, when I carried him through the neighborhood or pushed him in his stroller, of having our own private language. And I liked the number of endearments that Russian gave me access to. Mushkin, mazkin, glazkin, moy horoshy, moy lyubimy, moy malen’ky mal’chik. It is a language surprisingly rich in endearments, given its history.

When we started reading books to Raffi, I included some Russian ones. A friend had handed down a beautiful book of Daniil Kharms poems for children; they were not nonsense verse, but they were pretty close, and Raffi enjoyed them. One was a song about a man who went into the forest with a club and a bag, and never returned. Kharms himself was arrested in Leningrad, in 1941, for expressing “seditious” sentiments, and died, of starvation, in a psychiatric hospital the following year; the great Soviet bard Alexander Galich would eventually call the song about the man in the forest “prophetic” and write his own song, embedding the forest lyrics into a story of the Gulag. Raffi really liked the Kharms song; when he got a little older, he would request it and then dance.

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on New Yorker.

After reading “Why Did I Teach My Son to Speak Russian?” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.

The Importance of Gaming in Education

The advent of technology has led to the creation of video games that suit the educational needs of students. These games have the best graphics, which are prettier and engaging when played by students. Technology has made people realize the significance of virtual work for personal development through online learning. The advancement of video games, through gamification, has significantly engaged students by putting education at the forefront.

The experts behind the establishment of video games know that people enjoy the social products that use gamification just like they are interested in movies, using social media sites, or reading books. Students can use games to explore the fantasy raiding castles and other virtual worlds. So, the gaming industry is such an extensive establishment which should be used for developing the world technologically. Apart from that, modern-day children enjoy playing video games since that’s their most paramount source of entertainment. Playing video games is used to enhance social interaction, teamwork, and imparting knowledge as well.

When students are allowed to play video games in groups, they usually tend to take turns following and leading once they are sure of the skills required to play the game. Children who like online games have been reported to be potential leaders since they’ve been practicing motivating and persuading others when they used to play video games in groups. Without further ado, here are the benefits of including gamification in education.

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on PowerUp Gaming.

After reading “The Importance of Gaming in Education” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.

Keita ‘I like eggs’ – Sadio Mane has revealed details of a mishap at Melwood which will surely leave Naby Keita with egg on his face.

I’d just like to preface this article by saying it’s incredible for anyone to learn a second language, and I applaud efforts made by people like Keita to settle into new environments.

The Senegalese superstar has explained how his team-mate’s English isn’t coming along as well as he thinks it is.

Mane has revealed that Keita informed a physio of his love for eggs when asked to try going for a run.

“Naby [Keita] doesn’t speak English very well,” Sadio told Canal+ (translation via LFCTransferRoom). “A week ago, Naby was having breakfast, the Physio came and said: ‘We’re going to try to go around the field.’

“And Naby replied: ‘Yeah I like eggs.’ I told Naby: ‘You tell me you understand English but you say: ‘I like my eggs.’”

Unreal. It’s like something from a comedy sketch, I can’t imagine the reaction from the players who overheard what Keita said. I bet the physio didn’t know where to put his face!

With that being said, it is a little concerning that the Guinean hasn’t picked up more English – he knew he was joining Liverpool a year before he arrived, and he’s now into his second season at Anfield.

As I said earlier – I respect anyone learning a new language, but three years is surely enough to know the basics to get by at work.

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Empire of the Kop.

After reading “Keita ‘I like eggs’”you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.

Multi-lingual learning website for ESL students

As parents try to navigate online learning with schools across Texas closed, North Texas school districts are trying to meet the needs of students who speak English as a second language.

Online learning has been an adjustment for students and teachers, but several local districts are taking an extra step to try and make sure they continue to connect with all of their student body, including ESL students.

Abigail Rufer teaches Algebra to ESL students at Thomas Jefferson High School now online by video conference.

“For those students, this type of challenge is a mountain where for others it might be a hill,” she said.

Rufer says part of the challenge is being flexible to each students’ different needs and circumstances during this time.

“If you can’t access the Zoom, ok I’ll record it for you so you can still watch the class. Or if you cannot complete the assignment at this time because you work until 10 at night, that’s ok for you to complete it after,” she said. “Or if you don’t have internet connection, here’s a picture of a paper assignment.”

The community at Thomas Jefferson High was already upended by the October tornado. They are now separated again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Fox4News.

After reading “Multi-lingual learning website for ESL students” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.

Some Rare Descendants of Ab-Ram Living

In the Nadowli District of the Upper West Region of Ghana, there exist the little known twin settlements of Saa-Sabalah located near the east bank of the Black Volta, some twenty or so kilometers from Nadowli, the District capital. Saa-Sabalah is home to my great-grand father Sampunor, grand-father Ahra, his jocular cousin Bara, of whom a poem in Dagara (aka Dagaar), the language of the area has been composed to his everlasting memory, and my father Bongle Ahra.

Here, was yours truly sent from Sefwi Kokokrom in today’s Western North Region of pre-independence Ghana where he was born, to live with his paternal uncle Bapuohyele in the year 1963 when at the tender age of ten.

Those were days when life among the people in the fifty or so households that formed the community of Saa-Sabalah at the time, was lovely and pure since everyone cared about the other and the environment itself exuded the purity of the Creator which was yet to be tainted with Caucasian lifestyle or with Canaanite Christianity today revealed to me as pure idolatry.

As I walked the five kilometers from home to school in Mwindarl daily, very much determined to learn English to the highest level I could, I had no iota of thought in my mind that English was a Canaanite language and that my own tribal language of Dagara, which is closer in nature to Ghabaray or paleo Hebrew than Canaanite English, would later in life give me a better understanding of my spiritual origin and identity than English could. In fact, it now seems to me that the English I learned was designed to forever conceal my very identity from me and all mankind too.

And so, when, toward my last days on Earth I started to learn Ghabaray, I came to the realization that anyone who ever spoke this language (Ghabaray) on Earth was a holy man who walked in righteousness in the sight of the Creator and that such men were all descendants of holy Ab-Ram.

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Modern Ghana.

After reading “Some Rare Descendants of Ab-Ram Living” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.

The Big Business of Translating Foreign Films

Even before “Parasite” won Best Picture, this was a very good time to be in the business of dubbing and subtitles. Hollywood is no longer a dominant international force, and as global markets grow, streaming is expanding the reach of foreign language films and TV series. In America, localization is no longer the sole domain of arthouse theaters; it belongs to streaming platforms that translate shows like “Money Heist,” with platforms like Netflix offering an English language dub for those who don’t want to read subtitles.

Chris Carey, chief revenue officer and managing director of Iyuno Media Group, sits at the center of the rapidly evolving localization business. Iyuno (formerly BTI Studios) is one of the biggest subtitling and dubbing companies, generating 44,000 hours of dubbing and 300,000 hours of subtitling in 2019 alone.

“Generally, our market is on the upswing, in terms of attention, dialogue, business potential, and growth,” said Carey. “Just the fact ‘Parasite’ was nominated and had gotten so much buzz increased the level of dialogue and discussion. There’s been momentum throughout the winter, we’ve seen it, and ‘Parasite’ was just one of a thousand data points of why.”

Learn more about this topic by reading this article on Indie Wire. 

After reading “The Big Business of Translating Foreign Films” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs.