Tag Archives: ebook

Poetic Justice: A restored book

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It was over 20 years ago that I got my teaching credentials from Laurentian University (now Nipissing University: Schulich School of Education where I have been teaching – freaky teaching courses you once took!).

A requirement of one course was to make our own book.  It was a wonderfully practical exercise and I brought the book to many of my subsequent teaching gigs, showed and motivated students with the same activity. Back then it was low/no tech and we stitched the bindings and all that. I made mine by sitting one evening with a pile of my bathroom magazines and cutting and pasting magazine text and images.  I was proud of the book and still am – it has a place in our livingroom showcase.

Finally spent some time digitizing it. It was a laborious task and I didn’t catch everything. But here it is – a relic of the past brushed off and remade.  If you are into storybook making, check out this post on the topic!

 

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EFL 2.0 gems: Karaoke dialogues

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I am very proud of this very underused resource- our karaoke dialogue page. You get a full ebook of all the blank dialogues + Karaoke or video files of the full dialogue or with parts missing where the student can reply with their own voice. It’s a stellar activity and try it below or go directly to the Karaoke Dialogue page. This post , “The Blank Dialogue Refreshed” explains how I developed this approach.

The “gems” series will continue all month. Here are the previous posts.

The Idiot’s Dictionary – early release

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aI mentioned this book previously. Now, releasing it early – I’ll have a hard cover, POD (Print On Demand), for purchase version shortly.

Download The Idiot’s Dictionary.doc

I’ll only say thank you to my niece Gabriella, who painstakingly went over the copy and edited everything. Thank you! Here, I’ve reprinted the short forward (the print book will contain a much longer and well researched essay on the topic of “the dictionary”).

Enjoy and comments, your fav. definitions, welcomed!

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About this book

This book was written over 20 years ago, over a few days. A result of my own “Foerster’s Syndrome”, a kind of lexical illness which I suffer gladly. Both an incessant need to pun and an uncontrollable reflex of seeing meaning within words. A kind of inability to see the forest (word) for the trees (the sounds / meanings).

But I’ve lived with it and learned to control it. Still, ever so often, this Jabberwooky, this moloch and primordial beast attacks and I’m back in the land of the idiot’s dictionary ……

I’ve written a lot about the power of words over the years. See my previous book – “The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Teacher” for those. I’ve studied and been influenced by all the creative writers / poets who’ve pushed the frame of reference in which language lives. Valery, Mallarme, Stein, Breton, Borges, Gass, Calvino, e.e. cummings to name just a very, very few. The Gagaism manifesto, born of the same time as the dictionary (at the end of this book) – stands as my own theory of language in the world.

I also must emphasize my own use of the word “dictionary”. This book is my belief that “We, the people” should have control of the language – not the Websters and Murdochs of the world. A dictionary is not a definitive source but rather, an interpretation. This book, my small attempt to put a dent in the prescriptive armor we wear as we walk the world, in the flesh born of “the word”.

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I’ll end with this wonderful passionate appeal of McKean for a new kind of dictionary, a new participatory and living dictionary of meaning and metaphor.

#1 ebook in ELT (for my readers)

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juiceJust a reminder to those who haven’t taken a look yet – my “Number 1 in ELT” ebook is a free download (click the little icon). Full of the best and not the rest – a synthesis of my experience both regarding technology and also plain old fashioned teaching.

Just click on any photo/link to go to the resources. Plenty for everyone. I’m working on a slick update of the rest of these “number 1s”. Get them all HERE.

The Number 1 in ELT

We keep what we give

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I’m a confirmed, addicted, “sharer”. Been that way for years and I’m sure its caused it share of incredulity. Many people just don’t operate on and of the same mental construct – believing as I do that knowledge is not something created nor owned. It is air and for all. But that is okay – the world is beautiful because it is made of so many who are different. There is room for all of us.

I’m a confirmed believer in  “We keep what we give”, education as a vocation. Meaning, that I get so much from what I do – that I’m in no need of any returns other than to be “in the mix” and sharing.

I recently got a flurry of wonderful emails from complete strangers. Coupled with the spring warmth, it makes me feel so grateful to be able to do what I do and connect with so many from around the world. That in sharing, I keep much more than I give. I’d like to share one of the emails, from a woman in Egypt writing about an ebook I shared and specifically one entry – My Egyptian Moment.

I want to share this with you because I want to do what I do – share with you the energy of this email and how it sparkles with the new force of connection we experience when we share, never knowing who might chance upon, use, be touched by, find meaning in – what we give. And in some miraculous way, us keeping so much from this process….

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Hi David,

At last it’s you !! As a new member of this EFL Classroom 2.0 group, I didn’t know who is the admin of this great site !!! Until I got a message from this group sent to my e-mail, with links to April newsletter , a book about flashcards and a special book called (The unbearable lightness of being a teacher) !!

As an Egyptian EFL teacher, I would like to thank u soo much for this good book, and esp for the part called (My own Egyptian moment). WOW!! It’s very special, inspiring and motivating!!

I’ve shared the book and esp. this part with my colleagues. we all appreciate it !! We are really proud of our PEACEFUL revolution !! It’s very important and nice to see it in the eyes of other friends from other places in the world specially when it comes from a great teaching expert like you !!! As we have been thinking about our mission as teachers and how to teach our students the great lessons of freedom in these days which are full of unprecedented events!!! But, you did it in a universal way. Though it’s an Egyptian moment, but ur message from it is actually universal !!!

We really hope we can keep this great victory and let it spread in all aspects of our life !!!

I have even talked about ur book and this part of it in a radio program this morning and thanked you on air!!! They have even asked me to share the book on the program’s FB page ??? They even asked when will the cover copy of the book be available ??!!! Do you mind if i shared it with them on FB??!! What if any of my colleagues wanted to share comments or thoughts with u?? (I even wish we can talk with u one day!!)

By the way, i don’t agree with what u said about being selfish writing about ur own personal experience !!! It’s very important to share even the simplest moment as u say (Live simply, simply live) and specially when it comes from someone like you !!

Sorry for this long message , but as u can see we r still affected by the spirit of freedom and enthusiasm !!!! :)
Waitin for ur reply !!

(name) (EGYPT)

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PS. Here is the ebook referred to. Download and share. Also, just got this email – which sort of relates to this post.
“Using Flashcards and Teaching English” is being tweeted more than anything else on SlideShare right now. So we’ve put it on the homepage of SlideShare.net (in the “Hot on Twitter” section).

Well done!

- SlideShare Team

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The unbearable lightness of being a teacher

Making a book of your blog

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wordleI recently took the #1 series of posts here and made it into an ebook! (see it below).

What’s great about this, is how sharable/portable it is. Everything is clickable and fully hyperlinked. Put it on a memory stick or with a click, send it around the netiverse. Further, I was through this process, able to clean up the posts, make them more attractive and accessible and finally, use this as a means of asking for a donation to support our community of teachers – EFL Classroom 2.0 (the costs in time and money are mounting considerably but get it free by registering and supporting our video job site – TEFList [just register and turn your profile off until looking for a job]).

So let me related what I went through to make my blog into a book – my own experience and tips.

1.  I made each blog post into its own html page. I took the code from each post and put it into EFL Classroom’s free htlm editor (open source and amazing!).

2.  I formatted the page using the visual editor. Some photos needed to be reuploaded / resized. Text needed to be resized and formatted. Also, during this step, I reread all posts and edited once again. Usually cutting out all irrelevant text or any writing that was about other people or referring to something in a particular context that was no longer relevant.

3.  Save the html page and create your hyperlinked pdf document. I used PDF Online’s beta converter. I literally spent 8 hours searching and testing many, to be able to find this perfect beast (you’ll need to make an account).  I uploaded the pages from my computer and then downloaded them as a pdf, each time checking and changing/redoing – mostly to get the right page length.

4. Make a title page, table of contents and other pages. I made these in microsoft word. Just do so and then convert to pdf. Easy to do but you’ll need a plug in (here’s what I downloaded and installed). Go to print and then select Abobe Printer from the drop down list (not your normal printer). Also, hit properties to set other variables in detail. Check the conversions and if any problems, edit the word document and reconvert until you get what you want.

5. Assemble the book. Very easy to merge multiple PDF pages. Go through the steps here.

6. Post to various social media libraries like Scribd, Docstoc, Slideshare, Authorstream etc….

I choose to “sell” the book. There are many options for this. I used the very simple – Upload And Sell Just upload and set the price and get the link! Those who pay, will get a 24 hour timeset download link after payment.  You might also take your pdf and make a hardcover book on Lulu! See how I did this in this blog post - Zen and the Act of Publishing a Book.

There are many services which will make your blog into a book – however, the product you get won’t be that professional and it will also be “flat”, meaning, the links will be dead. That’s fine if you have a blog that doesn’t refer to other documents/resources. It will in most cases, cost $$$$$. Blurb, BookSmart, FastPencil, SharedBook and Blog2Print are some of the notables you should visit if interested.

Here’s a sample of the final product below. If you’d like to support EFL Classroom 2.0 – please purchase the whole enchillada HERE with a small $5 donation. Every penny will help us (it costs me about $1,100 / year to run EFL Classroom, not counting the hours and hours of time).

If you liked this post – you might like this one, “Making a Hard Copy of your Blog”

Lessons in a Can ebook

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Lessons in a Can – the directory and catalogue of 100s of lessons, all with resources, is finally updated!

I’ve worked hard and please find it in a handy pdf to carry about or in this nice ebook. Let others know about the wonderful resources we’ve collected here to help teachers.

I’m now busy on the next 100!

Lessons in a Can complete.pdf

The #1 …… (story for predicting)

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Number One** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.

The Eyebrow Story by Peter Reynold’s

This story highlights the power of prediction for engaging students in a story and prompting them to produce language. Simply get a student as a reader (with a microphone if possible). Read together and stop at certain points. Ask students in groups of pairs to state in English, what will happen next…. Then continue reading and check. They’ll fall in love with Sean!

Predicting is a great way to “teach” a story! Peter Reynold’s has many more amazing stories. See hundreds more TOP ebooks on our Story page.