"The perfect balance between fun and learning!"
Sandra Dodd
"The perfect balance between fun and learning!"
Holy crap.
I do love National Geographic, and when I was teaching I used to get
two copies of National Geographic World, cut them up and put them all
up whole, like one giant poster, on a big bulletin board in my
classroom, and the kids would actually, truly, stand there and read
them, for fun. And I was teaching English.
And I like that they have a younger-kids magazine now.
But holy crap, what a TERRIBLE, horrible advertising line: "The
perfect balance between fun and learning!"
If there's a balance, how easy it must be for it to tip over into JUST
learning, and not fun. Or JUST fun, with all the learning on the
other side.
http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!rFEDGdRWSh4FBgIAAAAGCgFICgg3NDMzMjU5OAoKMzAyNDQ3NzM1OQkAR1qICgk1NTU0OTEwMzUKC0tEU18wOTIyMTB0
Maybe it would be a really cool thing to have, if I had little kids
still, but it's no youtube; it's not national-geographic online or on
an iPad.
When I was a kid, though, I would have loved to have had something
like that--designed to be entertaining and full of color photos.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Holy crap.
I do love National Geographic, and when I was teaching I used to get
two copies of National Geographic World, cut them up and put them all
up whole, like one giant poster, on a big bulletin board in my
classroom, and the kids would actually, truly, stand there and read
them, for fun. And I was teaching English.
And I like that they have a younger-kids magazine now.
But holy crap, what a TERRIBLE, horrible advertising line: "The
perfect balance between fun and learning!"
If there's a balance, how easy it must be for it to tip over into JUST
learning, and not fun. Or JUST fun, with all the learning on the
other side.
http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!rFEDGdRWSh4FBgIAAAAGCgFICgg3NDMzMjU5OAoKMzAyNDQ3NzM1OQkAR1qICgk1NTU0OTEwMzUKC0tEU18wOTIyMTB0
Maybe it would be a really cool thing to have, if I had little kids
still, but it's no youtube; it's not national-geographic online or on
an iPad.
When I was a kid, though, I would have loved to have had something
like that--designed to be entertaining and full of color photos.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
dola dasgupta-banerji
Yeh, why cannot it be learning is fun, or fun is all about learning.
The whole world works like that. I used to be a teacher too and taught
German language, with great difficulty to kids who were allowed to take the
option of a foreign language only if they had a score a 80% or above. How
does that have anything to do with language skills beats me till today. I
taught without any audio-visual aid to several classes of 40 kids, the only
audio being my own voice without a mike and the only visual being the black
board and what I wrote on it with a piece of chalk. My repeated pleas for
audio-visual aid falling on deaf years of the school management.
And all the 80% and above could not help them learn German, because it was
not fun learning a language that way. Then after I had quit, some of the
same kids came home for help and they learnt to speak German and went to
Germany on scholarship from Goethe Institut. Some are doing advanced
courses in Goethe Institut Delhi.
This school advertised (yes private schools advertise in India) "Blending
tradition with modernity". It is one of the more well known chain of private
schools India. They have now opened colleges too. I am glad to say I no
longer have anything to do with schools.
Then you have "not a school, but a home away from home". and here is
another one "You give birth but we nurture them". Holy crap alright....
Dola
The whole world works like that. I used to be a teacher too and taught
German language, with great difficulty to kids who were allowed to take the
option of a foreign language only if they had a score a 80% or above. How
does that have anything to do with language skills beats me till today. I
taught without any audio-visual aid to several classes of 40 kids, the only
audio being my own voice without a mike and the only visual being the black
board and what I wrote on it with a piece of chalk. My repeated pleas for
audio-visual aid falling on deaf years of the school management.
And all the 80% and above could not help them learn German, because it was
not fun learning a language that way. Then after I had quit, some of the
same kids came home for help and they learnt to speak German and went to
Germany on scholarship from Goethe Institut. Some are doing advanced
courses in Goethe Institut Delhi.
This school advertised (yes private schools advertise in India) "Blending
tradition with modernity". It is one of the more well known chain of private
schools India. They have now opened colleges too. I am glad to say I no
longer have anything to do with schools.
Then you have "not a school, but a home away from home". and here is
another one "You give birth but we nurture them". Holy crap alright....
Dola
On Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> "The perfect balance between fun and learning!"
>
> Holy crap.
> I do love National Geographic, and when I was teaching I used to get
> two copies of National Geographic World, cut them up and put them all
> up whole, like one giant poster, on a big bulletin board in my
> classroom, and the kids would actually, truly, stand there and read
> them, for fun. And I was teaching English.
>
> And I like that they have a younger-kids magazine now.
>
> But holy crap, what a TERRIBLE, horrible advertising line: "The
> perfect balance between fun and learning!"
> If there's a balance, how easy it must be for it to tip over into JUST
> learning, and not fun. Or JUST fun, with all the learning on the
> other side.
>
> http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS
> !rFEDGdRWSh4FBgIAAAAGCgFICgg3NDMzMjU5OAoKMzAyNDQ3NzM1OQkAR1qICgk1NTU0OTEwMzUKC0tEU18wOTIyMTB0
>
> Maybe it would be a really cool thing to have, if I had little kids
> still, but it's no youtube; it's not national-geographic online or on
> an iPad.
> When I was a kid, though, I would have loved to have had something
> like that--designed to be entertaining and full of color photos.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-Then after I had quit, some of the
same kids came home for help and they learnt to speak-=-
Do you mean they went to your house and learned it one-on-one?
That's cool.
Sandra
same kids came home for help and they learnt to speak-=-
Do you mean they went to your house and learned it one-on-one?
That's cool.
Sandra
dola dasgupta-banerji
Yes, that is what I meant. For several years I did that. Because these were
kids who were eager to learn and the school environment was unable to
nurture this eagerness, both for me as a teacher and them as pupils.
Very satisfactory. I have stopped taking lessons since my son was born. he
is young and needs a lot of my time. But a I still get a lot of requests.
Maybe I will start someday.
Dola
kids who were eager to learn and the school environment was unable to
nurture this eagerness, both for me as a teacher and them as pupils.
Very satisfactory. I have stopped taking lessons since my son was born. he
is young and needs a lot of my time. But a I still get a lot of requests.
Maybe I will start someday.
Dola
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 1:09 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> -=-Then after I had quit, some of the
> same kids came home for help and they learnt to speak-=-
>
> Do you mean they went to your house and learned it one-on-one?
> That's cool.
>
> Sandra
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sarah
The primary school in the next town over has the tagline "linking learning to life"! Ouch!
> And I like that they have a younger-kids magazine now.
>
> But holy crap, what a TERRIBLE, horrible advertising line: "The
> perfect balance between fun and learning!"
> If there's a balance, how easy it must be for it to tip over into JUST
> learning, and not fun. Or JUST fun, with all the learning on the
> other side.
dola dasgupta-banerji
"linking learning to life"! Ouch!
Yeh, can you beat that. Isn't that an oxymoron. What else is life?????
We could write a book on these kinda one liners!!!!!
Then in my city in India, schools started using the International tag, then
they started using World School and now it is Global School.
Dola
Yeh, can you beat that. Isn't that an oxymoron. What else is life?????
We could write a book on these kinda one liners!!!!!
Then in my city in India, schools started using the International tag, then
they started using World School and now it is Global School.
Dola
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 6:28 PM, Sarah <yahoo@...> wrote:
>
>
> The primary school in the next town over has the tagline "linking learning
> to life"! Ouch!
>
>
> > And I like that they have a younger-kids magazine now.
> >
> > But holy crap, what a TERRIBLE, horrible advertising line: "The
> > perfect balance between fun and learning!"
> > If there's a balance, how easy it must be for it to tip over into JUST
> > learning, and not fun. Or JUST fun, with all the learning on the
> > other side.
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]