A little background reading on Split Infinitives for myself
Background reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive
Month: April 2005
MP3 Players in language learning
You might have heard that Duke university last year gave out iPod MP3 players to all new students one of the uses of this is
iPods Assist with Spanish Accents
This article is taken directly from Duke Universities site:
Duke University junior Keith Rand says he has always struggled learning languages. This semester, he is confronting that challenge by taking an introductory Spanish course that packs two semesters of Spanish into one. It is also a class that is pioneering the use of iPod digital-audio players for education.
“I was kind of skeptical about [the iPods] at first to tell you the truth,” Rand says. “You know: ‘They’re giving out these free iPods as a marketing scheme for Apple.’ But it’s actually been really useful.”
Rand’s progress in his first-ever Spanish class is documented in recordings he makes each week with his iPod for homework and tests. During his first week of class, Rand recorded a conversation with a classmate that is limited to the most basic Spanish phrases (listen to Rand’s Spanish after one week). After just two weeks of class, a recording of his first oral exams shows that his vocabulary is expanding
Students in a Duke University Spanish class use iPods to complete oral comprehension exercises at their own pace. Students use iPods to record their speech.
Visiting assistant professor Lisa Merschel is the course?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s instructor. She says, when she first found out iPods would be available for her class, she was limited in her imagination about the pedagogical uses of the devices.
?¢‚Ǩ?ìIn the first two days, I was thinking, ?¢‚ǨÀúWell I would play some songs for them,?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢?¢‚Ǩ¬ù she says. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìAnd then after that I became much more imaginative in my use of the iPod and have expanded quite a bit and am surprised about how many ways I can use it to students’ benefit.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
So far, Merschel has had the students use the iPods to: hear dramatic recordings of the novellas they read ; record responses during oral quizzes; play back her verbal comments on quizzes and homework; review the pronunciation of each week?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s vocabulary words, a use suggested by a student (listen to an example); and listen to audio exercises inside and outside of class. She also assigns weekly ?¢‚Ǩ?ìaudio diary entries,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù for which students record themselves speaking on a topic. And yes, she provides a handful of Spanish songs, like Gloria Estefan?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìAyer.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
Rand says the iPods are most helpful when he does oral comprehension exercises in class, for which he listens to short segments on the iPod and then fills in blanks on a worksheet.
?¢‚Ǩ?ìWe?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re able to keep up [at] our own pace,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù he says. Each student can focus on the sections most difficult to him by reviewing them on his iPod, Rand notes, without the entire class having to repeat those segments.
He also finds useful the recordings of vocabulary words — ?¢‚Ǩ?ìaudio flash cards?¢‚Ǩ¬ù — that Merschel records each week.
?¢‚Ǩ?ìI?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll come out of class and listen to vocabulary for a little bit,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù he says.
This list of Spanish vocabulary words was recorded by Professor Lisa Merschel to make “audio flash cards” that students can listen to on their iPods to review pronounciation.
Another student, Lissa Smith, who works full time on campus and audits the course, says she appreciates the convenience of being able to review pronunciation walking to school or driving.
?¢‚Ǩ?ìIt?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s especially nice for me because I often work and travel for my work,?¢‚Ǩ¬ù she says, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìand when there are places I can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t access a computer this is really great for me.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
Lauren Berkowitz, commutes to the class from UNC, where she is sophomore. She likes how the iPods increase the number of ways she applies her burgeoning Spanish skills. Her only regret: as a UNC student, she?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll have to turn in her iPod at the end of the semester.
Wireless Network Cards
On April 1st I purchased an ASUS WL-167G USB wirless network card for 60,000 won. In Australia it costs from $55 to 77 dollars!
Usually Korean prices are a little more expensive then Australia and much more expensive then Americia.
The product specifications mention USB 2, but I got it working on my USB 1.1 Windows XP laptop at work with no major problems.
Driver & Utilities Download Page
The ASUS WL-167g WLAN USB2.0 adapter Card driver for Win98SE/WinME/Win2K/WinXP
OS X Driver 2004/10/07 Version 1.0.5.0
Got this working on my iBook G3 900 Combo. I disabled the built in Airport Card and installed the driver. I then had to reboot.
When OS X loaded it ran an ugly utility called RaConfig2500 which detected the ASUS card and my local wireless network … but it did not work !
Went to System Preferences and the Network icon. It detected a new port – Ethernet Adaptor (en2) I enabled the port and BINGO, it worked!
As a test I set my Linksys Router to G Mode only and I got
475 KB/s incoming to windows,
467.5 KB/s upload from OS X
Now, that is not very impressive, but using Airport Express (B mode only) I got
624.9 KB/s incoming to windows,
623.1 KB/s upload from OS X
hmm … not good ! The G mode is actually slower! More work needs to be done to find out why.
But if you are looking for a wireless adapter for the Mac, particullary, any old Mac’s which can’t accept the new Airport cards, then this is a good deal.The price is cheap and it works!
I will test the card with Apples Airport Express later.
Haidong Gumdo Grading
Good news 🙂
I passed my Haidong Gumdo grading. My new formula for success ?
The Six P’s
Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance
After the class one of the Kwang-Jang-nims showed me how to improve the form.
Overall, a good day.