Re: Educating Language Gifted Students Questions



izzy wrote:
>> How do you handle [language] students who are 'bored?'
>
> You may try assigning special projects that are not mission-impossible
> but can be intellectually stimulating.
>
> 1 - There is a pervasive tendency for the *same* semantically
> unrelated concepts to be collected into homonyms across languages.
> For example, Hebrew tsadi-lamed-lamed TZ'LiL means both a tone you
> can hear and (to dive) deep. In English, the word "sound" has the
> same meanings. Hebrew MiSHPaT means a grammatical sentence and the
> verdict of a court. The English word "sentence" has the same
> meanings. Have the student find similar examples that occur in his
> native language and the language(s) he is studying.
>
> 2 - Have the student find foreign phrases that became idioms in
> English or in his native language. In English, there are two major
> classes of idioms:
>
> Type 1 - the transliteration of a foreign word/phrase into common
> words like cats, dogs, sacks, bags.
>
> Type 1a - the source phrase is "plain text", not figurative. Example:
> German Acht(ung) Grund => an axe to grind. Pay attention/beware +
> basis/reason/grounds. Beweggrund means motive. Said if someone has an
> ulterior motive.
>
> Type 1b - the source phrase is a metaphor. I think "kick the bucket"
> is the transliteration of Semitic 3aGaV B'3a:DeN (make love in
> Paradise), where 3 represents the letter aiyin with its ancient
> G/K-sound, as in 3aZa = Gaza.
>
> Type 2 - the translation of a foreign idiom where transliteration
> occurred into that foreign language.
>
> Type 2a - the foreign idiom is a transliteration of (pun on) a phrase
> in the *same* foreign language. Example: In biblical Job 19:20, B'3oR
> SHiNai (by the skin of my teeth) is a pun on the Hebrew B'QoSHi
> (barely, hardly, with difficulty).
>
> Type 2b - the foreign idiom is the transliteration of a phrase from
> another foreign language. Example: Count sheep (to go to sleep). Using
> @ for aleph, Hebrew S'PoR TSo@N (count sheep) is a pun on the Latin
> phrase sopor sond (sleep soundly / deeply). Note English soporific.
>
> 3 - If the student is interested in ancient languages, have the
> student look for body part maps. Swadesh lists can help one do this.
> To see examples of these maps, join the BPMaps discussion group and
> examine the databases at:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BPMaps/
>
> Now, some nostalgia:
>
> My Algebra teacher noticed that I was doing my homework instead of
> paying attention to her explanations to the class. She solved this
> problem by moving my desk to a corner of the room, placing an empty
> desk next to it, and telling the class that any student who wanted
> individual help could go sit next to me and get it.
>
> My Geometry teacher lost her teenage son in a tragic boating accident
> during the summer before I became her student. She emotionally adopted
> me. While other students were working on a class assignment, she would
> call me to her desk and talk about her son. Sometimes she would
> describe elegant geometric proofs that were not being taught to the
> class.
>
> My 11th grade English teacher gave me the task of grading English
> vocabulary tests and other tests that could be easily graded. I was
> allowed to "take" the same tests after grading those taken by the
> class. We both quickly realized that my taking the tests was just a
> waste of time, so I was given a virtual A on all of the tests that I
> graded.
>
> My Chemistry teacher was a very large woman named Dorothy T. We called
> her "Big Dot". For lunch, she would sometimes heat up spaghetti and
> meatballs in a beaker over a Bunsen burner. At the end of each
> semester, Big Dot would announce each student's grade in class. One
> semester in the Spring she got to my name and said "Cohen...B". The
> class went wild, shouting in unison, "Cohen got a B." Big Dot looked
> up and said "Irving knows as much chemistry as anyone in this room.
> I'm changing that to an A right now." In the silence that ensued, she
> began reading out the rest of the grades. It was Dorothy T who sent
> me to a 2-week Science Camp during the summer before my senior year.
>
> ciao,
> Israel "izzy" Cohen
> BPMaps moderator



--
John Briggs


.



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