Gary Larson: Tarzan meets Jane

aw blah es span yol

LEARNING TO LEARN

There is a way to illustrate the difference between linguistic knowledge and the way of social language in use. 

Today we can use the Korean proverb:

 이미지 만 단어

  가치가있다.

  An image is worth  

  ten thousand words.

Let's just agree to disagree

Who doesn't  know Gary Larson's cartoon (here)

 from his Far Side series. 

They are quite good to teach some language aspects:

 FUNCTIONS:

   agree to disagree

My all-time fav is the one related 

to the moments

before he utters the famous words:

  "Me, Tarzan. You Jane!"

I am not alone as Patrick Ghost wrote:

"The Far Side" was one of my favorite comics, even if I didn't understand half of them. One of my favorites is where Tarzan is shown swinging through the jungle, thinking about how he'll introduce himself to Jane.

Before we continue, 

how many times can we sound like Larson's Tarzan? 

For the next couple of minutes, can we be with Tarzan as he is about to meet Jane for the first time:

Imagine him swinging along on the lianas 

over to Jane's perch in a tree; 

ACTIVITY 1.  PREDICTION (modals)

   Can you guess which might possibly his thoughts be?

       Write four of his thoughts down: 

• ............................... 
• ...............................
• .................................
• ................................. 

And now, watch the real cartoon:

Actually his thoughts were, let us revise the wording: 

"Okay, "How do you do. My name is Tarzan and I believe you are known as Jane."
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. And you?

....You must be Jane...I am Tarzan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He finally lands on the large branch that Jane is standing on fixing her hair.
"There she is!"

And the dreadful utterance: 

"ME TARZAN! YOU JANE!"
"Ooops", he thinks, "Damn..."

ACTIVITY 2. 
TO THE LEARNER:
2.1.How does register affect the reception of the cartoon? 
2.2. How much do you identify with him as a language learner?

1. He's thinking of all these intelligent, polite ways to greet her,
2.  and when he finds her, all he belts out is "Me Tarzan! You Jane!" 
3. He then covers his face in embarrassment and ponders, "Damn."

Sometimes our rehearsals to be positive gets screwed by our 'brain speak', no matter what.

Giving opinions on Education

    First day!

NUMBER OF YOUNGSTERS AT UNIVERSITY

SPEAKING ENGLISH challenge  2028

 

task -Read and debate on its content 

Univ. competence in English ... 2024?

A    Apparently, the government wants to

increase the number of English Speakers before 

going to university. What do you think

about that?

 

B    Personally, I consider it  a good idea. All university entrance exam for one subject should have to be done in English! If it were up to me, better in 2022!

 A    Maybe, but it seems to me we need more people with Spoken English skills, not more only academic English anymore. And why haven't we got those people? It's the government's fault.

 

B   You think the government is to blame for everything. But don't you reckon

it's a good idea, in principle, for more

oral English for everybody as in Denmark 

to have a better education?

A   Yes, University education with English is an incredibly

important issue, but the point is, what

do we have to change to get finally the current generation speaking English? Any ideas?

 

B    To start with the obvious,...  

A   I'd rather suspect that...,

 

Text adapted  from Oxford Word Skills -2011 (unit 63)

Revisiting   three  language functions:

Stating  Preferences:

As far as I'm concerned...,      Without a doubt, I'd prefer...,

The way I honestly see it...,     If it were up to me..., 

I'd rather suspect that...,         I'm pretty much sure that..., 

It is fairly certain that...,    I'm utterly convinced that..., 

 

Disagreeing:

• Don't you think it would be a bit better..., 

• I wouldn't disagree more,
• I'd pretty much prefer..., 

• Shouldn't we also consider...,
• I'm afraid I don't agree..., 

• Frankly, I much doubt if..., 
• Let's face it, the truth of the matter is...,
•  The issue with your point of view is that...

Giving Reasons and offering explanations: 

  To start with the obvious,...     We might frame it with....

                        That's the plain reason why..., Many other folks would pose ..., 

                    Considering..., Allowing for the fact that..., 

                   When you may well consider that....    That's mainly why..., 

My three favourite pics

  

CODA;   orientate---> go E

   SK  -new schools

oral - - consumerism is our golden calf

 

OUR college magazine wants

 to run an issue on the hot topic: 

Today's golden calf: consumerism as religion

        Singles Day '20 : Alibaba sales blitz set             for record haul as Chinese shake off Covid-19

 

ORAL TASK 2.   You three have to make a proposal to the committee

 what picture does better describe the sheer magnitude 

of the whopping records in that shopping day?

image 1

 

image 2

Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts.

 

 

there  is only ONE absolute truth: truth is always relative.

 

SOURCES: Reading passages__- old info from 2019

Chinese Singles' Day Blows Away Thanksgiving Weekend 

https://www.statista.com/chart/11810/singles-day-vs-cyber-monday-and-black-friday/?fbclid=IwAR0miz6tmNbxAuGPOi9ymG3_gAhO1a7VYZFmUFzoh79fFMQNZdRav5Kk_AQ

The Scale of Alibaba's Singles' Day Haul

https://www.statista.com/chart/19931/alibabas-singles-day-gmv-in-perspective/?fbclid=IwAR0jZVbtEyDy_ezmd3hbQOjwc-97yUr057d5x3nrEzeX4J1UhWWeatiYSyQ

 

 

 

ORAL --- Frontiers ‘R US -The VR of debates

OUR  C1 ORAL tasks in pairs

the aim of real conversation/communication  

Oral task 2-   Debate  9 min  (in pairs/threesome )

                                 FRONTIERS  OF  SCIENCE

oral task 3 - Mediation.  -  8 min

 

     THE REAL VIRTUAL FUTURE is TWO STEPS AHEAD

                    ====           ====     =====        ====

ORAL   -2  DEBATE
-  8 min

       Frontiers of

  Unknown 

 Novelties 

How science is changing 
what we don't know.

     ====         ====   =====        ====

Oral_3 -   New town’s decisions    5min

   The real Virtual Future

          Science ‘R US     

• Your country wants to use one of the pictures in its awareness campaign to prepare citizens for a new life after Covid-23.

Bages is taking part in the bid with ateam of two average citizens: you and your partner. Discuss together and decide on the most appropriate one.

The Class System is KO for UK - time for debates

 

 

TASK 1.  Ready to debate:  

•   a)   So, education is better than wealth! ... LINK  
•   
•  b)  Should we have one global language?  .... link

 1.  History Boys - Mr Bennet masterpiece (2006) 

                           

PLOT:  The story concerns a group of eighteen-year-old working-class boys who have returned to high school for an extra semester in order to study for an entrance examination and interview for Oxford University.  Bennet's language clearly cuts differences in class and accent!

   

RICH DEBATE. 02  

The education conundrum at its heart poses a question with universal meaning: 

• Does the kind of education that gains students a place in a country's most prestigious universities come at a cost of never learning how to nurture the mind's garden for a fully realized life? - review link

Most American audience members would certainly have picked up that the play is set in England but not have been able to locate the play within a region of England. 

 

For example, most British accents would pronounce the first syllable of the word “tuna” as /tch/ - a sound that to an American ear sounds more like the word cheese.

  FILM- Trailer   (2 min) 

 https://youtu.be/PrYyS11bdZ8 

Boys learn their lesson

  (2 min) https://youtu.be/9irVk5Z-_Bw 

The serious teacher - link

 Three teachers:  Hector, Irwin and Mrs Lintott, the only female in the cast. 

                  Three quotes:

1/ Mrs Lintott:  

    

            "The chief enemy of culture in any school is the headmaster"

 2 /  Headmaster 

Shall I tell you what is wrong with Hector as a teacher? It isn't that he doesn't produce results. He does. But they are unpredictable and unquantifiable and in the current educational climate that is no use.

He may very well be doing his job, but there is no method I know of that       enables me to assess the job that he is doing. 

          There is inspiration, certainly, but how do I quantify that?   (page 70)  

3 /      Hector: 

                        May I make a silly suggestion?  Why can they not all just tell the truth? 

             Irwin: 

               'It's worth trying, provided, of course,

                         you can make it seem like you're telling the truth'

 

  2.   Kate Fox .    The Class System is Static in the UK

"Who controls the past controls the future: 

who controls the present controls the past"

-                       Orwell, 1984

 

Several statements from Kate Fox 

on the English class delegitimasion   (till 05:30)

      1.-   The history lessons we didn't learnt!

  Top politicians Before Boris Johnson (BoJo)

• Tony Blair  1990s
  John Major 1987-88
  Thatcher  1980s
  1959 Harold Macmillan 

01:17  Any fool could see that the class system is

very obviously still alive and kicking

so it was a bit of *a slam dunk pretty

       (*=  to win something very easily, or to do sth very successfully)

01:25 but at the time Tony Blair was confidently declaring the class war is over 

and John Prescott was telling us 'the middle class had won'

01:37 at least he said " we're all middle class now"

01:39 so I assume that means 'the middle class' had won.

 but ten years before that - roughly -

01:44 we had John Major promising us 

a classless society in about ten years and

01:52  there were debates when Tony Blair was talking

01:55 debates when John Major said it ten years before

 that we had Thatcher, telling us that

"Marks and Spencer had triumphed over  Marx and Engels" 

which I think was another way of saying

  'the class war is over, the middle class has won'

 you can rewind back as far as you like

 almost it's set in 1959 Harold Macmillan again very confidently 

02:21  declared that 'the class war is obsolete'...

  2.-   The class syst

02:48  education policy in an attempt to increase social mobility because

 that worked so well the last times we tried it

so, they give their visionary rose-tinted speeches

the class war is over etc. 

we have debates. Nothing changes.

  3.-   The class system 

I'm not arguing that the class system is dirty

I'm just saying that these are the kind of things

03:35 that have been said by politicians

not that they could or could have done better

or should have done better

I'm actually saying it possibly impossible for them to do better,

 4.- Dinner -lunch choices bit

about five, six people maybe 

             04:55 little tiny tiny glimmering of social mobility

         

Sociologist Kate Fox , as the third speaker in Parliament (of six) in the debate.

                    TASK 2. Listen 2 Wr  -8 min      video  11:42 min 

                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a23sbePXLP8

• ·         She's really in the lion's den with this topic. The condescending stares, taciturn reception and weak applause tell volumes about the prejudiced and self-important attitude of these post-pubescent upstarts, virtually all of whom were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. 

some of the comments here confirm the loathsome arrogance exuded by her well-off audience.

• .