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The Art of Teaching

The Art of Teaching

                                                           by Mortimer J. Adler, Ph.D.

Socrates gives us a basic insight into the nature of teaching when he compares the art of teaching to the ancient craft of the midwife. Just as the midwife assists the body to give birth to new life, so the teacher assists the mind to deliver itself of ideas, knowledge, and understanding. The essential notion here is that teaching is a humble, helping art. The teacher does not produce knowledge or stuff ideas into an empty, passive mind. It is the learner, not the teacher, who is the active producer of knowledge and ideas.

One basic aspect of teaching is not found in the other two cooperative arts that work with organic nature. Teaching always involves a relation between the mind of one person and the mind of another. The teacher is not merely a talking book, an animated phonograph record, broadcast to an unknown audience. He enters into a dialogue with his student. This dialogue goes far beyond mere "talk," for a good deal of what is taught is transmitted almost unconsciously in the personal interchange between teacher and student. We might get by with encyclopaedias, phonograph records, and TV broadcasts if it were not for this intangible element, which is present in every good teacher-student relation.

The student's response and growth is the only reward suitable for such a labor of love. Teaching, the highest of the ministerial or cooperative arts, is devoted to the good of others. It is an act of supreme generosity. St. Augustine calls it the greatest act of charity.

Interesting view of reading skills

Reading is an important part of learning English. This guide to how to improve your reading skills will help you improve reading by using skills you use in your own language. In other words, one of the best tips on improving reading is to think about how you read in your own language. Start by thinking about how you read different documents. How do you read the newspaper? How do you read novels? How do you read train schedules? and so on. Taking time to think about this will help give you clues on how to read in English - even if you don't understand every single word. Ask yourself this question: Do I read every word in your own language when I am reading a schedule, summary, or other outlining document?The answer is most definitely: No! Reading in English is like reading in your native language. This means that it is not always necessary to read and understand each and every word in English. Remember that reading skills in your native language and English are basically the same. Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language:Skimming - used to understand the "gist" or main idea. Scanning - used to find a particular piece of information. Extensive reading - used for pleasure and general understanding. Intensive reading - accurate reading for detailed understanding. You can use these reading skills in a number of ways to improve other areas of English learning such as pronunciation, grammar and increasing vocabulary.
From : Reading how to improve skill \About.com English as 2^nd language

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and the Oscar goes to.....(by Lauren Smith).

• By Lauren Smith

Ads by PlusHD.5Ad OptionsThe Oscars nominations for 2014 were announced.
Whilst favourites Gravity and American Hustle led the way with 10 nominations each (as expected after racking up Golden Globes last weekend), there were some surprise omissions from the nominations list.
Critically acclaimed film Inside Llewyn Davis didn't receive any major nominations, whilst Mary Poppins-themed flick Saving Mrs Banks fared similarly poorly. One of the biggest shocks was Tom Hanks being snubbed for his role in Captain Phillips - the film's director Paul Greengrass also missed out on the Director nomination. Also a surprise was Emma Thompson missing out on nom for Saving Mrs Banks. Aside from the snubs, there are also some surprises - Philomena has been nominated for four awards (including Best Picture). But what's unsurprising are the nine nominations 12 Years a Slave's racked up, including included best director and picture. American Hustle also got huge amounts of nominations, including all four acting categories for its stars Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It's Amy Adams' fifth nomination - but she'll have tough competition from Sandra Bullock for Gravity, Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine, Dame Judi Dench for Philomena and Meryl Streep for August: Osage County. This is Streep's 18th nomination - so no pressure, Amy! Most importantly, the Queen of last year's Oscars (J-Law, obvs) is up for Best Supporting Actress for American Hustle - so expect comedy capers if she wins.Scroll down for the full nominations list - and let us know what you think in the comments below. And the Oscar nominations are...BEST PICTURE:American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity Her Nebraska,  Philomena , 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street.
ACTOR in a Leading Role :Cristian Bale - American Hustle,Bruce Dern - Nebraska, Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street, Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave, Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club.
ACTRESS in a Leading Role:Amy Adams - American Hustle, Cate Blanchett -  BlueJasmine,Sandra Bullock - Gravity, Judi Dench - Philomena,Meryl Streep - August: Osage County,
ACTOR in A Supporting Role:Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips,Bradley Cooper - American Hustle,Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave,Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street,Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club.
ACTRESS in a Supporting Role:Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle.,Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave, Julia Roberts - August: Osage County, June Squibb - Nebraska.

Improving every day

HOW TO EVOLVE AND IMPROVE EVERY DAY

Among many others, the best investment is what we can do in our mind. The mental enrichment is the supreme and definitive heritage. Material goods can be stolen, but the investment that we make in our own mind no one can steal. If all our possessions  consist of material goods and we lose them,  in fact we remain without anything. However,  wisdom will always be our main patrimony, because despite  the circumstances it cannot  be taken from us and, through it, we can conquer everything else back. Knowledge is  the way which allows us to win back all over again.
Most of us, adults, certainly have been committed to be better as a person and having a healthy family life and a prosperous career. We take our work seriously always  researching our specialty, making improvements in order  to  achieve a reasonable degree of success. We could, however, have been much more successful,  since we had started  thinking like this when we were very young. If that had happened, we would have established goals,  planned  more.We would read more, research more  associated more with others, sought more information with experts, invested more in our development and, for sure , manage to deal much more efficiently with our money and our time.

Invictus - Great movies

Hi fellows. Recently I've seen this movie and I wd like pretty much to share the story with you.
With the fall of apartheid in South Africa Nelson Mandela tries to unite his countrymen and bring peace by bringing the Rugby World Cup to his country.In the film, with the same name, Mandela is Morgan Freeman (fantastic) directed by Clint Eastwood who wanted to pay a tribute to Mandela. Its an inspiring true story where Mandela shares this poem, Invictus with us,after telling us it had been inspiring to him during his time in prison, helping him to stand when all he wanted to do was to lie down. I do recommend this film.
Because I found it very inspiring indeed I brought this brilliant poem written by W.E.Henley, to you too. Enjoy. Cleo
Invictus by William Ernest Henley Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley