But of the most profound significance nonetheless. Today I take a VERY local look.
A train heading for Wollongong via the original Helensburgh tunnel in 1914. The current deviation and new station are under construction on the left. That train could have been 1954 however, when I was living overlooking the line in Sutherland, though the “dogbox” carriages had become rarer by then. That engine though: I probably saw it! Photo from Lost Wollongong.
I happened upon a newsletter from a school in Sydney’s west and almost fell off my chair when I saw this – suitably adjusted for reasons of privacy.
Yes, that Head Teacher English is none other than The Rabbit! I knew he had taken to teaching like the proverbial duck to water, but HT already! It’s not unprecedented, but it is pretty bloody good I can tell you! So, he is no longer in The Gong. I just checked: he was contemplating his first posting in April 2006, so 2007 to now is about the size of it. Truly remarkable. Better than I was!
Meanwhile, if you check the August retro series (still ongoing) you may find a mention or two of him.
Looking at the 2006 blog I see this also in April: Looking for the “gay lobby”. It still holds up, that post, and has a fascinating if sad comment thread. Last night’s episode of Insight on gay marriage did show how the discussion has moved forward in many ways in the past seven years. It was in turns enlightening, frustrating and moving.
JENNY BROCKIE: Tell us why you decided to come on television tonight?
NAM: There’s a lot, it’s very difficult because there’s a lot of stigma, there’s a lot of homophobia, there’s a lot of – it’s not easy to be gay. It’s easier, sometimes it can be easier to just let things slide and try and blend into the background.
JENNY BROCKIE: Were you worried about your family and your extended family’s reaction to doing this tonight?
NAM: I was, apart from my nuclear family which is my parents, my brother, my extended family don’t really know that I’m gay.
JENNY BROCKIE: They probably do now.
NAM: Yes. The, there was a question of conscience for me. Because me being gay, that’s a burden I can bear, but in my cultural context, if I were to announce that I’m gay, then a lot of, there would be a lot of stigma and a lot of, I guess, bad faith or bad will and shame that will be put onto, I guess, my family name. And I worry about how that will affect my parents; I worry about how that will affect my brother. And if it was just me who had to bear the brunt of all that, then I can make those decisions for myself, but it affects more than just me, it affects my brother, it affects my parents and I worry about them.
JENNY BROCKIE: Do you feel that shame?
NAM: I do.
JENNY BROCKIE: Why?
NAM: Because you don’t want to disappoint your parents. You don’t, sorry…
JENNY BROCKIE: Are you okay?
NAM: Mm-mmm. When you grow up your parents do so much for you. My parents were first generation migrants, they had to work really, really hard to look after me and when we grow up we have a formula of okay, you grow up, you study hard, you go to university, if you can, you get a job, you get married, you have children and then the cycle continues. I don’t want to disappoint my parents and the immediate reaction or the immediate instinct of if you’re gay, then you’ve already disappointed them because already you can’t get married and potentially you can’t have children. And in my cultural context, that – there’s no other sort of alternative, or at least there isn’t any other talk about any alternative to that reality…
I happened on this while randomly surfing through BlogExplosion. It’s not a total waste of time, you know, as every now and again something of real interest comes along — a whole blog, or a particular post. I mentioned BlogExplosion in Around 500 Education blogs… last year; sadly, since then, the site has had its ups and downs, and this blog is no longer listed there, though two of my personal blogs are.
To the point though. A Twist In My Story: He Made A Difference comes from a 14-years-old named Ben in Malaysia. It’s about his new English teacher.
He at times can feel really low when entering my class because of the response we give him. I understand how it feels but sometimes I too get carried away talking and forget myself. Even though we give him all this crap, he continues teaching us with a whole new style which I find very creative and innovative. And I can proudly say that I have learn new things from him.
His lessons are never boring and doesn’t use the old textbook teaching style which intrigues me greatly. Always teaching with a bang and no two lessons are the same. He teaches us how to speak up, to be attentive, to be considerate, to write a Thesis statement, to respect and believes strongly that respect is earned not given. By not scolding us but teaching us, he wins hearts of students that which even money cannot buy. This is priceless.
Through the past month, I have changed my view on a number of things by his teachings. I have learned that to judge people based on first glance is wrong. Most people judge others in a matter of seconds and though first impressions matter, take time to know more about the person your judging. Even then, who are you to judge them.
I think this too is priceless. I really hope his teacher has been able to read it…
I can’t say I was displeased when I received an email pointing to Top 100 Language Blogs – Lexiophilesbecause English/ESL has been listed there — at #75. I strongly recommend your browsing the list as some very interesting blogs may be found there.
Now that we have our very own Top 100 Blog List there are bound to be questions and opinions streaming in from all corners of the Internet. This article is a preemptive post to answer what we feel are the two biggest questions. Why we made the list, and how we made the list.
Why did we feel we needed to make a blog list?
The short answer is that we couldn’t find one. We were looking at different language blogs and talking about which our favorites were and why. To make our discussion more colorful we wanted to compare our favorites with a toplist. When we couldn’t find one, at least one that covered our category we decided to make one!
How did we make the list?
We sifted through some 300 blogs relating to language and learning. Each blog was looked over and ranked with a number of points. No system is perfect, but we based our ranking on objective values, which were assigned according to the blog’s content and features.
We identified three main categories: content, consistency and interactivity. We know that no ranking is 100% accurate and always somewhat subjective. Still, we feel that these three categories give a good overall view of how good a blog really is.
Content: No need to explain that the reader appreciates good content. This category took into account what type of content the blog featured. We looked for authored and original content, depth of postings, incorporation of multimedia (such as videos, pictures etc.) and reviews of online tools and websites.
Consistency: A blog is about sharing information in a fast and uncomplicated way. The articles are not like research papers you work months on. People want to read something new every time they visit a blog. Therefore, we looked at if the blog was active, and if so, how active. Frequent postings gave a higher score as well as the regularity of postings.
Interactivity: In our opinion a good blog is not a one-way street but involves the readers as well. The most observable feature is comments, but it doesn’t stop there: Can the user contact the blogger via a contact page, Facebook or similar? Can the user follow the blogger via Twitter or RSS-Feed or share the blog with others via a bookmark button? There are many neat functions that make a blog more interactive.
#Strongwomen. "I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing. I write about generosity because I battle selfishness. I write about joy because I know sorrow. I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful - for all of it." Kristin Armstrong
All abandoned: Chernobyl / Pripyat, Nara Dreamland, Anti-Zombie Fortress, Japanese Sex Museum - and many, many more! Plus: North Korea Special - 2 trips, 16 days / 14 nights! As seen on CNN...
I really hope his teacher has been able to read it…
Neil's Commonplace Book 