Posts by Christopher Dempsey
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
I went through a H&C spell a while back. Is it very wrong of me to like this?
Err, how does one embedded again? This is the first time I've tried to do this...
-
Done, with great pleasure. It's not much I'm sorry, but am strapped these days.
I very much appreciate the work you have done on this site Russell.
+1 to everything everyone else has said in this thread.
-
I don't really know what to feel about all of this. However, my main impression of the event was the speed to which the news spread around the world. That morning (NZ time) I arrived at the office. My co-workers told me the news. We didn't have anything so fancy as broadband, only email.
We spent the morning in shock as email news spread around. I remember the speed of the email news. This image at the top of the page, arrived in my email box, within two hours of the event. I remember knowing at that point how connected we all were. Someone took the photo, and emailed it around, where it landed in my work email box two hours later, as I quickly calculated. I was astounded. The world had changed in more ways than one.
-
And deep apologies for not being a Friday Frivolity commentator...
-
Oh, Gawd! I am distracting myself whilst I mark student essays and I just read the following sentence (sic) Most of France movies are speaks French. Admittedly from an ESL student but bloody hell!
AND
For many a year I’ve wondered to what extent grammar of this ilk is taken into account when grading ze international students’ work.
Speaking from my experience; I used to mark on the basis that so long as I understood what they were saying, it was ok. I marked this way because the other staff did. Problem was I spent so much time trying to figure out exactly what students said that it did my head in. Then I would painstakingly correct their sentences which took up an enormous amount of marking time.
So I stopped doing that and switched tatics. I tell the students about the on campus ESL resources available, and constantly encourage them to use it, and I tell the whole class that I take off (say) 2 marks for bad grammar (as I've found some NZ students have weak grasp of grammar). I also give a lesson or two in grammar (though I am not a grammarian, but I take my cues from this excellent book) to interested students (usually 2/3rds of the class).
Then when marking I put a large red capital G in a circle, which means 'grammar', and I do not leave any notes, aside from the occassional red underline. For international students there are alot of G's.
Saves me heaps of time, but interestingly enough that small mark deduction, which is the difference between C+ and B- say, tends to improve grammar. It's still not great, but the students really do seem to work hard on their grammar. It seems to make a difference for NZ students, and for International students.
-
Personally speaking, Mr Redbaiter seems to me, personally speaking, a professional fourth former.
-
Hard News: It Began ... in Chicago, in reply to recordari,
Was this the Mangere Skating rink?
Rotorua skating rink. And yes do remember Loverboy...
-
A, E, A, E I, O, U… I remember skating around and around the rollerskate rink while this (and other songs) played, and it was dark except for the coloured lights flashing on and off and the disco ball was sparkly… guess that's why I'm a homosexual then.
-
the William Morris museum is just up the road
Wait. There's a William Morris museum?? Fantastic! Where?
I'm currently reading Bill Pearson's Coal Flat, which took a while to get into but is proving to be quite rewarding. Particularly given the historical context of the novel and knowing the passage of history since then...
There's been a bit of a mini-boom in terms of NZ non-fiction dealing with specific historical subject matter particularly over the post-war period. For example, I read Cone Ten Down, a history of NZ ceramics from the 1920s to the 1970s. Fantastic read and not at all technical. Then I read Francis Pounds monumental The Invention of NZ Identity: Art and Nationalism 1930-1970 (though he touches briefly on 1980s art), which was a good read and certainly gave life to much NZ art I have seen, and proved to be valuable when recently I visited Te Papa and saw some of the art work Pound talked about.
I've bought Dress Circle, NZ fashion history in the post-war period, and am making good speed through this, and Angels and Artistocrats: Early European Art in NZ Public Collections, which makes up for not going to see the European Impressionists show at Te Papa earlier this year. I also managed to pick up 99 Ways into NZ Poetry at the Unity Books sale, which I'm enjoying very much, but I see will require me to get poetry books out so I can read the poems referred to in the book.
-
Up Front: Where You From?, in reply to Glenn Pearce,
Am I the only 4th generation Aucklander here ? :-)
5th here.