The use of YouTube in language education is pretty much a given today. Yet, speaking with colleagues and students, I realized that not all of them were aware that there are some features available that are really useful for language education. Here are two of them: Subtitles (or closed captions) and the speed at which […]
How To Pronounce the English “th”
“ze mozer of ziz boyz iz tirti-tree” A standard problem of English pronunciation: the English “th”. It involves sounds that many languages do not have. With a little help and practice, this is actually not very hard. (Since this is written mostly for my students or ESL students, this is written in a somewhat simpler […]
What’s the Problem With Trump’s Ban?
A former green card holder, I now live in “Hellhole”—aka Brussels–as President Trump once called it. In light of the terrorist attacks of Paris and Brussels, President Trump’s Ban (Executive Order 13769) aimed at “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” also finds supporters here. Like most people undoubtedly, I have […]
Is Trump Dangerous for the EU?
They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 18, 2016 According to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, President Trump is a threat to the existence of the European Union. In a feat of hubris, Ted Malloch, Trump’s likely candidate for the post of E.U. ambassador, declared […]
My Ten Best Reads of 2016
If Emma Watson can do it, so can I. So after Emma’s year in books, here are my ten best reads of 2016. Be forewarned, these are not the best new books of 2016, but my favourite reads of the year, meaning some of these go back quite a while.
Setting up a Multilingual Drupal 8 Site
Many blogging and Content Management Systems have trouble handling bilingual content. Setting up a multlingual website usually requires a bunch of plug-ins, modules and often getting your hands dirty in the code. Such was the case with Drupal until version 7. Drupal 8 totally changed this. It is now really easy to set up a […]
Why You Should Use a Reference Manager
The bane of most academic writing is the bibliography. You’re writing a paper, an assignment, a thesis and the tedious typing and retyping of references to articles, books, book chapters, papers, etc., comes back to haunt you!
Let’s Make America Great Again, and Again, and Again
“Trust me, we’ll just do it, okay.” Trust him, Donald Trump will Make America Great Again. If Hillary Clinton is right, we don’t need to Make America Great Again; it never stopped being great. Cruz seems to agree with her. In these days of rancour and despair he is not afraid to vaunt the greatness […]
Why Use Styles in Word
Most writing software use what are called “Styles,” yet few people know about them or use them. Many who know about styles find them intimidating. They seem to be too complicated and a pain to learn and work with.
Using Videos in Your Presentations
You’ve seen it many times, you’ve probably done it too. Your speaker is going through a speech or a lesson. He or she knows that, used appropriately, a video can really enhance a presentation. So, here comes the clip. Suddenly, that’s when it all starts to go wrong. She clicks on the link on the […]