it obviously makes sense, but one of my friend’s kids is going into swim class, and all the parents got an email today going, “when little ones are scared, they cling on to instructors. PLEASE trim their nails.”
i don’t know why that’s so funny to me, but just. the idea of this poor, scratched swim instructor having to make sure to email before each class as a reminder to please declaw the children SENT me.
When I taught swim lessons I remember trying to delicately ask parents not to cover their child in shea/coconut/olive oil before lessons.
“I understand your skincare regimen and wanting to protect their tender baby flesh from the pool chemicals, but COULD YOU NOT OIL YOUR CHILD LIKE A GREASED PIG before tossing them in the POOL? Thanks EVER so much!”
Learning a new language
is hard — especially if you’re an adult, especially if you’re busy, and
especially if the language is based on really different sounds than
your native tongue.
Hard, but not impossible. In Scientific American,
Veronique Greenwood highlights two recent studies that suggest you can
get better at a foreign language simply by listening to it, without
speaking it yourself.
In other words: Even if you’re busy making dinner for your family,
or running errands, or paying your bills, or whatever, you can do it
while you’re listening to a podcast in the language you’re trying to
learn.
Greenwood describes the research nicely. She explains that in one study,
published in 2015, native English speakers learned to distinguish
between three sounds common in Hindi and Thai: “p,” “b,” and another
sound similar to “b.”
One group of participants switched between 10 minutes of practice
distinguishing the sounds and 10 minutes of a matching task. Another
group just practiced distinguishing the sounds for one a hour a day on
two days.
Results showed that the group that switched showed just as much
improvement as the group that stayed focused on the practice task.
In another study,
published in 2016, native Spanish speakers worked on distinguishing
sounds in the Basque language. As it turns out, those who practiced
speaking the sounds out loud improved less than those who simply
listened.
This research backs up something Matthew Youlden — a Language Ambassador for Babbel who speaks over 20 languages — previously told Business Insider.
Youlden recommends doing something active and passive in the language —
as in, practicing speaking the words and also watching a foreign TV
show. The goal is to be surrounded by the language at all times.
Other ways of immersing yourself in the foreign language include reading material written in that language. In fact, there’s a free Google Chrome extension that lets you translate everything you read online into the language you’re trying to learn.
Of course, none of this is to say that you shouldn’t take a
language course or hire a tutor to help you. “You need to come to class
and pay attention,” one of the authors on both studies, Melissa
Baese-Berk, told Greenwood. After class, though, you can listen to a
foreign-language radio station and not pay full attention. It will still
help you.
Bottom line: Even if you don’t have all day to devote to
concentrated language-learning (and who does these days?) you can still
pick up a new lingo if you really want to.
I think this is important not just for language learners, but also language teachers. As a teacher, it is very easy to fall back on grammar instruction, drill and kill, exercises as soon as the concept has been explained, etc. but the research shows that frankly, those methods don’t work nearly as well, or even at all. Contextualizing language meaning and hundreds of repetitions are what help solidify vocabulary and structures in our brains, not flashcards. That’s not to say that flashcards can’t help remind you, but they are almost useless when it comes to actual, fluid production.
[img is a series of graphics illustrating linguistic diversity in different ways: by number of speakers, by number of countries where the language is (officially?) spoken, and by number of language spoken (officially?) in a particular country]
Let me tell you, there’s a queer club night in the UK called Gal Pals that caters exclusively to queer women and NBs and only plays music by women and when It’s Raining Men came on last time you’d have thought the crowd was full of middle aged housewives. A banger is a banger is a banger, you just gotta let the music go innit
If I can recommend you do 1 low-effort thing for the love of God it is this:
Keep 5 cards in your pocket. One will say “yes”, the second will say “no.”
If you lose your voice, or lose speech, or want to make a dramatic embellishment at the right time, it is an elegant and efficient solution that is right there at hand.
But what if people question you from there? “Why do you have that card? Why would you do this? How long have you had that in your pocket?” For this, or whatever else they say, the third card: “I don’t have a card for that.”
“What the fuck,” they ask. They laugh. They are bemused. You bring the energy back down with the fourth card: “I have laryngitis. I’ve lost speech. My throat hurts”. Whatever you expect to occur.
The joke is over. Rule of threes. Now they are curious. YThey wonder about logistics. “How did you know I would say that? Is everyone so predictable?”
As a three-part bit, nobody ever sees the fifth card coming.
“I have powerful wizard magics.”
Gets them every time
On it boss!!
[id: a set of 5 UNO cards upon which has been written, “Yes”, “no”, “I don’t have a card for that”, “can’t talk right now 😢”, and “I have powerful wizard magics 🙂”. End id]
Not even remotely kidding when I say that if you don’t fuck with the LGBTQIA+ community, I do not and will not fuck with you. Big ass love to all the queer folks out there. If you’re on my blog, you’re in a safe place.
Sometimes I see posts about “you don’t want to be rich you just want to live freely and comfortably”
And like
sure
But I also want to be able to pay someone a living wage to be my sandwich-valet. On call and stocked with groceries to rustle up a flock of tempting little sandwiches at any time.
When my kiddo finally decided (at age 20) that it was time for (most of) his enormous Lego collection to go, it was a gut-wrenching moment for me (goodbye childhood!). However, we used this service, which was simple and hassle-free.
According to ‘The Meaning of Liff’ by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, this is 'Kenting’
From the book:
Kent (adj): politely determined not to help despite a violent urge to the contrary. Kent expressions are seen on the faces of people who are good at something watching someone else who can’t do it at all.
Adams, D., and Lloyd, J. (1983) 'The Meaning of Liff’ Pan books, London
There are many wonderful words and definitions in that book; this is one that has stuck and has regular use in my family.
My favorite characterization of Legolas is when he’s incredibly skilled and adept and fast, but also he’s a complete idiot. Just dumb as hell.
He can sneak up on anyone, ride any animal you place in front of him, and make a triple Robinhood shot into the side of a mountain 90 meters away with his bow behind his back. But he also laughed himself silly when Merry suggested they make tea in a bowl they found because “you can’t make tea without a teapot Merry it won’t work!” and if you cover his eyes he falls asleep like a parrot
This is your daily reminder to not be ashamed of making your life easy for yourself.
Cut your food into small pieces, make the font size 30 on your e book, use straws to drink, get a pen that’s comfortable to hold, take more naps, walk slowly, eat another cookie, buy velcro shoes, re-watch the part you couldn’t understand the first time, write things on your hands so you don’t forget it… whatever you want and/or need
Don’t let anyone tell you how you should be doing things. We don’t need to prove each other anything
God invented winter so girls could exchange body heat
Mushrooms made an arrangement with God to do what he was unwilling to accept responsibility for and this promise made Lucifer so angry he abandoned his throne in jealousy.
Spring happened all on its own, as the world became curious and reached for the sun.
