According to languagemonitor.com the English language incorporated its one millionth word - "Web 2.0" - at 10.22am June 10th 2009. This website tracks and acknowledges new words after they have been used 25,000 times on, predominately, social networking sites. Other contenders for the millionth word title include cloud computing, carbon neutral and the Hindi expression … [Read more...]
Rip up those textbooks for maths confidence!
There is a scene in the Robin Williams film "Dead Poets Society" when he encourages the students to rip out the introductory pages of a poetry book. The general point is that they should be thinking for themselves and not using a graph to rate the poems effectiveness. I'm definitely not of the opinion that we should all be ripping pages out of books but I do feel that … [Read more...]
Arnie Schwarzenegger terminates textbooks
I'm sure thousands of school children celebrated Arnie Schwarzenegger's decision not to purchase any more textbooks. Unfortunately there is too little money available and, as Governor of California, Mr Schwarzenegger has frozen any further spending. Certainly it seems an awful shame but it could have a real benefit. The reality is that the internet contains much more … [Read more...]
Let your brain take the strain in learning to concentrate
Have you ever asked your brain a question? Not the Homer Simpson two way dialogue - although I'm sure this happens to me frequently. Just simply asking your brain can lead to some amazing results. Take a pub quiz question such as the name of a well known actor. It's just 'on the tip of your tongue' but you can't think of the answer just now. You go on to talk about other … [Read more...]