September+18th+2013

1. Exploration: Intonations are meaningful Directions: Here are five simple sentences: Jeff loves Kate. We beat them. Rambo likes school. Bald is beautiful. Lassie eats chickens.

2.The stress patterns affect the meanings dramatically. Depending on where you stress the word the sentence has a different meaning.

3. Intonation clearly affects a sentence's meanings because intonation conveys emotion, sincerity, sarcasm, anger, remorse or any of a million different feelings, emotions, or ways to express ourselves. They allow us to communicate more without having to use more words. Intonation can allow for communication to be efficient. For instance is you say, "Susan is sad," and you put the intonation on sad and stress it the person you are speaking to will understand that Susan is not simply sad but very sad and perhaps we should be concerned about her.


 * 2.** Teaching grammar is something I am slightly fearful of. I know that I speak well but I wonder about the ability to translate that into a classroom where I am teaching students. It ties in interestingly with the article because it reveals that perhaps my training with grammar has not come from an isolated lesson but from the ways I have learn to speak, read, and write in the context of doing those activities.I know my first grammar experience was the tutor that taught me to read before I started school and I thought she did pretty well at least for a kid that age. I do remember that grammar came to a head upon my entry into 9th grade. Mr Nall my English teacher chastised us a class and could not believe we did not know grammar better. He set aside lessons for us to brush up on our grammar and learn the techniques of it. I was able to give name to some of the things that I knew to abide by during speech at this point. Ultimately I think my personal experience has been a blend of working with grammar in context and in isolation.

b. I thought that both articles made good points about the need for teaching of writing in context. The Weaver article seemed to make more allowances that grammar in isolation can work sometimes but not all the time while also endorsing the idea of teaching grammar in context. The Peterson seemed more hard line and I didn't necessarily enjoy that. I wonder if it completely doesn't work then what about all the people that came before that did successfully learn how to use grammar? Obviously there is some merit or at least there was in the past.