Dexway English Magazine: B2 – Edition 4
The flipped classroom
To flip a classroom means to turn the traditional idea of a teacher lead classroom upside down. The idea was first suggested in 1993 in the book “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side“ published by Alison King.
Alison King suggested that the classroom should be used for the construction of meaning rather than the transmission of information.
The idea was brought into main stream schools in the United States by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams, who recorded videos and posted them online so that students who were unable to come to class could continue to study.
They claim that no one person can be credited with inventing the flipped classroom.
The flipped classroom is a type of blended learning and requires that students access and watch video lessons / lectures before the class to gain an understanding of the main points or most important concepts.
In languages, we know that the most important concepts are those related to grammar so in the class we can concentrate more time on listening to student talk and watching them write. It has the potential to change the way we educate and are educated.
No longer does the teacher waste time talking, the emphasis is taken away from the teacher, they no longer have to development learning episodes within the classroom, as the classroom becomes the place to learn and the information needed to activate that learning is arrives already in the head of the student.
The major downside for those teachers who already have they curriculums developed is the need to go back and digitalise their material, however in this day and age many of the material should already be in a position that lends very well to digital medias.
Changing Tastes
Isn’t it strange how food often gets adapted to an international palate? Chinese food in England is delicious, but it tastes different from Chinese food in Spain, and I have heard that it tastes very different indeed from the majority of food that is served in China.
It has supposedly been adapted to a Western palate. But, I’m not a big fan of generalisations; they often lead to prejudices and stereotyping so I find it hard to conceive of an international taste preference. Surely the whole point of eating food from a different country is to experience a little bit of the culture of that country. I definitely think that gastronomy forms a considerable part of a people’s culture, so why should we end up with an inauthentic piece of that culture?
It seems that when you eat Chinese food, what you are tasting is what that particular Chinese restaurant thinks you might enjoy. You’re getting a kind of culinary remix. Sometimes it might be due to the fact that some of the ingredients are harder to find, but if we consider another example of two countries that are a bit closer then you might start to wonder who is in charge of adapting recipes for the national collective taste buds, and why they don’t just give us authentic recipes. I recently bought a packet of Spanish paella rice from a supermarket in England. I have lived in Spain, and I love paella. Unless a paella contains only paella ingredients it is not a paella but an “arroz”.
On many food packages in England there is a recipe or a serving suggestion, and the recipe on the packet of paella rice, although probably delicious, is literally miles away from an authentic paella recipe.
- 150g chorizo
- 4 chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 300g paella rice
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 2 peppers (1 red, 1 yellow)
- 75g fine beans
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes, drained
- 15g fresh parsley
Can you think of any other dishes that change from country to country?
Talking to people about football
COME ON THE BLUES!
I am an English male but I’m not a huge football fan which is quite a rare thing. Generally speaking, if you’re in England and you’re looking for a topic of conversation that most people will have an opinion on, then football is a good choice. It’s worth bearing in mind that if you’re in the U.S. and you start talking about football and how Puyol is one of the best defenders, Steven Gerrard is a superb midfielder and Messi is undoubtedly the most talented striker, you might get some confused looks because in America “football” refers to American Football, not “soccer” as they call it. In Australia they play a version of football called Aussie Rules football which is close to rugby then to football.
If, however, you go to the U.K. and you go to a typical pub and want to have a chat with a local, then the opening line of, “Did you see the game last night?” will normally spark a lively debate about football. Obviously it’s only a good idea if you also saw “the game” the previous night! If there was more than one football match the night before, then the question usually refers to the most important match; a clash between two big teams in the Champion’s League, for example, or what is known as a derby (when two teams from the same town or city play each other).
Although, it’s worth remembering that it might depend on where you are. If you are in a pub in Highbury, North London, then if somebody asks you: “Did you see the game last night?” They will probably be referring to the Arsenal game. Likewise, if you are in South-West London (in the Chelsea area), they will probably be talking about Chelsea, but there’s no harm in asking: “Which game?” Many supporters of English football teams have a special name for the fans.
Here’s a list, just so you don’t get confused if somebody tells you they’re a “Gooner” or a member of the “Toon Army” The Toon Army – Newcastle United fans The Tractor Boys – Ipswich Town fans The Jacks – Swansea City fans Wednesdayites – Sheffield Wednesday fans The Cider Army – Bristol City fans The Gooners – Arsenal fans The Yid Army – Tottenham Hotspur fans (be careful with this as “yid” can be considered a derogatory term for Jewish people) The Black and White Army – Fulham FC fans The Villains – Aston Villa fans
There are various other names for other supporters, but the striking, and slightly worrying thing about the names is the fact that so many of them are armies. This is what personally interests me about football, the social impact it has, its elevated position within society, and the mob mentality it can create within some “armies”. Why can somebody’s choice about which football team they support lead to violence? The majority of football supporters do not try to get into fights with supporters of other teams. How do you feel about football? Do you think football players are paid too much?
Customer Relationship Management
CRM
In the past companies and their customers had a more simple relationship than today, good service was enough to keep customers happy and they returned to the same company for long periods of time. The relationships that were made were usually long-lasting and more personal because companies focused on local areas. Nowadays there is a lot of competition between businesses and customers want the best service possible; if they aren’t happy they can find another company that offers a similar product or service.
The increase in competition and the higher expectations of customers and clients is more obvious now than ever because people can use the internet to find cheap alternatives and offers. Companies of all sizes have to do what they can to keep their customers and that is where CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is very important.
What is CRM? Customer Relationship Management is the name given to systems that companies use to identify customer needs and satisfaction. By using special computer software to organise and analyse information, a business can keep a record of what a customer buys, when they buy it and any problems that they have. A business can create a database of all their customers and use this information to generate potential sales leads and to predict what products or services will be attractive to them.
These databases can help to identify potential customers and at the same time keep existing customers satisfied because they don’t need to repeat their history every time they call or make an order. The benefits of a detailed database also include the possibility to remind clients when they need to renew parts or products and to make suggestions about products or services that will be useful to them.
A company can also use the database and software to evaluate its performance from the feedback that it receives from customers. It is important for a company to train all its staff in how to use the CRM system it has so that customers have the same service every time they phone and talk to someone. It is this continuity that can give the company an advantage in the competitive business world.
Three departments can benefit from an CRM. The customer services Sales department The Marketing department can make use of the CRM but seeing exactly who buys the product, how is this picture the same as the marketing mix, are people of the right age buying our product? What about the geographical area?
Every time you use your supermarket store card your purchases are recorded so that the service can be targeted to you. This is an example of Customer Relationship Management.
Hackers
CYBER-CRIME
Hackers are people with very advanced knowledge of computer hardware and software. They are known for working to gain access to systems and networks that are – otherwise – very restricted. For those that don’t know, you would be surprised to discover how many “hats” hackers wear. The hacker’s dictionary suggests that a hacker can either wear a white hat, black hat, blue hat or grey hat; this seems to depend on who they are hacking (and for what purpose.)
The traditional idea of a hacker, is a 16 year old locked in his bedroom listening to rock and roll and hacking or breaking into the school computer network to change his school grades – because he spent all year hacking into other computers, so he couldn’t do his school work.
But actually hacking (which comes under the general term of “cyber crime”) is a huge high-stakes operation. Companies employ “born again” hackers (White hat) to test the security of their systems, and to find those “back doors” (or un-guarded areas) which might allow a real hacker (Black hats) to access. Some hackers (grey hats) roam the internet testing cyber security; the intention here is to close the stable door after the horse has bolted. In other words: to break into the system and then tell the company they need to improve security – and the grey hat will do that for a price.
The benefits of learning a new language
A few years ago a good friend of mine went walking in the desert in a foreign country while on a student exchange programme. He had a map and compass but soon found himself lost. Walking to the top of a mountain he looked around to try and find a river or a stream, and glistening in the distant he saw what he was looking for. It took him 3 hours to reach the stream, and his mouth was so dry he started to drink straight away. He forgot that he should have boiled the water before to remove the harmful bacteria.
As soon as he finished drinking the water he decided to have a little sleep and near the stream was a small house, not much bigger then a dog house. He crawled inside out of the heat and went to sleep. He woke a few hours later with gripping pains in his stomach, his head hurt and he was dizzy. He crawled from the hut to back to the water but the pain was too much!
As the sun began to rise he heard a car coming and he managed to wave at them to stop. A man got out and walked towards him, he began to speak in a language that my friend had could not understand. My friend kept saying “Hospital, Hospital” but the man did not understand. The man offered him some water, which my friend took, the pain was so bad that he must have passed out because when he woke up he was in hospital; the nurse who could speak English told him a local farmer had saved his life by guessing what was wrong. Here there is an important story for us all.
