Why do people twitter (www.twitter.com)?

A question that intrigues me is, "Why do some people succeed and others fail?"

There are some basic skills you can learn that will help you to succeed.

1. Overachieve. Practice makes perfect! Don't get frustrated and quit. Keep practicing!

2. Live in the moment. Forget your mistakes or bad days. They're past. Keep moving forward!

3. Set aside time to practice. Schedule time to succeed and keep that appointment for success!

I am writing a small book talking about different ways to study for my ESL adult students. Please share your study habits with me.

When the book is complete, I will place a PDF version in the public folder for all to download free of charge. If I use your tip, I will include your name in the book.

I'm reading the book, How Soccer Explains the World (its listed in the book list of this blog). 

I'm a big fan of sports but not for the reasons that most are. I'm interested in how coaches inspire players to perform at their best and the roles that teams play in their communities.

How Soccer Explains the World discusses the effects of globalization of soccer. For example, with the advent of cable and satellite TV, and the ubiquitous state of the Internet, your favorite team may play its home and away games thousands of miles away from you. For example, I could become an avid fan and follower of the Seaford Rangers of the South Australia State League. Since I live in MA., chances are I won't be going to any of their games.

What makes this concept interesting, is the physical makeup of sports teams. The Red Sox are on the verge of winning another world series. We have team members from the Dominican Republic, South America, and Japan.

"During the nineties, Basque teams under the stewardship of coaches, stocked up on Dutch and Turkish players, Moldavian squads imported Nigerians." - pg. 2, How Soccer Explains the World

 

For me, this is an interesting concept. What are the implications of having a star player from a country that has serious different political views from your government? What if the two governments are in conflict? Would an American who supports the war in Iraq root for an Iraqi soccer star if he were the star player of an American team?

Red Sox fans support their multi-national and multi-cultural players, just as baseball fans of all teams do.  But many of these same fans have immigration viewpoints that may be at odds with their sports philosophy.

I'll continue this discussion in other posts. What are your views?

• Halloween - tells how the holiday started
• Baseball - short history
• Rules - explains baseball rules
• Alphabet and Writing
• About the English Language (interesting history)

Yesterday in class I tried to get my students to write a ghost story. I did this as a group exercise. I wrote the following sentence on the board - "It was a cold, dark rainy, night." I asked the students for the next sentence.

They were not in a writing mood, but I was in a Steven King mood so I wrote the following story on the board. They copied it in their notebooks and practiced reading it with scary voices.

It was a cold, dark rainy, night. There was a knock at the door. I was afraid; I didn't know what to do. Another knock at the door. I still did nothing.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I slowly opened the door. I saw a person but he had no head. There was blood on his knife.

"I'm going to cut your head off and attach it to my body." he said.

I tried to close the door but he was too quick. He was in my house. He raised his knife and walked towards me! I was ready to scream but then I woke up. It was just a dream.

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Are you in a Steven King mood? Students - write a ghost story. Have fun. Scare your teacher!

Pleasant dreams!!!!!!!!!!