if you could add a new instrument to rock band hero, what would it be?

i teach a free music theory class at edufire.com saturday's at 11am boston time.

i have music blog at youtubepicks@blogspot.com and blog about judaism at ijudaism@blogspot.com.

researching music and computers. interested in music games, how you use your computer for music and so on.

I am teaching two free American Government classes. One class will be taught on Sat. Oct 4th at 11 AM - http://www.wiziq.com/public/session_details.aspx?detail=33954_Introduction-to-Government_teacher_Alan_Cohen . The other class is taught every Sunday evening at 8 PM http://apps.new.facebook.com/supercool/sc_classes/show/263.

“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the Government and report the facts. - Will Rogers” “A Bill of Rights that means what the majority wants it to mean, is worthless. ~ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia” “Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have. ~ Barry Goldwater” “Communism was a great system for making people equally poor. In fact, there was no better system in the world for that than communism. -The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman.”

Learn English as a Second Language using your cell phone. The initial version of Classrooms On Cell Phones is live. 

It's free! Sign up and share your thoughts with us.

Sincerely,

Alan

I am exploring using the cell phone as a platform to teach ESL. The cell phone is the Internet/communications device that everyone carries in their pocket. Text messaging, email, Internet access . . . all available from your cell phone. I am looking for volunteers who want to receive free ESL tips via their cell phone. I promise that you will not receive more than 1 text message per day, most like no more than 3 or 4 a week. I would also like to explore email access via cell phones. For example, www.dailylit.com provides a nice service emailing book chapters via email. Many books are free of charge. I'm just interested in feedback to see how well this platform will work. Sincerely, Alan

I teach English as a Second Language. An important aspect to teaching is to stay fresh. I never want to get too involved with technique and lose site of my goal.

One way that I accomplish this to to learn other languages. As a teacher, it is easy for me to decide that the students need to learn this and that. While that is useful, it is more important for me to think what it is like for a student to learn a new language.

What is it like to think in another language? I know the words but how do I say those words in the new language?

In future posts I'll talk about different foreign language learning software and web-based approaches. I'll share my thoughts with you as I learn other languages.

An excellent place to start is the BBC website. They offer a variety of language courses free of charge. They also have excellent ESL materials.

Musicians are communicators. They use their craft to express many different ideas. Each one does it differently in their own style.

Here are some pictures of musicians. Write a short story about some or all of these photos. The story should tell me the following:

• What type of music is the musician playing?
• What are they thinking?
• Is there an audience? If yes, do they like what they hear?
• Anything else you want.

Be creative. Use your imagination.

 

Copyright 2007, Alan Cohen, All Rights Reserved	Copyright 2007, Alan Cohen, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2007, Alan Cohen, All Rights Reserved	Copyright 2007, Alan Cohen, All Rights Reserved

Writing is not that hard. Like any discipline, following guidelines simplifies the process.

In school, I was taught to answer the 5 "Ws - Who, What, Where, Why, and When". This is great for newspaper writing and for describing events. Who was there? What happened or what is the event about? Where was it? Why is this important? When did it happen. If there is a technical aspect, answering "how" is also important - How does it work? How do I join?

I attended a writing seminar last week. I learned another important aspect - personalize, add an emotional component. If you write about a concert, tell the reader why you liked or disliked it. If you write about something that happened to you, tell the reader why it is important. Answer the "so what" question.

As a writer, you want to give your readers a reason to read what you write. You want your readers to become emotional about your characters. Love them or hate them. That is fine. Not caring either way does you no good.

The best way to write is to practice. Write often. The more you write, the better writer you become.

Remember - give your readers a reason to read your work. Answer the "so what" question.

I love photography. It is my passion. My favorite style is architectural. I love taking pictures of cities, especially gritty cities, those cities that are a bit rundown; those with both old and new houses.

I thought it would be fun to mix photography and writing. I'll post a photo and write about it. You'll do the same.

We can create a "photo chain". Someone posts a photo and writes about it. This acts as the beginning of the story. Another person adds the second photo which continues the story. This process continues until the story is completed.

The story is completely improvisational. The challenge is to use language to tie the pictures together into one story.

It would also be fun for all of us to include photos of our locales and culture. It would be educational and could generate interesting conversation.

I'm also working on a Google Earth idea. I'll write about it when I know exactly what I want to do.

Technology can be a great tool for learning. Let's explore the possibilities.

Does music help learning? Does music improve intelligence?

I'm reading articles and books about the Mozart Effect. This theory states that listening to classical music improves spacial-linear reasoning. I'm working on a paper about this and other musical topics that I'll publish here soon.

However I am interested in your thoughts. Do you listen to music when you study? What types of music? Do you believe that music improves intelligence?

Christmas is just around the corner. So is Chanukkah, Eid, and other similarly-themed holidays from different cultures.

Giving to others is a personal choice. I'd like to let you know about two organizations that can make a difference.

Kiva (www.kiva.org) helps people in third world countries start businesses. Through Kiva, you can make a microloan to help someone start a business. Each recipient is pre-approved and is sponsored through an agency or skills training program from their country. Kiva has a 99 percent repayment rate. I donated $50 to a Colombian who was starting a mechanic's shop in Colombia and $50 to a pharmacist in Africa.

I like Kiva and felt good about making a loan. However, there are many people in my country, the United States who also need help. I wanted to find a "Kiva-like" business that helped people from my country.

ModestNeeds (www.modestneeds.org) helps people in the U.S. who need money. The only difference - you are making a donation, not a loan. Each recipient is pre-approved and the donation you make is given to the organization or company that the recipient needs to pay. For example, if the person is requesting money to help pay their rent, the money is directly paid to the landlord.

Since I gave $100 to Kiva, I decided to give $100 to ModestNeeds. I found a family that needed money to pay for their children's eye glasses. I donated $100 and few days later I received an email telling me that my and other's donations went to that family's eye doctor.

I do a lot of blogging and enjoy helping others learn English as a Second Language. If I could choose only one thing that you learn from this blog, it is to help others. It is by far the greatest thing that you can do.

Teaching writing is fun but laborious. It consists of a series of small steps that hopefully leads to success.

I began today's class with clustering. I wrote the word "happy" and circled it. I then asked the students to tell me things that made them happy. One student said New Year. That was correct so I wrote it on the board. Of course that set a pattern. The next set of answers were Father's Day, Mother's Day, Graduation, etc. Finally a student broke this pattern with "spring".

This is common. Once a pattern is discovered students use it.

After the students completed the cluster, we wrote a composition about being happy. We repeated the same process with "angry".

The students felt comfortable; they were warm to writing. I asked them to write one paragraph about "I am sad when . . ."

The students mistook paragraph for sentence. They wrote one sentence but they were good sentences.

They followed the sentence structure that I used. That was nice but I'm anxious to get them to write paragraphs and compositions.

I need to be patient. Little victories lead to success.

I'm exploring the possibilities of Twitter (www.twitter.com). This product has captured my imagination. If you want you can follow my "twitters". My twitter user name is acohen843.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was interested in why people twitter (www.twitter.com). I've been thinking about this and started to twitter.

While twittering I thought about how a character in a story would use this technology. As a writer that is how I think and work out problems.

Twitter can be a way to alleviate some loneliness and to vent. I'm thinking about writing a story where the main character is an elderly man who lives alone. He has no family. He vents and gets thoughts "off his chest" by twittering.

Does technology affect handwriting? Has your handwriting faltered since email has replaced letter writing? Do you still write letters?

I keep in touch with friends and family via email. For me, it replaces letters and many phone calls.

Has email improved writing?

How do you write? I read an article about using voice recognition software to eliminate the need to type. Some people find this to be an easier way to write.

I once tried this. It didn't work for me. I couldn't speak the story I wanted to write.

I need to write (type or longhand). It is the way I think. For me, the writing and blogging process is private. Writing/typing helps me think. That is how I communicate with the computer.

How do you write?